Posted on by NBC Sports

RELATED: NFL-themed retirement gift a hit with Junior

STAMFORD, Conn. — Motorsports icon and two-time Daytona 500 winning driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make his NBC debuts as a contributor for the network’s coverage of Super Bowl LII on Sunday, February 4, and the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, beginning Thursday, February 8.

Voted by fans as NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver for an unprecedented 15 consecutive years (2003-17), Earnhardt will make his first trip to the Super Bowl with NBC Sports, and participate in NBC’s Super Bowl Pre-Game Show leading up to the big game. While in Minneapolis, Earnhardt will experience the celebration surrounding this year’s winter weather Super Bowl, and share his great sense of adventure, as he takes part in some of the outdoor events and activities taking place in town leading up to kickoff.

“I’m excited to get to work with my new NBC family,” said Earnhardt Jr. an an NBC release. “Beginning with two huge events like the Super Bowl and Olympics, right out of the gate, should be quite the introduction. I’m looking forward to raising the profile of NASCAR, and all that we’re going to be doing during the 2018 season.”

PHOTOS: Dale Jr. through the years

Later in February, Earnhardt will travel to PyeongChang, where he will explore the culture, people, and traditions in South Korea, and experience Olympic competitions first hand. Earnhardt will visit the speed skating venue at Gangneung Ice Arena, and through the lens of a racer will view the speed, close contact, and tight turns on the short track speed skating oval, which so closely mirror Earnhardt’s racing days and nights at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“Dale is a star on the race track and off, and we are excited to have him join the NBC team,” said Sam Flood, Executive Producer & President, Production, NBC and NBCSN. “It will be fun to have him be a part of our coverage of the Super Bowl, and we are looking forward to watching him explore a new world with the Winter Olympics.”

Following a recent invite on social media from his new friends on the U.S. bobsled team, including U.S. bobsled team pilot Nick Cunningham, Earnhardt will also travel to Alpensia Sliding Center, where he will test the true speed of the bobsled track and live out his post-retirement dream of riding in an Olympic bobsled.

In July of 2017, Earnhardt and NBC Sports announced the 26-time NASCAR Cup Series winner would be joining NBCUniversal as an on-air analyst and contributor. In addition to serving as an analyst for NBC’s coverage of the 2018 NASCAR season, the agreement with NBCUniversal allows Earnhardt to participate in a wide range of opportunities in the company’s media businesses, including movies, television, podcasts, and other areas.

Posted on by Team Release

SANDUSKY, Ohio – After a successful six-year relationship with Toyota, ThorSport Racing announces today that the two partners have agreed to part ways ahead of the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) season.

During the six-year run, the team captured two driver championships, 19 wins, 117 top-five and 227 top-10 finishes, 10 pole awards and 2,900 laps led.

A complete driver and sponsor lineup for ThorSport Racing will be released in the coming weeks ahead of the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250, Friday, Feb. 16, at Daytona International Speedway.

Posted on by Team Release

RELATED: Drivers on the move for 2018 

STATESVILLE, N.C. – Adding to the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) lineup, GMS Racing officials announced today the addition of Cody Coughlin to the Statesville-based team. Climbing back behind the wheel of a Chevrolet for the first time since 2013 in Late Models, Coughlin will drive the No. 2 JEGS Chevrolet Silverado for his second full-time NCWTS season.

With 35 NCWTS starts under his belt already, including his first full-time season last year, Coughlin is poised to have his best NCWTS season yet. Ending 2017 with a career-best finish of third at ISM Raceway (formerly Phoenix Raceway), the 22-year-old has momentum on his side heading into his second full-time season.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join the GMS Racing family,” said Coughlin, “as well as be back running for Chevrolet. GMS is a team that has proven to be one of the teams to beat every time they unload at the race track and now I have the same opportunity. I can’t thank GMS Racing, Maury Gallagher and Mike Beam enough for this chance. I think we have the right tools and personnel in place with the No.2 team to run up front and contend for race wins every weekend.”

