Posted on by Staff Report

Xfinity Series regular Austin Cindric will be on standby for the Team Penske No. 2 Ford team in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway as Brad Keselowski tries to recover from flu-like symptoms.

Cindric, 20, split time with Keselowski in the No. 2 Ford during Saturday’s final practice on the 1.54-mile track. With Cindric making his first appearance in NASCAR’s top division, Team Penske crew members applied yellow tape to the car’s rear bumper as a makeshift rookie stripe.

RELATED: See every car in Sunday’s field

The organization said earlier Saturday that Keselowski still is scheduled to start Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the second race of the Monster Energy Series season. But Cindric said after finishing 10th in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race that he would be ready Sunday if called upon.

“It’s such a wild card because no one knows what to expect,” Cindric told FOX Sports. “I’ve definitely learned a lot today in my 20 minutes’ worth of laps, but I think I can pull a lot from my truck racing experience to help me out if need be. But from everything I understand, Brad’s in good condition. Brad’s definitely a tough guy, so I don’t see him backing out and letting me do this one.”

Keselowski earned the 19th starting spot in Friday’s Busch Pole qualifying.

Cindric finished eighth in the Xfinity season standings in 2018. He has three NASCAR national series starts at Atlanta with a best finish of seventh in the Xfinity Series last season.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

HAMPTON, Ga. – As the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gets into full swing, the concept of a ‘Big Three’ might be dead on arrival.

At least that’s what Martin Truex Jr. thinks.

Last season, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick won eight races each, and Truex added four as the so-called Big Three grabbed the trophies in 20 of the 36 points races in NASCAR’s premier series.

All three drivers qualified for the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, only to lose the title to late bloomer Joey Logano.

With a new higher-downforce, lower-horsepower competition package in place for the 2019 season, however, Truex doubts that any three drivers will combine to win more than half the races.

RELATED: Starting lineup for Sunday’s race | Full schedule for Atlanta

“Unfortunately, yeah, I believe that’s correct,” Truex said with a wry smile during a media session on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, host venue for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“Again, it’s all speculation. I don’t know until we get going. You’re still going to have teams figure it out better than others. Whether we’re one of those, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Not only are the new rules designed to keep the cars closer together, but Truex expects the package to accentuate the unique characteristics that distinguish one track from the next.

Consequently, what works at one intermediate speedway—Las Vegas, for example—may not be an optimal solution at Texas or Chicagoland.

“Oh, yeah, it’ll be different everywhere,” predicted Truex, who won eight races during his 2017 championship season. “The package is going to look a little different depending on the track we’re at and what we’re able to do with it.

“Here (at Atlanta) it’s so worn out and so rough and bumpy, it’s hard to… in order to get through the corners, you kind have to have some air on your car. Next week (at Las Vegas), we’ll definitely be drafting—at least that’s what everyone is kind of thinking.”

The first test of the new package comes on Sunday, and to Truex, it’s still a vast unknown.

“Nobody has any idea about anything,” he said. “I think pretty much all teams had more questions going into practice (Friday) than any time I can remember in the sport, maybe back to when we first ran the Car of Tomorrow (in 2007).

“It was just there were so many questions and so many different ways you can do this. There’s so many different options to set the car up aero-wise and different things. A lot of questions and only an hour and 20 minutes of practice, so still a lot to learn.

“We go to Phoenix (a one-mile flat track on March 10), and it’s going to be totally different again with more horsepower, so, yeah, we’re going to learn a lot through the first five races with the different race tracks and then try to figure it out and go from there.”

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HAMPTON, Ga. – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. heard some less-than-flattering, in-car comments from competitors following last weekend’s season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

He’ll remember them going forward.

“There’s a lot of people mad or saying things on the radio that we saw this week, which I don’t appreciate,” Stenhouse said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “But I feel like I do everything that I have to do to make sure our car stays in the front and we led the most laps of any of the other Ford drivers and they all want to run their mouths …

“I definitely file it away. They don’t get any help from here on out. I think everybody was a little bit frustrated.”

Joey Logano was one of the most prominent voices on the radio regarding Stenhouse last weekend, radioing to his crew, “Ricky Stankhouse. God. He sucks. He’s awful,” at one point during the race.

Stenhouse’s crew chief Brian Pattie relayed Logano’s comments during the race to Stenhouse, who fired back at the No. 22 on his own radio: “Yeah the 22’s an idiot. We know he’s out for himself. I don’t care to help the 22 ever,” he said.

