Latest news with #Pocono
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Connor Zilisch Continues to Figure Out Ovals and Wins Rain-Shortened Xfinity Race at Dover
The NASCAR Xfinity race was shortened when rain hit the track with 68 laps to go in the final stage. After a 50-minute red flag on Saturday, with Connor Zilisch sitting in the catbird seat, the race was officially called with Zilisch winning his fourth race of the year and second on an oval. Taylor Gray started on pole and was dominant in the first stage, leading every lap before a 20+ second pitstop sent him tumbling down the leaderboard. Zilisch shined in the second stage, which also went caution-free for his fourth stage win of the season, all coming on oval tracks. Zilisch kept the lead for 77 laps, in the final stage, Brandon Jones found speed to put pressure on the rookie as rain started to creep onto the radar. A caution for rain came on lap 132 of the race with 68 laps to go, and three laps later, the race was red-flagged for rain. NASCAR sent out jet dryers, falling the light sprinkle, but harder rain was to follow, with the race being called after a 50-minute red flag. Zilisch and his team agreed that they would rather the race resume so he could win it the right way. While Zilisch is expected to compete on road courses even before he was full-time in the series, his oval wins prove that he's learning how to be a well-rounded threat in the Xfinity Series and beyond. However, his two oval wins now both carry little caveats, with Pocono having three turns instead of four, and his win at Dover happening in only the second rain-shortened race at the track. "We've been showing it lately," Zilisch said. "First of all, I hate that we couldn't finish the race the right way. Aric was really fast and would've given me a run for our money." Shortly before the yellow flag, Aric Almirola made it by Jones for second. Justin Allgaier, who started at the back after hitting the wall in qualifying and needing repairs, runs fourth, making it into the top five at the start of the second stage. Almirola, the 41-year-old veteran, believed that his car was on par with Zilisch's if he could just get to clean air. "He's fast, I wish I could swap places with him and have some clean air," Almirola told The CW Sports. Almirola finished second in each stage as well. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car Sign in to access your portfolio
Fox News
30-06-2025
- Automotive
- Fox News
Bubba Wallace's Winless Streak Mounts As He Clings To Playoff Spot
Bubba Wallace didn't make the playoffs last year and sits on the brink again this year with eight races left in the regular season. He can look at his precarious position. He's 23 points ahead of Ryan Preece for the final playoff spot on points with a good possibility that other drivers could win, decreasing the number of drivers who make it on points. This could happen in two ways: — In 18 races, he has failed to finish six of them. That would tell a driver that this wouldn't be his year, that the racing gods have decided that this would be the year the driver would end up in wrecks. — Or despite those lack of finishes, it is a little bit remarkable that he actually still sits above the playoff cutline. No other driver above the cutline has more than three DNFs, except for Ryan Blaney, who also has six. Predictably, Wallace has endured a rollercoaster of a season when it comes to his finishes. He has six top 10s, then six finishes of 28th or worse. After three consecutive weeks of wrecking out of races, Wallace appeared to have gotten his season back on track with a sixth at Nashville, a fourth at Michigan and a respectable 12th at Mexico City. But a brake failure at Pocono resulted in a 36th-place finish and then damage from an early wreck at Atlanta relegated him to 22nd. Wallace has tried to put on a good face. He has been racing legends cars (small cars that are often used to teach pre-teens and early teens how to race) in a masters division during the week. A new father as of last fall, having a son probably helps take his mind off his 96-race winless streak. He tried to clear his mind this past week with a little golf. "We've been throwing the word 'execute' around a while, but mainly on [team meeting day] Monday," Wallace said the day prior to the Atlanta race. "It's a new week, a new fresh set of downs, a new opportunity." The last couple of races have been particularly frustrating. Both Pocono and Atlanta have been good tracks for Wallace. He was second in practice at Pocono but then his car wouldn't start in qualifying. The brakes then left him going for a ride into the wall in the race after the team chose what turned out to be the wrong brake package. An excellent drafting track racer, Wallace had to fight the car the last two stages at Atlanta instead of fighting for the win. "You can't change the past," Wallace said Saturday at Atlanta. "Focus on what's ahead. And hope my car starts in qualifying. "We'll get out of this little slump that we're in." Wallace car owner Denny Hamlin expects Wallace to snap the winless streak. Just