Posted on by Zack Albert

NASCAR Hall of Famer Jack Ingram was seriously injured in a car accident in his hometown on Dec. 3.

Ingram’s family indicated Monday morning that the former driver, a multiple-time champion in what is now the NASCAR XFINITY Series, was receiving treatment in the intensive care unit at Mission Hospital near his Asheville, North Carolina home.

“We are currently by his side, managing his care with his clinicians and will decide next steps,” a family statement read. “We remain hopeful and positive, and appreciate all thoughts and prayers. We will provide updates as information becomes available.”

According to an accident report filed by the Asheville Police Department, the 2002 Chevrolet driven by Ingram collided with a 1999 Ford pick-up driven by a 36-year-old man from nearby Henderson, North Carolina. Ingram’s vehicle was struck in the driver’s side door, according to the report.

The report stated that Ingram was transported to Mission Hospital with unknown injuries. One of two passengers in Ingram’s car was also transported to the hospital with complaints of pain in his right arm, the report said. No injuries were listed for the driver of the other vehicle, according to police.

According to the report, the accident occurred within a tenth of a mile from the former site of Asheville Motor Speedway, where Ingram was a local legend. The 1/3-mile paved oval, which ended weekly racing after the 1999 season, has been preserved as a recreation area known as Carrier Park.

Ingram won the championship in what is now known as the NASCAR XFINITY Series in 1982 and 1985. He also won three titles and scores of races in the Late Model Sportsman division, the precursor to the XFINITY Series.

Ingram was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s 2014 class. He earned the nickname “Iron Man” both for his career’s longevity and his ability to successfully compete in several events a week. By his count, Ingram scored 317 points-paying victories in NASCAR competition.

Posted on by Team Release

RELATED: Newman ready for Victory Lane in ’18 | Newman’s 2017 season recap

WELCOME, N.C. — Richard Childress Racing (RCR) has named Andy Petree as its new Vice President of Competition, and Dr. Eric Warren as Chief Technology Officer, effective immediately. The organizational moves bolster RCR’s competition department with more than 50 years of combined racing experience.

Petree joins RCR on a full-time basis after he was brought on in an advisory role in October to conduct a comprehensive review of the team’s competition area. Warren, who has served in a competition leadership position at RCR since 2012, will oversee RCR’s engineering department and new technology strategy. The Chief Technology Officer will report to the Vice President of Competition.

“These organizational moves will strengthen our competition department tremendously,” said Richard Childress, Chairman and CEO of RCR. “We felt that Andy did an exceptional job in the past month during his review of our competition area. Bringing him on as a Vice President of Competition is a valuable addition to our leadership team.”

“I’ve known Andy for a long time and we’re thrilled to have him work alongside our team, including Eric in his new role as Chief Technology Officer. This move will allow Eric to use his years of experience and many technical talents to focus on engineering and the application of emerging technologies,” Childress said.

Petree’s experience in NASCAR runs deep. For decades, he has served in numerous roles, including driver, team owner and championship-winning crew chief. He most recently served as a television analyst for Fox Sports.

Warren holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from North Carolina State University and has held numerous roles in stock car racing dating back to 1997 including competition director, chief aerodynamicist and technical director. He joined RCR in October 2012 and since then has been a part of 24 victories and one championship in NASCAR’s top-three touring series.

Posted on by Brad Norman

RELATED: Shop for Ryan Newman gear | Season recap | Career highlights

Ryan Newman has advanced to the Championship 4 during his tenure with Richard Childress Racing, but he had never won a race with the organization entering 2017.

That changed early in the year, with Newman and crew chief Luke Lambert gambling on old tires at Phoenix Raceway and holding on for a victory that snapped a 127-race winless skid. It was Lambert’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win as a crew chief, and the 18th for Newman at NASCAR’s top level.

Good vibes from the win stayed throughout the season — that much was evident at Champion’s Week in Las Vegas last week when Newman pleasantly recalled, in great detail, how it felt to get back to Victory Lane.

But the No. 31 RCR team finished 16th in the standings out of 16 postseason drivers, enough to end the season wanting more.

“It’s successful for us to get in Victory Lane,” Newman said. “We fought so long and got so close, especially in 2014 being in the championship race. So yeah, it was a successful year, just not to my standards of what I wanted, but it had some bright lights.

