Posted on by Zack Albert

Chad Knaus will serve as crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet for driver William Byron in 2019, a move that will end the longest current driver-crew chief pairing in the NASCAR garage with Knaus and Jimmie Johnson.

Hendrick Motorsports announced the news Wednesday as part of a reshuffling of crew chiefs for two of its four teams in the Monster Energy Series. Johnson will be paired with Kevin Meendering, currently a crew chief for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, on the No. 48 Chevrolet operation next year.

The Knaus-Johnson partnership produced a record-tying seven championships.

“Chad and Jimmie will go down as one of the greatest combinations in sports history,” team owner Rick Hendrick said in a release provided by the organization. “They defied the odds by performing at a championship level for longer than anyone could’ve possibly imagined. What they’ve accomplished together has been absolutely remarkable and will be celebrated for generations. This has been an incredible, storybook run.”

MORE: Jimmie through the years

The move reunites Knaus with Hendrick’s No. 24 team, where he served as a key member of the “Rainbow Warriors” pit crew for driver Jeff Gordon. Knaus oversaw body development and was part of the over-the-wall personnel as a tire changer for two of Gordon’s four series titles.

“You can’t quantify how much Chad’s leadership and championship experience will benefit William, who is a special talent,” Hendrick said. “The two of them are a great match, and I’m excited to see what they can do together. Chad has the Rainbow Warriors pedigree and truly appreciates the history of the No. 24. I’ve asked him to build another winner and given him the green light to put his stamp on the team and do it his way.”

MORE: Track Silly Season moves

2018 Oct 10 Chad Knaus
Getty Images

Darian Grubb, who returned to the pit box full time this year to guide Byron’s rookie season, will be promoted to the role of technical director. He previously held roles of vehicle production director and director of competition systems on Hendrick’s executive side.

Knaus, 47, has called the shots for the No. 48 team since 2002, Johnson’s rookie season in NASCAR’s top series. Their 17-year partnership has yielded an unprecedented run of five straight series titles from 2006-10, longevity in a span of nearly 600 starts, and 81 victories together (Johnson scored two wins at the start of the 2006 season with Grubb filling in for the suspended Knaus).

But for all its cumulative successes, the No. 48 team has struggled for more than a year, enduring the longest drought of the Johnson-Knaus era. Johnson has gone winless since June 2017, a stretch of 53 races.

“It’s no secret that Chad and Jimmie have experienced their ups and downs over the years,” Hendrick said. “They’re fierce competitors, great friends and have immense respect for one another. They also fight like brothers. All three of us agree it’s finally time for new challenges and that a change will benefit them and the organization.”

PHOTOS: Every Jimmie-Chad win

Johnson tweeted after the news came out.

The 37-year-old Meendering has guided the JRM No. 1 Chevrolet for veteran Elliott Sadler the last three seasons in Xfinity competition. The team has advanced to the NASCAR Playoffs each year, with Sadler twice finishing as the series’ runner-up.

Meendering previously had a 16-year association with Hendrick Motorsports that started as a high school intern with the organization’s chassis shop. He eventually grew into the role of lead engineer for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Chevrolet in 2011. Meendering’s next assignment will be to develop chemistry with a championship-caliber driver and help boost the performance of one of the sport’s most formidable teams.

“Over the last couple of years, he’s been one of the most sought-after talents in the garage,” Hendrick said of Meendering. “Kevin is an impressive person who came up in our organization and will hit the ground running on day one. We already know how well he works with our people and that he’s a respected, forward-thinking crew chief. Having worked with a veteran driver like Elliott Sadler for three years is extremely valuable experience.

“He’s the right fit for Jimmie at the right time. With an established No. 48 team behind them, I believe they will perform at a winning level next season and chase that eighth championship.”

