Trackside Live is back in 2019! The live at-track show returns at Atlanta Motor Speedway with two events over two days, with a live appearance from Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin as the headliner.
Hamlin, Ryan Blaney (who will attempt to break into the Guinness Book of World Records), Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman and Garrett Smithley are on Sunday’s show, which is from 10:30-11:30 a.m. ET. Saturday’s season premiere is slated to launch after the Gander Outdoors Truck Series race, from approximately 6:30-7:30 p.m. ET.
Kurt Busch is a scheduled guest Saturday, with the winner of the Truck Series race joining as well.
Come watch the show live if you’re at Atlanta, or watch the live stream on NASCAR.com if you’re not.
Editor’s note: Harris Lue is a graphic designer for NASCAR Digital and a friend of Sam Bass. These are his thoughts on the passing of his friend.
NASCAR’s first officially licensed artist. The first time I saw that tagline my mind was blown. You mean I could draw cars and make NASCAR artwork for a living? I knew my entire life I wanted to be a NASCAR artist like Sam Bass, and I did everything in my power to follow the track Sam paved for me and so many others.
Sam quickly became my hero at age 4 upon getting my first Charlotte Motor Speedway program at the 1997 All-Star Race. Already an avid NASCAR fan, I was on the edge of my seat, program in hand, eager to see my favorite drivers race. It turned out to be a-life changing evening.
Dale Earnhardt’s Wheaties car, Darrell Waltrip’s Chrome No. 17 and Jeff Gordon’s infamous “T-Rex” raced for all of the cash in a shootout that saw the T-Rex dominate the field (with a not-so-legal setup) and end up in Victory Lane. Little did I know the same man that made the artwork on that program cover also designed those breathtaking paint schemes I quickly fell in love with.
In the years to come I always kept that program close. I spent afternoons trying to redraw the perspective of Dale Earnhardt’s car chasing the likes of Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett coming out of Turn 4 in Charlotte. I tried to copy the illusion of fans in the stands holding up cards to make an IROC Firebird and Randy LaJoie’s No. 74 Xfinity Series car. And always saved the firework-filled sky with the portrait of Waltrip’s No. 17 for last.
NASCAR designer Harris Lue, left, with Sam Bass.
Of course, I never once came close to matching the elegance of the original piece, but along the way I learned essential skills like lighting, reflection, perspective and how to balance all of those pieces to create one cohesive layout. The passion that stemmed from that first taste of NASCAR art led me to take every creative class I could and influenced my pursuit of a Graphic Design degree from the East Carolina University School of Art & Design. In 2016, my dream of becoming a NASCAR artist became reality when I accepted my current position as a member of NASCAR Creative Design.
In that moment, I was on top of the world.
After picking up my first Coca-Cola 600 credential at Charlotte as an employee, I happened to duck into the gallery of Sam Bass’ work. Being a huge fan, I wanted to bask in the sea of NASCAR art — but once I crossed the threshold, I was shocked to look over and see the man himself! I audibly made an exclamation I can’t publish here, clearly star-struck. I was embarrassed by the uncontrolled outburst, but Sam laughed, cracked his classic smile and invited me over to his autograph table.
He happened to be sitting directly below the painting of Dale’s Wheaties car from my first race 19 years prior. The meeting allowed me to tell Sam how much that night meant to me, how that paint scheme was my favorite and how the program cover was part of what led me to where I am today. He talked about the design process of “Champion’s Choice” and how he embellished the orange helmet and suit, and how Earnhardt loved it so much during the race that he wanted to keep the orange paint for the 600. When I told Sam I was a graphic designer, he hopped up from behind the table and took me through a full tour of his studio. He showed me his drawing board, his custom Van Halen refrigerators, his memorabilia stash, the guitar collection, the framed original Wheaties box and his pen and ink drawings of his first car — and his newest car that matched. Both of our first cars were Ford Mustangs.
For both of us, our cars helped influence our art. Sam told the story of buying the ’05 model that matched his ’72, and I shared how I had an ’87 convertible to go along with my first ’93. In that moment, we were just car guys shooting the breeze.
