Posted on by Steve Luvender

iRacing hit a major milestone this week — the two billionth official lap completed on the service.

Brett Moffitt wheeled his iRacing-sponsored Toyota Tundra in the Eldora Dirt Derby Wednesday in the Camping World Truck Series. Even though Wednesday marked Moffitt’s first-ever dirt race in a truck, he brought his Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 16 home in fifth position.

Moffitt credited his time spent practicing Eldora Speedway on iRacing before the race. (You’re welcome, Brett.)

Oh, and nine of the 10 highest-finishing truckers have one thing in common — iRacing accounts. Coincidence? Maybe, but with an iRating approaching 9,000 (that’s really, really good), Logan Seavey likely turned an awful lot of virtual laps before making his Camping World Truck Series debut Wednesday.  

You never know who you might stumble across on iRacing — even when you’re logging practice laps. iRacer Alex Huffman spotted Justin Allgaier partaking in practice, and had a nice chat with the JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver.

Speaking of drivers logging laps, keep an eye out for New Hampshire Motor Speedway Xfinity Series winner Christopher Bell this week as he prepares for the upcoming race at Iowa Speedway.

Just try not to tangle with 2017 NASCAR Next driver Chase Cabre.


NASCAR PEAK ANTIFREEZE iRACING SERIES UPDATE

The NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series tackles Round 11 of the season Tuesday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Ryan Luza won last year’s event at the Magic Mile, but he’s not at the top of our Power Rankings.

Richmond Raceway’s CHAOS CREW racing team talked about their efforts in pursuit of the series playoffs. Team drivers Michael Conti and Nick Ottinger are currently in position, while Logan Clampitt is just outside the top eight in ninth place.


iRACING PAINT SCHEMES OF THE WEEK

Brantley Roden created a pixel-perfect re-creation of Christopher Bell’s New Hampshire-winning Xfinity Series Toyota Camry for iRacing.

Christopher Bell's Xfinity iRacing scheme

Jordan E. produced an iRacing version of Justin Allgaier’s car from the very same race — the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro that started seventh and finished seventh.

Justin Allgaier's iRacing Xfinity scheme


DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME

Well, maybe you can try this week’s video at home, since it’s super cool and probably took an incredible level of effort and cooperation to create.

With iRacing’s built-in camera editor, YouTuber flyer2359x re-created some vintage 1990s-style TV camera shots, then topped it all off with era-correct paint schemes and commentator audio.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Eight times in the past 10 races – excluding only the superspeedway race at Daytona and Clint Bowyer’s Michigan win – Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. have settled each Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race among themselves. On Sunday, Harvick muscled his way around Busch with seven laps remaining and scored his sixth win of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

It’s a single-season victory record for the 42-year-old former Monster Energy Series champion Harvick and there’s every reason to think the Stewart-Haas Racing driver will only be adding to his historic mark.

RELATED: Harvick, Busch highlight all-time combined wins in all national series

As will his two other chief competitors to theirs.

Taking the above mentioned Daytona night race and Michigan out of the mix – the “Big 3” as Harvick, Busch and Truex are now referred to – have not only hoisted the overwhelming majority of the season’s trophies, but they have consistently finished among the top-five even when they don’t win.

Harvick won at New Hampshire, Busch finished second and Truex finished fourth. The previous week at Kentucky, Truex won, Busch finished fourth and Harvick was fifth. At Chicago, Busch won, Harvick was third and Truex was fourth. At Sonoma, Truex won, Harvick was runner-up and Busch was fifth.

And at Pocono in June – the venue for this weekend’s Gander Outdoors 400 (Sunday, July 29 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – Truex won, Busch was third and Harvick was fourth.

MORE: Full Pocono schedule | How the playoff picture looks entering Pocono

In all, the trio has earned 15 wins in the 20 races to date this season. And for those who wonder what the dominance will mean for the postseason – well only one driver will be hoisting the championship trophy and spraying champagne, so imagine the Playoff drama still to come.

It’s an amazing time for modern day fans to witness this form of high-level performance and it’s a fond throwback image for NASCAR’s most loyal longtime fans who recall the dominant days of earlier eras.

Interestingly, the win totals of Harvick (six), Busch (five) and Truex (four) in 2018 match the same totals of NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison (six), Richard Petty (five) and David Pearson (four) through 20 races in the 1972 season.

