BROOKLYN, Mich. — NASCAR’s Big 3 has essentially lapped the competition.
Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. have combined to win 16 of 22 races and haven’t allowed the field to win consecutive races with points at stake this year. Of the other 56 drivers who have started a race, only Clint Bowyer has won twice.
That could potentially change Sunday in the Consumers Energy 400 because Chase Elliott won last week at Watkins Glen.
Chances are, though, one of the series’ top three drivers will finish first.
Busch and Truex drive a Toyota while Harvick is in a Ford. Clearly, it helps to have one of those manufacturers on your side this season.
Toyota drivers have won 11 races and Ford has nine first-place finishes.
“They got everything together,” Ryan Newman, who drives the No. 31 Chevy, said on Saturday after practice. “They’ve got great downforce, horsepower, tires. Drivers are doing their job and collectively their organizations are strong.
“Stewart-Haas Racing as well as the Toyota camp seems to be strong right now and have been all year.”
Chevrolet, meanwhile, has won just two races and Karl Larson, who is eighth in points, is its only driver among the top 10 in the standings.
“We’re trying to catch up,” said Newman, who will start sixth. We were prepared as well as we thought we needed to be.
“As it turns out, we needed to be more prepared and you can see the results across the Chevrolet camp.”
XFINITY: Justin Allgaier passed rookie Austin Cindric with four laps left and held on to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
Allgaier used the sixth restart of the race to squeeze by Cindric, then held off a challenge on the 72nd lap for his third series win of the year. He also won at Dover and Iowa for JR Motorsport.
Cindric, the pole-sitter for Team Penske, finished 2.05 seconds back after leading 59 of the 75 laps on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course.
Daniel Hemric was third, followed by Matt Tifft and Ryan Truex. Series leader Christopher Bell was 11th.
TRUCKS: Brett Moffitt passed Jimmy Sauter just before the finish line Saturday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan for his fourth NASCAR Truck Series victory of the season.
Moffitt edged Sauter – the leader the previous 12 laps – by 0.025 seconds.
Noah Gragson was fourth, and Todd Gilliland fifth after leading a race-high 18 laps.
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