Posted on by Staff Report

Jusan Hamilton will take over race control for Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Pocono Raceway, becoming the first African-American to serve as race director for NASCAR’s premier series.

Hamilton made history in March 2017 when he called the shots from the race control booth for an Xfinity Series event at Auto Club Speedway. For Sunday’s 400-miler, he’ll take the reins from longtime Monster Energy Series race director David Hoots, who is also in attendance at the 2.5-mile track.

Hamilton started his career in the NASCAR industry as an intern with the sanctioning body’s Drive for Diversity program. Now in his fifth year with NASCAR, he continues to be active with racing operations and event management. He’s also given back to the D4D initiative, staying involved with driver and pit crew combines and recruitment efforts.

Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer, lauded Hamilton’s achievement in a pre-race tweet:

Posted on by Staff Report

Executives from both NASCAR and the Camping World brand jointly revealed Sunday the new identity mark for the 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Earlier this year, NASCAR and Camping World announced they had expanded their agreement to provide Gander Outdoors naming rights to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

New Truck Series LogoCamping World originally became title sponsor of the Truck Series in 2009. In 2014, NASCAR and Camping World signed a landmark seven-year agreement, continuing the partnership through 2022. This newly expanded agreement provides official NASCAR status and naming rights to Camping World’s partner brand, Gander Outdoors. The remaining years on the deal are still intact.

The identity mark, seen at the top of this article, aligns the Truck Series visuals with the style of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series.

New Gander helmet

“Gander Outdoors’ customer base has an affinity to the outdoor lifestyle and will transition seamlessly as the title sponsor of our national series in 2019,” said Steve Phelps, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer, at the time of the announcement for 2019.

Phelps joined Marcus Lemonis, Chairman of Gander Outdoors, Camping World & Overton’s, at Pocono Raceway for the unveil.

Gander Outdoors, formerly known as Gander Mountain, was purchased and rebranded by Lemonis in May 2017. Earlier this year, Gander Outdoors announced its title sponsorship of two races at Pocono Raceway; Saturday’s Gander Outdoors 150 (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series) and the Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

“Nearly a decade ago we felt strongly our entitlement sponsorship would dramatically increase Camping World’s customer base and it’s delivered,” Lemonis said. “We expect the passionate fans of NASCAR will embrace Gander Outdoors the same way they supported Camping World and we couldn’t be more excited about the future of the series.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Ever wonder what goes on in a driver meeting? We’re here to help.

This year, we’ll publish the actual rules video your favorite Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers will watch before climbing into their stock cars. Above is the video for the Gander Outdoors 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Pocono Raceway.

Enjoy!

Posted on by RJ Kraft

Daniel Suarez nabbed his first career Busch Pole Qualifying Award before Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Pocono Raceway, but the young driver will not be in my lineup. After two practice sessions and qualifying, we’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration as you make roster decisions for the 21st Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of 2018. Remember that the garage locks at the end of Stage 2.

RJ Kraft’s revised Fantasy Live lineup following practices and the lineup being set:
1: Martin Truex Jr.
2: Brad Keselowski
3: Denny Hamlin
4: Chase Elliott
5: Kyle Larson
Garage: Kyle Busch

PLAY NOW: Set your Fantasy Live lineup | How the new Fantasy Live works
MORE: Fantasy analysis for Pocono | Driver stats | Full lineup | 10-lap averages

Analysis: Inspection woes for several top drivers and strong choices for Pocono made setting this lineup quite an adventure. Before that, Kevin Harvick was going to force his way into my lineup, but I’d prefer not to burn one of my two uses left when he’s starting 29th in the field. However, with three uses left for Kyle Busch, I’m going to roll the dice with him as my garage play. Some of that is influenced by seeing how he drove up from the back at Richmond (started 32nd) to the win earlier this year — a race I ultimately removed him from my lineup — and some of it is influenced by the remaining schedule.

