Saturday, June 10, 2017

Brad Keselowski Makes Last Lap Pass On Kyle Larson For Win At Pocono

Brad Keselowski won the Pocono Green 250 after making a last lap pass on Kyle Larson down the backstretch. It is Keselowski's 35th career win in the Xfinity Series and it snapped a race win-less streak dating back to Texas Motor Speedway in 2015.

Rookie Kyle Benajmin was on the pole, alongside was another rookie Daniel Hemric. 25 laps made up stages 1 and 2, while 50 laps made up the final stage.

When stage 1 began, Benajmin set the world on fire before handing the lead to Brad Keselowski on lap 22, as Benjamin encountered lap traffic. Keselowski went on to win stage 1.

Stage 2 took place on lap 31 with Cole Custer, who pitted toward the end of stage 1 and Benjamin who won the race off pit road on the front row. Custer immediately jumped out front leading for ten laps, until Benjamin re-took the lead on lap 57. Keselowski was able to run down the leaders and take the lead on lap 39. Keselowski once again had a strong performance and went on to win stage 2.

The final stage was set on lap 56 with Benjamin out front. Keselowski resumed the lead on lap 62. He would remain the leader until pit stops started with 36 laps to go. This would begin a series of pit stops and varying strategies. Justin Allgaier and Brendan Gaughan stayed out hoping the race would remain green all the way. However, a caution came out on lap 78 for Brandon Jones, who blew a tire on the frontstretch.

With 16 laps to go for the restart, Custer and Keselowski regained the lead after their pit strategy played out. After the restart, Elliott Sadler pushed Keselowski up the track, causing the 22 (Keselowski) to loose the lead and drop several spots. Thus allowing Kyle Larson to take the lead after that.

Keselowski rebounded and drove all the way up to third. With four laps to go, there was a three way battle for the win. Keselowski was able to get by Allgaier. However, Keselowski had to keep chipping away Larson for the win lap by lap.

Keselowski made a last lap pass on Larson down the back straight. Keselowski held on and won the Pocono Green 250 at Pocono Raceway.

There were six leaders among 13 lead changes, with three cautions for 15 laps.

Keselowski led five times for 29 laps.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series head to Michigan International Speedway Saturday June 17.

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Matt Tifft Rebounds To A Top Ten Finish At Dover

After starting in the sixth position in qualifying, Matt Tifft driver of the no.19 Tunity Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing was looking for a solid finish at the "Monster Mile." However, it would come with challenges in the early parts of the race.

In the late going of stage 1, Tifft experienced tire troubles forcing him to come down pit road and go one lap down. This meant Tifft missed out on playoff points in the first stage.

It would take several laps for Tifft to get back on the lead lap. His big break would come on a lap 91 caution, as he would receive the free pass to get back on the lead lap. Another break came on lap 111, where a caution allowed Tifft to pit.

As Stage 3 began, the top six cars stayed out including Tifft. Tifft was in the top five before falling back again. He eventually rebounded and finished in the ninth positing, giving him his third top 10 of the year.

"It was a solid day for us. We had to play a strategy card before the start of the third stage just because Daniel (Suarez) and I both had the right fronts go consecutive laps, so it was great to fight back from two laps down to get to that point, but I think those guys just had a little bit fresher tires there at the end which helped them a little bit, but we just got a little bit too tight on the longer run."

"Overall, it was a good day for Tunity Camry. We needed these days each and every weekend and hopefully we can just build from this and try to do the same thing every week, but it's good to have a day where we're running up front and competing up front and, yeah, things kind of played out to where we had to fight back, but it could have been a whole lot worse, so glad to have a good solid day."

Kyle Larson Wins OneMain Financial 200 At Dover

Kyle Larson won the OneMain Financial 200 at Dover International Speedway. It was his third Xfinity Series win of the 2017 season and seventh career win.

It was the eleventh race of the 2017 season for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The race had three stages. 60 laps made up stages 1 and 2, while 80 laps made up the final stage. Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney made up the front row in qualifying.

When stage 1 began, Larson set sail and checked out early. However, the first caution slowed the paced on lap 5 where Ryan Seig and Brendan Gaughan got together. After the early caution, Larson started to check out again, but another caution took place on lap 26 for Brandon Jones, who spun off of turn 4. Two more cautions would take place on lap 33 and 41, but Larson was able to hang on and win stage 1. Right before the stage ended, however, both Matt Tifft and Daniel Suarez had a flat tire and pitted. William Byron and Brennan Poole transferred for Dash 4 Cash.

Stage 2 took place on lap 67. Austin Dillon stayed out due to not having enough set of tires, therefore assuming the lead, along with Larson on the front row. With crash damage from the lap 41 caution, Dillon could not hang on and this saw Larson take the lead. Just eight laps later, a caution came out for Spencer Gallagher who stalled in turn 2, Daniel Suarez caught a break and received the free pass.

After the restart, Ryan Blaney took the lead on lap 88. Two laps later, Harrison Rhodes brought out another caution, this time Matt Tifft was back on the lead lap after having problems in stage 1.

Blaney remained in the lead until a caution came out on lap 111 for debris from Erik Jones car, which blew up a few laps earlier. After a restart, Darrell Wallace Jr took the lead on lap 116 and would hang on to win stage 2. He and Elliott Sadler would round out the Dash 4 Cash transfer spots.

When the race restarted with 73 laps to go for stage 3, the top six stayed out, including Suarez and he would end up being the race leader. Suarez would lead for 19 laps until Larson took the lead down the backstretch with 54 laps to go. As Suarez began slipping back, Blaney came back in to picture with 47 laps to go by taking second place.

However, Larson would remain the race leader all the way to the checkered flag, with Blaney finishing in second.

William Byron won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash.

There were ten cautions for 45 laps with six leaders among nine lead changes. Larson led three times for 137 laps.

The next scheduled NASCAR Xfinity Series is Saturday June 10 at Pocono Raceway.