Don’t adjust the color settings on your monitor when you watch the Kansas NASCAR Cup Series race on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN) and see a heavy dose of red on Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Ford.
It may look different than normal, but then again, Harvick is representing a Busch Light flavor innovation that is anything but ordinary.
Yes, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver will show off a crisp new look at Kansas — as he did for last week’s All-Star Race — with the Busch Light Apple Ford.
The introduction caps a historic month for Busch Beer, which on July 13 launched its first flavor innovation in the brand’s 65-year history.
“The development and launch of Busch Light Apple is one of the most significant moments in our brand’s 65-year history,” Daniel Blake, VP of Value Brands at Anheuser-Busch, said in a press release. “We tested this flavor and knew immediately that our fans would love the crisp, refreshing taste. Our fans have had an incredible reaction to everything we’ve done this year, and with this limited-time run we know they’ll be moving quickly to try it before it’s out of the market.”
Busch Light Apple currently is available in 22 states across the country, with cases of 12, 24 and 30 cans.
Lucky and alert fans have a chance to stake claim to a case during Thursday night’s race. Busch Beer is running a social promotion and will give away a case worth of beer every lap of the race — so fans have a chance to win during all 267 laps.
Check Busch Beer’s Twitter to learn how to win, and tune in to see Harvick’s refreshing scheme under the lights.
See where your favorite driver will pit for Thursday’s Super Start Batteries 400 presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at Kansas Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Erik Jones has kept plenty busy during the age of COVID-19 isolation, making the grand step of moving to a house closer to Charlotte in a search for more room and a home life reminiscent of his youth growing up in Michigan. He has also found the stray moment to strum a guitar from his modest collection and rekindle his childhood love for reading by starting a children’s book circle on social media.
The many diversions have helped him navigate the pandemic’s impact in his home life. His work life, however, is picking up.
Jones and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team face a deficit in their hunt for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with eight events left in the regular season. The 24-year-old driver sits 24 points back of Jimmie Johnson’s provisional hold on the final postseason berth, with William Byron and Tyler Reddick in close competition for one of the remaining spots in the 16-driver field.
“Eight races out, we’re definitely looking at that, on the outside looking in,” Jones said Tuesday, two days before the Cup Series’ next event. “We’ve been looking at what we can do the next few weeks to try to put ourselves in the position to get in these playoffs, and I feel confident honestly that we can win one of the next eight, but if we can’t, I think top fives in these next eight will get us in. I think we can still point our way in, so we’re going to look at all the options to try to figure out what we can do from our end to get the most points and I think we’re going to execute those the next eight races, try and go out there and get as many points as we can.”
Jeff Zelevansky | Getty Images
Jones’ bid to finish the regular season strong begins its next phase in Thursday’s Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) at Kansas Speedway, a venue that carries special meaning for him. He made his Cup Series debut there in May 2015, getting a major-league call-up as a replacement driver for the injured Kyle Busch, barely one year graduated from high school. Getting a chance to race against Jeff Gordon, his childhood favorite, in his final season? “Really cool,” Jones recalled, flashing back to his wide-eyed, 18-year-old self.
Jones wowed the crowd by leading final practice, driving into the top five in his debut and leading his first green-flag lap. But his eagerness resulted in an unforced error, crunching his No. 18 Toyota and leaving him with a 40th-place result his first time out.
Though still startlingly young, the Jones of today now has some veteran-style cred on his side — more than 100 Cup Series starts, plus wins in each of the last two seasons at historic venues in Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway. He’ll need to draw upon some of that on-track maturity to overcome the points knocks he has sustained in recent wrecks at Pocono Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
That starts with the potential for another big moment this week at Kansas, a chance Jones sees as a favorable place to land an automatic playoff ticket with a victory. A clinching triumph would also eliminate the points math and the possible minefield of two regular-season events next month at Daytona — one on the perilous superspeedway, one on the untested oval and road-course layout.
“Kansas coming up, we’ve got a great opportunity to go out there and win,” said Jones, who has a string of four consecutive top-10 finishes at the Kansas City track. “The Daytona road course, even the Daytona oval, are probably two concerns on the schedule coming up. It’s kind of two wild-card races. You never know what can happen at Daytona, and then the road course at Daytona, we’ve obviously never run that, so I don’t know how that’s going to go. You’ve got to kind of prepare for anything to happen there, so those two races are kind of wild, but Kansas coming up is definitely one I think we can win.”
