Look, despite his 1.52 million followers, I don’t expect you to know who rapper Lil B The Based God is unless you’re a hardcore rap fan, NBA fanatic, or Mark Martin.
But what you should know is that he kinda-maybe-sorta has some mystical power to dish out curses and blessings to athletes that actually seem to work in the way he says they do.
And if prior history is to be believed, your 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion could be … Erik Jones?
It may seem innocuous enough, but here’s some background info.
Lil B’s most notorious NBA curse was with superstar Kevin Durant. It started in 2011 with Durant tweeting a diss about Lil B, prompting the rapper to put a curse on KD that he’d never win a championship. After their feud cooled off, Lil B lifted said curse in the summer of 2016, and Durant won the very next NBA championship after signingwith the Golden State Warriors.
There are other examples of Lil B’s blessings and curses, too — heck, he even gave the Denver Nuggets an official curse warning the other day — but this potential blessing for Jones is certainly one to keep an eye on.
If you believe in the power of the Based God, the reigning Sunoco Rookie of the Year could have big things in store for 2018.
Name: David Hometown: Bessemer, Alabama Current City: Canton, Georgia Member since: 2011
Getting to know David
Q. Why did you join the Official NASCAR Fan Council?
“I feel it is very important to have a voice as a fan of our sport NASCAR. As fans and supporters who attend races each year, I felt it would be a great way to express both positive and negatives about the sport and the NASCAR Fan Council offered a great opportunity to do so.”
Q. How did you first become interested in NASCAR?
“My father and brother-in-law built cars and raced them in Birmingham, Alabama when I was very young. Donnie Allison drove for our family when I was a child and has been a long-time friend. Both he and Bobby were very close to our family. My father, brother-in-law, and uncle were all inducted into the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers at Talladega Speedway. I have been a NASCAR fan all of my life.”
Q. What makes NASCAR special for you?
“NASCAR is a great family sport and each track represents an opportunity for all families to enjoy. NASCAR is one of the few sports that allows members of all parts of our country to attend and enjoy on a local or regional track. NASCAR has kept ticket prices affordable while other sports have not. A great opportunity for families to enjoy a sport together.”
Q: Do you have any favorite NASCAR memories or traditions?
“My favorite memories are from my trips to the tracks I have attended. The best of my memories was attending Bristol Raceway the first time for the night race there. I can remember as a child traveling around the State of Alabama with my parents to the local tracks and watching some of the Hall of Fame Drivers before they were popular on a national series.”
Q: If you could go to any NASCAR race/track, where would you go?
“Sonoma Raceway for a road course race.”
Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?
Driver: “Kyle Busch.”
Track: “Talladega Superspeedway.”
Memorabilia: “Lots of memorabilia including large wall mounts of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 and Tony Stewart’s No. 14. A collection of checkered flags from each track attended.”
Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
“I love to attend NASCAR racing and The University of Alabama Football games. Also, we love coursing and showing our dogs.”
Q: Where is your dream car?
“I love SUVs so I would say a Cadillac Escalade.”
Q: What would be your dream vacation?
“I have been to Australia once and would love to go back again.”
FROM ALL OF US AT NASCAR, WE THANK DAVID FOR HIS CONTINUED SUPPORT AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM HIM IN 2018.
A dominant year by eventual champion Christopher Bell forced performances by a few NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers under the radar. Bell has since graduated to the Xfinity Series, but these five drivers return to Trucks in 2018, primed for breakout seasons:
Ben Rhodes
Rhodes grew to a fringe Truck Series title contender, scoring a Production in Equal Equipment Rating of 2.348, nearly double what is expected from the average 21-year-old driver. Being considerably better than average probably isn’t the only career highlight he covets, though; fortunately, there are other statistical signs that forecast success.
He ended the season with a positive pass differential and was best on 1-mile tracks and 1.5-mile intermediates, where he ranked as the sixth and fifth most efficient passer among series regulars, respectively. These two track types comprise over half the 2018 schedule, making Rhodes a solid bet to become one of the series’ best passers.
