X-Finity Series:
Saturday 8/25, Road America, Johnsonville 180, 2:30pm, MRN

Camping World Truck Series:
Sunday 8/26, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Chevrolet Silverado 250, 2pm, MRN

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Monday: Fast Talk, 9-10pm

Tuesday: NASCAR Live, 9-10pm

Wednesday: The Pit Reporters, 9-10pm

Monday-Friday: NASCAR Today, 6:45pm

Monday-Friday: Garage Pass, 8:30pm

NASCAR News (courtesy of John Singler, MRN Radio)

WEEKEND WINNERS … KURT BUSCH, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series … and KYLE LARSON,
X-finity Series …

BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE: Kurt Busch mastered two late restarts on Saturday before pulling away to claim his first victory of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway, clinching a spot in the playoffs that open next month in Las Vegas. Busch got the jump on teammate Clint Bowyer as the green flag flew following the next-to-last caution of the night and put his Number-41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in front for good. Busch led the final twenty-four laps around Bristol’s high-banked half-mile to post his thirtieth series victory and snap a fifty-eight-race winless streak dating back to last year’s season-opening DAYTONA 500. The margin of victory over runner-up Kyle Larson was thirty-six one-hundredths of a second with Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Erik Jones completing the top five. NASCAR’s “Big Three” were nowhere to be found at the front of the field as the checkered flag waved. Kevin Harvick finished second in the opening stage but led just eight laps all night and placed tenth overall. Kyle Busch was part of a fifteen-car wreck on the fourth lap of the race. He motored on through the night but made contact with Martin Truex Junior less than seventy laps from the finish, sending the reigning Cup Series champion sliding across the track and into the path of J-J Yeley. That ended the night for Truex, who finished thirtieth. Busch wasn’t done. The final yellow flag of the race was displayed after he and Chris Buescher tangled less than twenty laps from the finish, leaving the regular-season points leader with a twentieth-place finish.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
Top 10 Finishers at Bristol
DRIVER STARTING POSITION LAPS LED
1. Kurt Busch (9) 24
2. Kyle Larson (Pole) 17
3. Chase Elliott (2) 112
4. Joey Logano (19) 95
5. Erik Jones (14) --
6. Clint Bowyer (16) 120
7. Ryan Blaney (10) 121
8. Alex Bowman (22) --
9. Jimmie Johnson (13) --
10. Kevin Harvick (6) 8
RACE NOTES …
Saturday night’s race marked the first time since this year’s season-opening DAYTONA 500 on February 18th that the top five in the final running order failed to include at least one member of NASCAR’s “Big Three.” Kevin Harvick had the best of it at Bristol with a tenth-place finish. Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Junior were twentieth and thirtieth, respectively … With Kurt Busch’s victory, there are nine Cup Series race winners who have secured post-season berths. In addition, three more drivers have clinched based on the point standings: Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson. Just two races remain in the regular season, at Darlington Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
Playoff Push, After 24 Races

1. Kevin Harvick 7 Wins and 40 Playoff Points
2. Kyle Busch 6 Wins and 35 Playoff Points
3. M. Truex Jr. 4 Wins and 27 Playoff Points
4. Clint Bowyer 2 Wins and 10 Playoff Points
5. Chase Elliott 1 Win and 8 Playoff Points
6. Joey Logano 1 Win and 8 Playoff Points
7. Kurt Busch 1 Win and 7 Playoff Points
8. Austin Dillon 1 Win and 5 Playoff Points
9. Erik Jones 1 Win and 5 Playoff Points

WINLESS DRIVERS POINTS
10. Ryan Blaney 733
11. Brad Keselowski 730
12. Kyle Larson 729
13. Denny Hamlin 707
14. Aric Almirola 658
15. Jimmie Johnson 604
16. Alex Bowman 572
****
17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -79
18. Ryan Newman -91
19. Daniel Suarez -93
20. Paul Menard -99

After Race Number-26, all drivers with race wins will advance to the NASCAR Playoffs. The point standings will be used to fill the remainder of the sixteen post-season slots.