Jones finds himself in a similar position to last year’s end of the regular season — teetering close to playoff eligibility and facing a degree of contract uncertainty. In 2019, both of those question marks were resolved in the span of a week. Jones clinched a postseason spot with a convincing victory on Sept. 1, 2019, in the Southern 500; five days later, Joe Gibbs Racing announced Jones would be back in the No. 20 for this season, keeping him in the Toyota pipeline that has groomed him in his climb up the NASCAR ladder.
Much like last year, Jones says he hopes to have good news to report on both fronts soon.
“I’ve definitely been talking to them,” Jones said of negotiations with JGR. “I think we’re moving in the right direction right now, trying to get some things in line for next year. I want to stay with JGR and work on a deal there, so we’ve just started talking to each other and trying to get things in line, but nothing to update as of now. Nothing’s been signed or anything like that.”
The work life may carry some extra pressure these days, but Jones is trying to make the most of an ever-changing home life during the global health crisis. He’s still sorting out his new living arrangements, but he’s also trying to provide a sense of home for others with “Erik’s Reading Circle,” a series of story-time sessions on Facebook Live.
Even since the Cup Series returned to action in May, Jones has tried to keep the children’s books coming, providing his own commentary and dutifully showing the pictures to the camera and his audience.
“I’ve always been a pretty big reader myself, and trying to get kids involved in reading, I think it’s a great idea,” said Jones, who has promoted his sessions through the hashtag #READwithErik. “I’ve read since I was a young kid. Having an opportunity to connect with people to do something that gives them a sense of normalcy, I guess. That was big for me during the break when we weren’t racing, just to try to do something a little bit more normal, sitting and reading was just something to make people feel normalcy and to connect with people. I love to read and just getting that out there to kids was something that played really well with me.”
NASCAR’s Cup Series makes the first of two scheduled trips this year to Kansas Speedway this week, setting up shop for a Thursday night show that marks the official start of the 36-race season’s second half.
The Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM) will be the opening act in a busy three-day stretch, with the Xfinity Series, Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series also in action at the 1.5-mile Kansas City venue. The Gander Trucks tour will conduct a weekend doubleheader, with back-to-back events set Friday and Saturday. The Cup Series race was originally slated for May 31 before the coronavirus outbreak forced competition officials to overhaul the 2020 schedule.
With many miles to run in the Sunflower State, here’s a primer with helpful information for the 19th Cup Series race of the season.
Kansas Speedway is a 1.5-mile oval developed by International Speedway Corp. Construction began in May 1999, and the facility opened for motorsports in 2001. The track went from one annual NASCAR Cup Series race to two in 2011. In the years since the speedway was built, the surrounding grounds have been the site of tremendous growth with retail locations, a casino and a Major League Soccer stadium all becoming its neighbors.
Jonathan Ferrey | Getty Images
Kansas Speedway was repaved and reconfigured in between its 2012 race weekends, with the most dramatic change affecting the banking. The turns were changed from a 15-degree tilt to variable banking that spanned from 17 degrees in the low groove up to 20 degrees in the top lane. The back straightaway (measuring 2,207 feet) remained at roughly 5 degrees with the curved frontstretch (2,721 feet) banked at 10 degrees.
Frank Kimmel won the first race at Kansas Speedway, edging Jon Wood in what’s now called the ARCA Menards Series West on June 2, 2001. Jeff Gordon won the inaugural Cup Series race at Kansas later that year, besting rookie Ryan Newman, who placed a career-best second in his sixth Cup Series start.
STAGE LENGTHS
Stage 1 is set to end at Lap 80, Stage 2 at Lap 160, and the final stage is slated to conclude on Lap 267.
STARTING LINEUP
The NASCAR Cup Series race will again be structured without practice and qualifying as the sanctioning body attempts to limit exposure for on-site personnel to control COVID-19’s spread. Sunday’s starting lineup will be determined by a random draw among groups in the team owner standings:
Positions 1-12: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 13-24: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 25-36: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 37-40: Open teams in order of owners points
Pit-stall selection is based on the finishing order from last Sunday’s event at Texas Motor Speedway.
RULES PACKAGE
The 2020 NASCAR rules package for intermediate-sized tracks will be in effect with a tapered spacer used to achieve a target of 550 horsepower. The cars will use aero ducts in addition to other aerodynamic devices to increase downforce.
GOODYEAR TIRES
Goodyear Racing will provide the same tire combination for all three NASCAR national series races this weekend at Kansas. On the Cup Series side, teams will run the same left-side tire that was used at Kansas last October and at Charlotte’s events in May. The right-side tire, which features a construction update, is the same code and compound that was deployed at 1.5-mile tracks at Las Vegas, Kentucky and Texas this season.