RELATED: Sauter back at GMS | Haley returns to GMS | Sargeant joins the GMS team

Looking to add veteran knowledge to Coughlin’s sophomore campaign, crew chief Jerry Baxter will call the shots atop the box this year for the No. 2 team. After a successful start with GMS Racing in 2017, including a win at the NCWTS season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Baxter’s distinguished career includes 10 wins, seven pole awards, 43 top-five and 78 top-10 finishes in 139 NCWTS starts.

“I’m more than ready to get the 2018 season underway,” said Baxter. “Last year we raced against Cody every weekend, so I have an idea of the type of driver he is. It will be even better to be able to work with him now firsthand. We have a good group of hard-working guys on the No. 2 that will definitely put us in the position to run well every time we’re at the track.”

Tune into the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, February 16th at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 to see Coughlin hit the track for the first time with GMS Racing.

Posted on by Zack Albert

MORE: Drivers, crew chiefs on the move

Wood Brothers Racing announced Monday that it has secured a charter for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018 and subsequent seasons.

The venerable team indicated that it had reached a long-term agreement with Archie St. Hilaire’s Go Fas Racing organization to control its charter, one of the 36 ownership stakes which guarantee starting positions each week in NASCAR’s top division.

“This charter is a game-changing step for Wood Brothers Racing,” co-owner Len Wood said in a statement released by the team. “It’s the critical piece needed to thrive as a top owner in our sport. We have been fortunate enough to have extremely fast cars and are blessed with the best sponsors in NASCAR. Pair that with our support from Ford and nearly every piece is in place.”

The Wood Brothers also leased a charter from St. Hilaire’s team last season. The organization did not specify the length of the new agreement, with Len Wood saying only that the partnership was for “2018 and beyond.”

The Wood Brothers enter the 2018 season with Paul Menard as the driver of their No. 21 Ford. He replaces Ryan Blaney, who has shifted to Team Penske, which shares a technical alliance with the Wood Brothers.

Go Fas Racing plans to campaign the No. 32 Ford for driver Matt DiBenedetto in 2018. The two sides agreed to a contract extension last August.

Wednesday, Go Fas announced it had acquired a charter for the No. 32 through a partnership with Joe Falk’s Circle Sport Racing. Falk indicated in a news release that Circle Sport would plan to field the No. 33 “in select events with young drivers such as Joey Gase” in 2018.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Danica Patrick through the years

Former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series full-time driver Danica Patrick is dating two-time NFL MVP and six-time Pro Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers, she confirmed to the Associated Press.

“Yes, Aaron and I are dating,” she told the AP.

Patrick previously dated two-time 2017 Monster Energy Series winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for five years before the pair ended their relationship in December. Rodgers and actress Olivia Munn split in late 2017 after dating for three years.

Patrick, a native of Roscoe, Illinois, and avid fan of Chicago sports, may have to rethink her allegiance to the Green Bay Packers’ heated NFC North rival — the Chicago Bears. She and Rodgers first met in 2012 at the ESPY Awards, according to the AP.

“I told him a long time ago I’d always root for him as a player,” she said in the AP report. “Now I am probably going to cheer for the whole team. Take out the word ‘probably.’ Now I’m going to cheer for the whole team.”

The former Stewart-Haas Racing driver recently released her health and fitness book, Pretty Intense, last month.

Patrick announced at the 2017 season finale in Miami that she would not return to full-time racing in 2018. She hopes to compete in both the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 this year.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: On the move: Offseason changes at a glance

Justin Haley will return to GMS Racing for his first full season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2018.

GMS and Haley made a joint announcement through their Twitter feeds Monday morning. Crew chief Kevin Bellicourt and primary sponsor Fraternal Order of Eagles will also return to the No. 24 Chevrolet team, GMS announced.