Not long after the race I thanked Sam via text for the behind-the-scenes look at his workplace, and we began to build a friendship I never could have imagined. For the next three years I had the opportunity to ask my hero the hows, whens and whys of some of my favorite paint schemes and art pieces. I got to hear firsthand what it was like to work with icons like Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. I really got to get to know the man behind the paintings and picked his brain about anything and everything NASCAR art.
More recently, we began sending each other the pieces we were working on or getting ready to release. We’d text for hours. Whenever I employed some of his techniques, he noticed before anyone else, and his advice and critiques were always held with the highest regard. He trusted me as much as I trusted him and treated me like an old friend. No matter what was going on in his life, Sam was happy to drop everything and talk design for a bit. Eventually, after telling my girlfriend (and fellow NASCAR artist) Emily Butler the story of that first meeting in the gallery, she commissioned him to do pen and ink drawings of my Mustangs that matched his. They were a surprise birthday gift last year.
No matter where Sam was in his health journey, he always made sure to ask how I was and how my life was going. He kept me informed on his condition, but never wanted it to seem like a burden. That’s who Sam was.
We were up late chatting in November about his Kannapolis Intimidators logo unveil. During the conversation, he sent me the picture of Dale grinning ear-to-ear and talked about how much this was a career highlight. Toward the later hours, he texted “I haven’t meant to keep you up all night. Sorry, I just really enjoy talking with you, and respect your opinions so much!” It was in that moment I let him know how much these conversations meant to me, and that I would’ve stayed up into the next week talking to Sam, my hero. I’m forever thankful for those conversations now. Knowing that he respected my opinions and valued my friendship as much as I valued his is more than I could’ve ever imagined.
When the news of Sam’s passing began to spread throughout the NASCAR community, the hole he left was immediately evident. The news was delivered to me by friend and fellow NASCAR artist Daylon Barr. I’ll be forever grateful for how he put his arm around me and comforted me on pit road in Daytona that Saturday. My whole world was a little darker that day. I had lost an amazing friend and mentor, the shooting star that I had chased for so long.
Social media filled quickly with the bright colors and swift motion of Sam’s artwork in remembrance of his life. Each piece was carefully chosen from a body of work so big that I rarely saw the same thing twice. It’s comforting to know that a NASCAR fan doesn’t have to look too far to find a piece of his work, and I find hope in knowing that there are many others like me that hung on to every brush stroke and every air brush speckle as inspiration to make their own NASCAR art. It’s with that drive and mentality that we can all push the look of this sport in new directions while serving to honor our history through the preservation of Sam’s artwork and its presence in NASCAR culture.
I would like to end with a little note to Sam:
Your paint schemes are iconic, your artwork is forever and I know your influence will be felt as long as there are graphics on a race car. Thank you, Sam, for paving the way for us. More than anything, thank you for being a friend.
Last year’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway came down to a battle between Kevin Harvick and 2019 Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin.
The two swapped the lead six times over the final 110 laps, but it was Harvick who led the final 25 circuits to earn his second career race victory at the 1.54-mile oval, while Hamlin faded to finish fourth
Diving into the numbers, it appears a pit-stop strategy gave Harvick’s No. 4 team the edge over Hamlin’s No. 11 squad. In a breakdown of a 122-lap run from Lap 178-299, Harvick actually pitted on four occasions, compared to Hamlin’s three trips down pit road.
While Hamlin’s fall off in lap times over the course of his three green-flag cycles was less severe than Harvick’s fall off during four cycles, Harvick’s overall average lap time was 32.681 seconds, while Hamlin averaged 33.025 seconds over the 122 circuits.
The difference? The .34-second advantage in average lap time for Harvick at the notoriously tire-important Atlanta track was worth over 41 seconds total, allowing him to jump ahead of Hamlin follow the final round of pit stops on Lap 300.
Factoring in Atlanta’s old, abrasive track surface, Harvick ran four separate green flag cycles of 34, 39, 34 and 11 laps, respectively. Hamlin’s green-flag cycles included a pair of 47-laps runs during Lap 178-274 and a 25-lap run from Lap 275-299. While Hamlin was on track with older tires for a longer duration, Harvick was able to make up ground by taking advantage of fresh tires from pitting an extra time.
