Posted on by Staff Report

Brenda Jackson, mother of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, died at age 65 after a battle with cancer, JR Motorsports announced Monday afternoon.

Jackson was a longtime employee of JR Motorsports, joining her son’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race team as an accounting specialist in 2004. Her sarcastic sense of humor injected a brand of humor at JR Motorsports that became part of the company’s fabric as it grew into a full-time NASCAR racing operation in 2006 and a championship-winning organization in 2014, according to the team.

Along with a 15-year career with JRM, Jackson also was one of four children to legendary NASCAR fabricator Robert Gee, who built cars for a number of high-tier drivers, including Dale Earnhardt.

Brenda Gee and Dale Earnhardt married in 1972, having two children over the span of their marriage. After the couple separated, their two children stayed with their mother while Earnhardt continued to get his racing career off the ground.

After a house fire that left Brenda, Kelley and Dale Jr. homeless, Brenda moved back to Virginia. She re-married in 1985 to Willie Jackson, a firefighter in Norfolk. After Willie’s retirement, the couple moved back to North Carolina with stepdaughter Meredith to work with Kelley and Dale at JRM.

“I’m a very, very lucky woman, as I get to interact with my kids almost every day,” Jackson said last year according to JRM’s official announcement of her passing. “I’ve got two bright, beautiful kids that I am very proud of. Kelley’s standards are very high. She conducts herself that way and she expects that of everyone else. Dale Jr. just gets bigger and bigger. I am very proud of his accomplishments, but as a mother I am proudest of the way he handles himself with honesty and the way he cares about his family and his friends.”

Jackson was preceded in death by her parents, Hazel May Overton Clark and Robert Edward Gee, and her sister Sandra Gee.

She is survived by her husband of 33 years, William M. Jackson Jr.; children Dale Earnhardt Jr. (wife Amy), Kelley Earnhardt Miller (husband L.W.), stepdaughter Meredith Davis (husband Jonathan); grandchildren Karsyn Elledge (18), Kennedy Elledge (13), Wyatt Miller (7), Callahan Davis (16), Claudia Davis (13) and Isla Rose Earnhardt (11 months); her brothers Robert Gee (wife Beverly) and Jimmy Gee; and her Pekingese dog, Scully.

Posted on by David Smith

Aric Almirola’s win last October at Talladega Superspeedway was the culmination of a deliberate game plan. Stewart-Haas Racing deployed a four-car bulwark at the front of the field; its drivers thumbed their noses at the track’s well-known crash dynamic. You may crash one of us, but you’re not crashing all of us.

All four cars rode first through fourth for 70 percent of the 500-mile race. Three drivers combined to lead 80 percent of the event. Stewart-Haas claimed the trophy and inspired copycat attempts at the strategy four months later during Speedweeks in Daytona when Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports aimed for similar defensive tactics in The Clash and the early laps of the Daytona 500, respectively.

Those attempts didn’t work, primarily because Daytona isn’t Talladega. Though the word “Talladega” holds a connotation of chaos, there’s more decorum at the front of its fields than one might expect.

In fact, the most coveted running position also acts as a safe space.

RELATED: Most wins after an off-week

Leads at Talladega are both valuable and sacred

The threat of the ‘Big One’ is real at Talladega. Dating back to 2013, the track saw 24 crashes consuming at least four cars. Nine of those accidents included 10 or more cars. Because of the close-proximity racing created by tapered spacers and drafting, a large multi-car crash looms constantly as a foil ready to end any semblance of a game plan created by a forward-thinking team. Though such an accident could occur at any moment, it isn’t without predictive nature.

The lead car successfully avoided all 24 of those accidents over the last six years, just one of three running positions on the race track able to skirt Talladega’s landmine crashes.

Crash inclusion rates for every position are visible in this interactive chart:

 

The average crash inclusion rate for any position in the Talladega running order during this span was 22.8 percent, meaning the top four cars were in crashes less often than the field-wide average. This made such a tactic like the one Stewart-Haas utilized last fall viable.

The middle of the field is the area teams should strive to avoid, based on history. Positions 9 through 26 averaged a 36.8 percent inclusion rate. The running order spots of 13th and 17th were included in half of the crashes consisting of four or more cars.

