NASCAR competition officials distributed a handful of competition updates Wednesday, most notably regarding the damaged vehicle policy and the national series qualifying format.
The time limit for teams to make repairs will increase from five to six minutes. Furthermore, if a team has too many crew members over the wall while its car is on the crash clock, the team will be assessed a two-lap penalty instead of being parked.
NASCAR officials said those changes were developed from discussions with stakeholders, building on lessons learned from last season to better fit the spirit of the initiative.
Competition officials also reduced the opening round of knockout-style qualifying at intermediate and short tracks from 20 to 15 minutes, offering a tighter window for the field to make initial qualifying attempts.
The news comes on the heels of NASCAR’s competition department setting the stage lengths for races in all three national series. The group also indicated the NASCAR Air Titan track-drying system will have a revised look in 2018, with a red-and-white scheme replacing the silver-and-green livery.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) team owner Shigeaki Hattori announced Wednesday that the organization has tabbed Brett Moffitt to drive the No. 16 AISIN Group Toyota Tundra.
Moffitt will take the reins of the No. 16 entry to begin the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) season in the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
The Grimes, Iowa, native has an extensive and successful history with HRE and crew chief Scott Zipadelli.
From 2012-2013, the NASCAR Next alumnus competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE) with HRE and earned top-three finishes in the championship standings in both seasons and posted two victories.
Some of Moffitt’s career highlights have come with Zipadelli on the pit box. The duo worked together for six races in 2016 at Red Horse Racing and laid down an impressive record. During that span, Moffitt scored his first-career NCWTS victory at Michigan International Speedway on a spectacular last-lap pass and tallied three top-five and four top-10 finishes overall. In 13 career NCWTS starts, Moffitt has totaled one victory, three top-five and six top-10 finishes.
“This is an awesome opportunity for me to reunite with Shige Hattori and get back into a position to win races”, Moffitt said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to work with so many familiar faces. I believe the people in place at HRE are the right group for us to find a lot of success.
“Working with Zippy (Scott Zipadelli) again makes this opportunity even better. We had a great stretch together a couple years ago, especially winning at Michigan. Hopefully we can do that again, because Zippy, Shige, and everyone at HRE have built an impressive program over the last two years.”
After a successful 2017 campaign, Hattori is energized to reunite with Moffitt and continue to develop the organization’s performance in 2018.
“I am so glad to have Brett back with us at HRE,” Hattori said. “We enjoyed working together several years ago and he has made the most of every opportunity he’s had in this sport over the last few years, especially in the NCWTS. He’s proven he can win races and is deserving of the opportunity.
“It’s great to have AISIN Group’s continued support of our team and to have them reunited with Brett. We’re very proud of the program we have built with Scott (Zipadelli) and the entire team, and we’re looking forward to having Brett behind the wheel and elevating our performance even further this season.”
“I totally called that Championship 4 before the season began!”
“I knew he’d win the Cup this year!”
“This is the year. I’ve been saying it since February.”
You’ve probably heard claims like this each November when the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion is crowned — your friends boldly declaring they totally called who’d make the Championship 4 at the end of the year. They knew it all along. Uh-huh, sure.
See, there’s no accountability when it comes to claims and predictions like this. There’s nothing stopping someone from pretending they’re the NASCAR oracle once the checkered flag flies in Miami, predicting what would unfold before the cars ever hit the track in February.
This year, we’ve changed that.
Using the marvels of technology (well, Twitter), we’ve tasked NASCAR fans with providing some public accountability: tweeting their Championship 4 predictions before the season begins. This way, there’s a digital paper trail when somebody claims, “I predicted this back at Daytona.”
Time capsule, to be unearthed November 12, 2018:
Which four drivers will be the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4?
Let’s see who’s closest at the end of the year. (And, more importantly, let’s see who’s the most wrong so everyone can make fun of you later.)
NASCAR Twitter took advantage of the opportunity to make some guesses.
There were certainly some themes in the early predictions. For instance, shockingly few twitizens felt 2017 champ Martin Truex Jr. would repeat in 2018 — or even make the Championship 4, for that matter. Favorites seemed to include Jimmie Johnson (a safe bet, historically speaking), Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney. (Youth movement, anyone?)
