Posted on by Track Release

CONCORD, N.C. — Charlotte Motor Speedway expanded on its groundbreaking new era of innovation on Monday, with the unveiling of a new, dynamic logo for the Sept. 28-30 Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 race weekend – which will feature the first playoff road course races in NASCAR history.

The first-ever 400-kilometer Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 will be the longest road-course race in NASCAR.

The stars of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will practice, qualify and race on a 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course oval that is sure to test top drivers and thrill a spectacular crowd of race fans. The drama of the NASCAR Playoffs will be on full display in the first cutoff race of the 10-race Playoffs, which will see drivers take on a world-class course – the newest track in NASCAR competition – with a 35-foot elevation change.

MORE: New layout for Charlotte Motor Speedway road course 

“This is history in the making, and it marks the next chapter in our legacy of providing innovative, show-stopping entertainment that’s never been seen before,” said Marcus Smith, the president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. “Like NASCAR’s first 600-mile race and the first superspeedway race at night, the inaugural Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 is going to be a can’t-miss event that fans will remember forever. We’re about to witness a dramatic, historic, unforgettable race weekend Sept. 28-30.”

“Following a number of test sessions in preparation for the much-anticipated playoff race at Charlotte, we felt that this race length made the most sense,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “In the end, we believe the race length will accomplish the primary goal which is to showcase the best race for our passionate fans.”

Charles Bowman, Bank of America’s market president for North Carolina and Charlotte, said the race announcement marked an important moment for Charlotte.

“Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Smith family have transformed the city of Charlotte with the growth of the motorsports industry in this region,” Bowman said. “We are privileged to be the title sponsor of this extraordinary event, and we look forward to making history with the speedway when the Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 roars to life in September.”

Speedway officials also revealed a new logo and race length for the 200-kilometer Drive for the Cure 200 presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina on Sept. 29. The rising stars of the NASCAR Xfinity Series will lock horns in a 200-kilometer playoff duel in the Saturday afternoon sun.

Bojangles’ Qualifying – a take-no-prisoners battle for the all-important pole position – will kick off the proceedings on Friday afternoon, Sept. 28.

Prior to race weekend, fans can watch drivers test the ROVAL™ at Test Fest, a pair of FREE day-long shakedowns featuring the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series field, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on July 10 and 17. Fans can also enjoy mechanical bull rides, food and drink and test-drive their race weekend seats during the tests from the Whisky River frontstretch area.

In addition, fans who have purchased Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 tickets will get to experience the ROVAL™ from behind the wheel on Saturday, July 14. Charlotte Motor Speedway will allow ticket holders to drive their personal cars three laps around the innovative new course from 4 p.m.-8 p.m.

Posted on by Steve Luvender

In the ninth race of the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series season, Bobby Zalenski defended his 2017 Sonoma victory by dominating at the virtual road course, leading 52 of 55 laps. The virtual racing stars head to Chicagoland for Race 10 Tuesday night, where Taylor Hurst is the defending winner.

RELATED: Full iRacing schedule | Watch iRacing

1: Ray Alfalla (–)

Even though his Sonoma performance was lackluster, points leader Ray Alfalla’s a safe bet for Chicagoland — mostly because there are no right-hand turns.

2: Bobby Zalenski (–)

Two of Bobby Zalenski’s three victories have come at road courses, which, by definition, makes him a road-course ringer, right? Zalenski’s riding some momentum after a big win at Sonoma and holding tight to third in points.

3: Keegan Leahy (+1)

Keegan Leahy’s won a race at a 1.5-mile track — Kansas — but Chicagoland’s a different beast. The Canadian rookie has scored more finishes in the top five this year than anybody else.

4: Matt Bussa (+3)

Gale Force Radicals Online’s Matt Bussa has hit a rhythm at the right time, riding a wave of three consecutive finishes seventh or better.

5: Michael Conti (+4)

Las Vegas marked Michael Conti’s only top 10 at a 1.5-mile track this season, but he’s scored three top-fives throughout his career at Chicagoland. Plus, we have to rank car No. 5 fifth.

6: Ryan Luza (-3)

The good news: Ryan Luza’s won half the races he’s started this year. The bad news: he’s only started six of nine races, which isn’t really nice if he wants to defend his championship.

7: Logan Clampitt (-1)

Logan Clampitt has finished seventh every time he’s raced Chicagoland. We’re heading to Chicagoland Tuesday. Get ready for another P7, #ClampNation.

