Posted on by Staff Report

Multi-platinum-selling, award-winning artist Sam Hunt will perform at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards on Dec. 5 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Hunt is the latest country star to join the festivities when NASCAR makes it inaugural visit to Music City next month for Champion’s Week. Previously, it was announced that Cassadee Pope will be the event co-host alongside NASCAR on NBC’s Rutledge Wood for the highly anticipated year-end awards.

MORE: Rascal Flatts part of Opry show | Pope to co-host NASCAR Awards

Hunt recently released a new song, “Kinfolks,” a single that follows his Grammy-nominated, triple-platinum selling debut album, Montevallo, which topped the Billboard Country Albums Chart in its first week and is the best-selling debut album since 2011 for a country artist. The single “Body Like A Back Road” was No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for 27 consecutive weeks — setting a new record for most weeks atop the 59-year-old chart.

Music City will play host to NASCAR Champion’s Week, a celebration filled with more fan interactions than ever before, music, race cars, driver appearances and much more from Dec. 3-5.

Among the additional events of the week are: NASCAR Night at the Opry Hosted by PNC Bank, Burnouts on Broadway and Fan Fest. Click here for additional info on those events and to purchase your tickets today.

Posted on by Sean Montgomery

There has been no shortage of electrifying drama between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin. Throughout their Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series careers, the two have had multiple encounters that have led to conflict on and off the race track.

The recent pit-road scuffle at Martinsville Speedway was just another example of the persistent tension between the drivers and their teams. However, the notable issues between the championship-contending pair predate this season’s rivalry and go back to the 2013 season where a series of exchanges led to more serious consequences — particularly for Hamlin.

WATCH: Hamlin, Logano tangle at Martinsville

As both have voiced strong opinions in recent interviews, the tension between the two clearly remains — and with each finding themselves dangerously close to the cutline, the high-pressured Round of 8 finale at ISM Raceway in Phoenix may provide another chapter to the story.

Hamlin’s early spin at Texas led to a massive 44-point swing in the standings, putting his title hopes in jeopardy. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver now sits 20 points below the cutline, trailing rival Logano for the final spot in the Championship 4.

In the five races at Phoenix since stage points became a factor, only once has Hamlin finished with enough points to pass Logano as the standings currently sit — that finish came in last year’s showdown when Logano crashed resulting in a 37th place finish for the Team Penske driver.

Over that same span, Hamlin has a trio of top 10 finishes to his name while Logano only has one. Hamlin also has a higher career average finish (11.3 to Logano’s 15.2) and plenty more top-five finishes at the track (12 to Logano’s four).

In spite of the career Phoenix numbers favoring Hamlin, history has more often than not favored the driver in Logano’s position heading into the last race before the season finale. In five years under the current NASCAR Playoffs format, only once has a driver entered the elimination race in the Round of 8 outside of the top four and made it to Miami (Kevin Harvick, 2014).

As the pressure mounts for Hamlin and Logano to keep their season alive, the matchup between the two in Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the Arizona desert will surely be one to watch.

Source: Racing Insights

Posted on by Staff Report

Stock car racing legends and fans alike will be greeted by country music royalty at NASCAR Night at the Opry hosted by PNC Bank on Dec. 3 in Nashville, Tennessee. The event, taking place in the historic Ryman Auditorium, will kick off NASCAR Champion’s Week 2019 in true Music City fashion.

Headlining the event for NASCAR’s first Champion’s Week in Nashville is the multi-platinum, award-winning band Rascal Flatts. The group has sold more than 23 million albums worldwide and collected more than 40 awards across the country and pop music genres.

“We’re so excited to be a part of the inaugural NASCAR Champion’s Week in Nashville,” said Rascal Flatts lead singer Gary LeVox.

RELATED: Champion’s Week schedule | Cassadee Pope to co-host awards

Joining Rascal Flatts in the musical program will be Grammy-nominated recording artist Ashley McBryde, who won the 2019 ACM Award for Female Vocalist of the Year on her debut studio album, “Girl Going Nowhere.”

Comedian Henry Cho, known for his work on SiriusXM’s “Laugh USA” and Comedy Central’s “What’s that Clicking Noise?,” will be keeping the laughter coming when he takes the stage at the Ryman.

Stay with NASCAR.com for continuing coverage of NASCAR Champion’s Week 2019, including performances, special appearances and much more.

