Posted on by Staff Report

Paul Menard said Friday he has a contract for the 2020 racing season, indicating he plans to return to the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford team.

Menard, 38, is in his second season with the Wood Brothers operation.

RELATED: Menard’s driver page | Kentucky schedule

“I have a good job, for sure,” Menard said after final Monster Energy Series practice at Kentucky Speedway. “I love the Wood Brothers. I love my race team. They are good people. I have a contract for next year. I guess it is getting to be that time of year when people start talking about things. I have a contract and I love my team. We just have to perform better, that is all.”

Menard is in his 13th full season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The Wisconsin native sits 20th in the standings heading into Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with two top-10 finishes in the first 18 races.

Menard’s best finish this season was a sixth-place effort at Bristol Motor Speedway. He has led just one lap this season, accomplished last weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

“It is certainly not where we want to be,” said Menard, who sits outside the provisional postseason field of 16. “I feel like we have definitely shown some speed in the races, it is just a matter of putting together the entire race, something we have struggled to do. It starts on Friday, or qualifying day.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Three-time Kentucky winner Brad Keselowski led the final Monster Energy Series practice session at Kentucky Speedway, moving his No. 2 Team Penske Ford to a fast lap of 182.303 mph Friday afternoon.

RELATED: Best 10-lap averages | Final practice results

Keselowski led four Fords in the top five of the leaderboard in the final practice session at the 1.5-mile track in preparation for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Stewart-Haas Racing continued its strong practice showing as Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Ford was second (181.794 mph) and Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 Ford was fifth (181.458 mph).

Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was third (181.763 mph), while Ryan Blaney was fourth in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford (181.702 mph).

Defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. was 20th in the session, moving his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the track at 179.796 mph.

FIRST PRACTICE
Kurt Busch led the way in Friday’s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Kentucky Speedway, wheeling his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet around the 1.5-mile track at 183.742 mph.

Busch was just ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Aric Almirola in the No. 10 Ford (183.542 mph) and Daniel Suarez in the No. 41 Ford (183.101), who were right behind him with second- and third-best practice laps.

RELATED: 10-lap averages | Practice results

Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (182.723 mph) and Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (182.550 mph) rounded out the top five.

Posted on by Steve Luvender

Editor’s note: Create your fill-in-the-blank, Mad Libs-style and tweet a screenshot of your zany experiment to Steve Luvender.

It’s been quite a season in NASCAR so far. At the halfway mark, 2019 is clearly the year of

from

. Watching back-to-back first-time winners Alex Bowman and Justin Haley makes me feel so

! I bet the next first-time winner will be

because he’s

.

Speaking of winning races, it has been a

we haven’t seen any victories from 2018 race winner

yet. There’s

he wins one before the end of the year.

Still, it’s hard to believe we’re halfway through the season. It feels like just yesterday

. My

race was when

because

.

There have been plenty of surprises in the first half of 2019, like

and

. I wonder if we’ll ever see something like that again!

And how about this Rookie of the Year battle?

has looked strong, but I think the biggest thing standing in his way is

. My prediction is

comes out on top in the end.

As the defending champion, Joey Logano has truly

. I believe this year he’s going to

, and maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll even see

.

I think

will win the championship. If not, it’ll totally be
because I am

And if I’m wrong,

.

Posted on by Marissa Fuller

SPARTA, Ky. — Tempers and … hats … flew in the garage at Kentucky Speedway when Natalie Decker and Spencer Boyd discussed an on-track incident during Thursday’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race.

You read that correctly.

The issue started on Lap 44 when Boyd, in the No. 20, appeared to get too close to the No. 54 of Decker, going up the track, hitting her front left and sending her spinning along with him into outside wall at the entrance of Turn 1.

The wreck resulted in night-ending damage for both drivers, with Decker finishing 27th and Boyd being scored 29th.

RELATED: Full race results | Kentucky schedule

Visibly upset after the incident, Decker approached Boyd in the garage. The two drivers exchanged words until the conversation stopped when Decker grabbed the hat off of Boyd’s head, throwing it on the ground as she walked away.

https://twitter.com/nickolsen_/status/1149483670840811521?s=21

The crash between the two brought out the second caution of the race, the first occurring for the Stage 1 break.

Posted on by Staff Report

Tyler Ankrum took advantage when Brett Moffitt ran out of fuel with less than two laps remaining, scoring his first NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory Thursday night at Kentucky Speedway.

