Cars in field: 36
Pole: ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11)
Outside pole: William Byron (24)
Stages: 20-20-50
Michael McDowell (34) takes the lead from Hamlin on lap 2 of 90. William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) takes second from Hamlin on lap 2 of 90.
Daniel Suarez (99) loses it and taps the wall on lap 4 of 90, but keeps going.
Harrison Burton (21) spins on lap 7 of 90 and continues.
Chase Briscoe (14) pits under green on lap 13 of 90 for a left rear vibration.
Several teams are pitting on lap 16 of 90.
Michael McDowell (34) wins stage one.
Michael McDowell (34) pits from the lead on lap 21 of 90. He’s penalized for passing through too many pit stalls and will have to serve a pass-thru penalty.
William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) wins stage two after inheriting the lead from Michael McDowell (34).
Green flag pit stops underway on lap 53 of 90.
Kyle Larson (5) will have to do a pass-thru penalty after getting busted for speeding.
Caution on lap 55 of 90 for Chase Elliott (9) stopped on the track. He ran out of gas.
Larson will have to restart from the back to serve his penalty since the caution came out.
McDowell penalized for ‘over the wall too soon’. He served the pass-thru just before the caution came out.
MRN reports Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace’s 23 car has come to a stop on the esses on lap 36 of 90 under caution. Bubba is back underway.
Restarting on lap 60 of 90 with ‘WilliB’ (24) and ‘Desperate’ (11) on the front row.
Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10) spins on lap 73 of 90. He continues.
Michael McDowell (34) is slow on the track and headed for pit road. He believes something went wrong with a valve in the motor. He pits on lap 75 of 90 under green.
McDowell says he came out of the carousel and everything shut off so he’s not sure if its an electrical problem, an ecu problem, or an engine problem.
MRN surmised that Byron is simply maintaining the distance between he and second place. Around lap 83 he began to increase his lead and continues to do so on lap 87 of 90.
This event is farther from a race than yesterday’s Xfinity series event. There’s just no real racing overall. It’s more a parade; really a Sunday afternoon drive in the country. A waste of my time.
WilliB takes the white flag 2.932 seconds ahead of second position.
William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) finally puts an end to the boredom.
Byron led 66 of 90 laps; qualified second; and was never outside the top three, excluding pit cycles.
Kyle Larson (5) and Austin Dillon (3) spun on the final lap in turn 7. I believe Larson had a little help from Corey LaJoie (7). Larson and Dillon went into the corner side-by-side, made contact, and both went around as LaJoie (7) continued by them. LaJoie was right on Larson’s bumper as Larson and Dillon went into the corner.
Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) who finished third said he just needed a better starting position. He said, “It’s crazy after 90 laps it comes down to that”. He said, “All of the road courses have been that way this year”. He said, “If nobody makes a mistake you just can’t pass”.
Austin Dillon had words for Kyle Larson on pit road according to MRN. Alex Hayden said it was very one-sided. Dillon yelled at Larson who simply stood there and took it, then Dillon walked away.
Watching a replay on television, Corey LaJoie was actually just caught up in the situation with Larson and Dillon. Dillon ran Larson off the course the corner before, so Larson didn’t lift in the next corner and knocked doors with Dillon. Dillon walked over yelled at Larson. Larson responded. Dillon went on. Larson responded. Dillon yelled a bit more and walked away.
Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23) said he talked to IndyCar driver and six-time champion Scott Dixon this morning about the mental piece of the race and he told him he’s there for a reason and Bubba said he doesn’t think he told himself he sucked once. Bubba finished twelfth.
There was no excitement, no competition, nothing but cars driving around a course with an occasional spin or mechanical issue that didn’t disrupt the race much. Boring.
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