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Posted on May 25, 2019May 7, 2020 by

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Names were made this season in the Xfinity Series.

The checkered flag at Homestead-Miami Speedway last weekend marked the end of three drivers’ full-time careers in NASCAR’s second-tier league. Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer and Christopher Bell all earned Cup Series rides for the 2020 season. It’s now time to move up – and on.

“Honestly, it was such an emotional week going into Homestead because I’m very reluctant to change,” Bell said. “I like my routine, and it was tough. I just kind of savored every moment of my last time sitting in a Xfinity car, my last time going to the races, my last time flying with this group of people.”

RELATED: 2019 Silly Season tracker

Friday night, the drivers who became known as the Big 3 were honored during the 2019 NASCAR Awards in the Crown Ballroom at the Charlotte Convention Center. Reddick celebrated his second championship in a row, while Custer finished second and Bell placed third. Justin Allgaier – the fourth Championship 4 contender – was also recognized.

Jonathan Ferrey | Getty Images

To quickly recap the Xfinity-to-Cup changes: Reddick is staying with Richard Childress Racing and exchanging his No. 2 Chevrolet for the No. 8 Chevrolet. Meanwhile, Custer is swapping out his No. 00 Ford for a No. 41 Ford at Stewart-Haas Racing. Bell is then moving from his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota.

“I guess I really didn’t realize until tonight what it’s really going to be like,” Custer said. “I’ve been in the Xfinity Series for a while now, and it’s going to be really sad leaving, for sure. I mean, it’s kind of what I’ve been used to the last few year, but I’m looking forward to next year — what I’m going to learn and what I need to do better.”

Excitement seemed to be the overall theme among the three. That, and ready.

Custer competed in the Xfinity Series for three full seasons, compiling nine wins. His best season finish is second — twice. Bell and Reddick both have two full years under their belts. Reddick has the two titles and nine wins to his name. Bell comes in at 16 wins, with third being his best final rank.

When it comes to the Cup Series, Custer enters with three starts, Reddick with two and Bell with none. Basically, it’s an even playing field.

“If we’re all running about 20th, we’ll probably lean on each other,” Bell said. “If one of us succeeds, then we’re definitely not going to be talking to the other two.”

Then there’s the Rookie of the Year battle to consider, or just who will score a victory first.

“If I’m hoping the other two win before me,” Reddick said, “then I probably shouldn’t be in the Cup Series to begin with.”

Bell and Reddick will be keeping their same crew chiefs from the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series. Jason Ratcliff is continuing his partnership with Bell, while Randall Burdett is set to remain with Reddick. Custer, however, does not have a name set in stone.

Next year’s action officially begins Feb. 16 with the Daytona 500.

“Now that the season is over, it’s definitely behind me,” Bell said. “I get the vibe I’m not an Xfinity driver anymore.”

Posted on May 25, 2019May 25, 2019 by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — Stewart-Haas Racing assembled a scorching track record one year ago, claiming a third of the checkered flags in a fruitful Monster Energy Series season. The 2019 campaign has been a tougher encore to produce.

SHR’s four-driver roster — Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Daniel Suarez — have all posted top-five finishes this season, but the win column remains empty heading into Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM). It’s a goose egg that’s prompted varying degrees of surprise from the SHR camp, especially Bowyer, who asked, “I mean, hell, aren’t we all?”

“We’ve had some really, really good runs and we’ve knocked on the door a lot for some wins here,” Bowyer said. “We’ve got to get that thing knocked through.”

At the 12-race mark of last season, Stewart-Haas had won half of the races, led by Harvick’s five-win burst out of the 2018 gates. Through 12 races this season, SHR drivers have won four Busch Pole Awards — three by Harvick — but Bowyer’s runner-up finish at Texas in March rates as the best result.

RELATED: Coca-Cola 600 starting lineup

This year, Joe Gibbs Racing (seven wins) and Team Penske (four wins) have dominated the tote board, with Chase Elliott contributing one win at Talladega for Hendrick Motorsports. While SHR has had to adjust to a new rules package and a new car model in the 2019 Ford Mustang, count Almirola among those surprised that the organization hasn’t elbowed its way onto the win list.

“Last year, we set a precedent winning … qualifying on a lot of poles and just being some of the cars to beat, week in and week out,” Almirola said. “So when you set that kind of precedent, it’s hard to live up to year after year. Right now, we’re going through some learning curves and that’s the beauty of being at Stewart-Haas Racing — I have all the confidence in the world that we’ve got all the smartest people and hardest-working people that we’ll figure it out and get our race cars to where we’ll be winning races before long.”