Posted on by Staff Report

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to ISM Raceway for the Bluegreen Vacations 500 (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for a crucial elimination race leading up to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Six hopeful drivers contend for the two remaining spots in the Championship 4, while other teams look to build momentum.

RELATED: Full ISM Raceway schedule | No. 9 must win at Phoenix

TRACK DETAILS

The 1-mile desert track is a seemingly flat that track features a variable banking of 8-9 degrees in Turns 1 and 2 with a 10-11 degree variation in Turns 3 and 4. The track has a 1,551-foot frontstretch and a 1,179-foot backstretch.

The PJ1 traction compound will be placed in both corners’ high groove, giving drivers lane options from the middle of the track all the way to the wall.

Alan Kulwicki won the inaugural Monster Energy Series race at the track on Nov. 6, 1988.

RULES PACKAGE

Teams will run the 2019 rules package used at short tracks throughout the season, equipped with a 750 horsepower tapered-spacer engine. Cars will not have aero ducts.

Each team will be provided three sets of Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials for practice, one set for qualifying and nine sets for the race (eight race sets plus one set transferred from practice or qualifying).

The unconventional length of the track and the wide exit in Turn 1 make high top-end speed an emphasis for teams. However, the unique style of racing also requires additional focus on handling in frequent three-wide and potentially four-wide scenarios on the backstretch.

“This being the NASCAR Cup Series’ last short track race of the season, it is the final time we will run this high downforce/high horsepower package,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing.  “There’s really no other track on the circuit that is quite like Phoenix.  Its unique configuration is relatively flat, but it also races more like a speedway than a traditional short track.”

KEY STATS

– Hendrick Motorsports has won a series-high five of the last 15 playoff races at ISM. With Chase Elliott currently sitting 78 points below the cutline, Elliott must win the race to advance to the Championship 4.

– Kyle Busch has yet to lose a race at ISM since the start-finish line was moved in November 2018. The streak includes two Monster Energy Series wins and one Xfinity Series win — each time starting inside the top six.

– Kevin Harvick has dominated this track throughout his career, winning seven of the last 14. Harvick also leads all active drivers with nine career wins at ISM, his last coming in the spring of 2018.

– Joe Gibbs Racing has led 54 percent of the laps raced at ISM since the start of 2017.

Source: Racing Insights

LIVE COVERAGE

The final two spots in the Championship 4 are up for grabs Sunday in the Bluegreen Vacations 500 at 2:30 p.m. on NBC and streaming on the NBC Sports App. Listen in to live radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Also, follow along on NASCAR.com for live Lap-by-Lap coverage, the live leaderboard, Drive (featuring in-car cameras) and RaceView (subscription: in-car audio, stats, more). Be sure to set your lineup in Fantasy Live and make your picks in the Props Challenge.

2018 RACE WINNER

Busch dominated ISM in last year’s elimination showdown, leading 117 of 312 laps and locking down his spot in the Championship 4. With another win at the track this spring, Busch will aim at completing the trifecta to ensure his contention in another season finale at Homestead in Miami.

ACTIVE PHOENIX WINNERS

Harvick (nine); Jimmie Johnson (four); Busch (three); Ryan Newman (two); Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin (one each).

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR announced penalties Tuesday to three Monster Energy Series teams for lug-nut violations found after Sunday’s event at Texas Motor Speedway.

Competition officials found three cars each with one lug nut not safely secured in a post-race check after Sunday’s AAA Texas Motor Speedway. The crew chiefs for those teams were each docked $10,000.

RELATED: Texas race results | Full schedule for ISM Raceway

The teams with Texas lug-nut infractions:

  • No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet for driver Daniel Hemric (crew chief Luke Lambert)
  • No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for driver Denny Hamlin (crew chief Chris Gabehart)
  • No. 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota for driver Parker Kligerman (crew chief Mark Hillman)

There were no penalties stemming from Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth track.

Posted on by Staff Report

For the second consecutive week, Richard Childress Racing has announced a crew chief change for its 2020 program in NASCAR’s top series.

Randall Burnett will take over as crew chief of the No. 8 team and driver Tyler Reddick next season, while Luke Lambert will step down at the conclusion of the 2019 season. The news was announced on RCR’s social media platforms on Tuesday afternoon.

Lambert will be heading to Roush Fenway Racing as the crew chief for Chris Buescher and the No. 17 team. Buescher will be taking over the seat from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the 2020 season. Brian Pattie will not be returning to the No. 17 team as announced last month.

