Month: October 2023

In The Know – Martinsville

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW:

●  Event:  Xfinity 500 (Round 35 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 29

●  Location:  Martinsville (Va.) Speedway

●  Layout:  .526-mile oval

●  Laps/Miles:  500 laps/263 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 130 laps / Stage 2: 130 laps / Final Stage: 240 laps

●  TV/Radio:  NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

  Baseball’s postseason has reached its homestretch with the World Series beginning this Friday. And the same way hitters crack the bat and put the ball in play, Kevin Harvick has proven to be a heckuva cleanup hitter at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, site of Sunday’s Xfinity 500 NASCAR Cup Series race. Harvick is batting well over .400 when it comes to finishing among the top-10 at Martinsville. The driver of the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has made 44 career Cup Series starts at the .526-mile oval and recorded 20 top-10s, the third-highest tally among active Cup Series drivers. Only Denny Hamlin (24 top-10s) and Kyle Busch (21 top-10s) have more.

Aric Almirola:

 In April, Almirola and all of Stewart-Haas Racing executed their best Cup Series race as a team at Martinsville. After Ryan Preece earned the pole in the No. 41 Ford, Almirola, Chase Briscoe and Kevin Harvick ran inside the top-five during the race and three of the four cars led laps. Almirola started third and crossed the finish line sixth – his second-best finish of the year.

Chase Briscoe:

Briscoe has earned three straight top-10 finishes at Martinsville dating back to the March 2022 race. He scored ninth-place results in both 2022 events, the second one in the October race, the third and final race of the Round of 8 of the Cup Series Playoffs in which he was eliminated from championship contention. This past April at Martinsville, Briscoe finished fifth in the first stage and second in the second stage, and led twice for a total of 109 laps en route to a fifth-place result.

Ryan Preece:

Sunday’s race will mark Preece’s eighth Cup Series career start on the .526-mile, paperclip-shaped oval. When the series last visited Martinsville in April, Preece had a career-best weekend. He won his first career Cup Series pole and led a race-high and career-high 135 laps. A mishap on pit road forced Preece and his No. 41 Ford Mustang to restart from the rear and he ultimately finished 15th. Aside from Preece’s experience at the track in the Cup Series, he also has quite the resume there in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Preece has six Modified Tour starts at the track, the first coming in 2007. He has one win (2008), two top-fives, two top-10s, 423 total laps led, an average start of 7.8 and an average finish of 13.5 in those six races.

 

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang:

Are you compartmentalizing your emotions as your final season winds down?

“I feel like that’s something that, throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to be pretty good at. You just go and do what you’re supposed to do no matter what the surrounding situation is, whether it’s chaotic, or you’re running good, you’re running bad, you ran into somebody, last year, first year, it’s just been one of those things that I’ve been fortunate to be able to do – just climb in the car, put the window net up, and it’s just what you do. No matter the magnitude of the scenario, it’s just part of the next step to get to where you want to be. Going into the year, obviously we knew that we’d planned out the last season of what we wanted to do and it’s just part of the plan. For me, we’re definitely structured planners, so you just execute that plan and then you go to the next one. I know at the end of the year it’ll obviously look different but, on the flip side, I’ve been very fortunate to be successful at what I do. I’ve basically lived out my childhood dream to do what I wanted to do, and now it’s time to move on. It’s time to do something different after we go to Phoenix and race there for the last time, and for me, that’s exciting.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:

You drove from 30th to ninth last weekend. How good did it feel to have something go your way after such an up-and-down season?