Below is the full breakdown of how green-flag cycles shook out between Harvick and Hamlin:
Kevin Harvick’s green flag cycles
Pitted
Laps
No. of laps
Avg. lap time
Fall off
213
178-213
34
32.644
2.832
253
214-253
39
32.793
2.039
288
254-288
34
32.724
1.74
300
289-299
11
32.564
1.522
Total
178-299
122
32.681
Denny Hamlin’s green flag cycles
Pitted
Laps
No. of laps
Avg. lap time
Fall off
226
178-226
47
33.137
2.677
274
227-274
47
33.197
1.547
300
275-299
25
32.74
1.316
Total
178-299
122
33.025
Clearly, pit strategy will be very important at Atlanta, something all teams will keep in mind ahead of Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – DGR-Crosley announced today that Bakersfield, Calif. native Ryan Reed will drive the team’s No. 17 Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway. Reed, a person living with Type One Diabetes, will have support from Dexcom, Inc., a leader in diabetes care and management.
Reed most recently competed full time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Over the past five seasons, the 25-year-old earned two wins, seven top-five and 26 top-10 finishes. In his accomplished career, Reed has only one Truck Series start which occurred at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2012. Overall, he has seven starts at the one-and-a-half-mile track where he has a best finish of ninth-place. When Reed gets behind the wheel of the No. 17 Dexcom Tundra, he will have veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion calling the shots atop the pit box, and former Cup spotter David Keith guiding him from the spotter stand.
“Ryan has a lot of experience behind the wheel,” said team co-owner David Gilliland. “We are thrilled to welcome him to our program at DGR-Crosley. Not only will he be an asset to our program and provide key feedback as we continue to grow and improve, but it’ll also be an advantage to our younger drivers to have someone with his experience as their teammate. We’re looking forward to getting Ryan and Bono paired up in Vegas – I think it’s going to be a really strong pairing.”
For Reed, his journey back to racing begins in Las Vegas with DGR-Crosley.
“I’m thankful to everyone who has played a part in getting me back behind the wheel of a racecar,” said Reed. “Dexcom plays a huge part in my daily life and being able to manage my diabetes every day, and it’s cool to be able to connect them to another part of my life that I’m so passionate about. I was in Daytona over the weekend, and it was really disappointing to be there and not be racing. I’m thankful for Dexcom, David [Gilliland] and DGR-Crosley for giving me the opportunity to race again. This next part of my career is all about being competitive and being in equipment I know I can win in. I believe that DGR-Crosley is going to give me that opportunity at Vegas.”
The partnership with Dexcom has a significant impact on Reed who was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes at the age of 17. Reed uses a Dexcom continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system to track his glucose level at all hours of the day, giving him a peace of mind in controlling his diabetes. Reed’s Dexcom CGM will be installed in the No. 17 Toyota Tundra to allow him to monitor his glucose levels throughout the competition.
The Strat 200 will take place on Friday, March 1 at 9:00 p.m., ET with a live televised broadcast on FS1. Natalie Decker and Anthony Alfredo will join Reed in the trio of DGR-Crosley Toyota Tundras at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Ask Ryan Blaney about this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Team Penske driver gives a noticeable pause as contemplates the uncertainty he faces heading into the second race of the season.
Blaney’s pause is understandable with the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 the first race featuring the 2019 aerodynamic rules package that was designed to slow the cars down by reducing horsepower with the intent to create additional passing opportunities on intermediate-sized speedways. Precisely the kind of track the 1.54-mile Atlanta is. And with this package not used in the season-opening Daytona 500, this weekend represents the first time many drivers, including Blaney, will get to experience the rules package in either race or test conditions.
“I am trying not to anticipate much just because I haven’t driven the new package,” Blaney told NASCAR.com. “I try not to think about it too much. I just want to go out because you don’t know what to expect yet.
“We’ll just have to see how [the package] drives and how it races. I’m very curious.”
Although Blaney didn’t take part in a test over the offseason, Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and defending Cup champion Joey Logano each participated in different tests where they got a feel for the new rules package. Keselowski tested at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, while Logano tested at Auto Club Speedway. Keselowski posted the fastest single-lap speed (of the non-wheel force cars, 178.436 mph) in one of the three sessions at Las Vegas, site of next week’s NASCAR tripleheader weekend that includes races for all three national series.