PHOTOS: Wildest wrecks at Talladega

If some of the rates seem jarring, it’s because they are. However, there is at least a definitive area for safe navigation on Talladega’s track. Daytona no longer has such a comfort.

Drafting tracks and ‘Big Ones’ are not created equal

From 2013 to 2016, the front of the field at Daytona was the bubble for which teams pined. The top five cars in the running order averaged a crash inclusion rate of 7.4 percent. Since 2017, the average increased to 33 percent. Third place at Daytona, once the safest spot on the track with an inclusion rate of zero, became its least-safe spot, its rate growing to 50 percent.

There is no singular reason behind this shift. For one, mid-pack refugees sought an escape and overpopulated Daytona’s lead pack. Secondly, the guise of professionalism disappeared. After years of being proactive, Daytona’s drivers became reactive: Crash before getting crashed.

Daytona’s lawlessness hasn’t crept into Talladega’s peloton. Talladega is a wider track, offering more room on the racing surface regardless of running order whereabouts, and better neutralizes handling than its sister track where a hot day gives way to slicker asphalt and setup frustrations.

This doesn’t mean that Daytona’s problem won’t inform Talladega race strategy. Drafting-averse teams might not decipher (or care about) the difference between the two facilities and the races they host. Those recognizing how problematic Daytona’s lead pack has become may choose to, again, ride in Talladega’s middle. The potential for overpopulation in the ill-advised spots means it’s possible their odds of getting caught in a big crash could be greater than recent history’s suggestion.

RELATED: Biggest surprise ‘Dega winners

The contrarian strategy

Lest we forget, two cars cannot occupy the same running position. If it happens more than one four-car alliance has its hopes set on conglomerating the first four spots, it’ll create a high-speed staring contest. One potential amenity for the side that blinks first is a complimentary tow-truck ride.

Qualifying may dictate who gets first dibs on the most obvious game plan, just as it did last fall when Stewart-Haas placed all four cars inside the first two rows on Talladega’s starting grid. For those unable to win the Busch Pole battle, the best strategy is to ride in the rear.

Positions 31 through 40 were caught in, on average, five percent of the crashes during the aforementioned time frame and as the running order compresses, with crash victims occupying some or all of those spots, “the rear” moves higher in the order but retains a similar value.

It’s not pretty, and it takes teams out of the running for Stage points, but ultimately, it’s an effective survivalist plan. A team can’t win if it isn’t in the race. Being one of the last cars rolling, especially if attrition skews high, is a grounded idea that may reward patience with a choice result.

Preparing for the drafting tracks is a science constantly in flux, with the threat of a big crash acting as the primary hurdle. The “Big One,” when it happens, may only remove a portion of the field from the race, but it informs the stratagems of all the event’s participants regardless of whether it occurs.

David Smith is the founder of MotorsportsAnalytics.com and co-host of Positive Regression: A Motorsports Analytics Podcast.

Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give you the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App | How to find NBCSN

Monday, April 22
5:30 p.m. NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN:
12:30 p.m., MRN Outloud

Tuesday, April 23
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN:
9 a.m., The Tough Trucks of NASCAR: Episode 10

Wednesday, April 24
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN:
Noon: NASCAR Coast to Coast
1 p.m., MRN Crew Call

Thursday, April 25
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

Friday, April 26
3 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Practice, FS1/FOX Sports App
4 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Weekend Edition, FS1/FOX Sports App
4:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Final Practice, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN2)

On MRN:
12:30 p.m, Xfinity Series practice
1:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice
2:30 p.m., Xfinity Series final practice
4:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice

Saturday, April 27
1 a.m., Unrivaled: Earnhardt vs. Gordon (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
5 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Practice (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
6 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Final Practice (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
10 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
11:30 a.m., NASCAR RaceHub: Weekend Edition, FS1/FOX Sports App
noon, NASCAR Presents: Davey Lives On, FS1/FOX Sports App
12:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Xfinity, FS1/FOX Sports App
1 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: MoneyLion 300, FS1/FOX Sports App
(Canada: TSN5)
4:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, FOX/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN5)
11 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: MoneyLion 300 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App

On MRN:
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: MoneyLion 300
4:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole qualifying

Sunday, April 28
5 a.m., Unrivaled: Earnhardt vs. Gordon (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
6 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: MoneyLion 300 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
12:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Talladega, FS1/FOX Sports App
1:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FOX/FOX Sports App
2 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500, FOX/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN3,5)
11 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN:
1 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500

Posted on by Staff Report

After two weeks off, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour teams are back in action this weekend in Connecticut. The 48th annual NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 will take place on Sunday — but teams will practice and qualify on Saturday.