Posted on by Jason Lofing

Michael Conti made his second visit to Victory Lane in the 2018 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series, taking the checkered flag at Dover International Speedway to wrap up the first round of the playoffs. Conti led 79 of 200 laps and beat championship competitor Ryan Luza by 3.1 seconds. Fellow playoff driver Bobby Zalenski was third but failed to advance into the Championship 4. Michael Guest finished fourth, the highest finishing non-playoff driver. Nick Ottinger rounded out the top five and he, too, fell just short of making the finale.

The final four contenders are set heading into the championship race, headlined by three former series champions. Conti, with two wins and the 2014 championship under his belt, comes in as the favorite with his first-round performance. However, he will face tough competition from last year’s champion Luza and three-time champion Ray Alfalla. Matt Bussa, the underdog of the group, has his first shot at a title.

RELATED: Full iRacing schedule/results

At Dover, Corey Vincent captured his first pole of the season but led only six laps before losing the lead on pit road under the first caution flag. Zack Novak decided to stay out since only a handful of laps were run and assumed the lead. On the restart both Conti and outside polesitter Keegan Leahy got the jump on Vincent, dropping him to fourth.

Novak could hold the lead for only three laps after the restart before Leahy motored around him, bringing Conti along as well. The duo looked to check out on the field as the field strung out. The race would go green until Lap 51 when Novak got together with Timmy Hill and crashed, bringing out the second yellow flag of the evening.

The caution drew the leaders into the pits for service with Leahy’s crew holding serve, returning him to the track in the lead. Leahy looked to have the better short run car as he quickly gapped Conti on the restart. Conti, however, had the speed on the long run and by Lap 90 was filling up Leahy’s rearview mirror. Passing Leahy proved difficult, though, and Conti’s attempt was interrupted by the third and final caution flying on Lap 98 for Taylor Hurst’s crash on the backstretch.

This time Conti won the battle off pit road and took over the lead. Unlike the runs before, Conti found short run speed as well, pulling away from Leahy a few laps after the restart. Leahy would reel Conti in but started to falter again once the gap had closed. Instead of riding in Conti’s tire tracks, Leahy chose to attempt an undercut and pit on Lap 138 hoping his fresher tires would put him far enough ahead of Conti when the pit cycle completed.

Conti waited until Lap 146 to pit and emerged several seconds behind Leahy, albeit with fresher tires. He quickly closed the gap, slicing through traffic as he went. With 40 laps to go Conti had nearly erased the gap and looked to make his move. Leahy successfully held him off for a few laps by running a defensive line, but Conti’s tire advantage was too much and with 36 laps remaining he surged back in front.

From there Conti had clear sailing to his second victory as Leahy slipped all the way to eighth with his older tires.

Homestead-Miami Speedway once again plays host as the finale with the champion being the driver of the four who finishes best. Conti has looked extremely strong the last couple months and seems poised to capture his second title. Can anyone stop him? Find out in two weeks as the 2018 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series comes to a close in Homestead!

Posted on by Staff Report

The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season will be filled with changes for Leavine Family Racing — with a new driver on board, new manufacturer and a new technical alliance.

Matt DiBenedetto will join the team with a two-year contract to drive the No. 95 car, the team announced Wednesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. LFR will also enter into a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing and move to Toyota.

RELATED: Key players in Silly Season 

DiBenedetto comes to LFR after four seasons in the Monster Energy Series driving for BK Racing and Go Fas Racing. The 27-year-old California native announced in September he was going in a “different direction” and leaving Go Fas to “take a leap of faith” and bet on himself. That leap of faith also involved making frequent calls to his connections in the NASCAR industry, including the LFR organization.

“I’ve been lucky to develop quite a great relationship with Bob Leavine and the folks at LFR over the past couple years, just strictly through being persistent and bugging them,” DiBenedetto said. “Bob is a very straightforward guy, and so I knew when he said that, I knew it was real, that I had an opportunity to get in the door there and be a part of the team. To say I was persistent is an understatement, and I exhausted all resources.”