Logano acknowledged his initial comment, as well as Stenhouse’s response on Friday.

“We all say things on the radio, right?” the Team Penske driver said. “We’re in the heat of the moment and sometimes you just press the button and it makes you feel better. That was right after a moment that we about crashed.

“When I say ‘about crashed,’ if I didn’t lift, the whole field was going to crash because of a move that was happening. That made me pretty mad because I lost 10 spots after that. So, that was my frustration, rightfully so.”

MORE: Logano, McDowell exchange words

The No. 17 driver was pulled into the spotlight unfavorably again later on after a Lap 195 crash in the Daytona 500. Stenhouse shot through Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson, who blocked the No. 17, causing a multi-car pile-up – and some negative comments on social media toward Stenhouse.

But the No. 4 wheelman didn’t have qualms with Stenhouse when asked ahead of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“I don’t really feel like Stenhouse did anything wrong,” Harvick said. “I feel like the 42 pulled a block that was like three seconds too late and smacked him down into the side. I don’t feel like he really did anything wrong in shooting that gap that was wide open. It was just a really, really bad block by the 42. That is why you should always watch before you complain and make a fool out of yourself, like I have done in the past. Initially that is what I would have done.

“I would have been mad at him but then you go watch the video and that wasn’t the case.”

With “100 things going on in your race car,” the cockpit of the race car can breed heated responses, according to Logano – and drivers don’t typically know the entire background of a situation.

“It’s part of it sometimes,” he said.

“You take things out of context a lot, especially in the heat of the moment when you’ve got 100 other things going on in your race car. …You don’t know until after the race, so, I don’t really hold much weight to a lot of that stuff because until you really know the whole story …

“You’re going to be on both ends of these things every now and again. You just go with the flow. Gotta be you. Be the best you you can be.”

Tune in Sunday for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta (2 p.m. ET, FOX).

MORE: Full race lineup

Posted on by Holly Cain

Kevin Harvick arrived at Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a bullseye on his back. Last year he won both the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race and the Xfinity race the day before.

It is the venue where he so dramatically won his very first NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race – driving Dale Earnhardt’s car only three weeks after being summoned into the Cup ranks after the seven-time champion’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500.

MORE: Memorable Atlanta moments

Atlanta Motor Speedway has held a positive mark in Harvick’s career. Last year his victory sparked a three-race winning streak that started the best statistical year of his career – a record eight wins in all. He led a dominating 181 of the 325 laps at Atlanta and added another 214 out front at Las Vegas the next week – two huge competitive statements. He’s led 915 laps in the last five Atlanta races alone – finishing top-10 in four of them.

And yet for all that background and all that success, Harvick insisted Friday after a brief practice session, he truly doesn’t know what to expect this weekend when the series debuts new technical regulations.

The cars will be fitted with tapered spacers in the engines designed to restrict airflow and lower the horsepower by about 200 HP. The package is similar to what received glowing reviews after its use in the 2018 All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and will be used at all tracks moving forward.

RELATED: Atlanta 101 — rules, tires, more

Harvick could only smile and surmise when asked – repeatedly – about his prospects and expectations for this weekend.

“We really don’t know either,’’ he said of the drivers’ expectations. “That is the question. We don’t have that answer. I can tell you that it will be drastically different than what we have done before. We have not raced this package. That is the bottom line. You don’t have any idea of what you need because we haven’t had all the cars on the track and last week was a great example for a lot of you who wrote stories about the racing and the way that the Clash and qualifying races were and the drastic difference when we dropped the green flag at the Daytona 500 with all the cars on the race track.

“Other than being drastically different, I would hate to speculate on what the direction of it is going to be and what we are going to do because we don’t know.

“That is good for everyone watching. Once the engineers all wrap their arms around what they need it becomes more of a system and you start to build the notebook and things that go with that to start to evolve the program and what you do and what you work on.”

Harvick shows up at Atlanta eager to give the season a sort of re-boot. His No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford finished 26th in the season-opening Daytona 500 – a victim of a multi-car accident six laps shy of the scheduled checkered flag – 13 laps shy of the ultimate checkered flag, the extra laps necessary for late race incidents.

All that is in the rearview mirror now as NASCAR introduces one of the most significant competitive changes in years. The good news is teams and drivers seemed encouraged during offseason testing of the new package.

