Posted on by Zack Albert

MORE: Drivers, crew chiefs on the move

Kyle Busch Motorsports announced Wednesday that Todd Gilliland will drive the No. 4 Toyota in 19 races this year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The rest of the driver lineup for the No. 4 team, which carried Christopher Bell to the series championship last year, includes team owner Kyle Busch for two races (Atlanta, Kansas) and Gilliland’s father, David, for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The team indicated it would announce a driver for the March 2 race at Las Vegas at a later date. Marcus Richmond will serve as the team’s crew chief.

Gilliland, 17, will compete for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. A NASCAR rule that prevents drivers younger than 18 from competing on tracks greater than 1.25 miles will force him to miss four races early in the year. He is scheduled to race at .526-mile Martinsville Speedway on March 24, then Dover International Speedway on May 4 before joining the remainder of the schedule at Charlotte Motor Speedway shortly after his 18th birthday on May 15.

“I’m super excited to be continuing my development within the Toyota Racing family and look forward to being behind the wheel of KBM’s No. 4 Tundra this season — especially after my 18th birthday when I can run all of the races,” Gilliland said in a release provided by the team. “I’ll still be at the track for the early races when I don’t get to compete so that I can learn as much as I can from being around the guys on the team and watching my Dad and Kyle before my first 1.5-mile race at Charlotte.”

Todd Gilliland, a member of the NASCAR Next youth initiative, competed in six Truck Series races last year with a best finish of third place in September at New Hampshire. He also won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West championship last year with six victories in the 14-race season.

David Gilliland, 41, last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2015 with a seven-race stint for team owner Ricky Benton. He is a veteran of 332 starts in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with three career pole positions.

Busch, the 2015 Monster Energy Series champion, scored three victories in a seven-race Truck Series schedule last season.

The team indicated it would announce sponsorship at a later date.

Posted on by Brad Norman

Editor’s note: More than 100 wrecks have been reported in the Charlotte area, with even some NASCAR drivers having trouble on the roads. Be safe. Stay home.

Winter weather warnings in North Carolina often amount to nothing more than empty shelves in the bread and milk sections at grocery stores, but this time the heart of racing country has some real snowfall.

Ryan Blaney’s here to help.

Keelan Harvick is here to play (and presumably dad Kevin, too).

Darrell Wallace Jr.’s here to ramp up sledding (literally) before he does some “adulting” with a shovel.

Our own @nascarcasm’s here with jokes.

Ryan and Krissie Newman’s rescue ranch animals are here for some hay, and oh hey, snow!

And Ricky Stenhouse brings gratitude to the scene.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 17, 2018) — Coca-Cola, International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and NASCAR today announced an extension to each of its long-standing partnerships. Coca-Cola, an iconic global brand, will continue its deep-rooted history in the sport by engaging racing fans across NASCAR’s three national series and 12 ISC-operated race tracks.

The first-of-its kind integrated agreement is designed to deliver value to Coca-Cola across both the sanctioning body and ISC properties. Building on a 50-year relationship in the sport, Coca-Cola utilizes an immersive marketing approach to engage fans, customers and employees across virtually every facet of the NASCAR ecosystem. The strategy has resulted in Coca-Cola being one of the most recognized sponsors in the sport (according to the 2017 NASCAR sponsor loyalty survey conducted for SportsBusiness Journal/Daily by Turnkey Sports & Entertainment).

RELATED: Iconic Coca-Cola paint schemes, looks

“We’re elated to announce an extension to this winning formula,” said Stuart Kronauge, SVP of Marketing & Business Unit President of USA Operations, The Coca-Cola Company. “The association with NASCAR, iconic tracks across the country, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Coca-Cola 400, and the drivers of the Coca-Cola Racing Family creates an ideal relationship between the brands, the sport and fans. It allows for a fully integrated experience that connects Coca-Cola with NASCAR fans at every level — locally, nationally, at the track, in store, at home and elsewhere.”

While Coca-Cola has been involved with stock car racing for 50 years, the brand became an Official Partner of NASCAR in 1998. The extended agreement furthers Coca-Cola’s position as the “Official Soft Drink of NASCAR.” Additionally, a signature part of the brand’s marketing strategy is the Coca-Cola Racing Family — a group of top drivers that includes Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez and Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. The Coca-Cola Racing Family, which has been around for nearly 20 years, makes appearances and is featured in advertising, promotions and packaging.

RECAP: Austin Dillon wins the Coca-Cola 600

“Our continued partnership with Coca-Cola is a product of a long history of successful collaboration,” said Steve Phelps, EVP and chief global sales and marketing officer, NASCAR. “Partnering with a global company like Coca-Cola puts NASCAR in front of a massive scope of consumers while providing our partners direct engagement with the most brand faithful fan base in sports.”

