Race Results | Xfinity Series Points
Race 17 of 33: Kansas Lottery 250 at Kansas Speedway
Track Specs: 1.5-mile tri-oval / 167 laps
Weather: Partly cloudy; 92 degrees
Race Winner: Brandon Jones
Hemric's Finish: 7th
Annett's Finish: 8th
Allgaier's Finish: 10th
Gragson's Finish: 15th
Daniel Hemric
Daniel Hemric, driver of the No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, battled through a chaotic green-white-checkered restart to earn a seventh-place finish in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Kansas Speedway. With the result, Hemric has now scored a top-10 finish in seven of his 11 starts for JR Motorsports in 2020 and keeps the No. 8 team 74 points ahead of the 12th and final playoff position in the owner standings.
Stage One Finish: 7th
With the field set once again via a random draw earlier in the week, Hemric lined up for the scheduled 167-lap event from the ninth position. From the drop of the green flag the driver of the Poppy Bank Chevrolet advanced forward, racing up to the sixth position by the time the scheduled competition caution was displayed on lap 20. On the ensuing restart, Hemric took advantage of a three-wide move to drive up to third before reporting to crew chief Taylor Moyer that he had developed a tight-handling condition on the exit of the corner. This hindrance on the exit proved problematic for Hemric, as the JRM driver fought hard for position inside the top 10 before ultimately taking the green-and-white checkered flag to end Stage One on Lap 40 in the seventh position. Although not handling to his liking, this stage-ending result earned Hemric and the No. 8 team four valuable stage points.
Stage Two Finish: 9th
While under the stage-ending caution, Moyer called the driver of the Poppy Bank Chevrolet to pit road for four tires and a chassis adjustment in the hopes of improving the tight-handling condition. Returning to the track for the lap 46 restart in seventh, Hemric initially reported that the handling had gotten better and that they were trending in the right direction. However, as the caution-free second stage progressed, the tight-handling condition returned. Despite the handling issue, Hemric continued to race inside the top 10, battling with Riley Herbst and JRM teammate Noah Gragson before taking the green-and-white checkered flag on lap 80 in ninth and netting an additional two stage points to bring the race total up to six.
Final Stage:
Prior to the beginning of the final stage of the afternoon, Moyer called for the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year to return to pit road for four tires and another round of adjustments. Due to the multitude of adjustments, Hemric lined up for the beginning of Stage Three in the 11th position. Once back underway Hemric pushed forward, quickly advancing up to the eighth position before reporting that the Poppy Bank Chevrolet had now gone to the loose-side rolling through the corner. This loose-handling condition initially shuffled the 29-year-old driver back to 12th, but as a long green-flag run began to develop, Hemric turned into one of the fastest cars on the racetrack. As a result, Hemric charged back into the top 10 and up to the seventh position by the time the lone round of green flag pit stops got underway.
Following the same strategy as the race leaders, Hemric came to pit road under green on lap 128 for four tires and an air-pressure adjustment. With a wide variety of strategies taking place amongst the front runners, Hemric methodically climbed back up the leaderboard following the stop, ultimately moving into the top five once the green flag cycle was finally completed on lap 145. The driver of the Poppy Bank Chevrolet continued to fight inside the top five, swapping positions with JRM teammate Justin Allgaier for several laps before settling in to the fourth position before a caution with just three laps remaining set up NASCAR’s version of overtime.
Lining up for the restart on lap 173 as the second car on the outside line, Hemric battled hard, racing three-wide for position for over a lap before taking the checkered flag in the seventh position.
The top-10 result is Hemric’s seventh of the season in just 11 NXS starts for JRM and helps the No. 8 team remain 11th in the owner standings, 74 points ahead of the 12th and final playoff position.
Daniel Hemric, driver No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet team
“We were in a good position on that last restart there with our Poppy Bank Chevrolet, but anything can happen in these late-race restarts and we just didn’t have the luck go our way. But I can’t thank Taylor (Moyer, crew chief) and all the guys on this JR Motorsports team enough. We made some really good adjustments throughout the course of the day and got our car where we needed it to be at the end. So we’ll continue to build off of this and keep heading in the right direction.”
Michael Annett
Michael Annett ran his string of consecutive top-10 finishes in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition to six on Saturday, driving a gritty race in the Kansas Lottery 250 at Kansas Speedway and ending up with an eighth-place finish in the No. 1 TMC Transportation Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. The Iowa native has averaged 6.7 per finish over the past six races and sits eighth in series points with a healthy lead over the cut line.
