2019 Nascar - Playoff Race #9 - Phoenix - And Then There Were 4

[GA_Boater]

The final race before the championship race at Homestead for all 3 series. Cup still has 8 drivers in play, X-Men also with 8 and Trucks are down to 6. Only 4 from each series will head to Homestead with a shot at the title.

Rain will not be a factor this weekend and it will be sunny and quite warm. Tomorrow all three practice, Trucks qualify and race. On Saturday, X-Men and Cup qualify with the X-Race in the afternoon. Here is the schedule from MRN;

[h=1]ISM Raceway Schedule of Events[/h] All Times Eastern (Local Time 2 Hours Behind)

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Friday, November 8
Gander Outdoors Truck Series First Practice: 10:05 a.m.-10:55 p.m.
Gander Outdoors Truck Series Final Practice: 11:35 a.m.-12:25 p.m.
Xfinity Series First Practice: 3:05 p.m.-3:55 p.m. (NBC Sports App)
Monster Energy Cup Series First Practice: 4:05 p.m.-4:55 p.m. (MRN/NBCSN – 4:30)
Gander Outdoors Truck Series Qualifying: 5:05 p.m. (FS1)
Xfinity Series Final Practice: 6:05 p.m.-6:55 p.m. (NBCSN)
Monster Energy Cup Series Final Practice: 7:00 p.m.-7:50 p.m. (MRN/NBCSN)
Radio Pre-Race: 8:00 p.m. (MRN)
TV Pre-Race: 8:00 p.m. (FS1)
Gander Outdoors Truck Series Lucas Oil 150: 8:30 p.m. (MRN/FS1)

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Saturday, November 9
K&N Pro Series West Final Practice: 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
Xfinity Series Qualifying: 12:35 p.m. (NBCSN)
K&N Pro Series West Qualifying: 1:30 p.m.-1:50 p.m.
Monster Energy Cup Series Qualifying: 2:00 p.m. (MRN/NBCSN)
Radio Pre-Race: 3:00 p.m. (MRN)
TV Pre-Race: 3:00 p.m. (NBC)
Xfinity Series Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200: 3:30 p.m. (MRN/NBC)
K&N Pro Series West Arizona Lottery 100: 6:00 p.m. (MRN)

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Sunday, November 10
Radio Pre-Race: 1:30 p.m. (MRN)
TV Pre-Race: 1:30 p.m. (NBC)
Monster Energy Cup Series Bluegreen Vacations 500: 2:30 p.m. (MRN/NBC)

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News and Notes

• ESPN headline - Penske buying IndyCar is like LeBron buying the NBA.
• Lots of team shuffles going on. It will settle down by Daytona.
• Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman lead Cup starts at ISM Raceway with 34 each. Newman will make his 35th this weekend.
• Why does ISM remind me of an illness? Like alcoholISM.
• TV ratings - Viewership again. 2.22M, down from 2.29M last year. The final two races are on NBC, not NBCSN and should help with numbers if the NFL games are duds.

iBoats Fantasy Live

• jip is our Texas winner for his 5th win of the year. Congrats, jip. Sorry, no six guns, but you get a :first:
• FlaCowboy is tough! His overall lead is now 167 points with 2 races to go.
• The pole locks at 1:55PM on Saturday.

Humpty

 

[GA_Boater]

1st Cup practice results - TWT, Hamlin, Matt D, Joey and Larson.

Final Cup practice ia at 7PM, before the Truck race.

 

[GA_Boater]

Fighting to the finish - Final Cup practice is complete. Chase Elliott was fastest, then Blaney, Harvick, Truex and Bowman.

iFL pole locks at 1:55PM tomorrow. And the Truck race waves off around the bottom of the hour, 8:30 give or take a few Nascar minutes.

 

[GA_Boater]

Friesen wins the Truck race. He, Moffitt, Chastain and Crafton go head to head next week for the Truck crown. Highest placing of the 4 takes the championship.

2 more series to pare down to 4 drivers. X-Men tomorrow and Cup on Sunday.

iFL pole freezes at 1:55 tomorrow afternoon.

 

[GA_Boater]

Nascar news;

Bubba Wallace fined $50k and penalized 50 points for intentionally causing a caution at Texas

.

He all but admitted to causing the yellow.

 

[GA_Boater]

Nascar news;

.

He all but admitted to causing the yellow.

He did confess during an interview and Nascar had no video evidence, just suspicion. Bubba can only blame himself. :doh:

Cup qualifying has TWT on the pole. The rest of the top 10 - Joey, Hamlin, Truex, Larson, Elliott, Harvick, BigBro, Jones and Blaney. All but BigBro and Jones are still in the playoffs.

iFL roster locks at 2:40 PM tomorrow.

 

[GA_Boater]

The 4 X-Men going for the X-:first: next Saturday are Bell, Allgaier who won their way in along with Custer and Reddick on points.

We'll do the same thing tomorrow for Cup. Get your rosters set before the race.

 

[GA_Boater]

Bell had a spin after dropping low on the apron and losing it. Naturally after Bubba being whacked for spinning on purpose at Texas and being caught because he fessed up, some are questioning Bell's spin. Kinda silly because he was locked into Homestead with a win. I don't think it helped a teammate unlike Bowyer back in 2014 to get Truex into the playoffs.

 

[GA_Boater]

If you haven't picked, the race locks at 2:35.

Today's race details:
Green flag: 2:40pm/et NBC, MRN, SiriusXM
312 laps / 312 miles
Stages: 75 / 150 / 312
Avg time of race: 3:03:51
Min speed: 15 % / 29.86 seconds
Fuel window: 81 laps
Avg # caution flags: 9
Pit road speed: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 50 mph
No cars to rear

 

[GA_Boater]

Engines fired!

All 8 playoff drivers are starting in the top 10 - I expect some fireworks as the 4 below the cut line will try as hard as possible stay in the playoffs.

 

[GA_Boater]

Green flag!

 

[GA_Boater]

TWT has led the 1st 20 laps.

 

[GA_Boater]

50 laps in the books. TWT still leads Hamlin, Joey, Elliott and Truex. 22 cars on the lead lap as TWT has been knocking them off.

 

[GA_Boater]

Lap 65 - 10 to go in the heat. And Stenhouse hits the wall for a yellow.

18 cars on the lead lap and Menard gets the Lucky Dawg.

 

[GA_Boater]

The top 5 pit - TWT from the lead.

 

[GA_Boater]

Back to green with 43 to go. Hamlin took the lead.

 

[GA_Boater]

Hamlin takes the heat. Then Elliott, TWT, Joey and Larson.

 

[GA_Boater]

10 laps into heat 2 - It's Joey, Elliott, TWY, Blaney and Hamlin.

 

[GA_Boater]

125 laps done. The top 8 are all the playoff drivers. Joey, Elliott, Hamlin, TWT, Blaney, Larson. Truex, Harvick.

 

[GA_Boater]

Elliott and Hamlin are playing bumper cars with love taps.

Joey wins the heat, then Hamlin, Elliott. After the yellow Elliott gave Hamlin a right front corner punch with his door.

The last heat will be messy.