Kansas Recap

Welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Today I recap the action from Kansas. Also to note, Michael Self won the ARCA race at Kansas. Christopher Bell pulled a late slide job on teammate Erik Jones to win his first Xfintiy race. The slide job is a dirt track term where you drive hard into the corner and slide in front of the other car. Lewis Hamilton won the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Now onto the Cup race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The Hollywood Casino 400 ran on Sunday afternoon with Martin Truex Jr on the pole with Kevin Harvick alongside. The first and second stages consisted of 80 laps, with the final stage making up the final 107 laps. The race was 267 laps, 400 miles. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Brett Moffitt had a rough day in the 83 car. Moffitt hit the wall in turn 2 early in stage 1 with 34 to go in the stage. He would later cut a tire in stage 2 in turn 3 with 5 to go in the stage. Photo courtesy of Google images.

One of the big incidents of the day occurred late in stage 1 with 4 to go. One of the championship favorites Kyle Larson blew an engine and was eliminated from the playoffs. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Kyle Busch dominated stage 1 to take the stage victory. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Another driver with a bad day and yet another playoff driver was Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stenhouse cut a tire and hit the wall off turn 2 at lap 175. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Denny Hamlin took home stage 2 after staying out under the previous caution. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Although Stenhouse Jr had a bad day, another playoff driver that was trying to advance to the next round was Jimmie Johnson. Johnson spun twice in just a few laps. He first spun off turn 4 at lap 188 after getting loose. He then spun again on the restart at lap 193 after suffering damage from his ride through the grass in the previous spin. Both spins occurred in the final stage. Photos courtesy of Google images.

A big crash halted the race in the final stage at lap 198. Erik Jones broke loose off turn 2 after a restart and tried to save it, but ended up turning in the outside wall and collecting other drivers, including some playoff drivers. Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray were the playoff drivers, along with Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez. Matt Kenseth was out of the race due to a penalty where he had too many men over the pit wall to service his car. You're only allowed no more than 7 if your car has to be fixed on pit road. Photos courtesy of Google images.

The races final caution took place with 33 to go in the final stage. AJ Allmendinger went for a spin off turn 4. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Martin Truex Jr ended up winning the race. With the win, Truex swept the races at Kansas this year. He's my pick for the championship. The playoff standings are above, as it shows the round of 8. The drivers eliminated from the playoffs are Matt Kenseth, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Jamie McMurray. The first race of the round of 8 takes place this weekend at Martinsville. See ya then. Photos courtesy of Google images and Fox Sports.

Talladega Recap

Welcome back to Captain Josh's pit stop. Today, I recap the weekends action from Talladega. And boy action is the best word to sum it up. It was a wreckfest for sure. Also to note, NBC's own Parker Kligerman won the Truck Series race on Saturday afternoon. The Xfinity Series and Formula One had an off weekend. The next race for the Xfinity Series will be this Saturday at Kansas. Formula One will be back in the USA for their race in Austin, Texas for the US Grand Prix on Sunday. Now onto the Cup race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The Alabama 500 ran on Sunday afternoon with the fan favorite Dale Jr earning his first Talladega pole. Teammate Chase Elliott accompanied Dale Jr on the front row. The first and second stages consisted of 55 laps, with the final stage making up the final 75 laps. The race was 188 laps, 500 miles long. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

The first incident of many throughout the day occurred in Stage 1 with 30 to go in the stage Strategy came into play as drivers worked together with others with the same manufacturer. The Fords pitted first, but when the Chevy's went to pit, Jamie McMurray was tagged by Erik Jones trying to make it onto pit road. Jefferey Earnhardt was also involved in the crash. Photos courtesy of Google images. 

Paul Menard had an early incident late in stage 1. Menard cut a tire and hit the wall off turn 4 with 5 to go in stage 1. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

Brad Keselowski took home the first stage win. Keselowski was certainly showing his strength early in the race. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

Another playoff driver that had issues during the day was 7-time champion Jimmie Johnson. Johnson's troubles started early in stage 2. Johnson was hit from behind from Ty Dillon trying to get onto pit road. The incident was similar to the one Jamie McMurray was involved in earlier in the race. The incident occurred in stage 2 with 44 to go in the stage. Photos courtesy of Google images. 

The action continued to heat up in stage 2, as Trevor Bayne also suffered a cut tire in turn 3. Bayne hit the outside wall and would continue on. Also during the caution, a crew member serving Ryan Blaney's car, was struck by Joey Gase. Gase was trying to enter his pit. No one was hurt and the crew member was ok. The incident occurred with 26 to go in the stage.  Photos courtesy of Google images. 

Playoff contender Ryan Blaney won the second stage. Blaney has ran well so far for his first playoff appearance. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

The first big crash happened on the restart to begin the final stage. Clint Bowyer, AJ Allmendinger, and Aric Almirola got together in the back of the pack, which caused a multiple car crash. No one was injured. Apologies for not having a photo. I was unable to find one. The incident occurred on the restart with 33 to go in the race. 