The Whelen Modified Tour helps begin another season of racing at the historic half-mile, as the five NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions also open their schedule. The visit is the first of three for the Whelen Modified Tour this season.

NAPA SPRING SIZZLER 200 AT STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Doug Coby may lead the championship standings after the first three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races, but the rest of the field isn’t far behind.

2019 Sizzler Logo1Over his 17 year past, Coby, who grew up racing at Stafford and won championships in the weekly series before moving to the Whelen Modified Tour, has taken that success and run with it. In 54 Whelen Modified Tour starts at Stafford, Coby has 11 victories and three of them in the NAPA Spring Sizzler — including top 10 runs in over 60 percent of his starts. He won six consecutive poles at Stafford from October 2015 through April ’17, and has started from the top spot in nine races.

WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR: 2019 Schedule | Race Center

Fresh off his first win of the season in his effort to repeat as champion, Justin Bonsignore is entering Stafford looking to turn his previous luck around. With a best finish of second in 34 previous starts, Bonsignore has yet to master the half-mile, but did win the pole there last September en route to clinching the series championship that day. With crew chief Ryan Stone, Bonsignore finished seventh, eighth and 12th in the three races there last year driving the No. 51 Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet, and he has admitted it’s one of the few tracks where he might need a bit of improvement.

With Burt Myers, who currently sits fourth in the standings, moving to the weekly Whelen All-American Series action at Bowman Gray Stadium, veteran Jeff Rocco returns to action driving the No. 1 Dunleavy Truck and Trailer Repair Chevrolet for Eddie Harvey.

Joey Cipriano, a regular in Stafford’s SK Modified division, will make his Whelen Modified Tour debut on Sunday, while Chase Dowling, who cut his teeth racing in Stafford’s Modified ranks, will return to action driving for Jamie Tomaino. Dowling finished second in the Whelen Modified Tour point standings last year.

RACE FACTS

RACE NAPA Spring Sizzler 200
PLACE Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford, Conn.
DATE Sunday, April 28
TIME 3:30 p.m. (approx.)
TELEVISION FansChoice.TV, 3:30 p.m. (live streaming)
TRACK LAYOUT Half-mile paved asphalt oval
2018 WINNER Ryan Preece
2018 POLE Chase Dowling
EVENT SCHEDULE SATURDAY: Garage Opens: 8:15 a.m., First Practice: 11-11:40 a.m., Final Practice: 12:20-1 p.m., Group Qualifying: 2:30 p.m., Garage Closes: 4 p.m.

SUNDAY: Garage Opens: 9:30 a.m., Driver Autograph Session: 11-11:50 a.m., NAPA Spring Sizzler 200: 3:30 p.m. (approx.)
TWITTER @StaffordSpeedwy, @NASCARHomeTrack
HASHTAG #NWMT, #NAPASpringSizzler

RACE CENTER | ENTRY LIST |SCHEDULE & TICKETS

CREW CHIEF HANDOUT: 

The starting field for the NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 is limited to 33 starters, including provisional positions. The first 27 drivers will secure starting positions based on the group qualifying process. The remaining six positions will be awarded through the provisional process.

NASCAR group qualifying is in place for this event. Qualifying order will be determined by each vehicle‘s fastest single lap from the official practice sessions. The number of qualifying groups will be determined by NASCAR. Each group qualifying session will be five (5) minutes in duration and the fastest single lap speed of each vehicle will determine the first 27 starting positions.

Adjustments or repairs may not be made on a vehicle after the vehicle enters the track to begin the qualifying session. Vehicles may not return to the track to make any further qualifying laps unless directed to do so by a NASCAR Official or in the event of a caution. Once a vehicle‘s qualifying attempt is complete, the vehicle must proceed directly to the designated impound area once it enters pit road. In the event of a caution, all vehicles must exit the track.