DiBenedetto’s social media engagement with fans and fellow drivers has helped him gain support off the track. On the track, DiBenedetto has four top-10 finishes in 134 starts in the sport’s top series as he enters this weekend’s race at Talladega.

RELATED: Full schedule for Talladega 

The move to a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing brings LFR into the Toyota stable just as Furniture Row Racing is departing at year’s end. Furniture Row had been with Toyota since the 2016 season.

Leavine said that his agreement with DiBenedetto was a two-year deal, and that the TRD/JGR partnership was also for two years with an option for a third. A crew chief and other team personnel will be named later, he said.

“I really like his desire, determination,” Leavine said. “Good kid. … We think the world of him and his ability.”

The involvement with JGR will also serve as a reunion of sorts for DiBenedetto, who was at one time a development driver for the organization. He made seven Xfinity Series starts for JGR in 2009-2010. He also won two races in the K&N Pro Series East driving a car owned by Joe Gibbs son’, J.D. Gibbs.

LFR was a Ford organization from its inception in 2011 until the end of the 2015 season. The company then shifted to Chevrolet with a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing for the past three seasons.

In eight seasons, the Bob Leavine-owned organization has fielded cars for David Starr, Scott Speed, Blake Koch, Scott Riggs, Reed Sorenson, Michael McDowell, Ty Dillon, Kasey Kahne and Regan Smith. McDowell’s and Kahne’s fourth-place finishes in the July Daytona races of 2017 and 2018, respectively, stand as the company’s best race results to date.

RELATED: Kahne announces he’s out for the year | Kahne’s career highlights

Kahne was the primary driver for the 2018 season before he sought treatment for heat exhaustion after the Darlington race, and Smith has filled in since then. In August, Kahne announced he was stepping away from full-time NASCAR racing, which opened up the No. 95 seat for the upcoming season.

LFR also announced on Wednesday that Smith would fill the seat for the rest of the season.

Posted on by Team Release

Hunt Brothers Pizza, the nation’s largest brand of made-to-order pizza in the convenience store industry, announced a major expansion of its partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), the championship-winning NASCAR team and its driver, Kevin Harvick.

From its booth inside the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Hunt Brothers Pizza unveiled the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang Harvick will drive in select Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races in 2019.

RELATED: How Harvick’s playoff position looks after Dover

This endeavor marks the latest evolution in a partnership that began in 2008 when Hunt Brothers Pizza made its initial foray into NASCAR with Haas CNC Racing, the precursor of SHR. Known for its offering of all toppings at no extra charge, the convenience store pizza brand then joined Harvick in 2010 at his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team, Kevin Harvick Inc. It is a relationship that has grown since, with Hunt Brothers Pizza pairing with Harvick at SHR in 2014, first serving as an associate sponsor on his No. 4 machine before transitioning to a full primary sponsorship for select NASCAR Xfinity Series when SHR debuted its Xfinity Series program in 2017. Harvick carried Hunt Brothers Pizza to Victory Lane earlier this year at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he won the Atlanta 250 on Feb. 24 to notch SHR’s second Xfinity Series win and first of 2018.

“We’ve enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Stewart-Haas Racing and Kevin Harvick from the very beginning,” said Scott Hunt, chief executive officer of Hunt Brothers Pizza. “We find great value in the relationship and have seized the opportunity to move from a major associate partner of the No. 4 Ford to a full primary partnership where the green, red and white colors of Hunt Brothers Pizza will be seen from bumper to bumper on Kevin’s 2019 Ford Mustang.”

The 2019 season will mark the 10-year anniversary of Hunt Brothers Pizza and Harvick.

“The folks at Hunt Brothers Pizza make great pizzas and are great partners,” said Harvick, the 2014 Monster Energy Series champion. “I’m proud of my longstanding relationship with Hunt Brothers Pizza and appreciate their commitment to Stewart-Haas Racing and the No. 4 team. We work hard to provide their team members and customers an unmatched experience on and off the racetrack.”