Not only did Blaney solicit feedback from both his teammates, he also watched the stream of the Las Vegas test to form his own opinion. From his conversations with Keselowski and Logano, as well as his own observations, Blaney believes drivers will have to balance pursuing speed with getting their car to handle properly.
“It’s a pretty interesting game of how far do you want to trim your car out for overall speed versus handling,” Blaney said. “There were some cars that handled really well but maybe were a little bit slower at the beginning of a run. But, there were cars that were really fast at getting a run [on other cars] because the cars were trimmed-out but as the tires went away they became a handful to hang onto.
“It’s going to be neat to see how teams go about finding a middle ground. It’s just not something we’ve dealt with before in the Cup Series.”
Figuring out the quirks of the rules package is not the only unknown Blaney is dealing with this weekend, Atlanta is also just the second race for the new Ford Mustang. And since there is little correlation between 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway and the high-speed Atlanta oval with an abrasive surface that greatly increases tire wear there wasn’t much Ford and its teams learned during Daytona Speedweeks that can be applied to Atlanta.
Ford’s switch to a different model style comes a season after the manufacturer dominated on the track. In addition to Logano capturing the Cup title, Ford drivers combined to win 19 of 36 races and their collective performance delivered Ford its first manufacturer championship since 2002.
Nonetheless, the expectation within the Ford camp is that even with a new car and the inevitable growing pains that come with it, their drivers will be able to replicate their many successes from a year ago.
“It’s hard to improve on last year, we won a lot of races, but we’re always trying to be better,” Blaney said. “I love the look of them at Daytona; I thought they were really fast at Daytona. And you hope that carryovers to every other racetrack.”
NASCAR Digital will stream live the opening practice for all three national series this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway when the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series take to the 1.54-mile track for the second race weekend of the season. Bookmark https://www.nascar.com/live, the destination for all live practice streams this year.
For Friday specifically, the live-streaming schedule is as follows for users in the United States. Full practices will be posted to NASCAR’s YouTube channel later in the afternoon for fans who can’t watch live.
• 11:35 a.m.-12:55 p.m. ET: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice
• 1:05-1:55 p.m. ET: NASCAR Xfinity Series practice
• 2:05-2:55 p.m. ET: NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series practice
FOX Sports will feature a multi-hour block of Fast Friday programming each race weekend, beginning at 3 p.m. ET; practices prior to 3 p.m. will be live streamed on NASCAR.com. Host Sara Walsh anchors Fast Friday this weekend, with analysts Ricky Craven and Jamie McMurray.
The Xfinity Series and Gander Outdoors Truck Series has a planned doubleheader on Saturday, with the Xfinity Series race starting at 2 p.m. ET and the Truck Series race following at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET. Both races will be on FS1.
The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 concludes the weekend with a 2 p.m. ET start time, Sunday on FOX.
It was a fairly calm NASCAR Xfinity Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway with a variety of impressive runs by an underdog team with a feel-good story — and it did not get overlooked.
RSS Racing finished with two drivers in the top 10, the first time in team history that it put two cars inside the top 10 in an Xfinity Series race. Ryan Sieg finished fourth followed by Jeff Green in seventh. Josh Bilicki finished 23rd.
If the success that RSS Racing saw at Daytona is any indication of what’s to come for the small team based out of Sugar Hill, Georgia, we will be seeing a lot more of the Nos. 38, 39 and 93 Chevrolets running up front.
“We’re more prepared than ever,” Sieg told NASCAR.com. “It seems like every year we’re sort of fresh when we get to Daytona and then we just get behind. We started working earlier this year and with more qualified people, I would say.”
“There were some Xfinity teams that shut down in the off-season so there was some good help out there and that makes a world of a difference when you’ve got people who know what they’re doing as opposed to training people and showing them what to do. That just makes a really big difference to have the right people in the right spot.”
With only a handful of full-time employees, the RSS Racing team has had to work harder and longer to ensure its readiness for each race weekend. This is even more evident now with the fielding of three cars and a new engine provider in ECR Engines. The goals and expectations of the organization have risen notably, being able to look back at the beginning years and see growth.
