Posted on by Holly Cain

A heated discussion at Kansas on pit road following the last NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff race between championship contenders Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer illustrated the high intensity level among competitors with only two races left to decide which four drivers will advance to the Championship 4 and compete for the season trophy.

Custer returns to Texas Motor Speedway as defending winner of Saturday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 (8:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – ironically beating Reddick to the checkered flag by a mere .162-seconds. It was the third closest finish in the race’s history on the 1.5-mile Texas high banks and there’s plenty of reason to expect that kind of close racing and high emotion again this weekend.

RELATED: Custer, Reddick tussle on pit road

Seven-time winner Christopher Bell leads the championship standings by 11 points over fellow seven-race winner Cole Custer. The defending series champion Tyler Reddick is 12 points behind Bell – the group of super talented youngsters continuing to live up to the “Big 3” designation they earned early in the season.

These three drivers have combined to win 19 of the 30 races to date. Bell has led nearly double the laps (1,775) of anyone else in the field. Custer is next with 903 laps out front. And Reddick leads all drivers in top-five (22) and top-10 (25) finishes.

Custer is the only former Texas winner among the Xfinity championship field this week and prior to his trophy performance last November, Erik Jones 2015 win marked the last time a fulltime Xfinity driver scored the victory at Texas.

While there remains pride and competitive messaging to compete for among the Big 3, the points standings are plenty close for that fourth transfer position into the Championship 4 Round. Veteran Justin Allgaier currently sits fourth, but with only a two-point edge on fifth place Chase Briscoe, a 10-point advantage on sixth place Michael Annett and a 17-point edge on rookie Noah Gragson.

RELATED: Full Texas schedule | Xfinity Preview Show

Austin Cindric, who was involved in an accident at the Kansas race that opened this three-race round, sits 30 points behind Allgaier in that fourth place transfer position. But Cindric finished third – just behind Custer and Reddick – in this race last year and brings plenty of confidence that he can either win the race or make significant ground on Allgaier.

In fact, the last two races at Texas have featured many of these Playoff drivers. Reddick was runner-up to Cup regular Kyle Busch in March. Bell and Briscoe finished third and fourth place. Annett was sixth.

In this race last November, Custer and Reddick finished 1-2, Cindric was third and Allgaier was fifth.

“We did our job at Kansas with a fourth-place finish,” said Annett, driver of the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. “We’ve been great on 1.5-mile tracks this year and Texas is the last one we’ll see before Homestead. We have to be in contention again late in the race, score as many stage points as we can to have a chance at running for a championship. That’s what we’re going to do this weekend at Texas.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Riding the momentum from a spectacular regular-season performance that saw him defend his title as Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Champion, Kyle Busch entered the playoffs as a heavy favorite to take home another trophy at Homestead.

But if you check the series standings again, you’ll see that Busch’s playoff point cushion has nearly evaporated. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver sits third behind teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin — now only 17 points above the Championship 4 cutline with a pair of crucial races remaining in the Round of 8. He began the Round of 16 with over a 40-point cushion.

Since the playoffs opened at Las Vegas in September, Busch has struggled putting together consistent runs. He has an average finish of 14.3 through seven races after averaging a series-leading 8.2 during the 26-race regular season.

Despite top-five finishes at Richmond and Kansas, and a sixth-place finish at Dover, heavy damage (Talladega and Martinsville), a flat tire (Charlotte Roval) and a speeding penalty (Dover) have been some of the issues that caused setbacks for the No. 18 team.

A string of mechanical mishaps and damaged race cars may not be the only concern moving forward. A couple of on-track run-ins with drivers outside the Round of 8, most notably Garrett Smithley (at Vegas) and Aric Almirola (at Martinsville), could potentially prove costly in the long run.

RELATED: Almirola ‘going to make it hell’ for Kyle Busch

Perhaps even more unsettling for Busch is that he has not won a race since early June (Pocono), stretching his winless streak to 19 races. Since his last win, Busch has finished second three times, including behind Truex Jr. at Richmond in September’s playoff race.

Teammates Hamlin and Erik Jones have also won races during that span. Hamlin has won three of his five races this season since Busch’s last win, most recently winning the Round of 12 elimination race at Kansas. Jones picked up his only win of the season at Darlington on Sept. 1.

To make it to the Championship 4 at Miami, Busch will likely have to hit the reset button at a track he has had success on throughout his career. Heading to Texas will be a familiar operation for Busch, with a trio of wins and 12 top-five finishes to his name in 27 starts. His most recent win came in the spring of 2018, leading a race-high 116 laps.

