Which character would you be in Talladega Nights: Ricky Bobby – I wanna go fast!!!
Talladega or Daytona: Daytona! Only because I have yet to go to Talladega. That track is on my bucket list!
Car or Truck: Truck
JetSki or Snow ski: JetSki
Beer or wine: Beer – I’m allergic to wine!
What would you name your boat if you had one: I actually used to have a Donzi! I miss that fire engine red and silver speed boat. But if I got another one, I would name it “The Hammy” after my youngest dog. I can imagine him sitting at the bow majestically.
You might not know this about me: I used to be an aerialist and a fire dancer! A recent trip has inspired me to get back into it!
Best part of being a Monster Girl: I love getting to meet all of the different types of people at events I work that I would never have met otherwise. It doesn’t matter if it’s a huge auto race or a Walmart retail hit, I always have great conversations with everyone.
Best/craziest fan story/encounter: That’s a hard one! But if I had to choose one, it would be in the middle of a car show, I looked up and saw a fan wearing a shirt he made with my face on it along with a bag of my favorite goodies. It was very thoughtful of him!
Both the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 team and the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 team failed pre-race inspection multiple times at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, relegating drivers Daniel Suarez and Martin Truex Jr. to the rear of the field for Monday’s race.
The No. 19 Toyota failed pre-race inspection, held Saturday at the track, four times. In addition to starting from the rear, car chief Todd Brewer has been ejected for Monday’s Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App). Suarez was set to roll off the grid 20th after Saturday’s qualifying was rained out and the field was set per the NASCAR Rule Book (owner points). He’ll still be credited with a start of 20th, but move to the back before the green drops.
Suarez also was docked 10 driver points for the fourth failure.
Truex Jr. will join Suarez at the rear. His No. 78 Toyota failed pre-race inspection three times, meaning he’ll drop to the rear from his starting position of third on Sunday. His car chief, Blake Harris, also is ejected, but there is no points penalty.
Truex Jr., the reigning Monster Energy Series champion, is looking for a new ride for 2019. Furniture Row announced early this week it would shutter its operations at the end of the season.
Coincidentally, Dale Earnhardt Jr. predicted that Truex Jr. would move to Joe Gibbs Racing next year and drive the No. 19.
Two spots remain open in the 16-driver NASCAR Playoffs field with Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman currently holding those positions. However, the Brickyard has a recent history of producing surprise winners.
Wet weather washed out Friday’s Xfinity practices and Saturday’s entire slate, which included qualifying for the Monster Energy Series and Xfinity Series. The Xfinity Series race, originally slated for Saturday, already has been delayed until Monday.
Posted on by
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – It’s a drizzly Thursday evening and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. isn’t thinking about his upcoming Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
A playoff bid is on the line for the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing driver – and perhaps that’s always somewhere in the back of his mind, compartmentalized.
Right now though, he’s getting ready to race his NOS-sponsored Clauson-Marshall Racing midget in the USAC inaugural dirt race in honor of Stenhouse’s late friend and fellow dirt racer Bryan Clauson.
And maybe, this evening of enjoyment will bring him an advantage Sunday.
“I used to race a lot of sprint cars throughout my Xfinity career. I’d run probably about 20 sprint car races a year and then a few midget races and I felt like that’s probably when I was at my best,” Stenhouse told NASCAR.com while seated in the Clauson-Marshall Racing hauler prior to Thursday’s BC 39. “Because when you’re out racing different cars and adapting to different track conditions, I feel like that’s when you’re probably the sharpest. When I moved to Cup, Jack (Roush) kind of asked me to quit racing sprint cars for a while and I felt like I kinda lost the edge when I came back to run dirt cars. So, I feel like over time, it’s kind of coming back a little bit.
Branden Williams | NASCAR Digital Media
“But I do think it keeps me sharper. Going into this weekend, I think I’ll be ahead just because I’m in a race car throughout the week. It’s hard to beat any track time — even if it’s in a different race car.”
Here at the dirt track, Stenhouse is simply another racer – he hangs with his team on Indy’s muddy grounds and if few fans hadn’t called for autographs, he would appear just like any other driver in the garage.
But Monday is different. Monday, he’ll put on his Monster Energy Series fire suit and withstand the gaze of many eyes upon him because that’s when he’s tasked with winning his way into the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs. Currently, Stenhouse sits 17th, one spot and 68 points outside the coveted 16-car playoff grid.
“First off, it’s the Brickyard 400, which is a prestigious race in itself, one of those bucket-list races that people want to win,” Stenhouse said. “There’s really not much I probably wouldn’t do to get in the playoffs. It depends, we’ll have to see. I feel like those are always game-time decisions, like how aggressive do you want to be or how aggressive will you be to make the playoffs.”
