2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series

The first caution of the race came out on lap 4, when Austin Dillon's car blew up with an ignition problem while running 11th. Luckily no serious damage was caused, as he quickly got down to the apron - the only thing of note was that Blake Koch slammed into the wall trying to avoid him. Koch still continued with only cosmetic damage.
Then the race went green for a while. Like the truck race, it took about 4-5 laps for everyone to settle in. Leaders shuffled between Chase Elliott, Ty Dillon, and Elliott Sadler. Eventually Daniel Suarez took the lead, and stayed in the lead until the next caution which came out on lap 14. Anthony Kumpen was about to pull down to the pits, he may have had a flat tire or something likewise. I don't know what happened here, perhaps it was a brake failure or something, but he didn't slow down whatsoever pulling in. Mario Gosselin who just so happened to be behind him, slammed into the back of him, sending him into the pit wall, and up through the infield grass and back up into the outside wall on the frontstretch. This was one of the most bizarre crashes I have ever seen in NR2003.
After the caution laps came to a close, the fans all got excited as it was going to be a three lap shootout to the finish. With Daniel Suarez leading and Chase Elliott close on his tail, the final green flag waved. It seemed Suarez's car was too fast, as both Elliott and Allgaier tried making moves on the last lap but could not make up a good enough run. As Sadler tried one last time from third place to go for the win, he couldn't make it in time. Daniel Suarez wins the Powershares QQQ 300 at Daytona!


2016 Powershares QQQ 300 Finishing Results
1. #19 Daniel Suarez
2. #88 Chase Elliott
3. #1 Elliott Sadler
4. #48 Brennan Poole
5. #7 Justin Allgaier
6. #3 Ty Dillon
7. #5 Kasey Kahne
8. #11 Blake Koch
9. #62 Brendan Gaughan
10. #20 Erik Jones
11. #16 Ryan Reed
12. #18 Bobby Labonte
13. #33 Brandon Jones
14. #6 Darrell Wallace, Jr.
15. #28 Dakoda Armstrong
16. #39 Ryan Sieg
17. #4 Ross Chastain
18. #01 Ryan Preece
19. #51 Jeremy Clements
20. #78 B.J. McLeod
21. #52 Joey Gase
22. #22 Joey Logano
23. #07 Ray Black, Jr.
24. #42 Kyle Larson
25. #17 Jeff Green
26. #43 Jeb Burton
27. #44 David Starr
28. #98 Aric Almirola
29. #89 Morgan Shepherd
30. #24 Matt Tifft
31. #92 Mario Gosselin
32. #93 Scott Lagasse, Jr.
33. #90 Martin Roy
34. #0 Eric McClure
35. #87 Joe Nemechek
36. #05 John Wes Townley
DNF - 37. #46 Anthony Kumpen | Accident
DNF - 38. #74 Mike Harmon | Retired
DNF - 39. #2 Austin Dillon | Ignition
DNF - 40. #14 Benny Gordon | Camshaft

Kevin Harvick took no time to get to the lead, as Atlanta is easily one of his best race tracks. Although right behind him on his tail was Kyle Busch. He took the lead after three or so laps, and dominated. Absolutely dominated. Before the first caution came out on lap 10, he had a four second lead on Harvick in 2nd place. Kyle caught up with lap cars and had no patience whatsoever with J.J. Yeley in the #14.
What a harmless little tap can do is amazing. Yeley tried coming back on track, which was a huge mistake coming from an experienced driver like him. Brandon Jones had nowhere to go, slamming right in the back of his car, collecting Garrett Smithley, Corey LaJoie, and Ryan Preece along with him. Preece spun around, and getting back up to speed he made contact with Mike Harmon, sending his car up into Joey Gase making up for a hard hit. Cody Ware also gained damage during this ongoing crash. On the restart, Kyle fell back to about 5th place, battling with teammate Daniel Suarez for position. It took him not even half a lap to clear Suarez. He stood his ground in 4th place for about three laps, as Kevin Harvick slowly but surely got off to a good lead. As Kyle Larson cleared Erik Jones, Kyle caught up to him on that same lap. Jones put a late block on his teammate coming off of turn 2, sending Kyle into the inside wall for a hard hit. He came back up onto the track in the middle of turn 3, where Elliott Sadler just an innocent bystander battling for 10th place slams into Kyle. Kyle gets a lot of air, almost going upside down, but coming down on all fours. Both drivers were out of the race after this.
Not much more to talk about, as Kevin Harvick completely dominated the rest of the race. He and Kyle were the only two drivers to lead laps. Paul Menard, Daniel Suarez, and Erik Jones each battled near the top 3 putting up for some exciting racing. But at the end of the race, Harvick had almost a 6 second lead over the rest of the field. Definitely worthy of the win. He'll be one to look out for during the cup race tomorrow.

2016 Heads Up Georgia 250 Finishing Results
1. #88 Kevin Harvick
2. #2 Paul Menard
3. #20 Erik Jones
4. #22 Brad Keselowski
5. #19 Daniel Suarez
6. #42 Kyle Larson
7. #6 Darrell Wallace Jr.
8. #7 Justin Allgaier
9. #51 Jeremy Clements
10. #3 Ty Dillon
11. #62 Brendan Gaughan
12. #11 Blake Koch
13. #16 Ryan Reed
14. #90 Mario Gosselin
15. #28 Dakoda Armstrong
16. #07 Ray Black Jr.
17. #48 Brennan Poole
18. #25 Chris Cockrum | -1L
19. #39 Ryan Sieg | -1L
20. #43 Jeb Burton | -1L
21. #10 Jeff Green | -1L
22. #78 B.J. McLeod | -1L
23. #40 Carl Long | -1L
24. #24 Corey LaJoie | -1L
25. #70 Derrike Cope | -1L
26. #4 Ross Chastain | -1L
27. #97 Harrison Rhodes | -1L
28. #74 Mike Harmon | -1L
29. #89 Morgan Shepherd | -1L
30. #44 David Starr | -1L
31. #01 Ryan Preece | -1L
32. #13 Josh Reaume | -2L
33. #99 Todd Peck | -3L
DNF - 34. #1 Elliott Sadler | Accident
DNF - 35. #18 Kyle Busch | Accident
DNF - 36. #0 Garrett Smithley | Retired
DNF - 37. #52 Joey Gase | Accident
DNF - 38. #15 Cody Ware | Retired
DNF - 39. #33 Brandon Jones | Accident
DNF - 40. #14 J.J. Yeley | Accident