Bracket Time!

Charlotte was a bracket race, if you didn'tknow! We have some bracket busters making their way through the elimination rounds! Barros and Morello were knocked out by Tabulov and Dorian's quiet days. Wick and Bracket were helped out by DNFs to their opponents. The guys will line up next at Bristol

But what is funny is that every submitted bracket is over! Only Brent Harden had a right pick today, but only earning 2 points, I win!

1st. Michael Taylor- Taylor Motorsports

 2nd. Brent Harden- Team Harden

 3rd. Patrick Dumas- Dumas Racing

Standings After Race 7

The standings opened up a little more! From 4th to 15th, the difference is just 46 points. That's the equivalent of 10 spots on the track. The top 4 going in all finished pretty low, so every driver still has a chance with some good finishes. But as Fischer has shown, if you don't advange of your chances, you'll drop. Morello has 3 DNFs and still is 5th in points.

Also, shoutout to Walkowiak for getting 2 top 10s and not being last any more!

Charlotte 500

The series heads to Charlotte, and it was a wild race. Here's what went down.

And Simms and Severn take the green flag!

 Lap 13: Severn and Bracket jump out to an early lead

 Lap 63: The first round of pit stops start

 Lap 84: In turn 3, Unger spins it by himself and backs into the wall. No cation. This ended up being a good thing.

 Lap 123: Bracket, Bowen, and Severn were the leading 3 cars and ducked into the pits on the same lap

 Lap 155: Bowen took a strong move to the bottom of Bracket for the lead!

 Lap 206: Running in 4th, Bracket gets turned by Zetticci, who was a lap down. This caused a caution, which gave everyone a second chance because the leaders were coming fast.

Lap 210: Adkins was leading on the restart, and used the 4 lapped cars as a pick, opening a huge lead on the field

La 234: Zetticci blows an engine, the one of the most consistantly solid driver in the series finished last.

 Lap 254: During scheduled pitstops, Morello has a header problem, forcing a retirement.

 Lap 289: The back of the pack got caught by Adkins, taking some good drivers out of contention. 

 Lap 300: Severn, who was on pace for a great day, blew an engine. Huge knock for someone that was up front early.

 Lap 318: The leader is in! He couldn't stretch his gasfor 16 more laps. His 17 secondlead was wasted, and he had to hope everyone cycled through.

Lap 321: Fischer has bad luck late again. Running around 10th, he blows an engine.

 Lap 334: And coming tothe line, Powers wins on fuel milage! He started last, but had the best strategy and stole this win.

 Look at the final standings. These don't reflect the best drivers, just those with the best strategy. The only thing this race did was make the standings a lot closer. It might be agood thing in the end, but a lot of drivers are upset with how this race went.

Next week is Richmond, this is the first short track of theseries, and the first of two night races in a row. What will the second half of the season hold? Stay tuned!

Qualidying Results for Charlotte 500

Here is how the cars will line up at Charlotte. Team Harden is on the front row again, this time it's Simms starting first. McAffee and Barros are starting in the very back, which will be a great chance for everyone to make ground on the leaders in the championship.

Season 1 Race 7: Charlotte 500

Track- Charlotte Motor Speedway

Configuration- Tri-Oval

Length- 1.5 Miles

Laps- 334

Distance- 501 Miles

Standings After Race 6

The dominant 3 cars were finally broken up by a strong run by Zetticci. The middle is still very close. Wick lost 9 spots in just 2 races because it's really about a 50 point spread. Barros is still the driver to beat the rest of the year.

Golden State 350

The series hits the road course just north of the San Francisco Bay Area.The drivers who could handle the tricky 11 turn track would be the ones that finished up top. This race was one of the wildest races of the year. Check it out!

Lap 1: The pace car ducks off and lets the 20 car field go into the hairpin to start the race.

 Lap 20: Simms, who had a 2 second lead, spins going 100 up the hill and crushes his car, giving him a DNF

Lap 21: The pit stops start

Lap 26: The race gets worse for Team Harden. Morello retires from Engine trouble.