The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season kicks off with the 61st annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 17 at Daytona International Speedway with live television coverage provided by FOX.

Posted on by Sponsored Content

Speed, coverage and control are critical elements of putting on the race day show for television audiences worldwide. NASCAR officials, drivers and broadcasters discuss innovations in broadcasting that help bring fans the best experience possible in the video series “Xfinity Presents: Technology that Defines NASCAR.”

“A big race years ago was 12 cameras and now we’re up to 50 or 60 cameras,” Steve Stum, VP of Operations and Technical Production for NASCAR, explains about the wider coverage of race day. “Cameras in the track … cameras above the track flying around.”

Inside access is what it’s all about: Bringing fans to the track through their televisions and mobile devices or even adding to the experience in the stands.

“There’s more radio coverage that we can listen in on the drivers,” says NBC broadcaster Marty Snider. “There’s a lot more elements. The coverage has gotten a lot more advanced.”

Speed is critical, as well.

“The speed and efficiency with which you cover the race is very important because with social media and everything else, the story lines change every 30 seconds,” says former crew chief and NBC broadcaster Steve Letarte. “The fan today expects answers right away.”

Controlling that information through so many cameras and on-air personalities is the art form that creates top-flight NASCAR viewing every race weekend.

Change the way you WiFi with Xfinity xFi. Xfinity xFi gives you the speed, coverage and control you need for the ultimate in-home WiFi experience.  Learn more at xfinity.com/xfi.

Xfinity. The Future of Awesome.

Posted on by Staff Report

YRB, meet The Black Mamba.

NASCAR’s Ryan Blaney, fresh off his win at the Charlotte road course, spent time with another winner in Las Vegas earlier this week — five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant.

In addition to both having phenomenal nicknames, both also are sponsored by BODYARMOR, which is what brought the two together.

Blaney presented Kobe with his fire suit from the regular-season finale at Indianapolis and spent time chatting with a man widely regarded as one of the NBA’s greatest competitors and players.

We know Blaney can hoop, as he’s a regular in Denny Hamlin’s basketball leagues. But can Kobe drive? (And we don’t mean to the rim.)

Perhaps it’s a question we can answer when NASCAR returns to Auto Club Speedway next year.

What do you say, Mamba?

Ryan Blaney poses with Kobe Bryant

Posted on by Staff Report

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Tuesday that Dave Rogers will replace Scott Graves as crew chief of the No. 19 Toyota driven by Daniel Suarez for the rest of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

The organization indicated in a news release that Graves is leaving the company, effective immediately. Graves, who paired with Suarez to win the Xfinity Series championship in 2016, was in his second season working with the No. 19 team at the Monster Energy Series level.

Rogers moves back atop the pit box after operating as JGR’s technical director for its Xfinity Series program since June 2017. Rogers has 18 Monster Energy Series victories and 20 Xfinity Series wins as a crew chief. He has served in that role for JGR from 2006-17 across both series.

Rogers was originally tapped as Suarez’s crew chief for his rookie season last year, but stepped away from the position after five races to take a personal leave of absence in March. Graves replaced him, finishing out the season.

Suarez, 26, has missed the NASCAR Playoffs in both of his Monster Energy Series seasons. He currently sits 18th in the standings, and this season also brought Suarez his first career Busch Pole Award, at Pocono Raceway in July.

Posted on by Holly Cain

As has been the case so far in these 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Sunday’s second-round opener at Dover’s “Monster Mile” proved it ain’t over till it’s over. And again, it was the veterans opening the door for younger drivers to come in to the playoff party.

Such was the case this weekend as Chase Elliott earned his second career Monster Energy Series victory and an automatic berth into the Round of 8. Dover International Speedway has historically been one of Elliott’s best tracks, but his opportunity to win was amplified by a couple late-race cautions — one involving his closest competition — and also by a great call not to pit during the ensuing yellow flags.