RELATED: Alexander to crew chief No. 3 team | Key players in Silly Season

“We are certainly excited to have Luke Lambert joining our organization and taking over the reins of the No. 17 program,” team owner Jack Roush said in a team release. “Luke has a strong engineering background and also the ability to energize and lead a team. We look forward to pairing him with Chris next season and seeing what they can do on the track.”

Lambert had been a mainstay atop the pit box for RCR since 2011 working with Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman and Daniel Hemric at the Cup level as well as Elliott Sadler in the Xfinity Series. He has one Cup win on his resume with Newman in 2017 at Phoenix and helped guide Newman to RCR’s lone Championship 4 appearance to date in the inaugural season of the elimination playoff format in 2014.

Over eight seasons in the Cup ranks, Lambert also accumulated 24 top fives and 72 top 10s as well as his first pole last month at Kansas Speedway with Hemric. In the Xfinity Series, he tallied four wins with Sadler in 2012 en route to a second-place finish in the standings. In total, he spent 14 years at RCR in a number of roles.

The RCR move teams up Burnett and Reddick, who have found great success in the 2019 Xfinity Series season. The pair has combined for five wins as the series heads to ISM Raceway where Reddick is looking to lock into the Championship 4 as he continues his quest to defend his 2018 championship. Reddick will be competing as a rookie in the sport’s top series next season.

Burnett is no stranger to being a Cup crew chief. He served as the pit boss for AJ Allmendinger in 42 races at JTG Daugherty Racing between 2016-17. He then moved over to RCR’s No. 2 Xfinity car midseason — a position he has held since then.

The RCR announcement comes a week after the organization announced that Danny Stockman would transition to a different role on the No. 3 team and Justin Alexander would be back atop the pit box for Austin Dillon’s team.

Posted on by Staff Report

Hattori Racing Enterprises announced Tuesday that Austin Hill will return as driver of its No. 16 Toyota in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series in 2020.

Hill is currently in his first season driving for team owner Shige Hattori. The 25-year-old driver has won three times this year, including a triumph in the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway.

RELATED: Key players in Silly Season

“It’s awesome to be coming back in 2020,” Hill said in a statement released by the team. “We have plenty left to accomplish this season and that’s our number one focus, but it’s great to have things in place for next year to where we can move right into 2020.”

The organization indicated an “increased presence” for sponsor United Rentals, which has served as the No. 16’s primary backer for six races so far this season. HRE also indicated that Don Valley North Toyota, Ibaraki Toyopet and Gunma Toyopet would return as sponsors, and that support from Toyota Racing Development would continue.

Hill moved to the Hattori team in 2019 after spending parts of the last three Gander Trucks seasons with Young’s Motorsports. Hill, who also has two pole positions this year, qualified for the Gander Trucks playoffs for the first time in his career. He carries a nine-point cushion as he clings to the fourth and final transfer spot in the series standings heading into Friday’s Round of 6 elimination race.

MORE: Gander Trucks playoff standings

Hattori Racing Enterprises claimed the series championship last season with Brett Moffitt, who joined GMS Racing for the 2019 campaign.

Hill was a member of the NASCAR Next driver development program from 2014-15. He made his Xfinity Series debut earlier this season, finishing ninth at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a car owned by Carl Long with support from Hattori.

Posted on by PJ Walsh

I’ve found myself on Aric Almirola a lot recently. He gave us a sweat at Texas on Sunday, leading the second-most laps (62) and running the second-most fast laps (50) en route to a runner-up finish at 40-1 odds.

Thankfully, Almirola also finished one spot ahead of Daniel Suarez, cashing a driver matchup between the Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammates at +110.

In all honesty, I’m not going out of my way to bet Aric, he’s just consistently being undervalued by the NASCAR betting market.

And looking at openers from the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook for this weekend’s Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway, the driver of the SHR No. 10 Ford is once again priced as a longshot, while his recent stats at ISM Raceway suggest otherwise.

Aric Almirola (50-1) to Win

Almirola’s recent numbers at ISM Raceway are stellar. Over the past four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) races at the flat, 1-mile tri-oval, only two drivers (Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick) have better average finishes than Aric’s 6.0.

In addition, Almirola has the seventh-best driver rating at ISM over that span.

This four-race sample also includes the most recent MENCS event at this race track, which took place back in March and is the only race at ISM using the current aero package.

