Craziness in Kansas: Brandon Jones survives craziness for his first career Xfinity win

(KANSAS CITY, KS) -- It took him 134 races, but Brandon Jones made sure that his first career Xfinity win came in a fashion that fans will remember for a long time. The 22-year old Atlanta native survived the craziness and snagged the victory in Saturday's frantic Hollywood Casino 300 at Kansas Speedway, becoming the races' third consecutive first time winner.

"I've been a winner in a lot of different series, but this is the biggest one I've ever had. This is huge," Jones said of his victory.

This race had everything.

A surprise first-time winner, championship contenders plagued by misfortune, an unfortunate wreck involving the leaders and a lapped car, and a pit-road fight.

Jones took the lead from Cole Custer with 10 laps remaining, then had to hold off the field on a restart with five laps remaining. Jones stayed poised despite having never been in that situation

"I had confidence that if he got in clean air, he was going to be really solid at the end," said Jones' crew chief, Jeff Meendering. "We had really good speed most of that race even when we were back in traffic," Meendering added.

Jones' car definitely showed speed, more-so on shorter runs. However, the majority of the race belonged to Jones' teammate, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer. Bell, the pole sitter dominated stage one, leading all 45 laps and picking up another playoff point. Custer took the lead from Bell in stage two and won the second stage.

A long run ensued during stage three, allowing Custer to show the speed that he's had on 1.5-mile tracks this season.

Then things got weird.

Michael Annett ended the long-run when he got into the wall with 50 to go. Briscoe took advantage of Custer's miscues on the restart and grabbed the lead. John Hunter Nemechek spun out with 37 to go, bringing out another caution. Annett stayed out and assumed the lead, but was quickly overtaken by Briscoe. Bell methodically reeled Briscoe in as the laps wound down.

While battling for the lead, Bell and Briscoe both attempted to clear the lapped car of Garrett Smithley. However, Smithley made contact with Briscoe and collected Bell as well. The accident effectively ended Bells' chances of winning, ended Smithley's day and caused severe damage to Briscoes' machine.

Smithley's accident comes weeks after a highly criticized incident in the Cup Series, where Smithley made contact with Kyle Busch at Las Vegas.

"We were on like 70 lap tires, just riding," Smithley said, "I hate it. It was a big mistake, but we'll move on from it. He (his spotter) said he said something, but I didn't get the memo," Smithley added.

"It's frustrating," Briscoe said, "We're literally racing for our lives trying to win a championship."

Tyler Reddick capped off his entertaining day with second place, but a cut on his forehead due to a post-race altercation with Custer due to an on-track disagreement. The altercation also consisted of multiple crew members.

"I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed in his crew members not letting us handle it ourselves. It's just between me and him and that's the way it should have been," Reddick said.

Custer's topsy-turvy day concluded with an 11th place finish despite leading a race-high 85 laps.

Briscoe and Annett rebounded to finish third and fourth respectively, Justin Allgaier, the only playoff driver who did not have troubles, finished fifth. Jeremy Clements, Justin Haley, Nemechek, Ryan Seig and Ross Chastain rounded out the top ten.

Playoff driver Noah Gragson finished 13th. Bell led 69 laps, but finished the day in 14th following his accident with Smithley.

Austin Cindric, who came in fourth in points, found himself in an early race incident with Harrison Burton that caused significant damage. Cindric also battled tire problems throughout the day and finished 25th.

The Round of 8 will resume in two weeks at Texas Motor Speedway. Bell comes into the race as the points leader, 49 points above the cutline. Custer is second, 38 above the cut. Reddick still has a 37-point buffer and  Allgaier holds a two-point margin over Briscoe for the final transfer spot. Annett, Gragson and Cindric are currently on the outside-looking-in by 12, 17 and 30 points respectively.

Results: 1. Brandon Jones, 2. Tyler Reddick, 3. Chase Briscoe, 4. Michael Annett, 5. Justin Allgaier, 6. Jeremy Clements, 7. Justin Haley, 8. John Hunter Nemechek, 9. Ryan Seig, 10. Ross Chastain, 11. Cole Custer, 12. Chrsitopher Bell, 13. Noah Gragson, 14. Ray Black II, 15. Alex Labbe, 16. Dillon Bassett, 17. Gray Gaulding, 18. Brandon Brown, 19. BJ McLeod, 20. Matt Mills, 21. Josh Williams, 22. Kyle Weatherman, 23. David Starr, 24. CJ McLaughlin, 25. Austin Cindric, 26. Chad Finchum, 27. Stephen Leicht, 28. Tyler Matthews, 29. Josh Bilicki, 30. Vinnie Miller, 31. Bobby Earnhardt, 32. Joey Gase, 33. Garrett Smithley, 34. Harrison Burton, 35. Bayley Curry, 36. Landon Cassill, 37. JJ Yeley, 38. Ryan Truex.

