Posted on by Track Release

Richmond Raceway and Mars, Incorporated announced a multiyear partnership for exclusive naming rights to the M&M’s Neighborhood in the DC Solar FanGrounds as part of Richmond Raceway Reimagined (Reimagined), the track’s $30 million infield redevelopment project. The new neighborhood will bring the fun M&M’s experience to the modernized infield at Richmond.

“M&M’s is an iconic brand around the world, and especially in NASCAR with the success of Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, so we welcome the M&M’s Neighborhood to our loyal fans in the new DC Solar FanGrounds,” said Richmond President Dennis Bickmeier. “Mars, Incorporated has been a supportive sponsor, so we look forward to expanding our partnership with the M&M’s brand in this much anticipated new attraction at Richmond Raceway.”

Visitors won’t be able to miss the colorful M&M’s Neighborhood located at the shade structure to the left of Victory Lane, along with exclusive activations and concession branding in the neighborhood. The iconic M&M’s lentils will appear on the classic red and white striped track walls in all four turns at the Action Track, while Mars, Incorporated confections and products will be available at concessions throughout the facility, including the DC Solar FanGrounds.

“Mars, Incorporated is proud to support Richmond Raceway by bringing the colorful fun of our much-loved M&M’s brand,” said William Clements, Vice President, Sponsorships & Family Properties. “With Richmond, Virginia, my hometown and McLean, Virginia, home to our global headquarters, it’s important that we bring sponsorships to life for our local communities with memorable moments through our iconic brands. This is key to who we are and what we stand for.”

Reimagined is a $30 million infield redevelopment project bringing new attractions and state of the art fan-based attractions to the DC Solar FanGrounds, allowing race fans to get closer than ever to NASCAR’s best with new Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garages and a fan-viewing walkway to provide full immersion into the sport.

Additional new attractions previously announced in the DC Solar FanGrounds include the Markel Entertainment Plaza, Virginia Tourism Corporation “Virginia is for Racing Lovers” Neighborhood, Eternal Fan Pedestrian Tunnel and Fan Memories program, and the all-new Gatorade Victory Lane, which will provide fans the opportunity to be a part of the post-race celebrations, along with activities before the race, with driver appearances, and other interactive programming.

The 80-person Victory Lane Club will be flanked by two new garage suites with a view into the Monster Energy Series garages. Reimagined will also provide partners with new fan engagement opportunities and innovative signage that is unprecedented in the market.

The DC Solar FanGrounds will debut over Richmond’s first-ever NASCAR Playoff Race Weekend, presented by Who’s Your Driver, on Sept. 21-22. Fans can purchase tickets to be in the new infield and become a part of history with one-day ($70) and two-day ($125) tickets available for purchase online at richmondraceway.com, by calling 866-455-7223 or visiting the Richmond Ticket Office.

Media can learn more about Reimagined at richmondracewayreimagined.com.

Posted on by Sponsored Content

Four elite NASCAR drivers will be competing for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship, and four fans will be there for the VIP experience of a lifetime and the chance of winning a brand-new RV.

RELATED: Click here to enter the contest

Weekly prizes from Camping World®, including camping gear and race memorabilia, will also be part of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Ultimate Championship Experience. Enter now once per day from August 21 to October 2 for chances at the weekly prizes, Grand Prize and Ultimate Grand Prize by visiting here.

Keep entering for a chance at these prizes as eight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers battle for the 2018 crown.:

Weekly Prizes

• Cooler
• Portable grill
• $250 Camping World Gift Card
• Hat autographed by select 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs drivers
• (2) Zero gravity recliners
• (2) VIP passes to a 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series™ race

Grand Prize

• Four (4) grand-prize trips for a winner and one guest to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday, November 16, including the following:
• Air/hotel accommodations
• $400 spending money
• VIP NASCAR Camping World Truck Series access (attend the driver/crew chief meeting, driver meet and greets, garage tours, etc.)

Ultimate Grand Prize

• Each Grand Prize winner will be randomly paired with an eligible NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship 4 driver. The one (1) Grand Prize winner whose paired driver wins the Championship will receive a brand-new Coleman RV.

NO PURCHASE OR MOBILE DEVICE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Ends 10/2/18. Must be a permanent legal resident of the contiguous U.S. or DC, legal age of majority (& at least 18) as of 8/21/18. Void in AK, HI, & where prohibited. Click here for Official Rules, which govern, & complete details.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

And then there were four.

The opening round is now complete in Darlington Raceway’s Southern 500 bracketology and the top-four results for the best paint schemes — voted through by fans —  are below.

The seeding was originally decided upon by our selection committee based on the top eight in voting for Darlington’s Best in Show fan award through Aug. 15.

