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Entry lists for Kansas Speedway

By Daniel McFadinJul 20, 2020, 11:45 AM EDT
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A packed month of NASCAR racing continues this week with all three national series visiting Kansas Speedway.

The Cup Series will have its fourth event in in less than two weeks when it races Thursday night (7:30 pm ET on NBCSN and the NBC Sports app).

The Truck Series hold races Friday and Saturday and the Xfinity Series joins them at the 1.5-mile track on Saturday.

Here are the preliminary entry lists for each race:

Cup – Super Start Batteries 400 (7:30 p.m. ET Thursday on NBCSN)

Forty cars are entered.

Reed Sorenson is entered in Tommy Baldwin Racing’s No. 7 Chevrolet.

JJ Yeley is entered in Rick Ware Racing’s No. 27 Ford.

Josh Bilicki is entered in Rick Ware Racing No. 51 Chevrolet.

Garrett Smithley is entered in Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevrolet.

Last year’s races at Kansas were won by Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin.

Click here for the entry list.

Xfinity – Kansas Lottery 250 (5 p.m. ET Saturday on NBCSN)

Thirty-seven cars are entered.

Kaz Grala is entered in Richard Childress Racing’s No. 21 Chevrolet for his first start of the year.

Carson Ware is entered in SS Green Light Racing’s No. 07 Chevrolet.

Last year’s Xfinity race at Kansas was won by Brandon Jones over Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe.

Click here for the entry list.

 

Truck Series (7 p.m. ET Friday on FS1 and 1 p.m. ET Saturday on FS1)

Thirty-nine trucks are entered in both races. The are two differences in drivers for the doubleheader. For Hill Motorsports’ No. 56 Chevrolet, Timmy Hill is entered in Friday’s race and Tyler Hill is entered in Saturday’s race.

Kevin Donahue is listed for Reaume Brothers Racing’s No. 33 Toyota for Friday and Ryan Huff is entered in it for Saturday.

Ross Chastain won last year’s Kansas race over Ben Rhodes and Todd Gilliland.

Click here for race No. 1’s entry list.

Click here for race No. 2’s entry list.

Power Rankings after Pocono: Denny Hamlin a unanimous No. 1

By NBC Sports StaffJul 1, 2020, 7:00 AM EDT
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Denny Hamlin not only won Sunday’s Cup race at Pocono, he also knocked Ryan Blaney off the top spot for this week’s NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings.

Hamlin was a unanimous selection of NBC Sports’ NASCAR writers for No. 1 in this week’s rankings.

Kevin Harvick, who finished 1st-2nd in the two Pocono races (while Hamlin finished 2nd-1ast), was the biggest gainer, going from unranked last week to a unanimous pick for No. 2 this week. The biggest drop was Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who went from third last week to unranked this week.

Here’s how this week’s rankings look:

1. Denny Hamlin (30 points): Keeps getting stronger. First four-time winner of the season. Could this be the year he finally wins his first Cup championship? Last week: second.

2. Kevin Harvick (27 points): Came so close to making it a weekend sweep. Has 3 wins, eight top five and 12 top-10 finishes in first 15 races. Has finished outside the top 15 only once this season. Last week: unranked.

3. Aric Almirola (23 points): Four consecutive top fives – his only top fives this season and the best streak of his career – has Almirola back on track after earlier struggles. Last week: fourth (tied).

4. Chase Elliott (15 points): Has four top 10s in the last six races. Last week: seventh.

5. Brad Keselowski (14 points): Since NASCAR returned from the COVID-19 hiatus, Keselowski has two wins and just three finishes outside the top 10 in 11 races. Last week: eighth (tied).

6. Ryan Blaney (13 points): Had an off weekend (best finish was 12th on Saturday) after his win at Talladega. His Pocono finishes snapped a streak of six top-five finishes in his previous seven starts. Last week: first.

