Posted on by Staff Report

Joey Logano and Team Penske revealed their Darlington throwback scheme for the 2018 Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Tuesday during NASCAR America on NBCSN.

Logano will sport a scheme honoring Steve Park in the Sept. 2 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and the NBC Sports App).

“It is so fun to be driving Steve’s (Park) car at Darlington,” Logano said in a team release. “It’s a cool looking car and something that we have talked about for a long time. We have always been asked by fans, ‘when are we going to run the Steve Park car,’ and here it is.”

MORE: Buy tickets to Darlington!

Park competed in what was the Monster Energy Series for 10 years and won two races with 35 top-10 finishes in 183 starts. His first victory came in this scheme in 2000 at Watkins Glen International, site of this weekend’s GoBowling at The Glen (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM and the NBC Sports App).

RELATED: See other Darlington throwback schemes

Logano has never won at Darlington — in nine career starts he has four top-10 finishes and two top-five finishes. His best result was a fourth-place finish in 2015, a race won by Carl Edwards.

Joey Logano and Steve Park with 2018 Darlington throwback scheme
Photo Credit: Clutch Studios

And here’s a look at Park’s 2000 scheme that Logano and Team Penske are replicating:

Steve Park Pennzoil scheme from 2000
Jonathan Ferrey

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Richard Childress Racing and driver Ryan Newman will honor Neil Bonnett this year at Darlington Raceway, sporting a sleek black throwback look that honors the former member of the famed “Alabama Gang.”

Newman and sponsor Caterpillar combined to reveal the news Tuesday afternoon, one day after Bonnett’s birthday — he would have turned 72 this year. Bonnett died in 1994 at age 47 following a wreck during practice for the Daytona 500.

RELATED: See all of the throwback paint schemes

Graphic of Ryan Newman's paint scheme

The RCR veteran is the latest driver to unveil his colors and scheme for the ever-popular Darlington throwback weekend.

The 2018 throwback weekend will be the track’s fourth race under the award-winning platform. This year’s theme, “Seven Decades of NASCAR,” embodies the sport’s storied history over 70 years.

Bonnett won 18 times at NASCAR’s top level — the exact total where Newman currently sits — including a stretch of 11 victories from 1979-83. He also logged 83 top-five finishes, 156 top 10s and started from the pole 20 starts in 362 career Monster Energy Series races.

MORE: Buy tickets to Darlington!

A driver for several teams, Bonnett drove the No. 31 twice in 1993, which is the scheme Newman and his team will honor for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 (Sept. 2, 6 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RacingOne
The 1993 Neil Bonnett paint scheme that Ryan Newman will honor. | RacingOne
Posted on by Zack Albert

Tom Higgins, who told the stories of stock-car racing for decades as a reporter and author, has died. He was 80.

Among his many accolades, Higgins was the 2015 recipient of the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence. He had been in declining health since suffering a stroke last year.

Higgins is credited as the first writer to cover every race on the NASCAR schedule. He joined the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer as a reporter on outdoor recreation and transitioned into the motorsports beat full-time. He was a mainstay at the Observer until his retirement in 1997.

“For more than five decades, Tom Higgins was an ever-present figure in the NASCAR garage,” said NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France. “Within the industry, he built a reputation as a trusted and fair voice who delivered our sport to the fans. To those fans, he was a must-read journalist whose reporting was rightly taken as gospel. Simply put, he defined what it meant to be a NASCAR beat reporter.

“As such, his outstanding career earned him NASCAR’s top honor for journalists, the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence, in 2015. On behalf of the France Family and all of NASCAR, I extend my deepest condolences to the friends and family of Tom Higgins, a true NASCAR media giant.”

Higgins was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 2011. He also was recognized with the Henry T. McLemore Award for lifetime achievement in motorsports journalism from the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1980.

“He was very well-respected with the racing crowd, from the Allison (family) all the way to Jeff Gordon,” Richard Petty told the Observer years ago. “He probably covered more racing than any one individual.”

Drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon were among several in the NASCAR community to offer condolences to the Higgins family on social media.

Higgins was raised in the mountain community of Burnsville, North Carolina, and became a two-sport standout in baseball and basketball. His connection to the outdoors spurred him to take on his first writing jobs in the Blue Ridge towns of Canton and Asheville.

“Once I got to Asheville and heard the clacking of those teletype machines and was part of putting out a daily newspaper, I was hooked,” Higgins told the Asheville Citizen-Times in 2014.