Coming off his first two Monster Energy Series wins last year, Stenhouse’s 2018 season has been relatively quiet. He’s had some strong runs – notably at the first Bristol race, Daytona and the site of his first career win, Talladega, where he finished fifth. The Roush Fenway fleet’s cars just aren’t where they’d like them to be right now, he said, and mistakes have tarnished otherwise promising races.
“I feel like my team is really good. I feel like my team is some of the best at getting the most out of a car and the most potential out of what we got …,” Stenhouse said. “My crew chief and our engineers are working really hard to kind of fast-forward the engineering process to get us cars before the end of the year (that are) more of what we want, so that we can at some point, focus on what we’re going to do for 2019. … We definitely have a lot more room and a lot more potential on the car side to get faster. … I love where my team is – we’ve gotta get our cars to kinda catch up with where our team is.”
“Right now, even if we made the playoffs, with the cars that we got and the speed that we have, I don’t see us going very far in the playoffs,” he added. “So, I think we’re still continuing to try to find more speed week-to-week and we’re bringing different cars to the track week in and week out now, trying to find that speed. So we’re kind of already going toward 2019, but we’ve still got a lot of year left. … There’s races that we still feel like we can get a win at, so if we don’t make the playoffs, we still want to win. And that will be something that we’re aiming for.”
This weekend, the No. 17 team brings a new car to the track, different from the one they tested with at Indianapolis months ago. Armed with momentum from a fast car at Bristol and a career-best run of 12th at Darlington last week, they’ll compete for a chance at kissing the racing world’s most famous bricks.
One of those competing cars is his newest teammate, Matt Kenseth, who has split the No. 6 ride with Trevor Bayne this year. For Stenhouse, Kenseth’s arrival mid-year “lit a fire” in him – and instilled confidence.
“When you don’t do that (well) week in and week out, you kind of start wondering if you are telling (the team) the right things,” Stenhouse said. “So, I feel like it’s been nice having Matt kind of reassure that. … You don’t ever want to say, ‘Hey, it’s not me.’ But at the same time, you also need your own confidence. After a while, it’s kind of tough to keep that confidence up when you aren’t going out and winning even though … you go out and you tell yourself, ‘Hey, I’m doing the best I can, maybe it is me, I don’t know.’ For me, it’s just been reassuring. You’ve got Matt and I’m like, ‘Hey, Matt, I really would like my car to drive like this’ and he’s like ‘Well, when I was at another organization, the cars can drive like that, they’re capable of driving like that.’ We’ve got to figure out how we can get our cars to drive like that. Matt’s brought a lot of good information. … I feel like I kinda got another fire underneath me, like, ‘Hey, I’ve got to continue to push ’em, push the team to make sure that we’re getting the work out of the team that we need in the organization.”
Branden Williams | NASCAR Digital Media
While Kenseth’s arrival has proved beneficial, Stenhouse admitted that he was “kind of mad” at some Roush Fenway employees’ early predictions that Kenseth would run up front right away in the No. 6.
“I knew for a fact that wasn’t going to happen,” he said. “I’ve been driving these cars. On one hand, I was a little frustrated when they hired Matt to kind of do that, but then after a while, look, Matt clearly says that we’re struggling as an organization so I think Matt coming over kind of lit a fire in all of us to work harder, make sure we’re working together and really fast-forward the process of building new cars and trying to find something that’s going to build some speed in our cars.”
There’s a sense of unpredictability with Monday’s Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard after rain washed away all practice and qualifying sessions. Stenhouse will roll off the grid 16th, matching his starting spot of 2016 at the Brickyard when he finished a career-best 12th.
To make the playoffs, he’ll need to better that career-best by 11 positions.
“Obviously it’s going to take a career finish here for us to make the playoffs, getting a win,” he said. “But then I also look at how the race played out last year here and it’s not the same scenario obviously — it was in the middle of the summer – but I feel like now, those chances with it being the last race and last-possible time to make the playoffs, that could make even the race from last year look really similar. Kasey (Kahne) was able to sneak a win in there and I bet there was probably five or six drivers that I thought at one point were going to win that race the way it was at the end. I made a mistake in it last year – I felt like we had a top-10 car.
“We’ve just got to make no mistakes going into this weekend.”
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett won his first Brickyard 400 in 1996 and his second during his 1999 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship season, but he still remembers the one that got away.
Jarrett’s No. 88 Robert Yates Racing Ford was the fastest car in the 1998 race at Indianapolis, qualifying second and at one point building a 16-second lead. The payout for winning the race was $637,000, but crew chief Todd Parrott and owner Robert Yates wanted to collect every dollar that was up for grabs in the event.
That included a $10,000 prize for leading Lap 80, the halfway point.
Parrott told Jarrett he would be able to stretch his fuel to Lap 80 and make it back around to pit road, thanks to the 16-second lead. Unfortunately, the fuel mileage calculations weren’t entirely accurate, and Jarrett ran out of gas in Turn 1.
