Month: September 2022

SHR Post-Race Recap: Texas

Date:  Sept. 25, 2022
Event:  AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (Round 30 of 36)
Series:  NASCAR Cup Series
Location:  Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (1.5-mile oval)
Format:  334 laps, broken into three stages (105 laps/105 laps/124 laps)
Race Winner:  Tyler Reddick of Richard Childress Racing

SHR Race Finish:
●  Chase Briscoe (Started 30th, Finished 5th / Running, completed 334 of 334 laps)
●  Kevin Harvick (Started 23rd, Finished 19th / Running, completed 334 of 334 laps)
●  Aric Almirola (Started 25th, Finished 24th / Running, completed 334 of 334 laps)
●  Cole Custer (Started 24th, Finished 35th / Accident, completed 77 of 334 laps)

SHR Points:
●  Chase Briscoe (9th with 3,041 points, four points below top-eight cutoff)
●  Kevin Harvick (16th with 2,063 points)
●  Aric Almirola (20th with 640 points)
●  Cole Custer (25th with 521 points)

Playoff Standings (With two races to go before Round of 8):

1.    Joey Logano (3,071 points) +30
2.    Ross Chastain (3,059 points) +18
3.    William Byron (3,058 points) +17
4.    Kyle Larson (3,057 points) +16
5.    Ryan Blaney (3,056 points) +15
6.    Denny Hamlin (3,049 points) +8
7.    Daniel Suárez (3,045 points) +4
8.    Chase Elliott (3,045 points) +4
9.    Chase Briscoe (3,041 points) -4
10.  Austin Cindric (3,034 points) -11
11.  Christopher Bell (3,016 points) -29
12.  Alex Bowman (3,015 points) -30

SHR Notes:        

●  Briscoe earned his fourth top-five of the season and his first top-five in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Texas.
●  Briscoe’s fifth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Texas – 15th, earned in his first start at the track last October.
●  This was Harvick’s 38th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Texas, the most among all drivers, past and present, in Texas’ 25-year history.
●  Harvick led once for nine laps to increase his laps-led total at Texas to a 691.
●  Harvick has now led 11,471 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,897 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.

Sound Bites:
“The first 90 percent of the race we were struggling. We couldn’t get the balance of the car right. We would be too loose or too tight and could never find where we needed to be. After that red flag I think the nighttime coming in kind of helped us a bit. With 80 to go we were hoping to catch more cautions and make it on fuel and we were able to get our track position that way and it ended up working out. We did what we needed to do for our Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford. We were not a fifth-place car. We weren’t even a 15th-place car. To steal some points like that is huge. Going to Talladega, we are not in a massive hole and that is the most important thing. We will go there and, hopefully, have a little luck go our way and see what happens.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers / Cummins Ford Mustang

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the YellaWood 500 on Sunday, Oct. 2 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. It is the fifth race of the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs and the second race in the Round of 12. The YellaWood 500 starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

 

SHR Post-Race Recap: Bristol

Date:  Sept. 17, 2022
Event:  Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 29 of 36)
Series:  NASCAR Cup Series
Location:  Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval)
Format:  500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)
Race Winner:  Chris Buescher of RFK Racing

SHR Race Finish:
●  Cole Custer (Started 11th, Finished 8th / Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
●  Kevin Harvick (Started 7th, Finished 10th /Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
●  Chase Briscoe (Started 2nd, Finished 14th / Running, completed 498 of 500 laps)
●  Aric Almirola (Started 1st, Finished 28th / Steering, completed 418 of 500 laps)

SHR Points:
●  Chase Briscoe (10th with 2,081 points, 14 points ahead of top-12 cutoff… advances to Round of 12)
●  Kevin Harvick (16th with 2,045 points, 24 points below top-12 cutoff)
●  Aric Almirola (20th with 627 points)
●  Cole Custer (24th with 519 points)

Playoff Standings to Begin Round of 12:

1.    Chase Elliott (3,040 points)
2.    Joey Logano (3,025 points) -15
3.    Ross Chastain (3,020 points) -20
4.    Kyle Larson (3,019 points) -21
5.    William Byron (3,015 points) -25
6.    Denny Hamlin (3,013 points) -27
7.    Christopher Bell (3,013 points) -27
8.    Ryan Blaney (3,013 points) -27
9.    Chase Briscoe (3,009 points) -31
10.  Alex Bowman (3,007 points) -33
11.  Daniel Suárez (3,007 points) -33
12.  Austin Cindric (3,006 points) -34

Failed to Advance to Round of 12:
13.  Tyler Reddick (2,067 points)
14.  Kyle Busch (2,067 points)
15.  Austin Dillon (2,058 points)
16.  Kevin Harvick (2,045 points)

