Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – With nothing set in stone for the 2020 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, Corey LaJoie is doing everything in his power to help his cause.

Prior to his qualifying effort for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), LaJoie indicated he has yet to sign a contract for next year, but he hopes to be back with Go Fas Racing and the No. 32 Ford Mustang entry.

“Every talk I’ve had, we’ve been working toward me being back where I’m at,” LaJoie said. “I feel like I’ve had good communication with my group … just getting to the point where we’re having some fun and I like the guys I’m with now.

“I haven’t signed anything, if that’s what the answer is, but I’m working toward making that happen.”

LaJoie also clarified what a potential relationship with Stewart-Haas Racing might look like if Go Fas Racing were able to team up with the Ford Performance powerhouse

“I think it’s just going to be Go Fas buying cars from Stewart-Haas as opposed to what you guys would say is an alliance,” LaJoie said. “There would be some sort of help, I hope, because four-year-old Front Row cars we’re taking and running with every week, obviously, there’s room to improve there.”

RELATED: Silly Season tracker | Kansas weekend schedule

From a business and personal standpoint, LaJoie continues to build relationships with companies to come on board the No. 32 car, specifically those who want to dip their toe in the NASCAR waters without the price tag of partnering with the larger organizations in the garage.

LaJoie is also focused on getting the best power under the hood of his race car in order to produce better results on a consistent basis, rather than wait until superspeedways to squeak out top-10 finishes like his seventh-place result in last Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.

“I’m working on my end with partners to try to upgrade the engine package from that B-tiered engine package to the A-tiered engine package, maybe not for all the races but for some,” LaJoie said. “The faster that you make that horse that I sit on every week, the faster it hopefully puts me in the conversation in the next couple years for a race-winning capable car.”

With an outlook on the future, the 28-year-old knows an uptick in on-track performance will only improve his chances to compete for a more competitive ride. That’s just another reason why he’s directly involved with the day-to-day operations of improving the organization as a whole.

“I’ve had to be because the situations I’ve been in throughout my career, I’ve never been able to just sit back because my phone doesn’t ring,” LaJoie said. “It used to ring, but now my on-track stock is just low enough where I’m not in those conversations to get in the 37 ride or when some of these guys start to think about retiring. I’m trying to get my on-track stock to where I’m in those conversations because I know I can do it.

“That’s why I’m working hard to get my on-track stock better because, perception wise, if we can get that 32 car running better, I think that carries a little bit more weight making that car incrementally better each and every year with me behind the wheel on and off the track. When those guys do have conversations about who they’re going to put in there next, hopefully my name is in those conversations.”

Away from the race track, LoJoie hones in on his social media presence, which includes his “Sunday Money” podcast with Motor Racing Network. LaJoie is working tirelessly on his various social media platforms, hoping his personality will attract more dollars.

“It gets increasing more important every year because that’s the second question sponsors ask, ‘Well, how many Instagram followers, how many Twitter followers?’”LaJoie said. “So, I’m working on that and I have fun with it. I’m just gaining that off the track because there’s only so much I can do inside the race car.”

Overall, LaJoie thinks he is exceeding the expectations the No. 32 team set out to accomplish this season, but he’s not willing to settle with a focus on the greater goal.

“I’ve been running the best I have in my Cup career and Go Fas and their 32 car are running the best they have in their life span,” LaJoie said. “I think that carries a little bit of weight, but it’s still not quite good enough.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

The teal-colored pit wall at Kansas Speedway was not lost on Sherry Pollex, Martin Truex Jr.’s longtime girlfriend. Pollex reacted to the paint job on Twitter.

“Can’t get over how amazing this is!!!” Pollex posted. “Thank you @kansasspeedway for the teal walls to raise awareness for #OvarianCancer!!  Looking forward to seeing everyone Sunday!”

RELATED: Kansas weekend schedule

The teal walls had special meaning for Pollex, who has battled the disease since her diagnosis in 2014. Pollex and Truex also have raised substantial amounts of money for children with cancer through the activities of Truex’s foundation.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials ejected the car chiefs for two Monster Energy Series teams and held the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford for Kevin Harvick out of qualifying after multiple issues in Saturday’s pre-qualifying inspection at Kansas Speedway.

