All three NASCAR series were active at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series held their “normal” races on Saturday. On Sunday, the Cup Series featured their annual All-Star Race. No points were awarded. Only one driver was smiling at the end of the night. The latest results and upcoming scheduled events for the NASCAR feeder series are also included below as well as details on all tracks mentioned in this column.
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sun, Jun 13, All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway – 100 laps.
– Based on NASCAR’s eligibility criteria, 17 drivers had already clinched a spot in the All-Star Race. A random drawing set the lineup in this order: Kyle Larson (#5 Chevrolet Camaro) on the pole. #18 Kyle Busch, #20 Christopher Bell, #41 Cole Custer and #3 Austin Dillon were the rest of the top-5.
Prior to the main event, 22 other drivers raced in a 3-Stage All-Star Open. The random drawing for the Open lineup: Tyler Reddick (#8 Chevrolet Camaro) on the pole and Chris Buescher (#17 Ford Mustang) 2nd. Winners of each Stage: 1) #42 Ross Chastain, 2) #8 Tyler Reddick and 3) #10 Aric Almirola advanced to the main event. Matt DiBenedetto, chosen by the fan vote, was the final driver moving on to the 21-car 6-round 100-lap All-Star race. At the end Round 1 and Round 3, the finishing order was inverted for the next Round by a random draw from 1st through 8th up to 1st through 12th.
– Round 1: 15 laps. Winner: Kyle Larson. 12-car inversion was picked. Larson started Round 2 in 12th, 12th-placed Ryan Blaney moved up front.
– Round 2: 15 laps. Winner Ryan Blaney. The entire field was inverted after this segment. Aric Almirola moved to the front to lead Round 3. Blaney dropped to the rear.
– Round 3: 15 laps, Winner Alex Bowman. 9-car inversion was picked. Bowman started Round 4 in 9th, William Byron moved from 9th to the front. No inversion for Round 4.
– Round 4: 15 laps. Winner: William Byron.
– Round 5: 30 laps. Winner: Chase Elliott. Lineup was determined by cumulative finish from the first four rounds, with the best cumulative finisher starting from the pole. (There was a complex method to break ties). Under green flag racing, all cars entered pit road for a mandatory four-tire pit stop anytime in the first 20 laps of this Round. The crew with the fastest pit stop, Chase Elliott’s #9 crew, pocketed a $100,000 bonus.
Round 6: 10 laps. Cars lined up according to their finishing position from the previous round for the final segment. Chase Elliott started up front.
Overall winner of the All-Star Race and the $1,000,000 check: Kyle Larson.
No changes in the standings since the All-Star Race was an exhibition, no-points event.
– NCS points leader: Denny Hamlin by 47 points over Kyle Larson.
– TOP-16 NCS Playoff Contenders (G/L):
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kyle Larson
3. Chase Elliott 1
4. William Byron -1
5. Joey Logano
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Kyle Busch 1
8. Ryan Blaney -1
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Alex Bowman 1
12. Austin Dillon -1
13. Tyler Reddick
14. Chris Buescher
15. Christopher Bell
16. Michael McDowell
– Next: Sun, Jun 20, Ally 400 – Nashville Superspeedway – 300 laps.
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Sat, Jun 12, Alsco Uniforms 250 – Texas Motor Speedway – 167 laps (+4 laps OT).
– No practice or qualifying. NASCAR’s qualifying metric set the starting lineup for Saturday’s event at Fort Worth based on race finishes, point standings and fastest race laps. This placed AJ Allmendinger (#16 Chevrolet Camaro) P1 on the starting grid. Justin Haley (#11 Chevrolet Camaro) completed the front row in the P2 spot. #19 Brandon Jones, #22 Austin Cindric, #18 Daniel Hemric, #1 Michael Annett, #68 Brandon Brown, #10 Jeb Burton, #39 Ryan Sieg and #36 Alex Labbe formed the rest of the top-10 in that order. 42 cars entered for the 40-car field: #13 Timmy Hill and #77 Dillon Bassett did not make the race.
– Cup Series regular Kyle Busch, driving the #54 Toyota Supra, scored hi 99th victory in 360 NXS races. This is his 2nd victory and 2nd top-10 NXS finish in 2021. It is his 10th victory and 18th top-10 finish in 24 NXS races at Texas. Justin Allgaier (2nd) posted his 11th top-10 finish in 23 Texas races. It is his 7th top-10 finish in 2021. Austin Cindric (3rd) posted his 6th top-10 finish in eight races at Texas. Jade Buford (16th) was the highest finishing Sunoco Rookie of the Year (ROTY) contender. Polesitter AJ Allmendinger led eight laps and finished in 6th place.
– NXS points leader: Austin Cindric by 108 points over AJ Allmendinger.