That time could come Sunday. Stewart-Haas occupies the upper portions of the 600-miler’s starting lineup after placing its four cars among the top eight in Thursday qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“Nothing surprises me in this sport,” said Harvick, a two-time Coca-Cola 600 winner. “We’ve been in this position before as a group, not having won a race. You just never know how a year is going to go. We’ve run well, really, for all the conditions and scrambling and all the things that we’ve had to do, we’ve run well. But the last couple weeks, we’ve led laps, and to me that’s more important than anything (for) getting into Victory Lane.”

Added Bowyer: “You keep your head down, you keep working hard, the guys in the shop. That’s the crazy thing about a company and an organization like Stewart-Haas Racing. There is no give-up. These men and women, they go to work, man. And I’m telling you, they’re some of the best in all of racing. If any organization can get in Victory Lane on a consistent basis, I can promise you, Gene Haas and Tony Stewart are the ones with their names on it.”

Posted on May 25, 2019 by Chase Wilhelm

CONCORD, N.C. – Martin Truex Jr. has reaped the benefits of competing under the Joe Gibbs Racing umbrella in more ways than one in his inaugural season with the team.

Along with working for one of the sport’s newest Hall of Fame inductees in team owner Joe Gibbs, he’s also been able to work more closely with teammate and defending Coca-Cola 600 champion Kyle Busch — a relationship that’s been strong both on and off the race track for a number of years.

“He’s just so good at driving the cars and giving the information about what he needs to go faster and just explaining things about his race car,” Truex told NASCAR.com. “It’s fun to just chat with him and bounce things back and forth. Hear what he’s dealing with and how he deals with it.

“You know, you see those things against competitors throughout the years,” he added. “You see how they do things and you always wonder what they think about it. What are their thoughts? How are they actually going about doing these things? So, it’s been fun kind of getting a closer glimpse of that.”

While Truex’s synergy with all of his JGR teammates makes the organization more robust as a whole, all that flies out the window when it’s time to get the job done.

“All those things are positive, but on Sunday you’ve got to race against the guy,” said Truex. “… They’re great competitors, great teammates and we all respect each other a ton. Throughout the week, I think our main focus is how do we get all four cars to finish first through fourth. But when the green flag drops on Sunday, it’s every man for himself and that’s what makes it fun.”

Truex heads into Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) still searching for his first trip to Victory Lane on a 1.5-mile circuit in 2019, but Charlotte Motor Speedway is a welcoming sight. Aiming for his fifth consecutive top-five finish in the event from the 14th starting position, the No. 19 driver hopes to keep it up at a track that didn’t treat him as kindly earlier in his career.

“For many years, this was probably one of my worst tracks,” Truex said. “As you have a place like that, you just continue to focus on it and not give up. Try to find what it takes to get around a place. Then you just hit on it and you can carry that for a number of years.”

“You hope it never goes away, but you know in reality at some point things change and you’re going to have to start looking for something different,” he added. “We’ve just been kind of riding that wave of momentum and riding out how I want it to feel — I know how my car needs to feel to be good during the race.”

Truex dominated the race in 2016, leading 392 of the 400 circuits, but it’ll be a tall task to repeat. This time around, he anticipates that it’ll be a little tougher than usual as teams adjust to a new style of racing on the 1.5-mile track – on top of all the other challenges Charlotte demands of drivers.

“This place is so temperamental,” Truex said. “Everybody talks about Charlotte being so temperature sensitive. It’s just a big challenge and it’s something over the years where we’ve built up a great notebook, things we can look back and lean on. Now, of course, the rules have changed so much, it’s going to be a new challenge.

“Trying to figure out the package we’re running now here is going to be different,” he added. “We got a glimpse of what it was like in the All-Star Race and now hopefully we can make the right adjustments coming into the 600. We can go out there and keep that success at Charlotte rolling.”

Posted on May 25, 2019May 25, 2019 by Marissa Fuller

CONCORD, N.C. — Patience. Accuracy. Focus. Adaptability.

Those are just a few words to describe what athletes need at the NASCAR Drive for Diversity National Pit Crew Combine, held Friday at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina. The University of Miami’s Dalanda Ouendeno, the first-ever soccer player to compete in the pit crew combine, has them all.

