Quick links: NASCAR America | NASCAR on NBC Podcast | NASCAR

xfinity series

Silly Season Scorecard: Post-Miami edition

By Daniel McFadinNov 19, 2019, 12:00 PM EST
Leave a comment

NASCAR’s championship weekend in Miami has come and gone and with it came a flurry of driver announcements from teams about the 2020 racing season.

Among them was the news that Cole Custer is being promoted by Stewart-Haas Racing to the Cup Series, where he will take over the No. 41 Ford driven by Daniel Suarez this year.

Here’s a look at all the official driver announcements made so far for next season.

OPEN RIDES ANNOUNCED FOR 2020

No. 38: Front Row Motorsports must replace David Ragan, who stated Aug. 14 that 2019 would be his final season running a full schedule.

No. 36: Front Row Motorsports announced Nov. 13 it was parting ways with Matt Tifft so he could focus on his health following his seizure at Martinsville in March. Tifft said he could not commit to racing in 2020.

ANNOUNCED CUP RIDES FOR 2020

No. 1: Chip Ganassi Racing announced on Nov. 1 a multi-year extension with Kurt Busch.

No. 6: Roush Fenway Racing announced Oct. 30 that Ryan Newman would return to the car as part of the news that Oscar Mayer would sponsor the No. 6 through 2021.

No. 8: Richard Childress Racing made it official Oct. 2 that Tyler Reddick will move to Cup in 2020 and drive the No. 8 car.

No. 10: Aric Almirola confirmed Oct. 11 he signed an extension to race for Stewart-Haas Racing.

No. 13: Ty Dillon posted a video Sept. 6 on Instagram refuting rumors that he would retire after this season. He has a contract with Germain Racing through 2020.

No. 14: Clint Bowyer was announced Oct. 17 as returning to Stewart-Haas Racing for a fourth season.

No. 17: Chris Buescher will take over the Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 ride in 2020 after the team announced Sept. 25 that it would part ways with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. after this season.

No. 20: Joe Gibbs Racing announced Sept. 6 that it had signed Erik Jones to an extension. It is a one-year extension for the 2020 season.

No. 21: Matt DiBenedetto replaces Paul Menard at Wood Brothers Racing (announcement made Sept. 10). DiBenedetto’s deal is for 2020 only.

No. 41: Stewart-Haas Racing announced Nov. 15 Cole Custer will replace Daniel Suarez.

No. 95: Christopher Bell moves to Cup in 2020 and will drive for Leavine Family Racing (announcement made Sept. 24).

JTG Daugherty Racing: It was announced Oct. 16 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will join Ryan Preece at the two-car team, essentially swapping seats with Chris Buescher. The team said that an announcement on car number and sponsor would come later.

Rick Ware Racing: JJ Yeley will drive one of the team’s three full-time rides.

AMONG THOSE YET TO ANNOUNCE DEALS FOR 2020

Daniel Suarez — The driver revealed Nov. 14  he would not return to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2020 after one season driving the No. 41.

Corey LaJoie – The driver hasn’t announced his plans for 2020, but he said in October he and Go Fas Racing were “working toward” him returning to the No. 32 Ford. The team announced on Nov. 1 it would enter a technical alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing next year and that “2020 driver negotiations are still ongoing.”

Xfinity Series 

Ross Chastain – Kaulig Racing announced Oct. 15 he would compete full-time for the team in 2020 driving the No. 10 Chevrolet, joining Justin Haley.

Joe Gibbs Racing — Announced Oct. 17 Harrison Burton will drive its No. 20 Toyota full-time in 2020. Announced Oct. 31 Brandon Jones would return for a third year in the No. 19. Revealed Nov. 5 it would field a third full-time entry with Riley Herbst in the No. 18.

JR Motorsports — Justin Allgaier will return to the team for a fifth year in the No. 7 Chevrolet. The No. 8 car will be driven by Daniel Hemric for 21 races, Jeb Burton 11 races and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for one race. Noah Gragson will also return for a second season in the No. 9 car, while Michael Annett returns for a fourth year with the team in the No. 1 car.

Richard Childress Racing — Has not announced its driver plans for 2020, but Richard Childress said after Tyler Reddick claimed the Xfinity title that it would field a full-time entry.

Stewart-Haas Racing – The team has not announced plans for the No. 00 Ford with Cole Custer moving to Cup or whether Chase Briscoe will return to the No. 98.

JD Motorsports — Jesse Little will compete full-time for the team.

Truck Series

GMS Racing – Driver lineup will include Brett Moffitt, Sam Mayer, Sheldon Creed and Tyler Ankrum

Kyle Busch Motorsports — Raphael Lessard will drive the No. 4 full-time while Christian Eckes will drive the No. 18 full-time.