Kansas Lottery 300: Playing the playoff lottery

(Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia)

It's fitting that this race is named the Kansas Lottery 300. The lottery benefits those who gamble. Gamble too much and it will hurt you. Gamble just right and the payoff could be huge. Will that happen in Saturday's Xfinity race, which will serve as the first of three races in the Round of 8? Time will tell. Win today and you're racing championship while also having two weeks to prepare your car for the grand finale at Homestead. Struggle today and you're playing catchup. I cannot overstate how important today's race is and perhaps most importantly, the start of today's race.

Lap 1 of last year's race was crazy and saw championship contenders Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric get caught up in an accident that ruined their days while John Hunter Nemechek went onto claim his first Xfinity Series victory. So what will the first lap look like?

"I think early in the race you want to try to make sure you can make it to the end," Custer said.

Last year, both Custer and Bell were put behind the eight-ball after Kansas and had to peel off respective wins at Texas and Phoenix. This year, two-thirds of the Xfinity Series "Big Three" come into today with near-full race worth cushions, but as they learned last year, that can change in a hurry.

"We have a really good buffer," said Custer, who comes in with a 36-point buffer, "At the same time, anything can happen."

So how aggressive will these playoff drivers be? That could depend on the situation. Custer sits +36, so he might not be overly aggressive and he might not need to thanks his recent speed on 1.5 mile tracks.

But how aggressive will Tyler Reddick be? The defending Xfinity champion comes in to Saturday with a 30 point cushion, but anybody who has watched Reddick knows that being conservative is not his forte.

"Instead of being 130 percent aggressive, I think I'll just be 100 percent aggressive," Reddick said.

While Reddick, Bell and Custer come into Kansas with the mindset of just not letting anything bad happen, five other drivers will be scratching and clawing for every single position. Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier, Chase Briscoe, Michael Annett and Noah Gragson will begin this round with just 12 points separating them. If the "Big Three" do what they've done all year, that leaves room for just one of the aforementioned six.

So which one of those five drivers could be the one to watch to at Kansas?

Keep an eye on Chase Briscoe, who begins the Round of 8 four points below the cutline. The Stewart-Haas driver claimed a victory earlier this season at Iowa, a track, like Kansas, grip and tire wear usually plays a large factor. Briscoe, a dirt racer at heart, is keen to drive the cushion and attempt to make the topside work and Kansas tends to reward those who make the top side work.

"It's one of the places that moves around a lot, which is kind of my style. It's always a good racetrack because you have options and you can throw slidejobs here," Briscoe said.

Don't discount some of the non-championship contenders either such as Nemechek, Harrison Burton or Ross Chastain. Nemechek won last year's race and Chastain won the truck race at Kansas in May, so both know how to win in the Sunflower State.

Who will learn how to win here today?

The green flag for the Kansas Lottery will drop shortly after 2 p.m on NBC.

Xfinity Round of 8 Playoff Standings

1. 20 Christopher Bell 3062 (+48)

2. 00 Cole Custer 3050 (+36)

3. 2 Tyler Reddick 3044 (+30)

4. 22 Austin Cindric 3017 (+3)

5. 7 Justin Allgaier (-3)

6. 98 Chase Briscoe (-4)

7. 1 Michael Annett (-8)

8. 9 Noah Gragson (-12) 

Worst to First: Eckes overcome woes, claims ARCA title

(KANSAS CITY, KS) -- When Christian Eckes finally emerged from the confetti showered upon him, he emerged an ARCA champion. Eckes, the youngest series champion at just 18 years, 11 months and 8 days overcame a veterans' heap of adversity to claimehe 2019 ARCA Menards Series title with a second half surge in Friday night's ARCA Kansas 150 to win the race and edge teammate Michael Self by 25 points.

Missing a race earlier due to an illness? No problem for Eckes. Moving to the back of the field because of a post-qualifying engine change? That didn't phase him either.

"It's been a dream year," Eckes said, "We've been through some highs and some lows, but today has definitely been a high.

While Eckes wasted little time cracking the top ten, Self dominated the first portion of the race, collecting five bonus points. A Drew Dollar caution on lap 40 erased Self's lead, but a stellar pit stop put Self in front of Eckes' on the restart. Self once again checked out, only to have his lead erased, again, when Tim Richmond spun on lap 52.

Eckes' learned from his mistake on the previous restart and took the lead from Self with under 40 to go and never looked back en route to the title.

"I tried something different there at the first restart and it did not work at all. The second restart, I got through the gears really good, took the lead and never looked back," Eckes said.

Self settled for second, Ty Majeski finished third. Brett Holmes and Travis Braden also notched top five finishes. Tanner Gray, Drew Dollar, Hailie Deegan, Joe Graf. Jr and Gus Dean rounded out the top ten.

Self finishes his 2019 season just shy of his ultimate goal, but did compile four wins, 14 top fives and 15 top tens. Self hinted during his Friday afternoon media availability that his 2020 plans were up in the air.

 "I have a ton of respect for him and I really he races next year. He's a great driver," Eckes said of Self.