SHR Notes:
●  Custer earned his third top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
●  This was Custer’s best finish so far this season. His previous best was a pair of ninth-place drives July 10 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and July 31 on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
●  Custer’s eighth-place finish bettered his previous best result at Bristol – 23rd, earned in September 2020.
●  Harvick earned his 14th top-10 of the season and his 22nd top-10 in 42 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
●  Harvick’s 22 top-10s at Bristol are the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
●  This was Harvick’s third straight top-10 at Bristol. He only has three finishes outside the top-15 at Bristol since joining SHR in 2014.
●   Harvick finished 10th in Stage 2 to earn a bonus point.
●  Briscoe earned his 13th top-15 of the season and his second top-15 in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol
●  This was Briscoe’s second straight top-15. He finished 13th in the series’ prior race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
●  Briscoe finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points and third in Stage 2 to earn eight more bonus points.
●  Almirola won the pole for the Bass Pro Shops Night race with a lap of 14.946 seconds at 128.382 mph around the .533-mile oval. It was his fourth career pole, his first of the season and his first at Bristol. Almirola became the 52nd different NASCAR Cup Series driver to win a pole at Bristol.
●  Almirola led twice for 36 laps to increase his laps-led total at Bristol to 39.
●  A mechanical issue forced Almirola out of the race after 418 laps.

SHR Sound Bites:

“We had a really solid day. The guys brought a really fast car all weekend from when we unloaded. It was fun to drive today. We executed well, stayed out of trouble and were able to come out with a top-10. Hopefully, we can carry that momentum to next week.” – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 Autodesk / HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

“It was pretty tough. We pitted in front of the 17 (Chris Buescher), so just kind of the way the year has gone. Just went from having a chance to lead the parade to being a part of the parade. Just difficult to pass.” – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang

“I was kind of worried pretty early in the race that I was gonna struggle, but I was able to get fourth in that first stage and third in the second stage, and that really set us up to where I think we were right at the cutline starting that final stage. We had some luck with the 18 (Kyle Busch) blowing up and a couple guys getting wrecked and there at the end it was unfortunate, we kind of just rode around making sure we didn’t eliminate ourselves. I’m super proud to be able to move onto the Round of 12. That’s a really big accomplishment. We’ve just got to do what we did today, not eliminate ourselves. That’s gonna be the key to this next round, especially with how many wild-card races there are. If we can go there and do that, guys are gonna keep eliminating themselves. We just have to limit our mistakes and, if we do that, we know we’ve got to have a little more speed, but if we can just limit our mistakes, it gives us a chance to move on to the next round, as well.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 on Sunday, Sept. 25 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. It is the fourth race of the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs and the first race in the Round of 12. The AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

SHR Post-Race Recap: Darlington

Date:  Sept. 4, 2022
Event:  Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 27 of 36)
Series:  NASCAR Cup Series
Location:  Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile oval)
Format:  367 laps, broken into three stages (115 laps/115 laps/137 laps)
Race Winner:  Erik Jones of Petty GMS

SHR Race Finish:
●  Aric Almirola (Started 19th, Finished 11th / Running, completed 367 of 367 laps)
●  Cole Custer (Started 30th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 367 of 367 laps)
●  Chase Briscoe (Started 22nd, Finished 27th / Running, completed 363 of 367 laps)
●  Kevin Harvick (Started 18th, Finished 33rd / Fire, completed 274 of 367 laps)

SHR Points:
●  Chase Briscoe (15th with 2,019 points, 10 points below top-12 cutoff)
●  Kevin Harvick (16th with 2,016 points, 13 points below top-12 cutoff)
●  Aric Almirola (19th with 602 points)
●  Cole Custer (24th with 475 points)

Playoff Standings (with two races to go before Round of 12):

1.     Joey Logano (2,065 points) +38 points
2.     William Byron (2,059 points) +32 points
3.     Denny Hamlin (2,057 points) +30 points
4.     Christopher Bell (2,055 points) +28 points
5.     Tyler Reddick (2,050 points) +23 points
6.     Ryan Blaney (2,047 points) +20 points
7.     Kyle Larson (2,044 points) +17 points
8.     Ross Chastain (2,042 points) +15 points
9.     Chase Elliott (2,041 points) +14 points
10.   Alex Bowman (2,037 points) +10 points
11.   Kyle Busch (2,035 points) +8 points
12.   Daniel Suárez (2,029 points) +2 points
13.   Austin Cindric (2,027 points) -2 points
14.   Austin Dillon (2,025 points) -4 points
15.  Chase Briscoe (2,019 points) -10 points
16.  Kevin Harvick (2,016 points) -13 points

SHR Notes:
●  Almirola earned his 13th top-15 of the season and his eighth top-15 in 15 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington.
●  This was Almirola’s second straight top-15 at Darlington. He also finished 11th in the series’ prior visit to the track in May.
●  Custer earned his eighth top-15 of the season and his third top-15 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington.
●  This was Harvick’s first finish outside of the top-10 at Darlington in 10 years. The last time he finished outside of the top-10 was in the 2012 Southern 500 (16th).