Shrinking his DNF tally should be an overarching goal for Rhodes in the upcoming campaign. He failed to finish five races, four of which were crash related, after recording 0.48 wrecks per race, tied for the highest rate among series regulars. A 2017 study by Motorsports Analytics proves crashing dissipates with age; another year in the seat should spell improvement by Rhodes in this category.
Ryan Truex
The younger brother of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion finished inside the top five in a third of his starts in 2017, but never won. If he breaks through for a victory in the upcoming season, his restart prowess will be the reason why — although Hattori Racing Enterprises and Truex announced Jan. 4 the driver would not return, leaving him looking for a new ride in 2018.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Among drivers with 15 restart attempts from the non-preferred groove, no one was better than Truex. He defended his position more than 73 percent of the time and took home a rare positional net gain (plus-11) from the lesser of the restart lanes. He ranked second best from the preferred groove — Kyle Busch was the only driver better — retaining his restarting spot 88.68 percent of the time for a gain of 66 positions.
Truex proved dependent on full-field resets during the year, averaging a 9.45-place finish in races with at least six restarts, nearly four positions better than races with fewer than six restarts (13.25).
Justin Haley
The 2016 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion was 17 years old when the 2017 Camping World Truck Series season began, rendering him ineligible for the first two races at Daytona and Atlanta. He joined GMS Racing for the remaining 21 events.
Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
Haley thrived in races that offered plenty of clean air and long runs. His 10.45-place average finish in races with fewer than six restarts was over three positions better than his average in races with eight or more (13.6) and his 8.92-place average finish in races that ended with long runs was over five spots better than in races with at least one late-race restart (14.22).
In addition to the scenarios that favor Haley’s chances, he has a history of improvement between his freshman and sophomore years. He averaged a 9.1-place finish in the K&N East in 2015; he returned the next season, throwing down a scorching 3.4-place average result that clinched him the series title.
Todd Gilliland
A two-time champion and 13-time winner in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series West, expect Gilliland to burst onto the Truck Series scene in 2018. In six races last season with Kyle Busch Motorsports, he recorded three top-seven finishes, each with a different crew chief. He’ll have more stability in the new season with more starts and appears poised to shine in one of the sport’s stingiest statistical categories.
Jonathan Moore | Getty Images
Seventeen of Gilliland’s 24 restarts emanated from the non-preferred groove, a bad luck of the draw that didn’t deter the 17-year-old in his quest for track position. He retained his running spot 64.71 percent of the time, over 13 percent better than the series-wide rate, and scored a three-position net gain. That’s impressive stuff from a novice.
Though it hasn’t been announced which KBM entry he’ll wheel or for how many races, he won’t be wanting for speed if the status quo is kept. Four KBM trucks ranked as the 10 fastest in the series in 2017, according to timing and scoring data supplied to NASCAR.com.
Stewart Friesen
The 34-year-old Ontario-born dirt-tracker has built a home for himself in the Truck Series. He averaged a 13.3-place finish in the second half of 2017, over seven positions better than his first half average (20.6). The better results were partly due to his Halmar Friesen Racing team aligning with GMS Racing for technical support prior to the race at New Hampshire, from which point Friesen scored four top-seven finishes and averaged an 11.14-place result.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
One doesn’t have to think too hard in pinpointing the track likely to serve up Friesen’s first NASCAR win. He led 93 laps en route to a second-place finish on the dirt at Eldora Speedway, ranking first in average green-flag speed for the race.
Friesen will need to pay closer attention to his own attrition in 2018. He crashed 0.47 times per race, the fourth-highest rate among series regulars.
Can Martin Truex Jr. repeat? Will Kyle Busch or Kyle Larson close the competitive gap that plagued them in 2017?