There was another amazing trio dominating the opening 20 races of the 1977 season with Cale Yarborough (seven), Richard Petty (five) and Darrell Waltrip (four) – again all NASCAR Hall of Famers.

A year later in 1978, Yarborough (five), Waltrip (five) and Pearson (four) held court through the first 20 races. And in 1999, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton, and Jeff Gordon all had four wins apiece by this point on the schedule – that’s the last time three drivers have made such a thorough early season victory statement.

MORE: See all 2018 Monster Energy Series race winners

Jarrett, a NASCAR Hall of Famer driver himself and now commentator on the NBC Sports NASCAR race broadcasts, acknowledged the rarity of the current runs from Harvick, Busch and Truex. And unlike the pre-Playoff era he primarily competed in, Jarrett spoke for many in wondering aloud how the 2018 Monster Energy Series championship will eventually be settled.

“Their motivation at this point in the season comes from Playoff points, because you can’t ever have too many,” Jarrett said Sunday from New Hampshire. “You never know what’s going to happen.

“The other form of motivation now is from each other. The motivation to be the one that everyone is talking about. They all have multiple wins, so they are being talked about as a group, but what you want to do is separate yourself if at all possible. I don’t see that happening, because they are all so talented and their teams are performing at such a high level right now. But at some point, it will have to happen.”

For their part, the three drivers seem to be genuinely taken with the competition – racing hard but clean and keeping each other “honest”.

RELATED: Recap the New Hampshire race | Harvick on victory | Busch’s take

Harvick used his bumper to make the pass on Busch this week. It was clean but assertive. And may be a harbinger of things to come as the Playoff intensity gradually increases.

“I mean, these races are hard to win,” Harvick acknowledged Sunday afternoon. “When you’re in position, it’s one of those things that you have to do what you have to do for your team. You want to do everything that you can to not spin him out, not wreck him, just make it as clean as possible, try to accomplish the bump and run.

“Today we were able to accomplish it well and win the race.”

Even Busch, known for his candid and emotional post-race reactions could only nod to Harvick for getting it done and to recognize he’ll be ready to do it all over again next week at Pocono.

“My pit crew put us in position to have control of the last restart,” Busch reflected in the media center post-race. “To be able to lead that many laps… It was just a matter of those SHR cars, they were really fast. Just a matter every time they get by me and get by me. A little bumping and banging, a little rubbing. We go racing next week.”

And as he said on pit road after getting out of the car, “How you race is how you get raced.”

Busch returns to Pocono Raceway this week as the defending winner of this late summer race. And guess who rounded out the podium in 2017? Yes, Harvick finished second and Truex finished third.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 23, 2018) — Back-to-school can officially wait. For the next three weeks, the NASCAR® industry is bringing summertime racing fun to kids and families with the return of Kids Drive NASCAR, the sport announced today.

Beginning this weekend at Iowa Speedway and Pocono Raceway and culminating Aug. 12 at Michigan International Speedway, children attending NASCAR national series races will take over certain race event responsibilities usually reserved for adults.

NASCAR and participating tracks — which also include Watkins Glen International and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course — will host children as honorary pit crew members, green-flag wavers, media reporters and national anthem singers, among other roles.

Kids walk through the garage at Iowa Speedway
Daniel Shirey | Getty Images

Families looking to get their kids in on the racing action can take advantage of free tickets for children 12 and under for all NASCAR Xfinity Series™ and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™ race events, as well as discounted youth tickets to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series™ events. Youth ticket information is available at NASCAR.com/kidstix.

“NASCAR is a sport for the entire family and there’s no better way to celebrate the summer together than at a NASCAR race track,” said Pete Jung, NASCAR vice president, brand marketing. “Kids Drive NASCAR is all about the next generation of fans and creating a NASCAR experience for kids and their families that they’ll never forget.”

NASCAR’s social media channels will share Kids Drive NASCAR content throughout the three weeks, including Kids vs. Driver Challenges where young fans go head-to-head with some of the sport’s top drivers. The videos will also be available to view on AccelerationNation.com.

Fans are encouraged to share pictures and videos of their families and children enjoying NASCAR races using #KidsDriveNASCAR.