In The Know – Homestead

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW:

●  Event:  4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1 (Round 34 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 22

●  Location:  Homestead-Miami Speedway

●  Layout:  1.5-mile oval

●  Laps/Miles:  267 laps/400.5 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps

●  TV/Radio:  NBC / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

With 2023 being Kevin Harvick’s final season as a NASCAR Cup Series driver, “The Closer” has enjoyed a number of heartfelt tributes to his illustrious career. Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway will serve as another tribute, and it will leave everyone seeing red. Budweiser, the brand Harvick took to the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series championship when he clinched the title at Homestead by winning the race, will be back on his racecar for the 4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1. The eye-catching red Budweiser paint scheme that Harvick drove to victory on Nov. 16, 2014 will be back at Homestead as Budweiser, Busch Light and Stewart-Haas Racing came together to surprise Harvick with the throwback Budweiser paint scheme and firesuit for his final race at the South Florida oval. Harvick has been an Anheuser-Busch partner since 2011, with Budweiser serving as a sponsor before Busch Light took the wheel in 2016. “Kevin Harvick has been an iconic Anheuser-Busch partner and cornerstone of our sports portfolio since we first started working together in 2011,” said Matt Davis, Vice-President of Partnerships at Anheuser-Busch. “Through our partnership with Kevin, we have been able to connect with 21+ NASCAR fans across the country, giving them unparalleled access to the sport. This surprise paint scheme is just another way we are celebrating Kevin, his loyal fans and his storied career on the track.” This special moment with Harvick is the latest program in Anheuser-Busch’s long-standing commitment to NASCAR. With driver partnerships, key event sponsorships and investments in the sport, Anheuser-Busch has proudly supported and elevated NASCAR through Budweiser and Busch Light for more than 40 years.

Aric Almirola:

 In 457 career NASCAR Cup Series starts, Almirola has three wins, 28 top-five finishes, 93 top-10s, five poles, and has led 1,081 laps.

Chase Briscoe:

There’s only one track on the NASCAR schedule where Briscoe has visited victory lane in both a truck and a car – Homestead. When he was driving fulltime for Brad Keselowski Racing in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2017, he finished the season on a high note at the track, leading four times for a race-high 81 laps en route to his first win in a NASCAR national series. The win elevated him to sixth in the Truck Series championship standings and earned him Rookie of the Year honors to go with that year’s Most Popular Driver award.

Ryan Preece:

Sunday’s race will be Preece’s fifth on the 1.5-mile Homestead oval, his most recent coming in 2021 when he started eighth and finished 21st for JTG-Daugherty Racing. Outside the Cup Series, Preece has four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Homestead with one top-five, two top-10s and an average finish of 15. In the 2017 Xfinity Series race, he started and finished fifth, and the following year he started 12th and finished sixth, driving both years for Joe Gibbs Racing. In his lone career Truck Series start at Homestead, Preece started on the pole and finished fourth driving for David Gilliland Racing last year. Sunday’s race will be his first at Homestead behind the wheel of NextGen car.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

 

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Ford Mustang:

What was your greatest race?

“I think the single best race has to be Homestead of 2014, just with the way everything went and the great call and the race at the end and everything that happened with coming to Stewart-Haas Racing that first year. All the adversity that we had at the beginning of the year, how fast the cars were, and then putting it all together in one day to win the championship, I think that single race is probably the one that I would circle just because of everything that happened and everything that it summarized and wound up, ultimately, with a championship at the end.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:

What has racing at Homestead over the years meant to you? 

“Homestead for me has been a great racetrack. It’s really how I got my start to go Cup racing. I filled in for Richard Petty Motorsports back in 2010 and I finished fourth after running up front. That opened some people’s eyes. Sure enough, I got my first start in the Cup Series because of it. I do think about that when I go there. It’s got a special place in my heart. It’s also a race in my home state and the Miami area has a lot of Cuban heritage that I’ve enjoyed over the years. The food scene in Miami is always good. We usually venture downtown and find a good Cuban sandwich and coffee. Going to Miami in October to race is always fun because you get a tropic feel before heading to Martinsville, where it’s usually cold. Hopefully, we can unload with balance to run the top well and bring home another top-five finish and get the momentum going for the last two races of the season. These last few races are some of my favorite.” 

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang:

You are one of four drivers to have won in the Truck and Xfinity series at Homestead, and there are only two drivers — Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick – who have won races at Homestead in all three of NASCAR’s top series. Is there something to be said for being one of just a few drivers who were able to find success in a truck, and Xfinity and Cup Series cars at one track?

