By John Schutt
NASCAR Cup Series, Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord N.C., Sunday, May 25.
William Byron took control of the race on lap three and held on to that lead for four stages. On the last eight laps, Ross Chastain took the lead and the win! In second place was Byron, Chase Briscoe in third, AJ Allmendinger, and Brad Keselowski in fifth.
Because of the length of the race, an additional stage was added for four total stages.
Briscoe won pole over Kyle Larson, who recently wrecked an Indy car at the Indianapolis 500.
In Stage 1 Larson was in the front until he spun out.
In Stage 2 Larson was now in 28th place after his spin out. Denny Hamlin moved up to third place in Stage 2. Kyle Busch spun out near the end of Stage 2.
Stage 3 had a early wreck involving at least five cars with Hamlin and Byron side by side on the restart.
A few laps later there was a wreck involving Ryan Blaney, Larson, and Dan Suarez. Byron had led 283 laps so far.
In the closing seven laps of the race, Chastain got by Byron to take there and stayed there for the victory. Chastain won race in a back-up car and started in 40th place.
Many penalties where given to a number of teams after the race by NASCAR officials.
NASCAR All-Star Race, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Wilkesboro N.C., Sunday, May 19.
The All-Star Race, and the million dollars, was won by Christopher Bell. In second place was Joe Logano, Chastain in third, Alex Bowman in fourth, and Elliott in fifth.
Bell and Keselowski won the pole positions for the 23-car field.
On lap 60, Suarez hit the wall for the first caution.
By Lap 100 Logano was leading the race.
With 40 laps to go Logano was still in the lead and had led 139 laps
Bell took the lead with seven laps to go and stayed there to win the race.
The race had a pit crew championship, which was won by the pit crew of Michael McDowell. They won $100,000.
Chevy won the manufacture’s championship.
NASCAR Cup Series, Advent-Health 400, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, May 11.
Kyle Larson won pole position, Stage 1, Stage 2, and the overall race! Following in second place was Bell, Ryan Blaney in third, Briscoe in fourth, and Bowman in fifth.
Just seven laps in Allmendinger’s engine went up in smoke.
Larson led the first 38 laps of the race until Hamlin cycled up through the field to take the lead. However, with Hamlin had clutch and transmission issues and Larson came back to win Stage 1.
With 68 laps to go in the second stage Hamlin went into the pits and his clutch or transmission were not working and he had to retire the car.
Just one lap later Suarez and another car each got up into the fence, and a caution was issued.
After the restart Kyle Busch spun out into the infield after trying to race four wide.
On lap 199 Keselowski hit the wall and was out of the race. Bubba Wallace and Justin Haley wrecked and Haley drove his car in reverse to the pits.
With 55 laps to go Larson got to the lead after the restart and held on for the win.