“Based on the lap times and everything that we saw today, handling is still going to be a pretty big part of the weekend and things that you need to put in your car,’’ Harvick explained. “I think it is more along the lines of that truck mentality. You can fall into the hole from the speed trap or you can work on your car and make it handle well and have decent speed.

“It is definitely a balance to see where all of that falls at all the different styles of race tracks.”

It’s going to not only require a different way to drive, perhaps, but new race strategies from the pit box. And of course, ultimately this new element of competition will become about which team, which manufacturer, which driver figures it all out the best. And quickest.

This week will be the first test. And the drivers are ready.

“Right now we don’t have anything to evolve because we don’t have any answers,’’ Harvick said. “We have more questions with zero answers actually.”

Harvick qualified 18th for Sunday’s race.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

HAMPTON, Ga. – Clint Bowyer was on the doorstep of securing his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole position since 2007, but teammate Aric Almirola and fellow Ford driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had the last say.

Almirola powered his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to the fastest lap of the day in the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Atlanta Motor Speedway, claiming the second Busch Pole Award of his career — and his first since winning the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 in 2012.

RELATED: Starting lineup

The 34-year-old driver from Tampa, Fla., will take the green flag from the top starting spot in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Almirola also earns the distinction as the first driver to put a Mustang on the pole for a Cup race, with Ford having introduced that model into the series this year. He’s also the first pole winner under NASCAR’s new higher-downforce, lower-horsepower 2019 Cup competition package.

“We knew our car had a lot of raw speed in it,” said Almirola, who covered the 1.54-mile distance in 30.55 seconds (181.473 mph) to beat Stenhouse (180.428 mph) for the top starting spot by .177 seconds. “Through the rounds, the adjustments that (crew chief) Johnny (Klausmeier) was making kept making our car a little bit better.

“Then that final round just was really good execution by the whole team … Honestly, the car that the guys brought, we were good right off the truck. We were second in practice and we carried that speed through qualifying. In that final round, we knew that a second lap was going to be faster than the first.

“That first lap, we kind of decided to throw that lap away and work on building the speed up. That second lap, I just really executed and hit all my marks perfectly and was able to be good enough and had a really fast lap to get the pole, which is really cool because I haven’t done it in like seven years. That was pretty neat.”

PHOTOS: See every car in Sunday’s field

After leading the first two rounds, Bowyer was first to make an attempt in the money round, beating Austin Dillon in a drag race off pit road to start his final laps. Bowyer (180.410 mph) held the top starting spot until Almirola and Stenhouse surpassed him late in the session.

“I thought Austin would take off and go, and he was kind of lagging back,” Bowyer said of the start to the final round. “I knew it was a momentum deal, and I had to have as much as I could, and it still wasn’t enough.

“I do believe that we were the fastest car all day long, and they were going to have to do something and they formulated a good plan to beat us.”

Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin qualified fourth at 180.328 mph in the fastest Toyota, followed by the Stewart-Haas entry of Daniel Suarez (180.216 mph). Kyle Busch was sixth, ahead of the Chip Ganassi racing Chevrolets of Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch in seventh and eighth, respectively.

Martin Truex Jr., Dillon, Jimmie Johnson and Michael McDowell completed the top 12.

Defending race winner Kevin Harvick qualified 18th despite a power steering problem that surfaced during the first lap of Friday’s opening practice and persisted throughout time trials.

MORE: Harvick not relying on Atlanta history on Sunday

Harvick couldn’t turn his No. 4 Ford to the right, meaning he couldn’t correct the car off the corners.

“Today has been a complete waste of time for us,” Harvick said. “The car won’t steer. It won’t turn to the right. We can’t figure out what is wrong with the steering to make it go straight.

“It has been a bit of a challenge today. We haven’t really made any laps that you can actually turn the car. We were kind of just hoping for the best there, and it didn’t fix any of it.”

Joey Logano will start 27th after his car slipped on his first attempt in the opening round.

“I think it’s just the rules package,” Logano said. “We’re still trying to learn and understand what’s going on here. I just got loose the first lap behind the 10 (Almirola), trying to find the right distance behind the car I wanted to be.

“I don’t know if I was the right distance or the handling was just off. We tightened it up the second time, but it didn’t give us any speed. We will start in the back and work our way up.”

Posted on by Staff Report

MASSACHUSETTS BASED COMPANY WILL AWARD “BIG STICK” TO EACH POLE WINNING CREW CHIEF

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers will have an extra incentive in their search of pole awards during the 2019 season.