“Homestead is a place where I feel like, as a driver, you can carry your car a little bit more, you can move around and figure out how to make more out of a car that maybe isn’t handling the best. It’s one of my favorite places to race. It’s where I got my first win in NASCAR. It’s a challenge but such a fun place to race, and to be on a short list with guys like Kyle and Kevin would be really cool.”

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang:

This is your first trip to Homestead since 2021. What’s on your mind as you prepare for your return to South Florida?

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to getting to Homestead. I haven’t been there in the NextGen car, yet, but I’ve had some really good runs at the track in other series, so I feel like I have a good understanding of the track. It’s a unique mile-and-a-half, so it’s hard to even compare it to the others we go to. The surface of the track is really worn, so you have to run that wall as best you can because that will be the sweet spot. The tire wear will be pretty substantial, so our team will focus on the tire strategy and taking care of our stuff. As always, we’ll want to qualify well so we can be upfront with track position just being everything.”

In The Know – Las Vegas

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW:

●  Event:  South Point 400 (Round 33 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 15

●  Location:  Las Vegas Motor Speedway

●  Layout:  1.5-mile oval

●  Laps/Miles:  267 laps/400.5 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps

●  TV/Radio:  NBC / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

In 23 years of NASCAR Cup Series racing that has spanned 822 career starts, Kevin Harvick has racked up plenty of laps and even more miles in his Hall-of-Fame-worthy career. So, it’s only appropriate that his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang carries the branding of Mobil 1 Extended Performance High Mileage advanced full synthetic motor oil in the South Point 400 this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mobil 1 Extended Performance High Mileage safeguards an engine for 20,000 miles between oil changes by providing exceptional wear protection of critical components. Among active Cup Series drivers, there is no one with higher mileage than Harvick. He ranks fifth all-time in miles run (308,238.364) and 10th all-time in laps completed (231,068). These statistics place Harvick among a who’s who of NASCAR royalty.

Aric Almirola:

In 20 career starts on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway desert oval, Almirola has four top-10s, all coming since he joined Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) in 2018. Almirola has a best finish there of sixth (twice – September 2018 and March 2022) and a best start of fourth (twice – September 2019 and 2020).

Chase Briscoe:

In five Cup Series starts at Las Vegas, Briscoe has a best finish of fourth earned last year during the NASCAR Playoffs. He took the lead on a lap-246 restart and held it for the next six laps when the race quickly returned to caution. Briscoe lost the lead on the ensuing restart on lap 252 but maintained his position in the top-five over the final 15 laps.

Ryan Preece:

Preece will make his eighth career Las Vegas start this weekend. His first was in 2019 for JTG-Daugherty Racing. In March 2021, Preece tallied his best Las Vegas finish of 15th. In his last visit in March, Preece started 31st and finished 23rd in his outing there with SHR and his first in a Ford Mustang.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 High Mileage Ford Mustang:

Has there been a particular moment this year during all the tributes to your career that’s really resonated with you?

“I think when the 4EVER signs started showing up on the walls and you had to drive by them every lap – at Watkins Glen they had the tribute through the esses and you drove by it every single lap. You drive by my pit marker at a lot of these racetrack and it’s the 4EVER sign. Marcus Smith (president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports) was very up front in saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to have a chance to do this type of stuff, and to be able to do it with the fans and the sponsors and with the team and everybody that’s involved in it.’ What I don’t think is a big deal is a big deal to a lot of people, because I do this on a week-to-week basis. I’ve grown up around it and I’ve seen it from every end of the spectrum that you could see it from. It’s a big deal to a lot of people, and it’s a big deal to each racetrack and their local fans and markets. So it’s been fun to see it all play out. I don’t know if there’s one that sticks out above the other ones, but I think for me the biggest moment was running that 29 car at North Wilkesboro.”

 

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 IHOP Ford Mustang:

Stewart-Haas and the No. 10 team have found more speed over the last few weeks. Do you feel that will carry over this weekend to Las Vegas?

