Posted on by Staff Report

An industry-wide celebration of Jimmie Johnson’s contributions to stock-car racing emerged April 8 — 4/8, or #JJDay. The goal: to cherish the seven-time NASCAR champion’s career, which is set to end with his planned retirement from full-time competition after this season.

RELATED: Full coverage of 4/8 JJ Day

Several of his fellow drivers, teams, crew members and others offered their tributes on social media Wednesday, sharing personal remembrances and photos.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Most fans know Doug Coby as a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour legend, but the six-time champion is equally as passionate about real estate and rescue dogs.

The Milford, Connecticut, native has been able to blend the latter two.

Rescue Dog Realty, the two-person real estate brokerage firm Coby owns with his sister, is involved with donating funds to Connecticut-based shelters with the commission from their closings.

“There are some really dedicated people who devote their time and their dollars to rescue dogs, the same way people do in racing,” Coby said. “The people in the shelter community really do anything possible to save as many dogs as possible.”

Coby said that some of the biggest rescues come from Tennessee and Texas.

“We know a bunch of ladies who head down south and bring the dogs back by the truckload. They foster them so people can adopt them after they‘ve been vaccinated, spay and neutered.”

In his firms six years existence, Coby estimates that over $40,000 has been donated to several shelters.

“It‘s something that makes you realize there is more to business then money and its important to give back in the community,” Coby said. “I found that the passion amongst people in the racing community is equivalent to the dog rescuers. We really are in the same breed.”

RELATED: Doug Coby Profile | Doug Coby on Twitter

Before settling into his career in real estate, Coby quit his job in the financial service sector after nearly a decade despite not having a “fallback option.” The move happened when he was looking at prospective properties for his first house.

Coby Dogs

“I was seeing a lot of junk houses,” he recalled. “I thought I could buy them and fix them. I realized during that time period I wasn‘t a handyman and that these real estate investors, or house flippers, were fixing them up and flipping them for a profit.”

While in the process of obtaining his real estate license, Coby was introduced to his future business partner, Jason Flint, while networking and befriending people in the industry.

“We hit it off and his friends have become huge Modified Tour fans,” Coby said Property Edge business partner. “He‘s the licensed home improvement contractor and I‘m on the real estate side finding and selling those homes.”

Coby is the proud “Dog Dad” to Archie, his purebred French bulldog and his adopted French bulldog/ pit bull mix Briggs. Both dogs can be found camping out with Coby at various races on Tour.

“Adopt don‘t shop,” he said. “There are literally thousands of dogs out there that need homes. I was shocked at how well-behaved most of them are. Dogs aren‘t bad by nature. They want to love people and other dogs.”

Doug Coby Marches Back To Championship Form With Sixth Title | Doug Coby Looks To Own Seventh Whelen Modified Title

Posted on by George Winkler

Seven. Eighty-three. Forty-eight.

For NASCAR fans, that combination of numbers can mean only one thing: Jimmie Johnson.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver has captivated us for more than 20 years, through seven championships and 83 NASCAR Cup Series wins, and in this, his final full-time season, we’re handing over the keys to the city and declaring April 8 (4/8) Jimmie Johnson Day in honor of the driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet.

What can we say? We’re into numbers, and NASCAR Digital and Social have a full 4/8 day of content for you to engage with (use #JJDay). Below are the highlights, but for more content throughout the day, please check out NASCAR.com and the official NASCAR accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

NASCAR Digital

Forty-eight reasons to love Jimmie Johnson: Steve Luvender offers his unique take on why people should be enamored with “Seven-Time.” From the serious (two-time Daytona 500 winner) to the humorous (he has the best beard ever) stick around for the full 48. | READ MORE

Evolution of Jimmie Johnson’s look: With 83 wins, you can’t expect every Victory Lane to look the same. Whether it was sporty shades, leather jackets or Superman capes, Johnson wore it well. Check out some of Johnson’s best looks through the years. | READ MORE

Most memorable paint schemes: Shamu, Madagascar, Dover White, patriotic, Ally’s tribute to “Butch” and the list goes on. Who’s Butch? Flip through the schemes to find out why he’s such a big friend of Jimmie Johnson. | READ MORE

This Day in Jimmie Johnson history: Lots of big days for one successful hombre — including April 8. Our resident funnyman, @nascarcasm, plots out a calendar worth of JJ Days for the entire year. | READ MORE

