Posted on by Alex Weaver

FONTANA, Calif. — When a crew chief shows up to the track in a sling, it naturally begs the question — what happened?

For Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for Chase Elliott, that was the reality he was confronted with Friday at Auto Club Speedway after a mountain biking accident.

California is known for its outdoor adventures, and Gustafson is an active person and enjoys riding his mountain bike whenever he can. He had no idea a solo mountain bike ride around Laguna Beach, California, would turn into an urgent care visit and a new accessory to his crew chief uniform.

“I wrecked my mountain bike while riding in Laguna,” Gustafson told NASCAR.com. “It was pretty gnarly. I have a torn AC joint and a hairline fracture in my clavicle, along with no skin left on my arms and elbows.”

RELATED: Full schedule for Auto Club weekend

After the spill, Gustafson was forced to walk the 2.5 miles back off of the trail, carrying the bike. His next stop was urgent care — and then some sleep.

“Getting dressed this morning was pretty hard, and don’t get me started on the shower,” Gustafson said.

The injuries didn’t prohibit the crew chief from being here first thing Friday morning when the garage opened. It is a normal business weekend and an opportunity to get the No. 9 into Victory Lane for the first time in 2020.

“Not much they can do for it,” Gustafson said. “Surgery, or leave it alone and it can heal itself. It’s a race weekend so here I am, and I’ll be fine.”

Posted on by RJ Kraft

FONTANA, Calif. — Ross Chastain has no timeline on how long he’ll be in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford as Ryan Newman remains sidelined following his crash on the last lap of the 2020 Daytona 500 earlier this month.

“It is week to week. It’s whatever they want to do,” Chastain said Friday ahead on-track activity at Auto Club Speedway.

RELATED: Chastain back in No. 6 | Weekend schedule

Chastain will be in the car once again for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). He has double duty with his full-time Xfinity Series ride at Kaulig Racing and the No. 10 Chevrolet on track for Saturday’s Production Alliance Group 300 (4 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Newman visited the Roush Fenway Racing shop on Wednesday but will remain out of the car.

“I talked to Ryan last week,” Chastain said. “I missed him at the shop. I had to fly out Wednesday with Nutrien Ag Solutions so I didn’t get a chance to catch up with him.”

Roush Fenway Racing president Steve Newmark also said last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway there is no timeline for Newman’s return.

“I can tell you what his timetable would like to be, which is as soon as possible, but there are some other hoops he’s got to jump through before that happens,” Newmark said. “Right now, we’re just taking it one step at a time. … He has expressed unequivocally that this is where he wants to be and he wants to be back in a race car.”

In that same availability, Newmark said “our arrangement with Ross is that if we need him, he should be available.”

RELATED: Full Ryan Newman statement

For Chastain, the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas was a learning experience. The 27-year-old used Newman’s steering mechanism but it was a bit too tight for his liking. On the plus side, he did earn a stage point for the No. 6 camp in the opening 80-lap run before a combination of factors and a late-race spin led to a 27th-place finish.

“Everybody at the shop made it as seamless as possible to plug in,” Chastain said. “Obviously, trying to fill somebody like Ryan Newman’s shoes is an impossible task. To me, he’s larger than life in how he carries himself on and off the track. They made it great.

“Got to the track. Did a lot of things right but towards the end of the race, definitely did some things wrong so a lot to build on.”

Posted on by RJ Kraft

FONTANA, Calif. – Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson have accepted the bounty but Kyle Busch remains unfazed by any challengers he may have in his remaining four Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series starts in 2020.

RELATED: Elliott, Larson take challenge

“It’s all good. I think it’s going to be interesting, exciting,” Busch said. “… It’s a unique opportunity for more attention on the series, which is good.”

Busch later added: “I don’t remember who I told, but once (Kevin) Harvick kind of put the idea out there (I thought) the guy that’s really going to have a shot is Larson at Homestead, so bring it on.”

Following Busch’s 57th career Gander Trucks victory last Friday night at Las Vegas, Harvick offered up a $50,000 bounty for any full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver who can find a truck ride and beat Busch in one of his remaining four events this season. The ante was raised when Gander RV & Outdoors CEO Marcus Lemonis committed to matching Harvick’s bounty, putting a full total of $100,000 on the table.

