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Articles posted by Richard Allen (Page 31)

Noah Gragson earns Xfinity Championship 4 spot with dramatic Martinsville win

October 30, 2021 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – To get to the Championship 4, you have to drive like a champion. That’s what Noah Gragson did on Saturday night in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff race Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway. Faced with the necessity of winning the race to keep his NASCAR Xfinity Series title hopes alive, Gragson did just that, pulling off a dramatic pass of Daniel Hemric from the outside lane in the first attempt at overtime and holding off series leader Austin Cindric in the second extra period. With Cindric’s…

Zane Smith captures wild Truck Series race at Martinsville; Championship 4 set

October 30, 2021 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – On a track strewn with spinning trucks and broken hearts, Zane Smith catapulted into the Championship 4 with a thrilling overtime victory in Saturday’s United Rentals 200 at Martinsville Speedway. In a no-holds-barred race that featured 14 cautions for 89 laps, Smith won under yellow after he, Stewart Friesen and Todd Gilliland raced three-wide—yes, three-wide at Martinsville—off Turn 4 on the first lap of overtime. Contact from Friesen’s Toyota sent Gilliland’s Ford spinning across the start/finish line to start the final lap. As Friesen moved down the track…

Stewart Friesen looking forward to testing NextGen car at Wythe Raceway

With the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series campaign winding down and the first season with the NextGen car fast approaching, the testing of that new machine has ramped up. Well documented practice sessions on the Charlotte Roval and the quarter-mile paved oval of Bowman-Gray Stadium have recently taken place. But those are not the only types of tracks the NASCAR’s top division will compete on in 2022. As was the case in 2021, there will be one race for the sport’s premier series on a dirt surface. Once more, the Bristol Motor Speedway will be covered in clay for its spring…

What if Kyle Larson doesn’t win the championship?

The best driver over a given season should be the one to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship, right? While it would seem that such should be the case. However, a look back at the way the NASCAR Playoffs have played out over the past few years indicates that the best driver over the course of a season does not always win the title. In reality, it might seem as if the opposite is more likely to be true. Just look back at the 2020 season as an example. Kevin Harvick won a total of nine races but did not…

Right strategy play in Martinsville will make the difference in advancing or not

NASCAR is getting exactly what it wants this weekend in the Xfinity 500 event at the Martinsville Speedway in a race that will decide the Championship 4 for the season finale. Consider that the scenario with the greatest possible drama will play out on the half-mile track located in southern Virginia on Sunday as only one driver will enter that race locked in as a certain championship contender while the other seven remaining hopefuls will have their fate decided over the course of the afternoon and evening. The sanctioning body could not have asked for more. Kyle Larson has assured…

Signs point to a strong run for Tyler Reddick in Kansas

With all the talk in the NASCAR Cup Series centering on those drivers who are still alive in the Playoffs, it can be easy to overlook those who have already been eliminated from title contention. But one driver who could very well find himself in the mix for a top finish or even a win this weekend in the Hollywood Casino 400 at the Kansas Speedway is Tyler Reddick. The 1.5-mile track located just across the state line from Kansas City, Missouri is one where the 25-year-old racer has run well in the past. And perhaps more importantly, the driver…

NASCAR has to be happy with one aspect of ‘Round of 8’

A look at the drivers and teams still in the hunt for the NASCAR Cup Series championship in the ‘Round of 8’ does not reveal very much in the way of parity among the teams as only three organizations are represented among the remaining hopefuls. But on that same note, there does appear to be a certain degree of equality among the auto manufacturers who participate at the highest level of stock car racing as each of the three car makers involved in the sport still have a chance to emerge from the NASCAR Playoffs as a champion. Joe Gibbs…

Hendrick Motorsports can now put total effort behind Chase Elliott

The remaining eight drivers in the NASCAR Playoffs all come from just three organizations. Three of those competitors drive for Joe Gibbs Racing, three for Team Penske, and two for Hendrick Motorsports. While it might seem as if JGR and Penske have an advantage due to the fact that each has one more representative in contention for the NASCAR Cup Series championship than does Hendrick, the results of Sunday’s Autotrader Echo Park Automotive 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway may actually paint a different picture. Kyle Larson’s victory in Fort Worth assures that the No. 5 HMS Chevrolet will be…

A Larson win in Texas spells serious trouble for NASCAR competitors

If any of the eight contenders who are still alive in the NASCAR Playoffs wins on Sunday in the Autotrader Echo Park Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway they will have the advantage of being locked into the Championship 4 race in three weeks at Phoenix Raceway. Obviously, a victory in Fort Worth will provide a big advantage for any of those title hopefuls as they prepare for that final race. But there may be one driver who would benefit most from a victory in Texas. Kyle Larson and his Hendrick Motorsports have been the talk of the season so…

Kevin Harvick needs to prove a point before the end of 2021

For a driver who was eliminated following the NASCAR Cup Series race held last Sunday afternoon at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ‘Roval’, Kevin Harvick has commanded a great deal of this week’s racing news cycle. Last year at this time, he was also a major part of the NASCAR Playoffs story but for a very different reason as many considered him the favorite to go on and add a title to the one he earned in 2014. After the 2020 ‘Round of 8’ Harvick and his Stewart-Haas Racing team were knocked out of contention and went to the season finale…