NASCAR

New rules have been released for the 2021 NASCAR Cup series and they will mainly target the High downforce and low downforce strategies for another time. Nashville and Darlington will be utilizing the low downforce 750hp package which is 250hp extra from the previous 500hp package, which all rounds longer than 1.1 miles ran for the 2020 NASCARCup season. Gen-6 will be bidding farewell to NASCAR at the end of 2021 season before the Next Gen car hits the track for the 2022 season. In addition to the high downforce and low downforce packages, the following changes on low downforce were also made: 1.Smaller rear spoiler, shrinking from an 8-inch height to 2.75 inches. 2. The front splitter overhang measures a quarter-inch (down from 2 inches), with approximately 2-inch wings (reduced from 10.5 inches). 3.Alterations to the radiator pan, removing its vertical fencing in an effort to reduce front-end downforce. The dimensions of the pan remain the same. “We constantly review the race packages to try to put on the best possible racing for our fans,” said NASCAR’s senior vice president of innovation and racing development, John Probst. “When we brought in the short track/road course package this season, Darlington was not part of it due to its unique size. We’ve been evaluating data from both race packages, as well as feedback from drivers, teams and OEMs and feel that the 750 hp/low downforce package best fits the track.”

Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing will be joining pact in the 2021 NASCAR Cup season so as to improve the Chevy engine performance. Hendrick and Childress racing teams have been the most successful teams in the 2019 NASCAR Cup season, and following its end they will be joining ventures which will be highly focussed on engine research and development and eventually come up with a common specification Chevrolet engine. “While our two championship-winning organizations will collaborate on research and development, our respective engine shop operations will continue to function independently as they currently do.” “We look forward to working together to fully leverage the knowledge and intellectual property of our two successful programs to advance Chevrolet’s engine for NASCAR.” Hendrick Motorsport and Richard Childress said in a joint statement. The new joint effort will be overseen on joint basis by Richie Gilmore(RCR) and Jeff Andrews from HMS who will also be joined by a steering comitee. Jeff Andrews recently received a promotion and is now the executive vice president and general manager Hendrick Mototrsports. Richie Gilmore on the other hand is the president ECR engines. The engines that has been produced by the collaboration of the two entities have earned a combined 39 wins at NASCAR national series championships 20 of which have been from the NASCAR elite series. The Chevrolet cars that have been taken to races by the two companies have won a combined 369 cup series which have all gained them points. However, Chevrolet have not gotten any championship win for the last three years. Jimmie Johnson was the last driver to win a championship for the team back in 2016, but this season the Chevrolet drivers have been able to get 4 out of the 12 remaining playoff slots and have achieved 5 combined victories. The remaining 8 Ford and Toyota drivers have gotten 22 victories of the season. The move by the two teams has followed Totota and Ford common venture to have an unified common engine builders over the recent years and they have been proving to be very competitive in the NASCAR series. “We started talking about this, Richie Gilmore at RCR and I, that the day was going to come when we really needed to figure out how to get these two programs together,” Andrews said in an interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “There’s a tremendous amount of talent and people, a tremendous amount of equipment and resources between the two programs, so how could we do this? how could we take the long-standing heritage between the two companies and get that together and start to work on an alliance that would produce the ultimate power train for Chevrolet NASCAR? “So, we have entered into that with them. We will maintain two separate facilities. When you step back and look at it, ultimately, when you have these resources and you have these people, you have to do what’s right for Chevrolet, first and foremost, to get them back to the front of the field and to get wins and championships.”