8: Nickolas Shelton (-3)

Sure, Nick Shelton won a 1.5-mile race this season and hasn’t finished worse than third in any of the three 1.5-milers this season, but he hasn’t finished in the top 10 in any other race. If he can step up the consistency, he’ll become a weekly threat.

9: Nick Ottinger (-1)

Nick Ottinger’s improved his finish in the past four consecutive races, meaning he’s worth a look at Chicagoland — though his Daytona win is his lone top-five finish in 2018.

10: Christian Challiner ()

Great Britain’s iRacing star had a disastrous race in his lone start at Chicagoland — a 36th-place result last year — but it’s hard to ignore his momentum in the past five races, where he’s scored four top-10s.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Plenty of drivers tuned in Sunday night to see former fellow competitor Travis Pastrana jump his motorcycle over a bunch of cars, buses and the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

That was cool and neat and all, but the night’s biggest leap of faith went to NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Noah Gragson.

The “dude” in question? WWE Hall of Famer and friend of NASCAR, Bill Goldberg.

Now, Gragson is but a ripe 19 years of age and Goldberg’s professional wrestling heyday had pretty much wrapped up in the mid-2000s. Thus, it’s easy to see how the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver could tune in to this broadcast, see this unfamiliar, jacked dude wearing a pair of tiny shades and tweet something out about his (objectively questionable) eyewear choice.

But it also takes two seconds to Google “Goldberg” and realize it’s a “dude” you don’t want to be teasing on social media — especially one that tends to come around often and routinely takes in the races at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Dillon quickly jumped in to mediate/add fuel to the fire.


Anyway, be sure to tune in to the races at Bristol next month, where Gragson will likely set a new race record for speed as he tries to outrun a full-on, spearing Goldberg.

Posted on by Staff Report

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. and CHARLOTTE, N.C. (July 9, 2018) – FS1 and NASCAR Productions are gearing up for the fourth season of the critically acclaimed documentary series “Beyond the Wheel” beginning this week on “NASCAR Race Hub.” Featuring dynamic storytelling and never-before-seen insights, the short films take viewers inside the sport’s most compelling traditions and pivotal moments through the eyes of influential NASCAR legends and characters – both past and present.

The first film, titled “Davey Lives On,” premieres this Wednesday, July 11 during “NASCAR Race Hub” on FS1 at 6 p.m. ET. FOX Sports and NASCAR.com will celebrate the life of Davey with exclusive all-day content, including a special NASCAR.com page dedicated to articles, videos and photos about his legacy, as told by those who knew him best.

RELATED: Full Davey Allison coverage on NASCAR.com

The following documentaries comprise the fourth season of the short film series:

• “Davey Lives On” – Twenty-five years after the tragic death of NASCAR superstar Davey Allison, his spirit lives on through both family and fans. The Allison family recount the events that took place in July of 1993 and the emotional years that followed. After more than two decades of internal debate, Allison’s wife, Liz, is finally ready to hear first-hand from the families that were affected by the accident and continue to preserve Davey’s memory to this day – both literally and figuratively.

• “Feeling Speed” – Attending a NASCAR race is a sensory experience unlike no other, but for one group of fans, the excitement is felt in an entirely different way.  The film follows 40 members of the Deaf NASCAR Fans (DNF) group as they attend the annual All-Star Race, exploring the science of sound and how the event is perceived through the other four senses.

• “The Janet Guthrie Story” – Decades before Danica Patrick became a household name, Janet Guthrie shook up the NASCAR circuit as the first driver to break down the sport’s gender barrier in the modern era. Painting a picture that is both thrilling and inspirational, the final film details Janet’s trailblazing story as she becomes the first woman to qualify for both the DAYTONA 500 and the Indianapolis 500 in the mid-1970s.

“Feeling Speed” premieres on Wednesday, July 26, followed by “The Janet Guthrie Story” on Wednesday, August 22. Both will air at 6 p.m. ET on FS1’s “NASCAR Race Hub,” simultaneously live streaming on FOX Sports GO.

Tune-in this Saturday, July 14 to watch the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in action at Kentucky Speedway at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90, or catch the race in-person by visiting NASCAR.com.

Posted on by Zack Albert

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kasey Kahne came oh-so-close to delivering Leavine Family Racing a breakthrough victory Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. He’s hoping instead that the consolation prize — his first top-five finish with LFR — can serve as a building block for the second half of the season.

Kahne led 17 laps late in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, sitting in prime position on the front row for the final overtime restart. He shot to the top spot with a nifty move past Martin Truex Jr., but was unable to thwart the momentum of eventual winner Erik Jones, who rocketed past him in the outside lane to take command.

