We have a 30 minute break between the Xfinity broadcast and the Cup broadcast for PRN. They will be back on the air at 1330 eastern. The stages for the race are 50-50-60. Competition cautions scheduled for lap 10s and 30.
It’s official that Jamie McMurray will not return to the Chip Ganassi 1 car in 2019 according to PRN. Chip Ganassi told The Associated Press on Monday that he’s offered Jamie McMurray a contract to drive in next year’s Daytona 500 and then move into a leadership position with the team. So it sounds like Kurt Busch (41) has made up his mind and decided to leave Stewart-Haas Racing and go to Chip Ganassi – though maybe one of the other guys like Daniel Suarez will move to Ganassi.
Dale Earnhardt Jr is driving the pace car. Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (18) gave the pace car a tap on the bumper.
KyBu and Kevin ‘Happy’ Harvick (4) will lead the field to the green flag.
KHarv has come in for a pit stop before the competition caution falls. He lit up the tires trying to get down to pit road speed. He got an uncontrolled tire penalty on the stop.
KyBu also got called into the pits, but he was sure he was going to hit the commitment cone, so he stayed out. Crew-chief Adam Stevens apologized for giving him such late notice.
Competition caution is out on lap 11 of 160.
Denny Hamlin (11) stayed out.
Restarting on lap 15 of 160 with Denny in the lead.
Competition caution 2 at lap 31.
Kurt ‘KuBu’ Busch (41) is in the pits just before the flag flew, along with KHarv, Clint ‘Dunk Daddy’ Bowyer (4) and Ricky ‘Stinkhouse’ Stenhouse (17).
Stinkhouse got a too fast on pit road penalty.
The 4 team had trouble with one of the air-guns resulting in a long pit stop.
Restarting on lap 34 of 160 with KuBu and Drunk Daddy on the front row.
Caution is out on lap 41 of 160 for an issue with Martin Truex Jr (78) who’s car is smoking toward the pits. It happened during a commercial break so I couldn’t really see what happened – that small window is virtually useless to me. There are a couple of theories as to what happened to him – either a. he got into the back of somebody and the front of the car was pushed into the oil cooler, or two he cut down a tire and got into the wall. He didn’t even stop in his pit box, but went directly to the garage.
Lots of takers on pit road.
Restarting on lap 46 of 160 with KuBu and Drunk Daddy up front again.
Martin said a brake rotor exploded.
Drunk Daddy wins stage 1.
Restarting on lap 55 of 160 with KyBu and Paul Menard (21) in the lead.
PRN was discussing Max Pappas driver coaching William Byron.
Caution on lap 57 of 160. Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (43) spun into the infield, then back onto the track and into the outside wall, then down in front of David Starr and got smashed by David Starr (51) who had nowhere to go.
Bubba doesn’t really know what happened – thinks it may have been a brake issue. He doesn’t know if the brakes exploded or if a tire came apart and tore off a brake line. No advanced warning of the brake issue until the brake pedal went down. Bubba was frustrated about getting hit ‘an hour and a half later’ by David Starr. Guess he should’ve kept that car in one place instead of sliding down the track – oh wait, he couldn’t due to the brake issue, just like David Starr couldn’t avoid hitting a car that slid down in front of him.
Restarting on lap 65 of 160 with KyBu and KHarv up front.
Caution on lap 66 of 160 for a wrecking involving Alex Bowman (88) and AJ ‘Ding Dong’ Allmendinger. (47). Ding Dong got loose and spun into Bowman sending him into the outside wall and around. AJ bounced off and hit the inside wall.
Restarting on lap 70 of 160 with KHarv and William Byron (24) up front. KyBu made a pit stop from the lead.
Alex Bowman is making a smoking lap with a tire rub. His car is on the crash clock. On lap 72 he heads back into the pits.
AJ claims when the air got taken off of him he was along for the ride. He said he knew Alex was in a playoff hunt and he ‘tried to sacrifice himself’ once he got loose, but couldn’t stay off him. He also admitted that he was side-by-side with Alex going into the corner and Alex ‘didn’t lift as much as I would’ve liked him to’. Useless cur.
Caution on lap 75 of 160 for a spin by JJ Yeley (23) who hit the tire barrier also.
Restarting on lap 79 of 160 with KHarv and Drunk Daddy up front.
Alex has so far managed to stay under the crash clockk and maintain minimum speed, so they’ll likely get him repaired and back on the track.
Pat Patterson on PRN mentioned what I always feel – rain delay races tend to be calm (boring), sedate affairs where its obvious everybody just wants to get home.
NBC please make your fonts larger and clearer. I struggle to see the laps info during the race.
The skies are awfully dark in the distance on one end of he racetrack.
KHarv is on pit road on lap 90 of 160 for a scheduled pit stop.
Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10) came in for a pit stop on lap 95 of 160 and ended up with a speeding penalty.
More cars are hitting the pits before stage end including Drunk Daddy who couldn’t save enough fuel.
Matt Kenseth (6) has inherited the lead and will win the stage.
Chase Elliott beats Matt Kenseth off pit road by inches.
KyBu is serving a penalty for coming onto pit road when it was closed, so he’s having a really long pit stop with the crew members just standing about. Adam Stevens took the time to look at everything.