Kurt Busch became the first NASCAR Cup Series driver to book his spot in the next round of the Playoffs with victory in overtime at Las Vegas. Busch in the #1 Chip Ganassi Chevrolet had not followed the leading pack, headed by Denny Hamlin, in pitting midway through the final stage, and benefited when Jimmie Johnson’s car shed its right rear Goodyear tyre, bringing out the caution flags. While Hamlin and the rest of the leading gaggle, including Alex Bowman who undercut Hamlin during these stops by pitting on lap 232, dropped to a lap down, Busch – the sole driver in Playoff contention who did not pit – was able to take his stop and restart in second place, behind Wood Brothers Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto. Busch took the lap 243 restart on the inside line and muscled past the #21 of DiBenedetto to take the lead, before a John Hunter Nemechek spin seven laps later once again neutralised the race on the 1.5-mile oval circuit. Hamlin, who was running in 11th place then led a charge to pitroad of those who had lost out under the Johnson caution, with the likes of Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr, Alex Bowman, and Chase Elliott followed the #11 Joe Gibbs Toyota for fresh rubber. Bowman and Hamlin quickly began to carve through the field, before a final caution for William Byron’s spin after Christopher Bell’s car suffered a tyre failure. This sent the race into overtime, with none of the leaders opting to pit ahead of the two-lap shootout. Busch took the restart ahead of DiBenedetto, Ryan Blaney, Bowman and Hamlin, and quickly dropped the chasing pack, whilst Hamlin tried to fight his way past Blaney. Busch, who took 16th and 17th respectively in stages one and two, was untroubled throughout the overtime period, allowing the 2004 Cup champion to record his first win of 2020, 33rd of his career, first since Kentucky in July 2019, and ensure his place in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs. DiBenedetto equalled his best result of the season with second in his Ford, which also came at Las Vegas in February, ahead of stage two winner Hamlin, who scored his first top 10 finish since the Daytona road course race. Playoff hopefuls Truex Jr, Bowman and reigning champion Kyle Busch took fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, with the already eliminated Ryan Blaney the lead finisher for Team Penske in seventh. Erik Jones followed up third last time out at Bristol with eighth for JGR, ahead of Chris Buescher and Harvick – who recorded his 25th top 10 result of 2020 in an otherwise quiet afternoon for the polesitter in his #4 machine. Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson was hit with a pitlane speeding penalty midway through the 268-lapper, but fought back well to claim 11th, ahead of Penske duo Brad Keselowski (13th) and Joey Logano (14th). Logano had been a lap down for a majority of the race following lap 88 contact with Kyle Busch left the #22 with minor damage. Elliott had looked comfortable out in front during periods of stage one, which the #9 Hendrick driver claimed ahead of Hamlin, but struggled in the latter stages, coming home 22nd. Austin Dillon, who had been the star of the Playoffs with a strong Round of 16 looked set to continue his good form in his #3 Richard Childress machine, banking a pair of sixth place finishes in the two 80-lap segments. However, a suspected piece of debris damaged belts inside the engine of his Camaro, which led to a power steering failure, and left the #3 seven laps down in 32nd position at the flag. NASCAR Las Vegas race results – 268 lapsPos Driver Team Gap1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing –2 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing s3 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing s4 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing s5 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports s6 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing s7 Ryan Blaney Team Penske s8 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing s9 Chris Buescher Roush Fenway Racing s10 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing s11 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports s12 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing s13 Brad Keselowski Team Penske s14 Joey Logano Team Penske s15 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing s16 Cole Custer Stewart-Haas Racing s17 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing s18 Matt Kenseth Chip Ganassi Racing s19 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing s20 John Hunter Nemechek Front Row Motorsports s21 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports s22 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports s23 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing s24 Christopher Bell Leavine Family Racing s25 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports s26 Ty Dillon Germain Racing 1 Lap27 Corey LaJoie Go FAS Racing 1 Lap28 Darrell Wallace Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports 2 Laps29 Daniel Suarez Gaunt Brothers Racing 3 Laps30 Brennan Poole Premium Motorsports 3 Laps31 Gray Gaulding Rick Ware Racing 6 Laps32 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing 7 Laps33 J.J. Yeley Spire Motorsports 7 Laps34 Quin Houff StarCom Racing 9 Laps35 Joey Gase Petty Ware Racing 12 Laps36 Josh Bilicki Rick Ware Racing Suspension37 Timmy Hill MBM Motorsports Rear end38 Tyler Reddick Richard Childress Racing Accident39 Chad Finchum MBM Motorsports Overheating