Eckes' finishes his championship campaign with four wins, 13 top-fives and 17 top tens. He also finished the season on a stretch of seven consecutive top-two finishes. Eckes' looks to be on the shorthand of candidates to replace Harrison Burton in Kyle Busch Motorsports' #18 Gander Outdoor Truck Series entry.

"I've got a couple things in the works, but nothing solidified yet. Hopefully this kind of helps that out a little bit, but you never know," Eckes said.

Results: 1. Christian Eckes, 2. Michael Self. 3. Ty Majeski, 4. Bret Holmes, 5. Travis Braden, 6. Tanner Gray, 7. Drew Dollar, 8. Hailie Deegan, 9. Joe Graf. Jr, 10. Gus Dean, 11. Sheldon Creed, 12. Harrison Burton, 13. Carson Ware, 14. Scott Melton, 15. Ed Pompa, 16. Riley Herbst, 17. Tim Richmond, 18. Eric Caudell, 19. Tommy Vigh. Jr. 20. Brad Smith, 21. Dick Doheny, 22 Wayne Peterson

Previewing the ARCA Championship Race at Kansas

                                                         (Photo Courtesy of ARCA.com)

The final race of the ARCA Menards' Series as we know it will happen tonight. No, the series is not folding, but the combination/consolidation of the ARCA and K&N Series' will change the layout of the ARCA Series. The series will focus more on tracks such as Bristol, Phoenix and Mid-Ohio. But let's not worry about what will happen in 2020. 2019 has to finish first and things are lining up for it to be an epic finish.

The 2019 ARCA season has been interesting one to say the least. Only five drivers have competed in all 19 races leading into Kansas and those five drivers have combined for just four wins. Granted, Christian Eckes, who has three wins, would have also been in that group had he not missed the race at Salem with an illness. The 2019 ARCA campaign also featured a youth movement of sorts. Seven ARCA races have been won this season by drivers under the age of 18. 17-year rising star Chandler Smith claimed five of those and the other two came from a then 16-year old Ty Gibbs, grandson of Joe. Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland and Ty Majeski also found spurts of success during their sporadic ARCA attempts. But, for the most the part, the 2019 season has belonged to two full-time drivers;  Eckes and Michael Self.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP DUEL 

(Photo Courtesy of arcaracing.com)

Eckes, the points leader made up for lost time after missing Salem and peeled off three wins and five second-place finishes. Perhaps the most impressive part of Eckes' season is recent his recent spurt of six consecutive top-two finishes.  Eckes trailed Self in points the entire year, but overtook the points lead with a runner-up finish two weeks ago at Lucas Oil, taking a 15-point lead over Self heading into the championship race at Kansas.  Eckes, 18, is a Toyota Racing Development (TRD) driver who has six starts in the Kyle Busch Motorsports' #51 truck with moderate success should be on a short list of drivers to move into the open KBM truck left by Harrison Burton's move to the Xfinity Series. 

(Photo Courtesy of arcaracing.com) 

While Eckes is the up-and-coming 18 year old hot-shoe, His teammate, Self, has had a substantial amount of success during his career but has not received quite the push or hype that Eckes, Smith or many other drivers have. During his career, Self has made seven Xfinity starts, 71 K&N starts and 39 ARCA starts. In his 109 combined ARCA and K&N starts, Self has 15 wins, 53 top fives and 72 top tens. Self has four wins, 13 top fives and 14 top tens in 2019.  While Eckes has showed his worth on the short tracks, Self has been super consistent on the circuit's larger tracks, with a win at Michigan, a fourth-place finish at Chicago and fifth-place finishes at Charlotte and Talladega. Oh, and one of Self's first career ARCA win came at Kansas in 2017. 

CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIOS

ARCA's point system is unique. A driver who wins a race receives 235 points, second place receives 220, third receives 215, fourth receives 210 and continues in five point increments. Five bonus points also awarded to the polesitter and any driver that leads a lap. The driver who leads the most laps also receives five more points. Do the math and that leaves the potential for 250 points at stake for either Eckes or Self. With a 15 point margin, Self could at worst, tie Eckes for the points lead and Self holds the tiebreaker via wins. If neither driver is to win or receive bonus points, Eckes must finish within two positions of Self to become the 2019 championship. I think it's safe to say that this points battle is going to be crazy. 

POTENTIAL SPOILERS 

There are a handful of non-championship contenders that I could see contending for the win. Ty Majeski has been near flawless in his five ARCA starts with three wins, a second and a fourth. All those victories have come on the bigger tracks and Kansas qualifies as one of ARCA's bigger tracks. Harrison Burton has also shown promise on the 1.5 mile circuits throughout his truck series campaign and is likely using this race to prepare himself for tomorrow's Xfinity Race. Gus Dean has been quietly competitive in his two most recent starts, including a third place finish at Charlotte. Defending ARCA champion, Sheldon Creed won this race a year ago, so expect him to be a factor. The wildcard tonight is Hailee Deegan. The 18-year prospect will be making her sixth career ARCA start and is likely using Kansas to comfort herself with larger tracks. Deegan has the potential to steal the show tonight. She also has the potential for her first race at Kansas to be a disaster. I guess we will find out.