DARLINGTON, S.C. — NASCAR’s decision to extend the amount of time that teams can work on their car under the Cup Damaged Vehicle Policy from six minutes to 10 could make an impact as soon as Sunday at Darlington Raceway.
With the points as close as they are among the playoff contenders — nine points separates fifth to 16th entering Sunday’s Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on USA Network) — any position that can be gained by being able to return to the race instead of being eliminated can be key for teams.
“It’s not the difference between competing for a win and not competing for a win, but (it’s the difference of) getting parked with something that could easily be remedied,” Adam Stevens, crew chief for Christopher Bell, told NBC Sports.
Drew Blickensderfer, crew chief for Aric Almirola, said the extra time will be valuable in making repairs to damaged toe links.
“A lot of times when you bend a toe link, it’s hard to get the bolt out to replace it,” Blickensderfer told NBC Sports. “So you spend three minutes getting the old bolts out and you don’t have any time to put a new one on.
“I think they want to give you an opportunity to replace a toe link on pit road. We’ve seen issues of teams getting thrown out (by) the DVP because it just took too long to change a toe link, and I think the 10 minutes will allow you basically to change your toe link.”
Chase Elliott was eliminated because of the Damaged Vehicle Policy in this year’s Coca-Cola 600 and placed 33rd. Crew chief Alan Gustafson said the extra four minutes will be helpful in a situation like his team had in that race.
“I think Charlotte would be the best example,” Gustafson said. “We had minor damage. We had a tie rod that was bent. The bolt was twisted in the mount, and we didn’t get it out in time. I think in those situations, you’ll have an opportunity to make those repairs at least and be back in the race.
“I don’t know that, in extreme situations, it’s going to make a big difference, but I do think in some situations (it will help). That’s the best example that I have. You have a car that basically has no damage be out of the race probably isn’t the best thing in the world. That was their point to rectify that. It’s not going to encompass all cases, but it certainly opens up some opportunity.”
The Damaged Vehicle Policy debuted before the 2017 season as a safety precaution to limit cars that had been significantly damaged from returning to the track. Teams originally were given five minutes for repairs. NASCAR extended the time to six minutes before the 2018 season with the reduction in over-the-wall pit crew members.
NASCAR announced this week that teams will now have a maximum of 10 minutes to make repairs on pit road after contact on the track. The time starts once the car enters pit road and the clock does not stop until the car crosses the pit exit line. The car has three laps to make minimum speed or is retired from the event.
Xfinity points, results: Noah Gragson won Friday’s Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, his third consecutive victory on the circuit.
The JR Motorsports driver led 25 of 300 laps in his No. 9 Chevrolet for the 11th victory of his Xfinity Series career, winning by 0.145 seconds over Brandon Jones (who will be replacing Gragson in the No. 9 next season as Gragson moves into the Cup Series).
It’s the career-high sixth victory this year for the 24-year-old Gragson, who also set a JR Motorsports mark for most wins by a driver in a season.
Austin Hill finished third, followed by Sam Mayer and Riley Herbst to round out the top five for the Xfinity regular-season finale, which set the field for the 12-driver playoff.
RESULTS: Click here for where everyone finished l Click here for the race report
Daniel Hemric and Ryan Sieg clinched the final two spots in the playoffs. Sieg took the last by passing Landon Cassill (whose car suffered a mechanical failure) in the points standings.
Sheldon Creed led 34 laps in his bid to make the playoffs but finished seventh after being slammed into the wall from contact with Ty Gibbs, who had been bumped up the track by Ty Gibbs.
Justin Allgaier, Gragson’s JR Motorsports teammate, led a race-high 148 of 300 laps but finished ninth because of a late speeding penalty.
AJ Allmendinger, who finished sixth, won the 2022 regular-season championship with a sixth-place finish. The rest of the top five in points were: Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs and Josh Berry.
By virtue of playoff points from his victories and stage wins, Gragson will enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed ahead of Gibbs, Allgaier, Allmendinger and Berry.
Let the #NASCARPlayoffs begin for the @XfinityRacing Series!@NoahGragson has the most points thanks to his six wins on the year. pic.twitter.com/Ly8ad4pFPS
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 17, 2022
CURRENT POINTS AFTER BRISTOL: Click here for reseeded driver points l Click here for reseeded team owner points
REGULAR SEASON AFTER BRISTOL: Click here for final driver points l Click here for final team owner points
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Noah Gragson held off Brandon Jones to win his third consecutive Xfinity Series race, AJ Allmendinger won the regular season title and Ryan Sieg raced his way into the playoffs Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Gragson was the only car not to pit with 25 laps to go and inherited the lead. He held off a furious challenge by Jones, who will take over Gragson’s car next year JR Motorsports.
The victory is Gragson’s sixth of the year.
Austin Hill placed third and was followed by Sam Mayer and Riley Herbst. Justin Allgaier, who led a race-high 148 laps, finished ninth after a speeding penalty on the final pit stop.
Sieg, who entered the race 19 points behind Landon Cassill for the final playoff spot, finished 10th to advance.
Sheldon Creed saw his chances to make the playoffs end with a crash on Lap 129. He was racing side-by-side with Ty Gibbs for the lead when Gibbs was hit from behind by Noah Gragson. The contact sent Gibbs up the track into Creed’s car. Both went into the wall and were eliminated.
“Man, that’s the way my year has gone,” Creed told NBC Sports’ Dave Burns. “We have speed at times and then stuff like that happens.
Not sure the score between the 9-54 is but eye test says it’s heavy on one end.