RELATED: Vote for your four favorite schemes

The semifinal round pits these four looks honoring NASCAR’s past against each other as the theme for 2018 is “Seven Decades of NASCAR.”

William Byron vs. Clint Bowyer: Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet will be wrapped by Sam Bass’s “Hot Summer Nights” design honoring Jeff Gordon’s rainbow car while Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford’s tip of the hat is to Ned Jarrett’s 1965 Ford Galaxie.

Chase Elliott vs. Derrike Cope: Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet’s paint scheme honors his cousin, Casey Elliott. Cope’s No. 99 yellow-and-red Bojangles’ theme matches the current race sponsor and throws it back to the partnership’s start in 1993.

RELATED: See all the throwback schemes | Buy tickets now!

Byron’s scheme faced off against Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 look in the opening round, earning 55 percent of the vote to Keselowski’s 45 percent to advance. In the closest matchup, Bowyer’s No. 14 went head-to-head with Kyle Busch’s No. 18, the Stewart-Haas Racing scheme winning with 51 percent of the vote to Busch’s 49 percent. Elliott advanced over Matt DiBenedetto’s scheme with 62 percent of the vote, while Cope moved on to the semifinals over Jimmie Johnson with 67 percent of the vote.

Voting is open in the semifinals from Aug. 21-25. Championship round voting will be open Aug. 26-31, with the winner being announced before the start of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET Sept. 2, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Zack Albert

Stewart-Haas Racing production manager Tony Gibson announced Monday that he has returned to work after a six-week recovery from a stroke.

Gibson said from his personal Twitter account that he suffered a blood clot in his brain July 6. The ailment, he said, affected his vestibular system, which controls the sensory functions of balance and orientation through the eyes and ears.

https://twitter.com/TonyOldman41/status/1031608835574820865

Gibson, 53, has been with Stewart-Haas Racing since 2009, its first season in NASCAR’s top series. The longtime crew chief shifted to the role of production manager in the offseason, a move that that significantly reduced his travel duties while keeping him hands-on with his oversight of vehicle fabrication for SHR’s four-team operation.

RELATED: Tony Gibson making transition (Jan. 31)

Gibson filled in as a crew chief this April for Stewart-Haas’ No. 10 team and driver Aric Almirola at Bristol Motor Speedway. He subbed on qualifying day after the team’s regular crew chief, Johnny Klausmeier, was home for paternity leave.

Stewart-Haas Racing leads the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this year with 10 wins in 24 races.

Posted on by

U.S. Navy Lt. Jesse Iwuji receives 20-30 messages every day on social media and email from people who have been inspired by his journey from the military to racing.

He may receive even more this week; Lt. Iwuji will make his first NASCAR national series start in this weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Reaume Brothers Racing announced Monday afternoon.

Currently running select races in the K&N Pro Series West & East and the ARCA Series, Lt. Iwuji, who is still an active member of the U.S. Navy Reserves and a graduate of the Naval Academy, will pilot the No. 34 Reaume Brothers Racing Truck in Sunday’s Truck Series event (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be definitely fun for sure,” Lt. Iwuji told NASCAR.com. “For me, still being in the Navy and serving and getting the opportunity to be the first Naval Academy graduate and serviceman who’s still currently serving to actually make that jump into a national series.

Jesse Paint Scheme
The paint scheme that Lt. Iwuji will drive | Mediafaze Designs, Glenn Richard Photography

“It’s going to be a really cool experience, but something I think a lot of people who are out there serving can see and hopefully it helps inspire them and motivate them to go after their goals and dreams because it’s something a lot of people think they can’t do or couldn’t do. Hopefully with me doing it now, just showing them, ‘Hey it’s possible, if you want to get into racing, you can do it. If you want to get into anything else in life that seems super out of reach, you can do it.’ ”

Lt. Iwuji’s racing journey began in 2015, when he started racing Late Models before moving into the K&N Pro Series and ARCA Series. He’s worked his way through racing by support from the industry and partners, as several of his sponsors have military focus or appreciation — including one of this weekend’s partners Zulu Audio, whose owner is also a Naval Academy alum.

MORE: Iwuji saves family from fire

This national series start is bigger than himself, Lt. Iwuji said — because he was once like the fans sending him messages.

“… I didn’t come from a racing background, I didn’t come from a lot of money, I didn’t come from any of that,” Lt. Iwuji said. “I was more just kind of this random guy that decided to go after something really big and making that happen. … Even though it’s a ton of messages, a ton of emails … I try to get back to every single one because you never know who’s going to be the next big person. You never know if my one message I responded back to was what led them there because for me. I got to this point because I was just like them. And I reached to a whole bunch of drivers and people and for every 100 people I reached out to, only two or three actually got back to me.