“I think so. We found some things at Kansas and Texas that we didn’t have earlier in the year as an organization. There is a fine line to finding that balance, but Stewart-Haas Racing has come together more in the last month as a team to better each car and we’ve seen strides in speed ever since. We had two cars in the top-10 at Texas and have seen more consistent top-10 runs across the board, so I think we’ll see improvements from earlier this year at Vegas. Vegas is just such a tricky track to dial in each time we visit it, but I enjoy racing there and the challenge it always brings.” 

 

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Code 3 Associates Ford Mustang:

You’re down to the last four races of the season. What are you most looking forward to in the final stretch?

“We’ve got four more chances to learn on the track for next year and I feel like two of those may also be chances to get a win. We’ve been really good at Martinsville and Phoenix and I don’t see that changing. I’d love to finish the season with a win but, no matter what, we’ve come a long way this year and have turned a tough start into a decent finish. We have learned a lot and have a good start on next season. We’ll just keep taking advantage of every opportunity to improve and hopefully that pays off for us in the end.”

 

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang:

Whenever you’ve been asked about the goal for the remainder of the season, you’ve said it’s all about consistency. You’ve had three top-12 finishes in the last four races. Do you feel like that consistency is showing?

“I do, for sure. This team has what it takes to run up front and have top-10, top-five finishes every week. From the beginning of the season, we have worked so hard on being a team that is consistent the entire weekend. It all counts, not just the laps during the race. It’s showing and we are proving that we can be up there and in the mix. I’m proud of these guys and I’m excited to see what this team can do as we end the season and prepare for next year, too.”

 

In The Know – Charlotte ROVAL

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW:

●  Event:  Bank of America Roval 400 (Round 32 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 8

●  Location:  Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval

●  Layout:  2.28-mile, 17-turn road course

●  Laps/Miles:  109 laps/252.88 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 25 laps / Stage 2: 25 laps / Final Stage: 59 laps

●  TV/Radio:  NBC / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

 

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

Harvick has made a total of 60 NASCAR Cup Series starts on road courses. He has 22 starts at Sonoma, 22 at Watkins Glen, five on the Charlotte Roval, three at COTA, three on the road course at Indianapolis, two apiece at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and on the road course at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, and one on the Chicago Street Course. He has scored two road-course wins – Watkins Glen in 2006 and Sonoma in 2017 – along with 12 top-fives and 27 top-10s with 199 laps led.

Aric Almirola:

IHOP will be the primary sponsor on the No. 10 Ford Mustang this weekend with a brand new paint scheme. For more than 65 years, IHOP has been a leader, innovator and expert in all things breakfast, lunch and dinner. The chain offers 65 different signature fresh, made-to-order breakfast options, a wide selection of popular lunch and dinner items, including Ultimate Steakburgers, Hand Crafted Melts, Burritos & Bowls and more. IHOP restaurants offer guests an affordable, everyday dining experience with warm and friendly service. As of June 30, there are 1,790 IHOP restaurants around the world, including restaurants in all 50 states, two U.S. territories and 13 countries outside the United States. IHOP restaurants are franchised by affiliates of Pasadena, Calif.-based Dine Brands Global, Inc. (NYSE: DIN).

Chase Briscoe:

Five races remain on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule and Sunday’s race on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval serves as the final road-course event of the season. For Chase Briscoe and the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School team, it’s a return to the track where Briscoe and crew chief Richard Boswell earned their first win in 2018.

Ryan Preece:

The Bank of America Roval 400 marks Preece’s fourth Cup Series start on the 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course. His first start on the course came in 2019 for JTG-Daugherty Racing, when he qualified 14th and finished 21st. His second came in 2020 and marks his best at the track – 14th. Preece didn’t compete on the Roval last season and this weekend will mark his first start with SHR. Preece made his lone Roval appearance in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2018 for Joe Gibbs Racing. He started 10th and finished fourth. The Cup Series has already competed at four road courses this season – Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International – and on the downtown streets of Chicago for NASCAR’s inaugural street race. In the June race at Sonoma, Preece won the Friday ARCA Menards Series West race and on Sunday earned his season-best Cup Series road-course finish of 13th.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Rheem/Chasing A Cure Ford Mustang:

This is your 23rd year in the NASCAR Cup Series. How valuable is that kind of experience in this sport?