Chas Briscoe achieved his ambitious goal he had set prior to the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity season by winning his eighth race in the season at the Las Vegas playoffs on Saturday night. Chase Briscoe led 164 out of 200 laps although he suffered a late race restart but was able to hold off Noah Gragson to win Saturday’s Alsco 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, completing a sweep of victories in both of the track’s Xfinity races this season. The victory in the Las Vegas playoffs locked Chase Briscoe into the semifinal round whatever his performance in the next race. He has eight 8 wins now in the season and ten in the three seasons he has competed. “We got it figured out here these last few races. This thing is on the rails around this place,” Briscoe said. “I’m super happy to start our playoffs this way. It’s been an unbelievable season but we have six more races to win. That’s what we are going to do. The championship is the priority right now. We still have more in the tank.” Briscoe added. Briscoe, in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, won all three stages Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, then beat hometown driver Noah Gragson on a late restart to grab control of the Xfinity Series title race. Briscoe earned an automatic berth into the second round of the playoffs and increased his series-best victory total. There will be a new Xfinity Series champion for the first time in three years this season and Briscoe is one of the favorites. “An incredible car by everybody at Stewart-Haas. That made my job way too easy, honestly,” Briscoe said. “We have had a lot of wins this year, but this is by far our most dominant car.” The Indiana native has been an inspiring story for underdogs, and this season was in doubt until sponsorship developed during the offseason to secure a second season at SHR. Chase Briscoe went into the year determined to win eight races and prove he deserves a spot in the Cup Series. Briscoe joined Jack Ingram and Sam Ard with a record eight wins; both Ingram and Ard won eight apiece in 1984. He also won last week at Bristol. Now that Briscoe has hit his mark of eight wins, he’s got his sights set on grabbing every trophy he can over the final six races of the season. He knew his No. 98 team was capable of a dominant season, which is why he felt comfortable making eight wins the mark to hit to argue his case for a Cup ride. “I knew this team was fully capable of achieving that and even more,” Briscoe said. “It has been an unbelievable season and we still have a lot, six more wins that we can try to get and a championship. That is what we are going to try to do.” Gragson, a Las Vegas native, finished second in a Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. He suffered a bloody nose in the middle of the race and it was bothersome over the final stretch. When a caution came out with 14 laps to go, Gragson got his shot to go head to head with Briscoe for the win. It took Briscoe a full lap to take control on the restart, and Gragson had nothing for him. Briscoe had built a lead of more than 6 seconds over Austin Cindric before the late caution, Gragson came off pit road in second and had his only chance at Briscoe on the restart. Cindric, the regular-season champion, didn’t have as strong of a Ford as Briscoe, but still was running second before the final caution. Team Penske told him he should do the opposite strategy as Briscoe but let Cindric make the final decision. Cindric followed Briscoe down pit road for the service, but a slow stop cost him four positions.

Austin Hill did not have the best Friday night at Las Vegas NASCAR Truck Playoffs which earned him a place in the semi-final round of the Series Playoffs. Hill took the lead for the first time after race restart on lap 96 of the 134 laps, as Sheldon Creed who had led for 89 laps tried to take on Hill, but the attempts failed. Sheldon Creed had come into contact with the wall as he was trying to get Hill but however managed to come 0.546 seconds behind Hill who led the race. This is the second win for Hill in 2020 and 6th victory of his career. “Right after Bristol, right after they took the checkered flag, I said ‘Let’s keep our heads up. We’re going to go to Vegas and win it’ and, heck, we did it,” Austin Hill said. “We didn’t have the best truck by no means. We had to fight a lot of adversity. In Stages 1 and 2 we weren’t good at all. The guys kept working on it. The pit crew did a hell of a job and I just had to go out there and get it and that’s what we did.” “Sheldon was definitely way faster than me. I was probably looking in my mirror more than I was looking out front. I knew he was better than we were. I knew I was going to have to protect.” Tanner Gray completed the race third, Stewart Frisen and Chandler Smith rounded out the top five as they were 4th and 5th respectively. Grant Enfinger, Zane Smith, Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton and Tyler Ankrum rounded up the top 10 drivers in the series playoffs. The next week’s race at Talladega will be the final race of the first rounds of the playoffs meaning that the lowest two drivers in points without a win will be eliminated in the fight for the Championship contention. All the drivers pit following the break between stage 2 and 3 and Creed was the first to come off the pits on the race restart on lap 68 as he continued to maintain the lead. After going wide, Creed was overtaken by Eckes on lap 69 but later on lap 73 Creed re-took the lead. On lap 78 Derek Kraus moved into second as Moffitt followed closely in 3rd. On lap 84, Ben Rhodes spun out on Turn 2 after contact with Friesen bringing out a caution and all the leading trucks pit. Creed maintained the lead on the race restart on lap 90 followed by Kraus and Johnny Sauter. Jordan Anderson got stopped at the exit of the pit road on lap 90 which brought the caution back out. On lap 96 the race was back on as Creed lead the race followed by Hill and Eckes. Hill later took the lead as Friesen came second. On lap 124 Creed came into contact with the wall as he was trying to take down Hill but still remained second. Friesen was in third as creed tried to close in on hill up to the end of the race.

