BRISTOL: THE WORLD’S FASTEST HALF-MILE BROUGHT THE ACTION WITH 3 NIGHTS OF RACING

Crown Jewel Cup Trucks Xfinity

The Crown Jewel Racing league travelled to the Last Great Colosseum for three exciting nights of high speed short track racing this week. With the First Round of the VRS Truck Series Playoffs taking place Monday night it would set the tone for the opening race of the week. The Bob Henry’s Xfinity Series brought the action on Tuesday night for the second race in the series followed up by the final race of the Round of 16 in the Team Conti Sim Performance Cup Series Playoff on Wednesday Night.

VRS TRUCK SERIES

The first Round of the VRS Truck Series Playoffs kicked off on Monday Night with the #97 John Connor dominating the race. Connor would lead 194 laps of the 200-lap race, winning both Stage 1 and Stage 2, with the #91 Zack Saunders finishing second. Connor led all 55 laps in Stage 1 and would allow the #57 Michael Deitch to lead 4 Laps in Stage 2 before leading the rest of the 51 laps. Zaunders was lurking and waited until two to make his move on the outside, take the lead in the final two laps, and take the first win in the playoffs. The #95 Pete Morales would also get around Connor with two laps to take second, and the dominant Connor would finish third. In the post-race interview, Connor had this to say about race.

“We had a great run; I just used my tires up a bit too much earlier before the caution would come out, and I didn’t have enough to hold Saunders off on the outside at the end. But a great playoff point weekend for me, and Saunders ran a great race and a good win by him.”

John Connor, #97, Chevrolet

Bob Henry’s Xfinity Series

The second race in Bob Henry’s Xfinity Series ran on Tuesday night, and fans were excited to watch this series complete 300 laps of short-track racing. Saunders would again perform strongly, taking the pole and leading every Lap in Stage 1. The fireworks went off early in the race when #9 Gordon Fraley and #20 Jim Mott made contact, causing Mott to flip upside down and go for a wild ride. Mott and Gordon would receive care from the infield care center and be cleared.

#26 Caleb Sheets would lead the first four laps in Stage 2 before Saunders would retake the lead and lead the rest of the 84 laps, picking up back-to-back stage wins for the night. It seemed as if Saunders would win back-to-back races going into the final stage, but #1 Zach Johnson, who had finished second in Stage 1 and sixth in Stage 2, was ready to make his move.

Johnson made that move, captured the lead on Lap 225, and ran away. Johnson finished the night as the only car on the lead Lap. #71 Michael Deitch took second place with a strong showing, winning stage points in both stages. Sheets took third, giving the TCSP Cup Series a heads-up that he knows how to run the high banks of Bristol.

Team Conti Sim Performance Cup Series

The Final Round of the TCSP Cup Series Round of 16 got off to a wild start, with a big shake-up in the playoffs standings right from the beginning. The carnage would occur on Lap 11 when the #54 Jacob Abreu would spin going into Turn 3. Watch the carnage unfold below.

The #6 Stephen Menke and #24 Noah Hamilton’s race would end before it started. The #5 Allen Phillips night would also end in this incident, as CJR Officials shut him down in the garage due to the damaged vehicle policy. This was detrimental for Phillips, who would end up falling below the cutline from 8th to 13th, eliminating him from the playoffs. The #00 of Garth Griswold wouldn’t make contact with any cars but couldn’t keep ahold of his car and took a trip into the wall. Griswold would go 8 Laps down, and his playoff hopes faded into darkness. A tough start for Hollywood Motorsports.

The #1 Cory Mott would win Stage 1, with Nishil Condoor taking second and Caleb Tipton taking third. Tipton would take the lead into Stage 2 and would lead for 40 laps before the #7 Steven Carlile would take the lead for 84 Laps and win Stage 2. Carlile, who was already locked into the Round of 12, continues to perform at a high level in the postseason.


The #97 John Connor would finally get to the front and lead for 192 laps in the final stage. Connor picked up where he left off on Monday night in the Truck Series and hoped to change the result for the win. However, Connor couldn’t hold onto the lead until the finish, as Nathaniel Campbell would take the lead on Lap 448. Sitting -1 point back below the cutline, Campbell needed an excellent race to ensure he sees a spot in the Round of 12.


Campbell would only retain that lead for two laps before the #74 Caleb Sheets would capture the lead. Sheets would hold onto that lead and try to survive the late race cautions that would come out, leading to a green-white-checkered overtime finish. Sheets would get a good start getting pushed from behind by Cory Mott. Mott would duck low into one and two as Sheets stayed high and kept the speed out of two to hold onto the lead going down the backstretch. Mott would remain in the low line as he and Sheets would make contact on the front stretch, allowing Sheets to pull away and head into the final Lap.

Campbell would stay on Sheets bumper, get around Mott in the final turn, and edge out Mott by a nose at the line to take second place. Sheets showed his hand during the Xfinity Series and came away with his first win in the Team Conti Sim Performance Cup Series.


The TCSP Cup Series Playoffs will move on to the Round of 12 next week at Kansas. The drivers eliminated were #38 Zander Short, #56 Tommy Carroll Jr., #00 Garth Griswold, and #5 Allen Phillips. You can now check out all the racing results and playoff standings on the CJRacing Webpage.
The CJR ARCA Series was off this week and will be in Dover on Sunday night for the General Tire 125. The rest of the Crown Jewel Series will be back in action at Kansas Speedway next week for more high-intensity playoff action.