RELATED: Elliott wins at Dover | Playoff standings

Bottom line, the 22-year-old held off the field for the final 11 laps — giving him two runner-up finishes and a victory in six Dover starts. As importantly, it gives the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet all kinds of momentum with six races left to decide a championship.

It was the biggest win of Elliott’s young career and a real crowd pleaser.

“Oh, huge,” Elliott said of the victory. “I mean, I think it’s nice to be able to know you’re going to move on, but you can’t get complacent in the fact that you are moving on, and you can’t let those points just sit out there and not try to go get them because those bonus points you get for winning or winning a stage or winning a race or whatever, that’s huge, and you need as many as you can get.

“One or two points could be the difference in you making the round of four or not. Just knowing that and not being complacent with the win and trying to go get another one or two before it starts I think is important.”

The series’ youth movement got a start a week earlier with Elliott’s good friend, 24-year-old Ryan Blaney hoisting his own winner’s trophy. He turned a strong run at Charlotte’s new road course into an automatic place in this round and, as with Elliott, he was able to take advantage of a late-race melee between front-running veterans. Two former champions — Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. — crashed out together while vying for the lead only a few turns from the checkered flag — and Blaney blasted through.

In a season dominated by the “Big 3” — former Cup champions Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Truex — the playoffs have presented a legitimate youth counter-movement. The “Big 3” combined to win 17 of the 26 regular-season races, but Busch is the only one to win in the four playoff races to date, scoring his seventh victory of 2018 at Richmond Raceway two weeks ago. Former series champion Brad Keselowski — Blaney’s Team Penske teammate — won the playoff opener at Las Vegas.

RELATED: Move over ‘Big 3’ — here comes Elliott

And since then, a pair of 20-somethings — Blaney and Elliott — have shown the veterans that they are primed to challenge for this championship, too.

To be fair, Harvick, a seven-time winner this season, dominated the day at Dover — leading a race-high 286 laps — before a pit-road issue put him a lap down late in the race. He turned in an inspired comeback and rallied to a sixth-place finish. Truex was also running up front when he was involved in a five-car accident with two laps remaining and finished 15th.

Harvick has led 340 laps in the playoffs and was runner-up to Busch at Richmond. His showing Sunday was good enough to give him the championship lead by five points over Busch. Truex has led 264 laps in the four playoff races, with a best showing of third, both at Vegas and Richmond. He is third in the standings, 32 points behind Harvick.

Blaney’s 11th-place finish at Dover was enough to keep him among the top eight entering Sunday’s always-exciting race at Talladega Superspeedway. Elliott’s win is a free pass to the next round and moves him to fifth place in the points standings — important with such an unpredictable venue as Talladega next.

Keselowski is the defending winner of the Talladega playoff race and Penske teammate Joey Logano won at the track earlier this year. Six of the last eight races — including the last four Talladega playoff races — have been won by the Team Penske teammates. Keselowski, who scored his first ever Monster Energy Series win at the track in 2009, won the 2014 and 2017 playoff races there and the spring 2016 race. Logano won the 2015 and 2016 playoff races as well as this year’s spring 500-miler.

For his part, Elliott won the pole position at Talladega in his first start at the track (2016) and finished fifth in that race. He was third behind Logano and Kurt Busch this year and has finished top 16 in his two previous playoff races there.

A win at the superspeedway, where Elliott is already a hugely popular driver among the Alabama fans, would be a huge accomplishment personally, and a great shot of adrenalin for the whole crowd.

“Anything is possible, man,” Elliott said of turning his win at Dover into a legitimate title shot going forward. “There’s no reason at all we can’t make a run at this deal. I thought we made a great run at it last year.

“Personally, I felt like we went way further than anybody expected us to, a couple laps away from going to Homestead-Miami. No reason why we can’t do that this year and give those guys a run.”

