Sonoma Recap

Welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Today I recap the action from this past weekend. The Xfinity and Truck series raced at Iowa on Friday and Saturday night. John Hunter Nemechek picked up his second win in a row Friday night. William Byron earned his first career Xfinity win on Saturday night. Daniel Ricciardo won the F1 race at Baku on Sunday after championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel got together during the safety car. The Cup series however, went road course racing. That's right, the drivers went left and right this weekend in Sonoma. Let's recap the race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The Toyota Savemart 350 ran on Sunday with Kyle Larson earning his second pole position in a row with teammate Jamie McMurray alongside. The first and second stages consisted of 25 laps, with the final stage making up the final 60 laps. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Dale Jr has had a rough start to his final season in the Cup series. His luck wouldn't get any better this weekend after wheel hopping into turn 11 and making contact with Danica Patrick as shown above in stage 1 with 12 to go. Wheel hopping is a term for the rear wheels skipping on the track braking hard into a corner. It happens more on a road course due to the hard braking. It's also occurred at Martinsville as well. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Clint Bowyer also had a wild day, as he went for a spin in turn 10 in stage 1 with 2 to go. Bowyer would come back to finish second in the race. Even with a damaged car. Photo courtesy of Google images.

You can probably guess who won stage 1. That's right, Martin Truex Jr won his 11th stage for the year so far. He's going to have a pretty decent advantage as far as playoff points in the playoffs later this year. More on that as it gets closer. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Stage 2 had a lot of action. Two separate incidents occurred with 31 to go in the stage. Alon Day spun in turn 1. Day is a new up and coming driver from Israel. Also Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr crashed a couple corners ahead, causing the caution. Photos courtesy of Google images.

The action in stage 2 wasn't over yet. Daniel Suarez went for a spin with 5 to go in the stage. Suarez is in the yellow and back Stanley car in the background in the photo shown above. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Here's a surprise, Martin Truex Jr didn't win a stage. Jimmie Johnson took home stage 2 using pit strategy. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Road course ace Boris Said returned to NASCAR to run the race at Sonoma. He would have a long day for sure, and he also would get loose and go off track into the dirt in the final stage with 13 to go. Boris kept the car going and came back on the tack and continued on. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Matt Kenseth had a decent day going until 6 to go in the final stage. Another road course ace Billy Johnson took over the 43 car replacing Darrell Wallace Jr who had been subbing for the injured Aric Almirola. Johnson got into Kenseth, sending him spinning into the dirt. Kenseth continued on. Photo courtesy of Google images.

At the end of the day, Kevin Harvick saved enough fuel to pick up his first win at Sonoma. Harvick had never won there previously. Kasey Kahne also had a hard crash into turn 1 after slipping up out of the groove and into the wall. Well I hope you enjoyed the recap. Next week, 4th of July weekend at Daytona. And I also have a birthday coming up on the 3rd. I hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July. See you next week. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Michigan Recap

Welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Today I recap the action from Michigan. There wasn't a lot of action in the cup race, but I will also recap the winners of the other races. Brandon Jones won the ARCA race Friday at Michigan. John Hunter Nemechek won the truck race Saturday night at Gateway in St. Louis. And Denny Hamlin won the Xfinity race at Michigan. Did you get all that? I hope so. Now to the cup race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The Firekeepers Casino 400 ran on Sunday afternoon with Kyle Larson on the pole with Martin Truex Jr on the front row also once again. The first and second stages consisted of 60 laps, with the final stage making up the final 80 laps of the race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Martin Truex Jr continued his dominance in stage wins by taking the first and second stage wins. Both stages were caution free also. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Ryan Sieg had a rough day with a spin in turn 4 to start the final stage with 50 laps to go. Truex Jr almost spins trying to avoid Sieg. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The race was also cut short for Clint Bowyer with 14 to go. He was pushed up out of the groove on the restart and got into the turn 2 wall. The groove is a term for the racing line created by the rubber put on it by the tires from the cars running in the line. Just a little lesson in racing for my followers. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The action would heat up in stage 3 with 10 to go. Contact on a restart resulted in Danica Patrick spinning on the backstretch and hitting the inside wall. Ryan Blaney and Daniel Suarez also were involved. Photo courtesy of Google images.

