Posted on by Staff Report

Erik Jones rolled to an unexpected runner-up finish in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, stepping in as an 11th-hour replacement for an ailing Noah Gragson at Pocono Raceway.

Jones, a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular, started the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota in the next-to-last starting spot in the 32-truck field after Gragson was unable to post a qualifying speed Saturday morning. He zoomed up to finish fourth in Stage 1 at Lap 15 and briefly took the lead on Lap 27. He challenged for the lead again in the late going but eventually settled for second place, just behind team owner Kyle Busch, who won for the 51st time in his Truck Series career.

RELATED: Busch wins at Pocono | Race results

Jones said his first appearance in a Truck Series race since June 2016 was “definitely a surprise.” Busch said post-race that Jones was his first choice for a fill-in driver, but that former KBM driver William Byron — now a Monster Energy Series rookie with Hendrick Motorsports — was also considered. Jones, the former series champ, said he found out after first Monster Energy Series practice that he might be called upon as a last-ditch substitute.

“You’re definitely changing your mindset getting into a truck race,” said Jones, who will now have an unplanned double-duty weekend with Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM). “I was planning on probably going back, taking a nap and catching the end of the truck race. So I had to really kind of reset and try to think back — I don’t really have any notes with me here, obviously, in truck racing. … Just tried to refresh my memory and get in the mode of what we had to do.

“I knew it was going to be a little challenging coming from the back and obviously not being in the truck all day, I didn’t know how it drove. I don’t know how Noah drives his trucks, so there’s a lot of things that go through your head, but we had a great truck.”

Gragson, 20, fought through what the team described as a stomach virus to be fastest in Friday’s practice for the Gander Outdoors 150 (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). But he was not medically cleared to compete after a pre-race visit to the infield care center.

A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed that Gragson will receive a waiver for postseason eligibility. Even with the late scratch from the lineup, Gragson still ranks second in the Truck Series standings behind points leader Johnny Sauter, having scored one win (Kansas Speedway) and a series-leading four pole positions.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Richard Petty Motorsports announced Saturday that Bubba Wallace will return as driver of the No. 43 Chevrolet, signing the 24-year-old rookie to a multiyear extension.

RPM made the announcement Saturday after opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway. The organization indicated in a news release that it had exercised its option to keep Wallace behind the wheel.

RELATED: Full schedule for Pocono, Iowa

Both Wallace and team owner Richard Petty indicated earlier this week that Wallace’s return to the team was all but certain. Wallace described talks as having a “positive look” at the Tuesday unveil of the team’s Darlington throwback entry, and Petty said that he hoped to keep Wallace to steady the learning process.

“This definitely helps,” Wallace said. “If you take a step back and help sponsorship efforts, knowing that we have a set future ahead, we can sell that. That’s the biggest thing as a whole, how we want to make our program better from the outside looking in. That goes a long way. So, for us, we’re still in here turning wrenches and trying everything we can to get our race cars better.”

Wallace will make his 25th Monster Energy Series start in Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM). The 2.5-mile track was the site of Wallace’s premier-series debut last season, when he subbed in for the injured Aric Almirola for a four-race stint with RPM.

Wallace sits in a tie for 24th place in the drivers’ standings as a Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate. In addition to the new face behind the wheel, RPM is adjusting this season to a new manufacturer in Chevrolet and a new technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing.

Petty indicated that he’s hopeful the team will grow closer with a long-term commitment. He also showed optimism about building a foundation with one of the sport’s most expressive young drivers.

“I see NASCAR changing as far as all the drivers and stuff are becoming younger, all us old guys, and the ones coming now is moving on,” Petty said. “So, we’re going to have a new chapter with the racing crowd and the drivers. So, we wanted to get in on the ground floor on this. If you look back, a lot of the drivers I’ve had kind of went through their deal and then we picked them up on the back end (of their careers). We want to start out a little bit different this time. We’re going to start out on the front end. Bubba was a logical choice for us.”

MORE: Throwback No. 43 unveiled

Wallace has two top-10 finishes in 20 races this year, topped by a career-best runner-up finish in the season-opening Daytona 500.

