Blaney crashes Xfinity playoffs

Rhodes keeps champ’ship chances intact in Truck Series

DOVER, Delaware, Oct 1, (AP): With a checkered flag missing and no highlight reel burnout to be found, Ryan Blaney may at least want to keep the race trophy as a keepsake to prove he won at Dover.

Blaney crashed the Xfinity Series playoffs and the Cup regular dominated Saturday at Dover International Speedway.

NASCAR imposed limits this season on how many times the elite Cup drivers can race in NASCAR’s second-tier series. But no rule could stop Blaney from reaching victory lane. Blaney made the Cup playoffs with a win at Pocono and played spoiler at Dover in the second race of the Xfinity playoffs.

Blaney, a social media darling in NASCAR, took his checkered flag and slipped it through a fence to give to a young fan. Blaney recalled he was once that same excited kid when he tagged along at the track as the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney and grandson of dirt track star Lou Blaney.

Almost as happy as Blaney was to win it. Blaney, who usually gives a checkered flag to a team member, also skipped the traditional winner’s burnout.

Xfinity playoff drivers took the second through six spots and nine of the top 11. Justin Allgaier was second, followed by William Byron, Daniel Hemric and Brennan Poole.

The 23-year-old Blaney won for the second time in nine Xfinity races driving the No. 22 Ford for team owner Roger Penske. He led 136 of 200 laps and won his sixth career Xfinity race.

Allgaier leads the standings by three points over JR Motorsports teammate Byron. The series moves to Charlotte Motor Speedway where the field of 12 drivers will be cut to eight.

Blaney will drive a third entry for Team Penske in NASCAR’s top Cup series next year. Blaney will drive the No. 12 Ford and join Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski in team owner Roger Penske’s NASCAR lineup.

Blaney starts 11th in Sunday’s Cup race at Dover.

Meanwhile, the first career victory for Ben Rhodes kept his championship chances intact in NASCAR’s Truck Series.

Rhodes earned the first national series victory of his NASCAR career Saturday night by holding off Christopher Bell in the closing laps at Las Vegas. The win earned Rhodes an automatic berth into the second round of the playoffs.

The win came in Rhodes’ 45th series start and continued a run of consistency he’s shown of late in his Toyota. He’s finished in the top-10 a career-best five straight races and has finished an average of sixth in the last seven Truck Series races.

Bell, who finished second, was the winner a week ago at New Hampshire and is already locked into the next round of the playoffs. Arnold Mendoza, Dexter Nebres, and Bader Malallah nailed down a 775-747 victory in the penultimate game of the match. Still way ahead after three games, NLB Corporation bannered by Chris Bulacja, Ric Marimla, Rudy Zablan, Philip Marimla and Sarel Pascual sealed the outcome of the match with a 793-747 win in game four for a final winning tally of 3171-2990.

Rock N Bowl on the other hand kept their place in the Top 6 by subduing the spicy pin breakers of IBL Team 2. Keen on keeping their championship round hopes going, Rock N Bowl spearheaded by Liza Catapia, Romy Fermil, Rod LLait, Romy Daus and Norie Sairat quickly seized the lead with a 784-711 success in the opening game. With their rivals still struggling to find their marks, Rock n Bowl somewhat put the outcome of the match favorably on their side as they snatched the next two games via 757-723 and 816-723 scores. With their place in the elite 6 hanging on the line, IBL Team 2 led by Basma Ammar, Nadine Dias, Nikshita Shetty and Abdullah Ali avoided a sweep as they grabbed an 841-747 win in the final game.

In the other matches of the week, K2E2 headed by Edwin Latoja, Butch Alinea, Lee Mills, Joan Latoja and Kim Alinea banked on the victories in games one two in hammering out a 3107-3068 total pin falls win over Siete Pares 2. D’ Islanders led by Aga Cuadrazal, janet Shaikh, Bobby Carambas, Vernie Villaruelo, Danny Doctor, Maryann Mogpo and Edgar Pascua also emerged victorious by stopping DMDA Bowleros 3062-2911. Striker’s X on the other hand rebounded from an opening game and grounded Dyn Aviation 30162970 courtesy of Jheng Liwayway, John Caldwell, Vicky Navarro and Norman Conde while in the only other match up of the week, World Class with Bill Stiles, Jason Baker, Carol Awadi, Paul Wilson, Glenn Corbit and Anastasius Menezes at the helm defeated IBL Team 1 via a 2902-2719 score.

Team High scores the current record holders are as follows: Individual High Game Men Class O/A-Ronnel Valencia 285, Men Class B-Ali Arqoub 254, LadiesJheng Liwayway 224; High Average Men Class O/A- Mousa Abdullah 192, Men Class B-Ali Arquob 180, Ladies-Jheng Liwayway 172; Team High Game-Cozmo Salmiya 868 and Team High Series-NLB Corporation 3340.

The team standings after 18 weeks are as follows (read as rank, team name and total score); 1. NLB Corporation-55184, 2. IBL Team 2-55431, 3. Siete Pares 2-55341, 4. IBL Team 1-55261, 5. Rock N Bowl-55209, 6. Siete Pares 1-55064, 7. Strikers X-54962, 8.Cozmo Salmiya-54926, 9. Dyn Aviation-54841, 10.D’ Islanders-54699, 11. DMDA Bowleros-54556, 12. World Class54210, 13. K2E2 Thunders-54196.