– TOP-12 NXS Playoff Contenders (G/L):
1. Austin Cindric
2. AJ Allmendinger
3. Daniel Hemric
4. Harrison Burton
5. Justin Allgaier 2
6. Justin Haley
7. Jeb Burton -2
8. Brandon Jones
9. Noah Gragson 2
10. Michael Annett
11. Jeremy Clements -2
12. Brandon Brown 1
– Next: Sat, Jun 19, Tennessee Lottery 250 – Nashville Superspeedway – 188 laps.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NTS)
Sat, Jun 12, SpeedyCash.com 220 – Texas Motor Speedway – 134 laps.
– No practice or qualifying. NASCAR’s qualifying metric set the starting lineup for this event based on race finishes, point standings and fastest race laps. This placed John Hunter Nemechek (#4 Toyota Tundra) P1 on the starting grid. Ben Rhodes (#99 Toyota Tundra) completed the front row in the P2 spot. #42 Carson Hocevar, #38 Todd Gilliland, #16 Austin Hill, #52 Stewart Friesen, #21 Zane Smith, #18 Chandler Smith, #19 Derek Kraus and #51 Drew Dollar formed the rest of the top-10 in that order. Did not make the 40-truck field: No one, only 38 entries.
– John Hunter Nemechek scored his 10th victory in 114 NTS races. This is his 4th victory and 9th top-10 finish in 2021. It is his 1st victory and 2nd top-10 finish in seven races at Texas. Cup Series regular Chase Elliott (2nd) posted his 1st top-10 finish in two NTS races at Fort Worth. Grant Enfinger (3rd) posted his 7th top-10 finish in nine races at Texas. Chandler Smith (5th) was the highest finishing ROTY contender.
– NTS points leader: John Hunter Nemechek by 78 points over Ben Rhodes.
– TOP-10 NTS Playoff Contenders (G/L):
1. John Hunter Nemechek
2. Ben Rhodes
3. Austin Hill
4. Todd Gilliland 1
5. Zane Smith 1
6. Sheldon Creed -2
7. Grant Enfinger 2
8. Matt Crafton -1
9. Stewart Friesen -1
10. Carson Hocevar
– Next: Fri, Jun 18, Rackley Roofing 200 – Nashville Superspeedway – 134 laps.
NASCAR Feeder Series
ARCA Menards Series:
Fri, Jun 4, Dawn 150 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – 42 laps.
Winner: Ty Gibbs – P1: Corey Heim – Points Leader: Ty Gibbs
Next: Fri, Jun 25, General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200 – Pocono Raceway – 80 laps.
ARCA Menards East:
Sat, Jun 12, Southern National 200 – Southern Nat’l Motorsports Park – 200 laps.
Winner: Sammy Smith – P1: Mason Diaz – Points Leader: Sammy Smith
Next: Sat, Jul 24, * Iowa 150 – Iowa Speedway – 150 laps.
* Combo race with ARCA Menards Series
ARCA Menards West:
Sat, Jun 5, General Tire 125 – Sonoma Raceway – 50 laps (+1 laps OT).
Winner: Chase Briscoe – P1: Jake Drew – Points Leader: Todd Souza
Next: Sat, Jul 3, NAPA Auto Parts 150 – Irwindale Speedway – 150 laps.
Whelen Modified Tour:
Sat. Jun 12, Steel Palace 150 – Oswego Speedway – 150 laps.
Winner: Matt Hirschman – P1: Max McLaughlin – Points Leader: Patrick Emerling
Next: Sat. Jun 19, TBA – Riverhead Raceway – 200 laps.
Pinty’s Series:
Season-opener postponed due to the ongoing pandemic. NASCAR’s goal is to run a full championship season with a minimum of 10 races, potentially starting in August. An updated schedule will be released when finalized.
Peak Mexico Series:
Sun, May 23 at Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas, Mexico.
Winner: Salvador De Alba Jr. – Points Leader: Salvador De Alba Jr.
Next: Sun, Jun 19 at Autodromo del Ecocentro de la Union Ganadera in Queretaro, Mexico.
Track Details
Autodromo del Ecocentro de la Union Ganadera – 0.79-mile oval – Queretaro
Iowa Speedway – 0.875-mile oval – Newton, Iowa
Irwindale Speedway – 0.5-mile oval – Irwindale, California
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – 2.258-mile 13-turn road course – Lexington, Ohio
Nashville Superspeedway – 1.333 mile concrete tri-oval – Lebanon, Tennessee
Oswego Speedway – 0.625-mile oval – Oswego, New York
Pocono Raceway – 2.5-mile tri-oval – Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Riverhead Raceway – 0.25-mile oval – Riverhead, New York
Sonoma Raceway – 2.520-mile, 12-turn road course – Sonoma, California
Southern National Motorsports Park – 0.4-mile oval – Lucama, North Carolina
Super Ovalo Chiapas – 0.75-mile tri-oval – Tuxtla Gutierrez
Texas Motor Speedway – 1.5-mile quad-oval – Fort Worth, Texas