Denny Hamlin is starting his own race car team in partnership with Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan and Bubba Wallace as the driver. Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner and top contender for this year’s Cup title, made the announcement on social media. The team will be a single-car Toyota entry aligned with Joe Gibbs Racing. “Eleven years ago I met Michael Jordan at a then-Charlotte Bobcats game and we became fast friends,” Hamlin wrote. “Not long after, I joined Jordan Brand as their first NASCAR athlete, our friendship has grown over the years and now we are ready to take it to the next level…Deciding on the driver was easy it had to be Bubba Wallace.” Hamlin said additional details about the new team would be forthcoming. Bubba Wallace is the only Black driver at NASCAR’s top level. There’s been speculation for months that Denny Hamlin was organizing some sort of ownership group as he expects NASCAR’s business model to become more favorable for team owners when the “Next Gen” car is released in 2022. NASCAR rules prohibit a current driver from owning a team and driving for another, but Hamlin works around the policy with Jordan as the primary owner. Jordan became a partial owner of the Bobcats in 2006 and bought the team outright in 2010, restoring the franchise to its original Hornets name. Hamlin has been a longtime season-ticket holder with courtside seats along the visitors’ bench. Jordan has twice traveled to the NASCAR season finale to watch Hamlin race for the championship. Hamlin, who’s 39, is still seeking his first title. Wallace, who has cobbled together about $18 million in sponsorship deals since he made social equality his platform, already said he’d leave Richard Petty Motorsports at the end of the season. “This is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I believe is a great fit for me at this point in my career,” Wallace wrote in a social media post coordinated with Hamlin’s. “I am grateful and humbled that they believe in me and I’m super pumped to begin this adventure with them.”

Ross Chastain will finally get an opportunity next season to compete full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series after signing a deal to join Chip Ganassi Racing. The 27-year-old, will take over the driving duties of Ganassi’s No. 42 Chevrolet in 2021, as an official announcement of Chastain’s move is expected later on Monday multiple sources said. Chastain will replace veteran Matt Kenseth, who stepped into the car in May to replace former driver Kyle Larson, who was fired in April for using a racial slur during the broadcast of an iRacing event and remains indefinitely suspended by NASCAR. This season, Chastain has been competing full-time in the Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing. He has yet to win, but advanced to the series playoffs and is ranked eighth in the series standings. He finished second in last Friday night’s race at Bristol, which marked his fifth runner-up finish of the 2020 season. Following the race on Friday night, Chastain was asked whether he would drive the No. 42 if the opportunity arose. “Are you kidding me? Of course,” he said. “Everyone in this whole entire garage would, yeah. I mean yeah who wouldn’t? Everyone would.” In his NASCAR career, Chastain owns a pair of wins in the Xfinity Series and three in Trucks. He also ran three Xfinity races in the 2018 season with CGR, winning at Las Vegas. He was also scheduled to run the full Xfinity season for Ganassi in 2019, but the deal fell apart in the offseason when the sponsor became embroiled in legal issues. Chastain competed in Cup, Xfinity and Truck races in 2019 – and contended for the Truck title – with other teams but continued to maintain his relationship with the Ganassi organisation. In January, CGR announced plans to help field Chastain in a Cup car in both the Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600 this season. He finished 25th and 21st, respectively, in the races.

Sam Meyer, who was competing with JR Motorsports’ Late model program in 2018 will be returning to the entity next season driving a JRM Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity series for the second half of the year and later upgrade to be a full-time competitor in the series for the 2022 season. The 17-year-old will be returning to where much of his racing success started as he was riding with JR Motorsports in the Cars Tour back in 2018. The age restrictions back then when he was 15 years old, could only allow him to compete in certain tracks for the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. In his first ARCA race Mayer ran as high as third and finished among the top 10 drivers. “Having the opportunity to return to JR Motorsports after racing late models with them in 2018 is definitely very special to me,” Mayer said. “Being able to share this news makes me very excited for the coming year…I hope I can learn as much as I can in the second half of next season and to be ready to go race fulltime for the NXS championship in 2022.” The 17-year-old added. “When Sam first came to run the late model a couple of years ago, he was adamant he would be racing an Xfinity car for us someday, I admired his initiative then, and now we’re happy to help make his dream a reality.” said Kelley Earnhardt Miller, JRM general manager. “It will be quite a step up, but it’s one he’s ready to make, he’s shown he has the skills to be successful at a very high level.” Sam Mayer will be the second driver from the JRM model of drivers to return to the organisation for the NASCAR Xfinity series after William Byron the current Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series driver and the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion

