Jones tops Xfinity playoff contenders in wild Kansas race
KANSAS CITY, KAN. >> Brandon Jones raced to his first career Xfinity Series victory Saturday at Kansas Speedway after a lapped car wrecked what was shaping up as an entertaining duel between playoff contenders Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell.
It wasn’t the end of the drama, either.
Fellow playoff contenders Cole Custer and Tyler Reddick got into a pit-road melee after getting out of their cars. Custer was upset at the way Reddick raced him in the closing laps of the first race in the round of eight in NASCAR’s version of the playoffs.
Reddick finished second and Briscoe rallied to third, while playoff drivers Michael Annett and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five. Custer was 11th with Bell right behind him.
“I was just frustrated he can’t keep the car on the bottom, then runs us up into the wall,” said Custer, who was chasing his eighth win this season and remains second in the standings.
“It’s fine if he wants to wreck their cars and put their car in the wall from time to time, but when it’s me, I’m not going to be very happy,” Custer said. “I went over to say that.”
Custer put his hand on Reddick’s shoulder, and the two immediately grabbed at each other’s throats as they tumbled to the pavement. Crew members from both teams jumped in with NASCAR officials in trying to pull them apart, and Custer dropped an expletive that was caught on live TV.
“I understand Cole’s frustration 100 percent. We were trying to lock ourselves into Homestead” for the championship race,” said Reddick, who was left with a small cut over his eye. “If you put your hand on me, I’m going to put you on your back. That’s the way it’s going to be.”
Reddick remained third behind Bell and Custer in the playoff standings.
“I think a lot of Cole and his driving ability. I think a lot of that team,” he said. “I obviously didn’t want to get into his quarter panel but I lift, I get passed. I hate that it happened to him.”
Briscoe and Bell had even more misfortune.
The duo battled for the lead throughout the closing laps, and they were running side-by-side — Briscoe riding the wall and Bell hugging the stripe at the bottom of the track — when the slower car of Garrett Smithley moved up the track and right into their path.
Briscoe checked up, Bell got into him and both came away with heavy damage. Briscoe had his entire rear end sheared off and was forced to the pits to have another riveted in place, while Bell used a series of pit stops to allow his team members to reconstruct his right front fender.
“I take full responsibility,” Smithley said. “Feel awful.”
Hemric beats playoff drivers for pole
KANSAS CITY, KAN. >> Daniel Hemric wasn’t exactly fired. David Ragan isn’t quite yet retired.
Yet the two off-the-radar drivers bested 12 playoff drivers and the rest of the Cup Series field to land on the front row for Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway. Hemric turned a fast lap of 178.047 mph to edge Ragan, who was followed by three drivers still in the championship hunt.
“I wasn’t too, too pumped up about the lap I ran, but as every car went by I felt like our odds increased,” said Hemric, who was told last month that Richard Childress Racing would not be picking up his option for 2020. “It’s just the pole award but it’s a big moment for this race team.”
Childress, who already has picked Reddick to take over the No. 8 Chevrolet, nevertheless was there to give Hemric a hug when the final car finished qualifying Saturday.
It was the first career Cup Series pole for Hemric, though he sat on the pole for the Xfinity race at Kansas last season. And it gives him a big boost of confidence not only for the race but for his hopes of landing another ride next season.
“My confidence hasn’t really wavered one way or another,” Hemric said. “But in aligning and positioning yourself for the future, this doesn’t hurt any.”