Posted on by Staff Report

Joey Logano topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway at 176.370 mph in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

MORE: Best 10-lap averages | Full practice results

Right behind him was first practice leader Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford at 176.336 mph.

Rounding out the top five were defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota, Aric Almirola in the No. 10 SHR Ford and Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Series points leader Kyle Busch was 13th fastest with a speed of 173.762 mph in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

With less than a minute remaining in practice, Kyle Larson spun his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet and tapped the inside wall. He was ninth on the leaderboard.

The next on-track action is Busch Pole Qualifying at 4:10 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App).

Practice 1

Kevin Harvick topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway at 174.965 mph in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

MORE: Full practice results

Last week’s New Hampshire winner, Harvick is looking for his first win at the “Tricky Triangle.”

Right behind him was Erik Jones in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at 174.931 mph.

Rounding out the top five were Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 JGR Toyota and Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 SHR Ford.

Series points leader Kyle Busch was seventh fastest with a speed of 173.304 mph in the No. 18 JGR Toyota.

The following cars were held 15 minutes at the end of practice for infractions incurred at Loudon last week: Nos. 4, 11, 24, 37, 51 for failing pre-race inspection twice. Nos. 7, 66 were also held 15 minutes for being late to pre-qualifying inspection at Chicagoland.

Brad Keselowski, owner of six straight top-five finishes at Pocono, might have seen his fortune turn at the “Tricky Triangle.” The No. 2 Team Penske Ford suffered an electrical issue and severely limited his practice time. He mustered just nine laps to place 18th on the leaderboard with a speed of 172.490 mph.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Of the three top-eight drivers in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Grant Enfinger perhaps has the least cause for anxiety.

The driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford is fourth in the series standings, 120 points ahead of ninth-place Myatt Snider with three races left in the regular season.

MORE: Full Truck schedule | Gragson sets pace at practice

But Enfinger has only two Playoff points—the result of stage victories—and he feels his team needs to find some extra speed to be a contender for the title. 

“I think we’ve still got a little ways to go,” Enfinger said on Friday at Pocono Raceway, venue for Saturday’s Gander Outdoors 150 (1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “We’re solid.

“We’ve had a fair amount better speed this year than we had last year, but I still feel like we’re lacking a little bit in that department. We haven’t got a win yet. We’ve had a few shots at it. We’ve had speed enough to win at a few of ‘em, but it just hasn’t worked out.”

Enfinger came tantalizingly close July 18 at Eldora Speedway, where he battled side-by-side against race winner Chase Briscoe for the final two laps but came up short by .038 seconds. A victory would have locked Enfinger into the Playoffs. Without it, he still has to walk a tightrope between caution and aggression.

“For us, we really can’t do anything different,” he said. “We still need stage points, and we still need to contend for wins. So we can’t just lay it all on the line, and we can’t run conservative either. We pretty much have to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year.”

 

Posted on by Brad Norman

Awesome Bill from Dawsonville.

The small, Georgia town tucked away from the hustle and bustle of big-city living is home to Bill Elliott (as well his son, Chase), and the community has rallied around the iconic racing family since the beginning.

From sirens blasting from the famous Dawsonville Pool Room after every Elliott win to the nickname given to the former champion driver, the Elliotts and Dawsonville are synonymous.

So it’s only right that the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office had a special guest in their lip sync video: Say hello to musical talent, Bill Elliott.

Enjoy.

Posted on by Sponsored Content

When Dale Jr. puts out the call to NASCAR drivers to help support The Dale Jr. Foundation and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, they show up … by the dozens.

During the Watkins Glen race weekend (Aug. 3-5), 32 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers and all four JR Motorsports NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers will participate in the 2018 Driven to Give Glove program. Drivers will wear skeleton driving gloves inspired by the ones Junior wore during races. Each pair of gloves will be autographed by both Dale Jr. and the driver wearing them and then auctioned off beginning Aug. 8, with proceeds benefiting the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

The fund supports the hospital’s efforts in pediatric injury rehabilitation, research and prevention.