Higgins was also won over by stock-car racing, covering his first NASCAR event on July 1, 1956, at the former Asheville-Weaverville Speedway. Hall of Famer Lee Petty was the winner. Higgins said he initially balked at the assignment, but became enamored by the sounds, smells and the personalities.

“I thought it was the wildest thing I had ever seen,” Higgins told the Asheville paper. “Those people were crazy.” But his bonds with the sport’s earliest stars only grew through the years. “When I started, the drivers and I were the same age, and they had the same background as me,” he said. “Small towns, just regular fellas, and we hit it off.”

From the sport’s pioneers to the most recent generation of drivers and mechanics, Higgins covered them all with a homespun style. He chronicled the life of original NASCAR hero Junior Johnson in a book he co-authored with Steve Waid, the 2019 Squier-Hall honoree.

After his retirement from the Observer, Higgins remained active as a writer on a freelance basis and in his personal blog. He said later that his philosophy for covering the sport and cultivating relationships was borrowed from his mountain upbringing, a code among the community to treat people fairly and with respect.

“I really, really enjoyed the people,” Higgins told the Citizen-Times. “I’m tickled to say I got invited to a lot of (drivers’) parties and poker games, and not many people in the press were afforded that opportunity. They trusted me, and they did throughout my career, and I’m proud of that.”

Posted on by Steve Luvender

Wow, a different type of “You up?” text from Noah Gragson! This time, the Camping World Truck Series driver solicited some companionship on Twitter in the form of iRacing competitors.

Fans had some fun running laps with Gragson and NASCAR Next driver Will Rodgers in advance of their races at Pocono Raceway this past weekend. Unfortunately for Gragson, illness kept him out of his Kyle Busch Motorsports truck at Pocono Saturday — but at least he logged some laps on iRacing for next time.

Bubba Wallace, too, hit up Twitter in search of iRacing drivers looking to turn some laps on the dirt.

Xfinity Series driver Spencer Boyd’s no stranger to iRacing, and he enjoyed some time in the motion simulator this week.

William Byron’s journey is the canonical iRacing-to-pro story. NASCAR on FOX’s Regan Smith spoke with Byron about his rise to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

 

NASCAR PEAK ANTIFREEZE iRACING SERIES UPDATE

Who doesn’t like a first-time winner? Lockdown Racing’s Jimmy Mullis claimed his first-ever NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Tuesday. Early in the race, it looked like Michael Conti could have claimed his third checkered flag in Loudon, N.H., but lost time after a botched pit stop.

Following New Hampshire, Slip Angle Motorsports teammates Ray Alfalla and Bobby Zalenski swapped the top two points positions, moving three-time champion Alfalla back to the top.

The NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series resumes action at Pocono Raceway August 7. Cody Byus won last year’s race from the pole, but hasn’t started a race since April.

iRACING PAINT SCHEMES OF THE WEEK

Bubba Wallace showed his excitement racing a Justin Kruithof-created dirt late model version of Wallace’s Richard Petty Motorsports Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ride.

Jordan E. created an iRacing version of Elliott Sadler’s Xfinity Series car racing at Watkins Glen and Kansas.

DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME

We’ve all had days where we wanted to climb the fence and go home.

https://twitter.com/jgallstar1_tv/status/1021920032354455552?s=21

Posted on by Staff Report

Aric Almirola opened up to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday morning regarding his run-in with Matt DiBenedetto on pit road following the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.

Following the conclusion of Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at the “Tricky Triangle,” DiBenedetto angrily confronted the Stewart-Haas Racing driver by his No. 10 Ford Fusion — after also taking a swipe at Almirola’s ride with his No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford on the cooldown lap.

RELATED: See what transpired between Almirola and DiBenedetto

“He was frustrated or upset, I guess, that I passed him on the last lap,” Almirola said during the interview. “I don’t know. I guess he thought that I shouldn’t race for 25th. I race for every spot all race long; I don’t care if it’s for 25th or for the lead. I guess he thought I should have let him finish 25th and I wasn’t going to do that.

“I passed him in the Tunnel Turn on the last lap and he said I took his line away from him and he was upset about it. I don’t know. I hate it for him that he didn’t finish 25th, but it’s called racing.”

While DiBenedetto hasn’t quite expressed his view of the matter yet, he alluded to the incident on Twitter following Sunday’s race in which he had a first-time sponsor on his car.

Still, the fact that the run-in transpired at all caught Almirola off guard.