“The track surface at Kansas has weathered over the past several years, and teams now have to plan their race strategy to include tire wear,” said Greg Stucker, director of racing for Goodyear. “The tire set-up we will run has two tire codes that are well known to the teams. While the Cup and Xfinity cars ran this left-side tire at Kansas last fall, teams have run this right-side tire the past two weeks at both Texas and Kentucky. Those tracks are very smooth and don’t wear tires as much, so this right-side is designed to wear and lay rubber on the track. Combine that with the slightly more abrasive surface at Kansas, and tire management will be a factor.”
Each Cup Series team will have eight sets of Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials allotted for Sunday’s race. Xfinity Series teams will have five sets for their Saturday event; Gander Trucks teams will have a four-set allotment in each race of their Friday-Saturday doubleheader.
STATS TO KNOW
— There’s a three-way tie atop Kansas Speedway’s all-time win list, with Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick all claiming three victories there. Only three drivers have competed in all 28 Cup Series races at Kansas to date: Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman and Harvick.
— The last five Kansas races have been won by five different drivers with five different organizations. The list, in chronological order from October 2017: Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin.
— Aric Almirola enters Thursday’s 400 with a seven-race string of top-10 finishes, best in the Cup Series. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has six top 10s in 16 Kansas starts.
— Kevin Harvick heads the all-time list of Kansas Speedway lap leaders with 855 laps in front. He also leads the Cup Series this year with 691 laps led, topping Team Penske’s Joey Logano (560) and Ryan Blaney (497) in the top three on the stat sheet.
— Hendrick Motorsports has seven Kansas victories and placed three drivers in the top 10 in both Kansas races last season. They enter Thursday’s event on a recent slide, failing to register a top-10 finish in each of the last three Cup Series races.
Source: NASCAR statistics, Racing Insights
LIVE COVERAGE
Tune in to television coverage Thursday on NBCSN (7:30 p.m. ET) or on the NBC Sports App. For full radio coverage from Kansas Speedway, listen in to MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90.
For a more interactive experience, steer over to NASCAR.com or the NASCAR app to check out an enhanced Race Center, live Lap-by-Lap coverage, the customizable live leaderboard with Scanner and the return of Drive (featuring in-car cameras).
Brad Keselowski surged ahead in overtime, denying Alex Bowman his first career win in a two-lap sprint to end the Digital Ally 400 on May 11. Keselowski dedicated the victory to Mike Mittler, a longtime Gander Trucks team owner who helped Keselowski and others launch their careers. The outcome marked Bowman’s third straight runner-up finish; his breakthrough Cup Series win arrived five races later at Chicagoland.
Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson (three each); Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. (two); Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Ryan Newman (one).
NASCAR issued penalties Tuesday after last weekend’s events at Texas Motor Speedway, handing down $10,000 fines to two teams.
Among those was a violation of COVID-19 health protocols by Michael Ruch, a crew member for the Reaume Brothers Racing No. 00 team in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. The penalty report — citing Sections 12.8.1.b. (Member Conduct) and 7.7.2.j. in the NASCAR Rule Book — noted “non-compliance with essential personnel/team event roster rules.”
Ruch, the husband of driver Angela Ruch, was listed as the No. 00 team’s hauler driver on the roster for last weekend’s event at Texas.
In the Cup Series, the Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford team was penalized after one lug nut was found not safely secured after Michael McDowell drove the car to a 15th-place finish in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. Crew chief Drew Blickensderfer was fined $10,000 for the safety infraction.
NASCAR competition officials said Tuesday that the remaining national series events on the 2020 schedule will be held without practice and qualifying.
The move is part of a continued effort to limit at-track time for teams, officials, safety workers and other essential personnel under COVID-19 health protocols. The safeguards — which include at-track screening and limited team rosters — have been in place since NASCAR returned to the track in May after a two-month layoff because of the coronavirus outbreak.
“Following discussions with our race teams and the broader industry, NASCAR will continue to conduct its race weekends without practice and qualifying for the remainder of the 2020 season in all three national series,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition. “The current format has worked well in addressing several challenges during our return to racing. Most importantly, we have seen competitive racing week-to-week. NASCAR will adjust the starting lineup draw procedure for the Playoff races, and will announce the new process at a later date.”
Miller had suggested on a Monday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the structure of the starting lineup draw may change before the NASCAR Playoffs, giving postseason-eligible drivers an equal chance at a favorable draw by keeping them in the same group. The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are expected to open Sept. 6 at Darlington Raceway.
Only two national series events have been held with practice or qualifying since NASCAR’s return. The Cup Series held same-day qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway before the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24, and the Xfinity Series conducted a pair of practice sessions before its inaugural race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s oval and road course layout on July 4.