Smoke’s up on Bowyer’s box and said he has ‘bigger balls than the rest of them do’ and he would’ve left Drunk Daddy out to try to get the stage win.
The PRN guys mentioned sunshine on the track. I’m still seeing the dark clouds around the track and the skies above the track look cloudy on tv.
Restarting on lap 105 of 160 with William Byron (24) in the lead alongside Drunk Daddy (14).
Clint quickly takes the lead.
KyBu is in for a pit stop on lap 119 of 160.
The 37 of Chris Buescher is smoking coming onto pit road on lap 120. The smoke is coming out of the left rear.
William Byron hit the pits on lap 121 of 160.
KHarv is frustrated with Ryan ‘Son’ Blaney (12) because Ryan isn’t ‘more cooperative’. Sounds a bit delusional to me – but okay, maybe it is Happy’s world and the rest of us are just visiting.
Happy had left rear issues with the pit stop.
Ryan Blaney ran through his pit stall after coming in from the inherited lead and has to back up for his stop with 31 laps to go.
Kenseth’s 6 car came in from the inherited lead and is having trouble with his pit stop.
Blaney was aiming for the 22 pit box – he ran the 22 car in the Xfinity race – and Joey Logano was two stalls ahead of Blaney.
Kurt ‘KuBu’ Busch (41) has inherited the lead.
Kurt Busch, (22) Brad Keselowski, (33) Ryan Newman, (48) Jimmie Johnson still need to pit.
Ricky Stinkhouse has engine issues so it appears his day is over.
KuBu comes in on lap 137 of 160.
TV is showing Drunk Daddy (14) following Denny Hamlin (11) since the first three positions have not pitted yet. PRN is only talking about them also even if it looks like follow the leader..
Jimmie Johnson (48) heads down pit road on lap 141 of 160. Chad ‘Chadley’ Kn
Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (2) is still rolling around the front of the field.
Caution for debris on the front-stretch on lap 142 of 160.
Ricky ‘Stinkhouse’ Stenhouse (17) headed to the garage.
Brad ‘It’ Keselowski was already on pit lane when the caution came out.
Some takers and some fakers on pit road. ‘Kutey’ Kyle Larson came. His teammate Jamie McMurray (1) faked. Ryan ‘Son’ Blaney (12), Joey Logano (22) and KyBu came in.
Jamie Mc will restart in third.
Restarting on 148 lap of 160 with Denny and Drunk Daddy up front.
Denny chose the inside, so DD has all SHR lined up behind him.
Bowyer’s battling Jamie Mc hard for second position and DD is gets squirrelly.
Austin ‘Frankenstein’ Dillon (3) is in the wall on lap 152 of 160. Green flag continues as he smokes toward the pits.
Caution on lap 153 of 160 for a crash by Landon Cassill (00) and Jeffrey Earndhat (96). Jeffrey Earnhadt’ car suddenly turned right into the the wall in front of Landon Cassill. The rear wheels of the car lifted off the track from the impact of the 96 car into the wall.
Restarting on lap 157 of 160 with Denny (11) and Clint (14) in front. ‘It’ and Jamie Mc will be behind them followed by desperation row Erik ‘Da Brat’ Jones (20) and Ryan Newman (31).
‘It’ pushed Hamlin hard and sent Denny out front & followed him up.
‘It’ is banging doors with Hamlin on lap 158 of 160.
‘It” passes Denny.
Erik ‘Da Brat’ Jones (20) passes Denny.
Brad ‘It’ Keselowski steals the win.
What a disappointing finish to a better than usual, but still mediocre race.
Denny is blaming Landon Cassill for wrecking ‘for no apparent reason’. He’s quite grumpy about that loss.
‘It’ can’t help copying his betters. He and the crew climbed the fence. What a loser.
Steve Phelps presented Kyle Busch with the regular season championship trophy.
The PRN guy said to ‘It’ “They say sometimes its better to be lucky than good and” luck was on your side today. No kidding. He tried to take credit saying Denny didn’t give him anything – not that he should. Whatever.
The Playoff Field will get their photo taken on the bricks.
The Play-Off Field:
- Kevin Harvick
- Kyle Busch
- Martin Truex Jr
- Clint Bowyer
- Brad Keselowski
- Joey Logano
- Chase Elliott
- Kurt Busch
- Erik Jones
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Blaney
- Kyle Larson
- Denny Hamlin
- Aric Almirola
- Jimmie Johnson
- Alex Bowman
Motorsport News:
- Jamie McMurray not returning to No. 1 in 2019.
- Allgaier finally gets to kiss bricks after winning at Indy.
- Kyle Busch clinches regular-season championship at Indianapolis.
- Report: Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 1 Cup car open for next year.
- Allgaier captures fifth win of 2018 in Indianapolis.
- Brickyard 400: Matt Kenseth takes hectic Stage 2 win.
- This ‘Smokey and The Bandit’ NASCAR is the perfect tribute to Burt Reynolds.
- Tony Stewart isn’t ruling out an Indy 500 run, just not in 2019.
- Allgaier Wins Calamity-Filled XFINITY Race.
- Column: NASCAR’s dark cloud lifted after leadership change.
- Column: Brian France must decide if he wants to run NASCAR.
- Column: NASCAR needs to change the tone starting at the top.
- Furniture Row Racing closing a year after NASCAR title.