We’ll unearth this time capsule of Twitter predictions during the week of the championship race in November and see who’s the true NASCAR prophet — and, more importantly, publicly shame everybody who totally missed the mark.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 7, 2018) — NASCAR today announced the 2018 stage lengths for its three national series, looking to build on last season’s successful debut of the race format.
In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, all 2018 stage lengths will remain consistent with 2017. The race and stage lengths for the Charlotte road course race in the NASCAR Playoffs will be announced at a later date.
Following feedback from NASCAR Xfinity Series race teams, there will be slight updates to the stage lengths at both ISM Raceway in Phoenix and Dover International Speedway. At both Phoenix races, the stages will end at Lap 45, Lap 90 and Lap 200. For the Dover events, the stages will end at Lap 45, Lap 90 and Lap 200.
In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, both Las Vegas Motor Speedway races are scheduled for 134 laps, with stage lengths set to end at Lap 40, Lap 80 and Lap 134.
“Our primary goal every season is providing the best race for our fans, and to that end, we will remain consistent in terms of stage lengths for the majority of our national series events,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “Last year’s debut of the race format was a strong one, and we look forward to building on that foundation in 2018, starting with Speedweeks at Daytona.”
Fantasy sports allow us the chance to become more involved with a sport, so much so that if our fantasy team does poorly, we send tweets to the underperformer blaming them for ruining our lives.
Fantasy sports afford us the opportunity to hold a grudge against someone we know nothing about other than their handle is “AreUInThe14CarCuzBowyerUSexy69” and they routinely beat us by two points every week and make their picks based solely on how much of their favorite color is included in each paint scheme.
Fantasy sports allow you to grow an emotional attachment with a sport you love. And even sports you don’t know anything about. Ask me about my fantasy sumo team.
This all said, it is with great pleasure that thanks to NASCAR.com’s newly-improved fantasy racing platform, I extend an invitation to you, the followers who aren’t bots or fake ones that I purchased a few years back to fluff my Klout score, to join @nascarcasm’s Fantasy Dumpster Fire.
I chose this name based on my own fantasy-sports experience. I am to fantasy sports what Paul Menard is to musical theater. The last time I had a fantasy football team, my starting quarterback got injured for the season and I forgot to take him out of my starting lineup. Picture, if you will, a football game where the center keeps hiking the ball to absolutely no one. That’s my skill level.
The league is open to the first 4,000 signers-up. It will last for the first 26 races.
But ‘casm, you’re wondering, following the rapidly flowing river of dad-jokes-about-Blaney’s-hair sewage that is your Twitter feed is already bad enough. I mashed the mute button so hard and often that I now require Tommy John surgery. What’s in it for me?
HOT PASSES – THAT’S WHAT. The overall winner of the league will receive four hot passes to a race of their choosing during the 2019 season. No travel or lodging will be provided.
The second-place finisher will receive a $100 gift card to the NASCAR.com superstore.
The third-place finisher gets nothing because participation-ribbon culture only leads to WEAKNESS.
In the coming days, I will be soliciting ideas for what the overall loser of the league has to do. It won’t be anything as severe as streaking Dale Jr.’s property on a cold winter’s day. I mean, it was going to be, but then some people had to ruin it. I call these people “lawyers.” But we’ll figure it out.
To sign up, just click the link below. Here, you’ll also find all the details on how the game works. It’s so easy, even I can do it. That’s what my bosses told me. I’m grateful that my main contribution to NASCAR is setting the low bar for intellect.
SANDUSKY, Ohio — Fielding the No. 13 Liberty Tax Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing, Myatt Snider will round out a quartet of entries vying for victory as the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season kicks off at Daytona International Speedway.
Previously competing in NASCAR’s Whelen All-American Series, CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour, ARCA Racing Series and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the 23-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina, native has accumulated two wins, 13 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes and three pole awards, including winning his debut race in the ARCA Racing Series at Toledo Speedway in 2016.
ThorSport Racing
“To be a part of a team with a winning pedigree like Duke and Rhonda [Thorson] have built over the years is an absolute blessing,” exclaimed an excited Snider. “After getting to know the organization over the past month, I’m even more excited to get to Daytona, and to join ThorSport in 2018.