Miller told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday that practice and qualifying would likely be suspended at least through events scheduled Aug. 21-23 at Dover International Speedway.
“To have practice and qualifying, we have to have more people on the rosters,” Miller said. “There’s a lot more things that need to go on in the garage area, so very much more difficult to execute all the safety protocols with the COVID-19. To get back to anything different than what we’re doing now is really going to take a significant change in sort of the landscape on COVID-19.”
Since returning to action in May, NASCAR officials have determined starting lineups by either random draws according to groups based on team owner standings or — in the case of the second race during a weekend doubleheader at the same track — an inversion of the top 20 finishers from the previous event (in the Cup Series) and an inversion of the top 15 finishers (in the Xfinity and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series).
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Chad Knaus is about to become a two-time father — and so he doesn’t miss the birth of his second child, Knaus will not travel with the No. 24 team to this weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway.
Veteran crew chief Keith Rodden, who last served as full-time crew chief on Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 team, will call the shots atop the pit box.
“Originally, this was going to be a stretch of back-to-back off weekends for us and everything was going to go to plan so I could be home for those two weeks,” Knaus said, according to Hendrick Motorsports. “Unfortunately, we now have two races in one week due to the shift in the schedule from the pandemic. Either way, we still have a great plan in place so that I get to be by (wife) Brooke’s side, and we can welcome our baby girl together.”
Knaus has not missed time atop the pit box since 2007, a string of 464 consecutive races. Most of them were with driver Jimmie Johnson, with whom Knaus spent the vast majority of his career. Knaus has been the crew chief for Byron since the 2019 season.
“We have a lot of depth to pull from in this situation at Hendrick Motorsports, and I know Keith is more than capable of getting the job done,” Knaus said. “I have all the faith that it will be a solid race for him and the No. 24 team.”
Rodden will get the reins in the midst of a playoff battle. With eight races remaining in the regular season, Byron finds himself two points below the cutline for the final spot.
The veteran has called 138 NASCAR Cup Series races as a crew chief, and he led Kahne to victory for Hendrick Motorsports at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2017. Coincidentally, that crown jewel win fell on July 23 – the same date of Thursday night’s race at Kansas Speedway.
“I’m super pumped to get to the track again and help out Chad, William and the No. 24 team,” Rodden said. “Being present for the birth of your child is important, especially in the world we are in now. That’s a moment you don’t want to take for granted. Myself and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports support Chad and his family 100% in whatever they need.”
The 2020 NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola is more than just a military appreciation platform – it’s a campaign that salutes all who have gone above and beyond to keep their fellow members of society safe and healthy. During a global pandemic that has impacted almost every aspect of our daily lives, they have been there for us – doctors, nurses, EMTs, first responders, etc. Now, it’s our turn to be there for them, and to give recognition where it’s deserved the most.
In this edition of NASCAR Salutes Refreshing Moments, we’re highlighting the work of U.S. Army Colonel Sheryl Bedno and U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Malakai Mumui at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
As the Director of Womack Army Medical Center’s Department of Public Health, Col. Bedno organized a regional working group of health care professionals from the state, eight counties, several universities, military and other public and private organizations. This group discussed and planned how to react to an outbreak of COVID-19 in North Carolina.
Staff Sgt. Mumui serves as a medical sergeant in the XVIII ABN Corps Surgeon’s Office. He was a key figure in the tracking and distributing of Operation Dragon Mask as well as the purchase and delivery of materials to the installation quarantine/isolation facility — an effort the U.S. Army undertook to create personal protective equipment (PPE) in the COVID-19 response.
Staff Sgt. Mumui’s tracking of mask requests and the distribution of those informed the Commanding General of which units were requesting masks as well as identifying the demand for the masks both on and off of Fort Bragg. In addition, his efforts in support of quarantine and isolation operations — such as that of FOB Patriot for returning paratroopers — improved the quarantine experience for hundreds of soldiers.
For the first time ever, NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola kicked off with the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the platform shifts to a mid-summer window because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola, which runs through July 31, will see the NASCAR industry honor United States Armed Forces and frontline healthcare heroes as part of this year’s expanded program — an industry-wide opportunity to recognize and thank those who have gone above and beyond to keep society safe and healthy.
The always expressive Clint Bowyer expressed his desire to return to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2021 and potentially beyond, saying that he hopes to finish his NASCAR Cup Series career with the organization.