Face morph: Clean-shaven, stubbly, marathon-tested and, well, you get the picture. Watch Jimmie Johnson’s face change through the years. For fun, hit pause on the video and see which look you get. | WATCH VIDEO

All he does is win: Like we said, there are 83 Cup victories, and you can enjoy them all from the first in 2002 at his hometown track of Auto Club Speedway to the most recent in 2017 at Dover International Speedway to tie Cale Yarborough for sixth place on the all-time win list.  | READ MORE

Memorable moments: From early beginnings to seven-time success, relive all the milestones, including off-track moments like starting the Jimmie Johnson Foundation with wife Chandra, earning AP Male Athlete of the Year and running the Boston Marathon. | READ MORE

What drivers are saying: Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, Aric Almirola and others in the sport share their favorite memories of Jimmie Johnson. | READ MORE

What’s Jimmie up to now: The future NASCAR Hall of Famer dishes on his iRacing adventures and if 2020 will be his final season in light of the COVID-19 pandemic putting the season on hold. | READ MORE

NASCAR Social

One of the highlights from a full day of social programming is a schedule of races that will be streamed starting at 8 a.m. ET on NASCAR’s Twitter and Facebook channels:

— 2006 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
— 2013 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway
— 2007 Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400 (available on Team Chevy’s Facebook)

In addition, share your favorite Jimmie Johnson moment, selfie, photos and more using #JJDay and visiting the NASCAR Twitter account.

Posted on by Staff Report

“If you’re looking for a driver, you’re looking for me.”

Working as a substitute teacher while chasing his racing career, Edwards would hand out business cards with that phrase. His persistent efforts led him to Roush Fenway Racing and ultimately a NASCAR national series career that featured 72 victories — each usually capped by a celebratory backflip.

Edwards’ quick Truck Series success earned him full-time rides in both the Cup and Xfinity Series in 2005. He won his first races in each series during an early season weekend sweep at Atlanta Motor Speedway and never looked back.

Edwards finished in the top two in the Xfinity Series standings five straight years, including his 2007 championship, and amassed 38 wins over seven full seasons.

Over 13 years in the Cup Series, he won 28 races, including the Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500, both in 2015. He was the championship runner-up twice, including the closest finish in NASCAR history, losing by tiebreaker in 2011.

The fan favorite retired as one of NASCAR’s top competitors of the 21st century.

CARL EDWARDS BIO

Born: Aug. 15, 1979
Hometown: Columbia, Missouri

Championships
Xfinity – 2007

Cup Series stats
Competed: 2004-2016
Starts: 445
Wins: 28
Poles: 2
Years on Ballot: 4

Posted on by Staff Report

“The Mayor” of NASCAR.

Jeff Burton earned that nickname for his insightful perspectives on issues affecting the well-being and safety of the sport. But it was his on-track performance that fueled his 22-year Cup Series career.

The 1994 Cup Series Rookie of the Year spent the first half of his career at Roush Fenway Racing, where he experienced his most success. His first Cup win came at Texas Motor Speedway in 1997, the track’s first race. Over the next five years, Burton would win 17 times and finish in the top five in the standings four times.

In 1999, he won a career high six races, including two of the sport’s crown jewel events – the Coca Cola 600 and Southern 500.

Burton finished his career with 21 Cup wins and 27 Xfinity Series wins, one of 10 drivers to have at least 20 wins in each series.

Since 2015, Burton has served as an analyst for NBC Sports’ NASCAR coverage.

JEFF BURTON BIO

Born: June 29, 1967
Hometown: South Boston, Virginia

Cup Series Stats
Competed: 1993-2014
Starts: 695
Wins: 21
Poles: 6
Years on Ballot: 5

Posted on by Staff Report

Jake Elder may not have stayed in one place very long, but he left his mark every stop he made.

Known as “Suitcase Jake” for his propensity to switch organizations, Elder helped guide some of NASCAR’s biggest stars to Victory Lane.

After a stint as a welder for Petty Enterprises, Elder moved to Holman-Moody under the tutelage of Ralph Moody. He won the 1967 Daytona 500 as crew chief for Mario Andretti followed by consecutive championships with David Pearson.

While not formally educated, Elder knew more about building race cars than most of his peers. He had a unique style and preferred to do things his own way.

Beyond his mechanical genius, Elder had a penchant for working with aggressive, up-and-coming drivers. He helped Darrell Waltrip to his first two career victories and set him up for a Hall of Fame career. Four years later he sent Dale Earnhardt to his first Victory Lane. He led Earnhardt for the first 13 races of his 1980 championship season before, appropriately enough, packing up and moving on to his next opportunity.