“Today’s sport is so engineering-minded that the simple, everyday things sometimes get forgotten. It’s very important to do all the little things right, and you have to execute the simple things right, too. Don’t overcomplicate it because sometimes overcomplicating results in a worse result than just say, ‘OK, today we finished fifth and next week we’re going to try to do two or three things to finish first, not 20 or 30 things and finish 30th.’ Keeping the simplicity of our process in the middle of our engineering-minded process is very important. It used to be trial-and-error when you tested. Nowadays, it’s try it and prove it or debunk it, so that it’s either right or wrong.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 IHOP Ford Mustang:

You won your first road-course race in the Xfinity Series earlier this year at Sonoma. How could that translate to the Roval this weekend? 

“Just confidence in myself on road courses. The cars don’t translate much from Xfinity to Cup, and the Roval is a mix of speed and handling on the oval with the tight turns in the road-course portion. If we could find that balance in our cars, we’ll be competitive. I’m proud of our team and the effort we’ve all put in to improve our road-course cars over the year.”

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang:

Over the last month or so, there’s been a little more consistency for the No. 14 team when it comes to results. Do you feel things are starting to turn around for the team?

“Yeah, I think we’re finally starting to get things figured out. Not just the No. 14 team, but Stewart-Haas Racing as a whole. You know, we had a good run of top-five finishes early this season and then we went months without a top-10. It was tough. I’ve never had a season where it was either we finished up front or we were 33rd. When we made the crew chief change, obviously there were a lot of people wondering why we did it in the middle of the season, but I think it has worked out really well. We’re getting a chance to show that we are capable and we can run up front, and Richard (Boswell) is still in the middle of trying to figure out this car. So, I think that shows there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s putting us in a good starting place for 2024.”

Post Race Report – Talladega

Date:  Oct. 1, 2023

Event:  YellaWood 500 (Round 31 of 36)

Series:  NASCAR Cup Series

Location:  Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

Format:  188 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/68 laps)

Race Winner:  Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner:  Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 2 Winner:  Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing (Ford)

SHR Race Finish:            

●  Kevin Harvick (Started 11th, Finished 2nd / Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)

●  Ryan Preece (Started 19th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)

●  Chase Briscoe (Started 3rd, Finished 14th / Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)

●  Aric Almirola (Started 1st, Finished 18th / Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)

SHR Points:

●  Kevin Harvick (13th with 2,140 points)

●  Aric Almirola (22nd with 548 points)

●  Ryan Preece (25th with 527 points)

●  Chase Briscoe (29th with 439 points)

Harvick Notes:  

●  Harvick’s runner-up result equaled his best finish so far this season. His also finished second May 14 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

●  Harvick earned his seventh top-five and 14th top-10 of the season. It was his ninth top-five and 20th top-10 in 46 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega.

●  This was Harvick’s second straight top-10. He finished sixth last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

●  Harvick’s 20 top-10s at Talladega are the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers. Next best on this list is Denny Hamlin with 16 top-10s.

●  Harvick finished eighth in Stage 1 to earn three bonus points.

●  Harvick led four times for 11 laps to increase his laps-led total at Talladega to 314.

●  Harvick has now led 11,620 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 16,035 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career and is one of just 11 drivers who have surpassed 16,000 laps led.

Preece Notes:     

●  Preece earned his second top-10 of the season and his third top-10 in eight career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega.

●  Preece finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point.

●  Preece led once for eight laps to increase his laps-led total at Talladega to 22.

Briscoe Notes:   

●  Briscoe earned his ninth top-15 of the season and his fifth top-15 in six career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega.

●  This was Briscoe’s third consecutive top-15 at Talladega. He finished 10th last October and fourth in the series’ prior visit to the track in April.