“More people have to do more things,” Sieg said. “You compare a small team to a bigger team, you basically have one guy doing the job of 10 or 12 people. It’s a lot, a lot of long hours, late nights, some all-nighters.”
“We actually have cots above the race shop for guys to stay. They stay there for basically two weeks straight leading up to Daytona. It’s kind of old-school racing. They go get a couple hours of sleep and get back to work.”
With Daytona in the rear-view mirror, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Rinnai 250 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) but RSS doesn’t have to travel very far to get there.
“Atlanta is our home track,” Sieg said. “I think we’re the only team left that’s based out of Georgia. It’s our home race. We always seem to struggle there, we’ve never really had a good race for whatever reason. But, I think this year will be different. We have new and better cars. Jeff Green and Josh (Bilicki) will both be going there so we’ll have three cars total.”
Sieg has five starts at Atlanta, starting from the top 10 twice, but hasn’t finished inside the top 20 in any race except 2016 when he finished 16th. Green has 16 starts under his belt at Atlanta with one top five. Bilicki will make his first Atlanta start in the Xfinity Series this weekend. They’re hoping that the momentum from Daytona holds true and they see different results at their home track on Saturday.
“It’s a grind,” Sieg said. “We’ve done it now for four or five years and we kind of know what to expect. We have a better plan and we know what to do. Just being as prepared as you possibly can and I think it will start to show on the results side, too.”
RSS Racing currently has sponsorship slated for about 21 races. They like to keep it familiar and close-to-home with small, local companies such as Code Rum, that will be on the hood of Sieg’s No. 39 at Atlanta.
“We really like working with smaller, local companies,” Sieg said. “There’s probably about 10 or 12 that we work with throughout the year.”
There is a long season of racing ahead and Sieg and the RSS Racing team know that they have a lot of work to do but are confident that it is going to pay off and that they will be celebrating this growth by running in the top 10 more often – or maybe even Victory Lane.
“We always have a ‘week ahead’ mentality, like we know we’re going to Atlanta but in the back of our minds, it’s like, ‘OK, we’ve got the west coast swing after this,’” Sieg said.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, with Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) serving as the capstone of a triple-header weekend.
This is the first race on an intermediate track in 2019, and Monster Energy Series cars will use tapered spacers to reduce horsepower, but Atlanta won’t utilize aero ducts to transfer air to the side of the car away from the front tires like many other 1.5-mile tracks will this year.
We explain that, plus much more, below to get you ready for Atlanta weekend.
NASCAR officials announced in October two baseline rules packages for the 2019 Monster Energy Series season, making a move to bolster competition with enhanced aerodynamic and engine configurations.
The different packages are tailored to the specific tracks on the Monster Energy Series circuit, with a combination of a smaller tapered spacer to reduce engine horsepower to a target goal of 550 (from 750) and aero ducts to foster tighter racing on a majority of speedways measuring longer than 1 mile.
Although both features — the tapered spacer and the aero ducts — will be in place for 17 of 36 races, five other races will be run with just the tapered spacer and not the aero ducts. Atlanta is one of the five that will not use the ducts.
What about the rest?
Other than Atlanta, Monster Energy Series races at Pocono (both of them), Darlington and the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway will also deploy tapered spacers, but no aero ducts.
The full-blown package that includes both tapered spacers and aero ducts will debut next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where teams tested for two days in January.
Beyond the tapered spacers and ducts, the baseline aero elements of the 2019 rules package are a taller 8-inch by 61-inch rear spoiler, a larger front splitter with a 2-inch overhang, and a wider radiator pan that measures 37 inches wide in the front tapering to 31 inches at the rear. Those base changes will be in place at every race next season with the intent of adding downforce to stabilize handling, a break from a trend of downforce reduction from 2015-18.
“For us, it’s really a focus on getting back to a true focus on the drivers and what NASCAR is all about — close side-by-side racing and trying to deliver more of that,” NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said when the rules were announced last year.
What’s Good(year)?
Atlanta is known for its worn, weathered surface, sweeping turns and fast speeds. The combination yields high tire fall-off during a run, which lends itself to tire conservation and multiple pit strategies. With a 500-mile racing looming, teams will have 12 sets of tires at their disposal.