The luck didn't end for Joey Gase. His day was ended however, as he was turned into the backstretch wall by DJ Kennington. Its sad to see the Dr. Pepper car crash, cause I love Dr. Pepper. Anyways, Gase was not injured but was out of the race. The incident occurred with 24 to go in the race. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

The first big crash of the day involved multiple playoff drivers, including Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr to name a few. The crash occurred with 17 to go in the race, when Truex Jr was hooked by David Ragan going into turn 3. Again, no one was injured in the accident. Photos courtesy of Google images. 

It didn't take long for the next crash to occur, as Ryan Blaney would spin going into turn 3, after contact from Joey Logano. Logano was squeezed by Trevor Bayne into Blaney, which caused the crash. The incident occurred with 11 to go in the race. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

Just when you thought the crashing would stop, especially when there was as few of the cars left, think again. And once again, the crash occurred in turn 3, when rookie Daniel Suarez came down on Chase Elliott after Elliott tried to pass Suarez. The incident occurred with 6 to go in the race. Photo courtesy of Google images. 

At the end of it all, only a couple of cars made it to the finish. Brad Keselowski was able to pass Ryan Newman on the final lap to take the win and advance himself into the next round of the playoffs. Aric Almirola also spun into the outside wall across the start finish line at the checkered flag. Photos courtesy of Google images. 

Here are the playoff standings after Talladega. Keselowski advances with his win to the round of 8. The bottom four as of Talladega are Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Jamie McMurray. As stated before, 13th-16th have already been eliminated. After Kansas this weekend, four more drivers will be eliminated, cutting the playoff field down to 8. Who will advance? Tune in next week to find out. Photo courtesy of Fox Sports. 

Charlotte Recap

Hello everyone and welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Today I recap the weekends action from Charlotte. The Truck Series had an off weekend. Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, extending his championship lead to 59 points after Sebastian Vettel had an engine failure on the start. Alex Bowman won the Xfinity race on Friday night. Now let's head to the Cup race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The Bank Of America 500 ran on Sunday afternoon with Denny Hamlin earning the pole and his teammate Matt Kenseth accompanied him on the front row. The first and second stages consisted of 90 laps, and the final stage made up the final 154 laps. The race was 334 laps, 500 miles long. Dale Jarrett also drove his 1999 championship winning 88 car in honor of Robert Yates who passed away earlier last week due to cancer. Yates was the owner of the 88 Ford. Photos courtesy of Google images.

The first caution came in stage 1 with 47 to go in the stage. Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer made contact in turn 2. Newman tried to slide in front of Bowyer, but wasn't cleared and Newman hit the outside wall and spun into the inside wall on the backstretch. Newman's car then caught fire trying to get back to the pits. No injuries to any of the drivers. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Kevin Harvick dominated the stages in the race. He won both stage 1 and 2. A clean sweep of the first two stages. Could he hold on for the win? Tune in to find out. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Not much happened until late in stage 2 with 65 to go in the stage. Michael McDowell went for a spin off of turn 2. McDowell drove off and continued on. My apologies for not having a photo. I was unable to find one since my source is Google images.

One of the big stories of the day came in stage 2 with 44 to go in the stage. Kyle Busch broke loose in turn 4 and hit the outside wall with the right rear corner. The impact unfortunately knocked the crush panel out of the car. The crush panel seals off the cockpit from the exhaust fumes. Since the panel was knocked out, Busch would later suffer the effects from this after the race. He also spun out later on due to the damage on the car. Photo courtesy of Google images and NBC Sports.

Gray Gaulding had to pit due to his brakes being on fire late in stage 2. The incident occurred with 6 to go in the stage. The photo isn't completely accurate, but picture a car similar to the one above in the pits. I apologize for the photo. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The day didn't go so well for Stewart Haas Racing. Clint Bowyer got into it with Ryan Newman earlier in the race, and Danica Patrick also had an end to her day in the final stage when she hit David Ragan who spun off turn 2. The incident occurred with 69 to go in the race for the final stage. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Continuing the theme of the bad day for Stewart Haas Racing, Kurt Busch had a rough end to his day as well. Busch broke loose underneath Kyle Larson going into turn 1 and spun off turn 2. Larson also suffered damage from the contact. This incident occurred with 3 to go, creating an overtime restart. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Martin Truex Jr ended up taking his 6th win of the season. He didn't have the usual dominant car after starting 17th in the race. But he made adjustments to his car through the race and came through the back to win. I am a huge fan of Truex, and I'm pulling for him to win the championship. Who's your pick to win? Also to note, I mentioned that Kyle Busch had felt the effects from the crush panel being knocked out of his car. Well as shown above, Busch had to lie on the ground after almost collapsing. He was ok after receiving treatment from the infield care center. He said it was mainly the heat that had made him sick. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Here are the playoff standings after Charlotte. Martin Truex Jr advances to the next round with his win. The bottom 4 now are Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The 13th through 16th drivers have already been eliminated from the playoffs. Next race is Talladega. Who will escape the big one? Find out Sunday afternoon. See ya then. Photo courtesy of Google images and Fox Sports.