WYSH AM 1380 Anderson County's Classic Hit Country!
(By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service/MRN.com) Ryan Blaney won his first career NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race on Sunday night at Texas Motor Speedway, earning a $1 million payday in the annual fan-favorite non-points event. And he and his team celebrated twice.
Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford ultimately beat Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Toyota by 0.266 seconds in an overtime finish.
NASCAR Cup Series rookie Austin Cindric, this year’s Daytona 500 winner, finished third in his first All-Star Race, followed by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano — giving the team three cars among the top-four finishers. Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford over-the-wall crew also collected a $100,000 bonus for the quickest time on pit road during a mandatory four-tire stop for all teams after Stage 2. That perk also placed Logano third for the final-stage start.
Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez, who advanced out of the All-Star Open race held earlier Sunday evening, finished fifth. Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman was sixth followed by A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell.
For a complete recap, follow this link to the Motor Racing Network website.
(By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service/MRN.com) After running among the leaders all afternoon, Tyler Reddick took the point himself with a dramatic pass from third place with 31 laps remaining and held off the field to take the checkered flag in Saturday afternoon‘s NASCAR Xfinity Series SRS Distribution 250 at Texas Motor Speedway.
It was Reddick‘s 10th career Xfinity Series victory, coming in only his second start of 2022, and his first trophy since his 2019 Xfinity Series championship year.
It marked the first-ever win for the Big Machine Racing team‘s No. 48 Chevrolet, with Reddick taking the checkered flag a distant 1.825 seconds ahead of fellow NASCAR Cup Series regular William Byron in an action-packed afternoon.
There were 11 caution periods, the second-most in the series‘ history at the 1.5-mile Texas high banks, and tight racing on the ensuing restarts with the two-time Xfinity Series champion Reddick pulling off that impressive pass and ultimately earning his team‘s debut victory.
Race runner-up William Byron, driving the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, was making his first Xfinity Series start since claiming the 2017 series championship and came within two seconds of earning JRM what would have been a historic fourth consecutive win by four different drivers.
The team had three cars finish in the top five and four finish inside the top-10, including Byron, Sam Mayer in third, Justin Allgaier in fourth and Josh Berry in seventh. Berry led a race-best 46 laps, Allgaier was out front for 33 and Byron paced the field for seven laps.
For a complete recap, follow this link to the Motor Racing Network website.
(By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service/MRN.com) It was a hard-earned, deeply-appreciated victory for Stewart Friesen in Friday night‘s SpeedyCash.com 220 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway — the first win for the popular Canadian driver since November 2019.
His 60 laps out front in the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota were more than his year-long total laps led and enough to land his first win in the last 53 races and to secure his place in the 2022 playoffs.
Friesen, 38, lined up alongside Toyota driver Christian Eckes for a final overtime restart and after a close side-by-side battle through the opening two turns, Friesen pulled his Toyota Tundra ahead to clear Eckes exiting onto the backstretch. He was able to hold off Eckes to take a close 0.122-second win on the famed 1.5-mile Texas high banks.
Ryan Preece, who won both Stage 1 and Stage 2, finished third in the No. 17 Team DGR Ford — making quite a remarkable comeback considering his truck suffered damage earlier in the race and had to pit for repairs. The hard work gives Preece four top-10 finishes in as many Truck starts this year and the third-place work is his best of the season.
Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet, finished fourth with ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski rounding out the top five in a race that had 17 lead changes among seven drivers. For a complete recap, follow this link to the Motor Racing Network website.