Stage One Finish: 14th
Annett started the 200-lapper from the pole for the second straight week following the random draw for starting positions and took off well at the initial green flag. Brandon Jones nipped Annett at the start/finish line to lead the first lap, and Annett began to fall back. His No. 1 Chevrolet was quite snug off Turn 2 and killed his exit, which meant he was unable to launch down the back straightaway. Over the first 10 laps, Annett dropped to ninth and he was 11th at lap 20 when the competition caution waved. After discussing options with crew chief Travis Mack, Annett headed to pit road for a significant chassis adjustment, falling to 16th in the order. Over the rest of the 40-lap Stage One, Annett battled the handling to a standstill, eventually finishing Stage One in 14th place. On the ensuing pit stop, Mack called for another significant chassis adjustment to the right rear as well as four tires and fuel. He exited pit road in 15th position.
Stage Two Finish: 11th
Taking off from the inside of row eight, Annett started to move forward, needing just eight laps to climb to 12th position. As the laps clicked away, Annett worked on his line and rose to 11th on lap 72. He would stay there until the end of Stage Two. Annett told Mack that he was now free on exit and the rear tires felt on top of the track. Mack responded with air-pressure adjustments and another chassis change while adding four tires and fuel for the final segment. On the stop, the TMC Transportation pit crew gained a position and Annett cracked the top 10 for the restart.
Final Stage:
Taking off for the final segment, Annett got tangled up in traffic and dropped to 13th two laps into the run. He recovered quickly and was back in 11th in short order. He ran there until green-flag pit stops began at lap 125, briefly regaining the top 10 before he made his own stop under green for four tires, fuel and another adjustment at lap 128. Exiting a lap down to the leaders, Annett bided his time until lap 144, when Ryan Sieg finally hit pit road. Back on the lead serial, Annett held station in 10th until the yellow flag slowed the action just two laps from the finish. Annett and all the other lead-lap cars hit pit road for fresh tires, and he took the green flag for the first green-white-checkered attempt in 11th. The caution waved again before the field could take the white flag, and the field re-stacked for a second attempt.
When the green flag waved again, Annett got a good jump and was ninth on the white-flag lap, then advanced another position before the checkered flag finally waved at lap 175, eight laps past the scheduled distance. The finish kept him eighth in series points, 158 points above the playoff cut line.
Brandon Jones won the race over Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, Sieg and Ross Chastain. Justin Haley led the second five, with JRM’s Daniel Hemric, Annett, Riley Herbst and JRM’s Justin Allgaier the rest of the top 10.
Michael Annett, driver No. 1 TMC Transportation Chevrolet team
“We kept our streak of top-10s alive today, so that makes it a good day. We missed it a little bit with the TMC Transportation Chevrolet, setup-wise, but we worked hard all day and it came to us at the end. This whole No. 1 team really dug in and kept tuning and making adjustments and we got a good finish out of it. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and we’re in good shape as it goes on.”
Justin Allgaier
Justin Allgaier and the BRANDT Professional Agriculture team netted their ninth top-10 effort of the season on Saturday evening, earning a 10th-place finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Kansas Speedway. The result was Allgaier’s seventh top-10 finish in 10 NXS starts at the 1.5-mile track. The 34-year-old driver currently sits seventh in the NXS point standings 17 races into the 2020 season.
Stage One Finish: 5th
Allgaier started 11th in the 250-mile event and drove up to seventh before the competition caution at lap 20. He relayed to crew chief Jason Burdett that the BRANDT Camaro was tight center and free on exit. Opting to stay out under the yellow, the Illinois native restart in seventh on lap 26 and steadily worked his way inside the top five, ultimately taking the green-and-white checkered flag to end Stage One in fifth on lap 40. Under the stage-ending caution the team called him to pit road for four fresh tires, fuel and wedge and air-pressure adjustments to try to improve the handling on the BRANDT Chevy.
Stage Two Finish: 3rd
Allgaier fired off strong upon taking the green flag for Stage Two from the fifth position on lap 47. He was up to second in a hurry and continued to race inside the top five throughout the caution-free stage. When the green-and-white checkered flag waved to end Stage Two, Allgaier was scored with a third-place finish, earning more valuable stage points. Before making his pit stop under the caution, Allgaier reported to the team that the BRANDT Camaro was free in, tight center and free off the corners. In an effort to help with rear grip, Burdett called for an air-pressure adjustment, four tires and fuel.