Grant enfinger passed Matt Crafton with only seven out of the two hundred and fifty laps remaining which earned him his third victory in the Nascar Truck series regular at Richmond Raceway. Enfinger made a comeback from an incident he had experienced in the early sections of the last stage after his truck developed a tyre rub forcing him to pit following contact with his ThorSport teammate Ben Rhodes. Grant Enfinger got back on the lead-lap and gradually worked his way back to the top, eventually passing teammate Crafton with only seven laps to go, closing the regular season the same way he began it in Victory Lane. This is his fifth career victory. Matt Crafton came in second and Rhodes third making it a 1-2-3 win for ThorSport Racing. Brett Moffitt finished fourth and GMS Racing Tyler Ankrum rounded up the top five spots for the race. “Man, definitely a special night for us…It’s been a rough couple months. Even though we got the year started off pretty good, it’s been a rough couple months. We catch a little flack every now and then but we had three F-150s at ThorSport Racing that could have won the race tonight and I’m proud of that.” Enfinger said. “Matt seemed like he wanted to run the bottom but we ran the center really good. That was our advantage on the long run. We’ve been beating our heads against the wall lately but I feel like we’re going into the playoffs with some momentum.” Following a break between stage two and three, many trucks headed for the pits but Ben Rhodes in the No.99 ThorSport truck remained on the track and in the lead even after the race restart on lap 153, Enfinger managed to grab back the lead after the restart but a lap later Rhodes reclaimed the lead. This move made Enfinger’s No.98 Ford get a tyre rub. Austin Wayne got himself spinning on turn one in an incident that also got ThorSport Racing’s Johny Sauter bringing out the caution as the drivers elected to pit. Moffitt went four-wide in Turns 1 and 2 on the restart to go from 12th to fourth in one lap. On Lap 187, he got around Rhodes to take the lead for the first time in the race. On Lap 196, Crafton managed to move into the runner-up spot, less than a second behind Moffitt but Crafton finally ran down and passed Moffitt for the lead on Lap 219.With 15 laps remaining in the race, Crafton had built a 1.7-second lead over Grant Enfinger with Moffitt in third.Enfinger closed to Crafton’s rear bumper with 10 laps to go, hoping to challenge him one final time for the lead. Enfinger cleared Crafton with seven laps remaining to take the lead for the third time in the race.

It was an intense battle for the lead in the Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway, as the two front running cars came into contact and tangled just two laps remaining to the end of the race. This gave way for Brandon to get a rather unexpected win. There was a thrilling last 10 laps between Xfinity series regular Denny Hamlin and 2020 Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin as they gave fans a thrilling spectacle as they competed for the lead but they both had contact around turn 3 with only two laps to go allowing car No.23(Brandon Jones) to get around them and get the checkered flag. Ross Chastain recovered from the contact to earn his 4th runner up of the season just crossing the finish line 3.363 seconds after Brandon Jones. Ryan Sieg(RSS Racing) came in third as it was quite an excellent performance by Riley Herbst who came in fourth despite being a rookie. The fifth position was rounded up by Hamlin. The rest of the top tens were taken by rookie Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson, Michael Annett, Austin Hill and rookie Myatt Snider. “This is a tough place to get around and man, just smart in the head I think today, I think that’s what got ’em,” said driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Brandon Jones. “I saw they were really racing hard and I knew I was catching them and we knew he (Hamlin) was gonna pull that big slider. That’s what you gotta do sometimes to get yourself in position.” Chastain showed a series of mixed reactions regarding to the duel with Hamlin but despite the mishap managed to secure a berth in the 12-driver Xfinity Series Playoffs. he has also won five Xfinity Series wins at Darlington and is also the highest ranked driver still without a win on the year. “Denny was faster, I knew that, everybody watching NBC knew that. I just kept gripping the top best I could, probably hit (the wall) 25 times,” Chastain said. “To be able to be up against a guy like Denny Hamlin, a future Cup champion and go to the end like that with him, I’m proud of this group, proud of the effort,” the 5-time champion winner added. “It’s another heartbreak, but we man, we finished and we still finished second with a beat-up race car.” Denny Hamlin had started last being the 37th car on the grid went ahead to win both stages and put a Darlington driving clinic all afternoon trying to come back from a weak starting position and slow pit stop. Chase Briscoe was a fierce cup contender for the race leading the best 55 laps on Saturday afternoon but he run over a spill left by Brett Moffitt’s damaged car making him to spin out and collide onto the wall with only 30 laps remaining. Despite the downfall the Stewart-Haas driver was able to get the 11th position. The champion Leader Austin Cindric finished 12th. Brandon Brown’s No.86 Chevrolet suffered damage in a collision between ryan Sieg and Daniel Hemric forcing him to make a whole lots of pit stops to keep the car running but not for a competitive win. The Team’s efforts however paid off as he endend up position 17th.