“Sometimes you have to have those years of small gains in order to have those years of big gains in the future.”

Newman identifies 2018 as a year where RCR can make big gains, a feeling echoed by teammate Austin Dillon — Dillon’s goal is a Championship 4 appearance.

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for more wins comes with the brand-new 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which had Chevrolet drivers from every team raving during Champion’s Week.

MORE: See photos of the new car

“I think it’s awesome, and good timing to have the Camaro ZL1 to be the car for competition in 2018,” Newman said. “All the development that went into it was with this (current) body style and aero package in mind.

“The 2013 car, which is the one we’ve been competing with, debuted with an entirely different aero package. That makes a big difference in having a good, balanced race car. If we hit our targets, hopefully it’ll get Chevrolet in Victory Lane a whole lot more next year.”

RELATED: Shop for Ryan Newman gear

Posted on by Staff Report

MORE: Full race results

Kyle Busch won the 2017 Snowball Derby, the 50th anniversary of the event, Sunday at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida.

Busch was the only Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver entered in the golden anniversary race, but he was joined by NASCAR Next and development drivers Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson, Corey LaJoie, Brandon McReynolds, Ty Majeski and Mason Mingus.

In 2009, Busch also won the Snowball Derby, one of the most prestigious late model races in the country. Other Derby winners currently driving in NASCAR’s national series are Chase Elliott (2011, 2016), Erik Jones (2012, 2013) and John Hunter Nemechek (2014).

Busch led the final 17 of 300 laps to take first. Veterans Jeff Choquette and Bubba Pollard finished second and third, respectively. Burton, the 2017 K&N Pro Series East champion, took fourth. Chase Purdy, a member of the NASCAR Next class, was eighth. McReynolds took 10th.

Posted on by Staff Report

How’s this for an early Christmas present, racing world? A Gordon was on track Sunday. Leo Gordon, son of four-time champion Jeff Gordon, got behind the wheel.

 

We checked in on Leo two years ago when he first got his hot rod, and we’ll stick with hoping he might be a champion in maybe 2036.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: ‘Bud’ Moore through the years | Moore passes away at 92

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — His eyes were red, his voice cracked slightly with emotion and he probably spoke for most folks here when he hung his head and said “These are sad days. All my heroes are dying.”

He was a former NASCAR official and one of many who turned out here Saturday as they buried Walter M. Moore Jr., the man known as “Bud” to family and friends alike. 

Folks gathered at First Baptist North Spartanburg to say their goodbyes on a surprisingly warm and sunny December day.

Moore was a decorated military veteran and a successful team owner in NASCAR and he touched the lives of so many folks during his 92 years here on this earth.

His military exploits and NASCAR accomplishments have been well-documented. The recipient of five Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars. A championship as a crew chief and twice more as an owner. Sixty-three victories.

Respect from both sides was paid in the flesh Saturday — Moore was laid to rest with military funeral honors, and a wide-ranging mix of fellow racing associates were on hand to bid him farewell.

NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Bobby Allison, who won 14 times in Moore’s familiar No. 15 Ford, was among those in attendance. Ricky Rudd, a five-time winner with Moore, was there as well. Rudd once raced for Moore with his eyes taped open after surviving a horrendous crash at Daytona.

Humpy Wheeler, the promoter’s promoter and former president of Charlotte Motor Speedway was there to pay his respects as was Jim France, son of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and currently Chairman of the Board for International Speedways Corp.

Past crew chiefs who worked with Bud Moore Engineering turned out and stood shoulder-to-shoulder alongside those who had known Moore simply as a friend and neighbor.

 

Winston Kelley, the executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, spoke of Moore’s drive and determination, traits that led to Moore’s induction into the Hall in 2011. “He was one of the first 10 people inducted” out of the 60-plus years’ worth of candidates, Kelley, a longtime friend of the car owner, noted.

But he was just as much a family man, Kelley said. Moore was married to wife Betty for 64 years before her passing in 2009.

Mike Helton, the first NASCAR president outside the France family, also paid tribute to Moore during Saturday’s service.

Helton recalled first meeting the legendary team owner through Bill France Jr., the former head of NASCAR. France would often seek out Moore for feedback, because he knew it would be honest, if sometimes brutally so.

Helton said Moore wanted to be remembered as a man “who loved his family, his country and the sport of auto racing. “

“Check, check and check,” he said.