7. Martin Truex Jr. (12 points): Has four top 10s, including a win, in the last six races. Last week: unranked.

8. Chase Briscoe (9 points): Has been strong in the Xfinity Series this season, leading the way with four wins – including Sunday at Pocono. Last week: unranked.

9. Erik Jones (8 points): Sunday’s season-best third-place finish – his second top five in the last three races – was a big turnaround from wrecking out Saturday. Last week: 10th (tied).

(tie) 10. Clint Bowyer (6 points): Earned pair of top-10 finishes at Pocono, first back-to-back top 10s this season. Can he keep the momentum going at Indianapolis, where he’s had back-to-back fifth-place finishes the last two years? Last week: unranked.

(tie) 10. Alex Bowman (6 points): Earned third top 10 in last five races. Last week: 4th (tied).

Others receiving votes: Matt DiBenedetto (1 point), Brandon Jones (1 point).

Brandon Jones goes from Truck race winner to Xfinity race wreck

By Jerry BonkowskiJun 28, 2020, 1:03 PM EDT
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The exhilaration of Brandon Jones’ first career win in Sunday morning’s Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway was short lived: just over one hour, to be exact.

To borrow a line from the old TV show, Wide World of Sports, Jones quickly went from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat, as he wrecked hard on the first lap of Sunday’s Xfinity Series race at Pocono.

It appeared Austin Cindric‘s Ford may have tapped the rear of Jones’ Toyota, sending the driver of the No. 19 spinning and slamming head-on into an inside retaining wall.

Jones was taken to the infield care center to be checked out. He has since been released.

“I’m 10-4 (alright), we’re junk,” Jones told his team on the radio.

Later, Jones told FS1, “From my vantage point, we were trying to go three-wide. …  I’m sure I was a moron for trying to go three-wide and do it early. But there’s got to be some give-and-take. It’s just early. It doesn’t take much when you’re three-wide to get pushed around, but from my vantage point, I got hit from the back.

“We just have to keep going. We had a real good positive, we won the Truck race and I had such high hopes for this one too.”

Cindric said on his team radio, “I think (Jones) got loose, checked up and I couldn’t avoid him.”

Cindric subsequently took the lead in the race but said he wasn’t in too much of a hurry on the opening lap.

“I can tell you one thing, there’s no such thing as too much of a hurry when it comes to racing unless you’re on worn out tires,” Cindric told FS1 during a race stoppage following a subsequent wreck and resulting red flag. “I’m having a lot of fun. We have a fast Ford Mustang and I intend to try and keep us here (in the lead) in the whole race.”

Four laps after Jones’ wreck, Josh Williams and Joe Graf Jr. were involved in another crash.

Then, on Lap 14, in virtually the same place as where Jones wrecked, Xfinity Series rookie of the year points leader Harrison Burton spun exiting Turn 1 and also hit the inside wall head-on. The race was red-flagged at that point for track cleanup. The red flag stoppage lasted nearly 21 minutes.

“The way it happened so fast and the way I spun, it felt like there was oil (on the track),” Burton told FS1. “It’s hard to say. I was racing with the 1 (Michael Annett) and felt good and then just instantly came around. It was a weird place to come around.

“That hit looked harder than it was. I’m alright and thankful my team builds safe race cars. I’ve unfortunately tested that out twice this year. Bummer, but we’ll be back and hopefully win some more.”

Then, on the final lap of Stage 1, Canadian driver Alex Labbe, one of four drivers in contention for the final Xfinity Dash 4 Cash race, spun in Turn 1 and suffered minor damage to his front end.

Follow @JerryBonkowski

Entry lists for NASCAR’s doubleheader weekend at Pocono

By Daniel McFadinJun 23, 2020, 11:26 AM EDT
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This weekend marks the first time the NASCAR Cup Series has held a doubleheader weekend at one track.

The premier series will compete in two races at Pocono Raceway, the 2.5-mile triangle speedway in Pennsylvania.

It will be preceded by the Truck Series on Saturday and the Xfinity Series on Sunday.

Here are the entry lists for both days.