Ben Rhodes’ win at Darlington came as a surprise as he found himself being at the right place at the right time as he stayed on the track and inherited the lead after many lead trucks pitted during a late race caution that saw the race going for two extra laps. After the race restart Derek Kraus managed to get past Ben Rhodes but the rookie was later overtaken by Rhodes through turn 3 and 4 and later held off from the lead durng the last lap. This comes as a first win for Ben Rhodes since his victory at Kentucky Speedway on July 18th. “That was such a tough win, we weren’t the best truck all day,” Rhodes said. “I was actually very disappointed when the caution flag came out because I was thinking 4th place, that would be a good finish for us, we’re going to get into the playoffs.” “But I’m not letting this checkered flag go, it’s been a long time coming and I’m so proud of my No. 99 team…they’ve done an amazing job all year just staying consistent. We come here with no practice and never being here before and we were able to get the win.” “We got challenged. I was trying to get a good jump on the restart but we were playing some games there and (Kraus) tried to get a good run on me and he messed up coming off Turn 2. It feels pretty good.” The race was overwhelmed by Brett Moffitt and Sheldon Creed who were able to lead 145 out of 152 laps when jointly combined but everything took a turn after they headed to the pits. Moffitt finished 10th as Sheldon Creed too the 18th position after he also picked up a speeding penalty as he was making a pit stop. Austin Hill(Hattori Racing) managed to finish third as Grant Enfinger(ThorSport Racing) and Christian Eckes(Kyle Busch Motorsports) finished 4th and 5th respectively. Raphael Lessard, Todd Gilliland, Stewart Friesen, Timmy Hill and Brett Moffitt rounded up as the top 10 finishers in the race.

Kevin Harvick was at the right place at the right time to take the Sunday night win at the nascar cup series playoffs, this comes after putting quite an impressive show to hold off Austin Dillon. This is Harvick’s second win at the Cook Out Southern 500 win at Darlington Raceway in Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff opener. This is considerably Harvick’s 8th best win in the season but the veteran racer was very emotional on his radio sending congratulatory messages to his team as he crossed the finish line. Instead of taking the checkered flag on the finish line Harvick let an appreciative young fan dressed in a brightly colored Harvick t-shirt keep the flag to himself. Kevin Harvick also marked his 57th career victory this win being ninth best of all time. His lead for the race came on lap 355 after Chase Elliot(Hendrick Motorsports) and Martin Truex Jr.(Joe Gibbs Racing) made a contact with the wall racing for the lead infront of him. “The first thing I want to say is ‘Welcome back, fans!’ ” Kevin Harvick said after climbing out of his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.   “Just wound up fighting all night long, this Busch Beer Ford Mustang wasn’t where we wanted it to be, but the leaders got tangled up there and next thing you know we were racing for the win….Anytime you can win the Southern 500, it’s a good day. This is one of the most prestigious races in our sport and one of the most prestigious race tracks in our sport. Any time you can win at Darlington it’s a big deal.” The southern 500 winner added. Joey Logano(Team Penske), Erik Jones(Joe Gibbs Racing) and William Byron(Hendrick Motorsports) ended up being in the top five, as Alex Bowman(Hendrick Motorsports), Kyle Busch(Joe Gibbs Racing), Kurt Busch(Chip Ganassi Racing), Aric Aimirola and Clint Bowyer(both Stewart Haas Racing) rounded up the top ten in the race. Jones was the only non-playoff driver in the top ten.