Growing up in Paris, France, Ouendeno had never even heard of NASCAR before recruiters came to the university to host tryouts. She decided to go for it and that’s the beginning of how she got here today.

“In France, NASCAR is not really known at all,” Ouendeno told NASCAR.com. “They (NASCAR) came on campus at the University of Miami and they were having tryouts for student-athletes and I was like, ‘Oh, I want to try out,’ and then I got in for today (the combine) and hopefully I go further.”

Phase 1 of the combine was foot-speed and change-of-direction evaluation. The first phase is timed with a goal of five minutes. Ouendeno completed the phase in four minutes, 50 seconds.

“It was hard. I gave 100% but I’m really happy with what I gave today,” she said. “When they came on campus, I did six minutes and 10 seconds, so I was aiming to do better but I did much better.”

The second phase was individual pit crew position drills. This phase allowed all the athletes to perform more of what they would specifically be doing at the race track. It was also the part that she was most excited for as she was trying out for a tire-changer position.

“That’s the real part; it’s what I’m going to do,” she said.

Phase 3 was the live pit stop competition, including two tire changes.

Ouendeno grew up playing soccer since she was 6 years old. She played for Paris St. Germain from 2009-2015 and won the Gothia Youth World Cup and IberCup Portugal in 2014.

She earned five Isles of France championships and played with numerous standout players, including current French national team midfielder Grace Geyoro before joining Paris St. Germain. She was also a member of Arnouville Football Club from 2004-2009.

With her soccer experience, Ouendeno has been able to use those skills during this next adventure.

“There’s a lot of footwork with NASCAR so that is what I’m using.,” she said. “There’s not a lot of upper body in soccer so now that’s my focus technique and (the mentality) to just do my best is the same.”

Tire-changer Brehanna Daniels, a D4D Pit Crew Combine alum, has become a mentor for Ouendeno. Ouendeno has already learned a handful of things from Daniels.

Photo by Tyler Strong

“In one day, I’ve learned so much. I can’t wait to learn even more,” Ouendeno explained. “We came from never touching a car like that before and now I know how to do it. It’s making a lot of noise, it’s heavy and you have to be precise. I can already see myself improving.”

Daniels has a lot of advice to offer Ouendeno and is making sure she stays focused on the ultimate goal — becoming one of the six athletes chosen to be a pit crew member come September.

“I’m trying to help her be the best tire-changer she possibly can be,” Daniels said. “Just remembering how I was in this same combine a few years ago. I’m just trying to pave the way for her as well. I’m making sure she’s focused. Focused on hitting those five lug nuts on, five lug nuts off.

“I told her that accuracy is a big deal and being patient with everything and just listening to coach (Phil) Horton. There’s going to be times when she’s frustrated but not to let those times overcome her performance.”

Daniels is very familiar with Ouendeno’s current position but believes if this is something she really wants, she will make it happen.

“This is brand new to her, like it was brand new to me,” Daniels said. “I think she has what it takes. But, she has to be all in and want to do it.”

Ouendeno is eager and excited for this opportunity. She is absolutely all in.

Posted on May 25, 2019May 25, 2019 by Staff Report

Daniel Suarez topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 180.705 mph in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. The 27-year-old led the morning’s early practice, as well.

Right behind him was Daniel Hemric in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet at 180.687 mph. Rounding out the top five were Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (180.554 mph), Ryan Preece in the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Chevrolet (180.469 mph) and Kyle Busch in the No. 18 JGR Toyota (180.276 mph). Busch is the defending race winner of the Coca-Cola 600.

Series points leader Joey Logano was 15th fastest with a speed of 179.372 mph in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

William Byron, who earned the Busch Pole Award on Friday to become the race’s youngest pole winner in history, was ninth on the leaderboard at 179.742 mph.

The series races Sunday at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Practice 2

Daniel Suarez topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 182.143 mph in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

Right behind him was defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at 182.051 mph.

MORE: Full practice results | Best 10-lap averages | Updated odds for Charlotte

Rounding out the top five were Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing (181.488 mph), Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford (181.397 mph) and Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 SHR Ford (181.366 mph).

Series points leader Joey Logano was 14th fastest with a speed of 180.832 mph in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Pole sitter William Byron was 23rd in the session with a fast lap of 179.742 mph.

Fresh off a $1 million win in the All-Star Race, Kyle Larson placed 25th on the leaderboard at 179.665 mph.

