Month: October 2020

Chase Briscoe won the Kansas Lottery 300 XFinity series race on Saturday evening at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.

At the 3 p.m. Saturday Gander truck race, the Clean Harbors 200 at Kansas Speedway, Brett Moffitt won, followed by Sheldon Creed in second place. No fans were present at the two races on Saturday.

Racing continues at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Kansas Speedway. A limited number of fans will be present for the NASCAR Cup Series race Hollywood Casino 400 at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, which is being shown on NBC.

The XFinity race Saturday evening was notable for a serious crash. A car driven by Anthony Alfredo, a 21-year-old from Connecticut, hit the wall hard, went airborne and then rolled over several times, landing on its roof. Close contact had occurred on a late restart, where drivers were using the apron.

The car was uprighted by two tow trucks, then Alfredo was removed from it and taken to the infield care center. He was then released without serious injuries.

Chase Briscoe has dominated the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. And Saturday was no different as took the checke red flag in the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway, punching his ticket into the Xfinity Series Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 7.

For Briscoe, it was his series-leading ninth win of the year, including his second of the Playoffs and his third victory in the last five races.

“First off, I just want to dedicate this to Brian Egans. He lost his life last week and was a close family friend’s brother-in-law,” Briscoe said. “I am happy we got him in victory lane. I am super happy to be locked into Phoenix. It is going to be a lot less stressful the next two weeks. That will be nice. I can’t say thank you enough to everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. This Ford Performance Racing School Mustang was lights-out. This is the car we had at Vegas. I want to take it to Phoenix because of how good it was. It has been an unbelievable year but we have three more to go get.”

In addition to the race win, Briscoe, also won the first two stages. In the process he became second driver in series history to win nine races in 30 races joining Kyle Busch (2010, 2013, 2016). The win also gives Briscoe’s team the next few weeks to concentrate on the championship race in Phoenix.

“It allows the guys at least to focus on the car,” said Briscoe, who led 159 of the 200-lap race. “I am glad after all the chaos at the beginning of the race, a lot of those guys are going to be in scary points situations. I am glad we don’t have to deal with that. It is crazy to win nine races this year. It has been an unbelievable year and hopefully we can finish it out strong.”

The complexion of the race changed drastically early on when the cars of Playoff contenders Austin Cindric and Noah Gragson tangled, causing extensive damage to the No. 9 Chevrolet of Gragson, forcing the pole-sitter from the race after completing just 16 laps, 13 of which he led. Gragson entered the race in 4th spot in the Playoff standings. Cindric, who was 2nd in the points standings entering the Round of 8, was not able to recover, as his car also sustained severe damage, finishing the race in 28th spot.

Outside of Briscoe, Ryan Sieg had the highest finish among the drivers still in the Playoff hunt, as he placed third, his third top-5 finish in the last three races.

“To start the Round of 8 in the top-3 is an awesome start for our team,” Sieg said. “I couldn’t be prouder of Cowboy (crew chief Kevin Starland). The pit calls that he did make I was a little worried. But they worked out. We just needed a few more laps to try to get the 98 (Chase Briscoe). It was an awesome run for our family run team.”

The top-5 was rounded out by Daniel Hemric (2nd), Justin Haley (4th) and Austin Hill (5th).

The race had 10 lead changes among six drivers and 10 cautions for 45 laps, including four in the race’s final stage.

Two races remain in the Xfinity Series Round of 8. With three spots still to be filled in Championship 4, Justin Allgaier is 11 points above the cutline, followed by Brandon Jones (+9), and Cindric (+2). Justin Haley (-2), Ross Chastain (-12), Sieg (-17) and Gragson (-33) currently find themselves on the outside looking in.

At the Gander truck race Saturday, Kansas City, Kansas, race car driver Jennifer Jo Cobb placed 29th.