Saturday

Cup – Pocono Organics 325 (3:30 p.m. ET on Fox; 130 laps/325 miles)

Forty car are entered.

Josh Bilicki is entered in Tommy Baldwin Racing’s No. 7 Chevrolet.

JJ Yeley is entered in Rick Ware Racing’s No. 27 Ford.

James Davison is entered in Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevrolet for both Cup races. Saturday will be his Cup debut.

Click here for the entry list.

 

Trucks – Pocono Organics 150 (12:30 p.m. ET on FS1; 60 laps/150 miles)

Forty trucks are entered.

Defending race winner Ross Chastain is entered in Niece Motorsports’ No. 40 Chevrolet.

NBC Sports analyst Parker Kligerman is entered in Henderson Motorsports’ No. 75 Chevrolet.

Brandon Jones is entered in Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 51 Toyota.

Josh Reaume is entered in Reaume Brothers Racing’s No. 00 truck. Angela Ruch is not in the truck due to a lack of sponsorship.

Click here for the entry list.

 

Sunday

Cup – Pocono 350 (4 p.m. ET on FS1; 140 laps/350 miles)

Forty cars are entered. All 40 drivers/cars are the same as for Saturday.

Click here for the entry list.

 

Xfinity Series – Pocono Green 225 (12:30 p.m. ET on FS1; 90 laps/225 miles)

Thirty-six cars are entered.

Brett Moffitt is entered in Our Motorsports’ No. 02 Chevrolet.

Ryan Vargas is entered in JD Motorsports’ No. 15 Chevrolet.

No drivers is listed for DGM Racing’s No. 36 Chevrolet.

No driver is listed for B.J. McLeod Motorsports’ No. 99 Toyota.

Click here for the entry list.

Saturday’s Xfinity race at Talladega: Start time, forecast and more

By Daniel McFadinJun 19, 2020, 6:00 PM EDT
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The Xfinity Series continues its season Saturday with a visit to Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

It marks the second superspeedway race of the year for the series and the third Dash 4 Cash race.

Chase Briscoe, Brandon Jones, Ross Chastain and A.J. Allmendinger will compete for the $100,000 bonus.

Here’s all the info you need for tomorrow’s race.

(All times are Eastern)

START: The command to start engines will be at 5:35 p.m by actor Russell Crowe. The green flag is scheduled to wave at 5:46 p.m.

PRERACE: Garage access health screening begins at 9 a.m. (teams are assigned specific times). Engine prime and final adjustments are at 3:30 p.m.. Drivers report to their cars at 5:20 p.m. The invocation will be given at 5:27 p.m by Zana Free, an UAB Hospital Interfaith Spiritual Care Provider. The national anthem will be performed at 5:28 p.m. by the 313th United States Army Band out of Birmingham.

DISTANCE: The race is 113 laps (300.58 miles) around the 2.66-mile speedway.

STAGES: Stage 1 ends on Lap 25. Stage 2 ends on Lap 50.

PACE LAPS: At the direction of race control, we will run the entire field down pit road during one of our pace laps for pit road speed verification. If you stop anywhere on pit road for any reason you will start at the rear of the field.

COMPETITION CAUTION: Lap 10

TO THE REAR: Jeb Burton and AJ Allmendinger (failed inspection three times, Mason Massey (unapproved adjustment), No. 47, Tim Viens (driver change after random draw)

TV/RADIO: FS1 will televise the race. Its coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. Motor Racing Network’s coverage will begin at 5 p.m. and also can be heard at mrn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry MRN’s broadcast.

FORECAST: The wunderground.com forecast calls for partly cloudy skies, a high of 86 degrees and a 0% chance of rain predicted at the start of the race.

LAST RACE: Chase Briscoe held off Brandon Jones in an overtime finish to win the second race in the weekend doubleheader.

LAST RACE AT TALLADEGA: Tyler Reddick held off a charge from Gray Gaulding to claim the win.

STARTING LINEUP: Click here for Xfinity starting lineup