JAKE ELDER BIO

Born: Nov. 22, 1936
Died: Feb. 24, 2010
Hometown: Statesville, North Carolina 

Championships (3)

Cup – 1968-69, ‘80 (crew chief)

Cup Series Crew Chief Stats

Competed: 1966-92
Wins: 43
Poles: 36
Years on Ballot: 4

Posted on by Staff Report

If you won a NASCAR Cup Series race in the 1970s or ’80s, odds are the car originated on a surface plate in Banjo Matthews’ shop.

Matthews was a master car builder who found his calling supplying cars to teams at all levels of NASCAR. His work transformed the sport, introducing custom chassis built for both speed and safety.

Matthews began his career racing and working on modifieds, driving to Victory Lane 50 times in 1954. In 1963, however, Matthews traded in his helmet, opting to focus on the mechanical side. He worked for Ford Motor Company before starting his own shop, Banjo’s Performance Center.

It was estimated that in the 70s Matthews built cars for at least half the Cup field. From 1974-85, cars built by Matthews won 262 of the 362 Cup races held (72%). In 1978, his cars won all 30 races of the season, including the third consecutive championship for a Matthews car.

It’s no wonder that Matthews was often referred to as the ‘Henry Ford of race cars.’

BANJO MATTHEWS BIO

Born: Feb. 14, 1932
Died: Oct. 2, 1996
Hometown: Akron, Ohio

Championships (3)
Cup – 1976-78 (car builder)

Year on Ballot: 5

Posted on by Zack Albert

The ballot for the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021 contains five new faces, three of whom should ring quite familiar for recent viewers. Two are fixtures on stock-car racing broadcasts; the third has largely disappeared from the public eye.

Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Carl Edwards were announced Tuesday as first-year nominees for Hall of Fame induction, joining seven other returning names on the Modern Era portion of the 2021 ballot. Their debuts as Hall candidates coincide with the first-time nominations of mechanical geniuses Jake Elder and Banjo Matthews on the Pioneer Ballot.

This year’s vote is the first under new procedures that will tap three legends for induction — two from a 10-person Modern Era Ballot for careers that began within the last 60 years and one from a Pioneer Ballot of five earlier standouts. The previous 11 NASCAR Hall of Fame classes enshrined five members each.

The returning nominees on the Modern Era side are Neil Bonnett, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde, Larry Phillips, Ricky Rudd, Kirk Shelmerdine and Mike Stefanik. Shelmerdine’s nominations are nonconsecutive (2019, 2021).

RELATED: NASCAR announces nominees for 2021 Hall of Fame Class | Photos of the nominees

The careers of the three new Modern Era nominees overlapped through years of competition in the 2000s and 2010s. Burton and Earnhardt are competitors turned colleagues as analysts in the NBC Sports booth. Edwards competed against both before his sudden retirement before the 2017 season, and it was Edwards who replaced Burton in Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 99 when the latter departed for Richard Childress Racing in 2004.

Edwards holds the most NASCAR Cup Series victories of the three newcomers to the Modern Era ballot — 28 to Earnhardt’s 26 and Burton’s 21 — but Earnhardt’s resume stacks up as potentially the strongest of the trio.

Earnhardt Jr. claimed two titles (1998-99) in what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series, while Edwards has just one (2007) and Burton none. Earnhardt also possesses two Daytona 500 wins and was named NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver 15 times.

Burton’s crown-jewel wins include a pair of wins in the Coca-Cola 600 and one in the Southern 500. Edwards won those prestigious races one time each.

Earnhardt has remained a popular figure in retirement, joining the NBC Sports booth after his full-time driving days ended in 2017. He’s also remained involved as a thriving team owner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a podcast host in his company’s media productions arm and a celebrant of stock-car nostalgia on social media.

Burton has kept a similar ambassador’s role since joining NBC Sports for the 2014 season. His voice resonated as an unofficial mayor of the NASCAR garage throughout his career, and his family has maintained a racing presence with his 19-year-old son Harrison now a regular in the Xfinity Series.

Edwards drew fans with his trademark backflip celebration after victories, but also with his winsome personality and a tenacious demeanor behind the wheel. The Missouri native had multiple close brushes with the Cup Series championship, most notably in 2011 when he lost on a tiebreaker in a slugfest with Tony Stewart and in his lone Championship 4 appearance under the current playoff format in 2016.