“GMS is a very professional team. They treat it just like Hendrick or Penske would,” Haley told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “It’s basically a Cup team but in Truck form. We obviously have an Xfinity team as well, but bringing three, four, five trucks to the race track every weekend, it’s quite the superteam. They give me and everyone else all the resources we need to win. Now it’s just up to me to figure out how to do that.”

Haley, 18, will team with former Camping World Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter and GMS newcomer Dalton Sargeant. Sauter signed a contract extension last November with the No. 21 Chevrolet group, and Sargeant was announced as driver of the No. 25 Chevy last Friday.

MORE: Sargeant joins GMS effort for 2018

Haley drove in 21 of the series’ 23 races last year, joining the circuit in April for the balance of the schedule. NASCAR rules restricting drivers under age 18 from racing at tracks greater than 1.25 miles kept Haley out of the first two events, at Daytona and Atlanta.

Haley notched three top-five results last season, including a best finish of third place at Kentucky Speedway in July. He also posted his first pole position, leading qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway in November.

Haley won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2016. He also won two of the three ARCA Racing Series events he competed in last season, prevailing at Talladega Superspeedway and Pocono Raceway.

Posted on by Brad Norman

Thanks to IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden stalking — er, staying at the same hotel as — Ryan Blaney, we have the first glimpses of the newly minted Team Penske No. 12 Ford driver with his new look.

After the 2017 season in which Blaney adopted the full ‘stache and flowing locks look, the 24-year-old driver announced he would be getting a haircut and a shave. He self-revealed the haircut.

And the first driver/Paparazzi pic from Newgarden showed the short hair but with mustache still intact. (And ooking a little like Mario Kart might be a new sponsor.)


Both drivers are attending the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and Newgarden got the scoop on Blaney’s new look and published it for the masses Monday via Twitter.

A more aerodynamic look, for sure.

MORE: Blaney’s hairstyles through the years

Posted on by Zack Albert

Dan Gurney, one of America’s greatest racing talents on the international stage and a five-time winner in NASCAR’s premier series, died Sunday. He was 86.

Gurney was the first driver to win races in NASCAR, Formula One and IndyCar. Only Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya have done so since.

Gurney’s family issued a statement confirming his passing, due to complications from pneumonia.

“With one last smile on his handsome face, Dan drove off into the unknown just before noon today, January 14, 2018,” read the statement, attributed to his wife, Evi, the Gurney family and his All-American Racers teammates. “In deepest sorrow, with gratitude in our hearts for the love and joy you have given us during your time on earth, we say ‘Godspeed.’ ”

Gurney scored five victories in what is now called the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, all at the former Riverside International Raceway road course in California during the 1960s. Four of those Riverside wins came with Wood Brothers Racing, the other with the Holman-Moody Ford operation.

Gurney also made three starts in the Daytona 500, with a best finish of fifth place in 1963. He also won the three-hour Daytona Continental sports-car race in 1962, the inaugural event which was the predecessor to IMSA’s Rolex 24 endurance race.

“The word ‘legend’ can sometimes be overused, but in describing Daniel Sexton Gurney, it’s the only word that fits,” said IMSA President Scott Atherton. “Dan Gurney was an American racing legend who accomplished nearly all there was to accomplish as a driver in our sport, from sports cars to NASCAR, Indy cars to Formula 1. Dan was an innovative car builder and a lifelong steward of motorsports beyond his on-track performance.”

Gurney made numerous contributions in the areas of aerodynamics and safety, and he also made his mark as a car builder. He developed a rear-wing extension nicknamed the “Gurney Flap,” which improved downforce, and he was also widely credited as the first driver to wear a full-face helmet.

Ford Motor Co.

The last of Gurney’s four Formula One wins — in the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix — came in a car he constructed. The previous week, Gurney achieved another momentous victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, piloting a Ford GT40 with co-driver A.J. Foyt. That triumph led to a motorsports tradition that continues today.