“I’m really looking forward to working with my new teammates, as there is a lot of knowledge to tap into going into my rookie season. Switching to a new manufacturer, it seems things have come full-circle, with Ford being a part of some of the biggest highlights in my racing career, including my ARCA win at Toledo.”
David Pepper, general manager at ThorSport Racing, echoed Myatt’s excitement saying, “He is an exceptional young man and talented driver. With him, I feel we’ve really rounded out our four-truck lineup and this, to me, is the strongest driver lineup we’ve ever had. We’re going to be very competitive this season, starting with Daytona.”
Snider and ThorSport Racing’s NCWTS teams take the green flag for the NextEra Energy Resources 250 Friday, Feb. 16, broadcasting live at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) from Daytona Beach, Florida.
Editor’s note: This is the sixth in a series of 14 team previews on NASCAR.com. Next up: Richard Childress Racing on Feb. 8. A list of team previews already published is at the bottom of this story.
Crew chiefs: Brian Pattie (Stenhouse Jr.), Matt Puccia (Bayne)
2017 standings: Stenhouse Jr., 13th in final standings (eliminated in Round of 12); Bayne, 22nd in final standings
What’s new: Not a lot, a welcome change for Roush Fenway Racing which has undergone organizational-wide tweaks in recent years. No new drivers, no new crew chiefs and no change in the number of full-time vehicles in the team fleet. In fact, the only real change here is a positive — Roush enters 2018 on the heels of a multi-win season, with Stenhouse Jr. winning twice in 2017 and advancing to the Round of 12 in the Playoffs.
What to watch: How Roush Fenway builds off the success of 2017. The team won for the first time since 2014 with Stenhouse Jr. emerging as one of NASCAR’s best drivers at Daytona and Talladega. The team’s superspeedway cars are among the fastest in the garage, thanks to the work done at the shop by Jimmy Fennig and his team. Roush is as stable as it has been in a long time.
Key question(s): Can Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 17 team show the ability to win at tracks that don’t require restrictor plates? How can Bayne and the No. 6 team break through for more top-five finishes and be in contention more for victories?
DRIVERS
Trevor Bayne, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford: Bayne’s third full-time season driving the No. 6 in 2017 didn’t produce the same jump in numbers he saw between Year 1 and Year 2. Two top-five finishes and six top-10 finishes wasn’t what Bayne or his team had in mind; neither were the five DNFs by way of crash, a four-time increase from 2016.
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
A key to watch for Bayne is the midseason stretch. The 26-year-old logged seven top-15 finishes in the first nine races last year, but then just one of the next 13. The success of teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. brings added optimism to the No. 6 group.
“Last year, we went into the season with a lot of changes and we had a lot of goals on the board to try to make the Playoffs,” Bayne said. “I think where we fell short were playoff points. So we kind of look and say, ‘You’ve got to get at least five playoff points per race if you’re gonna be a (playoff) contender without a win.’ That was a lot more than kind of what we anticipated, so that’s where we fell short. The way you get those is by running in the top 10 and by being faster and more competitive.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford: Last year was the breakout season Stenhouse Jr. had been building toward since his first full-time season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2013. With an assist from Jimmy Fennig managing and molding the team’s superspeedway program into one of the best in the sport, Stenhouse posted career-highs in wins, top-10s, laps led, average start and average finish in 2017. He will be a favorite to win both races at Daytona and the spring race at Talladega prior to the Playoffs beginning in September.
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
It’s the intermediates that remain a question, however.
“I think there’s a lot of things that are looking good for us in 2018,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “I think my team has confidence in what we’re gonna be able to do. Not looking for our first win is nice, not having that riding on your back. That seemed pretty tough to deal with for a long time and now I don’t have to answer those questions, but now it’s, what other race tracks are we gonna win at? I definitely want to win at other race tracks, but going into the (Daytona) 500 I feel a lot more confident than I ever have.”
Ty Dillon is feeling content on an island — but he’s not stuck in the sand on this one.
The island is Germain Racing, which houses Dillon’s No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, while the mainland is Germain’s allied team of Richard Childress Racing.