“But those two or three are what helped me learn what I needed to learn to move a little bit forward and get to this point.”

This weekend, Lt. Iwuji hopes to “run well, finish the race, finish clean and progress from there.” Above all, he wants to learn a lot from his competitors and from the experience, as that will help him in his long-term goal; to make it as a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver.

MORE: Full schedule for Road America, Canadian Tire

“In my mind, once I have a goal and … once the vision pops in my mind and I see where I’m going to be, I just go in full,” he said on his dream. “… As crazy as it might seem, as far-fetched as it might seem, I fully insanely believe that it’s going to happen. And then from there, it takes a lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of grind.

“Basically every single day, I’m doing different things to try to put myself in the position to get to this goal, whether it’s getting a lot of laps in the racing simulator, reaching out to different sponsors and contacts for hours and hours and hours each night, building sponsorship presentations, developing different marketing packages to promote the sponsors I do have. All that kind of stuff is the effort that you put in on a daily basis.

RELATED: Enter now for Camping World prizes, from coolers to an RV!

“And I still have a regular day job — racing is not my full-time job, even though I’m racing a lot of weekends a year … I’m in the Navy Reserves. Navy Reserves happens on the weekends, regular day job during the week, racing on all the other weekends I don’t have Navy Reserve stuff going on and then also running a business, too …

“Doing all that together is a lot of work, but it’s what I have to do and I do it all because I insanely believe that I’m going to make everything happen that I want to happen in NASCAR.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Richard Buck, managing director of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, and The Weather Channel’s Kait Parker explain how and why wind speeds factor into racing.

MORE: How does temperature affect a race | Why does cloud coverage matter in a race?

“Wind and air is definitely a big part of our sport,” Buck shared. “The drivers definitely use it. They understand it, and they can use that to their advantage. They can also use it to disadvantage the competitor they’re racing.”

Creating a strategy that factors in the weather conditions is vital, according to Parker. Teams will consult with meteorologists before races to make sure everything is lined up for the days ahead.

Posted on by Steve Luvender

Keegan Leahy outright dominated Pocono Raceway two weeks ago to claim his third victory of 2018, leading 85 of 100 laps, and moving to second in points behind Ray Alfalla. As a result, Leahy moved up three spots in our driver rankings as the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series gets ready to race at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Texas Motor Speedway.

1: Ray Alfalla (–)

Ray Alfalla is something of a Texas expert (Texpert?), boasting two wins and five podium finishes, although his 18th-place finish in 2017 was the first time in his eight career races there that he didn’t lead laps.

2: Keegan Leahy (+3)

Canada’s Keegan Leahy has had a breakout season, tying for the series lead with three victories in 2018. While Leahy won at Kansas — like Texas a 1.5-mile track — all of his non-top-10 finishes this season have come at 1.5-milers — 27th at Chicagoland, 30th at Charlotte and 36th at Las Vegas.

3: Ryan Luza (-1)

The 2017 champ heads home to Texas Tuesday, where he led 73 laps last year, though he finished deep in the field. Expect him to rebound and continue his impressive streak of top-10 finishes that dates back to March.

4: Bobby Zalenski (-1)

Pocono was a disaster for Bobby Zalenski, but he has a comfortable margin in points to remain in the top eight with two races before the playoffs. Slip Angle Motorsports is solid at 1.5-mile tracks, so expect a satisfactory run Tuesday.

5: Michael Conti (-1)

Last year’s Texas polesitter is coming off back-to-back ninth-place finishes. While a win has eluded him, he’s showed speed in previous races.

6: Zack Novak (–)

After a hot-and-cold start to the season, Zack Novak has finally landed in a rhythm, scoring three consecutive top-10 finishes. He’ll need a bit of luck in the next two races to make up ground in the points in the playoffs — and his lone start in Texas was a 22nd-place finish last year.

7: Nickolas Shelton (NR)

We dropped Nick Shelton from our Power Rankings last week after a spell of mediocre finishes made us wonder if his Charlotte victory was just a flash in the pan — but he showed promise at Pocono, starting in the top five and finishing sixth. Plus, we’re heading to a 1.5-mile track, where Shelton has claimed three podium finishes this year. Sorry we underestimated you, Nick.

8: Nick Ottinger (–)

Unlike his teammate Matt Bussa, Nick Ottinger has shown consistency lately, scoring three eighth-place finishes in the last four races (so it’s only appropriate we rank him eighth). The 2013 Texas winner will need a bit more speed to compete with the playoffs ahead.

9: Christian Challiner (NR)

Great Britain’s Christian Challiner showed he belongs in the playoff conversation after scoring the pole at Pocono, leading laps, and finishing second behind Keegan Leahy. Challiner’s only other start at Texas ended in disaster, however — a 38th-place finish last year.