Hattori Racing Enterprises – Austin Hill will return to the No. 16 Toyota for a second year.

and on Facebook

Miami winners and losers

By Dustin LongNov 18, 2019, 8:00 AM EST
4 Comments

WINNERS

Kyle Busch — Viewed by many as the underdog despite winning the regular-season championship, Busch found the right time to end a 21-race winless streak and collect his second Cup championship.

Joe Gibbs Racing — The organization started the year with a 1-2-3 finish, led by Denny Hamlin, in the Daytona 500. The organization ended the year with a 1-2-3 finish, led by Kyle Busch, in the season finale in Miami. Busch’s victory also gave the organization 19 victories this season, breaking the record for most wins in a season in the modern era (since 1972).

Matt Crafton — He doesn’t care if there are those bothered that he won the championship without winning a race. He’s a three-time champion in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Beau Reddick — He’s not due to arrive until Jan. 17, but the future son of Tyler Reddick and girlfriend Alexa De Leon had his name determined by a bet. If Reddick won the Xfinity title, then he could name the baby. Reddick did and that means when his son arrives, he will already be a winner. 

Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer — As Tyler Reddick was on the NBC Sports Peacock Pit Box after winning Saturday’s Xfinity Series championship, runner-up Cole Custer went over and to offer his congratulations. Custer and Reddick then engaged in a conversation about their thrilling battle as if they were standing alone in the garage. The moment gave fans an unfiltered look into their dramatic battle from each driver’s vantage point.

LOSERS

Martin Truex Jr.’s team — To put a right-side tire on the left side and a left-side tire on the right side is inexcusable. For it to happen in the championship race and play a role in costing Truex the title is something that will hang over this team for a very long time.

Chevrolet’s Cup playoff performance — For the third consecutive year, the Cup championship race did not include a Chevrolet team. Chevy’s top finisher in Sunday’s season finale was eighth. Chevy’s Tyler Reddick did win the Xfinity title.

Hendrick Motorsports engines — For the third time in the last four races, a Hendrick motor had an issue. Sunday, Kyle Larson, whose team gets its engines from Hendrick, and William Byron each were eliminated by engine issues. Last month at Martinsville, Chase Elliott had an engine fail early in opening practice, forcing him to start that race at the back of the pack.

‘Baby Beau!’: Tyler Reddick not only wins Xfinity title but right to name son

By Dustin LongNov 16, 2019, 9:21 PM EST
Leave a comment

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — After winning the Xfinity championship for the second year in a row and becoming the first driver in series history to win back-to-back crowns with different teams, Tyler Reddick took off his helmet, looked into girlfriend Alexa De Leon’s eyes and shouted “Baby Beau!”

While the championship is meaningful and the trophy special, the biggest win for Reddick was naming their future son.

For weeks De Leon and Reddick have gone back and forth on names. She liked Ryker, a name she found online. At first,  he liked Archer and thought they could call their son Archie. Then he switched to George, matching his middle name.

One day he decided on Beau.

“I thought it was cute, but that was not my first choice,” De Leon told NBC Sports, standing on the stage shortly after Reddick won the championship. “I was pretty stuck on Ryker at that point and he was not hopping on that train. If you know Tyler, once he gets his mind on something, it’s stuck.

“Finally, I said you need to stop calling him that. That’s not his name yet.”

She came up with an unusual way to solve their quandary.

“I don’t know what came over me,” she said. “I guess pregnancy-brain is a real thing, and one day I was like, ‘Listen, you win this championship, you can name him whatever you want, but I don’t want you calling him anything until you are in victory lane holding up that championship trophy in Miami.’

“I shook on it and here we are and now the baby’s name is going to Beau.”

Team members found out about the bet and it became a rallying cry. When team members were around De Leon, they’d point to her belly and say “Baby Beau.”

“I had a lot of motivation coming into this, and that was the extra bit of motivation that I didn’t know I needed,” Reddick said of the bet, “but it definitely sure helped.”

As Reddick led in the final laps, did De Leon have any regrets with making the bet on how to name their child?

“Maybe I shouldn’t have been wanting him to win so bad because I really wanted to win this bet,” De Leon said, laughing. “We’re both really competitive. I shook on it. I like the name Beau. It just wasn’t my first choice.”

Where did the name Beau come from?

“You’re going to have to ask Tyler that one,” De Leon said. “I have no idea where he came up with that name. He’s really excited to have won the championship and the name bet.”

So what drew Reddick to the name Beau?