Mayhew Tools, a Massachusetts-based company that produces tools that serve the industrial, automotive and hardware industries across the globe, will sponsor the pole award in 2019 for the Whelen Modified Tour.

Drivers will chase the top qualifying spot in 17 championship points events, but the drivers won’t be the only ones to benefit from winning a pole award. Mayhew is bringing the crew chiefs into the fray by announcing they will produce a “Big Stick” to each crew chief who turns the wrenches on a pole winning car.

The “Big Stick” is the largest pry bar that Mayhew has ever created.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MAYHEW: About The Team

“We have a patented line of these pry bars, and sometimes the mechanics can abuse the tools, but these products have a system with a medal cap on the end so they can beat on them with a hammer,” John Lawless, the President of Mayhew Tools, said. “We ended up taking it up to five-feet long at one point, but now, we are making one that is a heavier weight than all of the others.”

Mayhew Tools is no stranger to success on the Whelen Modified Tour. The company sponsored Bob Garbarino’s famed Mystic Missile with Jimmy Blewett behind the wheel in 2016, before making the move to Mike Smeriglio Racing as the primary sponsor of then four-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby at the beginning of the 2017 season. In their first year as partners with Coby, they were celebrating Coby’s fourth straight title and fifth overall — and they were also on the car for Coby’s third-place finish in the 2018 championship standings.

RELATED: NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 2019 Schedule Announced

“It’s a tight-knit group,” Lawless said of the Whelen Modified Tour community. “It’s a lot of fun. We have only been around for a short period of time, but it has made a big difference for us. People are recognizing the Mayhew name more, and still it’s a long journey. Even though people know Mayhew, they need to know what we make.”

Lawless is also excited about the opportunity to continue to increase brand awareness for Mayhew — a company that provides tools to mechanics throughout the garage area. For Mayhew, the chance to give something to each pole winning crew chief was one of the most important parts of the deal.

“NASCAR has been great to work with. This will be a good opportunity for us to get more visibility,” Lawless said. “The drivers get the awards, but we make the tools for the guys that work on the cars. We would like to give some sort of a reward to the crew chief because he is very involved in the whole process.”

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season begins on Saturday, March 16, at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina. The first event of the season, the Performance Plus 150, will be followed by the return of NASCAR Whelen Modifieds to South Boston Speedway on March 30.

About Mayhew Tools

Mayhew Steel Products (Mayhew Tools), founded in 1856, is the oldest punch and chisel manufacturer in the United States. Headquartered in Turners Falls, MA, the company‘s transition from a small tool house to industry leader comes as a direct result of their dedication, quality, reliability, and craftsmanship. While their passion for manufacturing quality hand tools has continued to fuel its century-old product line growth. Mayhew Tools, serving primarily the Industrial, Automotive and Hardware industries, are sold globally through an extensive distributor network.

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Posted on by Staff Report

Two car chiefs were ejected from Atlanta Motor Speedway after their teams’ respective cars failed pre-qualifying inspection multiple times and a third car chief was ejected on Sunday morning after their car failed pre-race inspection multiple times.

The No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford of driver Matt Tifft and No. 52 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet of driver BJ McLeod failed inspection multiple times Friday prior to three rounds of Busch Pole qualifying. Their car chiefs — Brandon Lee (36) and Mike Chance (52), respectively — won’t be able to return to the garage during the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 weekend.

The No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet of driver Garrett Smithley failed inspection multiple times Sunday prior the start of the race. His car chief — Shane Callis — won’t be able to be in the garage area for the rest of the day.

Previously, a car chief was not ejected unless a team failed inspection three times. Under NASCAR’s 2019 deterrence model, two failures lead to a car chief ejection.

Last month NASCAR introduced a system where race-winning teams found in violation of the rule book post-race would be disqualified. Additionally, post-race inspection is done at track following the event, with penalties — if any — handed out then instead of following a mid-week teardown at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.

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JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL. (Feb 22, 2019) – Las Vegas is known for their Air Force military presence – but this time there will be a new “wave” coming to town. US Naval Academy graduate and US Navy officer LT Jesse Iwuji will be making his first ever Las Vegas Motor Speedway start in the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series race. LT Jesse Iwuji will be the only current military member racing in NASCAR that entire weekend and doing so with Reaume Bros Racing.

“I have a new partnership this race with FUELTRAX and this one’s special to me. FUELTRAX is a US company that has pioneered and led the industry in marine fuel management systems which speaks my mariner language. And to top it off, over 50 percent of their operations based out of my native country, Nigeria.” said LT Iwuji.