SHR Sound Bites:
“We just really struggled with the balance. At the beginning of the race, we were starting off extremely tight and then we got to where we were extremely loose, and then we had nowhere to go with the 9 car (Chase Elliott) when he wrecked. That kind of killed our day, but we were able to get lucky because a lot of those guys had issues, too. It’s not the way we wanted to start the round, by any means, but we’re going to have to improve and we’re probably going to have to win. I don’t even know what the points look like, but we shouldn’t have been in that situation where we were struggling, anyway. We just couldn’t find the balance. It’s unfortunate, but we know what we’ve got to do now and that’s what we’ll try to go do.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang

“The car started burning and as it burned the flames started coming through the dash. I ran a couple laps and then as the flames got bigger it started burning stuff up and I think right there you see all the brake fluid that was probably coming out the brakes and part of the brake line, but the fire was coming through the dash. What a disaster for no reason. We didn’t touch the wall. We didn’t touch a car and here we are in the pits with a burned up car and we can’t finish the race during the playoffs.” – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Retro Ford Mustang

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, Sept. 11 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. The second race in the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

 

In the Know – Darlington

In The Know – DARLINGTON

The NASCAR Playoffs begin Sunday with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.), with Kevin Harvick and Chase Briscoe making playoff runs. Get up-to-speed on race info, driver stats, our weekly wraps, and more as we look to tame the Lady In Black.

The Details

NASCAR Cup Series Overview

●  Event:  Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 27 of 36)
●  Time/Date:  6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 4
●  Location:  Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
●  Layout:  1.366-mile oval
●  Laps/Miles:  367 laps/501.32 miles
●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 115 laps / Stage 2: 115 laps / Final Stage: 137 laps
●  TV/Radio:  USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS

Kevin Harvick:
For the 16th time since the advent of the playoffs in 2004, Harvick is a part of it. Harvick qualified for this year’s playoffs by scoring two wins – Aug. 7 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn and Aug. 14 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. This is Harvick’s 13th consecutive playoff appearance. He won the championship in 2014.

Darlington is one of the 10 tracks that make up the NASCAR Playoffs, and of Harvick’s 60 career NASCAR Cup Series victories, 26 have come at playoff tracks. Three of those wins have been at Darlington, while Harvick also has three wins apiece at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway in Ford Worth. He has two wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and one win each at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The remaining nine wins were earned at the most valuable playoff venue – Phoenix Raceway, home to the championship-deciding race. The only track where Harvick doesn’t have a win is the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval.

Darlington is known as “The Track Too Tough To Tame” but Harvick has tamed the venerable 1.366-mile oval three times, the second-most of any active NASCAR Cup Series driver. The 46-year-old racer from Bakersfield, California, owns two Southern 500 victories (2014 and 2020) and one win in the track’s 400-mile race. In fact, Harvick enters Darlington with an impressive record – he hasn’t finished outside the top-10 since 2012. How long ago was that? “Gangnam Style” and its music video by South Korean singer Psy went viral in 2012, four years before the social media app TikTok became reality.

Aric Almirola:
In 14 starts at the 1.33-mile egg-shaped oval, Almirola has earned two top-10 finishes, which came in back-to-back starts in 2020. Almirola finished 11th at Darlington earlier this year after running in and around the top-10 for the majority of the race.

Earlier this year, Almirola announced that he would step down from fulltime racing following the 2022 season. In the course of the year, Almirola has discovered a new balance between his passion for racing and dedication to his family. His wife Janice, and kids Alex and Abby, join him on most race weekends, oftentimes enjoying once-in-a-lifetime experiences together as they travel the country. His rapport with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer has flourished, and the intense pressure he had put on himself was replaced with the joy of simply being present. Not only did Almirola see a new perspective on the sport, but so did anchor partner Smithfield Foods, who broached the subject of Almirola returning to fulltime racing in 2023. On Friday, Aug. 26, Almirola, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Smithfield Foods announced their return with a multi-year agreement and the largest allotment of races since joining the team in 2018. View the full press release here.