 

Kyle Larson picked up his 2nd win of the year and Chip Ganassi Racing's 14th Cup Series win overall. Larson also won from the pole. Well that's it everyone. Not much action but next week the Cup Series goes road course racing at Sonoma Raceway in California. See ya then. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Pocono Recap

Welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Today I recap the action from Pocono Raceway. Also the truck series raced at Texas Motor Speedway with Christopher Bell taking the victory in a wild finish. Lewis Hamilton won the F1 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. And Riley Herbst took home the ARCA race at Pocono in the Joe Gibbs entry. And Brad Keselowski won the Xfinity race at Pocono also. Now onto the Cup race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The Axalta We Paint Winners 400 ran on Sunday with Kyle Busch on the pole for the second straight week. Martin Truex Jr qualify 2nd, but had to drop to the rear for an engine change. Therefore Matt Kenseth accompanied Busch on the front row. The first and second stages consisted of 50 laps, with the final stage making up the final 60 laps. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Not much action happened in the first stage. Kyle Busch took home the stage 1 win after leading the whole stage from the pole. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Dale Jr cut his day short in stage 2 on lap 58. Jr missed a shift and blew his transmission. Also, Clint Bowyer hit the wall in turn 2 at the same time. No caution for either incident. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Brake failures were a common theme for Hendrick Motorsports as Jimmie Johnson had a failure going into turn 1 and hit the wall hard. Jamie McMurray also had a brake failure in the same corner at the same time as Johnson. The incident occurred in stage 2 with 5 to go in the stage. Photos courtesy of Google images.

The Johnson/McMurray caution set up a one lap shootout to end stage 2. Kyle Larson held off Kyle Busch to win stage 2. Definitely more action than stage 1 for sure. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Kasey Kahne continued the theme for brake failures at Hendrick Motorsports. He had a failure in the same place as Johnson did earlier in the race. The incident occurred with 5 to go in the race in the final stage. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Ryan Blaney passed Kyle Busch with 11 to go and held off Kevin Harvick to win his first Cup race. It was the 99th win overall for the team. That's all for today. Next week, I will recap Michigan. Goodnight everyone. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Dover Recap

Welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Today I recap the action from Dover International Speedway. It was a triple header weekend as the Truck, Xfinity, and Monster Energy Cup Series held races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Johnny Sauter won the Truck race, and Kyle Larson won the Xfinity race. F1 had an off weekend but will be back next weekend in Canada. Now to recap the Cup race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The AAA Drive For Autism 400 ran on Sunday with Kyle Busch on the pole and Martin Truex Jr accompanying him on the front row. The first and second stages consisted of 120 laps, and the final stage made up the final 160 laps, consisting the 400 lap race. Photos courtesy of Google images.

The first caution came out early in stage 1 with Ryan Seig going for a spin in turn 2. During caution flag stops, Kyle Busch had a tire fall off after the left rear wasn't tightened enough. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr brought out the second caution of the day when he cut a tire and pounded the turn 4 wall. He suffered damage and would hit the wall again later on with 59 to go in stage 1. Photo courtesy of Google images.

On the restart with 55 to go in stage 1, Kurt Busch would get loose in turn 1 and take out Brad Keselowski. It was the second straight week that Keselowski was taken out in someone else's mess. He was taken out at Charlotte when he hit Chase Elliott after he had a problem. Keselowski was out and Busch continued on. Photos courtesy of Google images.

During the green flag run, with 40 to go in stage 1, Martin Truex Jr and Kyle Larson fought hard for the race lead. Larson would also get the boot and Truex continued on with the lead. Larson later retaliated as a result with a boot out of the way. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Kurt Busch's run would end with 24 to go in stage 1. The damage he suffered after the contact with Keselowski cut a tire down and shredded the rear of his car. Busch was out of the race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Martin Truex Jr dominated the earlier part of the race winning stages 1 and 2. He's definitely figured out stage racing. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The theme of cut tires and spins continued as Danica Patrick went for a spin off turn 4 in stage 2 with 95 to go. Patrick has had a rough start to her season. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Joey Logano had struggled with speed all day long. And as a result, he cut a tire in turn 4 with 47 to go in stage 2. Logano pounded the wall but continued on. Photo courtesy of Google images.

David Ragan also had a rough day as he cut a tire in turn 4 with 23 to go in stage 2. Ragan made it to the pits and there was no caution. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Landon Cassil, teammate to David Ragan, also cut a tire in turn 2 with 23 to go and hit the outside wall. This however did cause the caution. Cassil would later hit the turn 4 wall in stage 3 with 143 to go. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The action heated up in stage 3 with Paul Menard crashing off turn 2 as a result of going 3 wide and contact from Chris Buescher. Menard would hit the inside wall and be done for the day. Photo courtesy of Google images.

At the end of the day, David Ragan once again cut a tire in turn 2 with 4 to go, setting up a green white checkered. Jimmie Johnson picked up his 11th win at Dover after a big crash on the restart. Johnson tied NASCAR legend Cale Yarbourough with 83 career wins. That's all for today. Next week I recap the action from the tricky triangle Pocono Raceway. Photos courtesy of Google images.