Kids Drive NASCAR is part of the sport’s broader efforts to engage kids at the track, online and in the classroom. The NASCAR Acceleration Nation app is the first digital experience created just for kids featuring racing-themed games, activities and fun ways to learn more about NASCAR.

The app can be downloaded for free at the App Store and Google Play. In partnership with Scholastic, NASCAR also developed the industry’s first Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) in-school education program.

Last month, NASCAR announced the eNASCAR Ignite Series, the first youth esports racing series created to attract and identify young talent. The 12-week season, now underway, is hosted on iRacing and participants ages 13 to 16 can register on NASCAR.com/iRacing.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to Pocono Raceway for the Gander Outdoors 400 on Sunday, July 29 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90) and MRN, with additional coverage on NASCAR.com.

A double-header on Saturday, July 28 begins with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway (1 p.m. ET; FS1, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and MRN) followed by the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway (5 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and MRN).

Tickets to NASCAR national series events are available at NASCAR.com/tickets.

Posted on by Steve Luvender

Two weeks ago, Zack Novak claimed his first checkered flag of 2018 in Round 10 of the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series season at Chicagoland Speedway after a late caution prevented a charge from perennial-contender Ryan Luza. The world’s best oval iRacers head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway Tuesday, where Luza looks to defend his 2017 victory.

RELATED: Full iRacing schedule | Watch iRacing

1: Bobby Zalenski (+1)

After his second-consecutive podium finish, there’s a new driver atop the standings — and, naturally, our Power Rankings. Bobby Zalenski finished third in last year’s outing at New Hampshire, and he’s got momentum on his side.

2: Ryan Luza (+4)

Ryan Luza nearly added to his win count in Chicagoland, running out of time after a late caution ended the race before the Phenom Racing Team driver could get to the top spot. Luza won at New Hampshire last year. He’ll be a serious contender at the Magic Mile.

3: Ray Alfalla (-2)

A late crash at Chicagoland ended Three-Time’s race early, but perhaps there’s some solace in remembering he’s earned five top-five finishes throughout his career in New Hampshire.

4: Michael Conti (+1)

In addition to finishing runner-up at New Hampshire last year, Michael Conti also boasts two victories there (2012 and 2013). Keep an eye on the No. 5 Tuesday — well, it’ll be hard not to with his colorful paint scheme.

5: Matt Bussa (-1)

Matt Bussa’s riding a streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes in 2018 — plus, he’s three-for-four in top-10s in his career at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

6: Keegan Leahy (-3)

Keegan Leahy looked fast at Chicagoland, but got caught up in a crash while racing deeper in the field after a pit stop. We’re not sure what to expect out of Leahy in Loudon — though, this weather enthusiast doesn’t have to worry about rain in the forecast at the virtual New Hampshire, unlike in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday.

7: Zack Novak (NR)

Zack Novak scored his second career victory at Chicagoland Speedway, jumping six places in the championship standings up to 11th place. Heading into his home track, Novak’s finished in the top 10 and led laps in five of the past eight races.

8: Logan Clampitt (-1)

California Clampitt’s seen both extremes in his short time racing at New Hampshire: a win in his first start (2016), and a 35th-place disappointment last year. After a 14th-place finish in Chicagoland, Clampitt’s now finished outside the top 10 three races in a row.

9: Nick Ottinger (NR)

Nick Ottinger maintains a spot in the top 10 in points despite a 20th-place effort at Chicagoland. Ottinger’s scored sixth or better twice in five races in Loudon.

10: Nickolas Shelton (-2)

Since Nick Shelton’s breakthrough win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, he’s yet to finish better than 14th. He must be partying pretty hard.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick’s son, Keelan, was on pins and needles while watching his dad eventually bring home the victory in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

As Harvick took the white flag on the way to earning his sixth victory of the season, Keelan watched his dad get the job done from afar. Although he wasn’t in Victory Lane, Keelan had a celebration of his own in the living room.

From nearly bursting out in tears to jumping for joy, Harvick’s wife, DeLana, captured all of Keelan’s emotions during the final lap of the race.

Posted on by Staff Report

One of the big story lines heading into New Hampshire centered around Stewart-Haas Racing’s decision to shake up its pit-crew lineups before the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. Despite the changes, Kevin Harvick had to overcome slower pit stops than what Kyle Busch had in order to win the race, his series-leading sixth victory in 2018.