With just two races left before the finale, the No. 18 camp simply cannot afford to make many more mistakes.

Source: Racing Insights

Posted on by Team Release

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C (October 31, 2019) – Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announces today that NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) driver Brandon Jones has signed a contract extension and will be back behind the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota in 2020.

After his second full season at JGR and fourth complete Xfinity Series season, Jones is ready to take on the senior role and keep building on his momentum from 2019 into 2020.  He made a major statement at Kansas Speedway earning his first career win in the Xfinity Series and the team feels they are poised to challenge for the 2020 NXS Championship.

RELATED: Key players in Silly Season 

“I couldn’t be happier to be back and race in 2020 with Joe Gibbs Racing,” stated Brandon Jones. “I am very proud of my team and the huge strides and experience we have gained over the past two years. I am ready for this next opportunity and challenge.”

“We are excited to have Brandon back at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in 2020 and with his experience take over as the senior driver in our NASCAR Xfinity Series program,” stated Steve deSouza, Executive Vice President of XFINITY and Development for Joe Gibbs Racing.  “He has steadily improved over the past two years and has proven that he can compete with the top contenders in the series.  We expect him to be a top challenger for the championship next year.”

Additional sponsorship for Brandon Jones and JGR’s No. 19 Xfinity Series Toyota Supra will be announced at a later date.

Posted on by Press Release

DETROIT — Chevrolet will switch to the Camaro ZL1 1LE in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2020, replacing the Camaro ZL1, which made its series debut in 2018.

Camaro ZL1 1LE — based on the fastest, most track-capable production Camaro ever – will make its competition debut next February during Daytona Speedweeks, which opens the 2020 NASCAR season.

“The ZL1 1LE is the highest performer within the Camaro production-car lineup,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president of Performance and Motorsports. “We took lessons from the production car and applied them to the new 2020 Cup car.”

Chevrolet engineers optimized aerodynamic performance by employing an array of tools, including computational fluid dynamics (CFD), simulation, and reduced-scale and full-scale wind-tunnel testing.

Camaro ZL1 1LE joins the Team Chevy family of racing Camaros already competing in NASCAR Xfinity Series; NHRA Funny Car, Pro Stock and Sportsman classes; Michelin Pilot Challenge GS Class; and Pirelli World Challenge GTS division.

Rich Camaro Racing Legacy
The outgoing Camaro ZL1 debuted in 2018 and made an immediate impact by winning the pole for the season-opening Daytona 500. That accomplishment was followed quickly by a win in the Daytona 500 a week later.

In 2019, Camaro ZL1 has produced seven wins thus far and powered five Team Chevy drivers – Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and William Byron – into the 2019 NASCAR playoffs.

Camaro ZL1 1LE brings a racing legacy to NASCAR. The 1LE debuted on-track and in the showroom in the late 1980s for the third-gen Camaro. Fourth- and fifth-gen Camaros also featured 1LE.

The current production Camaro ZL1 1LE – with its lighter wheels and dampers, thinner rear glass and a fixed-back rear seat – sheds more than a 50-pounds than a standard ZL1 Coupe and is powered by a 650-horsepower, supercharged LT4 engine.

Camaro ZL1 1LE builds on a winning legacy: Chevrolet has won a record 39 NASCAR manufacturer championships – including 13 consecutive titles from 2003-2015. In addition, Chevrolet drivers have achieved a record 31 championships, including Jimmie Johnson’s seventh in 2016.

Camaro ZL1 1LE joins Camaro SS, which has been Chevrolet’s entry in the NASCAR Xfinity Series since 2013, winning 76 races, four driver’s championships and four manufacturer’s championships.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 31, 2019) – NASCAR and Mars, Incorporated announced a multi-year extension, continuing the iconic candy manufacturer’s long-standing partnership and designation as the “Official Chocolate of NASCAR®.” The renewed agreement ensures Mars’ various brands remain a race day staple for millions of fans and extends the relationship to more than 20 consecutive years of Official Partnership, highlighted by a fully integrated strategy that activates every corner of the sport.

Mars entered NASCAR as a team sponsor nearly 30 years ago and steadily increased its participation in the sport, becoming a NASCAR Official Partner in 2000. Through the Official Partnership, Mars builds comprehensive marketing strategies, leveraging the sport as a backdrop to debut new products, build experiential marketing platforms for consumers and drive business-to-business deals. Mars launched the M&M’S® Chocolate Bar in the United States with the DAYTONA 500 as its backdrop, unveiling a special paint scheme with Kyle Busch and the No. 18 team and an on-site activation to celebrate its release.

