Posted on by Staff Report

After five seasons at Stewart-Haas Racing, Kurt Busch is moving on for the 2019 season. The driver announced as much in a Sunday night tweet, with both the official team Twitter account and team co-owner Tony Stewart chiming in as well.

“I would like to thank Stewart-Haas for 5 fantastic years,” Busch said in part (see full tweet below).

The 2004 Monster Energy Series champion is leaving SHR after compiling six victories there, including the 2017 Daytona 500 with crew chief Tony Gibson. Many reports have Busch linked to the open No. 1 ride at Chip Ganassi Racing, but there was no immediate word on Busch’s plans for 2019, or SHR’s plans for its No. 41 Ford.

Busch is a 19-year veteran of the sport who has 30 wins on NASCAR’s highest level. He qualified for the playoffs in all five seasons while at SHR. His latest victory came in the Bristol Night Race earlier this year. Busch advanced to the Round of 8 in this season’s NASCAR Playoffs.

Before SHR, Busch drove for Furniture Row Racing full time in 2013 and for part of the 2012 season. Busch began his premier series career driving for Jack Roush, and he was driving for Roush during his championship season in 2004.

Kurt and brother Kyle each have at least 30 victories on the premier-series level, the only sibling duo to accomplish the feat in NASCAR history.

Posted on by Team Release

Lexington, N.C. – Kaulig Racing is eager to announce the development of a multi-year deal with 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion contender, Justin Haley. Starting with the Xfinity Series season opener in Daytona, the 19-year-old Winamac, Indiana, native will be behind the wheel of the No. 11 Chevy Camaro owned by award-winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig.

“I am really looking forward to 2019,” Kaulig said. “Justin is coming off of the best season of his young career and I can’t wait to see what he can do in the No. 11 car.”

Details regarding personnel and sponsorship will be announced at a later date.

Posted on by Staff Report

The annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway is to the super late model world what the Daytona 500 is to NASCAR – a historic event with glory and bragging rights on the line.

This year’s 300-lap of short-track racing grit is the 51st running of the race on the half-mile asphalt oval in Pensacola, Florida, and the field is nearly set.

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series driver Harrison Burton, who will race full time with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2019, will start on the pole for Sunday’s race at 3 p.m. ET. Other NASCAR notables include Noah Gragson, who qualified eighth, and Stewart Friesen, who will start 14th. The starting lineup will be complete following a last chance qualifier on Saturday, a 50-lapper where the top four finishers transfer into the main event.

Noah Gragson takes a lap during practice for the 2018 Snowball Derby.
Noah Gragson takes a lap during practice for the Snowball Derby. Credit: @KBMteam

Not only do the best late-model racers from across the country like Augie Grill and Bubba Pollard flock to Florida’s panhandle for the short-track showdown, but some of NASCAR’s biggest stars invade the scene, as well.

The past nine Snowball Derby race winners have made starts or have won races in NASCAR’s national series. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch is a two-time winner, with his first triumph coming in 2009 along with last year’s victory.

Busch is not on the entry list this year, but he will return as a car owner with Gragson at the helm of the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports ride and Raphael Lessard in the No. 51.

NASCAR’s newest Most Popular Driver Award winner Chase Elliott became the youngest winner in Snowball Derby history in 2011, following it up with another victory in 2015. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones won back-to-back events in 2012-13, while John Hunter Nemechek was victorious in 2014.

The race is hosted in conjunction with the United States Super Late Model Rules Alliance and isn’t sanctioned by a particular racing organization. Drivers from various late model series, including the CARS Tour, PASS North and South, Southern Super Series and ARCA, come to participate during the first weekend of December.

Green flag for Sunday’s main event is set for 3 p.m. ET.

Posted on by NASCAR.com

Name: Andy
Current City: New Hope, North Carolina
Member since: 2011

Getting to know Andy​

​Q. How did you first become interested in NASCAR? 

“I first became interested in NASCAR when my cousin took me to a dirt track race which got me hooked on racing and that weekend, we watched Talladega and wow what an amazing race and track. Mark Martin won that day and from then on, I was a huge Mark fan and began following every race in every series. I have been at a race every year for over 20 years now and still look forward to every race we go to!

Q. What is your favorite NASCAR Memory? 

“My favorite NASCAR memory is my first race at Rockingham and watching Mark Martin win! It was the only time I got to see Mark win in person, and it is awesome watching your driver do burnouts. A close second is taking my brother-in-law to his first race at Talladega and watching his eyes light up as the track came into view from the highway! It was really cool 4 years later when Eric Church released the song “Talladega.” Every time I hear that song, I think of that trip to ‘Dega!”

