Former IndyCar racer Alex Tagliani will drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Aug. 16 Truck race on the 3.57-mile Daytona road course, the team announced Sunday.
Tagliani has made five Truck starts. All five starts have been at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. He finished second in last year’s road course race there for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
“We finished second last year with the No. 51 Tundra at Mosport (CTMP) and now Kyle and everyone at KBM has provided me with an amazing opportunity to go to the road course at Daytona and try to finish one position better and add another banner to the rafters in their shop,” Tagliani said in a statement from the team.
“There are a lot of guys in the Truck Series that have been able to make a lot of laps around Mosport (CTMP) the last few years, which is a challenging road course, so the laps they’ve made there in practice and the race are going to pay dividends at a track like Daytona and it’s not going to be a walk in the park. I love the track and it’s going to be a good battle and exciting for the fans in attendance and watching on television.”
Tagliani will drive the No. 51 truck for KBM.
Tagliani ran in 131 CART races from 2000-07 and in 74 IndyCar races from 2008-16. He drove in the Rolex 24 in 2007 and 2014 at Daytona. He also has eight starts in the Xfinity Series, the last in 2016.
Michigan winners and losers after Saturday’s Cup race:
WINNERS
Kevin Harvick — That’s five wins this season, two in a row at Michigan and eight consecutive top-five finishes this season. He also won both stages Saturday, sweeping the day. He’s ready for the playoffs now.
Choose rule — Good rule change and that added some intrigue before each restart on what lanes drivers would pick. At one point, it made a big impact in helping Chase Elliott take the lead late in the race.
Brad Keselowski — His runner-up finish marked his third consecutive finish of first or second but he still has yet to win at Michigan, his home track. He gets another chance Sunday.
Chris Buescher — He finished 20th but benefits because the top-20 finishers are inverted for Sunday’s race, putting him on the pole for the race.
Martin Truex Jr. — His third-place finish marked his fourth top-three finish in the last five races. He made a nice recovery from making contact with Tyler Reddick early and cutting a tire that forced him to pit under green and lose a lap.
LOSERS
John Hunter Nemechek — Tough day. Had contact with Chris Buescher that spun him and then had tires go down twice, leading to him causing three cautions.
Cole Custer — Crash led to a 34th-place finish and the need for his team to prepare a backup car for Sunday’s race.
The Cup Series completes its weekend doubleheader with Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway.
Kevin Harvick seeks to sweep the weekend after his victory Saturday. Michigan native Brad Keselowski, who finished second on Saturday, continues in search of his first career Cup win at his home track.
The top-20 finishers from Saturday’s race will be inverted for the start of the Sunday Cup race at Michigan. That puts Chris Buescher on the pole.
Here’s all the info for the Sunday Cup race at Michigan:
(All times are Eastern)
START: The command to start engines will be given at 4:38 p.m. The green flag is scheduled to wave at 4:47 p.m.
PRERACE: Garage access health screening begins at 8:30 a.m. Drivers report to their cars at 4:20 p.m. The invocation will be given at 4:30 p.m. by Father Geoff Rose, OSFS President St. Francis De Sales School in Toledo, Ohio. The national anthem will be performed by Season 17 winner of “American Idol” at 4:31 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is 156 laps (312 miles) around the 2-mile speedway.
STAGES: Stage 1 ends on Lap 40. Stage 2 ends on Lap 85.
TV/RADIO: NBCSN will televise the race. Coverage begins at 4 p.m. with Countdown to Green. Motor Racing Network’s radio coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. and also can be heard at mrn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the broadcast.
STREAMING: Watch the race on the NBC Sports App. Click here for the link.
FORECAST: The wunderground.com forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with a high of 87 degrees and a 2% chance of rain at the start of the race.
LAST RACE: Kevin Harvick led 92 of 161 laps to win Saturday’s race at Michigan. Brad Keselowski was second. Martin Truex Jr. finished third.
TO THE REAR: Brennan Poole (engine change), Josh Bilicki (driver change), Austin Dillon (backup car), Ryan Newman (backup car), Chris Buescher (backup car), Michael McDowell (backup car), Tyler Reddick (backup car), Aric Almirola (backup car), Ryan Preece (backup car), John Hunter Nemechek (backup car) and Cole Custer (backup car).
STARTING LINEUP: Click here for lineup
Catch up on NBC Sports’ coverage:
Kevin Harvick wins Saturday’s Cup race at Michigan in overtime
Drivers give mixed responses to choose rule at Michigan
What drivers said after Saturday’s Cup race at Michigan
Bubba Wallace places 9th, notes deal that will put RPM “over the top”
Only a few days after it was announced, NASCAR implemented its new choose rule on restarts for the first time in a Cup Series points race.