The infractions came before Busch Pole Qualifying to set the field for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM).

RELATED: Full schedule for Kansas | Starting lineup

The No. 4 team had passed inspection, but noticed a driveshaft issue after their turn through the inspection stations. To fix the problem and avoid making an unapproved pre-race adjustment that would force the team to the rear of the field, the No. 4 group opted to abandon their turn to remedy the problem and go through another time. The car failed on that attempt, barring the No. 4 from making a qualifying run.

The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota for driver Martin Truex Jr. failed pre-qualifying inspection twice at Kansas Speedway, resulting in the ejection of car chief Blake Harris for the rest of the race weekend. The No. 4 Ford team also lost car chief Robert “Cheddar” Smith for the remainder of the event.

NASCAR officials also docked the No. 4 team 30 minutes of practice time and the No. 19 team 15 minutes of practice time for next weekend’s event at Martinsville Speedway.

Harvick is a three-time Kansas winner who has five poles at the 1.5-mile track. Truex is a two-time Kansas winner with three poles at the Kansas City facility.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Daniel Hemric may be out of the playoffs and out of his ride at Richard Childress Racing next year, but that didn’t stop the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet from winning the pole position for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In Saturday’s time trials for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 elimination race, Hemric covered the 1.5-mile distance in 30.329 seconds (178.047 mph) to earn the top starting spot, not to mention his first career Busch Pole Award, by .035 seconds over second-place David Ragan (177.842 mph).

RELATED: Qualifying results | Kansas schedule

“Yeah, it’s pretty special,” acknowledged Hemric, who recently learned he would not be retained by RCR next year. “I kind of just feel crazy. I got out of the car, and I thought I’d be maybe fifth to eighth but, man, these guys on this Caterpillar Camaro ZL1 have done a great job all year of no matter what’s thrown at us, kind of just rising to the occasion and showing back up at the race track every week ready to work.

“And with all that going on, there’s so much going on around us, that you can get lost in the distraction of things. But to know these guys have continued to have my back through all that stuff has meant the world to me. So congratulations to ECR (Earnhardt-Childress Racing engines) and RCR. They’ve been doing a great job for us all year. It’s cool to be the guy to steer it around the line there and get the quick time.”

Ryan Blaney, who qualified third at 177.754 mph was the top playoff driver on the grid. Blaney is already locked into the Round of 8 by virtue of last Monday’s victory at Talladega. Brad Keselowski (177.667 mph) will start fourth beside his Team Penske teammate.

Dover winner Kyle Larson earned the fifth starting spot in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Blaney, Keselowski and Larson are the only three playoff drivers to earn top-10 spots on the grid. Two-time Kansas winner and playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. will start 11th in the top-qualifying Toyota.

Other playoff contenders qualified as follows: Chase Elliott 14th, Alex Bowman 16th, Kyle Busch 18th, Clint Bowyer 21st, Denny Hamlin 23rd, William Byron 25th, Joey Logano 29th and Kevin Harvick 40th. After three inspection failures, Harvick was not allowed to make a qualifying run, and car chief Robert Smith was ejected from the track.

“I have to pass a lot of cars,” Harvick said. “It is what it is at this point. You just go out and try to strategize and plan what you can and try to pass as many cars when you can at the beginning and go from there.”

MORE: Nos. 4, 19 have inspection issues

Posted on by Staff Report

A missed race and a blown engine weren’t enough to deny Christian Eckes.

The 18-year-old from Middletown, New York, drove from the back of the field in Friday night’s finale to win the Kansas 150 at Kansas Speedway and claim the 2019 ARCA Menards Series championship in the process.

Eckes was forced to drop to the rear of the field after mechanical problems during qualifying left the team scrambling to change the engine before the green flag. Eckes grabbed the lead on a restart with 43 laps to go from his Venturini Motorsports teammate and main championship rival, Michael Self, and sailed to the win.

“It’s so special,” Eckes said. “I wasn’t really nervous after qualifying. I was just going to do my deal because I knew we had a fast race car. And man, we got the lead there and we drove away.”