As for the tires themselves, Monster Energy Series teams — along with the NASCAR Xfinity Series — will run a left-side tire that hasn’t been used before. It features a construction update that will align Atlanta with what is run at other speedways, according to Goodyear. The right-side tire is a multi-zone tread, which Cup teams have used at Atlanta since 2016. This is the only track, though, where Cup teams will run either of those tires in 2019.
“Two things are sure about Atlanta Motor Speedway,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “First, it is an extremely worn track surface which is very hard on tires. And second, the racing there has been consistently entertaining.”
Racing for real teams and with six figures in prizes on the line, the eNASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series heads to the virtual Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second race of the season Tuesday, Feb. 26 (9 p.m. ET, eNASCAR.com). Here’s a look at where we rank the top iRacing competitors.
12. Jimmy Mullis Change: NR Comment: Mullis came just one position — well, more like one foot — short of his second-career victory Tuesday at Daytona. He’ll have momentum on his side.
11. Nickolas Shelton Change: +1 Comment: Despite a disappointing season opener, Shelton heads to a track where he finished third last year. Shelton hasn’t scored a top five since his win at Charlotte last May, but there’s no better place to turn around his luck than Vegas.
10. Logan Clampitt Change: -3 Comment: After missing Daytona, Clampitt looks to get his season on track in Las Vegas, despite starting the year in the hole.
9. Christian Challiner Change: — Comment: Christian Challiner finished fifth at Daytona after starting 30th, so he clearly knows a thing or two about passing cars.
8. Nick Ottinger Change: — Comment: Ignoring when he’s run into issues, Nick Ottinger’s last four Las Vegas finishes have been 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. A 13th-place wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world after a solid showing at Daytona.
7. Zack Novak Change: NR Comment: The Daytona winner heads to the desert, where he’s showed speed in the past, including scoring the pole position last year.
6. Matt Bussa Change: — Comment: The 2017 Las Vegas pole-sitter had an average showing at Daytona — but that consistency is what led to success in the 2018 postseason.
5. Bobby Zalenski Change: — Comment: Has anybody ever noticed the guy named Bobby is driving the No. 18 Interstate Batteries car for Joe Gibbs Racing?
4. Michael Conti Change: -1 Comment: Las Vegas isn’t one of Conti’s best tracks, with a 20.14 average finish in seven starts.
3. Keegan Leahy Change: +1 Comment: Keegan Leahy led 45 laps in his first Las Vegas outing last year until his untimely departure. Coming off a podium at Daytona, we expect Leahy will contend again in his sophomore season.
2. Ray Alfalla Change: -1 Comment: Despite four top fives at Las Vegas, a win has eluded Four-Time in the desert.
1. Ryan Luza Change: +1 Comment: Luza managed to avoid trouble at Daytona and score his career best finish — sixth — and now heads to a track where he’s undefeated. We see no reason Luza can’t go 3-for-3 in Vegas.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Nominations open today for The NASCAR Foundation’s Ninth Annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award, which honors the philanthropic ideals and vision of the late Betty Jane France, who started the foundation in 2006.
The NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award is presented annually to a NASCAR fan in recognition of community service that has significantly impacted the health and wellbeing of children. Since its inception, the award has produced $1.4 million in donations to charities represented by each year’s four finalists, impacting the lives of approximately 300,000 children in need.
Four individual award finalists and the charitable causes they represent will be announced in November; after a one-month on-line vote, the award winner will be announced during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards in December. Each finalist will be guaranteed to receive a minimum $25,000 donation from The NASCAR Foundation, with a $100,000 donation provided to the award winner, as determined by the online vote.
“We are coming off an outstanding year when the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award really connected with our fan base,” said Nichole Krieger, executive director of The NASCAR Foundation. “The connection produced nominees that embodied what our award is all about. They loved their work, but they also loved NASCAR.
“We anticipate a similar turnout this year. We are excited to see the nominations start coming in.”
Nominations will close on Friday, March 22. The nomination form can be accessed online at NASCARfoundation.org/Award; completed forms can be submitted via e-mail or regular mail.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Nominations open today for The NASCAR Foundation’s Ninth Annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award, which honors the philanthropic ideals and vision of the late Betty Jane France, who started the foundation in 2006.