as he expects his other veteran driver, Tyler Reddick, to win this year. "I just know the resources that we've put in at 23XI, and all of our drivers should win," said Hamlin, who as a driver has three victories for Joe Gibbs Racing. "That is the expectation that I have of them. Obviously, it is a results-based business, and if you don't over time, you consider your options. "Overall, I've seen enough progression, specifically, from the [Wallace] standpoint, that I can see where this can go. Putting himself in a playoff position year after year is good, but winning makes it better." The way Wallace has pivoted on how he talks about frustrating moments is also better. There were times in the past where he'd unmercifully blame himself, indicating he should be fired. He'd wear his emotions on his sleeve. "It is just so much easier if you have issues and you want to kick and scream, do it to us [at the shop]," Hamlin said. "When you do it outwardly in the public and in the media, it creates a lot of other distractions that you have to deal with. "He's made it easier. ... He hasn't even existed for a third of the races when it comes to finishes. I think it just shows how strong that they are, and what they are capable of doing." In the last few weeks, Shane van Gisbergen won Mexico City and Chase Briscoe won Pocono. Both of those drivers were behind Wallace in points and now have all but assured themselves playoff spots. It makes things more difficult for Wallace, but he doesn't see it that way. "In your imaginary drivers bracket that you thought at the beginning of the year, those two guys were already locked in," Wallace said. "Briscoe has been competitive in everything he's been able to drive, so that was cool to see him get a win although he was behind us in points. "It is what it is. I told Shane two weeks before Mexico, I shook his hand and congratulated him." And on that imaginary bracket, does Wallace have him winning? "We have expected to win at this point in the season, and we have yet to do that," Wallace said. "But it goes back to executing and if we can just do our jobs, there's no one behind us in the points that can beat us. So we'll just continue to do that." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
NBC Sports
29-06-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Chase Elliott's Atlanta win takes away chance to earn a playoff spot for some drivers
HAMPTON, Ga. — On a night when opportunity opened for so many drivers outside a playoff spot, hope faded away in the blur of Chase Elliott's car. And so goes one less chance to make the playoffs for Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Zane Smith. Nate Ryan, All entered Saturday night's race at EchoPark Speedway outside a playoff spot. Jones was the closest to the cutline and he was more than one race's worth of points back. While there's a chance those drivers can point their way into the playoffs with eight races left in the regular season, the reality is they need to win. Saturday night was set to be that chance. Until it wasn't. Smith led with eight laps left. Stenhouse passed him and led with seven laps to go. Keselowski got by him and led the next five laps. Chase Elliott passed him for the victory on the final lap. 'Every loss sucks,' Keselowski said after finishing second. Keselowski is so far back in the points that he needs to win to make the playoffs. But he didn't have much of a chance on that last lap. Elliott's teammate, Alex Bowman — who entered the night on the playoff cutline — was in third place and gave Elliott a push down the frontstretch as the field took the white flag. 'If he and I did anything but push one another in that situation, we were handing the race to Brad,' Elliott said. That momentum helped Elliott dive to the inside of Keselowski's car and pass him in Turn 1. Bowman challenged Keselowski for second as Elliott pulled away for the popular win at his home track. 'There's races where you can do things different and there's races where you can't,' Keselowski said. There was not much he could do going against the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates. A key moment in the race came when Keselowksi's teammate, Chris Buescher, who had been running second to his boss, lost second to Smith at Lap 237 of the 260-lap race. Buescher then fell to fourth two laps later. He soon fell out of the top five and could not provide Keselowski any help the rest of the race. Without a teammate, Keselowski was exposed to the big moves that cars could make on the 1.54-mile speedway. When Smith took the lead, he felt comfortable with the situation only a few miles from a potential first Cup victory. 'I felt like I had a good idea of how it was going to be, controlling the guy in second, how big of a run he was going to get and just trying to stall him out the best I could and pick up help,' Smith said after finishing seventh. 'I just let two guys by.' Stenhouse made a big move to go three-wide, diving down low to take the lead. 'Just didn't feel like I had enough speed to stay there,' Stenhouse said after placing sixth. 