MORE: Bookmark the auction site | Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund

Dale Earnhardt Jr Childrens Hospital2“We’ve done a lot with the Gloves program through the years at The Dale Jr. Foundation, but this year we wanted to open it up to more people,” said Earnhardt Jr. of the program. “To have 32 of my former competitors and all four of our JR Motorsports’ drivers sign on to this to help the Nationwide Children’s Hospital continue the life-saving work they do there is impressive, and I can’t thank them all enough. Nationwide Children’s Hospital is a huge part of the work we do at The Dale Jr. Foundation.”

In 2016, the Dale & Amy Earnhardt Activity Room on the hospital’s rehabilitation floor was dedicated to the driver and his wife in recognition of their wedding, and they created the Dale & Amy Earnhardt Fund in November of 2017 as a way to extend that relationship beyond Junior’s retirement from driving. They acknowledged their commitment to the Fund with an $88,888 initial donation made by The Dale Jr Foundation, commemorating Dale’s years driving the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports car with Nationwide as a sponsor.

Nationwide will be on the No 88 car again at Watkins Glen, with Alex Bowman driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet featuring a butterfly-themed special Nationwide Children’s Hospital paint scheme. Patient Champion Ashyzla Jackson was at Hendrick Motorsports for the unveiling of the paint scheme. Patient Champions help tell the story of the work the hospital does for children.

MORE: See the special No. 88 look for Watkins Glen

The Driven to Give Glove program started in 2014 and has raised more than $100,000 to support the work of Dale Jr. Foundation. During the previous two years, the glove program was focused on Nationwide Children’s Hospital and highlighting

Bowman Ashyzia
Photo credit: Hendrick Motorsports

Patient Champions from the hospital with glove colors that matched the causes and illnesses of those patients.

Bowman has history with Nationwide Children’s Hospital as well. He was the first driver to pilot a car with a special paint scheme for the hospital, at the Xfinity Series’ 2013 race at Watkins Glen. When he’s back behind the wheel with the hospital on board, Nationwide Children’s Hospital Patient Championship Bricen Thall will be on hand at Watkins Glen with his family. Bricen’s name will also be featured above the passenger window of the car.

RELATED: Dale Jr. finds, gives comfort in Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Bricen and his family are from Winfield, New York, and he was born with a condition named Hirschsprung’s Disease. He’s now five but had his first of many surgeries at just one week old.

After several surgeries over the first two years of his life, Bricen was referred to the Center for Colorectal and Pelvic Reconstruction at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His care there has set him on a path that for the first time didn’t involve a surgery for a whole year.

“Nationwide Children’s has a very special place in our hearts for everything they have done for Bricen,” said his mother, Colby Thall. “They have given him a better quality of life and the chance to experience all that a 5-year-old should.”

Drivers who are participating in the Driven go Give Glove program are: Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger , Aric Almirola, Michael Annett, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Clint Bowyer, Chris Buescher, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Landon Cassill, Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Erik Jones, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Ryan Newman, David Ragan, Tyler Reddick, Elliott Sadler, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace.

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Perhaps it was the angst and palpable disappointment on Aric Almirola’s face and in his voice even following his best outing of the 2018 season last week – a third place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – that so powerfully displayed his competitive spirit.

The 34-year-old had led 42 laps – the third largest single-day tally out front in his seven-year career – and yet finished third behind the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ championship leaders, Almirola’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch.

RELATED: Full schedule for Pocono, Iowa

After a few days to reflect on the outing, Almirola arrives at Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) never having felt more motivated to win.

“We’re going to be a contender, we’re going to be tough to beat,’’ Almirola said of his No. 10 Smithfield Ford team. “That’s what I keep telling everybody. We’re so new and so young. We’re 20 races into working together.

“We’re good, we’re not great. We have potential to be great because I don’t feel like we’ve reached our max potential just because everything is so new and we’re still learning each other, learning what I like in the race cars and all of those things.”

Almirola, who spent the first six years of his Monster Energy Series career driving the No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports, understandably feels that this SHR team, in this season, in this stretch, presents the best-case scenario for him to hoist a Cup winner’s trophy again.

He scored his first career victory in the rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in July of 2014. It earned him a playoff shot, but he finished last among the 16 championship-eligible drivers. His only top-10 in that 10-race playoff run was a sixth place at New Hampshire.