The garage spot was a tough call as I debated plenty of names. I toyed with putting Harvick there for a bit (the two uses left combined with how much I like saving him for Michigan and Darlington, with Bristol as a fallback option swayed me from it). I also considered keeping Ryan Blaney in my lineup or taking another driver toward the back like Clint Bowyer but ultimately felt if I was going to roll with another driver (see below for the other driver) at the back of the field it had to be the 2015 champion. I also entertained throwing Suarez in there for some stage points, but his nine straight finishes outside the top 10 scared me away. Erik Jones was another driver I gave serious consideration to as well.

Busch was in my original lineup and is one of five drivers I’m keeping in — along with Truex, Keselowski, Elliott and Larson. MTJ is the most recent winner here and has three straight top-six finishes at the “Tricky Triangle.” I have three uses remaining with him so he’s in. Keselowski has six straight top fives here, while Elliott has just one finish outside the top 10 at Pocono. Larson has to come from the back, but he had good speed in practice, has the second-best average finish (10.6) among drivers in Sunday’s field and I’m sitting at four more uses. I’m banking on at least one of Busch and Larson getting to the front. If Busch is toward the back of the top 10 at the end of Stage 2, it will be a tough call on whether to put him in.

The lone change for me sees Ryan Blaney go out in favor of Denny Hamlin. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver will start second and I expect him to lead the JGR brigade that is up front. Sitting at four uses with him also puts me in a good spot for the play. For my bonus picks, taking Keselowski to win Stage 1, Hamlin for Stage 2 and going with Harvick for the win since the car was so strong in practice on Saturday and I don’t want to burn the usage, but still would like to try and get points out of him.


Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR announced before the season that it will standardize at-track team rosters across all three national series in 2018, providing a structure for the number of personnel working on each vehicle during the course of a race weekend.

Official team rosters for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) have been released. Click the print icon above, or the link below.

ROSTERS: Pocono

RELATED: Overview of 2018 rules updates

Posted on by Staff Report

NEWTON, Iowa — How long had it been since a non-Monster Energy Cup regular triumphed in three straight Xfinity Series races?

Even NASCAR star-turned-NBC Sports Network commentator Dale Earnhardt, Jr., didn’t seem to know the answer when asked on-air — and he was the most recent driver to accomplish the feat in 1999.

Until Saturday at Iowa Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | Series standings

Christopher Bell somehow steered clear of a spate of potential disasters within the final 15 laps of the mostly-green U.S. Cellular 250, wheeling his No. 20 Ruud Toyota to Victory Lane for the third consecutive time.

“When it’s your day, it’s your day,” a smiling Bell said as he celebrated by his car. “I’ll take them any way I can get them.”

“Our Ruud Camry was really, really good,” Bell said. “I’m just thankful we were able to get Ruud in Victory Lane. This is their first win. All these Camry’s are made in Georgetown, Kentucky here in the United States, so it’s special to win for these guys.”

RELATED: Allgaier: ‘It’s disappointing to get run over’

Bell somehow kept his car intact after Chase Briscoe spun in front of him with 14 to go. The 23-year-old Joe Gibbs racing rookie’s car sustained some damage, but he managed to maintain the lead after the restart — until Garrett Smithley spun out to draw another caution flag. Then the inexplicable occurred. On the following restart, Justin Allgaier — who won the June race at Iowa — boldly drove the high groove to the lead. Bell was shuffled back to fourth during a four-wide restart that completed one lap before contact between Matt Tifft and Max Tullman caused the red flag to wave.

Bell was momentarily stunned. How’d it happen?

“I don’t know,” he told NBC Sports during the red flag. “I really don’t know.”

But it would be Allgaier shaking his head after Bell found a way to reverse his fortunes on the final restart. He also said he felt Bell didn’t race him as clean as he’s accustomed to at the end.

“It’s just disappointing to get run over,” said Allgaier, who settled for second. “I know that Christopher definitely had the best car. … It’s a good day at Iowa. 1-2 in the two races here. I know social media’s going to blow up. They’re going to hate me for being mad at Christopher, but it is what it is.”