“I don’t know,” he told NBC Sports. “It kind of came out of nowhere, but it’s a name I just like. I’ve always liked it. And I got a long last name. I feel like a short name is fitting. Beau’s kind of a good fit. I’m a pale redhead. Alexa’s Dominican mixed. A redhead mixed child named Beau is perfect. I like it.”

It’s a fitting name for a champion.

Results, final point standings after Xfinity championship race

By Daniel McFadinNov 16, 2019, 7:23 PM EST
Leave a comment

Tyler Reddick led the final 19 laps and won Saturday’s Xfinity Series season finale to claim the 2019 series championship and his second in a row.

The top five was completed by Cole Custer, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson and Christopher Bell.

Reddick’s win is his sixth of the year.

Click here for the race results.

Point standings

Click here for the point standings.

Tyler Reddick wins Xfinity Series championship for back-to-back titles

By Daniel McFadinNov 16, 2019, 6:24 PM EST
1 Comment

Tyler Reddick claimed the 2019 Xfinity Series championship with a victory in Saturday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, successfully defending his 2018 championship.

Reddick led the final 19 laps around the 1.5-mile track after he passed fellow championship driver Cole Custer twice in the same lap.

The win is Reddick’s second consecutive in the season finale and his sixth win of the year.

Reddick is the seventh different Xfinity driver to win back-to-back titles and the ninth to win multiple championships. He’s the first in the series to do it with two different organizations (JR Motorsports, 2018; Richard Childress Racing, 2019).

Reddick will compete full-time for Richard Childress Racing in the Cup Series next year. He moves up with nine Xfinity wins in the last three seasons.

“It’s all about this race team, man,” Reddick told NBCSN. “I’m losing my breath, I’m that excited. This one means so much more. It was just a lot better year. It was really cool to go back-to back.”

Custer was the runner-up – for the second year in a row – after he bounced back from having to pit with 30 laps left in Stage 2 for a loose right-rear tire. He then unlapped himself by passing leader Austin Cindric on the last lap of the stage.

Christopher Bell finished fifth and Justin Allgaier placed 14th after he pit late for a cut tire.

The final 41 laps were eventful and began when Bell missed pit road in the middle of green flag stops while running in third, forcing him to pit the next time by.

“It was just a miscommunication,” Bell said. “I don’t know if my spotter didn’t get told what our cue word was, but I told got the cue word to pit and then all of a sudden, I started pitting and he said, not now, not now.  But that didn’t matter whenever you get beat by 17 seconds. I’m glad that didn’t have an effect on the outcome of the race.”

Reddick and Custer pitted from first and second with 37 laps to go and Custer narrowly was first off pit road.

“It was crazy, when me and Cole were racing there off pit road I was trying everything I can to get into the corner and clear him but it wouldn’t work,” Reddick said. “I was just holding on for dear life. I appreciate him racing as hard as he could. We just went for it and it was aggressive as normal and it paid off for us.”

Very quickly Custer, Reddick and Allgaier were three wide for third place as Bell passed Austin Cindric for the lead.

Custer was the first to catch Bell and then quickly passed him on the inside with 34 laps to go as Reddick overtook Bell on the outside.

By 26 laps to go, Bell was in third, five seconds back from Custer.

Over the next three laps, Reddick and Custer would each scrape the wall as Reddick chased him down.

With 19 laps to go, Reddick dove deep into Turn 1 to get by Custer, who then performed a similar move in Turn 3.

But Reddick easily got by Custer out of Turn 4.

“I just hear(d) this motor just flying by me, and I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, so I’ve got to get off the wall and try and cross him over,'” Custer said of Reddick’s move in Turn 1. “It’s easier to do a slide job easier in (Turns) 1 and 2 than it is 3 and 4, so he probably timed that out and got it figured out, and then I tried to do one in 3 and 4 just out of desperation, but it’s hard to make it work down there.”

STAGE 1 WINNER: Chase Briscoe

STAGE 2 WINNER: Austin Cindric

More: Race results, final point standings

WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Noah Gragson placed fourth for his ninth top five of the year … John Hunter Nemechek placed sixth. He ends his season with six straight top 10s.

WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Ray Black Jr finished last after his car’s engine expired in dramatic fashion on Lap 5 …. Tyler Matthews finished 37th after his car hit the outside wall hard on Lap 15 … Justin Allgaier’s 14th-place finish snapped his career-best stretch of 16 top 10s.

NOTABLE: Chase Briscoe won Rookie of the Year honors after finishing third … Chevrolet won the manufacturer’s championship … This is the first season that three Xfinity Series regulars  – Christopher Bell (eight wins), Cole Custer (seven) and Tyler Reddick (six) – have won at least six races.