Final Stage:
A fast pit stop allowed Allgaier to maintain his third-place position for the start of the final stage on lap 87. Once again, Allgaier fired off free on exit, but fought through the tough-handling condition and continued to battle inside the top five. He was running in fourth when green-flag pit stops ensued. Burdett called him to pit road on lap 128 for four tires and fuel and he was scored back inside the top five once green-flag pit stops finally cycled through several laps later.
It looked as though the race would stay green until the finish, but a caution flag waved with three laps remaining in the race, setting up NASCAR’s version of overtime. Allgaier came to pit road under the caution from the fifth position for fresh tires and fuel and lined up in that same spot for the restart. Before the leaders could take the white flag, the caution flag waved once again. Allgaier was scored sixth at the time of the caution and that’s where he would line up for the final restart of the day. Allgaier battled hard through the chaotic final laps, ultimately bringing home a 10th-place finish.
Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet
“I’m disappointed our day ended the way it did. We had a pretty fast BRANDT Professional Agriculture Camaro and it looked like we were going to come home with a top-five finish until those final two cautions came out. Unfortunately we just didn’t get the restarts we needed at the end there. All-in-all it still wasn’t a bad day. We earned some good stage points. I know a win is coming for us soon.”
Noah Gragson
Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Chevrolet, finished 15th in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. Gragson started the race from the 10th position after the lineup was set by a random draw earlier in the week. Gragson struggled to find the balance on the No. 9 Camaro but was able to secure a stage point in Stage 2 and fought back from a pit road penalty with less than 20 laps to go to score the top-15 result.
Stage One Finish: 11th
Gragson fired off from the 10th position after the lineup was set by a random draw earlier in the week for the 167-lap event. The first caution flag of the event flew on lap 20 for the scheduled competition caution. Gragson took advantage of this caution and came to pit road from ninth for an adjustment that would help stop the splitter from making contact with the track surface by adding packer to the right front and adjusting the trackbar. Restarting from 22nd, Gragson fought his way back up to just outside of the top 10 by the completion of Stage One, taking the green-and-white checkered flag in 11th.
Stage Two Finish: 10th
The driver of the No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro decided to pit following the stage-break for four tires, fuel, packer in the left front tire and a wedge adjustment to alleviate a loose-handling condition during the first stage. Gragson restarted Stage Two from the 13th position and worked his way into the top 10 on lap 51. With Stage Two going caution-free, Gragson maintained his position within the top 10, crossing the finish line on lap 80 at the completion of Stage Two in the 10th position, earning one stage point.
Final Stage:
Prior to the final stage getting underway, Gragson came into the pits for four tires, fuel and a trackbar adjustment to help remove the loose-handling condition that persisted throughout Stage Two. The No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro restarted from ninth and remained inside the top 10 for most of the final stage. With green flag stops starting to begin on lap 125, crew chief Dave Elenz made the decision to keep Gragson on the track as long as possible, hoping for a late caution to set them up for a short green flag run. As the green stayed out, Gragson surrendered his second-place running position on lap 145 to pit for four tires, fuel and a trackbar adjustment. However, as Gragson started to leave his pit box, he was ordered to stop so a crew member could remove the trackbar wrench that was still attached to the rear window of the car, causing a pass-through penalty for the No. 9 Camaro.
Losing two laps as a result of the penalty, Gragson came back on track in the 15th position. A late-race yellow setup NASCAR’s version of overtime and Gragson was able to gain one of his two laps back. Restarting in 15th, Gragson had little time to make moves as the caution flag flew once again following the restart as the field went down into Turn 2 of the 1.5-mile facility.
The final restart of the race saw Gragson maintain his top-15 running position for the final two laps, taking the checkered flag in the 15th position.
Noah Gragson, driver No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro SS
“Everyone here at JRM fought hard all day to get this car handling correctly and unfortunately a late-race pit road penalty ruined any chances we had at a good finish. To come out of here 15th isn’t what I wanted as Kansas is one of my favorite tracks that we race at and I feel like our No. 9 team should have been battling for the win. We will take our off-weekend next week to figure out how we can get back on track and heading in the right direction again.”