“We are thrilled to be continuing our partnership with NASCAR – a relationship we have been proud of for over 20 years,” said William Clements, vice president, sponsorships and sports marketing, Mars, Incorporated. “This partnership allows us to seamlessly integrate our iconic brands into the sport like no other league, and the innovative fan experiences we are able to bring to race day help to create lasting memories for fans of our brands and fans of the sport alike.”

Central to Mars’ 2019 activation was its first ever M&M’S Glampground, an experiential marketing platform that set a new standard for lifestyle brands in NASCAR. The exclusive experiences at Kentucky Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway sold out immediately, delivering the colorful fun M&M’S is known for with unforgettable experiences. The Glampground provided a turnkey, VIP option for race fans looking to experience a NASCAR race weekend like never before, featuring everything from glamping tents and garage tours to celebrity meet and greets.

RELATED: Tour the Glampground with the Busch family | Mars extends with JGR, Kyle Busch

“Mars’ has been connected to so many memorable moments in our history and its wide-ranging presence across our sport has resulted in its brands being some of the most recognizable in NASCAR,” said Lou Garate, senior vice president, partnership marketing, NASCAR. “This renewed partnership is representative of the collaboration and fully integrated approach that Mars delivers year-after-year, positioning their iconic brands as a race day favorite for millions of our brand loyal fans.”

The renewed agreement with Mars furthers the brand’s comprehensive approach to NASCAR through its Official Partnership, combining digital and social marketing, hospitality, race entitlement, and team relationships to achieve its marketing objectives. Earlier this year, Mars announced an extension of its relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing and 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kyle Busch in a multi-year agreement.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue at Texas Motor Speedway for the AAA Texas 500 Sunday, Nov. 3 at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Posted on by Terrin Waack

Cassadee Pope has the opportunity to combine her country and racing roots. The Grammy-nominated, Platinum-certified singer-songwriter will co-host the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards alongside NBC’s Rutledge Wood. The show is set to take place Dec. 5 at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I’m nervous, but I’m excited,” Pope told NASCAR.com on Wednesday. “I’m excited to be co-hosting with somebody that I really respect — Rutledge Wood is great — and co-hosting on a subject I do know a good amount about.

“I’ve already been prepping. I’ve already been keeping track of what’s going on and all the little fights, all the little dramas that happen in NASCAR because I’m definitely going to pick on some people. I’m excited. It’s going to be fun.”

RELATED: Official Champions Week website

Pope, the former lead vocalist of Hey Monday, grew up watching NASCAR with her grandfather, who raced stock cars himself at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania. She sang her first national anthem in 2009 prior to a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Auto Club Speedway and has since done so before multiple Monster Energy Series events.

After winning Season 3 of “The Voice,” Pope signed in 2013 with Big Machine Label Group, which was a Chip Ganassi Racing sponsor at the time. That tie helped Pope build her NASCAR connections and relationships.

“My all-time favorite driver is (Dale) Earnhardt,” Pope said. “It’s really freaky how much my grandpa looks like him. When I was a kid and I’d watch races, I’d think it was pre-recorded because I was like, ‘Oh, you were racing today. Look at you. You’re on TV.’ I was a kid thinking my grandpa was Earnhardt.”

RELATED: Champion’s Week coming into focus

Pope’s grandfather was second only to her mother to find out about the co-hosting gig.

“I screamed when I saw the email because it’s just not something I ever could have seen happening for myself,” Pope said. “And I love those moments in my career where it’s just so unfathomable that I was just like, oh, I didn’t even realize that was an option let alone it would ever happen to me.”

Once she fully committed to country music, Pope’s career blew up. She quickly came out with her No. 1 debut album, “Frame By Frame,” highlighted by her Platinum-selling single “Wasting All These Tears” that earned “Breakthrough Video of the Year” at the 2014 CMT Music Awards. She then paired up with Chris Young for “Think of You,” which received a 2017 Grammy nomination for “Best Country Duo/Group.”

Pope recently released her second solo album, “STAGES,” featuring singles “Take You Home,” “One More Red Light” and “If My Heart Had A Heart.”

Now, she’s adding NASCAR co-host to her resume.

“I can’t think of two things that go together better than country music and NASCAR,” Pope said. “That’s why I was (excited) it’s the first year they’re having the NASCAR Awards in Nashville. I think those two go together: NASCAR is a family sport, country music is a family genre.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads west for a crucial clash at Texas Motor Speedway in the AAA Texas 500 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

RELATED: Full schedule for Texas | Ranking the final eight

TRACK DETAILS

Texas Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile oval with a minimum width of 58 feet. The banking is 20 degrees in Turns 1 and 2 and 24 degrees in Turns 3 and 4, with five degrees of banking in the straightaways. The asphalt surface was repaved before the spring race in 2017.