In that race, Almirola finished fourth, led the third-most laps (26) and had the sixth-best driver rating (100.7).

Further, Aric was a borderline top-five car at Martinsville, another short, flat track, just two weeks ago before getting knocked out of the race after an incident with Kyle Busch.

For all of these reasons, I like the value with Almirola at the longshot price of 50-1. And while the full list of NASCAR props won’t open until the weekend, I’ll also be very interested in a top-five wager assuming he’s priced similarly after practice and qualifying.

Posted on by Staff Report

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Tuesday morning that Riley Herbst would join its NASCAR Xfinity Series operation full time in 2020.

Herbst will pilot JGR’s No. 18 Toyota in his first full Xfinity season. The 20-year-old driver has nine career Xfinity Series starts, with a best finish of sixth in his 2018 debut at Iowa Speedway.

RELATED: Key players in Silly Season

“I’m very excited to compete full time next season in the Xfinity Series in the iconic No. 18,” Herbst said in a release provided by the team. “I’ve enjoyed the transition to the Xfinity car this season, learned a ton and look forward to continuing to learn next season and improve each and every week. I’m eager to get started and have Monster Energy back with me and can’t wait for Daytona.”

Herbst is the latest piece to Joe Gibbs Racing’s Xfinity Series roster for next season. The organization announced Oct. 17 that Harrison Burton would replace Christopher Bell in the JGR No. 20 Toyota for the 2020 campaign, and said Oct. 31 that Brandon Jones would return to its No. 19 Toyota next year.

Joe Gibbs Racing indicated that Monster Energy, ORCA Coolers, and Terrible’s would be a part of their sponsorship lineup for 2020. The team also said a crew chief for the No. 18 would be announced later.

Herbst competed part time this season in the Xfinity Series, Gander Outdoors Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series. The former NASCAR Next class member also made spot starts in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and Pinty’s Series, in addition to Late Model competition.

Herbst has been one of six drivers to wheel the No. 18 in Xfinity Series competition this year. Burton, Kyle Busch, Matt DiBenedetto, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Jack Hawksworth have also made starts in the No. 18 car this season.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 4, 2019) – NASCAR announced today a multi-year partnership with HotelPlanner, designating the company as the “Official Online Booking Partner of NASCAR®.” HotelPlanner, the leading online seller of group hotel bookings and individual hotel stays worldwide, has been serving travelers since 2002 and will now offer its travel hotel booking platform for NASCAR’s corporate offices, and serve as a valued resource for the industry and fans.

As a key part of the partnership, HotelPlanner will have a customized hotel booking platform on NASCAR.com enabling the industry and fans to conveniently book hotels for upcoming race weekends at the lowest available price. In the coming weeks, NASCAR fans, the most brand loyal in all sports, can look for special deal packages and sweepstakes on NASCAR.com via HotelPlanner.

“As a customer-centric organization, we look forward to enhancing the lodging experience for millions of passionate NASCAR fans in the United States and abroad,” said Tim Hentschel, co-founder and CEO, HotelPlanner. “Our customized booking solution will make it easier than ever to book travel lodging for race days.”

RELATED: 2020 schedule, hotel bookings 

HotelPlanner’s customized hotel booking solution is now available for NASCAR’s three national series – Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™ and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series™ as well as NASCAR’s regional series – K&N Pro Series East and West™, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour™, NASCAR Pinty’s Series™, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series™ and NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series™.

“NASCAR is truly a global sport, sanctioning races across the country as well as in Canada, Mexico and Europe,” said Jon Tuck, chief revenue officer, NASCAR. “With years of experience in customized hotel booking, HotelPlanner will be a tremendous resource for our industry and provide our fans with a convenient, streamlined process to book lodging at NASCAR events throughout the year.”

HotelPlanner.com provides its hotel booking technology expertise to over five million customers globally while servicing an estimated $10 billion in hotel sourcing efforts in 2019. In addition to NASCAR, HotelPlanner partners with renowned sports teams and leagues, most notably, the NFL’s Washington Redskins, USA Triathlon and Street League Skateboarding.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Playoffs will continue at ISM Raceway this weekend for the Bluegreen Vacations 500 (Nov. 10 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, SiriusXM and MRN), the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 (Nov. 9 at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, SiriusXM, and MRN) and the Lucas Oil 150 (Nov. 8 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, SiriusXM and MRN), respectively.