●  Briscoe finished eighth in Stage 2 to earn three bonus points.

Almirola Notes: 

●  Almirola won the pole for the YellaWood 500 with a lap of 52.715 seconds at 181.656 mph around the 2.66-mile oval. It was his sixth career pole, his first at Talladega and his second of the season.

●  This was Almirola’s sixth straight result of 18th or better. He finished third Aug. 26 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, 14th Sept. 3 at Darlington, 17th Sept. 10 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, 18th Sept. 16 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and 18th last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

●  Almirola led five times for seven laps to increase his laps-led total at Talladega to 125.

Race Notes:       

●  Ryan Blaney won the YellaWood 500 to score his ninth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Talladega. His margin over second-place Harvick was just .012 of a second.

●  This was Ford’s 727th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory and its sixth of the season.

●  This was Ford’s 32nd NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega. Ford got its first win at Talladega on May 4, 1975 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Buddy Baker.

●  There were four caution periods for a total of 19 laps.

●  Twenty-nine of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  This was the second race in the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Playoffs. Blaney secured his spot in the Round of 8 via his win while Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch are currently below the top-12 cutline with one race remaining before the Round of 8 begins Oct. 15 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Sound Bites:

“I knew we were in a great spot there with Riley (Herbst) behind us and I don’t know where he spun out, but he got spun out and I knew that if he was still there by the time we got to the end of the tri-oval, we were going to be in really good shape and then, at that particular point, it was just kind of where we were. I tried to put a donut on his (Blaney’s) door and slow him down just a little bit, but just a great effort and we came up a little short. I just tried to block the lanes, and then I was kind of late blocking the 12 (Blaney) there and he got to the outside of us, but it actually worked out OK because the 24 (William Byron) was a great pusher, and then it got shuffled again and I had Riley behind me. I thought I was in a really good spot headed down the back straightaway with everything that was happening. I’ve just got to thank everybody on our Busch Light Ford. They did a great job. Right about there I said, ‘Man, we’re sailing. The spotter is yelling at me to side draft.’ I’m like, ‘We aren’t going to need to sidedraft,’ and then Riley got loose and spun out and I’m like, ‘We’re all alone here with two of them below me.’ But it was a great day, a great way to end at Talladega. I always want to win, but it is what it is.” (On the possibility of a walk-off win in his last career race at Talladega:) “Yeah, they might have torn it down (laughing). That would’ve been great. Talladega has been so up-and-down through the years. We’ve had some great moments and some bad moments.  The last superspeedway race and we went out with everything rolling, so that’s a good thing.” – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Camo Ford Mustang

“Ninth-place at Talladega, I’ll take it. We even led a few laps in the Wonder Bread car and got some stage points. These superspeedways are all about track position and that was the name of the game all day long. We really tried to execute with tire strategy and fuel throughout the day. My Ford Mustang was fast all day and I knew if we could make that high line work with the other Fords, we could take off. This was a really fun weekend with Wonder Bread onboard the No. 41 and Old Spice on the No. 14. Looking forward to getting to the Roval and keeping the momentum going.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 Wonder Bread Ford Mustang

“It was a long race for the No. 14 team, but we found a strategy that worked for us and were able to stick with the Fords up front for a bit. But that also meant that we had to start from the back a few times, and we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We had damage that really got in the way of getting a better finish, but I was hoping we could avoid whatever was coming at the end. I hate it for the team and Old Spice. I loved having them on the car and I think the fans really enjoyed it too.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice Ford Mustang

“We just didn’t have the help we needed on the outside lane there. I was the only car able to push and we didn’t get enough momentum from behind. Our No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang did not handle well as the leader, but our car was great as a pusher. That’s why we lined up the way we did on the last restart. I could push the 48 (Alex Bowman) hard on the straightaway, but no one else could keep up with us to get us back to the front. Happy we came here and got our second pole of the year. Just needed more luck on our side at the end to get back up there.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Bank of America Roval 400 on Sunday, Oct. 8 on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval. The sixth race in the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.