The occasion came Saturday at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway, a far cry from its original use in the July 15 All-Star race at the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway.
On the lap before a restart, drivers could drive to the left or right of an orange cone symbol on the track located a short distance beyond the start-finish line. A driver in fifth place could go to the left and restart second in the inside row, giving him better track position in the non-preferred lane, which Bubba Wallace did late in the race before he finished ninth.
Among the top-three finishers in the race – Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. – the race winner voiced the most excitement about the choose rule ahead of Sunday’s Michigan race (4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN).
“The best thing about it is they had a race with it (Friday) with the Truck Series, made a lot of adjustments or a few adjustments this morning to the process, and I thought it went well today,” said Harvick, referring to NASCAR’s decision to move the symbol from 100 feet to 200 feet from the finish line. “I think it definitely gave some guys a chance that were kind of buried eighth or ninth, and I think (Chase Elliott) was one of those and wound up racing for the win.”
Elliott restarted second with 18 laps to go in the scheduled distance after he was fifth before the choose rule. He was able to lead nine laps before a caution.
“Definitely a lot to think about right there and definitely some processes that you have to go through, but you can take a chance and gain some track position,” Harvick said. “So I thought it went well and did exactly what everybody thought it would do.”
Keselowski said he was “agnostic” about the choose rule. He went from third to second for the final restart, bypassing Elliott, who finished seventh.
“There were parts I liked and there were parts I didn’t like,” Keselowski said. “I thought at the front, it seemed to be a little fun, something kind of different. It’s one of those things where I think it’s just ‑‑ when you eat chocolate you want vanilla sometimes; it felt different and different was kind of fun. There was other parts where I was kind of a little questioning about it. Overall I’m kind of neutral on it.”
Keselowski called the rule a “different dynamic” that “opens up some different opportunities.”
“We’re all kind of learning together how that plays out,” Keselowski continued. “This was a first time on a bigger track or a 550 (horsepower) rules package track that we’ve seen this, and so it definitely changed a little bit of the race. I’m not confident to say whether it was better or worse, just felt a little bit different to me. Which it should feel different; that’s kind of the point. If it wasn’t a little different, then why would we do it?
“I thought there were times when it was interesting, there were times where I was kind of like, hmm, I don’t know.”
Truex simply called the result of the choose rule “ok.”
“I don’t know that it changed the race a whole lot, but it was interesting for sure,” Truex said. “We’ll see how it plays out ‑‑ we seen a lot of guys pick the outside, but a few guys were able to get the lead from the bottom, as well. Pretty interesting how it worked out, and definitely learned some stuff for tomorrow.”
Ryan Blaney, who finished fourth, wishes he could have kept third place before the final restart.
“Because I would have chose the bottom and had a little better shot,” Blaney said. “I am proud of the effort. (Harvick) was really fast. We need to work on our stuff a little and I think we can compete a little better tomorrow.”
UPDATE
Chris Buescher, who was to have started on the pole, will move to the rear for today’s race because he is going to a backup car.
Chris Buescher will start on the pole for Sunday’s Cup race at Michigan International Speedway after finishing 20th in Saturday’s race.
The top-20 finishers Saturday have their position inverted for the Sunday Cup starting lineup. Clint Bowyer will start second.
Winner Kevin Harvick will start Sunday’s race 20th.
Click here for the Sunday Cup starting lineup.
NASCAR Cup Series at Michigan
Race Time: 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday
Track: Michigan International Speedway; Brooklyn, Michigan (2-mile speedway)
Length: 156 laps (312 miles)
Stages: Stage 1 ends Lap 40. Stage 2 ends Lap 85
TV coverage: NBCSN
Radio: Motor Racing Network (also SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Streaming: NBC Sports app (subscription required); mrn.com and SiriusXM for audio (subscription required)
Michigan Cup starting lineup: Click here for lineup
Next Xfinity race: Aug. 15 at Daytona road course (52 laps, 187.72 miles) 3 ET on NBCSN
Next Truck race: Aug. 16 at Daytona road course (44 laps, 158.85 miles) noon ET on FS1
"course" - Google News
August 09, 2020 at 10:57PM
https://ift.tt/3inpGTH
Alex Tagliani to run Daytona road course Truck race - NASCAR on NBC Sports
"course" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35q9ps5
https://ift.tt/35rCFi1
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Alex Tagliani to run Daytona road course Truck race - NASCAR on NBC Sports"
Post a Comment