RELATED: Stewart’s faith in all four SHR entries

Almirola has nine top-10s through the opening 20 races and his 113 laps led so far is a career best. Also very telling, his average finish is an impressive 12.6. And Almirola sits 11th in the points standings with a sizeable 53-point advantage over 12th-place Jimmie Johnson.

However, he clearly doesn’t want to “point” his way into the championship mix. He wants to win outright. And for him, that time has been long coming. Last weekend’s near miss only reinforced the feelings.

“Now I have this opportunity here at Stewart-Haas Racing and equipment is not an excuse,’’ Almirola said. “We have the best of everything. We have everything we need to go out and compete for wins. It’s up to me and my team.

“So, yeah, I do feel like there is justification running up front and racing with [defending Monster Energy Series champ] Martin Truex Jr., and Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch – all those guys who run up front on a regular basis.

“It makes me feel like I’m capable and I can do it. That does make me feel better. At least I’ll be able to sleep at night knowing that, given the right opportunity, I could perform at that level. Now we’ve just got to figure out how to win.”

MORE: Almirola leaves NHMS ‘really frustrated’

Pocono’s 2.5-mile “Tricky Triangle,” has been a particular upside in Almirola’s season. In five of six starts at tracks two miles or longer, Almirola has only one finish (accident at Daytona in July) outside the top 12. His seventh-place finish at Pocono in June was his first top-15 there.

And it’s the grand possibilities that Almirola expects on the schedule’s “second visits” that excite and provide promise.

“I feel like going back to some of these tracks that we’ll now have notes,’’ Almirola said. “A lot of these tracks all year long we’ve shown up kind of blind. We had no real notebook.

“Now we’re going back to these races where we have a notebook. We changed these things in practice, we’ll start already with that in our car. We’ll be able to fine-tune on that and make that better. We’ve learned what not to do. … It’s as much learning what to do as what not to do. It’s just building a foundation and a notebook.’’

Almirola acknowledged that while the expectations are high, so is his learning curve. But the big picture has never looked brighter. His teammate Harvick leads the series with six wins, his teammate Clint Bowyer has two wins and his teammate Kurt Busch is the top-ranked driver without a win. All four SHR cars look poised to make the Playoffs – and for Almirola that will be a big, big deal.

“When you look at the teams that are very successful, the big three (Harvick, Busch and Truex) that everyone talks about, they’ve all been working together for three, four, five, six years now,’’ Almirola said. “They’ve got a foundation.

“That’s what has me excited about my relationship with [crew chief] Johnny Klausmeier, my engineers, this whole 10 team, is that we’re young. We’re all a young group of guys all in our early 30s. We’re learning each other, we’re new. And we’re already starting to compete with these guys, 20 races working together.

“I feel like we have so much potential to continue to get better.’’

Posted on by Zack Albert

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer have established themselves as championship contenders this season in the Monster Energy Series, both with multiple wins and their postseason berths long since sealed. Teammates Aric Almirola and Kurt Busch have shown strong indications that they’re on the verge of clinching their own playoff spots.

So with six regular-season races remaining, is it reasonable to envision all four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers entering the 10-race playoffs with wins in hand?

RELATED: Playoff picture heading into Pocono | Pocono, Iowa weekend schedule

“I definitely believe that,” team co-owner Tony Stewart said Wednesday. “I think for sure Kurt, obviously, his track record speaks for itself. He’s the guy that can win races under the right circumstances. If everything’s right, he’s the guy that can definitely get the job done.

“Aric, it’s kind of fun. I feel like I’ve gotta be the guy that pulls the reins on him back a little bit because he is so hungry to win and he wants it so bad that you’ve just kinda got to remind him, ‘Hey, look where you were a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, and look what you’re doing already this year.’

“I think the closer you get to getting that first win with a new team, the harder it is to get it, so to speak. The more that you try almost too hard to make it happen. I just keep reminding him, ‘Listen, just keep doing what you’re doing. You’re running up front, you’re leading laps, you’re consistent. It’s going to happen.’ You just have to let it happen. Don’t try to make it happen because that’s when you start forcing mistakes.”

Regardless of the current win count, Stewart-Haas enters the closing stretch of the regular season as heavy favorites to punch playoff tickets for all four entries. Harvick leads the series with six wins, firmly placing him among the “Big 3” of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch (five wins) and Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. (four wins).