Q. Who are you favorite drivers?

“Clint Bowyer & Brad Keselowski. I saw an interview a few years ago that Clint did at a bar and it looked like a lot of fun to hang out and what would be better than hanging out at a dive enjoying some drinks while hearing all the great stories. To have Brad there who had the greatest championship victory celebration ever, what a great day of stories!”

Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?

Memorabilia: “I won a 4′ x 5′ photo of Mark Martin and team in victory lane at his last race, from the TV show This Week in NASCAR. The photo is on the wall in the basement where we hang out when people come over.”

Sponsor: “The wife wins that one because she bought close to every piece of Kasey Khane Red Bull merch they made!”

Race-day Tradition: “Always get there early and cook breakfast at our tailgate, and then we walk through the haulers or merchandise/sponsorship tents, before heading in for driver introductions.”

​Q: What are some of your hobbies?

“The wife and I spend most of our time in the fall traveling to college football games wherever Carolina is playing. Outside of football season we go to NASCAR races and love taking the dog to all kinds of cool places especially breweries.”

​From all of us at NASCAR, we thank Andy for his continued support and look forward to hearing from him in 2019! 

Posted on by Zack Albert

LAS VEGAS — Most good, odometer-churning journeys deserve a cool-down lap. For Contessa Nyree, that yearlong trek to nearly every Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event ended this week with a trip to Las Vegas for the season-ending awards ceremony.

“At the end of the Homestead race, I think that’s the only race where I took a picture of the checkered flag the whole season because that felt like the end,” Nyree said Thursday from the Wynn Las Vegas, where she settled into a seat in the middle of the ballroom for the festivities. “So yeah, coming out here for the championship banquet definitely feels like a victory lap of sorts.”

Nyree took a year’s break from her position as an attorney in New York City with the goal of taking in every event on the Monster Energy Series circuit. She only missed Richmond in September for a family function, but added the Eldora dirt-track race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as part of her packed itinerary.

PLAN YOUR JOURNEY: 2019 Tickets, event schedules

“It’s been a lot of fun, criss-crossing the country — mostly driving, a couple of flights tossed in. It’s been nice going to all the tracks that I hadn’t been to before.” That list included Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a big-ticket item that she checked off in September.

Nyree, 40, grew up within two miles of the Milwaukee Mile. Though her home state of Wisconsin has long been a hotbed for racing, Nyree was a late bloomer, catching the bug after moving to New York.

Watching on television got Nyree intrigued, and an appreciation for Tony Stewart’s talents gave her a rooting interest. The noise and sensation of attending races in person got her hooked. Needing to recharge and an affection for travel set the wheels in motion for packing her belongings into a storage unit and filling up her cork-board map with more destinations.

What might 2019 hold? After the awards festivities, Nyree is set for an offseason move to the warmer climate of West Palm Beach, Florida. That’ll put her closer to Daytona International Speedway, where she plans on attending a solid chunk of Speedweeks on through the Daytona 500 in February.

But will that trip be the start of another season-long pilgrimage? Nyree smiled, having earned the right to be more selective with her travels next year.

“I am not doing this a whole other year, no way,” Nyree said. “Living out of a couple suitcases and your car and hotels every couple days is tough. … I’m escaping the cold and the snow of the North, so I’ll definitely hit a bunch of races. Haven’t quite decided which ones. I think it’ll be a mix of both NASCAR races and other types of racing.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

LAS VEGAS — Joey Logano had navigated through most of the thank-yous in his champion’s speech at the annual Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards, offering appreciation to sponsors, managers, his crew chief, his team and his legendary car owner. He saved his family for the closing moments in Thursday’s address, and that’s when he welled up with emotion.

His parents, his in-laws, and his wife, Brittany. They are what made him pause and briefly step away from the podium.

“I guess I knew I was going to break down when I started talking about my family and the people that supported me from the beginning,” Logano said later. “I guess you just think about the commitment that everyone’s made to get you here and it means so much to me to have them here tonight and to talk about them. I guess that was the hardest part for me.”

RELATED: Best scenes from Champion’s Week | Logano honored as champ

More than once this Champion’s Week, Logano mentioned how he used to dread the annual trip to Las Vegas for the postseason awards. In years past, those trips west meant being present to celebrate someone else’s series title. “Yeah, it stinks to sit at the table down below,” his crew chief, Todd Gordon, said earlier this week with a laugh.