Past performance often is indicative of future results, and after sifting through a slew of statistics compiled by Motorsports Analytics, we’ve identified some early championship favorites and the rationale that supports their candidacy for the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
Jonathan Ferrey | Getty Images
Martin Truex Jr.
There were six Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races on intermediate tracks with 20-degree banking or less, including the championship event, in 2017. Truex won all of them.
That’s not to say he has nowhere to go but down — in fact, the addition of a second Las Vegas date to the 2018 schedule means Truex could conceivably go 7-for-7 — but pulling off the first eight-win championship season in a decade is a difficult feat to duplicate. Considering everything that took place in 2017, there’s a higher likelihood of that than one might expect.
Furniture Row Racing, consolidated from two teams to one after Erik Jones jumped to the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota, has its pick of personnel from two quality race teams heading into the new year. They return crew chief Cole Pearn and a deep engineering staff that produced the fastest car overall and specifically on four different track types — short tracks, flat intermediates, steep intermediates and 2-mile, non-drafting tracks. Pearn protected Truex’s running whereabouts a series best 62.5 percent of the time when pitting from a top-five position on green-flag pit cycles. Truex, to his credit, added to the track position his team provided him.
Since arriving at Furniture Row in 2014, Truex grew from a driver with a minus pass differential to a neutral passer to one of the 10 best passers in the series. As his passing acumen climbed, so did the team’s yearly win total from zero to one to four to eight. All this team does, from year to year, is improve.
Kyle Busch
Somehow, five wins — and mind you, that’s tied for his second most in a single season — and a second-place finish in points felt like a down year for Busch. Perhaps that’s because he didn’t win until the final weekend of July, or that he crashed more often than any of the eight drivers left standing prior to the final two rounds in the Monster Energy Series Playoffs.
One could argue Busch underachieved in 2017. Given his 81.6 percent of completed laps inside the top 15 forecasted 29 top-15 finishes (he scored 25), there were races, and possibly wins, left on the table. There were four races prior to his breakthrough victory at Pocono in which he led 100 laps but missed out on the winner’s trophy. Odds are, those slip-ups in the upcoming season won’t share the same quantity.
His car was the fastest of the Joe Gibbs Racing stable, fourth overall in the series, and crew chief Adam Stevens is an adept defender of his running position during green-flag pit cycles, over 12 percent better than the series average when pitting from a top-five spot. Stevens also chipped in 85 additional positions thanks to crafty pit planning over the last two years.
Kyle Larson
On intermediate race tracks in 2017, Larson passed 15 more cars than expected from his average running position per 400 miles. This was an average four positions greater than the next most efficient passer. Still, Larson went winless on intermediates.
Larson always has been a proficient traffic navigator, but this past season was his first with elite speed at his disposal. His Chip Ganassi Racing entry ranked third in average green-flag speed, up from 12th in 2016, the biggest improvement among all teams. Even when he took full advantage of his more competitive surroundings — he scored four runner-up finishes and one third-place result on NASCAR’s most prevalent track type, but also amassed three DNFs — there was a twinge of misfortune that allows room for improvement in the new season.
While Truex Jr.’s championship was deserved, one can’t help but acknowledge Larson’s absence in the Championship 4. Larson could’ve been a late-race foil at Homestead; his average speed rank in the fourth quarter of races was within 0.4 spots of Truex’s, and only Joey Logano retained position more often on restarts inside the final 10 percent of a race.
Brad Keselowski
Keselowski’s title hopes are tied to manufacturer performance — namely if the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is a success, the Ford driver is likely to be leapfrogged in the championship hunt by bow-tie branded competitors Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson.
He was the biggest underdog among the Championship 4 solely due to his lack of elite speed down the stretch. His Ford was the eighth fastest car on average, per timing and scoring data supplied to NASCAR.com, and slowest of the four title contenders during the final 10 races.
The good news for Keselowski is that he and his team are good independent of their speed. He held a top-five Production in Equal Equipment Rating five times in the last six years, while crew chief Paul Wolfe has supplied 84 extra positions through smart green-flag pit strategy across the last two seasons.