RELATED: Kahne’s run to the finish | Race results | Buckle up! Daytona’s wild ride

“I tried to slow him up, but he was coming fast,” Kahne said of the shuffle on the next-to-last lap. “The gap was pretty big and he was coming fast and I didn’t do a good enough job of stopping him.”

Though a brush with victory was a bittersweet result, the night brought a bright spot to what’s been a trying first season together for Kahne and the Leavine Family operation. The organization’s previous best this year has been 17th place, achieved three times this spring.

The uneven results prompted a change atop the pit box during the Monster Energy Series’ off weekend last month, as the team replaced Travis Mack with interim crew chief Jon Leonard. In the three races that have followed, the team has showed some improvement at Sonoma and endured a 27th-place setback at Chicagoland leading up to Saturday night’s rejuvenating top five.

“I mean, we always knew we could do it,” said Leonard, who also served as interim crew chief for LFR for five races at the end of the 2017 season. “We just had to get all the details right and all the people moving in the right direction and giving Kasey a car that we could compete with. We brought the best car that we’ve had this year on speedways and I think it showed. We led the pack there for a while, started at the back and worked our way up through the field and was able to lead there until the end.”

The effort helped Kahne jump up two spots in the drivers’ standings, but the 26th-place ranking is still far from the competitive level that the team targets. The task now, Kahne says, is to create momentum for the rest of the year, starting next weekend at Kentucky Speedway.

“A fourth’s really, really good for us this time of the year for where we’ve been, on and off,” Kahne said. “It’s a great run. Really excited for the guys and the team. But to be that close at the same time, I knew I had a car capable of winning so it was just a matter of doing it. We just didn’t get the win done, but we got a great result so we’ll keep building on it.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was prominently featured in the driver meeting before Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 as the race’s defending champion. Despite finishing 17th — matching his car number — he was still front and center post-race with his involvement in five of the race’s eight crashes.

Stenhouse was the instigator in a pair of the multi-car incidents that thinned the field in Stage 2, but he said afterward that he didn’t feel he needed to mend fences with any of his fellow drivers after a chaos-filled night at Daytona International Speedway.

MORE: Watch the ‘Big One’ unfold | Kes: Throw bad blocks, I’ll wreck you

“No, it’s aggressive speedway racing,” Stenhouse said. “We needed to win to get in the Playoffs, so it is what it is.”

Stenhouse swept both stages in the Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford to collect a pair of valuable playoff points should he make the postseason, but he left Daytona as the first driver outside of the provisional field of 16. He also left with a handful of drivers upset at him, and officials with his team, the track and NASCAR arranged for a security escort to ensure his safety as he walked through the Monster Energy Series garage.

Most notably dismayed were brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch, both of whom were knocked out in Stage 2 crashes involving Stenhouse. Kurt Busch was the first brother sidelined, swallowed up after Stenhouse made contact with Brad Keselowski, creating a massive Turn 3 stack-up that enveloped nearly half the field.

Busch said after being released from the infield care center that he had to laugh at his fate, minding his own business in a seemingly safe position near the front. Upon further post-race reflection, the elder Busch was more peeved, calling the race a “#StenhouseDD (demolition derby)” and recognizing his position in the points.

The younger Busch was out just 11 laps later after contact with Stenhouse that also ensnared rookie William Byron. “I got hit in the left rear. Same guy that caused the first one caused the second one there,” Kyle Busch said. “That’s very disappointing. He is probably going to be fastest car left – he might win the race.” 

Stenhouse didn’t, though he led six times for a race-high 51 laps with one of the strongest cars in the field.

“It was fun for a while. I was frustrated with myself causing crashes like that,” Stenhouse said. “You don’t ever really want to do that. For us, my car was a lot of fun to drive. Everybody else had a lot of handling issues and my car drove really good and had really good speed, so hats off to Jimmy Fennig (Roush Fenway’s superspeedway program manager) and those guys and (engine builder) Doug Yates. We just didn’t finish it off.”

Posted on by Brad Norman

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — An hour before the biggest race of her life Brehanna Daniels warmed up like she would before any other race. Long lunges behind the pit box to get loose, toe touches to follow.

Breanna O’Leary stacked tires, chatted with her over-the-wall teammates for the No. 51 team and driver Ray Black Jr., and prepped her helmet. In short, the night began as a normal pre-race on this summer evening in Daytona.

Until the green flag dropped. Then the Rick Ware Racing team pit box began to swell with well-wishers, with onlookers, with cameras and photographers as Daniels and O’Leary prepared to pit together and make NASCAR history.