According to our data, Harvick’s team was slower on four of the five pit stops the teams took on Sunday, all of which were four-tire stops for the No. 4 SHR Ford and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. See below for Kyle Busch’s pit-stop times, then use the drop-down menu to compare to Kevin Harvick or explore other drivers’ pit stops for the New Hampshire race.

New Hampshire pit road stats

      Posted on by Reid Spencer

      LOUDON, N.H. — At the end of the second stage of Sunday’s Foxwoods 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott tracked down reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. and passed him for the lead.

      Eighteen laps later, Elliott took the green/checkered flag for his first stage victory and first Playoff point of the season. Ultimately, Elliott came home fifth, his only top-10 finish in five starts at the Magic Mile. What’s more, to a Hendrick Motorsports organization that hasn’t posted a victory this season, the speed Elliott showed was a promising sign.

      RELATED: See how Elliott passed Truex for the Stage 2 lead

      “I was shocked, to be honest with you, that we ran even that good,” said Elliott, who also finished second in Stage 1 and led 23 laps. “Our whole NAPA group did a great job overnight. I really have no idea where that came from. I hope it wasn’t dumb luck. Hopefully we can keep it rolling because it’s really nice to be able to go up there and lead some laps.

      “I know it wasn’t the right part of the race, but still, leading laps for us is big compared to what we’ve been doing. I’m proud of the effort. I appreciate everybody’s effort back at Hendrick and the chassis shop and engine shop and Chevrolet and all the folks that are working hard to try to get better. We took a step in the right direction.”

      Posted on by Reid Spencer

      LOUDON, N.H. – Despite a slow pit stop and a poor restart near the end of the race, Aric Almirola finished third in Sunday’s Foxwoods 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but the driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was hardly enthused about his best result of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

      Almirola was leading the race when teammate Clint Bowyer slammed the Turn 3 wall to bring out the seventh and last caution of the race on Lap 256 of 301. Pitting under caution, Almirola lost two spots because of trouble with the left front tire.

      On the subsequent restart on Lap 263, he spun his tires, fell back to sixth and had to claw his way back to third at the finish. But Almirola lost a chance for his first victory in a Stewart-Haas car, and for that reason, the result was disappointing.

      RELATED: Almirola on owing SHR a victory

      “You think I’d be really excited to run top five and I’m not,” Almirola said. “We had the best car hands-down. There’s no doubt in my mind. We gave it away on pit road, and then I gave it away again on the restart. I spun the tires on the restart and didn’t even give myself a fighting chance, so I’m just really frustrated.

      “Chicago, we had a car capable of winning. And we didn’t execute today again with another car capable of winning, and we didn’t get our Smithfield Ford Fusion in Victory Lane. It’s just frustrating. They say you’ve got to lose some before you win some, and I feel like we’ve lost some now, and it’s time to stop it and go to Victory Lane.”

      Posted on by Pat DeCola

      LOUDON, N.H. – You give what you get.

      Kevin Harvick’s persistent tap, tap, tap, BUMP to the rear of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota in the closing laps of Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 cleared the way for the Stewart-Haas Racing driver to close out his sixth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the season.

      NASCAR’s two strongest drivers of 2018 will assuredly be racing around each other again, and soon. Will these two aggressive, never-give-an-inch drivers race each other differently moving forward?

      Sunday’s runner-up indicated that’d be the case, based on the NASCAR version of the “Golden Rule.”

      WATCH: Harvick puts the bumper to Busch

      “Yeah,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said, point blank, on pit road following the race. “Harvick was using me up there for about four or five corners in a row, which is fine. I think he could have made the move work cleaner than that, but it’s all fair game. How you race is how you get raced. …

      “He did that because of Chicago. I think that he had a fair game. Everybody has fair game on Kyle Busch, that’s for sure, when it comes to the fan base. That’s fine; (if) that’s how they want to race, that’s how I’ll race back.”

      RELATED: Kyle Larson, Busch battle in Chicago

      The situation likely would have been a lot more heated – and might have seen potential retaliation sooner – had the bump-and-run put Busch into the fence. Expect, now, the slow burn of a sizzling rivalry has re-sparked after the two appeared to turn a corner this season; occasionally they have even been seen chatting in and around the garage area after years of a seemingly-icy relationship.