Elliott and Larson have each nabbed rides for Gander Trucks races — Elliott at Atlanta (March 14, 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1) and Larson at Homestead-Miami (March 20, 8 p.m. ET on FS1) — with GMS Racing in its No. 24 Chevrolet entry. In addition to Atlanta and Miami, Busch is slated to also run the Gander Trucks races at Texas (March 27 at 9 p.m. ET on FS1) and Kansas (May 30 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1).

“I’d like to beat him,” Larson said of Busch. “It’s really not about the money to me. I think its a cool, fun challenge and I look forward to trying to beat him and if the money is still out there when I do get that chance, it will be a lot of fun. Kyle Busch is the best. Doesn’t matter what type of car he’s in.”

Larson also clarified his “cherries” tweet that jumpstarted the whole bounty idea.

“It was really a joke,” Larson said. “I’m not offended when Kyle Busch wins Truck races. “I actually like it a lot because it helps expose the guys who are good and the ones who aren’t. When he does win and he has to battle for the wins, I think it shows the kids are really good. I more just dropped some cherries on there because when I do win dirt races I do get a lot of that as well.”

Larson also added that he wished the bounty would extend to any Gander Trucks series regular if they beat Busch and got the victory in a race that “Rowdy” was in. And he’s in luck because Michael Waltrip revealed on Twitter Friday night that someone is putting up their own $50,000 bounty if a series regular knocks off Busch.

And Elliott and Larson may not be the only drivers to take part. Would Joey Logano want a shot to beat Busch in a truck? How about Austin Dillon?

MORE: 10 drivers who could win

“If the opportunity was there, I’d probably take a look at but I haven’t been searching at this point,” Logano said. The 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion added that he “loved the idea” put forth by Harvick and the buzz around the series.

Dillon was a fan of the idea when it was first conceived and the 2011 Gander Trucks champion admits he is lurking if Elliott and Larson can’t get it done.

“I’d like to build a chassis out of (Richard Childress Racing) and get to Texas or Kansas,” Dillon said. “I really wanted Homestead. That was my first goal but we just can’t get it done in time. I’m still working on it. If those two that are out there running it now — Larson and Chase — can’t get it done, then maybe we’ll sneak and run one if we can get a truck done by then.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Cory Dunn was in Victory Lane before he was even born.

Dunn’s dad was celebrating at Motor Mile Speedway with his former team, which he managed in the ’90s and 2000s. Alongside was Dunn’s mom, who went into labor and had Dunn later that night.

Cory Dunn

In 2019, more than 20 years later, Dunn was back in Victory Lane at Motor Mile, a 0.416-mile paved oval track in Radford, Virginia. This time, he was celebrating his own win.

Dunn moved up to Motor Mile’s NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Division II, limited sportsman division, in 2019 after spending three years in the track’s Mod-4 division. It didn’t take long for the new driver to find success in his new car. He won three races in 2019, was runner-up six other times, in 10 starts on the way to a track championship and a rookie of the year title.

Dunn’s dad managed a team that won a track championship at Motor Mile in 1999, when Dunn was 5 years old. The Virginia speedway is more than just a hometown track to Dunn, and winning a title there was extra special. He even runs the same number his dad’s team ran all those years ago.

“For me, it’s pretty cool to be able to see everything come full circle,” Dunn said. “I saw it when I was a little kid being in Victory Lane, winning races and championships. Now I’m lucky enough to be able to do the same thing at the same track too.”

Motor Mile Speedway | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Dunn didn’t get the chance to drive on his own until four years ago when he was 21. He won co-rookie of the year in the Mod-4 division his first season driving after taking three different cars to third-place finishes.

Dunn’s expectations for 2019 were to go for the rookie of the year award in the limited, and said running for a championship wasn’t part of the team’s mindset at all, especially while moving up a division.

“We figured it would probably take us a little while to get adjusted to moving up to the limited,” Dunn said. “And it progressed a lot quicker than we thought it was going to.”

The adjustment to a new car was most difficult for Dunn. His team, consisting of his dad, friends Colby Bryant and Alisha Bryant, who serves as his videographer, mechanics Jason and Nicole Green, and crew chief and spotter Daniel Williamson, all had experience with working on limited sportsman cars. They reached out and offered to help when they heard Dunn was moving up a division.

For Dunn, knowing that he had a good crew behind him helped make the transition easy.