'It was going to take some massive blocks to do that.' With the big runs, that would have led to a big crash, similar to the 22-car crash that brought out the caution at Lap 70 that eliminated points leader William Byron, pole-sitter Joey Logano, Pocono winner Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. Keselowski took control and with two laps to go, he was in good shape. He had Tyler Reddick behind him, followed by Elliott, Stenhouse, Jones, who would finish fifth, and Bowman. That was a Toyota, two Chevrolets, a Toyota and another Chevrolet behind Keselowski's Ford. Had it stayed that jumbled, Keselowski might have been able to hold off his foes but Bowman went from sixth to third and Elliott went from third to second by the final lap, setting up Elliott's move. 'Honestly,' Elliott said, 'all the cards fell on the right places there those last couple laps.' And left Keselowski, Jones, Stenhouse and Smith still searching for that victory that gets them into the playoffs.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Hendrick Motorsports penalized for violation with Chase Elliott's NASCAR Xfinity car
Following a triple-header weekend at Pocono Raceway, NASCAR chose to take the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Chase Elliott and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Christopher with them back to the R&D Center for further inspection. Both cars were fine, but that was not the case for the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet that took part in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday. Chase Elliott was driving the car at Pocono, earning pole position and leading 38 of 100 laps before finishing fourth. But apparently, something was not quite right with the car. Advertisement NASCAR has issued an L1 penalty to Hendrick Motorsports, which fields the No. 17 on a part-time basis in the Xfinity Series. They violated Sections 14.3.3.2.1.1 K&L of the NASCAR Rule Book, which focuses on the main frame rail conical receivers. The team reportedly modified these receivers in some way. Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet As a result, Hendrick Motorsports have been assessed the loss of 40 owner points and ten playoff points, but this doesn't impact them much as they aren't competing for the championship in that series. However, they were also fined $40,000 and crew chief Adam Wall has been suspended for the next three races. Advertisement Hendrick have entered the No. 17 in ten (of 16) races so far this year with Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Alex Bowman, and Corey Day as the drivers. They have two wins, capturing the checkered flag with Larson at Bristol and Byron at Charlotte. Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal the penalties. There were no other issues in this week's penalty report. The No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet (NASCAR Xfinity) of Christian Eckes also went to the R&D Center and like the previously mentioned Cup cars, there were no problems. Read Also: Winning NASCAR team owner Larry McClure passes away Predicting the winner of NASCAR's $1 million in-season bracket challenge Concerned teams argue in court over NASCAR subpoena for financial data To read more articles visit our website.
The Sun
28-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Sun
Terrifying moment Nascar mechanic is struck by flying tire during pit stop in heart-stopping accident
NASCAR produced a terrifying moment in its race last weekend. While racing at Pocono Raceway, a tire was flung into a pit crew member accidentally. 3 3 JP Kealey works as a tire changer for Trackhouse driver Shane Van Gisbergen. However, things went downhill quickly when fellow Trackhouse driver AJ Allmendinger came in at the same time for a stop. Allmendinger came into his pit box too fast, sliding across the pavement and knocking a tire out of a pit crew member's hands. That tire went flying towards Kealey and struck him hard. The impact jammed his air gun directly into the side of his body. Kealey is a former pro lacross player, and was left doubled over in pain before ultimately fighting through the pain. Despite being able to finish the job, Kealey was forced to go to the hospital following the game. It was revealed by Skip Flores of the Stacking Pennies podcast that he suffered two broken ribs. Kealey also later revealed that his injuries included a partially collapsed lung. The footage of the incident is terrifying, and Nascar fans shared how tough Kealey was for getting his job done. American Thunder, NASCAR To Le Mans "Scary moment there on pit road," one fan said. "These guys are STUDS. Insane," another fan said. "Man that guy is a baller for finishing the pit stop anyway," a third fan said. "Nascar pit team tough WOW," a fourth fan said. "Tough, super athletes. His ribs are sore," a fifth fan said. The rough moment on pit lane was ultimately a sign of what was to come during the race. Van Gisbergen ended up finishing 31st at The Great American Getaway 400. Noel "Bud" MIller Jr will fill in as his tire changer for the Quaker State 400 this weekend.