That incident happened less than 20 laps after Landon Cassill, who entered the race holding the final playoff spot, went behind pit road for repairs after a mechanical issue. Cassill returned to the race 112 laps behind the leaders and moved ahead of Creed and Gibbs but could not gain on any other drivers. Cassill finished 35th.
WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Brandon Jones’ runner-up finish is his best result in 13 starts at Bristol. … Riley Herbst’s fifth-place finish is his first top five since Nashville in June. … Stefan Parsons finished a career-best eighth.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Sheldon Creed, who entered the race 32 points out of the final playoff spot, was battling for the lead and the automatic transfer to the second round when he was collected in an incident. … A mechanical issue sent Landon Cassill behind pit wall for repairs and cost him a shot at making the playoffs.
NEXT: The Xfinity playoffs begin Sept. 24 at Texas (3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network)
#NASCAR … Ryan Sieg made the playoffs at Bristol. He talks about the stress of this race … pic.twitter.com/Kj9yEJhXpD
#NASCAR … Justin Allgaier called his pit road speeding penalty late in the race a “rookie mistake” … he explains pic.twitter.com/xCaxv5fyDT
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Tyler Reddick admits it will be a “unique challenge” to go through next season without his crew chief, who will move to Kyle Busch’s team at Richard Childress Racing in 2023.
Reddick spoke publicly for the first time Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway since it was announced this week that Busch would drive the No. 8 car and have Reddick’s crew chief Randall Burnett. Reddick and Burnett have been together since 2019, winning a title in the Xfinity Series and two Cup races this year.
The announcement came two months after Reddick’s deal to join 23XI Racing in 2024 became public.
Car owner Richard Childress said this week that he informed Reddick of the changes about an hour before Tuesday’s press conference with Busch. Childress he made the changes since Reddick will be gone after next season and to build up Busch’s team.
“None of it surprised me, honesty,” Reddick said of the changes.
“I’m going to be moving on in 2024 to a new group of people, new team. It’s a unique challenge to be able to go through that next year with a new group of people. If anything, it will probably help me when I move on to (23XI Racing in 2024), kind of getting used to working with different people and going through that process.”
Childress said this week that he would field three chartered teams next year, keeping Reddick with Busch and Austin Dillon. Childress has only two charters and would need to lease a charter or purchase one to give all three teams a charter.
With Childress providing little details of how he’ll have three teams, questions remain if Reddick moves to 23XI Racing a year early.
“It’s out of my hands,” Reddick said of where he’ll race next year. “As I’ve said to everybody, I intend to finish what I agreed to do at RCR. I want to see that through the end, whether it was with the No. 8 car or whatever car it will be. Richard has told me he will share a lot of those details.”
Change is not new to Reddick, the only driver in NASCAR history to win back-to-back Xfinity championships with different teams. He won the 2018 crown with JR Motorsports and moved to Richard Childress Racing in 2019 and won the championship that season.
“It certainly doesn’t hurt,” Reddick said of that experience. “I’ve been through that similar situation before. .. Just like any of us would do, we just try to make the most out of what lies ahead, or what our situation is, and give it 100% effort every day and hope it is enough.”
For now, though, Reddick’s focus is on advancing to the second round of the playoffs. He enters Saturday night’s Cup elimination race two points above the cutline after finishing 35th last weekend at Kansas because of a crash.
Reddick will start Saturday night’s race 17th in the 36-car field at Bristol.
“Even though we had a rough weekend at Kansas, falling out, we still just approach it like any other race we’ve had so far this year and go out and give it our best effort,” Reddick said.
BRISTOL, Tennessee — Aric Almirola will take the green flag in front of eight playoff drivers in the Cup starting lineup Saturday night as the first round concludes at Bristol Motor Speedway (USA, coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. ET).
Almirola, who failed to make the playoff (after re-signing a contract extension for the No. 10 Ford), captured the fourth pole position of his Cup career. His most recent was 47 starts ago (last year at Nashville Superspeedway).
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver became the 14th pole-sitter in Cup this season by turning a lap of 14.946 seconds on the 0.533-mile oval in qualifying Friday.
It was the sixth top 10 starts in seven races at the short track for Almirola, whose previous best in qualifying at Bristol was second.
Retweet to congratulate @Aric_Almirola on winning the pole for Saturday night's race at @BMSupdates. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/InKjswzQuk
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 16, 2022
Here are the starting positions of the 16 playoff drivers:
Chase Briscoe (second), Alex Bowman (third), Denny Hamlin (fourth), Kyle Larson (fifth), Ryan Blaney (sixth), Kevin Harvick (seventh), Christopher Bell (eighth), Austin Cindric (ninth), Ross Chastain (12th), Joey Logano (15th), William Byron (16th), Tyler Reddick (17th), Kyle Busch (21st), Chase Elliott (23rd), Austin Dillon (28th) and Daniel Suarez (29th).
UNDER THE LIGHTS AT BRISTOL: Details for Saturday’s race
Four drivers will be eliminated after Saturday’s 500-lap race concludes the first round of the playoffs. Only Bell is locked into the second round.
Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric are below the cutline to start the first race on Bristol’s high-banked concrete with the Next Gen car. Busch and Harvick are trying to avoid first-round elimination for the first time in their careers.
Harvick finished second at Bristol last year after winning therein 2020.
Busch has a series-leading eight victories in NASCAR’s premier series at Bristol — most recently in a 2019 win that is among his six top-five finishes in the past eight races there.