Bell said his last-gasp restart maneuver past Allgaier had been executed according to plan.

“I mean, I haven’t seen it so I don’t know, but the spotter was yelling clear and if I’m clear then it was clean,” Bell said.

MORE: Bell offers his take on the overtime events

Bell’s third win in as many weeks shuffled up spots atop the point standings.

He now leads Elliott Sadler by 16 points, 702 to 686. Cole Custer — who led 104 laps before car troubles hit later in the race — is third with 684 points and Daniel Hemric ranks fourth, a mere five points behind Custer, who finished ninth in Saturday’s race.

Kyle Benjamin, Ross Chastain and John Hunter Nemechek completed Saturday’s top-five.

Sadler, Saturday’s pole-sitter, led most of the first stage and finished sixth.

Bell led 94 laps and shrugged off disappointment over a second-place June finish at Iowa.

Now the former dirt open-wheel racer’s accomplished something no series regular has done in this millennium.

“It’s pretty cool, man,” Bell said. “I’m just kind of speechless. These races are really hard to win.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Post-qualifying tech dealt a Saturday shake-up to the starting lineup for Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 after the cars driven by the five of the top six qualifiers — including the initial front row of Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch — failed inspection at Pocono Raceway.

Harvick was fastest in the first and final round of Busch Pole Qualifying, but his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford did not pass the body scan portion post-qualifying inspection. The same fate occurred with the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of second-fastest qualifier Kyle Busch, but his car failed at the chassis station of the inspection process.

The ruling elevated Daniel Suarez, third on the original unofficial speed chart, to a first-time pole winner in the Monster Energy Series. His speed of 176.988 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota stands as the pole-winning lap of record.

RELATED: Starting lineup | First pole for Suarez

A total of 13 cars failed the inspection process the first time through. Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, explained the process in a media gathering as inspection was nearing its conclusion.

“It’s pretty obvious what’s happened here. There was 13 cars that didn’t pass the post-qualifying inspection,” Miller said. “Most of the problems were centered around the body scan, but not all. Some were mechanical measurements with the rear toe. But quite heavy on the body scans, 13 cars. We’re disappointed in this, but we’re certainly confident in our process and the teams didn’t do a real good job here today.”

In addition to Harvick and Busch, the qualifying speeds for Kyle Larson (initially the fourth-fastest qualifier), Joey Logano (fifth) and rookie William Byron (sixth) were disallowed. Others further back in the field with qualifying speeds thrown out: Clint Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford, Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford, Aric Almirola’s No. 10 Ford, Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet, Paul Menard’s No. 21 Ford, Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet, Bubba Wallace’s No. 43 Chevrolet, Kasey Kahne’s No. 95 Chevrolet.

RELATED: See every car in Sunday’s field

All 13 will start from the rear of the 40-car field in Sunday’s 400-miler (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM), ranked in order of their rank in the Monster Energy Series standings.

Both Harvick and Kahne’s car failed three times and the penalty for that is the loss of their car chiefs — Robert Smith (No. 4 team) and Ben Leslie (No. 95 team) — and a 10-point penalty in the driver and owner championship standings. Logano and Menard’s cars failed twice and both of their respective car chiefs — Raymond Fox (No. 22 team) and William Curwood (No. 21 team) were ejected as well.

It’s the first season for the new inspection process and NASCAR’s Optical Scanning Station, which maps and checks vehicle bodies for conformance to the rules. It’s also the second time this season that the Monster Energy Series has been subject to inspection immediately after qualifying under the enhanced weekend schedule. The other occurrence was at Chicagoland Speedway, where only four cars lost their starting spots.

“This is only the second time we’ve done this and I don’t think the teams want to be sitting here in this situation, either,” Miller said when asked if the severity of the penalties might change after Saturday’s issues. “But I think they tested the waters and it didn’t work out too good for them today. So, hopefully the next time we have one of these inspections, they’ll be able to get closer to right and we won’t have this.”