KYLE LARSON WINS FOOD CITY 300 X-FINITY SERIES RACE
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson rolled to a lopsided victory on Friday night in Bristol, winning each of the first two stages and leading a race-high 202 laps on the way to his twelfth series win. In addition to full-time Cup Series duties in 2018, Larson is running a limited schedule in the X-finity Series. He now has four wins in his six starts this year. Larson beat runner-up Christopher Bell by about a half-second with Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer and Joey Logano completing the top five. From the drop of the green flag, it looked as if the field would be chasing pole winner Kyle Busch all night. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led the first sixty-nine laps. But he brushed the wall and blew a tire late in the first stage that sidelined the Number-18 Toyota and saddled Busch with a thirty-sixth-place finish … Larson’s victory is the second straight X-finity Series win for Chevrolet. Allgaier was victorious nine days ago at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course … Entering the final month of the regular season, Michael Annett trimmed seven points from his deficit in the battle with Ross Chastain for the twelfth and final playoff berth. Annett finished seventh in Friday night’s race, five spots ahead of Chastain, and trails by forty-two entering the next race next weekend at Road America. The seven-race post-season title chase will begin on September 21st at Richmond Raceway … Friday’s race included twelve lead changes, one fewer than there were in this year’s first Bristol race in mid-April. There were eight cautions for fifty-nine laps, nearly twenty-percent of the total distance … The race went ten laps past its scheduled distance due to a late caution for Daniel Hemric’s wreck on the backstretch.

NASCAR X-FINITY SERIES
Top 10 Finishers in the Food City 300
DRIVER STARTING POSITION LAPS LED
1. Kyle Larson (3) 202
2. Christopher Bell (R) (2) 18
3. Justin Allgaier (10) --
4. Cole Custer (9) 5
5. Joey Logano (4) 2
6. Elliott Sadler (6) 12
7. Michael Annett (22) --
8. Chase Elliott (15) 2
9. Tyler Reddick (R) (14) --
10. Matt Tifft (5) --

NASCAR X-FINITY SERIES
Unofficial Point Standings – After 22 Races
DRIVER POINTS BEHIND LEADER
1. Christopher Bell (R) 810 ----
2. Justin Allgaier 797 -13
3. Elliott Sadler 793 -17
4. Cole Custer 791 -19
5. Daniel Hemric 768 -42
6. Tyler Reddick (R) 643 -167
7. Brandon Jones 634 -176
8. Ryan Truex 618 -192
9. Austin Cindric (R) 582 -228
10. Matt Tifft 580 -230.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Sunday 9/2 Darlington Raceway Bojangles' Southern 500 5pm MRN
Sunday 9/9 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Brickyard 400 1pm PRN/IMS
Sunday 9/16 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Monster Energy Cup Series 400 2pm PRN
Saturday 9/22 Richmond Raceway Federated Auto Parts 400 6:30pm MRN
Sunday 9/30 Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL Bank of America 500 1pm PRN

Sunday 10/7 Dover Int'l Speedway Apache Warrior 400 1pm MRN
Sunday 10/14 Talladega Superspeedway 1000Bulbs.com 500 1pm MRN
Sunday 10/21 Kansas Speedway Hollywood Casino 400 1pm MRN
Sunday 10/28 Martinsville Speedway First Data 500 1:30pm MRN

Sunday 11/4 Texas Motor Speedway AAA Texas 500 2pm PRN
Sunday 11/11 ISM Raceway Can-Am 500 1:30pm MRN
Sunday 11/18 Homestead-Miami Speedway Ford EcoBoost 400 1:30pm MRN

NASCAR X-Finity Series

Saturday 8/25 Road America Johnsonville 180 2:30pm MRN
Saturday 9/1 Darlington Raceway Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 3pm MRN
Saturday 9/15 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Xfinity Series 300 3:30pm PRN
Saturday 9/29 Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL Drive for the Cure 300 2:30pm PRN
Saturday 10/6 Dover Int'l Speedway Drive Sober 200 2:30pm MRN
Saturday 10/20 Kansas Speedway Kansas Lottery 300 2:30pm MRN
Saturday 11/3 Texas Motor Speedway O'Reily 300 8pm PRN
Saturday 11/10 ISM Raceway Ticket Galaxy 200 3pm MRN
Saturday 11/17 Homestead-Miami Speedway Ford EcoBoost 300 3pm MRN

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Saturday 10/13 Talladega Superspeedway Talladega 250 12:30pm MRN
Saturday 10/27 Martinsville Speedway Texas Roadhouse 200 Presented by Alpha Energy Solutions 12:30pm MRN

Indy Car Series