Hendrick Motorsports on Tuesday announced that they will be extending William Byron’s contract by two years up to 2022. The contract that was signed early August will keep him in the Chevrolet car No.24 for at least two seasons. This comes after Byron won the saturday’s race at Daytona International Speedway earning him a berth into this season’s playoffs which will be opening this Sunday night at Darlington Raceway. “It’s been a fun ride so far with @TeamHendrick and I’m excited to finally share that I’m signed up through 2022 in the No. 24! Thanks for all the support. Now let’s go to Darlington and lock ourselves into the next round of the #NASCARPlayoffs.” The 22-year-old’s twitter handle read. Byron has 98 career starts in Nascar Cup having won once, earned 5 pole positions and 26 top 20 finishes. His career best win was just last year when he ranked 11th in the overall standings. He also takes business communications classes remotely through Liberty, he grew up rooting for the Hendrick organization and was developed in a NASCAR program for future stars. Byron spent one full season in the Truck Series winning a total of seven races before winning the Xfinity Series championship in 2017 driving for JR Motorsports, a Hendrick’s affiliate. Chad Knaus(Hendrick Motorsports crew chief) is also in talks with the Hendrick organisation on the extension of his contract which will be expiring at the end of the year. This is his second year as the crew chief.

Trevor Bayne will be driving car No.40 (Niece Motorsports) Chevrolet Silverado in the Darlington Raceway Truck Series this weekend. This will be a surprise return because Bane has never raced since 2018 in the Nascar Cup race which was held at Texas Motor Speedway. The 29-year-old has quite an experince having 187 races in Nascar Cup Series and 152 in the XFinity series, he has won two times in the XFinity series and only once in the Cup series 2011 at Daytona.This will however be his debut in the Nascar Truck Series this weekend. “After almost two years of being out of the seat, I’m so excited and grateful for another chance to go racing, the call from Niece Motorsports to get back behind the wheel at Darlington was unexpected and came together really fast.” Bayne said. “They have a great group and a lot of potential with their program.  I’m looking forward to working with everyone there and going back racing this weekend” Trevor added. Bayne will join 2000 Truck Series champion Greg Biffle(GMS Racing) who was also a former Nascar cup racer

Sheldon Creed scored his third win in the 2020 Nascar Truck Series on Sunday after a late leap to lead after holding off the former series champion, Brett Moffitt by 0.881 seconds taking home the trophy. The 22-year-old also won a total of $155,000 in race bonuses, this was his second win this month, with the Truck Series having only three races. However, the Sunday’s race did not come around without drama as car No.2 driven by Sheldon Creed(GMS Racing) collided with car No.38 steered by Todd Gilliland(Front Row Motorsports) with just 40 laps remaining. This got Gilliland’s Ford out of action as he had to pit immediately. The American went on to finish a disappointing 24th even after being the winner of the 1st and 2nd stage of the race. Sheldon creed went on to apologise to Todd Gilliland, “Feels great, but I want to start by apologizing to the 38 (Todd Gilliland), It’s so hard to pass here and I got down into his inside and just was really loose getting in, He was really close to my door.” “They were having such a good day and me and Todd are buddies, I hate doing that to him. They are a strong team. He owes me one,” the 22-year-old Californian added. However Todd Gilliland was frustrated,“I think he (Sheldon Creed) knows what happened and I know what happened, He just drove in there over his head and got us. That’s racing. I just hate it.” Austin Hill(Hattori Racing Enterprises) finished 3rd as he continued as the leading champion by points. He was closely followed by Sam Meyer(GMS Racing) who had lead for 24 laps but was later beaten by Creed after the race restart with only 13 laps remaining. “I was just trying to play games on the restart and it didn’t work out in my favor obviously,” said the 17-year-old, “That’s what I get for playing games, I was a sitting duck really, I am proud of my GMS guys today.” Stewart Friesen(Halmar Friesen Racing) ended the Sunday battle 5th which was very commendable for the Canadian in a season that was not in his favour. The newbies Raphael Lessard(Kyle and Busch Motorsport) and Zane Smith(GMS Racing) finished 6th and 7th respectively.