Contributing: Jessica Ruffin from Pocono

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LONG POND, Pa. – Thanks to a double disqualification of two of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ so-called “Big Three,” Daniel Suarez earned the first Busch Pole Award of his career.

In the final round of Saturday’s knockout qualifying at Pocono Raceway, Suarez navigated the 2.5-mile track in 50.851 seconds (176.988 mph) to claim the top starting position when the cars of Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch failed post-qualifying inspection.

Both Harvick and Busch had posted faster laps than Suarez, but Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford failed the Optical Scanning Station, and Busch’s No. 18 Toyota was outside tolerances at the chassis station.

RELATED: Starting lineup | See every car | Weekend schedule

That put Suarez on the pole, surpassing his previous best starting spot of third last June at Dover International Speedway. The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota put his car on the pole without making a mock qualifying run in practice.

“I think this is one of the races of the year where we did not make a qualifying run in practice,” said Suarez, the first Mexican driver to win a pole in NASCAR’s premier series. “We just talked about race trim, and that was the plan.

“We didn’t do a “Q” run in practice, and that’s why we didn’t look very good on the (speed) chart. But we were a top-10, top-eight car for sure in practice. We made some adjustments for qualifying, and actually the car felt better and more connected, so I’m happy for that.”

Suarez was at his motor home, analyzing data and studying where he had lost time to Harvick and Busch when he was told to report to the media center as the pole winner.

“Next time I hope I can get the pole by being the fastest guy, not by a couple of guys being disqualified,” Suarez said. “But it’s fine — we’ll take it.”

Harvick ran the fastest lap of the day at 177.750 mph, but both his run and that of Busch were disallowed because of inspection failures. Both drivers will start from the rear of the field in Sunday’s race.

MORE: Inspection issues snare top qualifiers

Since finishing third at Dover in May, Suarez has gone nine straight races without a top-10 finish, but he sensed the performance at Pocono was a turning point.

“The guys have been working very hard for the last couple months to put things the right way,” Suarez said. “Obviously, we know we can run well, and we can run in the front.

“All my guys are really talented, and I know that I can do it, and the results haven’t been there. So this is a good thing for us.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LONG POND, Pa. — It’s poetic injustice that Jimmie Johnson is making his 600th start in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in the throes of the worst slump of his career.

MORE: Full schedule for Pocono | Playoff picture entering ‘Tricky Triangle’ 

The seven-time champion hasn’t been to Victory Lane since June 4 of last year, when he took a checkered flag for the record 11th time at Dover. Since then, the drought has stretched to a career-long 43 races entering Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Johnson’s performance issues aren’t isolated. Hendrick Motorsports, his parent organization, hasn’t won a race with any of its four cars since Kasey Kahne’s swan-song victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 23, 2017. 

But Johnson will take the green flag for the 600th time in NASCAR’s top series with his positive outlook intact.

“I think a top five is probably in the realistic standpoint, stage points, but you never know,” Johnson said on Saturday morning before opening Cup practice at the Tricky Triangle. “That’s that optimism that I refuse to lose. I still know I can win these races—that hasn’t changed. That hasn’t gone anywhere. We just need to get the whole package together.”

To do so, Johnson and his entire team will have to rediscover the critical mass that has propelled the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet to 83 victories and the record-tying seven titles.

RELATED: See all of Johnson’s victories

“This whole journey I’ve been on just shows me how important timing is for any team, driver, crew chief, owner, whatever it might be,” said Johnson, who turned the fifth fastest lap in final practice at 174.744 mph. “I was very fortunate to have timing for a large stretch of time—manufacturer, team, crew chief, driver all hitting at 10 tenths.  

“We individualize the sport very often, and it’s way more than just one person that makes this whole thing go. I’m patiently waiting and hoping that we get the timing back and get all the pieces pushed in the right direction, and we can get back to our form that we once had.”