Posted on May 25, 2019 by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on May 24, 2019April 1, 2021 by Staff Report

The chaos that was the final laps at Wall Stadium Speedway last Saturday benefited at least one driver.

Ken Heagy, a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver who has been competing for 25 years, tied his second-best career finish with a seventh-place effort in the Jersey Shore 150.

Behind the wheel of the No. 18 Buoy One Seafood Chevrolet, Heagy started 22nd, but stayed on the lead lap at the end of the race, and when others ran into trouble, the veteran was able to sneak his way around without much damage en route to the strong finish.

“Riverhead Raceway can have some weekly shows like that, but that was probably the craziest race I have been in for a while,” Heagy said. “We were happy to be in that position, but we were really concerned because we were having some motor issues. I thought we had a carb issue, but as we came across the line at the finish, the car died and it wouldn’t fire back up. I locked it up not to run into Rob Summers and when I tried to start it back up, it wouldn’t start. So we were really lucky.”

Heagy’s history behind the wheel doesn’t just include Whelen Modified Tour races. The Calverton, New York, driver has competed at Riverhead on Long Island on a weekly basis before — a bullring with tight corners and short straightaways that forces drivers to be up on the wheel and ready for anything. His sponsor, Buoy One Seafood, has been with him for more than 10 years supporting his efforts.

“We only ran a couple of full seasons, and we just basically ran when we could,” Heagy said. “It’s the same way for us now, we get through the week we are running, and then we worry about the next week.”

Heagy welcomed Buddy Loecher to the team recently and he feels like that could have been the move to put them in the position to make gains on the track.

“We’re always working on it,” Heagy said. “Buddy came on with us a few years ago and we started working on it more and he isn’t afraid to try some different things and neither am I. We spent the winter trying to think of something new to try, because I’m getting older and it isn’t getting any easier. It seems to be going better for us.”

The seventh-place finish at Wall was certainly a confidence builder for his entire team.

“It definitely felt good, I had been a little bit down on myself lately. Even in practice, we weren’t super fast, but the car was comfortable to drive,” Heagy said. “We aren’t able to throw a bunch of tires on and that is tough for us. Being really comfortable in the car is important, and my guys were really happy. That’s the main thing.”

For now, Heagy is looking forward to the next two races on the schedule. The Whelen Modified Tour will visit Seekonk Speedway on Saturday, June 1, before a stop at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park just four days later on June 5.

“I tell my guys, no matter what happens, we are going to race hard, and we all make mistakes, but when I get out of the car at the end of the day we are all going to go have a beer and laugh about it,” Heagy said. “At the end of the day, we have to go out there and have a good time.”

“You want to run as best as you can.”

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — Ryan Newman had the perfect tension-breaker for his first meeting with Clint Bowyer since their Saturday night All-Star altercation.

“C’mon, buddy,” Newman called out, with an exaggerated pat of the autograph table at Concord’s Bass Pro Shops store. Bowyer sidled up to his rival with a coy grin, smiled for a picture and started signing.

Newman invites Bowyer to come on over for autograph session at Bass Pro Shop. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/sTGQlp8pgK

— Zack Albert (@zack_albert) May 23, 2019

Five days after Bowyer and Newman faced off after the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, the two drivers were elbow to elbow instead of toe to toe in a deliciously timed meet-and-greet session with fans Thursday afternoon near Charlotte Motor Speedway. Two tables were initially set far apart before their arrival, but the two opted for a cozier setup for the hourlong session, which drew a sizable crowd to the Concord Mills location.

Zack Albert | NASCAR Digital Media

“There’s one thing that I can always promise you about something like that, and it is unfortunate. You hate having things like that happen, but attendance — that’s probably the best attended autograph at Bass Pro Shops that I’ve had in a long, long time,” Bowyer said after qualifying eighth for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “Obviously I don’t want to do that every weekend to have people show up, but at the end of the day, we all love this sport, we all are passionate about this sport, and every now and then, that passion shows a little more, a little brighter than other times.”

A late-race collision in the final stage of the All-Star event prompted further contact between the two drivers on the cool-down lap Saturday night. The tension boiled over with Bowyer’s repeated post-race blows through Newman’s driver’s window, then an aggravated exchange of words on pit road afterward.

Thursday, the two were cordial but not overly chummy, and the setting teetered toward awkward without being tense. Both indicated they’d had a discussion beforehand, one that may have defused some of the edge.