Chase Briscoe:
Darlington marks Briscoe’s debut in the Cup Series playoff format. The playoffs begin with 16 drivers, including the 15 drivers who combined to win the first 26 races of the year. Four drivers will be eliminated at the end of each of the first three rounds before the final four drivers compete for the championship Nov. 6 at Phoenix Raceway, where Briscoe and the No. 14 team claimed victory earlier this year. Briscoe starts the playoffs in the 12th position with a two-point cushion above the cutoff line.

Briscoe has three Cup Series starts at Darlington with a best finish of 11th in the May 2021 race. He also has three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at “The Track Too Tough To Tame,” one being the most memorable performance of his career – his May 2020 win over two-time Cup Series champion and the winningest driver across NASCAR’s top three series, Kyle Busch.

This Sunday at Darlington, Briscoe will drive a black-and-white HighPoint.com Ford Mustang, eschewing the traditional blue-and-white colors of HighPoint for one of the crown jewel races of the NASCAR Cup Series – the Southern 500. The change in color honors the late sportswriter and 2016 Squier-Hall Award recipient Benny Phillips, who gave Darlington the moniker, “The Lady in Black.” The No. 14 will also carry the name of HighPoint employee Joe Conforth.

Cole Custer:
Sunday night’s 367-lap race will be Custer’s 102nd career Cup Series start and seventh on the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval. The 2020 Cup Series Rookie of the Year’s 11th-place finish in last September’s Southern 500 was the best of his previous six Darlington outings.

The native of Ladera Ranch, California, was credited with the victory in his most recent NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington in 2019 after finishing second the previous year and ninth in 2017, all behind the wheel of the No. 00 SHR Ford. In the 2019 race, he crossed the finish line .602 of a second behind the apparent race-winner Denny Hamlin. But Hamlin’s racecar was disqualified after a ride-height violation was discovered in postrace inspection, giving Custer his eighth of 10 career Xfinity series victories. In the September 2018 Xfinity Series race at Darlington, Custer was runner-up to Brad Keselowski by .738 of a second.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS

We’re bringing nothing but our Sunday best to tame the Lady In Black.

What Our Drivers are Saying:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Retro Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas:

You’re in the playoffs for a 13th consecutive season and your 16th overall. How does making the playoffs this year compare to any of those previous playoff seasons?
“I would say it’s been a very different route to get to this point. As we started the year with the new car, we were on the wrong side of the fence and trying to figure everything out. And as we’ve gone through the year we’ve become progressively better, and we figured some things out and got back to victory lane and really have some momentum as we start the process of these last 10 weeks and racing for a championship. The biggest thing is, we’re giving ourselves a chance to race for the championship – that’s the first goal. That looked bleak for a little while, but now we’re in a good position to get started.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Renegade Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’re not in the playoffs this year, but there is still a lot to look forward to. What are your goals for the remainder of the season?
“We obviously wish we were in the playoffs to have a run at the championship, so that is tough. This year has had so much parity with new winners and an extremely competitive series. This new car has really leveled the playing field. I think this year is going to be different with cars that are not in the playoffs, though. Our team has found more and more speed each weekend, and we’re constantly progressing. We’re not holding back anything for the next 10 weeks. While our goal to win a championship is gone, we’re still planning to run like championship contenders and make our presence known.” 

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Are the playoffs a chance for this team to start over?
“Truthfully, I feel like we’ve had speed every week but, unlike a lot of teams, we run anywhere from seventh to 12th for a lot of the race. Then we finish 18th to 23rd. So, it’s definitely nice to have a little bit of a reset button. I know we have the speed, it’s just a matter of putting the whole race together. And you know, there are a lot of variables that determine what that means each week. I definitely think it’s a bit of a second life to a certain extent, and one that I’m looking forward to having.”

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 Feeding America / Wow Wow Classic Waffles Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Darlington is one of the trickiest tracks in the Cup Series. How do you approach racing on “The Track Too Tough To Tame?”
“I would say Darlington is one track that I always look forward to. It’s one of those races that every driver looks forward to because of the challenge behind it and how much you can do as a driver. There are so many different lanes you can work and you’re running right up against the wall. It’s just a driver’s racetrack and I feel there’s not one guy who doesn’t feel excited when they hear Darlington is coming up.”

THE BOSS TALKS PLAYOFFS

When you have a 3x NASCAR Cup Series Champion as a boss, it’s always good to get a little advice before the playoffs start. See what Tony Stewart had to say about the keys to playoffs and advice for Kevin Harvick and Chase Briscoe as the playoffs kick begin.

 

THE BOSS TALKS PLAYOFFS

Join the fight against hunger with Feeding America and Wow Wow Waffles. Bid on an at-track experience with Cole Custer at the race of your choice. Bid now here.