Bowyer is in his fourth season driving SHR’s No. 14 Ford, where he became the successor to team co-owner Tony Stewart upon his retirement from the Cup Series after the 2015 season. Bowyer re-signed with the team last October, but his status for next season remains undetermined.
“No, I haven’t really talked to them much about it,” Bowyer said of negotiations. “I mean, I’ve been talking to partners and things like that and just trying to do everything I can do to make sure that all the things line up for next year for them. That’s what I can do. I’ve got to do a better job inside the race car. We’ve got to do a better job of getting this 14 car back up front where it belongs. Doesn’t matter what you do outside the car if you’re not taking care of business in the car, you shouldn’t be in any of them.
“Stewart-Haas is a wonderful organization. I want to be there. I want to retire there, and I love the opportunity, the people behind it. I believe in, all the pieces of the puzzle are there. The manufacturer in Ford, I mean we’re sitting here representing Ford today, and you couldn’t ask for a better manufacturer that’s invested in this sport the way they are. Again, it’s a perfect fit for me.”
Bowyer has made the NASCAR playoffs the last two years and currently sits 15th in the provisional playoff standings, 36 points above the postseason cut with eight regular-season races remaining. “Are we where we want to be? Hell, no. No, absolutely not,” Bowyer said about trying to better his footing in an effort to clinch a playoff berth for the third straight season.
The 41-year-old driver said he identified the series’ June 22 race at Talladega as a turning point. A 25th-place at the Alabama track knocked him to 13th in the overall Cup Series standings, placing him in the second tier (positions 13th-24th) in the grouped draw for starting positions. He sits 15 points behind 12th-place Matt DiBenedetto in his quest to get back into that top group.
Bowyer says it’s building bonds with crew chief Johnny Klausmeier and the overall performance goals — starting in his home state at Kansas Speedway on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) — that have his attention, not his 2021 status. “Yeah, you’re looking at points,” Bowyer says. “You’re always looking at points.”
Bowyer has also branched out in his 15th Cup Series season, becoming a more frequent contributor to FOX Sports programming. He was a regular during the network’s broadcasts of iRacing events after the COVID-19 outbreak and has appeared on air as an analyst for other NASCAR national series events.
Bowyer said his involvement has helped him gain an appreciation for the inner workings of stock-car racing’s media partners. Though his progression to a role as a full-time commentator may seem like a natural fit, Bowyer says it’s premature to make any forecasts on when and if that might occur, especially as his competitive fires still burn.
“Dude, I’m a race car driver, man,” Bowyer said. “I love doing the broadcasts and things like that, but I think that time will come, and I don’t know when that’ll be. No, I want to race and I want to be in a race car. I love competing. I love being pissed off at the end of a race. I love being happy at the end of a race. I love that adrenaline of lining up next to that guy and wondering how in the hell you’re going to come off of Turn 2 ahead of him. That’s a feeling that can’t be replaced.
“That being said, I feel like I really have appreciated the relationship with FOX this year. It’s not up to me whether that happens or not. It’s a ton of fun, I can tell you that. I mean, it’s relatively easy for me. Everyone always asks, ‘how do you get up and do that?’ I mean, I don’t know. ‘Let me get this straight? You want me to go up there and bench-race with a bunch of my buddies and talk racing about a race like I’ve done since I was 4 years old at the dinner table? That’s what you want me to go do? I got that. I can handle that.’ It’s a ton of fun.”
NASCAR officials are considering a modification for how the starting lineup is determined once the playoffs start in September, Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller said Monday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
With no practice or qualifying scheduled because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, starting lineups at the national series level have been determined by a random draw. For the NASCAR Cup Series, teams that are ranked first through 12th in owner points draw for starting spots 1-12. Same for 13th-24th and 25th-36th, with open, non-chartered teams rounding out the field. The process is similar in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.
If NASCAR teams are not able to qualify on-track by the start of the postseason due to safety protocols — Miller noted NASCAR has committed to no practice and qualifying through Dover, which is Aug. 21-23 — NASCAR would likely lump all 16 playoff teams together as one entire group when conducting its lineup draw.
“We’re kind of reviewing now what would be the right thing to do in the playoffs if we can’t have qualifying,” Miller said. “Maybe still some kind of a draw, but obviously, probably something that encompasses the playoff cars in one lot and the rest of the field in another. Haven’t really gotten there yet, but we know that once the playoffs come we may have to adjust the way we draw if we aren’t practicing and qualifying.”
As a working example, the NASCAR Cup Series field opens the postseason with the Round of 16. Rather than have the top 12 cars in one draw and four playoff cars in the next bucket, all cars that qualified for the playoffs would be drawn together for starting positions 1-16.