MORE: Chase Elliott through the years

Posted on by Staff Report

Kasey Kahne will step away from the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet for the remainder of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season due to lingering health issues.

Kahne made the announcement through social media Tuesday morning. The decision cuts Kahne’s farewell year short after announcing Aug. 16 that he would retire from full-time Cup racing at season’s end.

The team announced on Wednesday that Regan Smith will pilot the ride for the remainder of the season before handing off to Matt DiBenedetto, who will drive the car full time beginning next season. The team will also move to Toyota and align with Joe Gibbs Racing, beginning in 2019.

RELATED: Kahne on his decision to retire

After receiving post-race treatment for heat exhaustion and dehydration at Darlington Raceway, Kahne and LFR announced Sept. 6 that he would be sidelined after physicians recommended he sit out pending further evaluation. Regan Smith has served as Leavine Family Racing’s substitute driver for the last five races.

Kahne tested a car last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway in hopes of returning to competition for last weekend’s race at Dover International Speedway. Tuesday, he indicated that nagging hydration issues ruled out a comeback this season.

MORE: A career in photos

“Out of the race car, I am perfectly healthy, I feel great, and the doctors have determined that I have no underlying health problems,” Kahne wrote. “My body just can’t handle extended periods of time in the race car and we weren’t able to control the sweat ratio to keep me hydrated enough to prevent any permanent damage to my body.”

In a conference call with reporters Sept. 7, Kahne indicated that the dehydration had been a chronic problem that increased in severity at Darlington as drivers faced hotter temperatures in one of the longest races of the year. The 38-year-old driver also noted the health issues contributed to his initial decision to retire from NASCAR racing.

Putting his body through similar conditions was a risk that Kahne and his doctors thought best not to take until a proper solution could be found.

“At this point I have to just figure out how to finish these races, how to be able to go that long in a hot car in the environment that we’re in, between the air temp and the dew point degrees, just to control it all,” Kahne said.

Kahne indicated that his condition would not preclude him from participating in sprint-car racing, where he is also a successful team owner.

“With much shorter races and open cockpits, there is no issue with my health or hydration with that type of racing,” Kahne wrote in his tweet.

Kahne’s career comes to an end with 18 wins in 529 starts over 15 years of racing at NASCAR’s highest level, including three Coca-Cola 600 victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kahne competed for five teams throughout his Cup tenure – Evernham Motorsports (2004-07), Richard Petty Motorsports (2008-10), Red Bull Racing (2011), Hendrick Motorsports (2012-17) and Leavine Family Racing (2018).

Posted on by Steve Luvender

NASCAR Xfinity Series points leader Christopher Bell loves dirt racing, and now he’s working with iRacing to present a sim racer with a special opportunity. The iRacing dirt champion will get to drive a real-life dirt sprint car alongside Bell as a mentor at the Charlotte dirt track.

iRacing shared its top 10 member video moments from September, from close calls to exciting finishes across all types of cars and racing disciplines.

NASCAR PEAK ANTIFREEZE iRACING SERIES UPDATE

Tuesday, the stars of the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series compete for 200 laps at Dover in the last race before the October 23 season finale.

By virtue of their playoff wins, Michael Conti and Matt Bussa have locked themselves into the Championship 4, but two more spots, currently occupied by defending champion Ryan Luza and three-time champ Ray Alfalla, will be determined at Dover.

We break down the championship contenders and their odds at a Monster Mile victory in this week’s iRacing Power Rankings.

iRACING PAINT SCHEMES OF THE WEEK

Chris Swett painted a fictional Menards car — a mashup of the classic Menards blue color and the iconic Menards bright yellow.

James Gutta re-created Matt Kenseth’s 2006 ride for iRacing — but on a super late model. It translates quite well to the short track car.

DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME

What happens when when you combine a last-lap iRacing crash at Talladega with sound from the movie Days of Thunder? A beautiful marriage of video and audio, that’s what.