This offseason, after 10 years of trying, Logano joined his No. 22 team principals at the head table at the Wynn Las Vegas. He made it clear that he plans to use that center stage as a first-time champ as a platform for helping others and for being an ambassador for stock-car racing.

Logano graciously thanked his competitors for their drive and passion, all while acknowledging his past run-ins with them on the track — a byproduct of his aggressive driving style. But he also challenged his peers with a dose of perspective, to use their position to better the lives of those less fortunate.

“I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes on and off the race track, but God’s given me an amazing opportunity to learn from each one and teaching me what it’s like to have a second chance in life,” Logano said. “That’s why we started the Joey Logano Foundation, to give second chances to children and young adults in times of crisis.

“And the other part of our mission, which is maybe even more important, is to inspire others to live a life of generosity. I talk about how our sport gives us such a large stage to make a difference. Here I am standing on the largest stage in NASCAR, so I need to use this moment to challenge all of us and inspire all of us to be the change.”

MORE: Brittany and Joey Logano through the years

Change was all part of a year of transition for Logano, who not only became a driving champion in 2018 but became a father with the birth of his son, Hudson, in January. And just days before hoisting the Monster Energy Series trophy at Miami, he was recognized for his foundation’s charitable works with the Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award.

“To me, it’s crazy that it all happened in one year,” Logano said earlier this week. “I don’t feel like it should all happen like that in one year, so I’ve kind of got to pinch myself because that stuff’s just very special to me.”

At a reception hosted by Goodyear Racing earlier Thursday, Logano offered his appreciation there for the tiremaker’s presentation of a 1/12-scale gold replica of his title-winning No. 22 Ford. In doing so, he told the intimate collection of attendees that he looked forward to representing the sport as its champion, adding that if there was ever anything he should be doing, to please tell him.

Thursday night, Logano had his own say in a moment he shared with his family, finally at the front of the awards stage.

Posted on by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — DGR-Crosley announced today that they have added Natalie Decker to their driver development program for the 2019 season. Decker will run a select number of NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series races as well as a combination of NASCAR K&N Pro Series and ARCA Racing Series events. Decker’s longtime partner N29 Technologies, LLC will come on board as she enters her rookie season at DGR-Crosley.

The 21-year-old Eagle River, Wisconsin, native will make the transition to the Truck Series after competing in the ARCA Racing Series for the past two years. Decker, coming off a career-best season, finished seventh in the 2018 ARCA Driver Point Standings after scoring two top-five and nine top-10 finishes throughout the 20-race season.

“I’m really excited to be making the step up to trucks, especially with DGR-Crosley. They bring fast Toyotas to the track every weekend whether it be in the K&N Series or Truck Series,” said Decker. “Making the transition to trucks is going to help me progress my career and build my skill set. Being able to race in all three series will be beneficial because I can run an ARCA or K&N race that will help me prepare for the truck race. I think it’s very important that I’ll have the same team around me whichever series I’m running and having David (Gilliland) there to help coach me and give me advice. Being a driver with a lot of experience and the father to a race car driver, I’m really excited to learn from him.”

As plans continue to come together, DGR-Crosley co-owner David Gilliland is excited for the future.

“I’m excited to be adding Natalie to our 2019 driver roster at DGR-Crosley,” said Gilliland. “We have really competitive cars and a lot of talented drivers lined up for next year, so I’m excited to see what we can do together. I’ve watched Natalie develop over the last season in an ARCA car. It’ll be fun putting her in our equipment and watching her progress to the Truck Series.”

Decker is expected to make her NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series debut in February at Daytona International Speedway. A full schedule will be released at a later date.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LAS VEGAS – Though Joey Logano said the reality of his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship sank in as soon as he took the checkered flag on Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, his words at Thursday night’s awards ceremony at Wynn Las Vegas seemed to belie that assertion.

“Who’d have thought … 23 years ago, Santa Claus brought me a go-kart,” Logano said during the champion’s speech. “Who’d have thought I’d be a NASCAR champion?”

PHOTOS: Best from Champion’s Week | Drivers shine on red carpet

Logano won the title in NASCAR’s premier series by winning the Championship 4 race at Homestead, capping a season in which he peaked during the playoffs. Logano secured his spot in the Championship 4 by winning the first event of the Round of 8 at Martinsville, where he executed a bump-and run on defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. in the final corner.

“To the NASCAR fans,” Logano said, “love me or hate me, I just love your passion.”