RELATED: Daniels, O’Leary going over the wall at Daytona | More on Daniels

The two women and Drive for Diversity pit crew members — and roommates — both served as tire changers in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Daniels is believed to be the first African-American woman to compete in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event, and two women had never pitted for the same team at NASCAR’s top level.

By the end of the night — after Black Jr. avoided the carnage that impacted so many drivers and finished a reason-to-celebrate 16th — there was barely any time to pause and reflect as the two immediately got to work in helping break down the pit box.

“This is bigger than me. It’s bigger than you,” Daniels said of her Monster Energy Series debut. “I want this to open doors for other little boys and girls who look like me. I want to make a difference.”

Daniels and O’Leary spoke while sweating under the lights, wrapping hoses and putting drills back in the toolbox. They didn’t stop their jobs to give interviews.

It’s a mindset and type of work ethic that has paved the way from the Drive for Diversity Pit Crew combine, to pitting at the NASCAR Xfinity Series level to Saturday night under the lights at the World Center of Racing in one of the biggest races of the season.

“I’ve worked hard,” Daniels said of her ascension. “I think everyone can see what I’m able to do. It’s gone from people not believing in me, but then seeing my journey and seeing how hard I’ve worked, seeing how I’ve improved and seeing me get to this level.”

For O’Leary, it was her third race pitting in the Monster Energy Series. She and Daniels formed a quick friendship soon after meeting and living together in Charlotte, North Carolina.

They spoke of this day often together, and the potential for it to actually happen. Well, it has. No more What if …

“We just knew we had to do what always do,” O’Leary said with a smile. “When we were changing tires, it felt the same as any race. It was having all the people watching that made it feel bigger. We’re OK with that.”

Those folks who came to watch the first pit stop seemed to return en masse once Erik Jones took the checkered flag and the No. 51 was visible just outside the top 15 on the scoring pylon. Some offered congratulations. Some asked for pictures.

Daniels and O’Leary said thank you, and yes.

Then they turned around and got right back to work.

Posted on by Staff Report

Erik Jones’ thrilling win in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway marked his first victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

The victory drew praise from the NASCAR industry, notably from Jones’ longtime mentor and former team owner, Kyle Busch.

https://twitter.com/odsteve/status/1015823411287818240

Bubba Wallace also paid Jones a visit in Victory Lane to offer his congratulations in person at Daytona.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a wild war of attrition that went to two overtimes, Erik Jones outdueled Martin Truex Jr. on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway to seize the first victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

In a Coke Zero Sugar 400 that went eight laps beyond its scheduled 160, Jones passed the reigning series champion on the backstretch of the final lap and held on to win by .125 seconds. Jones battled back from damage sustained in a multicar wreck on Lap 65, an accident that cost him a lap.

The final circuit was the only one Jones led.

RELATED: Race results | ‘Big One’ erupts at Daytona
SHOP: Jones gear

“How about that race, boys and girls?” Jones shouted to the fans in the grandstands after his celebratory burnout in front of the flag stand. “My first Cup win, my first win at Daytona, my first superspeedway win — what an awesome day, man!

“There’s so much smoke in the car from that burnout, I can hardly breathe, but what an awesome finish.”

AJ Allmendinger ran third after a nine-car wreck ended the first overtime attempt with Truex approaching the finish line just short of the end of the white-flag lap. That wreck provided the coup de grace for Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson and Trevor Bayne.

Only 20 of the 40 cars that started the race were running at the finish, and only 13 finished on the lead lap. Kasey Kahne came home fourth after leading 17 laps, and Chris Buescher ran fifth, matching his finish in the season-opening Daytona 500.

With a push from Kahne, Truex got the lead after the final restart on Lap 167 but couldn’t hold it. The outside lane was more organized as the final lap unfolded, and Jones got a strong run through Turns 1 and 2.

“He (Jones) got a big run getting into (Turn) 1 and through the center, and I just didn’t block him good enough in the middle of 1 and 2,” Truex said. “He got to my right rear quarter — just barely — enough to slow me down off of 2, and then the race was on from there.

“Just missed that block a little bit. I’ve got to get better at my mirror-driving. I’ve never really been good at that, and unfortunately, that’s part of this racing here, but I’m really proud to get to the end.”

Truex had posted only one other top-five finish — a second in the 2016 Daytona 500 — in 26 previous starts at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Two massive wrecks in Stage 2, both involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr., eliminated the majority of the contending cars and opened the door for a new winner.

