Race 14 - Kansas
Pole Winner: #22 Joey Logano
Race Winner: #9 Chase Elliott
Pool Standings:
1. G Money -1232. asleep at the wheel -151
3. Last Lappers - 155
4. Go 21 - 161
5. Bigwood - 164
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Monday, October 15, 2018
Race 13 - Talladega
Race 13 - Talladega
Pole Winner: #41 Kurt Busch
Race Winner: #10 Aric Almirola
Pool Standings:
1. G Money -1132. asleep at the wheel -150
2. Last Lappers - 150
4. Go 21 - 151
5. Bigwood - 159
I didn't get to see a lot of the race, but from what I did see and read; it was typical Talladega baby! The SHR guys were all set for a 1-2-3-4 finish until Bowman lost control at the end of the race, bringing out the caution and sending it to overtime.
The guys head to Kansas this week. With only two races to go before the next cutoff, I'm sure things will heat up.
The yellow put Harvick and fellow playoff
drivers Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney in dire straits with respect to
fuel, and all three came to pit road to gas up before the final restart
in overtime on Lap 192. Busch held the lead until his car sputtered in
Turn 4 on the final lap — after a multicar wreck in Turn 1 damaged the
cars of playoff drivers Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr.
Almirola surged into the lead and took the checkered flag, leading his only lap of the afternoon.
With the runner-up finish, Bowyer climbed
from outside the Round of 8 cutline to sixth in the playoff standings,
21 points to the good.
The guys head to Kansas this week. With only two races to go before the next cutoff, I'm sure things will heat up.
Next Race: Kansas on Sunday October 21th!
Race 12 - Dover
Race 12 - Dover
Pole Winner: #18 Kyle Busch
Race Winner: #9 Chase Elliott
Pool Standings:
1. G Money -962. asleep at the wheel -117
3. Bigwood - 126
4. Last Lappers - 129
5. Intimidator - 130
What looked like a Stewart-Haas Racing victory parade for much of Sunday afternoon ended in a wild overtime scramble, with Chase Elliott taking the checkered flag at the monster mile.
On considerably older tires, Elliott pulled ahead and cleared runner-up Denny Hamlin through Turns 1 and 2 after a restart on Lap 403 finished .265 seconds ahead of Hamlin.
With the victory — his second of the season and the second of his career — Elliott punched his ticket into the Round of 8 in the playoffs.
The move that won the race was the decision to keep Elliott on the track with tires that were more than 50 laps old, when most of the other lead-lap cars opted to pit on Lap 393 after Clint Bowyer slammed into the Turn 4 wall one lap earlier.
Elliott led the field to a restart on Lap 397, but on the backstretch during that circuit, Aric Almirola nicked the outside wall and started a chain-reaction collision that also damaged the cars of fellow playoff drivers Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney.
NASCAR red-flagged the race, and Elliott outran Hamlin in an overtime that extended the event four laps beyond its scheduled distance. The only laps Elliott led were the last 11.
Kevin Harvick, on the other hand, was out front for 286 of the 404 laps and was the clear class of the field. Harvick swept the first two stagesand appeared headed for another perfect afternoon, but he had to return to pit road under green for an extra tire change after a flying lug nut knocked the valve stem off Harvick’s left rear tire.
Harvick regained the lap he lost under a debris caution called on Lap 339, but he couldn’t work his way back to the front before the race ended.
Next Race: Talladega on Sunday October 14th!
Race 11 - Charlotte
Race 11 - Charlotte
Pole Winner: #41 Kurt Busch
Race Winner: #12 Ryan Blaney
Pool Standings:
1. G Money -812. asleep at the wheel- 106
3. Harry Hogge - 107
4. Bigwood - 116
5. Last Lappers - 117
In a race that was as wild as advertised in the closing laps, Ryan Blaney sped past crashing Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. in the final corner to win Sunday’s inaugural Roval.
Johnson was pressuring Truex on the final lap and got to the inside of
Truex off the banking of Turn
15 coming into the front stretch chicane. Johnson spun and collected Truex as he
slid across the asphalt between Turns 16 and 17, knocking Truex
toward the outside wall in the tri-oval. Blaney drove between the two wrecked cars and crossed the finish
line .792 seconds ahead of runner-up Jamie McMurray.
Because he had blown the chicane, Johnson
stopped on the frontstretch as mandated by NASCAR before continuing
across the finish line. He finished eighth and ended the event tied for
11th in the playoff standings with Aric Almirola and Kyle Larson, who
completed the final lap in a car that had been all but destroyed in a
Turn 1 wreck after a restart on Lap 104 of 109.