To Dillon, being on an island doesn’t mean isolation; it means a chance to do something unexpectedly great, like reigning champion Martin Truex Jr. did with Furniture Row Racing. In 2014, Furniture Row led a lone lap with Truex and collected zero wins. Last season — just three years later — he earned eight wins and a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title with the same Denver, Colorado-based team.
That improvement is inspirational for Dillon.
“I think the island’s a good place to be,” Dillon said at the 2018 NASCAR Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway. “You look at Furniture Row and that’s the gold standard right now for teams like ours. We’ve got to do it in our own way and use our resources the right way, but I think that’s kind of the approach that we’re taking …
“Somebody’s done it as a small team that uses technical alliances and can win a championship. We can do that. The opportunity is there; now it’s about us making the most of it. And I think that’s what we’re going to do and I think you kind of embrace that island-y feel and go to work with it.”
Ty Dillon (right) poses with Richard Childress and Austin Dillon after winning a Texas Camping World Truck Series race in 2013.
This marks Dillon’s second season with single-car Germain Racing, a team that he plans to stick with despite his deep roots with Richard Childress Racing (his grandfather is team owner Richard Childress while his older brother is driver Austin Dillon). While he started out at Richard Childress in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2012, the 25-year-old driver prefers the new path that he’s carved for himself now that he’s reached the sport’s top level.
“I think there was something inside of me that wanted to break out of that a little bit,” Dillon said. “As much as I love having … my family in the sport and my grandfather is an owner and how much I would love to win races and championships for him, I think I needed to break out of that grandson-brother shadow that I had. … There are a lot of things my brother and I can do that are great and I still want to work with my grandfather. But I want people to know me … and who I am.
“I want to race for Germain Racing and GEICO my whole career and win races and championships and build my own brand like Kobe Bryant and the (Los Angeles) Lakers.”
That brand starts with openness off the track; in the early months of 2018, Dillon has taken action to improve and increase his communication with fans.
He will video blog his entire year and hired someone to attend 36 events — both races and other happenings — with him throughout the season to capture behind-the-scenes content.
“I have such a platform and I don’t think a lot of people realize what we have,” Dillon said. “… Something that has bothered me about our sport in the ‘90s and 2000s everybody said they could relate so well to Dale Earnhardt. That’s why they loved him. He’s obviously the top level of fandom in our sport. Everybody could relate to him so well and he did such a great job of making people feel they are just like Dale Earnhardt, even though he’s a race car driver. I feel like I can do that.”
On the race track, Dillon also looks to improve after one year in the Monster Energy Series. He finished 24th in the standings last season, leading 40 laps. He wasn’t able to secure any top-10 finishes, but he did improve from his qualifying position in 27 of his 36 finishes.
The final two races in particular, Dillon saw improvements in his performance; he finished a season-best 11th at Phoenix and was running 13th at Miami before he was lumbered with a flat tire in the final laps.
“I think our goal is to more or less, run more consistently – inside the top 15, top 10 – and I think that’s a very achievable goal,” Dillon said. “We do that, we’re going to get more opportunities. I feel like we did a great job … getting great finishes on days when we ran 25th all day. We would turn those days into 18th, 17th-place finishes.
“You do that running 15th, you’re going to have chances to win. You do that running 10th, you’re definitely going to have chances to win.”
But one of the biggest lessons his rookie season taught him wasn’t a complicated racing maneuver or trick to saving fuel. It was patience.
“I get pissed when I’m not in the top 10 or first every time and that affected me a lot this previous year,” Dillon said. “The last couple of races I just let that go and let that emotion in practice go and just mainly focus on the process of getting the race car driving the way I need it to drive to be able to do what I’m confident in myself to do and that’s go win races.”
Aiding in life lessons was the newest addition to the Dillon family; he and wife Haley welcomed their first child together — a baby girl named Oakley — on Nov. 21, 2017.
“Having my little girl in the offseason helped put some things in perspective in my life,” Dillon said, a smile brightening his face when the conversation turns to his daughter. “… I let the sport get me a little down, which sounds ridiculous in your rookie season because I never really struggled in any of my previous rookies seasons. … I hope to take what I’ve learned from being her father for two months and kind of adapt it to every aspect of my life and the appreciation for what I have and what I am and who I am.”