The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eleven (11) tires per team. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. The tire change is four (4) tires, any position.

MEDIA CENTER

NASCAR.com: Joey Cipriano Going From Stafford Victory Lane to Whelen Modified Tour Debut | Ryan Preece Returning To Whelen Modified Tour Action at Thompson

RacedayCT.com: Doug Coby Leads Whelen Modified Tour To NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford | Woody Pitkat Looking Forward Following Two Podium Runs at Thompson Icebreaker

Speed51.com: Historic Amount of Modified Racing at Riverhead | Mike Christopher Jr. Carrying on the Christopher Legacy

Short Track Scene: Bowman Gray Season-Opener Postponed by Rain | Woody Pitkat Running Sunoco Modifieds and Late Models in 2019

Posted on by @nascarcasm

On Easter weekend, drivers and crews enjoy a rare weekend off.

But for their marshmallow Peep counterparts, it is a day of heated competition. Yes, pun intended.

Ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls and Peep lovers all around the world, here to fill the Easter-weekend racing void, we give you … the 2019 Peeps 400. The field consists of drivers that made the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs. Please, do not post any spoilers online.

Posted on by Staff Report

Now is your chance to make your voice heard.

Polls are now open for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020 Fan Vote. To vote, visit NASCAR.com/halloffame.

Fans are again asked to cast votes for up to five nominees for inclusion into the Class of 2020, and can vote up to 50 times per day. The five nominees who receive the most votes will count as one of the 54 votes cast by the Voting Panel on NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day on May 22. The polls close at noon ET on May 20.

PHOTOS: Pics of every nominee

Below are the 20 nominees who are eligible for entry into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020:

• Sam Ard, NASCAR Xfinity Series pioneer and two-time champion

• Buddy Baker, won 19 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the Daytona 500 and Southern 500

• Neil Bonnett, won 18 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including consecutive Coca-Cola 600 wins

• Red Farmer, three-time Late Model Sportsman champion; 1956 Modified champion

• Ray Fox, legendary engine builder, crew chief and car owner

• Harry Gant, winner of 18 NASCAR Cup Series races, including two Southern 500 victories

• Joe Gibbs, combined for nine car owner championships in Cup and XFINITY series

• John Holman, won two NASCAR Cup Series championships as co-owner of Holman-Moody Racing

• Harry Hyde, 1970 NASCAR Cup Series championship crew chief

• Bobby Labonte, won a championship in both the Cup Series and XFINITY Series

• Hershel McGriff, 1986 NASCAR west series champion

• Ralph Moody, won two NASCAR Cup Series championships as co-owner of Holman-Moody Racing

• Marvin Panch, won 17 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1961 Daytona 500

• Jim Paschal, 23 of his 25 NASCAR Cup Series wins came on short tracks

• Larry Phillips, only five-time NASCAR weekly series national champion

• Ricky Rudd, won 23 times in NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1997 Brickyard 400

• Mike Stefanik, winner of record-tying nine NASCAR championships

• Tony Stewart, three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, two-time Brickyard 400 winner

• Red Vogt, the first master mechanic of NASCAR, and a founding member

• Waddell Wilson, won three NASCAR Cup Series championships as an engine builder

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Perhaps the most famous “local short track” of them all will have its beating-and-banging racing from the season-opening event broadcast live on FansChoice.tv.

Starting at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, the action from the 71st season opener at iconic Bowman Gray Stadium will be available to watch live. The openers, postponed a week due to rain, will take center stage Saturday.

MORE: Visit FansChoice

The “Madhouse,” as Bowman Gray is known, is a flat .25-mile track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, that delivers grassroots racing every season. It has hosted 29 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races in its history, from 1958-1971. Rex White scored the most Cup wins here with six — including four in a row from 1961 to 1962. Junior Johnson and Richard Petty had four Cup Series wins here, while David Pearson had three. Bobby Allison won the final Cup Series race at the track in 1971, but the track has thrived at the local level ever since.

Saturday’s lineup includes 200-lap modified feature, plus a 40-lap sportsman race. There also will be races in the street stock and stadium stock division.