For their part, FUELTRAX couldn’t be prouder to be teaming up with LT Iwuji.

“It’s always been a passion for both me and my wife Michelle to give back to young men and women and help them reach their dreams,” said Anthony George, CEO of FUELTRAX.  “LT Iwuji is a big dreamer and a hard worker, and we are honored to help him continue on his journey to success in NASCAR.”

“We are so grateful for our Nigerian-based marine operators and proud to support Lt. Iwuji both as one of our very own from our community, and as a first-generation American pursing his dreams. Nigerians everywhere should be proud of Jesse’s success,” said Bene Okorie, West Africa Operations Manager of FUELTRAX.

From its inception in 2004, FUELTRAX has grown to be the leading universal fuel management solution for offshore marine vessels, compatible with any class, engine or fuel type. Available in any location in the world, FUELTRAX has grown recently in Nigeria by combating fuel accountability challenges for local operators. Together with its cloud-based data and analytics service, FUELNET, it reduces costs and sets the standard for data-driven decisions.

“FUELTRAX is such an authentic fit. High performance and advance technology go hand and hand with NASCAR,” said Matt Casto, LT Iwuji’s agent. “And since LT Iwuji’s family is from Nigeria, he has a strong connection with the same community FUELTRAX serves. To make things even better, LT Iwuji has a deep understanding of vessels as a current Surface Warfare Officer. Let me also just continue to mention how exciting it is to have a current driver racing at the national levels that has served our country. We’ve been getting great support from the most patriotic fan base in all sports leagues.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick invited Jimmie Johnson to be a guest on his weekly radio show this week. Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he explained his reasoning, saying he wanted a greater audience to appreciate Johnson’s greatness while his career was still active.

Johnson’s guest appearance came on this week’s edition of Harvick’s “Happy Hours” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“It was great because I feel like, in my opinion, Jimmie’s one of the most disrespected great drivers that have ever come through this garage. Jimmie Johnson’s just a good, old-fashioned great guy and helps people, and has done great things in the garage and in the race car, out of the race car, and I think sometimes we forget … a lot of people forget that he’s won seven championships and all the races that he’s won and all the great things that he’s done, and it’s not like he came from a rich daddy or a family that had a lot of money.

“I mean, he came from the bottom all the way to the top and worked hard, had a lot of success with it and won as many championships as Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, and I never feel like he’s on that pedestal next to those guys appropriately. Sometimes I feel like as a group, from a fan standpoint, I feel like you’re just letting it go by and not ever realizing that you’re watching one of the greatest careers that’s ever going to come through the garage.”

RELATED: Full schedule for Atlanta

Harvick said that he felt like with the fluid state of the NASCAR fan base, some reintroduction is sometimes necessary for newer fans who may not realize Johnson’s credentials as a future NASCAR Hall of Famer. That’s why, Harvick said, he chose to focus on asking about Johnson’s origins and interests.

“Once you hear the Jimmie Johnson story and how he got to where he is, a lot of people know what he’s done here, but it’s not like it was handed to him,” Harvick said. “So that’s always kind of our goal is to do something different, and I just feel like, I don’t want the fans to not realize what they’re watching with Jimmie, because of the fact that he has done so many great things and is such a great person, a really fun guy, and he always gets the knock for not being the super-fun, he’s the buttoned-up, tight-laced guy. That couldn’t be further from the truth than anybody could possibly understand.

“We only had 20 minutes, so it’s not easy to explain all those things in 20 minutes, but I feel like we touched on some of those things, but it’s always fun to hear those guys talk about stuff like that.”

RELATED: Johnson’s all-time wins in Cup | Harvick’s all-time wins in Cup 

Johnson made an appearance Friday in the 1.54-mile track’s media center after Harvick’s availability. Though he didn’t know the context of Harvick’s remarks, Johnson said he appreciated Harvick’s kind words.

“I’ve had a great run, accomplished a lot of great things, more than I really ever imagined that I would,” Johnson said. “I feel like every driver has something that they probably deserve and something they don’t deserve along the way of progressing through this sport. I’ve had my good and my bad and it is what it is, and honestly I quit paying attention to a lot of the public opinion stuff years ago. It doesn’t do me any good. I’m just going to keep my head down and keep working. Some weekends, I think things go your way and you get the praises that you would hope to, and other weekends it doesn’t. It’s just kind of the evolution of the sport.”