Handed a bottle of champagne at Le Mans for the customary post-race sip, an excited Gurney instead drenched bystanders in Victory Lane with a spray from the large bottle.

“I was so stoked that when they handed me the magnum of Moet, I shook the bottle and began spraying at the photographers, drivers, Henry Ford II, Carroll Shelby and their wives,” Gurney told author Eoin Young in 2013. “It was a very special moment. What I did with the champagne was totally spontaneous. I had no idea it would start a tradition. I was beyond caring and just got caught up in the moment.

“It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime occasions where things turned out perfectly. … I thought this hard-fought victory needed something special.”

Gurney also won seven times in IndyCar competition. He also prevailed in the Trans Am Series, driving for NASCAR Hall of Famer Bud Moore.

“Of course it was fun,” Gurney said of his racing career, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2000. “It was more than fun. It was something that consumed one’s whole life. I think you’re fortunate if you can end up doing something that you love to do, and that was it for me. I wasn’t sure I would sustain that feeling, but I did.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Christopher Bell has a penchant for the big ones. Coming off a career year in which he began 2017 with his first Chili Bowl win and ended it by clinching the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, Bell opened 2018 in similar fashion by again winning one of racing’s most prestigious dirt races.

Bell, 23, started second in Saturday night’s 24-driver A-Main Feature championship race, dueled with fellow NASCAR star Kyle Larson, 25, and then capitalized on Larson’s apparent engine misfortune to go back-to-back at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, besting two-time champion Rico Abreu at the finish.

MORE: Recap Bell’s 2017

The Oklahoma native won the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based event, besting 344 other drivers over a long and ultimately fruitful week that had plenty of NASCAR flavor. In addition to Bell, Larson and Abreu (2015, 2016 winner), Kasey Kahne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Justin Allgaier made deep runs.

Larson appeared to be the title favorite prior to his trouble. He started from the pole and traded the lead with Bell until having engine issues with less than 15 laps remaining while leading.

The Chili Bowl is an annual dirt midget race that has been held since 1987 and always draws interest from some of auto racing’s most talent drivers. The week-long event boasts five days of practice and qualifying events to set the 24-car field for the main event.

The winner of the Chili Bowl is presented with the Golden Driller trophy, which Bell kept close to his side even on the plane ride heading back.

 

Saturday started with two N-Feature races — the top four finishers from each N-Feature event advanced to the corresponding M-Feature races. Then the top four finishers from each M-Feature race then advanced into the L-Feature races. The format was used all the way up to the A-Main finale (six drivers advanced upward starting with D-Feature races), although drivers also could qualify for the A-Main throughout the week.

MORE: Larson photos through the years

Larson qualified for the A-Main early in the week, along with future brother-in-law Brad Sweet. On Thursday, Bell qualified for the A-Main as well, showing early speed that ultimately foretold of his second consecutive Golden Driller trophy.

Kahne, who enters 2018 driving for Leavine Family Racing after six seasons with Hendrick Motorsports, finished ninth in the first of two B-Main races, the final set of qualifiers before the title race, and did not advance to the championship. Justin Allgaier spun and didn’t complete his B-Main race, finishing 18th and missing the title race as well.

Roush Fenway Racing’s Stenhouse Jr., fresh of his first trip to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, didn’t repeat his 2017 trip to the A-Main. He flipped in the second B-Main Feature, but walked away from the incident and indicated in post-race interviews that he was OK.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Blaney’s ‘dos through the years | @nascarcasm’s NASCAR hair Hall of Fame

A new year, a new ride and now a new look for Ryan Blaney, who cut his long, flowing locks on Saturday prior to the ramping up of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

Blaney, who hosted the Glass Case of Emotion podcast on NASCAR.com in 2017, is moving into Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford in 2018, joining Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano as Penske Cup drivers.

Blaney announced the big news via social media with a series of photos in the haircutting process.