Eckes overcame a points deficit incurred in part from missing the third race of the season, in April, due to illness. He took the points lead with a runner-up finish at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis two weeks ago.

Self, who entered the finale trailing Eckes by 15 points and did what he could by leading the most laps, settled for second in the race and the final championship points standings.

“I thought we’d have a really good shot at it,” Self said. “We did have a really good shot at it. He just got a better restart than we did. And that’s what sums up the championship.”

Eckes finished with four wins, 13 top fives and 17 top 10s in 19 starts. Eckes also had two poles and two top fives in six NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts this season. He became the first driver to win the ARCA Menards Series championship after missing a race since Tim Steele in 1997.

“This is really, really special,” Eckes said. “This year has kind of been a roller coaster. But we ended on a high and that’s all that matters. Man, I’m just really to celebrate with my guys.”

Ty Majeski finished third, followed by Bret Holmes and Travis Braden. Tanner Gray, who won the General Tire Pole Award earlier in the day, finished sixth, followed by Drew Dollar, Hailie Deegan, Joe Graf Jr. and Gus Dean.

The 2020 ARCA Menards Series will officially begin Saturday, Feb. 8, at Daytona International Speedway with the Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire. It will mark the 57th annual ARCA visit to Daytona. It will also mark a new era, as the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West combine under the ARCA Menards Series banner.

For now, though, the moment belongs to the kid from New York.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A weight lifted off his shoulders, Clint Bowyer comes to his home track ready to keep elimination from the postseason at bay.

On Thursday, Stewart-Haas Racing announced Bowyer would return to its No. 14 Ford Mustang entry for the 2020 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, putting to bed all the rumors that swirled about his future.

Bowyer said he and the organization agreed to a one-year deal with no indication on what his future looks like past next season. Though it might seem like a short length of time, it actually fits perfectly with where Bowyer stands in his 14-year full-time Cup Series career.

RELATED: Bowyer, SHR extend deal | Kansas weekend schedule

“It is good for me,” Bowyer said Friday at Kansas Speedway. “In today’s day in age, there is a lot going on. There are a lot of moving parts in our sport. You talk about everything that is going to happen after that and there is just a lot of unknowns.”

Bowyer went on to elaborate a one-year commitment at this time was a mutual decision.

“At this point in the game, you aren’t in situations anymore where you put three years together or long-term deals anymore,” Bowyer said. “I am OK. I was fine with a one-year deal. That is on my end of it, too. I feel like that is where we are at in today’s day and age. I was 100% OK with that.”

With that distraction out of the equation, Bowyer can now focus his full attention on trying to advance into the NASCAR Playoffs’ Round of 8. But he’ll have his work cut out for him, sitting 24 points below the cutline heading into Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Round of 12 elimination race at Kansas (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

But while his back is against the wall, Bowyer knows he can’t be too aggressive like he was at ISM Raceway last year in his effort to thrust himself into the Championship 4.

“A lot has to happen,” Bowyer said. “There is something that happens in this sport that we don’t talk about a lot. If you don’t make that and you get kicked out, you get thrown back in the pot. Truth be told, you can end up fifth or 16th and they are both doable. I learned that last year the hard way of going for it and throwing all caution to the wind and really throwing Hail Marys out there at the end trying to stay alive in our quest for a championship and it bit us.

“You can’t lose sight of that. That is something that I will not make that mistake again.”

Looking for his first career victory at the 1.5-mile track, the Emporia, Kansas, native isn’t mathematically in a must-win situation, but he’ll need drivers ahead of him – including Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott – to have issues in order to overcome the steep deficit.

Bowyer is hoping some home cooking will give him an extra playoff push. Despite a lack of speed in final practice, finishing 19th in the session, Kansas has proven in the past it’s more of a wild-card race than one would think.

“At the end of the day, this is our turn and opportunity to try to stay alive and it is right here at home, so of course we will do everything we can do to get every stage point and every position,” Bowyer said. “Look how many wild things happened in the spring race. … Always a points shake-up or a finish different that you didn’t expect all weekend long from practice.”