Perspective comes into play both on and off the track; during his press conference, Dillon looked across the room at Ryan Blaney, who was also holding his own media availability.
The crowd around Blaney was noticeably larger.
“Having everybody over there (with Blaney) and me being over here, I love that,” Dillon said, who stressed the importance of “loving a loss.”
“Because this whole year, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I have that crowd. I think last year, that would just make me mad and I would just stew on it all day and not really make anything out of it.
“But (now) I think it’s a great opportunity. I know what I have to offer.”
“Happy Hours” is back on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio in 2018, and host Kevin Harvick wasted no time discussing a juicy topic with special guest Jeff Gordon on the Tuesday kick-off show.
The Stewart-Haas Racing veteran and Gordon, a 93-time winner at NASCAR’s top level and current analyst for FOX Sports, recounted the memorable post-race brawl at Texas Motor Speedway in 2014, a fight in which Harvick, Gordon and Brad Keselowski all played prominent roles.
“It was definitely not one of my better decisions,” Harvick said of the incident.
Egged on by questioning from co-host Matt Yocum, the two — with perhaps the benefit of hindsight — jointly discussed the incident more than three years after it happened.
Tensions were high at Texas that fall. It was the first year of the elimination-style Playoffs format, and late contact between Keselowski’s No. 2 and Gordon’s No. 24 resulted in a cut tire for the Hendrick Motorsports driver. The two were battling for the lead and a spot in the inaugural Championship 4 field.
Gordon attempted to approach Keselowski on pit road post-race, but crews kept the two separated. Harvick, walking by the fray, gave Keselowski a healthy nudge, Gordon grabbed his collar and … well, see for yourself.
“I was standing at the back of the car watching this whole thing kind of go on and really, it was supposed to be a shoulder tap. ‘Hey man get in there and fight your own fight,’ ” Harvick said. “Next thing I know it was just a little bit of a nudge about 4 feet forward.”
“I didn’t even know at the time you were pushing him,” Gordon chimed in. “I just knew he came close to me and my arm reached out and got hold of his collar, and it was, ‘I’m not letting go.’ ”
Harvick noted Gordon was “breathing-fire mad,” who admitted after watching the video of the on-track incident … well, maybe Keselowski was on to something when he told Gordon he “left a hole.”
“I look back on it, I can’t say (Keselowski) did too many things wrong in that situation,” Gordon said. “But I was mad the way it turned out.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 6, 2018) – NASCAR® and Digital Ally®, Inc., a company with the mission to provide law enforcement agencies, emergency management, and commercial companies with the highest quality video solutions and software management, announced today a multi-year official partnership, naming Digital Ally “A Preferred Technology Provider of NASCAR.”
As part of the new relationship, Digital Ally will provide cameras that will be mounted in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage throughout the season, bolstering both NASCAR’s commitment to safety at every race track, as well as enhancing its officiating process through technology.
“NASCAR takes seriously its role in providing a safe environment for its fans and competitors, and this partnership with Digital Ally is the next step in that commitment,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President, Competition. “In addition, this partnership is the latest example of NASCAR implementing technological advancements to officiate, and continuing to provide the best racing for our fans.”
Digital Ally is the leading provider of mobile video systems used by thousands of companies and governmental entities in all 50 states and around the world. The company is a pioneer in the design and development of dashboard and body cameras that are utilized across multiple industries and municipalities. Digital Ally has been developing, engineering, and supporting its video technology for more than a decade.
“It’s our goal to provide our customers with video solutions that are customized to meet their unique business needs,” said Stanton Ross, chief executive officer, Digital Ally. “NASCAR has its own unique set of challenges and it was important to design a durable and reliable solution that will stand up to the demanding environment at-track.”
Tune-in to the DAYTONA 500 on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2:30 p.m. on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“I think our goal is to more or less, run more consistently – inside the top 15, top 10 – and I think that’s a very achievable goal,” Dillon said. “We do that, we’re going to get more opportunities. I feel like we did a great job … getting great finishes on days when we ran 25th all day. We would turn those days into 18th, 17th-place finishes.