“I was baffled,” he continued. “I was blown away after the race when he came and ran into the side of me and just spun me out. I couldn’t wrap my head around what he was so upset about, but apparently … I understand. When you’re back there and you’re fighting to stay on the lead lap week in and week out, racing like that, 25th is a big deal.

“But I was racing.”

UPDATE: Matt DiBenedetto has perhaps (jokingly) poured more fuel on the fire, replying to a NASCAR on NBC tweet referencing the feud with a well-placed GIF from Happy Gilmore.

Posted on by Staff Report

Tony Stewart, lip sync artist?

Turns out the three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion has some skills, as shown off in a Lip Sync Challenge video posted by the Columbus, Indiana, police department. The Indiana town is Stewart’s hometown, and the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing had fun with his appearance.

RELATED: Stewart tweets congratulations at Kyle Busch

Who knew Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was a jam for “Smoke?” Watch below for the cameo which happens at the start.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Veteran Kyle Busch may have secured yet another victory for the 2018 “Big Three” Monster Energy NASCAR Cup championship heavy hitters on Sunday at Pocono Raceway, but he was surrounded at the checkered flag by a group of 20-somethings that made a strong statement about the future of the sport, too.

Three drivers – including runner-up Daniel Suarez, third-place finisher Alex Bowman and sixth-place finisher William Byron – turned in career-best efforts at Pocono. Five of the seven top finishers were 26-years old or younger.

“Well, it was about time,” Suarez, 26, said smiling after his career-best showing in the sport’s top series. “I feel like we are late. 

“But you know, Kyle (Busch), Martin (Truex Jr.), Kevin (Harvick), they are great drivers, a lot of experience with great race teams. They have the whole package, and sometimes for a newer driver it’s a little bit more difficult to build that package, and I feel like it takes time. It’s not like a switch that you just have to turn it on and you are going to be running great. It takes time, and it’s a process.”

RELATED: Race results | Suarez earns career-best finish at Pocono

It was a long-awaited podium finish for Bowman, who joined the Hendrick Motorsports team full-time this season driving the No. 88 Chevrolet formerly fielded by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Bowman has been open about his personal high expectations with this opportunity. He is currently in the 16th and final playoff-eligible position in the standings with a solid 56-point lead over 17th place Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

It marks the first time the Hendrick team has had three cars in the top-10 since October of 2017 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. And for much of the day, it looked like they would have all four cars among the top-10 – veteran Jimmie Johnson ended up 17th after the two late overtime restarts.

“Obviously it was a great points day for us, but on top of that, it’s proof that we’re improving each and every week and continually getting better,” Bowman said.

“We’re not doing it as quickly as we want to, but days like today make all the hard work for the guys back at the shop, the engine shop, the chassis shop, body shop, the whole road crew, days like today make it worth it. 

“Very glad, especially considering how bad we were when we started the weekend and how bad we qualified. To come out of here with a solid top five is a great day.”

RELATED: Bowman earns career-best finish | Playoff Watch

Suarez’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota teammate Erik Jones, 22, finished fifth Sunday – his fifth top-10 in the last six races. A winner at Daytona in July, he is one of only four drivers other than Busch, Harvick and Truex to win outright and secure a place in the Playoffs.

Byron, 20, the youngest of Sunday’s high-achieving group, not only turned in his career-best Monster Energy Series effort, but led 10 laps in the No. 24 Chevrolet. He has led 53 laps this season, 22 of them in the last four races (12 at Daytona).

“There are a lot of big positives,” said Byron, who leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings. “I feel there are a couple of things we could have worked on and we’ll keep working on those things.

“Our cars are just getting faster. Now we have the speed to run in the top 10, which makes it a lot easier to do things and allows us to be more aggressive and allows me to drive the car the way I know how to drive it. I feel like our speed is just starting to get us in a position to be more aggressive, which is really good.”

RELATED: Lessons learned from the season’s second trip to Pocono

Byron’s teammate Chase Elliott, 22, finished seventh Sunday and won his second stage of the season – all encouraging accomplishments. It was his second straight top-10 finish and fifth in the last eight races. He has 10 top-10s through 21 races and five top-fives. And Sunday’s result, in combination with Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Bowman and Byron also brings confidence to the team.

“I don’t even know why some race tracks seem to be more suitable for what we have, and some don’t,” Elliott said. “We think we’re better as a whole, but I think we still have some work to do.”