On Lap 54, Brad Keselowski was running behind leader William Byron when his No. 2 Ford turned off the front bumper of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Fusion, slammed into the No. 41 of Kurt Busch and ignited a Turn 3 wreck that involved 24 cars and wiped out all three Team Penske entries, along with Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and pole winner Chase Elliott.

But Keselowski didn’t blame Stenhouse. He pointed the finger at Byron, who moved down the track to put a late block on the No. 2 and forced Keselowski to check up.

“Ricky was doing the best he could to give me a good push and had a great run to take the lead, and the car in front of me (Byron) just threw a late, bad block,” Keselowski said. “I made the mistake of lifting instead of just driving through him, and that’s my fault.

“I’ve got to wreck more people, and then they’ll stop blocking me late and behind like that. That’s my fault. I’ll take the credit for my team, and we’ll go to Talladega, and we’ll wreck everybody that throws a bad block like that.”

Byron didn’t stay up front for long. He was leading again on Lap 65 when Stenhouse tapped the left rear of series leader Kyle Busch’s Toyota and sent the No. 18 Camry spinning into Byron’s Chevrolet. Both Byron and Busch were knocked out of the race in that accident.

“I tried to side-draft the 18 (Busch) in the wrong place,” a subdued Stenhouse said on his team radio.

Byron lost a good chance to improve on his 21st position in the standings.

“The No. 17 car (Stenhouse) just kind of, I guess, hooked the No. 18 into me,” Byron said. “It seemed like he was being really aggressive, and that’s the second time we’ve kind of been on the wrong end of something with him.

“Unfortunate for us, but we had a good race going. We needed to really have a really good day, because of the points position we’re in, but that is just part of speedway racing, I guess. But it stinks to be on that side of it. But at least we led some laps (12), so that was good.”

Notes: Stenhouse won the first and second stages, garnering his first playoff points of the season, before sustaining serious damage in a Lap 124 wreck. He finished 17th, one lap down. … Harvick’s No. 4 team did yeoman work to repair his car after it suffered extensive body damage in the Lap 54 accident. Harvick led the field to green on Lap 162 to start the first overtime, but he fell victim to the nine-car wreck before that circuit was completed. … Despite a 33rd-place finish, Kyle Busch retained the series lead by 57 points over Harvick.

Posted on by Zack Albert

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The night ended for Brad Keselowski and William Byron in separate wrecks, but their fortunes were intertwined, prompting Keselowski to direct critical words at the 20-year-old rookie for his blocking tactics.

Keselowski exited early at the front of a massive wreck that tangled 25 cars on Lap 53 of a scheduled 160 in the Coke Zero Sugar 400. His Team Penske No. 2 Ford was nudged from behind by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford, triggering the mishap at the end of the Daytona International Speedway backstretch.

WATCH: “The Big One” strikes at Daytona| See the wreck from Elliott’s perspective

But Keselowski assigned blame to Byron, whose blocking maneuver while leading forced him to lift slightly off the throttle, leaving Stenhouse with limited options on where to go. The wreck was on from there, engulfing a host of favorites and making a clean sweep of eliminating Team Penske’s three-car fleet.

“Ricky was doing the best he could to give me a good push and had a great run to take the lead and the car in front of me just threw a late, bad block,” Keselowski said of Byron. “I made the mistake of lifting instead of just driving through him and that’s my fault. I know better than that. I’ve got to wreck more people and then they’ll stop blocking me late and behind like that. That’s my fault. I’ll take the credit for my team and we’ll go to Talladega and we’ll wreck everybody that throws a bad block like that.”

For good measure, Keselowski — a six-time winner in restrictor-plate competition — took a dig at Byron’s experience level on superspeedways.

“You got a list of drivers that are making moves that are unqualified to make and it causes big wrecks,” Keselowski said. “That was one of those. It was my fault because I lifted. I should have wrecked him and sent a message to the whole field.”

Byron was sidelined just 11 laps later, swept out in another multicar mess instigated by Stenhouse’s Turn 4 contact with Kyle Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota.

WATCH: Busch, Byron wreck

After being checked out of the infield care center, Byron answered Keselowski’s complaint, claiming that the wreck was more Stenhouse’s doing than his.

“He got hit from behind, so I didn’t get hit anywhere,” Byron said. “If he would’ve hit me, I would’ve tried to move or save it, but I never got hit. He just hit from behind me. …

“Everybody blocks as much as that, so I don’t see any difference in it. He got hit from behind.”