By John Schutt
NASCAR Cup Series, Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Indianapolis, Ind., Sunday, July 31.
The race was held at the Indy 500 track, however, used the road course which was part infield and part of the large track to create some exciting racing.
With two laps to go in the final stage, Ross Chastain passed Tyler Reddick. However in the final lap, Reddick got ahead for his second Nascar victory. Chastain was penalized for driving off road to gain positions and finished in 23rd position. Following in second place was Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton was in third, Todd Gilliland in fourth, and in fifth was Bubba Wallace.
The pole was won by Tyler Reddick. There were a few spin outs in the first few laps. Near the end of stage one, Chris Buecher came into the pits on fire.
Chase Briscoe won stage one. Christopher Bell won stage two.
Most of the race, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney were in contention. Christopher Bell had a spin-out and Elliott was tapped from behind and was out of the top 20.
In the last two laps Reddick fought hard to get the lead back from Chastain and took victory.
NASCAR Cup Series, M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400, Pocono Raceway, Pocono, Pa., Sunday, July 24.
The triangle-shaped track with different shaped turns and different banking gave a lot of headaches to the generation three drivers. Cars were set up well for only one turn on this track.
In the final lap of the race, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch came across the finish in first and second, respectively. However, during post-race inspection it was discovered each car had some material under the decals that just slightly improved the aerodynamics. Because of it, formerly in third place, Chase Elliott, was declared the winner. Following in second place was Reddick, third was Daniel Suarez, fourth was Bell, and fifth was Kyle Larson.
Kyle Busch won pole position. Kyle Larson won stage one and Kyle Busch won stage two.
NASCAR Cup Series, Ambetter 301, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H., Sunday, July 17.
Bell won stage three and the race. In second place was Elliott, third was Wallace, fourth was Truex, Jr., and fifth was Kevin Harvick.
Truex, Jr. won the pole.
Alex Bowman spun out and wrecked in middle of stage one. Bowman has had three did-not-finishes in last six races.
Truex, Jr. was stage one winner.
Ross Chastain and Cory Lajo were in wrecks early in stage two. Truex, Jr. was still leading at lap 173, but a caution was issued and at the restart was in fourth place at end of race.
NASCAR Cup Series, Kwick Trip 250, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Sunday, July 3.
The race track was in good condition with near perfect weather for Reddick to win his first Cup Series race. Following in second was Elliott. Larson was in third, Chastain in fourth, and Suarez in fifth.
Elliott won pole and won stage one. Ryan Blaney won stage two. Elliot got ahead of Reddick to lead stage three. With 17 laps to go Reddick passed Elliott and took the checkered flag.