The night before the season finale in Miami, Logano spent the evening providing dinners to the less fortunate, emblematic of the charitable work of the Joey Logano Foundation. The Cup championship will provide him an even larger platform for his philanthropic activities.

“I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes on and off the race track,” said Logano, who got his ride in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford in 2013 after being released from Joe Gibbs Racing. “But God’s given me an amazing opportunity to learn from each one and teaching me what it’s like to have a second chance in life.

“That’s why we started the Joey Logano Foundation, to give second chances to children and young adults in times of crisis. The other part of our mission. The other part of our mission is maybe more important, to inspire others to live a life of generosity.

“I talk about how our sport gives us such a large stage to make a difference. Here I am standing on the largest stage in NASCAR, so I need to use this moment to challenge all of us and inspire all of us to be the change. … Let’s just remember that life is so much more than what we see here tonight.”

Team owner Roger Penske reflected on a year that brought him not only Logano’s championship but also his 17th Indianapolis 500 victory with Will Power, his first Brickyard 400 win with Brad Keselowski and an Australian V8 Supercars title with Scott McLaughlin.

“To see this whole championship unfold over 38 weekends and to culminate here in Las Vegas — sitting up on the stage there with Joey, all the sponsors and Ford Motor Company and my wife Kathy, that she hangs out with me for over 45 years is amazing,” Penske said.

“It’s just hard to believe. We’re going to be back after it next year. Each year, we set the bar a little bit higher, and I think that’s what makes us so good.”

To no one’s surprise, Chase Elliott received the NMPA Most Popular Driver Award for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Dale Earnhardt Jr., winner of the previous 15 Most Popular Driver awards, made the presentation. Elliott follows in the footsteps of his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who earned the distinction a record 16 times.

MORE: Elliott wins NMPA Most Popular Driver Award | See who finished top 5

“I figured it was maybe going to be a tossup between me, Joey and maybe Kyle (Busch),” Elliott joked. “It’s definitely a big passing (of the torch). It’s so cool to know it stayed between Elliott and Earnhardt for so long.”

Then Elliott turned his attention to Earnhardt, who moved from the driver’s seat to the NBC Sports TV booth this season.

“I am glad, though, that you quit a year before you tied Dad’s record,” Elliott said. “I’m pretty happy about that.”

HISTORY: Every MPD winner

NBC Sports’ Kelli Stavast and Rutledge Wood hosted the event, along with co-host Marty Snider. All 16 drivers who made the 2018 Playoffs were recognized and interviewed during the program. Two of the drivers, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin, failed to win at least one race for the first time in their careers.

Johnson will race in 2019 without crew chief Chad Knaus, ending a partnership that started in 2002.

“I just look back at 17 amazing years,” said Johnson, who is paired with crew chief Kevin Meendering for next season, “and really excited about what’s ahead of us.”

Hamlin seemed ready to embrace the new higher-downforce, lower-horsepower 2019 competition package announced for the Monster Energy Series next year.

“It can only go up,” Hamlin said of his prospects. “Everything’s going to be different. Everybody’s going to be starting from scratch.”

Logano, however, will be starting the 2019 season as the reigning champion, a role he is certain to enjoy, no matter what’s in the rule book.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

LAS VEGAS (Nov. 29, 2018) – Carl Dakes, a longtime volunteer with the Maryland-based Believe In Tomorrow Children’s Foundation, has been chosen by an online fan vote as the winner of The NASCAR Foundation’s eighth annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award.

Dakes was presented with the award on Thursday night during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards at Wynn Las Vegas. The award honors the philanthropic ideals and vision of The NASCAR Foundation’s late chairperson and is annually presented to a NASCAR fan who embodies those ideals through community service.

Dakes, of Harwood, Md., will receive a $100,000 donation for Believe In Tomorrow, which provides exceptional hospital and respite housing services to critically ill children and their families. Headquartered in Catonsville, Believe In Tomorrow has served children from all 50 states, with nearly 2,500 children directly benefitting from the organization’s efforts each year.

RELATED: Learn more about The NASCAR Foundation

Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award
The Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award finalists attended a reception with NASCAR drivers on Wednesday night | Getty Images

The NASCAR Foundation also will donate $25,000 to each of the charities represented by three award finalists: Sarah Kersey of Dublin, Ohio, who represents Flying Horse Farms in Mt. Gilead, Ohio; Cliff Preston of Gainesville, Fla., representing UF Health Shands; and Rex Reynolds of Hazel Green, Ala., representing the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Alabama.

