Track Specs: 2.5-mile oval / 60 laps (Main)
Weather: Sunny; 92 degrees
Race Winner: Kyle Busch
Harvicks’s finish: 2nd
Allgaier’s Finish: 5th
Sadler’s Finish: 6th
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick was the highest-finishing Chevrolet driver after finishing second in the Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This finish marks Harvick’s third top-10 finish in 2016 and his fourth overall at the 2.5-mile speedway.
Harvick qualified fourth for Saturday’s race, which placed the No. 88 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet in the second heat. After 20 laps, Harvick maintained the second position throughout the heat race and finished second.
By finishing second in the heat race, the No. 88 Chevrolet rolled off fourth for the Main race. The California native was scored in the sixth position by lap 17 and was quiet on the radio. Harvick brought the Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet to the attention of the crew on lap 26 for the first pit stop of the day for four tires, fuel and an adjustment. On lap 32, Harvick came over the radio to report that the handling had become worse after the adjustments made on the previous stop.
The No. 88 machine was scored in the fifth position on lap 45. With 12 laps remaining, the caution flag waved for an incident on track. Harvick came to pit road under this caution for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. After taking the green, the caution flag flew for the final time of the day with six laps to go. On the restart, the No. 88 Chevrolet was scored in the third position.
Harvick would advance one position on the restart and finish the 60-lap race in the second position. The No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet maintains the second position in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Owner Standings.
Kyle Busch led the field to the checkered flag and was followed by Harvick, Paul Menard, Larson and fifth-place Justin Allgaier.
Dave Elenz, crew chief No. 88 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet team
“All in all we had a good day with our No. 88 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet. Kevin (Harvick) and the No. 88 guys worked hard in the heat and we were there at the end. We will take this second-place finish and move on to Iowa next week.”
Justin Allgaier
Justin Allgaier really wanted to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, and if he couldn’t take the top spot, winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Dash4Cash would be a close second. He drove his BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet Camaro to a strong fifth-place finish in the Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indy, and in the process out-dueled JRM teammate Elliott Sadler to earn the $100,000 Xfinity Dash4Cash bonus in the final few laps.
Allgaier finished third in the second 20-lap heat race to earn the sixth starting spot in the 60-lap main for all the money, battling a tight car for most of the 20 laps before settling in behind Erik Jones and Kevin Harvick. For the main event, the car was going to have to be adjusted. Allgaier, who had qualified for all four of the Dash4Cash events this season, knew the main was going to be a stern test of his driving and his team.
He and the team were up to it. Starting sixth, Allgaier settled into a JRM freight train with teammates Harvick and Sadler, the trio clicking off laps in the top 10. After 25 laps, Allgaier was still looking for grip on the blazing hot Indy oval, but maintaining pace. He pitted for four tires, fuel and a track-bar adjustment soon after, on lap 28, and went right back to the top 10. It stayed that way until 17 laps to go, when fellow Dash4Cash contender Jones pitted after slapping the wall. That put Allgaier in sixth, with only point leader Daniel Suarez ahead of him in the running order for the Dash4Cash payout.
With 12 laps remaining, Allgaier came down pit road for four fresh tires and gas to the end, exiting fifth and seeing Suarez just two spots ahead for the restart with seven laps remaining. Suarez and Jones tangled briefly, giving Allgaier a hole, and he took it, but Sadler was right there too. The final caution flag came out on lap 56 for a two-car accident, and that set up the final overtime duel to the finish between Sadler and Allgaier.
When the green flag waved, Allgaier got under Sadler when the latter was battling with Kyle Larson and completed the pass, holding on for the fifth-place finish and the big $100,000 check from Xfinity for the Dash4Cash.
Kyle Busch won the race, followed by Harvick, Paul Menard, Larson and Allgaier. With the top-five finish, his seventh of the season to go with 14 top-10 results, Allgaier jumped two spots in the driver standings to fourth, 66 behind the leader.
Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture team
“I really, really wanted to win today, but this (the Dash4Cash) was second on the list. Racing a teammate for $100,000 is not an ideal situation, but to get that run and pass him like we did, and to have two JRM cars in the top five and all three in the top six shows how strong an organization we have. Even though we didn’t get in Victory Lane, it’s a huge win for all of us. This is a huge feather in our cap, and everybody back at the shop is going to get some enjoyment out of this. I’m really proud of my BRANDT Professional Agriculture guys, and…I’ve been trying to win this check since the inception of this program.”
Elliott Sadler
Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 1 OneMain Chevrolet, finished sixth in Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). The finish today marked Sadler’s 15th top-five finish for the 2016 season and he remains in a close battle for the top spot in the Xfinity Series point standings.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted the final Xfinity Dash4Cash race of the 2016 season. Qualifying 19th would put Sadler in the first of two 20-lap heat races at the famed Brickyard. Sadler started his OneMain Chevrolet from the 10th position in the first heat race and quickly advanced his Camaro to the fifth position by lap six. The Emporia, Va. native was battling a loose car, but managed to hang on to the fifth position and become one of four contenders for the Xfinity Dash4Cash bonus. The bonus of $100,000 is paid to the highest finisher among the four qualified drivers in the Main.
Sadler started the OneMain Chevrolet from the ninth position for the 60-lap Main and immediately grabbed a position in the first two laps, putting him eighth, and he would remain there for 40 more laps. Unlike the heat race prior to the Main, Sadler told his No. 1 team that the car was very tight. The veteran driver managed to keep the car under control and advance to the seventh position by lap 43.
Just 12 of the 60 laps remained when the caution flag waved and Sadler brought the No. 1 in for four tires, fuel, and a track-bar adjustment. After a great restart with seven laps to go, Sadler had moved up to the fifth position and was now the highest qualified Dash4Cash participant. A caution came out again, two laps later, and forced a green-white-checker finish. Despite his best efforts, Sadler was unable to hold off his JRM teammate Justin Allgaier, who made a late-race pass to take home the $100,000 bonus. Sadler crossed the finish line in sixth position and remains second in the Xfinity point standings.
Kyle Busch ended up kissing the bricks today at IMS. He was followed by Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, Kyle Larson, and Justin Allgaier rounding out the top five.
Elliott Sadler, driver No. 1 OneMain Chevrolet
“Congratulations to Justin (Allgaier) and their guys, they did a good job all weekend for a top five. I wish we had it but we were just too tight there at the end. I tried to do a different line and just do something different, but it just didn’t work out for me. We will take a sixth-place finish and move on to Iowa.”
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