Winners: Chase Elliott (Cup); Kyle Busch (Xfinity); Todd Gilliland (Truck); Ty Gibbs (ARCA)
Chase Elliott Wins Rain-Shortened Echopark Automotive Texas Grand Prix
Chase Elliott was declared the winner Sunday in a rain-shortened EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix in the NASCAR Cup Series’ inaugural visit to the challenging Circuit of The Americas road course. With Elliott leading, NASCAR officials called the race due to inclement weather with 14 laps remaining in the 68-lap race.
Elliott, the defending series champ, took the lead from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman and his No. 48 Chevrolet at lap 50 and led five laps before a caution came out on lap 53 for weather. Elliott, driving the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, secured his sixth career road course win and his fifth in the last six road course races. It also marked his first victory of this season and the milestone 800th NASCAR Cup Series win for Chevrolet.
“I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve never won a rain race before, so it’s kind of cool,” Elliott said. “And I’m just super proud of our team for just continuing to fight. We started the day, and we weren’t very good. I just kept pushing myself and we kept making some good changes throughout the day and got to where I thought we were on pace with those guys there at the end. So, I’m really proud of that… I’m looking forward to next week and trying to keep it rolling.”
NEWS: Today’s race at @NASCARatCOTA has been called due to inclement weather.@chaseelliott is your winner of the #EchoParkTGP. pic.twitter.com/mBcrDqZMt0
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 23, 2021
Kyle Busch Races to Pit Boss 250 Victory
Kyle Busch essentially went to school Saturday afternoon in the NASCAR Xfinity Series to learn the challenging Circuit of The Americas road course in preparation for Sunday’s much-anticipated NASCAR Cup Series race there. The result, however, was that Busch absolutely schooled the field – earning an 11-second victory in the Pit Boss 250, NASCAR’s Xfinity Series debut on the famed 3.41-mile, 20-turn circuit in the Lone Star State's capital city.
It marked the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion’s record 98th win in the Xfinity Series. His No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led a race-best 36-of-46 laps. No other driver led more than three laps.
“It’s really really cool to come here for the first race at a new track and to win,’’ Busch said. “Real proud of the effort.
“I think the biggest thing is just all the resources and stuff we have and being able to get laps on the track today, feel the tire, everything like that and then being able to get back out there tomorrow and do everything all over again with the Cup car,’’ the Las Vegas native added. “Thanks to Toyota and TRD, we’ve got some really cool tools we’ve been able to use and I feel like it was a plus for us today.’’
The 18K club! Congrats to @KyleBusch for leading 18,000 laps (and counting) in the @NASCAR Cup series! pic.twitter.com/S5JGE7aGEc
— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) May 23, 2021
Todd Gilliland Wins Truck Series Toyota Tundra 225
Todd Gilliland was so fast and so determined out front in Saturday’s Toyota Tundra 225 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race his own team had to remind him to slow down and take care of his tires in the closing laps of the series debut at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) race.
Despite receiving the cautionary advice, Gilliland, 21, did not ease off and raced to a hefty 7.941-second margin of victory to earn his second career series win and first since 2019. His No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford set the fastest lap of the race with two laps remaining.
“I definitely did a lot of stuff wrong but that’s what I love about road course racing, there’s 20 turns here, 20 opportunities to pass, but also make mistakes,’’ Gilliland said, thanking his Front Row Motorsports team.
“Last year we didn’t quite have the season we knew we could and just to come out here and win early, we’ve been building momentum and for my team to get this win is just amazing.’’
A solid Saturday afternoon for this guy!
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 22, 2021
Congratulations to @ToddGilliland_ for winning $50,000 in the second leg of the Triple Truck Challenge Presented by @womply! pic.twitter.com/TriI1vU0Bn
Ty Gibbs Charges To Victory At Toledo Speedway
Ty Gibbs won Saturday night’s Herr’s Potato Chips 200 at Toledo Speedway to pick up his third ARCA Menards Series victory of the 2021 season.
In a way, the 18-year-old’s performance at the half-mile oval in Toledo, Ohio, was more impressive than his leading every lap in each of his prior two ARCA Menards starts, at Kansas Speedway on May 1 and last weekend at Dover International Speedway. This time, he faced some adversity.
Gibbs led the first 131 laps at Toledo before his top rival in the 2021 championship race, Corey Heim, nudged him up the race track and out of the lead with 68 laps to go. Gibbs dropped back to third.
The slip did not matter. The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota charged back to Heim’s bumper and, on Lap 179, took back P1 for good.
“We had a really good night,” said Gibbs. “Had issues there at the end, kind of getting moved. That’s just racing hard there. I can’t thank my guys enough for working on this thing so much and loving racing. These guys put in a lot of work. All the credit to them.”
LEAD CHANGE@CoreyHeim3 wrestles P1 from @TyGibbs_ 😮@MAVTV | @_TrackPass pic.twitter.com/mHfaIIyuIs
— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) May 23, 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment