July 20, 2019 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. – Christopher Bell got just what he needed on an uncharacteristically hot day at New Hampshire Motor Speedway—a breeze. That’s an apt description of Bell’s victory in the ROXOR 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday. In winning for the fifth time this season and the second time in as many starts at the Magic Mile, Bell led 186 of 200 laps and crossed the finish line 4.068 seconds ahead of runner-up Cole Custer. The race followed a familiar pattern. After each restart, Bell would pull away steadily as the drivers…

July 13, 2019 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service Denied victory at Daytona by an inopportune pit call last Sunday, Kurt Busch drove like lightning in a two-lap overtime dash to the finish to win Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Swapping sheet metal with brother Kyle Busch as the siblings battled for the victory throughout the overtime, Busch collected his first victory of the season in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. The 2004 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion won for the first time at Kentucky and the 31st time in his career. Kurt Busch beat his…

July 12, 2019 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service Christopher Bell was dominant in the daytime, but when the sun set over Kentucky Speedway on Friday, Cole Custer turned out the lights on his NASCAR Xfinity Series competition. Under the lights at the end of a 104-lap green-flag run to the conclusion of the Alsco 300, Custer’s No. 00 Ford crossed the finish line 1.651 seconds ahead of Bell’s No. 20 Toyota. Custer had taken the lead from Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Chase Briscoe on Lap 111 of 200 and held it the rest of the way, save for three laps during a…

July 11, 2019 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service In a week that started with Justin Haley’s remarkable upset win at Daytona on Sunday, 18-year-old Tyler Ankrum added another on Thursday night at Kentucky Speedway—and simultaneously threw a wrench into the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Playoff standings. Driving the No. 17 DGR-Crosley Toyota, Ankrum inherited the lead in the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at the 1.5-mile track when Brett Moffitt ran out of fuel on the next-to-last lap. Ankrum crossed the finish line 7.373 seconds ahead of runner-up Stewart Friesen, who started last in a backup truck after NASCAR…

July 8, 2019 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In the bubbling cauldron that is Daytona International Speedway on race day, perhaps it’s the closely bunched pack racing that is most responsible for producing near-magical outcomes—none of which could have been more unexpected than Justin Haley’s victory on Sunday in the rain-shortened Coke Zero Sugar 400. Haley’s win with start-up Spire Motorsports, which had only one finish better than 28th in 17 previous races, also brought balance to the karmic equation. In last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona, Haley was demoted to 18th after dipping below…

June 29, 2019 By HOLLY CAIN NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – For the vast majority of Saturday’s Camping World 300 at Chicagoland Speedway it looked like another non-too-subtle reminder of how good the NASCAR Xfinity Series triumphant trio has been – championship leaders Cole Custer, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick showed the way. Ultimately it was Custer’s time to celebrate this weekend, leading a dominant 151 of the race’s 200 laps to take his fourth Xfinity win of the season in the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and the sixth victory of his career. He earned a solid 2.917-second triumph over…