Since the repave, five drivers have an average finish below 10: Kevin Harvick (3.2), Joey Logano (7.2), Kurt Busch (8.4), Erik Jones (8.8) and Chase Elliott (9.4).

The stages for Sunday’s race will be as follows: Stage 1 will end on Lap 85, Stage 2 will end on Lap 170 and the final stage is scheduled to end on Lap 334.

RULES PACKAGE

Texas will see cars modeled with aero ducts and use a tapered-spacer engine that is targeted to generate around 550 horsepower. Teams will be allowed three Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials for practice, one set for qualifying and 10 sets for the race (nine new race sets plus one transferred from practice or qualifying).

The newly repaved and therefore smoother surface is more difficult for tires to lay down rubber and create additional groves early in the race. The use of PJ1 will be instrumental in providing grip on new areas of the track.

“Since its repave a couple years ago, Texas is one of the more ‘smooth’ surfaces we race on in NASCAR,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “The right-side tire we bring to Texas is the same one we’ve run at other tracks where we want to introduce wear or rubber-in the track. The track will also apply PJ1 to the surface this weekend to help create a second groove and give drivers options.”

MORE STATS

– With Martin Truex Jr. clinching a spot in the Championship 4 with his win at Martinsville, Toyota became the only make to have at least one driver in the Championship 4 each season since its inception in 2014.

– In just seven Monster Energy Series starts at Texas, Chase Elliott has finished in the top 10 five times and has an average finish of eighth.

– Kyle Busch is in the midst of a 19-race winless streak, his sixth longest as a driver for JGR. Since his last win, Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones have all won a race. Truex has won four including three playoff races in that stretch, while Hamlin has won three times including one playoff race over that span

– In spite of his recent two-year winless drought, Jimmie Johnson still leads drivers in all-time wins at 1.5-mile tracks with 28 — 13 more than the next-closest active driver, Kevin Harvick.

– Hendrick Motorsports currently has the longest streak with at least one driver finishing inside the top-10 at Texas at 26 races. The streak is the longest all-time.

Source: Racing Insights

LIVE COVERAGE

Tune in to the second race in the Monster Energy Series Round of 8 on Sunday at 3 p.m. with coverage on NBCSN and the NBC Sports App. 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

Kevin Harvick led a career-high 177 laps at Texas in last fall’s playoff victory, securing his position at Homestead for the season finale. Harvick took command early after starting in third, sweeping both stages en route to his second victory at the track.

ACTIVE TEXAS WINNERS

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

Posted on by Team Release

CONCORD, N.C. & PITTSBURGH & CHICAGO – Everyone’s favorite name in racing, O-S-C-A-R, is extending its sponsorship of the No. 6 Oscar Mayer Ford Mustang with driver Ryan Newman and Roush Fenway Racing through the 2021 season.

Oscar Mayer will return as the primary partner on the No. 6 Ford for multiple races during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, beginning at the TicketGuardian 500 in Phoenix on March 8, 2020.

“After a strong 2019 season, we at Oscar Mayer couldn’t be prouder to continue our season-long sponsorship of driver Ryan Newman and Roush Fenway Racing,” said Matt Riezman, associate director for Oscar Mayer. “Through our sponsorship, we’re able to connect with fans in a whole new way from our paint schemes to pre-race celebrations. We look forward to supporting the sport and No. 6 over the next two seasons and feeding people’s love of meat, both on and off the track.”

Fans can catch Ryan sizzling around the track in NASCAR’s tastiest paint schemes highlighting Oscar Mayer’s quality meat offerings for the whole family, including bacon, hot dogs and cold cuts.

To celebrate the two-year extension, Oscar Mayer is giving fans the chance to design a 2020 paint scheme for the No. 6 Oscar Mayer Ford Mustang. Starting today, meat-loving fans can head to Oscar Mayer’s social channels (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) to download a car template and put their creative pedal to the metal by designing their own meat-inspired paint scheme. The winning design will race at the TicketGuardian 500 in Phoenix on March 8, 2020. Interested fans can keep an eye on Oscar Mayer’s social channels for more details on how to submit their designs and when the window for submission will close.

“We’re obviously excited to continue our relationship with such a great brand in Oscar Mayer and the Kraft-Heinz Company,” said Newman. “The Oscar Mayer team and everyone at Roush Fenway has done a great job on collaborating on various innovative ideas throughout this season, and we’re looking forward to more creative excitement both on and off the track in the future.”