Kevin Harvick
At age 42, Harvick has exited his prime — a driver’s peak age is 39 according to a 2014 study by Motorsports Analytics — but as long as he has speed, he’ll factor into the championship equation. Since joining Stewart-Haas, he ranked first, first, first and second in average green-flag speed each year, a testament to a forward-thinking, manufacturer-independent infrastructure with its own wind tunnel.
Harvick is a consummate restarter, ranking second in preferred groove retention rate (87.39 percent) and positions earned (plus-94) in 2017. Even his non-preferred groove exploits mitigated what is typically a huge positional loss; across 105 restarts in the least desirable lane, he coughed up just 22 spots. Considering, too, he routinely avoids crashes — across the last three seasons, his crash rate of 0.18 times per race was the lowest among frequent frontrunners — awaiting his falter seems a tedious task.
Kevin and DeLana Harvick announced on Saturday the birth of daughter Piper Grace on Thursday night. The 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion sent out this photo featuring the proud papa and equally ecstatic big brother Keelan.
Cheers to the Harvicks as they ring in the New Year with a new member of their family.
Miss Piper Grace joined the gang Thursday night! Everyone is healthy and we have an extremely excited big brother! pic.twitter.com/Th2KdXyy1B
DENVER, Colo. (Dec. 29, 2017) – NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr. has been named Colorado’s 2017 Sportsperson of the Year, the top honor awarded annually by Mile High Sports.
The Furniture Row Racing driver, who graces the cover in the recent issue of Mile High Sports Magazine, was also named Colorado’s “Fan Favorite” Athlete of the Year in a fan vote conducted at MileHighSports.com.
The Denver-based Furniture Row Racing also was cited for excellence, claiming the Mile High Sports honor as Colorado’s Team of the Year. Joe Garone, Furniture Row Racing team president, was a finalist in the Executive of the Year category.
Truex, who had eight wins in 2017 and led in virtually every major statistical category as the driver of the No. 78 Toyota Camry, captured the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship with a dramatic victory in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“What Martin Truex Jr. and Furniture Row Racing did this year was not only unprecedented for the team and the state, but it was hands down the best sports story of the year,” said Doug Ottewill, editor-in-chief of Mile High Sports Magazine. “What he had to go through personally, what the team had to overcome along the way – all of it made our choice for Sportsperson of the Year an easy one.
“This is our highest honor – the big one, the one that the likes of John Elway, Peyton Manning, Missy Franklin and Chauncey Billups have won – and it thrills me to be able to add Martin Truex Jr to that list.”
As he has been with winning other major honors for his dream season, Truex was both humbled and honored with the Colorado awards.
“Individual honors in a team sport are a result of the people you are surrounded with,” said Truex. “I feel blessed to be part of an outstanding organization led by our owner Barney Visser, team president Joe Garone and crew chief Cole Pearn.
“These honors represent the hard work by the talented individuals at our Denver race shop. I want to thank Mile High Sports and all our passionate Colorado race fans for the support they have given our team through the years.”
When Visser formed his NASCAR entry out of a Denver race shop in 2005, the naysayers were out in force questioning the viability of operating a team 1,500 miles from the race hub in Charlotte.
“I guess we have heard ’that’s impossible, you will never do that’ for the last time,” said Visser. “We are very proud of our Denver roots and to receive these prestigious awards in our home state makes it even more special. The Colorado fans have been loyal followers of our team and we are honored to bring a major championship to the state.”
It wasn’t a total makeover, but Toyota teams competing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series did put a redesigned Camry on the track in 2017.
Changes in the NASCAR product were made to bring the car more in line with what was being offered to the general public, from an appearance standpoint.
The NASCAR entry was described as “aggressive” by Toyota officials.
Aggressive in the looks department, and by season’s end, quite successful on the track.