“I had a really great group of guys and girls actually step up and want to help me out when I moved up,” Dunn said. “And I knew that the talent surrounding me pushed me to levels I hadn’t been before as far as racing goes. I knew that I had a really great group of people that knew what they were doing and how to set up the cars and they coached me along. I had all the faith in the world in them, it was just getting me there catching up to everything else.”

Cory Dunn

Dunn made sure to make use of having a videographer filming every race and practice. Having the video allowed him to be able to go back and see what he was doing right and wrong, and also things he can try the next time on the track.

The car was never a concern. Even on the final night, Dunn didn’t have the championship sewed up yet. He needed to finish within four spots of the driver in second place, who won the pole for the final race.

But, given the fact he had yet to finish outside of the top 3 all season, the car his team gave Dunn was enough to feel confident on championship night.

“All year long we had a really, really good race car. It was consistent every week,” he said. “As far as where the set up was and the consistency of the car, I had a pretty good feeling that as long as I stayed out of trouble that I would be able to continue finishing up near the front.

“That’s a testament to my crew putting in a lot of hard work, a lot of hours to get the car to be that way every single week.”

Dunn will be back in the limited at Motor Mile when the track opens the season on April 25. The difference for 2020 will be the fact he’s no longer the new guy. He’s the defending champ.

“I’m sure it’s going to be tough because after coming in and doing that and having the success that we did, it’s hard to back that up two years in a row,” he said.

But nothing could ever top the feeling of winning his first championship.

“I still don’t really know how to put this kind of season into words,” he said. “It was unexpected for us to have as much success as we did. And right off the bat too. We banded together and we had speed from the beginning and we kept it all year long.

“I think if it could sum it up it would be unexpected success, honestly.”

Posted on by Nascar

Name: Joe
Current City: Indianapolis, Indiana
Member Since: 2017

Getting to know Joe:
​
Q: ​How did you first become interested in NASCAR?
“I grew up watching Petty and Andretti race on the TV with my dad, as I was growing up in Central Texas. I had “43” stickers on my furniture as a kid. I can distinctly remember watching Petty’s last race, and Gordon’s first. I liked watching the rivalry between Dale and Jeff, but I cheered them both on from my living room… I have been following racing ever since.”

Q: What is your favorite part about NASCAR?
“I like the personalities of the drivers and seeing everything they do on and off the track. Out of all the sports, the drivers feel the most natural and real. I’ve watched them grow up, have families, welcome new competitors, and retire. They’ve always been in the backdrop of my life, and I am amazed at all they do for the communities.”

Q: What is your favorite NASCAR memory?
“I got to take my son down to ‘Dega’s fall Truck and Cup race last year as a father/son trip. We did a track ride around, he stood in Chase Elliott’s pit box, and we met David Ragan & Jeff Gluck at the Tweetup. Being there with him and experiencing our first plate race together was pretty amazing.”

Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?
Drivers: “Right now I like Blaney and Bubba, as well as Brad K. and Kyle Busch.”
Tracks: “Bristol and ‘Dega are favorites to watch, and Vegas for the 1st track I ever visited.”
OEM: “Ford.”

Q: What are some of your Raceday Traditions?
“I like to watch the races on TV with my wife and son, it’s always better to enjoy the sport with those you love.”

​FROM ALL OF US AT NASCAR, WE THANK JOE FOR HIS CONTINUED SUPPORT AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM HIM IN 2020!

Look for Joe on the Official NASCAR Fan Council page on NASCAR.COM.

Posted on by Staff Report

The “Kyle Busch Challenge” is happening.

NASCAR Cup Series drivers Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson will join GMS Racing in an effort to win the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series bounty that Kevin Harvick and Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis put on Kyle Busch last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Busch on Harvick’s bounty: ‘Bring it’

Elliott will compete at his hometown Atlanta Motor Speedway (March 14), driving the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado entry. Larson will drive the No. 24 truck at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 20.

Elliott has made 12 Gander Trucks starts, earning two race victories. Along with his 2013 win at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Elliott last truck start landed him in Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway with GMS Racing in 2017.

MORE: Ranking driver chances

Larson also has a pair of victories in 13 Gander Trucks starts, including Rockingham Speedway in 2013 and Eldora Speedway in 2016. His most recent Gander Trucks start came at Homestead at the end of the 2016 season.

Following Busch’s 57th career Gander Trucks victory last Friday night at Las Vegas, Harvick offered up a $50,000 bounty for any full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver who can find a truck ride and beat Busch in one of his remaining four events.