The extended relationship with ISC will continue Coca-Cola’s position as the leading soft drink pour across NASCAR-sanctioned tracks. Through partnerships with ISC and Speedway Motorsports, Inc., Coca-Cola will be refreshing fans at 21 race tracks in 2018.

“This renewed relationship highlights how committed Coca-Cola is to engage the most brand loyal fans in sports. Coca-Cola is deeply integrated across our sport, including track pouring rights, race entitlements and relationships with drivers — all adding up to a valued partnership,” said Daryl Wolfe, chief sales and partnership officer, NASCAR and ISC. “The company has been a longtime supporter of NASCAR, and we are thrilled to embark on the next expanded phase of our partnership.”

A loyal supporter of the U.S. Armed Forces, Coca-Cola honors and recognizes service members at race tracks annually, and in 2017, expanded its support as the presenting sponsor of NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola. The six-week platform encapsulates the NASCAR industry’s collective expression of respect and gratitude of past and present members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Coca-Cola also partners with NASCAR on Troops to the Track, hosting service members from all military branches at race tracks during the season.

In 2013, Coca-Cola became the first three-time recipient of the prestigious NASCAR Marketing Achievement Award, emblematic of the brand who best utilizes its sponsorship to engage NASCAR fans.

Posted on by Brad Norman

RELATED: New Chevrolet debuts as drivers participate in test at Texas

The Camaro ZL1, making its debut in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, is as much the hot new kid on the block as some of the young drivers moving up to the top series. And it got a lot of play on social media this week.

Chip Ganassi Racing unveiled new looks for Kyle Larson’s No. 42 and Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame and included this video on the team’s social channels:

Darrell Wallace Jr. and Austin Dillon showed off their cars — and moves — in their #MotorSportChallenge videos, Bubba’s out Tuesday in response to Dillon’s challenge last Friday. Looks like Dillon’s keeping the slide in his repertoire.

And Richard Childress Racing was doing photo shoots with Ryan Newman and some of his cars and sponsors over the past week.

Green, Gold, red, blue, white … doesn’t matter. It’s a good-looking car.

Posted on by Brad Norman

Johnny Sauter has been around the block a few times.

When the veteran truck driver piloted his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in 2003 at 25 years old, former GMS teammate Kaz Grala inched closer to turning lucky number … five. Yes, as in f-i-v-e years old.

MORE: Breaking down Sauter’s 2017 season

But that’s exactly why Sauter considers himself lucky. Not many drivers can say they’ve raced (usually upfront) for 14 years in one of NASCAR’s three premier levels. Throw in a 2016 championship and 17 Truck Series victories? It’s a career most could only dream of … and it’s become reality for the Wisconsin native. Something he doesn’t take lightly, either.

” … You know old cats like me, you don’t know how many lives you’ve got left,” Johnny Sauter said jokingly at the end of last season. “It’s a different world than when I first came along.”

On the day of the 2017 championship race, with Sauter chasing a second consecutive title, GMS announced its longtime driver would be back in the lineup for the following season behind the wheel of the No. 21 Chevrolet Silverado.

“You know GMS, I’m not just blowing smoke here, it’s an awesome organization,” Sauter said at the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series banquet on Dec. 9, 2017. “We’ve got a lot of cool stuff there. They just continue to make it better. I’m a big Chevy guy so to be able to race a Chevy is important to me.

“I’ve got a great group of guys, Joe (Shear) is obviously my crew chief. I’ve known him since I was a kid. … It’s a good atmosphere. It’s a fun place to be. Obviously we are running well so it’s all good.”

With an extension and strong relationships under his belt with his team, Sauter has high hopes for the 2018 season. He plans on building off a career-best four wins (two in the playoffs) and 455 laps led in 2017.

However, it doesn’t really matter what happens because as long as he has a car to work on, he is going to be racing … no question about it.

“I’m addicted to that stuff,” Sauter said of Late Model racing. “I spend a lot of time in the shop working on my own stuff. I build everything myself and race it.

… At the end of the day, I’m a racer.”

A racer, who isn’t going away anytime soon. Buckle up.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Full Hall of Fame coverage | Photos of  2018 inductees

Ken Squier, the man who coined the phrase “The Great American Race” to describe the Daytona 500, will formally join NASCAR’s “Greatest” later this week. The co-founder of Motor Racing Network (MRN) and longtime voice of the sport will become the first broadcaster among the Hall of Fame’s legendary list of inductees.