Action at NASCAR’s longest running weekly race track begins at 7 p.m. ET. Visit FansChoice.tv to watch during that time, or simply click the related link above to bookmark the site.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

We are just over a third of the way through the regular season. A time to assess, a time to evaluate and a time to hand out some early Fantasy Live hardware. Without further ado, we present the 2019 Kraftys honoring the highs and lows of Fantasy Live through the first third of the season. Think the Dundies but unfortunately, Steve Carell is unavailable to host.

Posted on by Staff Report

Stafford Motor Speedway has long been known for producing some of the best drivers the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour offers.

Five-time Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby is a graduate of Stafford, having won championships there before making the move to begin his quest to win at a higher level. The late Ted Christopher, who won 131 races at Stafford and one Whelen Modified Tour championship, used the Connecticut half-mile as his stomping ground for many years. Ryan Preece, Woody Pitkat and Rowan Pennink have won track titles at Stafford and multiple tour races in recent years.

Now, another graduate of the premiere NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified division is going to take his shot at moving up. Joey Cipriano, who picked up his first SK Modified win last June, will make his Whelen Modified Tour debut in the NAPA Spring Sizzler 200 at Stafford on April 28.

RELATED: STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONS | SPRING SIZZLER TICKETS

“It’s a tough track. Both ends are different, so it’s one of those places that has two different driving styles to each end. It’s where the best drivers race,” Cirpriano told NASCAR.com. “As far as the SK Modifieds go, they have the best competition. It’s a lot of fun, and it teaches you most as a driver to race against the guys that are the best.”

After years of trying for a victory in the SK Modifieds, Cipriano was finally able to break into Victory Lane last year after taking a few years off from full-time action to focus on life at home.

“To go there and finally get a win, after being so close so many times and losing it just about every way we could, to finally cross it off the board was a really good feeling,” he said.

Cipriano will team with Steve Greer to compete in the No. 19 Gunsmoke Stables Chevrolet in the second-longest race of the season for the Whelen Modified Tour. The NAPA Spring Sizzler is one of the most prestigious events on the series schedule each year — and  the 48th annual will again put drivers chasing Stafford glory.

Cipriano drove for Greer last year in Stafford’s Open Modified events and in the Valenti Modified Racing Series, so he does have previous experience with the team.

“It just worked out, when we sat down over the winter with Steve, we put our heads together and we ended up deciding trying our hand at the Tour was something we were willing to give a shot. I can’t thank all of them enough for giving me a shot and having the faith in me to go at it with the best in the Modifieds,” Cipriano said. “I’m excited. For me, it’s a dream come true, when I was 15-years-old, and started running SK Light Modifieds, you want to get to that level.”

Cipriano also isn’t a complete stranger to the Whelen Modified Tour. Since the middle of last year, and specifically at the beginning of this year, he has been working with Kevin Stuart Motorsports and driver Ron Silk. In the last two races, Silk picked up a victory at South Boston Speedway and a second-place finish at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

“I’m ready to go. I’ve watched a lot of video and tried to learn as much as I can. I was lucky enough to be able to do some pit stops last year in the open shows at Stafford, so I have a little bit of experience, but it’s just one of those things where you just take it as it goes,” Cipriano said. “Two-hundred laps with multiple stops and racing against guys that have done this forever, it’s going to be a really good challenge. You get better by racing the guys that are the best.”

For Cipriano, making his debut at his home track will ultimately help him adjust to what is sure to be at least a slight learning curve. But making it to the end of a race where tire strategy is going to be a major factor is important.

“The biggest thing I want to do is finish on the lead lap, trying to stay on pace with the leaders,” Cipriano said. “Realistically, if we can run in the top 15, that’s going to be a good day. There are a lot of good cars on the Whelen Modified Tour. If we can run inside the top 10, that’d be exceeding our expectations.”

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Stewart-Haas Racing revealed a glimpse of perhaps the comfiest paint scheme in NASCAR on Thursday. Yes, Kevin Harvick will again sport the Busch Flannel Ford Mustang next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

Just looking at the car makes as feel all warm and fuzzy. Harvick won the Busch Pole Award with this paint scheme last year, and then finished fourth in the race — his best Talladega showing since 2010.

RELATED: Shop the special scheme

Needless to say, we’re all excited for the encore.