There is reason for all these drivers to feel optimistic as the series heads to its second road course race of the season, at Watkins Glen International this weekend. Elliott has a pair of 13th-place finishes there, Bowman notched a ninth-place finish at the Sonoma road course in June and Jones has a pair of top-10s in his most recent road course races – 10th at The Glen last year and seventh at Sonoma this year. And Suarez is undoubtedly eager to get to New York. His first career top-five Monster Energy Series finish came at The Glen, a third-place there last summer.

Posted on by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – JR Motorsports announced today a crew chief change for driver Michael Annett and the No. 5 Pilot Flying J team. Travis Mack will assume crew chief duties from Jason Stockert, beginning with this weekend’s Zippo 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International (Aug. 4).

Mack, a 35-year-old native of Louisville, Kentucky, is a former employee of Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports, dating back to 2004. During the 2014-15 season, Mack held the role of car chief on JRM’s No. 9 NXS entry and was part of the team’s 2014 championship campaign. Mack returns to the organization from Levine Family Racing, where he served as crew chief for Kasey Kahne and the No. 95 team in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“We are constantly building toward the team’s future,” said Ryan Pemberton, JRM’s director of competition. “At this point in the season it was time for us to evaluate where the No. 5 team was and where we wanted it to be moving forward. It became clear a change was necessary.

“I want to thank Jason (Stockert) for all he’s done for the organization in building the No. 5 team from the ground up. But we’re also looking forward to a new chapter with Travis (Mack). He’s a familiar face to many within the company and we’re excited to put his talents to use with Michael and the Pilot Flying J team.”

Stockert, who has been with JRM since 2017, will move into another role within the organization.

Following a 14th-place finish at Iowa Speedway last weekend, Annett is currently 14th in the season point standings, 40 points outside of the top 12.

“I’m very grateful to be able to return to JR Motorsports,” said Mack. “To have been here previously as car chief and now to come back as a crew chief is a tremendous opportunity. I can’t thank Dale Jr. and Kelley enough for that. I’m looking forward to getting started with the No. 5 team this weekend.”

Posted on by Staff Report

At least five Toyotas came to pit road before the end of Stage 2 in Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway. And at the time, all five of those cars — driven by Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez, were setting themselves up for the final stage rather than racking up the immediate benefits of stage points.

It was a move that put all the cards out on the table, and perhaps one that had Fantasy Live owners for these drivers pulling their hair out, but track position was cited in post-race interviews as being an important factor in being competitive at the 2.5-mile “Tricky Triangle.” For some, that meant it was OK to pass up the stage points and go for the win.

So, how did the strategy turn out when the smoke cleared from race-winner Kyle Busch’s celebratory burnout?

RELATED: Complete race results

Well, pretty darn good, if we don’t say so ourselves.

As mentioned, Kyle Busch won the race, but teammate Suarez also posted a career-best runner-up finish, Jones finished fifth and Hamlin was 10th — a huge day for JGR. Meanwhile, Truex Jr. was the only real disappointment coming in 15th (though most people not named Martin Truex would be happy with that result).

Part of what makes the strategy effective, however, is not having any issues on pit road, and for the most part, these Toyota teams were on point. Check out the pit stats for Suarez below and use the drop-down menus to see how the other drivers performed.

      Posted on by Reid Spencer

      LONG POND, Pa. – Even the drivers who beat him to the checkered flag acknowledged that Kevin Harvick had the fastest car in Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway.

      But with a litany of issues to overcome, Harvick could do no better than fourth behind race winner Kyle Busch, runner-up Daniel Suarez and third-place finisher Alex Bowman.

      RELATED: Race results | Watkins Glen weekend schedule

      After he posted the fastest lap in Saturday’s time trials, Harvick’s car failed inspection, and his time was disallowed, bumping the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to 29th in the starting order.

      It didn’t take the six-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series winner long to race his way to the front. Harvick won the second stage, but pit strategy by the Toyota camp left him ninth for the final-stage restart on Lap 106.

      Contact with teammate Aric Almirola damaged the No. 4 Ford, and Harvick had to make multiple trips to pit road to repair the sheet metal. Though he raced his way to fourth at the finish—nearly catching Bowman on the last lap—Harvick was disappointed with the result.

      RELATED: See what happened on pit road | Harvick charges to lead in Stage 2

      “It was eventful,” Harvick said wryly. “I think we went to the back twice and made our way back to the front each time. We made a good race out of it, but it’s hard to swallow on a day like that when our Mobil 1 Ford was the class of the field.

      “You never know what is going to happen on these days. It’s hard to put them together, and you win some and lose some.”