“It was fine. I mean, as good as two drivers are after a situation like that,” Newman said after qualifying 18th for Sunday’s 600. “I don’t know that you say that’s good, but it was good we got a chance to talk. We were there for the fans, not for each other.”

Bowyer agreed. “Yeah, we did (talk) a little. It was good to have a conversation about it. At the end of the day, there was a lot of things that escalated very fast, and obviously gets out of hand.”

Still, Newman couldn’t resist getting in a good-natured barb, echoing former team owner Tony Stewart’s remarks that Bowyer should have removed his helmet before fisticuffs in a nod to driver etiquette.

“No, he didn’t have a helmet on,” Newman said of Bowyer’s arrival at the autograph session. “I think there was a point where he thought he might need one, but we were good.”

Boxing gloves signed by Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman. | Zack Albert, NASCAR Digital Media

Both drivers indicated that they were ready to move beyond the All-Star incident, but those attending Thursday’s gathering wouldn’t let them completely forget. Paul Linker of Charlotte was one of the last fans to go through the autograph line. Lacking a die-cast car or other memorabilia for the pair to sign, Linker visited a nearby Walmart and emerged with the best item he could imagine: boxing gloves.

Bowyer and Newman were good sports, signing both the left and right glove with nary a hook or jab.

“Hopefully, it’s behind us,” Bowyer said. “We both have a little better understanding about how it escalated into that, and you’ve just got to get stuff like that behind you.”

Said Newman: “It was good to kind of clear the air. It is what it is. It’s the past. It’s just something you always remember. You learn about somebody in a situation like that.”

Posted on May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 by Reid Spencer

CONCORD, N.C. – On Thursday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Brad Keselowski opined that the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets were the fastest cars in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage.

Turns out he was right — about one of them, at least.

As twilight approached at the 1.5-mile intermediate track, William Byron turned a lap in 29.440 seconds (183.424 mph) in his No. 24 Chevy to win the pole position for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), earning the distinction as the youngest pole winner in the 60-year history of NASCAR’s longest race—and at Charlotte Motor Speedway, for that matter.

In winning his second Busch Pole Award of the season and the second of his fledgling career, the 21-year-old Charlotte native was .057 seconds faster than second-place qualifier Aric Almirola, who turned a lap at 183.069 mph in his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

“This is a dream come true,” Byron said, after watching teammate Alex Bowman fall short as the final driver to make a qualifying run. “Obviously, I grew up in Charlotte and came to this race every year. So it’s a dream come true to qualify on the pole with Hendrick Motorsports just across the street and all the hard work and everybody at Chevrolet giving us fast race cars.

“This is pretty cool. I can’t think of a better way to start the weekend.”

Kyle Busch was third in the fastest Toyota at 182.933 mph. Austin Dillon qualified fourth, followed by Stewart-Haas teammates Kevin Harvick and Daniel Suarez.

Byron is seeking his first Cup victory, but his crew chief, seven-time champion Chad Knaus, has four wins in the Coca-Cola 600, and Byron feels their level of communication has been on an upswing.

“Yeah, just the dialogue we have in the hauler or transporter or whatever you want to call it,” Byron said. “We go back and forth on communication changes. It’s starting to improve for us, and that’s where the speed is coming from. Also, the cars are getting faster. So this is really exciting.”

Joey Logano was seventh fastest, followed by Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daniel Hemric, as Ford drivers nailed down six of the top 10 positions on the grid.

Keselowski, who qualified 21st, was slightly off the mark about the other three Hendrick cars. Chase Elliott qualified 12th, Bowman 13th and seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson 15th. Johnson, who has eight victories at Charlotte, hopes to break a winless streak that has reached 71 races.

“There are three of our Hendrick cars right there with us,” Johnson said. “The 24 (Byron) had an incredible lap, so we’ll try to dig in and see just how committed they were to qualifying. I think we were a bit more in a race scenario, the way it looks at my quick glance, but we just have to stick together as a group.

“The fact that three of our cars were there and so close in speed is a great starting spot for all of us. We had a couple of cars that ran good in the All-Star Race (last Saturday) and a couple that didn’t. Mine was one that didn’t. To piggy-back on what those guys had going on is the goal for us this weekend, and we’ll see how that translates to the race.”

Posted on May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 by Staff Report

See the order the cars will go off during single-car qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday night for the Coca-Cola 600. Qualifying is at 7:05 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Click the print icon to see the full list.