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ryan Preece made sure to step up when his team needed him this weekend at Kansas Speedway.

After the JTG Daugherty Racing’s No. 47 hauler sustained significant damaged due to a fire en route to the 1.5-mile track Thursday morning, the team opted to use the No. 37 team’s backup car of teammate Chris Buescher as its own primary vehicle. That led to an early Friday morning, as NASCAR officials allowed the team to make the necessary changes before the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage was open for business at noon local time.

While Preece wasn’t required to arrive at the track until later for the Hollywood Casino 400 (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) opening practice, he made it a point to travel early with his crew members to offer a helping hand.

“I came in with them this morning at 7 (a.m. CT),” Preece said. “I think we’re in this as a team, and I wasn’t just going to show up later in the afternoon to just show up and drive. I wanted them to know I’m right there with them. … I know some of these guys haven’t had much sleep, so I’m pretty proud of them.”

The focus of Preece’s assistance was mainly interior parts, getting the No. 37 backup car up to snuff and switching out the seat that was originally installed for Buescher since the two drivers race with different styles of carbon-fiber seating. The team missed roughly 10 minutes of opening practice in its efforts.

“It just goes to show how strong of a team JTG Daugherty actually is,” Preece said. “I don’t even know what time they started making plans to make this all happen, but it was less than 36 hours to figure it out. My hat’s off to them because I know what it takes to even plan a regular weekend and when you have something like this that comes up, nobody can plan for something like this.

“… I wanted to help in any way I could.”

JTG Daugherty wasn’t the only organization to experience hauler incidents. The No. 10 Kaulig Racing Xfinity Series team hauler of Ross Chastain crashed Wednesday going westbound on Interstate 40 in McDowell County, just east of Asheville, North Carolina, after the driver experienced medical issues, sending the tractor trailer through a guardrail and down an embankment.

The driver and co-driver of the No. 10 hauler were both treated and released from a local hospital and are now back at home.

Kaulig Racing was able to get another car out to Kansas in time for Friday’s Xfinity Series practice sessions prior to Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 (3 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), using its primary car originally slated for use at Texas Motor Speedway in November.

Posted on by Staff Report

Daniel Hemric rose atop the Monster Energy Series leaderboard Friday, topping final practice for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM) at Kansas Speedway.

Hemric posted a best lap of 177.830 mph in the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 Chevrolet to head the 50-minute session. Kevin Harvick, a three-time Kansas winner, claimed the second slot on the speed chart with a lap of 177.096 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford.

RELATED: Final practice results | Full Kansas schedule

Kurt Busch was third-fastest in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet, clocking a lap at 177.072 mph.

Brad Keselowski, who led opening practice, settled for 176.893 mph to snag the fourth spot in final practice. The Team Penske driver will be aiming for a season sweep at Kansas on the heels of his May victory at the 1.5-mile track.

Teammate Ryan Blaney, last week’s winner at Talladega Superspeedway closed out the top five at 176.725 mph in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford.

Sunday’s 400.5-miler is the final event in the three-race Round of 12 in the NASCAR Playoffs. The championship-eligible field will be whittled to just eight drivers at the conclusion of the race.

Busch Pole Qualifying is scheduled Saturday at 1:35 p.m. ET (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Keselowski takes top spot in first practive

Brad Keselowski sped to the top spot in Friday’s opening practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas Speedway.

Keselowski powered Team Penske’s No. 2 Ford to a best lap of 176.499 mph around the 1.5-mile track. He’ll be vying for a Kansas season sweep in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM), trying to replicate his winning run at the Kansas City venue in May.

RELATED: Practice 1 results

A pair of Stewart-Haas Racing teammates claimed the second and third spots, with Aric Almirola second fastest at 176.390 mph in the No. 10 Ford and Daniel Suarez third (176.332 mph) in the No. 41 Ford. Denny Hamlin was fourth in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, with Ryan Blaney, last weekend’s winner at Talladega Superspeedway, completing the top five in the 50-minute session in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

Defending race winner Chase Elliott was just 23rd fastest in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.