NASCAR NEWS: NASCAR Has Suspended Austin Dillon Today…..
Larson fell one race short of sweeping the triple-header weekend. He won the Craftsman Truck race on Friday and finished fourth in the Xfinity Series on Saturday despite leading 132 of 201 laps. He was hoping to join Kyle Busch as the only drivers to sweep a triple-header weekend — Busch did it at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2010 and 2017. Larson will take another shot at a sweep in Bristol next month.
He said he was motivated by Saturday’s result, when a late caution essentially cost him a race he had dominated. It was an all-to-familiar feeling of disappointment at Homestead despite Larson historically driving very well there.
“Proud of myself. Proud of the team. Just a lot of gritty hard work there today,” Larson said. “Super pumped. One of the coolest wins I think in my Cup career just because of all the heartbreak I’ve had here, the heartbreak yesterday. To just keep my head down and keep digging feels really good.”
He was far from dominant on Sunday. Larson led just 19 of 267 laps, had to climb from 14th-place starting position and overcame pit road mishaps and bad restarts to pull off the win – his first victory of the season and first in the Cup Series at Homestead since 2022.
“Given past history, I just wanted to take the green flag and kick everybody’s ass today,” Larson said. “I wanted to get to the lead early and just dominate like I was yesterday. Then the green flag flew, and it was like the opposite. I was going backwards and getting [mad] in the helmet.
“After 10 laps or so, I forgot about the wanting to kick everybody’s ass all race long. It was like, ‘All right, let’s try to and work hard at this and get a win.'”
Bowman, who was Saturday’s pole winner, finished second in the No. 48 Chevrolet. Bubba Wallace was third for 23XI Racing after leading 56 laps — the most laps he’s led in a race since September 2023. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Ryan Blaney was running third when his engine blew up on Lap 207, causing a thick cloud of smoke to cover the track and a lengthy cleanup.
It had been a strong race for Blaney before then. He led 124 laps and won Stage 1 after starting sixth. It was the second time in three races that Blaney did not finish a race because of an engine failure with his No. 12 Team Penske Ford.
“It just stinks,” Blaney said. “Led a lot of laps. Lost a little bit of track position there with some stuff on pit road but got back to third. And it was a great race between me, Bubba and Larson. … It was going to be a heck of a battle the last 60 laps or so but just didn’t really work out for us. We’ll keep our head up.
“It’s one of those things where it’s not really going our way right now, but the good news is we’re bringing fast cars.”
Joey Logano started 12th in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. By the end of the first stage, the three-time champion had moved up a couple of spots and finished 10th.
And that’s when things took an unexpected turn.
During the stage break pit stop, Logano and Josh Berry were simultaneously attempting to exit their pit boxes on the narrow pit road, when the No. 21, which was on the outside, hit the passing No. 5 car of Kyle Larson, ricocheted back to the left and hit the No. 22, sending both cars for a synchronized spin.
“I don’t know what their plans are as far as renovations down there, but I would put that as the No. 1 priority,” Logano said. “Not because of the wreck on pit road but because of the safety risk for the pit crew. Like we are flirting with disaster on that pit road and nobody wants to see that at all.”
A few minutes later, after discussing the dangers pit crew members regularly face, the Team Penske driver talked about a possible solution besides widening pit road.
“I don’t know like even if you slow down the pit road speed, which is probably the easiest thing to do, it still doesn’t really fix the problem, right?” he said. “Josh and I weren’t even up to pit road speed when we went spinning around.
I was just getting going. So yeah, it’s kind of a scary, sketchy thing. I feel like we’re flirting with disaster on that one. We’re definitely playing with fire.”
NASCAR officials issued fines to four teams in the Xfinity Series on Tuesday for lug-nut infractions last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In a post-race inspection, competition officials found one unsecured lug nut each on the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet driven by Daniel Dye, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota piloted by William Sawalich, the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet wheeled by Austin Hill and Anthony Alfredo’s No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet.
Hill was the highest finisher among the quartet, netting a third-place result. Following Hill was Dye (9th), Alfredo (18th) and Sawalich (24th).
The violation of Sections 8.8.10.4a in the NASCAR Rule Book drew a $5,000 fine for each team.
The Xfinity Series next races at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“Again, it’s a high standard at Hendrick and what everybody brings, like the #5 team did today.
A lot of times, you’re really measuring yourself against the best out there, and a lot of times, that’s right in your own stable.
If you’re not achieving what you want to achieve, you know you’ve got to go to work, and you know you’re not meeting expectations,” Gordon told the media.
This is more disappointing because Chase Elliott has had a great turnaround in the 2024 season.
After going winless in 2023, the 2020 Cup series champion made a blistering comeback in Texas.
He doubled down on his success as he earned seven top-10 finishes in 10 playoff races.
It would be fair to say that he was the most consistent driver in the Cup garage, with 10 top 5 finishes across the season. While he failed to qualify for the Championship 4 race, he was back competing for wins.
And for Elliott’s fan base this momentum was seen as him turning the corner for good.
Instead, he has struggled to find consistency.
He started the year with a win at the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, but since then, penalties and bad luck have plagued his season.
Up until last weekend, the 29-year-old has clinched just one top-five finish and two top-10s. Additionally, after going 109 races with just one speeding penalty, he has racked up two in the last five races this year.
What’s most important, though, is Elliott himself also realizes that he’s falling short…