The race stayed green, and Jarrett lost four laps before he got to his pit stall to refuel. In the second half of the race, he got those four laps back under a format where lapped cars restarted in the bottom lane with lead-lap cars to the outside.
“We finished (16th) on the lead lap,” Jarrett said Friday during an appearance for Mobil 1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum. “I passed the leader every time – we were that fast. … Drove back to North Carolina, still pissed, and Monday morning at about 10:15, I got a call from one of the guys who worked on the car.
“He said, ‘I know you’re still not happy. None of us are. We should have won that race, not trying to win $10,000, but just I thought this might make you laugh. We just got a call from Todd Parrott, who was driving to the race shop. He only lives about 12 miles from the race shop. He ran out of gas.’”
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Jimmie Johnson was smiling, being his typical easy-going self while answering reporters’ questions Saturday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But far from side-stepping or making excuses for his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team’s season-long winless streak, the seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion candidly spoke about how much he misses Victory Lane and has, genuinely, never been more motivated to raise another trophy.
Hoisting the hardware is something Johnson has done repeatedly here at Indy. His four victories are twice as many as any other driver in the field for Monday’s Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
He won Indianapolis in 2006, back-to-back in 2008-09 and then again in 2012. Only five-time winner Jeff Gordon has more victories here. Johnson finished runner-up in 2013 and was racing for the win last year when his Chevy suffered an oil leak and Johnson crashed out with two laps remaining.
“It is a very difficult track and it took me quite a few years to get the right rhythm and figure it out,’’ Johnson said. “It is a very unique track, like Dover and like Martinsville. Some of those challenging and unique tracks I’ve just always taken to and have had good luck and success at. So, Indy now fits into that category. And a lot like Martinsville, my first few trips there, there is no way I thought I would win. And then once I got it, it started to come.
“So, this could be a very big turnaround race for us. I definitely believe that and feel it. We qualified well here last year and race well here and had a shot to win if it wasn’t for the oil leak. I think the No. 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) were the class of the field and we were in that next group. So, if we do our part I think we can have a shot at the end.”
Contending for a win this week would indicate a significant upshift for Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet team. This has been an uncharacteristic season filled with frustration and disappointment for the 83-race winner and future NASCAR Hall of Famer.
Johnson’s last win was June 4, 2017 at Dover International Speedway — 49 races ago. He has never gone a full season without a win. In fact, he’s never had a season without multiple wins — two victories in 2011 is his smallest single-season trophy haul in 17 years at the Cup level.
But through the first 25 races of 2018, Johnson has eight top 10s and two top fives. His best showing is a third place in April at Bristol.
Chase Elliott is the only member of Johnson’s four-car Hendrick team to have reached Victory Lane. (His first career win came last month at Watkins Glen.)
“So, there are plenty of takeaways and plenty of things that we learned,’’ Johnson said of his season. “Kind of the over-arching thing for me is compounding mistakes. People make mistakes, but let’s not make a bad situation worse. And sadly, we were kind of in a position that we weren’t going to finish that race with the oil pump scenario (last week at Darlington).
“So, that does take a little bit off of it. But, we just need to stop making mistakes. I think I was in a position and drove outside of my means and drove over the 100 percent level because I knew I had such a good car. And I’m so eager to get back to winning and get back to leading laps that I just tried too hard.”
And, Johnson added, “We’re all human, you know? And I’ve made mistakes even when I’ve been at my peak. I’ve made a mistake and then I’ve also made compounding mistakes. It’s all part of it.
“But as you (media) all know and we all know each other pretty well and could imagine just the frustration of not being where I want to be. And then, maybe relating back to your own things in life, when something’s not going right you just try harder and harder. We’re all human. And its just part of it. So, I just need to stop doing that (laughs). Easier said than done.”
See where your favorite driver will pit Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Alex Bowman isn’t quite ready to assume his place in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is secure. But he has good vibes and a positive outlook heading into the final regular-season race, Sunday’s Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard.
Bowman has met or exceeded most expectations in his first full Monster Energy Series season driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He is ranked 16th in the playoff picture heading into Monday’s race (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) — with 16 drivers advancing to the 10-race playoff.
And although Bowman hasn’t competed at the tough 2.5-mile track in three years, he is guardedly optimistic about the right scenario — a solid finish for himself and no first-time season winner coming from below him in the standings.
“It’s a pretty vulnerable spot coming to Indy with three guys who have won here behind you in points that haven’t won yet, but you know, I think we can get the job done just as good as they can,’’ Bowman said.
“I’m excited. I think it would be a great thing to be a part of the playoffs and hopefully we are in it and we can do it from there.”