Ankrum led 40 of the 150 laps — including the final two — in his DGR-Crosley No. 17 Toyota to win Thursday’s Buckle Up In Your Truck 225. The 18-year-old driver’s first win comes in just the 12th start of his Gander Trucks career.

RELATED: Race results | Full schedule for Kentucky

“I can’t believe it. This is a dream come truck,” said Ankrum, last year’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion. “One of my biggest faults is I’ve always doubted myself. Tonight, I kind of felt all that wash away.”

Moffitt led 35 laps in a bid for his second straight win, but his quick fuel-only pit strategy for the final stage proved to be too quick. Moffitt’s GMS Racing No. 24 coasted to a seventh-place finish, last on the lead lap.

“All in all, we called a great race. We were just a lap short,” Moffitt said. “It’s tough. We had a good-sized lead there and a great handling truck.”

Stewart Friesen finished second, 7.373 seconds behind at the checkered flag after an eventful day. His primary No. 52 Chevrolet was confiscated by NASCAR officials and he started last in the 32-truck field. Harrison Burton rallied from a spin to take third place, and Ross Chastain and Dylan Lupton rounded out the top five.

Sheldon Creed led the first 35 laps, taking the top spot from pole winner Grant Enfinger at the start of a relatively tame Stage 1. The second stage erupted with four caution flags, three of those for multi-truck tangles.

The hardest of those was the first, triggered when Spencer Boyd’s No. 20 Chevrolet made contact with Natalie Decker’s No. 54 Toyota on Lap 41. That collision also collected Jordan Anderson’s No. 3 and later touched off an argument between Decker and Boyd in the garage.

MORE: Decker, Boyd at odds

Enfinger figured into one of the most dramatic of those incidents on the 64th lap, dipping low in a contact for the lead with Xfinity Series regular Brandon Jones. Enfinger’s No. 98 Ford slid up the track, carrying both his truck and Jones’ No. 51 Toyota into the Turn 4 wall.

“I just screwed up,” Enfinger said. “I got separated enough that I thought I could clear him but I didn’t. You can’t run side by side here, that’s all on me trying to make something happen. It’s hard racing.”

Said Jones: “I would love to hear what he had to say about it. But, we got to talk for a minute. I asked him if there were hard feelings about that restart because I just didn’t make it happen, but he took responsibility. We’re good, moving on.”

Creed’s night took a downturn early in the final stage with a crunching hit of the outside retaining barrier. That caused a flat tire and another wall scrape, dropping him from contention.

The series’ next race is the Gander RV 150, scheduled July 27 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) at Pocono Raceway. Three races remain in the Gander Trucks’ regular season.

Posted on by Terrin Waack

There are two types of drivers in the racing world: those who play it safe and those who don’t.

Maybe safe isn’t the correct word. Strategic might be better. Smart works, too.

Regardless, William Byron falls into that category. In the last seven races, the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has moved up the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship points standings just as many spots. He was 19th after finishing 20th at Kansas Speedway in May and now sits 12th after a second-place run at Daytona International Speedway.

RELATED: Updated standings | Schedule for Kentucky

That jump is thanks to the 238 points Byron has accumulated since Kansas, a stretch which featured four top-10 performances and that one runner-up finish. He earned at least 17 points in each race, with a high of 45 at Pocono Raceway.

Then there’s Clint Bowyer. The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford has been trending in the opposite direction, with a seeming focus on wins. He currently is ranked 15th with 444 points. Seven weeks ago, however, he was ninth.

As other drivers, such as Byron, stacked up points, Bowyer has added just 125 since Kansas, despite a pair of top-five finishes. Two races – at Michigan International Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway – saw him earn a combined total of only three points. His best was 38 at Kansas.

The numbers between Byron and Bowyer are so different because Byron has put an emphasis on stage points. If a driver wins a stage, he or she gets a playoff point (not relevant in this comparison) and 10 regular-season points. Second then gets nine points, third gets eight, fourth gets seven … and so on.

Of Byron’s 238 points in the last seven races, 64 were from stage points alone. He closed out 10 of the 15 stages (Charlotte had three rather than two) in the top 10 and even won Stage 1 at Sonoma Raceway. The only race in that span where he didn’t earn any stage points was Kansas.

Bowyer, on the other hand, had five races without a single stage point. He’s four-for-15 with 16 stage points in the past seven races.