10: Matt Bussa (-3)

Matt Bussa finished outside the top 20 in consecutive races following Pocono, and has never scored a top-10 finish at Texas in five starts. He’ll need a miracle — and quickly — to salvage his season.

Posted on by Staff Report

Richard Buck, managing director of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, and The Weather Channel’s Kait Parker break down how and why temperature affects the science of racing.

MORE: How does cloud coverage affect racing? | Why does wind speed matter?

“In NASCAR, track temperature is everything,” Parker explains. “If the track is too hot, the oil seeps out of the asphalt and it makes it greasy and it’s tough for the tires to grip. If it’s too cold, the tires can be too hard and then you also have a problem driving. You want a happy medium.”

On-track activity isn’t the only way temperature can factor into racing. With temperatures that can range upward to 130 degrees inside the vehicles, Buck says the athletes behind the wheel must deal with the fluctuating weather, too.

Posted on by Brad Norman

Richard Buck, managing director of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, and The Weather Channel’s Kait Parker break down how and why cloud coverage affects racing.

MORE: How does temperature affect a race? | Why does cloud coverage matter?

“When you’re dealing with hundreds of thousands of seconds separating a few positions every little bit counts,” Buck explained. ” … You’ll hear the crew chief and spotters and drivers sit on the end of pit road during the qualifying session to catch a glimpse of the cloud coverage to put down their best lap.”

Clouds can change the temperature by nearly 20 degrees, and according to Parker, a car will perform much better with under cloudy conditions rather than direct sunlight.

Posted on by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin’s paint scheme for Darlington Raceway will be a familiar sight to family and friends who watched him start working his way up the ranks more than 20 years ago.

The Chesterfield, Virginia, native revealed a special throwback scheme for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Sept. 2 (NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) from the NASCAR studios in Charlotte — a ride that is a spitting image of his first mini stock car he drove in 1997 at Langley Speedway and Southside Speedway.

Denny Hamlin Darlington paint scheme

RELATED: Darlington throwback schemes | See Hamlin’s first ride

“Oddly enough, I’ve always driven a purple-and-white No. 11, whether it was go-karts or race cars,” Hamlin told NASCAR.com during the live stream event. “… For me, this is our family car. This is the very first race car I ever owned and it’s special to me that FedEx is able to give us this canvas to throw back to my very first race car.”

The scheme is a match made in stock car heaven. Ironically enough, the purple paint and orange trim he ran on his mini stock back in the day is similar to the purple-and-orange trim on his Joe Gibbs Racing Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car, long before the FedEx sponsorship.

“We made the paint schemes back then very simple because we planned on crashing a lot,” said Hamlin. “So you wanted to have it pretty basic back then with your paint scheme.

“We just gravitated toward the purple,” he added. “One of my dad’s best friends was a painter back then and he’s like, ‘hey man, I got this beautiful color that you should try.’ For no particular reason we thought, yeah, the purple looks good. We did that and it had the orange stripe on it. It’s so crazy how it all worked out and I get to race this car again.”

The simplicity of the paint scheme is a symbol of Hamlin’s grassroots, along with the mismatched fire suit and helmet he will sport during the Labor Day weekend. Both hearken back to his humble beginnings in racing where the family business, Chesterfield Trailer and Hitch, ran by his father Dennis, funded the race team. The business logo will be prominently featured on the throwback scheme in honor of the journey.

“We did the best with what we could, for sure,” said Hamlin. “It’s very exciting to see this car, the real thing and the replica of everything I have sitting in my garage at home. It’s identical. The font and everything is perfect. Man, this car is very special.”

The original car made its rounds long after Hamlin made it to NASCAR’s highest level. But one day someone contacted his mother, Mary Lou, asking if he had any interest purchasing the car back.

“At the time, I didn’t appreciate the history or anything of it, so I was like I don’t even know where I’m going to put it,” Hamlin said. “I had a very moderate house at the time and no garage space, so I didn’t know what I was going to do with the thing. So I said no, I really don’t want it so tell them to go ahead and sell it.”

The car Hamlin raced to track championships at Langley and Southside now has a special spot at house, one with much more room for display. But that wouldn’t be the case if it wasn’t for team owner Joe Gibbs.

“Everyone knows I have the best boss in the world,” Hamlin said. “They sold it (the car), but they sold it to Joe Gibbs. He bought the car, restored it for me and gave it back to me as a gift.”

Hamlin will have the opportunity to add to the legacy of the paint scheme if he can defend his 2017 Darlington triumph and break into Victory Lane once again.

Hamlin currently is 10th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings with two regular-season races to go. He can clinch a playoff spot at Darlington with a win or if there is a repeat winner.

This story will be updated.

Denny Hamlin mini stock