It’s been a high-achieving season for the championship organization’s new hire. Taking over the ride of the sport’s perennial favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., would seem innately intimidating, but the 25-year-old Bowman has handled it with grace and put the car right back in the championship spotlight — a place it hasn’t been since 2015.
Expectations are high at Hendrick, but no higher than Bowman’s own. This is a career opportunity he is intent to seize. And earning a playoff position in his first full season with the team is exactly the way to do it.
“It would mean a lot to me to be in the playoffs right off the bat,’’ Bowman said. “Coming from what I came from and kind of going through everything I went through to make the playoffs in my first year with Hendrick Motorsports would be really special.
“I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch because I will jinx myself and ‘bad luck Bowman’ will come out and somebody will win on fuel mileage or something I will be out. But it’s cool to be in this position; hopefully we can pull it off.”
Although he is still looking for his first career victory, Bowman’s playoff push has been a redemptory boost to his career and a huge thumbs-up to getting the high-profile Hendrick ride. He won the pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500, scored a career-best third-place finish at Pocono last month, has led a lap in five different races and earned nine top-10 finishes highlighted by a pair of top fives.
It’s been strong enough to put Bowman immediately into the playoff picture along with Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott, who scored his first career win at Watkins Glen, and seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who is winless on the season but ranked one position (15th) higher in the playoff picture than Bowman.
“Yeah, I think it’s no secret it’s been a rough year for us and for all of Hendrick Motorsports, but we are still in contention for the playoffs, so that is cool to be a part of,’’ Bowman said. “Vastly different than anything else I’ve done in my career or any other position I’ve been in in the Cup Series.”
It’s the lifelong opportunity he has sought and now hopes to seize.
“I think honestly, the first round as far as tracks is going to be the hardest for us, but I think our speed has definitely been improving,’’ Bowman said.
“Our execution has been improving, (although) we had a rough last week. But I have one of the best teams in the business and we are always getting better and I’m excited to see what we have brought to the race track this week and every week going forward.”
The start time for Sunday’s regular-season finale in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was moved up one hour, and the start of the Xfinity race was moved to Monday because of inclement weather in the forecast.
The Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday with coverage on NBCSN, IMS Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Meanwhile, the Lilly Diabetes 250 will move to Monday at 10 a.m. ET with coverage on NBCSN, IMS Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Two spots remain open in the 16-driver NASCAR Playoffs field for the Monster Energy Series with Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman currently holding those positions. However, the Brickyard has a recent history of producing surprise winners.
Wet weather washed out Friday’s Xfinity practices and Saturday’s entire slate, which included qualifying for the Monster Energy Series and Xfinity Series. Both lineups were set in accordance to the NASCAR Rule Book.
Rain has washed out the entire on-track schedule on Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard will see its start time moved up to 1 p.m. ET (coverage on NBCSN, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Lilly Diabetes 250 has been moved to Monday morning at 10 a.m. ET with coverage on NBCSN, IMS Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
That means that both series — the Monster Energy Series and the Xfinity Series — will race without any prior track time on the weekend. Friday saw both Xfinity Series practices rained out as well.
Saturday was set to host a full day of track activity with two Monster Energy Series practices, Monster Energy Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying and the NASCAR Xfinity Series Lilly Diabetes 250.
With Xfinity qualifying rained out, the lineup will be set by the rule book — meaning Ryan Blaney will start out front due to the No. 22 team being atop the owner points in the Xfinity Series. The rainout of Monster Energy Series qualifying will also see that field set by the rule book, which puts Kyle Busch at the front of the field.
Sunday’s Monster Energy Series race is the final one of the regular season and will see the final two playoff spots up for grabs. Entering the weekend, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman hold the final two spots.
The Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will use the same aerodynamic package used at this track last season that produced a record number of race leaders (eight) and lead changes (16). The package has already been used this season at Pocono and Michigan. The 2017 Indy-specific package included a taller rear spoiler, use of a restrictor plate (7/8th-inch) and aero ducts (similar to brake duct openings) in an attempt to lessen the aerodynamic advantage enjoyed by the lead car at the 2.5-mile track.
A fleet of 19 units of the Toyota Track Drying Team are on hand to dry the track along with 10 jets and four vacuums.
The 27-year-old California native has spent the past two seasons driving the No. 32 Ford for Go Fas Racing. Before that, he drove for BK Racing for two years. In 129 Monster Energy Series starts, DiBenedetto has four top 10s with a best finish of sixth in the 2016 spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
DiBenedetto’s three top 10s in the past two years also represent Go Fas Racing’s top 10 total in seven years. His seventh-place finish in the Daytona summer race this year stands as the organization’s best result in NASCAR’s top series.
On Saturday, Go Fas Racing released a statement thanking DiBenedetto for being a member of the team the last two years. The statement also says they are looking to secure a driver and sponsor pairing for the 2019 season.
