Fantasy Stock Car

NASCAR cited the No. 18 team in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for a lug-nut violation on Wednesday. The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was found to have one lug nut not safe/secure in post-race inspection following Busch's victory at Richmond Raceway in the NASCAR Playoffs, NASCAR.com reports.

This is a relatively minor violation of NASCAR rules, and only carries a fine for the crew chief. Adam Stevens will be docked $10,000 for the infraction, but Busch is otherwise untouched by this incident. His Richmond win still counts, and qualifies him for the next round of the Chase.

Marks intends to end his NASCAR career after racing the Cup and XFINITY Series doubleheader for Premium Motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing, respectively, this weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, AutoWeek.com reports.

It doesn't sound like Marks intends to give up competitive racing for good, as he remains a full-time driver for Meyer Shank Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Marks has made five career appearances at NASCAR's top level, with his best result coming at this year's Daytona 500, when he logged a 12th-place finish.

JTG Daugherty Racing announced Tuesday that it would release Allmendinger at the conclusion of the 2018 season, Jim Utter of Motorsport.com reports.

The 36-year-old has been with JTG Daugherty for more than five years after first joining the team midway through the 2013 NASCAR Cup Series season. Allmendinger didn't produce particularly noteworthy results during his time with JTG Daugherty, notching his lone win in 2014 and only three top-10 finishes in 2018. The team has yet to name a successor for Allmendinger, but Joe Gibbs Racing's Ryan Preece has been rumored as a likely replacement.

Almirola finished fifth in the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway Saturday night.

The surprise performance of the night belonged to the No. 10 team at Almirola. He started in the Top 10 and raced there all night. The Stewart Haas Racing veteran raced among the leaders all night in this second race of the Chase. He picked up valuable playoff points in all three stages of the race, and collected his second Top-5 finish of the season. With sixth- and fifth-place finishes to start the Chase, Almirola is looking good to advance in the playoffs.

Elliott finished fourth in the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway Saturday night.

It was a clutch effort for Elliott and the No. 9 Chevrolet team. He didn't have the best qualifying effort, and started 18th on the grid. Elliott would quickly work his way forward from the drop of the green flag, and finish stage 1 fourth. He would hold that track position and finish stage 2 in fourth. The downhill run would see the No. 9 Chevy race among the leaders and Elliott would cross the finish line fourth. It was his ninth Top 5 of the season, and a good rebound effort from his crash last week at Las Vegas.