Elliott Sadler Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service   TALLADEGA, Ala. – Aric Almirola charged into the lead with four laps left in Saturday’s Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway and held off Elliott Sadler at the finish to win the third NASCAR XFINITY Series race of his career.   With the Ford of Darrell Wallace Jr. plowing into the inside backstretch wall behind him on the final lap, Almirola held the top spot to the finish, beating Sadler, the series leader, to the finish line by .142 seconds.   The win wasRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Entering Talladega, the NASCAR Xfinity Series points leader, Elliott Sadler, was one of the favorites to be able to score back-to-back wins at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, but after sustaining some damage early in the race, Sadler had his work cut out for him to be able to come back finish as a runner-up in the Sparks Energy 300. “That’s a good finish for us,” said Sadler. “I made a huge mistake there coming to the white. Me and my spotter were so focused on whereRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After setting down the fastest time in NASCAR Xfinity Series practice on Friday, Blake Koch and Kaulig Racing were fast again in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Sparks Energy 300 as Koch scored his first career pole with a lap of 52.188 seconds, 183.490 mph. Joining Koch on the front row will be Kasey Kahne, who is driving the No. 88 Chevrolet this weekend for JR Motorsports. Rounding out the top-five starters for Saturday’s race are three of the four Richard Childress Racing entries, withRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Heading into Saturday’s Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega, JR Motorsports, which currently holds the top three spots in the NASCAR Xfinity Series points standings, will be looking to make it back-to-back trips to victory lane at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. After expanding to four teams in 2017, some expected the organization to have some growing pains, but through the first eight races of the season, they haven’t missed a beat as they have established themselves as early championship favorites after falling just short last season. TheRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Erik Jones found the ideal way to atone from a mistake in Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, but it took a bump-and-run for Jones to complete his comeback at the .533-mile short track. Recovering from a Lap 230 pit road speeding penalty that sent him to the back of the field, Jones worked his way to the front through a series of quick cautions and muscled Ryan Blaney out of the way to take the lead onRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Since 1997, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has been making the trek to the Lone Star State to take on the 1.5 mile Texas Motor Speedway, but of the 32 events that have taken place at the track, just one sticks out as the best of the best. In this week’s “Throwback Thursday Theater,” we’ll take a look back at the 2004 Samsung Radioshack 500, which produced the closest Cup Series finish ever at the track. After coming up just short of his firstRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Justin Allgaier popped a tire during his celebratory burnout after Saturday’s DC Solar 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. But you can forgive the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet if he was a trifle rusty with his donuts—Allgaier hadn’t been to Victory Lane in the NASCAR XFINITY Series since August in 2012 at the road course in Montreal. On a blistering afternoon that brought emotions to a boil at the one-mile race track in the Sonoran Desert, Allgaier sailedRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Throughout the season-opening race weekend at Daytona, the winners of the earlier stages have failed to finish their respective events. It happened to Johnny Sauter in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and it happened to Elliott Sadler in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, and in Sunday’s Daytona 500, it happened yet again. Kyle Busch, who was still seeking his first Daytona 500 win, was able to drive his No. 18 Toyota to the front of the field at lap 42, taking overRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor For the second day in a row, the winner of the first two stages of a race has failed to finish the event after getting caught up in a wreck in the closing laps. After Johnny Sauter won the first two stages in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday night only to get wrecked on the final lap, the winner of the first two stages in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Elliott Sadler, would suffer the same fate. Sadler started the eventRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For Ryan Reed, there’s magic in the air at the Birthplace of Speed. Reed went to Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway in February 2015 and hadn’t won since—until Saturday night, when he held off Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series veteran Kasey Kahne in overtime to claim victory in the Powershares QQQ 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series season opener. With the race going four laps past its scheduled distance of 120 laps, and with the series running NASCAR’s new three-stage eventRead More