The ante was raised when Lemonis committed to matching Harvick’s bounty, putting a full total of $100,000 on the table.

Las Vegas was one of five races Busch is permitted to compete in during the 2020 Gander Truck Series season. Others on his schedule include Atlanta, Homestead, Texas Motor Speedway (March 27) and Kansas Speedway (May 30).

Posted on by Holly Cain

It may be only be the third race of the season, but the competition in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series is already proving to be top-line as drivers head to Auto Club Speedway for Saturday’s Production Alliance Group 300 (4 p.m. ET on FS1/FOX Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The 21-year-old Noah Gragson started the season with a dramatic win at Daytona International Speedway, and 25-year-old Chase Briscoe answered with a late-race rally at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend. With the win, Stewart-Haas Racing driver Briscoe takes the championship lead by a mere seven points over the JR Motorsports driver Gragson.

RELATED: Auto Club weekend schedule

Essentially the whole field arrives at the two-mile Auto Club Speedway feeling revitalized and motivated. With no former race winner entered this week, someone is sure to have a huge first celebration in the Californian Victory Lane. And with the thrilling, tight competition in just the season’s opening two races, there’s no overwhelming favorite — just the kind of unpredictable, close-quarter racing that has made this series so popular.

Three drivers have earned top-five finishes in the two season openers: Briscoe, Gragson and Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Harrison Burton, who scored a career-best runner-up finish at Daytona.

MORE: Xfinity Series entry list

And several drivers reaffirmed their championship intentions with impressive runs at Vegas. Runner-up Austin Cindric was a 2019 Xfinity Series playoff driver and certainly rallied from a disappointing 16th-place showing at Daytona. His second-place work at Vegas in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford moved him up 10 positions in the championship standings, and he’s now sixth place, 17 points behind leader Briscoe – his only fellow Ford driver in the field.

Burton, who drives the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, is certainly establishing a blistering pace for the rookies this season, but his highly touted JGR teammate Riley Herbst reminded Burton last week he’s up for the challenge. The first-year Xfinity Series driver’s ninth place in his hometown Las Vegas race moved Herbst from 30th to 16th in the standings. This weekend will mark his Auto Club debut.

One of NASCAR’s most popular drivers, Ross Chastain, also turned in a Las Vegas points rally. His 10th-place finish moved him from 20th in the standings to 11th. He will be competing in both races this weekend, filling in for the injured Ryan Newman in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race and continuing his work toward a NASCAR title in the Xfinity Series race Saturday. In five previous Auto Club starts, Chastain’s best Xfinity race finish is 10th in 2018.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 27, 2020) – NASCAR and Blue-Emu have announced a multi-year agreement designating the company as an Official Partner of NASCAR, Martinsville Speedway and Motor Racing Network (MRN). As part of the agreement, Blue-Emu will serve as the entitlement sponsor of NASCAR Cup Series™ spring events at Martinsville Speedway, with the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 debuting under the lights on Saturday, May 9.

“Blue-Emu’s integrated NASCAR approach will take center stage at Martinsville Speedway under the lights,” said Frank Kelleher, senior vice president and chief sales officer, NASCAR. “Combining the massive reach of NASCAR with fan sponsor loyalty provides partners an attractive platform to grow their brands.”

In addition to the Martinsville Speedway race entitlement, Blue-Emu will actively engage fans at NASCAR tracks across the country by providing product sampling opportunities. The pain relief company is no stranger to NASCAR. They currently work with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace and have sponsored multiple teams dating back to 2014.

Bluemu Mville Race

“NFI Consumer Products has been a fan and friend of NASCAR for a number of years, so this sponsorship is a natural expansion of that partnership. The NASCAR fan base has been a strong and loyal customer of Blue-Emu and we believe they will help us continue to grow as a national brand,” said Susan Gregory, CEO, Blue-Emu. “The highly anticipated Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, debuting under the lights, will highlight our track partnership and provide a new opportunity to showcase our products and engage with consumers.”

The Blue-Emu product line is the No.1 selling emu oil brand in the United States and recently announced a multi-year partnership with the MLB, which included exclusive deals with 13 of its clubs. As part of the NASCAR agreement, Blue-Emu’s Original Super Strength will serve as an Official Partner of NASCAR, Blue-Emu’s Maximum Pain Relief Cream is the “Official Pain Relief Cream of NASCAR®”, Blue-Emu’s Continuous Spray is the “Official Pain Relief Spray of NASCAR®,” and Blue-Emu’s Patch is the “Official Pain Patch of NASCAR®”.

The Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 will be held on Saturday, May 9 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM. Tickets for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 as well as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 877.RACE.TIX or online at NASCAR.com/tickets.

The NASCAR Cup Series season will continue at Auto Club Speedway this weekend for the Auto Club 400 on March 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM.

Posted on by Staff Report

We’re three episodes into the “NASCAR All In: Battle for Daytona” docuseries, produced by MotorTrend Group in partnership with NASCAR, and fans who have downloaded the app and subscribed have been treated to behind-the-scenes access as three teams prep for the Daytona 500.

MORE: Download the app to watch

In Episode 3, now available, MotorTrend cameras combed pit road at Daytona International Speedway to capture the preseason Busch Clash race from all angles. And boy, did they capture it.

At the end of the scheduled 75-lap event, a chain wreck that captured most of the field did not end Austin Dillon’s day. An incredible bit of driving — captured from all angles — allowed Dillon to scoot through and challenge for the win. He ultimately finished runner-up.

Watch the video above to see the save from every angle and how crew chief Justin Alexander reacted with the pit crew.

Fans will receive exclusive, inside access to NASCAR Cup Series drivers Dillon, Tyler Reddick and Corey LaJoie preparing for the Daytona 500 from the vantage point of the athletes, their race teams and their families. MotorTrend will go off the track for an emotional, behind-the-scenes look at the highs and lows of real-life NASCAR racing.

New episodes will air every Monday as the sports documentary series chronicles the commitment, struggles and sacrifices in the chase for greatness at the biggest race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Click here to catch up on the entire series so far — and to prep for more episodes, coming soon.

Posted on by Sean Montgomery

Nineteen years after Jimmie Johnson won his first ever NASCAR Cup Series race at California Speedway – now known as Auto Club Speedway – the seven-time champion heads back to the 2-mile track located just over 100 miles north of his hometown of El Cajon, California, for the final time as a full-time driver.

Since his premier series debut in 2002, Johnson has made 25 starts at the Southern California track and remarkably finished every lap – 5,706 to be exact. In that span, he has dominated nearly every aspect, setting the all-time record for laps led (980), wins (six), top fives (13), top 10s (17) and average finish (7.6).

After racing his way to the checkered flag in 2016, Johnson became the only driver in series history to win at Auto Club in his 20s, 30s and 40s.

RELATED: Jimmie a lock to win at Auto Club? 

With the 2020 season off to a decent start after a top-five finish last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a happy homecoming might be the perfect recipe to propel Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team to their first trip to Victory Lane since 2017 at Dover International Speedway.

However, Johnson isn’t the only driver with sustained success at Auto Club searching for the first key win this season. In spite of Johnson’s career-long dominance in Fontana, Kyle Busch has unquestionably been the driver to beat at the oval in recent years.

Winner in three of the last six Auto Club events he has competed in, including last year’s Auto Club 400, the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is red hot heading into this Sunday’s race. Busch carries six top fives in the last eight Fontana races, three consecutive finishes of eighth or better – both Cup Series highs – and, like Johnson, secured his first series win at the track driving for Rick Hendrick (2005).

Unlike Johnson’s bounce-back weekend at Las Vegas, an uncharacteristic opening pair of races has left the reigning champion sitting 27th in the current points standings and in search of his first finish inside the top 15. Though it is only the third of the 26-race regular-season slate, history has shown a solid run at Auto Club presents the perfect chance for Busch and company to get back to their winning ways.

While Johnson and Busch share a long history of accolades at the Fontana track, Kevin Harvick has been a consistent factor in nearly every West Coast race – making him a threat to win each time the series heads there. Harvick holds the longest active streak with a top 10 in each of the last eight West Coast races and an incredible 25 in the last 29. For the No. 48 and No. 18 to continue their dominant trends, the path to Victory Lane and title of “King of the West Coast” may be through No. 4.

RELATED: Favorites, long shots for Fontana | Full weekend schedule

Even after nearly two decades of dominance, Johnson has a chance to prove this season is not just a farewell tour but one that can end with a record-setting eighth Cup Series title. There may not be a better way to jumpstart his push for another championship than with a win where it all started – one final time.

Source: Racing Insights