Toyota teams won 16 of the 36 points races, tops in the series for the second consecutive year. And for the second time in three years, a Toyota team won the series championship – Kyle Busch in 2015 and Martin Truex Jr. this past season.
Breaking in the new Camry took some time, according to Busch, driver of the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing. Toyota teams won just two of the season’s first 17 races, both belonging to Truex and his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing group.
“It seemed like the 78 bunch was ready to go a lot quicker than we were,” Busch said recently. “They were really fast early in the season. They won Las Vegas, they were really quick at California. … It took us probably until about May or June (to catch up).”
Not that Busch and his team, led by crew chief Adam Stevens, struggled. Busch posted five top-five results in the opening third of the season, including runner-up finishes at Martinsville and Charlotte.
“There were races,” Busch said. “I mean we should have won Phoenix (where he finished third) back in March, but there were times were just kind of off and kind of slow. And our ‘off’ was fourth or fifth place.
“We just didn’t have the raw speed to just go out there and lead laps and be up front and win. That really didn’t show up until about May or June.”
For the third consecutive season, Busch won multiple races – beginning at Pocono, sweeping at Bristol and then knocking out Playoff victories at New Hampshire, Dover and Martinsville on the way to Homestead and another shot at winning the championship. There, only Truex was better, capturing both the race and the title while Busch finished second.
Chevrolet teams will debut a new car model in 2018 as the Camaro ZL1 replaces the SS. Busch said it’s difficult to estimate how long it may take Chevrolet teams to get up to speed.
“Look at the (Stewart-Haas Racing) guys and they kind of struggled with the build of their Ford and trying to figure out what was going on with it,” Busch said. “They tried things that they knew worked on a Chevy and it was the exact opposite of what they thought it would be for the Ford body.
“It just depends on what the body build is like and what all happens and goes on in their research and development and making their cars better.
“Obviously when you have a model change it’s supposed to be better than the current model you have, so they should come out of the box just fine.”
SHR made the swap from Chevrolet to Ford for the ’17 season. Kevin Harvick won twice and made the Championship 4 while teammate Kurt Busch won the season-opening Daytona 500.
Based on his own team’s overall results, Kyle Busch said ’17 was “a good year,” but expects improvement in ’18.
“Many would consider a great year but certainly in the end there was a lot of disappointment there and aggravation,” he said. “But that only fuels the fire for what’s going to happen in 2018.”
Heading into ’18, Busch has 43 career victories in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series, second only to seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson (83).
He has advanced to the Championship 4 for three consecutive years, missing only in ’14 when the Playoff format debuted.
College football bowl season is in full swing. For the participants of Friday’s Belk Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, Wake Forest University and Texas A&M University, that meant a trip to the track on Tuesday.
Players from both schools got to take part in the Richard Petty Driving Experience at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a tradition that has become commonplace for the two schools in the Belk Bowl each year.
Christmas lasted an extra day for NASCAR fans with the annual Undeck the Hall event at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Doors opened at 10 a.m. ET for a long line of fans that had formed outside the Hall. Some had camped out since the day before. Each person was able to select a gift one of the trees decorated with NASCAR-themed items like autographed souvenirs, die-cast cars, race tickets, sheet metal and much more including some fun surprises to be found. The event continued until all the gifts were gone on Tuesday.
For NASCAR stars past and present, Christmas Eve and Christmas were spent in a variety of different ways. Some traveled abroad while some took to the slopes and others stayed right at home. Here’s a look at how their holidays were spent.
Good morning and Merry Christmas. One of my favorite days, getting to watch @AmyEarnhardt open her presents. She’s an angel. Hope everyone is safe and happy.
LOL Kyle has been signing gift tags and cookie plates for Brexton from Santa all evening. Look at his first signature for his Bristol sweep diecasts! pic.twitter.com/M16sQNUcKw
Kyle Busch
Kyle Larson
Brad Keselowski
Kevin Harvick