RELATED: See every race winner from the 2018 season

Harvick’s impressive show of strength — leading the series in most laps led (1,052) and top-five finishes (15) — has been captivating, matching Busch and Truex swing-for-swing in their bids to pen their own chapters in NASCAR history. Is it possible to appreciate such dominance as it’s happening or would the benefit of reflection help to measure the greatness of Harvick and his No. 4 Ford team? For Stewart, his perspective as a hands-on team owner is unique.

“I get to see it closer than anybody, I guess,” Stewart said. “So for me, I’m seeing it right now, where everybody else might look back a couple of years from now that he is — not only as a driver, but what he is as a person inside and outside the car — how he’s really, I feel like, the total package. He just knows how to lead, and when he gets on the race track, he knows exactly when to push, when not to push, how to put himself in the right positions at the right time.

“There’s not a lot of guys on the race track that have that composure to do that. I mean, there’s some out there, but you can count them on one hand. He’s one of those guys for sure that you can put in that group.”

MORE: Stewart, Custer on SHR’s Xfinity program

Almirola and Busch have their minds set on making their own contributions to SHR’s win tote board. The two took turns leading a chunk of laps last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, contending until late-race issues knocked them down a peg on the leaderboard.

Their performances, however, combined with Harvick’s clutch victory to add to the general cheeriness of Stewart-Haas’ milestone season. Stewart says it has turned Monday mornings into a cause for celebration on the shop floor, with the organization’s traveling crew receiving a warm welcome from the staff based on SHR’s campus.

MORE: Almirola reflects on third-place run at New Hampshire

“They’re high-fiving each other and smiling and upbeat right off the bat, so that starts the next work week off on a high note and that’s how you keep the momentum going and the morale in the shop,” Stewart said. “Having good results and winning races and running up front, even for somebody like Aric that was in position to win the race and then a caution kind of got it out of his grasp, even for those guys when they come back in here, everybody’s patting those guys on the back.

“It’s not just win-related. It’s the performance of all the teams, so that’s what’s fun about coming to the shop after a great weekend is just seeing how the whole demeanor of the shop is on a high. Everybody’s heads are up high, their shoulders are back and they’re digging away.”

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Pressure? What pressure?

During an event held by Michigan International Speedway on Wednesday where the city of Grand Rapids declared July 25 “Alex Bowman Day,” Bowman declared he’s not feeling the heat to get into the postseason with six races remaining before Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contenders are set.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a whole lot of pressure,” Bowman told NASCAR.com. “Obviously, that’s a big goal of ours. But, I just want to run well every week.”

RELATED: Playoff picture heading to Pocono | Full schedule for Pocono, Iowa

Heading into Sunday’s Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Bowman holds a 28-point advantage over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the cutoff line in the playoff standings.

Prior to New Hampshire, the gap was only nine points. But Bowman’s 11th-place finish paired with Stenhouse’s 30th extended the gap by 19 points.

“Glad we’re on our side of it and not his,” Bowman said. “So, hopefully we’ll be able to keep putting some points on him, get a bigger buffer and go from there.”

Bowman and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports organization has made slow, but steady progress. Bowman has finished 11th or better in four of the last five races — the best among his teammates in that same stretch — and he, Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson and William Byron all finished in the top 14 at Loudon.

Byron is mired back in 21st in the playoff standings, while Elliott and Johnson are ahead of Bowman in 13th and 15th, respectively.

MORE: Bubble watch heading into Pocono

With hints of increasing speed for the organization, Bowman knows progress needs to happen faster if he wants to break the No. 88 Chevrolet into Victory Lane for the first time in his career.

“Hopefully anywhere we go we can have a shot at it,” Bowman said. “We’ve got some work to do, I feel like, before we get to that point.”

Bowman said it’s crucial for him to earn as many points as possible to help his postseason campaign – a task the 25-year-old knows he and the team can accomplish. He has collected 27 stage points this year, tied for 18th with Byron and Ryan Newman. Elliott has collected 94 points, good for 11th among other competitors, while Johnson has earned 84 points, the 13th-most in the series.

“Any day we can have good stage points and get good points throughout the day,” Bowman said. “Wins will come with time, but hopefully we make the Playoffs.”