Oscar Mayer made its return to Roush Fenway in 2018 at the famed Darlington Raceway and served as the primary sponsor for seven races during Newman’s run to the 2019 NASCAR Playoffs.

Newman has scored three top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 2019. He has finished inside the top 15 in 20 races in 2019 and came inches short of putting the No. 6 in Victory Lane two weeks ago at Talladega Superspeedway.

Before last season, Oscar Mayer appeared as a primary sponsor on NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Mark Martin’s Ford in 2004 and served as an associate partner with Roush Fenway Racing in the early 2000s and was featured on Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford and Kurt Busch’s No. 97 Ford, when NASCAR Hall-of-Fame owner Jack Roush led the team to back-to-back Cup championships in 2003 and 2004.

Along with the Oscar Mayer red and yellow displayed across the No. 6 Mustang this season, Oscar Mayer will bring miles of smiles to fans throughout the 2020 season with the help of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and the Hotdoggers. To keep up with the vehicle and see exactly what races it will be at, follow along at https://www.oscarmayer.com/wienermobile.

For more information about Oscar Mayer bacon, Deli Fresh and hot dogs, visit OscarMayer.com or Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Posted on by PJ Walsh

After securing his seventh win of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season at Martinsville Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. locked himself into the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in three weeks.

Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are currently above the playoff cut line heading into Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, with Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott on the outside looking in.

While most of the focus this weekend will be on playoff drivers, I like a driver matchup at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook between two drivers already eliminated from NASCAR’s postseason.

William Byron (-110) over Kurt Busch

Head-to-head driver matchups are graded solely on which driver finishes ahead of the other. So we’re not necessarily looking for race winners, but situations in which one driver will outperform the other.

To do this, I looked at stats from the two most recent races run at 1.5-mile racetracks: Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 15 and Kansas Speedway two races ago.

While the MENCS does run at plenty of similar racetracks, the last event at a 1.5-miler prior to Las Vegas was back on July 13, and so much changes in this sport over the course of the season I chose to instead focus on more recent races that better reflect the equipment and setups teams will bring to Texas.

Here’s how Byron and Busch shake out over those two races in a few key statistical categories:

And even though the MENCS last visited Texas back in March, it’s still worth taking a look at how drivers performed there in order to confirm what we’ve seen in recent races at 1.5-mile tracks.

Here’s how Byron and Busch performed at the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas on March 31.

These two drivers were closer together last go-round at Texas, but Byron still held the edge. In fact, only one driver (Kyle Busch) had a better average running position than Byron, while Kurt Busch’s 13.0 ranked just 14th in the field.

Byron has a big edge over Busch at recent 1.5-mile races, and was still faster at Texas in March, yet current odds have at -110 on both sides.

If you’re looking for an early value play, Byron should get a look in this driver matchup.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Front Row Motorsports announced Tuesday that rookie driver Matt Tifft will miss the rest of the season after suffering a medical episode Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. The organization announced that John Hunter Nemechek will drive the No. 36 Ford in the final three races of the Monster Energy Series season.

Tifft, 23, posted a video update on social media shortly after the team’s announcement, saying that he “blacked out” in the team’s hauler and suffered a seizure. The team said Tifft was consulting with doctors and NASCAR medical staff in hopes of ultimately returning to competition.

Nemechek will make his Monster Energy Series debut this weekend. The 22-year-old driver is rounding out his first full season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with GMS Racing. He has one Xfinity win and six victories in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

“This isn’t the way any driver wants to make their Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut,” Nemechek said in a release provided by Front Row. “I am hoping that Matt feels better and can get back in his car as soon as possible. That is what is important. Hopefully I can learn a lot and make Matt, the Front Row Motorsports team and its partners proud.”

Tifft indicated that test results Monday showed no recurrence of a brain tumor that forced him to have surgery on July 1, 2016. Tifft returned to racing 10 weeks later.

RELATED: More from Martinsville weekend

Tiff has one top-10 finish in 32 races this year, recording a ninth-place result at Daytona International Speedway in July. Gander Trucks veteran Matt Crafton filled in for Tifft at Martinsville, recording the team’s fourth 25th-place finish in the last five races.

In his brief video, Tifft expressed his thanks for the support and well-wishes he has received in recent days.

“Want to wish Front Row Motorsports and the whole 36 team the best of luck the rest of this year,” Tifft said. “Hate that I have to miss out the rest of my rookie season, but the most important thing right now is my health and figuring out what is going on and hopefully get to the bottom of this here soon.”