      Sunday’s move by Harvick may not be enough to merit full-on retaliation, but given that these two champions will likely be racing for each of their respective second titles come November, don’t rule out more contact at some point – perhaps even in Miami.

      “You do (think about it coming back to him in the future) and you worry about that stuff later,” Harvick said from Victory Lane. “It’s not like I wrecked him. It’s the same thing as Chicago. …

      “I knew that I needed to take my opportunity and felt like I needed to try and get him up out of the groove and I got him up out of the groove and was able to get by.”

      MORE: Recap the race | Race results | Harvick offers his take on late-race move

      Harvick was able to get by with seven laps remaining, yes, but had Busch been able to get reel the No. 4 back in, fireworks would have flown.

      “I don’t have a problem with it at all,” Busch’s crew chief, Adam Stevens, told NASCAR.com following the race. ” … but certainly, if we had gotten back there, we could’ve returned the favor. That is just part of short-track racing.”

      Stevens’ driver, in hindsight, paused briefly before answering a question about how he would have handled the situation in the heat of the moment, had the roles been reversed.

      Would he have moved Harvick?

      “Now that I know what happened,” Busch said, “absolutely.”

      Posted on by Staff Report

      LOUDON, N.H. — On two straight laps late in Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick nudged the No. 18 Toyota of race leader Kyle Busch with his front bumper.

      Busch retained the lead. But Harvick took more aggressive action on Lap 295 of 301, tagging Busch’s car in the center of Turns 1 and 2. Busch slid up the track as Harvick powered the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford into the top spot.

      RELATED: Full results | At-track photos
      SHOP: Harvick gear

      Six laps later, Harvick took a checkered flag for a series-best sixth time this season. He won for the third time at the Magic Mile and the 43rd time in his career, 18th on the career list and one victory behind NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott.

      WATCH: Harvick’s bump-and-run

      Harvick had no regrets about seizing the opportunity to take the win.

      “I didn’t know if I was going to get there at the end, and I felt like that was best opportunity — do what I had to do to win,” said Harvick, who pulled away to win by 1.877 seconds. “I didn’t want to wreck him, but I didn’t want to waste a lot of time behind him.

      “I knew I was running out of laps, and I didn’t know if I was going to get to him again. I felt like I needed to get him up out of the groove, so I got him up out of the groove.”

      Thanks to a blistering stop by his pit crew, Busch grabbed the lead for a restart on Lap 263, after Clint Bowyer pounded the outside wall to bring out the seventh and final caution of the race. Controlling the restart, Busch pulled away to a lead of more than one second before Harvick began to track him down.

      Busch acknowledged that he didn’t have the best car, particularly on the long runs.

      “(Crew chief) Adam (Stevens) made some really good calls, some really good adjustments to keep trying to improve on it. Pit road was flawless, they gave us all those spots on pit road to get us out front and put us in that position and have a shot at the win.

      “We controlled the restart, drove away by a little bit, but we weren’t the best car on the long run. The SHR cars were all really good today. They were fast. It was going to be hard to hold them off.”

      About the contact on Lap 295, Busch was philosophical.

      “I was kind of backing up — three, four, five corners in a row — and he had the faster car,” Busch said. “Harvick was using me up for about six corners in a row. I’m not sure he had to do it, but he did. It’s fine. How you race is how you get raced, so it’s fine.”

      Aric Almirola, Harvick’s Stewart-Haas teammate, finished third after leading 42 laps. Almirola’s undoing was a pit stop under caution on Lap 258, when trouble with the left front tire dropped the No. 10 Ford from first to third for the Lap 263 restart.

      Almirola then spun his tires on the restart and dropped to sixth before fighting his way back to third.

      Martin Truex Jr. ran fourth after winning Stage 1, and Chase Elliott secured the fifth position after taking the green/checkered flag at the end of Stage 2. Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney, pole winner Kurt Busch, Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson completed the top 10.

      Kyle Busch retained the series lead by 53 points over Harvick, but Harvick ran his playoff point total to a series best 32 to Busch’s 30.

      The Monster Energy Series will return at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday July 29 for the Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).