MORE: Monster Energy Series stage points

There only are eight races left in the regular season, starting with the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway this Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and neither Byron nor Bowyer has won a race. Therefore, they are not guaranteed a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs. They currently are only safe right now due to where they rank in the standings.

Sixteen drivers make the playoff field. Daniel Suarez is right outside the bubble in 17th place. He trails Ryan Newman for the final spot by three points. That leaves Bowyer in a risky situation, above the cutoff line by just four points.

Byron, meanwhile, has a 58-point cushion.

Time is running out, and only time will tell whose game plan ultimately pays off. Go for the checkered flag, or go for the stage points. A trip to Victory Lane would make all of this irrelevant, but that’s much easier said than done.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

William Byron . Clint Bowyer
12th Standings 15th
498 Points 444
0 Wins 0
1 Top 5s 5
6 Top 10s 8
1 DNFs 5
180 Laps led 45
1 Stage wins 0

 

LAST SEVEN RACES

                     . Stage 1 Stage 2 Finish Total Pts Stage Pts Standings
Track WB CB WB CB WB CB WB CB WB CB WB CB
Kansas – 8 – 8 20 5 17 38 – 6 19 9
Charlotte 6 – 5/- -/- 9 24 39 13 11 – 15 11
Pocono 2 – 3 – 9 5 45 32 17 – 14 10
Michigan – – 8 – 18 35 22 2 3 – 14 12
Sonoma 1 – 3 – 19 11 36 26 18 – 14 12
Chicago 8 – 7 – 8 37 36 1 7 – 12 16
Daytona – 7 3 5 2 34 43 13 8 10 12 15

 

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 22 Team Penske Xfinity Series team was issued an L1-level penalty Thursday at Kentucky Speedway for an illegal body modification to its car, and crew chief Brian Wilson was escorted from the garage as a result.

NASCAR officials discovered the modification during inspection and issued the penalty before Xfinity Series cars took the track at the 1.5-mile speedway.

RELATED: Full schedule for Kentucky

The L1 penalty comes with a loss of 10 points for driver Austin Cindric and team owner Roger Penske, along with a one-race suspension to Wilson — which he will serve at this race. The team also was fined $10,000.

Cindric entered the Kentucky event fourth in the standings with six top fives and 13 top 10s on the season.

It was confirmed that the No. 22 team made the appropriate fixes to the Ford and did not need to go to a backup car. Cindric was fifth fastest in the first NASCAR Xfinity Series practice on Thursday with a best lap of 175.970 mph.

RELATED: No. 52 truck confiscated

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kyle Busch, the 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, took home some hardware at last night’s ESPY Awards, winning Best Driver – his second win in the last four years.

Busch, who also won the award in 2016, received the most votes in the category full of elite drivers including Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton, NHRA’s Steve Torrence and IndyCar’s Scott Dixon.

RELATED: Every national series win for Kyle Busch 

With Busch’s win, NASCAR drivers have now won the award in four of the past five seasons (Martin Truex Jr. – 2018; Kyle Busch – 2016; and Kevin Harvick – 2015).

Busch won eight races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, tying Harvick for the most in the series. He also logged 28 top 10s and 22 top fives across 36 total points races. Busch is poised for another title run in 2019, as he has already logged four wins, 10 top fives and 15 top 10s in 18 starts this season.

Back in March at Auto Club Speedway, Busch picked up his 200th career NASCAR national series victory, the same track where he notched his first career Monster Energy Series victory in 2005. Heading into this weekend at Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400, Busch will be gunning for his 56th career win in NASCAR’s premier series.

Tune-in to NBCSN this Saturday, July 13 at 7:30 p.m. ET to watch Busch and NASCAR’s best at Kentucky, or listen live on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials confiscated the No. 52 Halmar Racing Chevrolet of driver Stewart Friesen on Thursday morning at Kentucky Speedway after the sanctioning body found the vehicle not acceptable.

The team was permitted to remove the driver safety equipment before the confiscation. The organization rolled out its backup truck to run in the series’ opening practice Thursday morning.

NASCAR officials later confirmed it was a firewall issue in the truck. Friesen must start Thursday night’s Gander Trucks race (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) from the rear of the field, but no team members will be ejected. The team was also permitted to keep the tires from the confiscated truck.

MORE: This weekend’s schedule

Any additional penalties likely will be announced next week.

Friesen currently is second in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and has three consecutive top-five finishes, including two consecutive third-place efforts. He trails Grant Enfinger by 52 points for the series points lead.