The 82-year-old Vermont native is a broadcast icon, setting the standard for calling NASCAR race broadcasts. He famously worked NASCAR’s flag-to-flag network television debut, the 1979 Daytona 500 featuring post-race fisticuffs between Bobby and Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough and his smooth voice and polished insight made him a broadcast favorite for decades thereafter in a sport he famously described as “common men doing uncommon things.”

Squier will forever be most associated with that historic ’79 Daytona race telecast and selling the NASCAR product to network television. It’s a source of great pride and he is certainly accustomed to the questions about the landmark race and the scuffle in the closing credits.

“They were on each other, both (Donnie Allison and Yarborough) as determined as any race drivers that ever walked the face of the earth,’’ Squier recalled of the tangle.

“They were not going to give it up. There you saw the result.

“It was a very dramatic moment.’’

And as for the overall significance of the broadcast?

“It was a matter of introducing people from Manhattan into the scope of American stock car racing,’’ he said. “In the bread basket of America, that was the name of the tune that turned people on the most at that time.

“Having them, CBS, take an interest in it. … we did a group of races before we ever did the Daytona 500 and they did so well. It was like everything the network did in those days. They spent the time, spent the energy, forethought to really put together what it was about.

“This was a new page.’’

It was new to many Americans and set a high bar for race excitement, but for Squier, calling NASCAR races was essentially old hat. He began race play-by-play for the MRN network he co-founded in 1969 – before getting the call regularly for the television broadcasts.

In addition to his talent behind the microphone, in 1982 Squier is credited for helping to develop the sport’s first “in-car camera” – a hugely popular and unique broadcast feature still used today in later variations.

That camera was an invaluable tool in giving the world a glimpse of the most popular Daytona 500 victory in modern time – Dale Earnhardt’s 1998 triumph.

Squier remembers how emotional the steely Earnhardt was after that win, and how emotional everyone on pit road was for Earnhardt to finally win after 20 tries. The car in Earnhardt’s famous No. 3 Chevrolet picked up the amazing greeting the champion received after pulling onto pit road headed to the Daytona 500 Victory Lane for the first time.

“Just how emotional he could be, he pretty much always hid it, but you couldn’t hide that,’’ Squier recalls of the afternoon.

Squier was also in the television booth for the FOX Sports pre-race show before its full season debut in 2001 when the seven-time champion Earnhardt was killed in the final corner of the final lap of the Daytona 500 – a race ultimately won by Michael Waltrip in a car Earnhardt owned.

Humbled and awed by his historical selection to the sport’s great Hall of greats, Squier still insisted he was most pleased to have witnessed the competition and tell the stories of all the great men and women behind the steering wheel and behind pit wall.

“I guess what’s most impressive, is the competition,’’ Squier said last week when asked what memory stands out the most of his NASCAR broadcasting career.

“What you have today, that is the fruit of it. It’s pretty good tasting.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: New looks for 2018

Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray both have picked up additional sponsorship for their respective 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series campaigns. The team announced Tuesday that DC Solar, which has partnered with CGR for three seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will move up to the Monster Energy Series with both the Nos. 1 and 42 Chevrolets.

The company will be the primary partner on the No. 42 during the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona on Feb. 11.

DC Solar will continue to be seen in the Xfinity Series for several races on the No. 42 Chevrolet with both Larson and McMurray behind the wheel.

“We have enjoyed our partnership with DC Solar and are very excited to welcome (them) to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series,” team owner Chip Ganassi said in a team release. “It has been a fun three years growing our partnership and we look forward to an exciting and successful first year with them on the cars with Kyle and Jamie.”

RELATED: Larson, Credit One Bank expand partnership

DC Solar and Larson previously joined forces in 2016 when Larson drove a DC Solar-sponsored truck to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway. DC Solar also served as a co-primary partner with Larson and the No. 42 team in last season’s finale at Homestead, which resulted in a third-place finish.

Larson won four races in 2017 and had 15 top-five finishes in 36 points-paying events.

“DC Solar has been a part of motorsports for quite awhile,” Larson said during the announcement. ” … For me to get to run DC Solar on the Truck at Eldora a couple years ago and get the win, after being a close a couple times before that, was special. Hopefully, this year we can bring them many more good runs and good wins.”

McMurray, meanwhile, will compete in the Xfinity Series for the first time since 2013. He has not run multiple races in one season in the series since 2011, when he competed in six races. McMurray is an eight-time winner in the Xfinity Series, with his most recent win coming at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2010 driving for JR Motorsports.

“I’m looking forward to it (returning to Xfinity),” McMurray told reporters following the announcement. “There’s been talk the last couple years about doing some Xfinity races and it just hasn’t worked out. It’s going to this year. … There’s certainly some differences, but I’m looking forward to getting to do some Saturday races soon.”

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.