Less than two months after his final title bid, Edwards announced his stunning departure from full-time driving while in his prime at age 37. Since that emotional news conference, Edwards has made few public appearances.

The inclusion of Elder and Matthews on the Class of 2021 ballot recognizes two figures behind the successes of star drivers with NASCAR Hall of Fame credentials. They join returning nominees Red Farmer, Hershel McGriff and Ralph Moody on the Pioneer Ballot.

Elder won championships as a crew chief with both David Pearson and Dale Earnhardt, but his transient nature when it came to employment gave him his nickname — “Suitcase Jake.” Matthews enjoyed a brief career as a driver in NASCAR’s infancy before moving to a successful career as a crew chief and team owner, but his stature only grew as the pre-eminent car builder of the 1970s and ’80s.

MORE: Photos of current Hall of Fame members

Posted on by Staff Report

For Doug Coby, the 2016 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season finale at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park was a next step toward an historic legacy.

For Justin Bonsignore, it was a bittersweet victory.

Coby came home in third place, but it was more than enough to secure his third straight championship and fourth overall. The title also moved him into the conversation of potentially matching the title totals of Modified greats such as Jerry Cook, Mike Stefanik and Richie Evans.

They said the worse race to win – if there is such a thing, is the championship race, when you’re not the actual champion. That’s because all the attention gets focused on the big year-end trophy, overshadowing the events of the race.

In 2016, that was compounded for Bonsignore, as he won the Sunoco World Series 150 but came up 20 points short of dethroning Coby.

RACING-REFERENCE: Sunoco World Series 150 Race Results | 2016 Championship Standings

“It’s our fifth win at Thompson, but probably the worst one we’ve had considering the circumstances.

“This is a little depressing, I’m not going to lie.”

Broadcaster Ray Evernham, though, was prophetic, as Bonsignore climbed out of his car in Victory Lane.

Coby, who had a tour-high five wins in 2016, only recorded one in 2017. He had 10 top fives and 11 top 10s in 16 races, though, and edged Timmy Solomito for the championship by just six points.

Two years later, Coby added No. 6 and moved into the record books.

Bonsignore entered the 2017 finale mathematically in the hunt for the championship, but finished 10th and wound up third in points. He proved Evernham correct in 2018 with a dominating championship performance. He won eight of 16 races – including a season sweep of Thompson – to claim his first title.

Ryan Preece started last after missing qualifying to run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race, and drove to second for car owner Ed Partridge. Preece would win five times in 2017 and twice more in 2018 before making the jump to the NASCAR Cup Series.

Jimmy Blewett finished third in the No. 4 “Mystic Missile” for longtime car owner Bob Garbarino, while Donny Lia was fifth.

After Blewett and Garbarino parted ways in the offseason, Garbarino elected to step away from the sport that he had been part of since the 1960s. Lia, who won Whelen Modifeid Tour titles for Garbarino in 2007 and ’09, ran five more times in 2018 for Tommy Baldwin Jr. before announcing his retirement.

Sunoco World Series of Racing presented by XtraMart at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. #SUNOCOWORLDSERIES

Posted on by Jonathan Merryman

It may be the most famous sentence Dale Earnhardt ever said: “I didn’t mean to really turn him around, I meant to rattle his cage though.”

That sentence was uttered in Victory Lane after the 1999 Bristol Night Race, a race that saw Terry Labonte spin off of the bumper of Earnhardt’s infamous black No. 3.

Labonte, who was known to be cool under pressure, earned the name “Iceman” and was yet again cool in his post-race interview, telling ESPN’s Bill Weber with a half grin on his face, “It just wasn’t my night.”

RELATED: Race results | Labonte recalls moment | More Classic Races

On the 20th anniversary of this race last year, Labonte told a different story. He said he was planning to wait on Earnhardt to come by him on the cool-down lap and that he was going to “T-Bone” him. His wrecked car had other plans. The crash had broken his reverse gear and his car was dead on the track.

The rest of the night played out like this: Earnhardt was virtually booed out of Victory Lane and legend has it the entire GM Goodwrench team changed uniforms before the walked out of track.

Whether you loved them or hated them, the moment created by “The Intimidator” and the “Iceman” is easily the most talked about moment in Bristol Motor Speedway’s history and we can relive that in this Classic NASCAR Full Race Replay.