“This year’s finalists once again showed the passion of NASCAR fans to help others by their actions,” said The NASCAR Foundation Chairman Mike Helton. “Their commitment to their individual causes represent well the spirit and essence of the Betty Jane France Award Humanitarian Award and we thank each of them.”

“All four finalists resonated with our fans as represented in the close online voting but when it ended, Carl Dakes emerged as the winner.”

RELATED: ‘Bear brigade’ brings smiles to kids

Dakes is a commercial painting contractor and has approached a number of Believe In Tomorrow facility painting projects with a NASCAR-type mindset, likening the different jobs to paint schemes on race cars while accenting vibrant colors, dynamic design and individuality. He has personally volunteered time and resources to paint eight different Believe in Tomorrow facilities in the Mid-Atlantic region. He has received Believe in Tomorrow’s most prestigious in-house honor, the Unsung Hero Award.

His NASCAR fandom traces to the 1980s and a chance invitation to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway for the classic camping/racing NASCAR experience – which was a transformative moment for him. Dakes returns to Pocono annually to renew friendships and relive that experience.

Since the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award’s inception in 2011, The NASCAR Foundation has impacted the lives of more than 300,000 children by providing $1.4 million in contributions to charities represented by award finalists.

Learn more about The NASCAR Foundation’s impact on children’s causes such as those represented by this year’s four finalists for the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award by visiting NASCARfoundation.org.

Posted on by Jessica Ruffin

LAS VEGAS – It was hardly a surprise to hear Chase Elliott’s name called as the 2018 Most Popular Driver during the NASCAR Champion’s Week banquet in Las Vegas.

Elliott’s fellow drivers joked about it throughout the week, many of them already predicting Elliott to win it long before his name was called. Kyle Busch even clowned with Elliott during his media obligations offstage.

“When all your peers answer the interview as if you’ve already won, it kind of makes it odd,” Elliott said with a smile. “… It’s a great honor to have.”

RELATED: Past Most Popular Driver winners

The award has been in the families of the Elliotts and Earnhardts for 33 years in total, with the younger Elliott claiming his first title on Thursday evening. As Dale Earnhardt Jr. – who won the award for 15 straight seasons before his retirement at the end of the season — announced Elliott as the winner, it was almost a passing of the torch.

From one beloved racing family back to another.

“So cool though that it’s stayed between Elliott and Earnhardt for so long,” Elliott said on stage after accepting the award.

“I am glad though that you quit a year before you broke Dad’s record,” he then joked with Junior, referencing his father Bill Elliott’s 16 MPD wins. “… I’m pretty happy about that. We got it back in the right name.”

The popularity of the Elliotts and Earnhardts is well known and as the only active driver now, Chase Elliott leads it. The plethora of No. 9 T-shirts and hats seen at race tracks across the country are unmistakable. The crowd’s roar that comes with Elliott takes the lead in a race is similar to … well, Junior.

Off the race track, the two families aren’t the flashy type. But they do have great respect for one another and the sport.

Maybe that’s what fans love about them.

“I think really through the whole process, probably the coolest thing I learned was the year that Dale (Earnhardt Sr.) died and Dad took his name out of the hat to even win the award that year,” Elliott recalled of his father. “Obviously Dale won it and …. Junior and I were talking a second ago about how he accepted that award on behalf of his father that year. So, he actually has accepted 16, much like my father. So, just very cool. You learn a lot through these experiences.

MORE: Go behind the scenes in Elliott’s hometown

“But I thought that really said more than anything about why he’s won it so many years when he didn’t even enter it that season to make sure that Dale won it. And rightfully so.”

Elliott’s crowning on Thursday is likely the first of many MPD awards for the 23-year-old driver, as his career with Hendrick Motorsports is just beginning. He broke through for his first Monster Energy Series win this season at Watkins Glen International, following it up with a pair of playoff wins after that at Dover International Speedway and Kansas Speedway.

For now though, he’ll enjoy this award –and the fans’ support that allowed him to earn it.

“At the end of the day, the votes are awesome, people taking their time to pull for us throughout the year,” Elliott said. “I feel like the biggest thing that I noticed that was really recognizable is just how fired up people about us, wanting my team to do good this year … and seeing all the hats and T-shirts and things. Those are the things that really hit home with me. Seeing it at track and seeing it live and in person. …

“You try to be you, I guess, all the time. All of the history of it and Dale’s success and Dad’s success. Having it between Elliott and Earnhardt for I don’t know how many years now. It’s kind of crazy.

“So, to watch that come full circle and to be able to kind of carry that legacy at least for this year is special and I’ll certainly enjoy it.”