Lap 51: The 3 dominant cars on the day were Richmond, Severn, and Fischer, all running within 2 seconds

Lap 59: Adkins gets under Wick, causing matching spins in turn 10.

Lap 79: Irons, who had a pitiful day, finally exits the race from an engine failure

Lap 83: The Leaders all grouped together

But on that same lap, Richmond taps Severn in the hairpin, both spinning but not touching the wall. No caution was called, and Flint and Fischer snuck through the traffic.

Lap 86: Running in back, McAffee spins in turn 10, bringing out the caution.

Lap 102: Bunched from the caution, McAffee(who started to the left of the leader) held up the field. Fischer spins it while trying to stay close to Flint. No caution, ruining Fischer's 102 laps of work.

Lap 112: Using McAffee as a pick, Flint was able to pull away, and win his second race of the season.

Here are the final standings

Taylor Motorsports, Team Harden, and Fletcher Autosport had awful days, all unlucky. This really shook up the standings, and without some spins, this race would be very different.

The series heads to Charlotte for some good mile and a half racing.

Qualifying Results for Golden State 350

Here are the results from the qualifying at Sonoma. The top 5 all ended up decent, meaning the break away might start here. We'll see who the road course specialists are when the race pans out.

Season 1 Race 6: Golden State 350

Track- Sonoma Raceway

Configuration- Road Course

Length- 1.99 Miles

Laps- 110

Distance- 218.9 Miles

Bracket Time!

Here is the bracket after one race! To be honest, this was a blind race. It was a small sample size, to create a bracket from, but that's what made it fun. The number 1 seed lost by .1 second, and still finished 9th. The 4 seed also went down, but to be fair, no one beat the 19 this week. The next time this pops up will be at Charlotte! 

Lets look at the standings, I was so close to a perfect round, but I picked the 53 to win it all. It's my only wrong pick so far. Brent and patrick are tied at 4 points.

 1. Michael Taylor, Taylor Motorsports 7 points

 2. Patrick Dumas, Dumas Racing 4 points

3. Brent Harden, Team Harden 4 points

Standings After Race 5

It was really crazy how Barros and Morello ALWAYS find ways to run up front. I had no idea they were 2nd and 3d until it was over. Zetticci was the only bad finish of the top 4 going in. But remember how the gap from 5th to 18th was so close? Fischer jumped 8 spots with a win, and puts himself in position to do something. A lot changed this race, so the standings are still wide open.

Walmart 500

The series heads to the biggest track on the circuit, Talladega. One of the wildest races was bound to happen, and in my opinion, it was pretty great.

Flint and Unger lead the 20 car grid to take the green!

Lap 12: The entire field is running together, swapping positions every turn

Lap14: 200 mph speeds claim it's first victim, Richardson ducks to the pits with a blown engine

Lap 44: The top 5 cars all head to the pits under green

Lap 70: After pitstops cycle through, 3 packs of 6 litter the track Only Harkins wasn't in a group, and he was lapping the track by himself in 19th

Lap 107: Another set of pitstops happen, leaving Fischer and Unger as the only cars in the lead pack

Lap 134: Bowen is runing in the back pack, and spins heading into 3. No caution on the track puts him a few laps down after repair.

Lap 150: After the 3rd set of pit stops, these 3 cars remain in the front. Flint tries to regain his pole position after a fast pitstop.

Lap 172: The lead pack catch up to Harkins, mixing up the order

Lap 179: With 9 laps to go, Flint is leading and has an electrical problem. He retires and finishes in 19th.

Lap 185: Some cars couldn't stretch the fuel, Unger has to gas and go with 3 laps to go. A hand full of cars had to do the same.

And through a series of eliminations, Fischer wins his first race of the season! Taylor Motorsports will have both cars in the All-Star Race!

 This was the race to the line from 2nd-9th.

 Here are the results. It could've been a very different race no one had problems late. But Fischer held on for a big win, and it was well deserved. In the last 140 laps, the lowest he ran was 6th. Not bad for a driver that came into the race in 13th in the points.

The series will now head to Sonoma and do the first road course in the series. It should be very interesting!