Earlier this year it was former NASCAR XFINITY Series champion Sam Ard and Daytona 500 winner Pete Hamilton. And is seems like just yesterday that we said our goodbyes to engine builder and team owner Robert Yates.

There have been others as well.

It’s been an honor and a privilege to cover such competitors and Bud Moore wasn’t the least of them by any means.

But it’s been a bigger honor just to have known them.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Truex Jr. crowned | Red carpet photos

LAS VEGAS — In so many ways Thursday’s 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards seemed like the perfect sentimental send off — a fond farewell for retiring superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a fitting championship celebration for one of his best friends, Martin Truex Jr.

Celebrating the two drivers and longtime friends on stage on the same night felt almost destined. It was certainly one of the most genuinely heart-touching times in the history of the sport’s celebratory evenings.

Their connection is substantial and long-standing.

As with his good friend Junior, Truex won back-to-back (2004 and 2005) XFINITY Series (then called the Busch Grand National Series) championships driving for the late seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s former team. Then, as with Junior six years earlier, Truex ran his first full-time Cup season for the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team as well.

RELATED: Top headlines from Champion’s Week

The fondness between the men is genuine, abounding and as the banquet showed, enduring.

So much so, that it was Earnhardt who delivered a heartfelt speech in introducing Truex for the championship trophy presentation.

“To me and many who know him, he’s a champion in so many ways,” Earnhardt said, as Truex smiled and began wiping away tears.

“Like when his professional career turned challenging, his options limited, he blamed no one. He kept his head high, he persevered because he’s a champion person.

“While the love of his life [Truex’s girlfriend Sherry Pollex] battles the most evil of diseases, and he stands with her to make her fight his fight, he’s a champion partner. When he’s away from the track, perhaps enjoying his true passion for hunting or fishing, you realize this: He’s a champion friend. He’s the man. He is the champion in so many ways and no one more deserving this night.”

And while the two-time Daytona 500 winner Earnhardt has never hoisted a Cup championship trophy, the newly-crowned 15-time Most Popular Driver, has impacted the sport in bountiful ways and will continue to as he transitions from the cockpit to NBC’s broadcast booth in 2018.

First, he will serve as Grand Marshal for the 2018 Daytona 500 and undoubtedly he will continue charitable efforts that included an $888,000 donation from longtime sponsor Nationwide in Las Vegas — his time devoted and money raised for charities is a legacy that, for many, may outshine all his great achievements on the race track.

That interest in giving back is something he and Truex share in addition to their on-track legacies — another way the two men are connected and another reason why their time together out front wrapped up this season most appropriately.

Posted on by Sponsored Content

The season may have just ended, but next year’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is already out, and there’s no better time than now to reserve your seat at the track in 2018. Check the schedule and book your Official PRIMESPORT race package at your favorite speedway.

Take advantage of PRIMESPORT’s convenient low deposit feature to secure a race-day — or race-weekend — travel package in advance, and pay only 10 percent up-front.

These official race packages are the perfect holiday gift for that hard-to-shop-for NASCAR fan on your list.

VIEW THE 2018 NASCAR SCHEDULE

Why PRIMESPORT? Since 2001, they have provided some of the most exclusive NASCAR ticket, accommodations, and hospitality offerings at the most iconic tracks on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. For the 2018 season, PRIMESPORT’s official race ticket and accommodation package offers promise to be bigger and better than ever.

At their 18 partner tracks – as well as the unofficial Home of NASCAR, Charlotte Motor Speedway – PRIMESPORT’s official partnerships give the most enthusiastic of race fans the best experience possible. They strive to go beyond the standard NASCAR ticket package and offer something much more — an EXPERIENCE.

For 2018, race fans can reserve their spot with official packages that include race tickets, a choice of accommodations, track transportation, FanVision rental, souvenirs and more. Available options and upgrades vary from track to track, but can include additional nights, pit passes, victory lane access, driver appearances and seat upgrades in towers, club level and even suites.

Fans wanting to start the season off in style can visit PRIMESPORT for the Official Ticket Exchange of Daytona International Speedway. Buy and sell tickets to the Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400 in a safe and secure environment with other NASCAR fans.

Race packages are already available for the entire 2018 NASCAR season – just pick your race, pick your package, and away you go!

Be the first NASCAR fans to experience the new Las Vegas Fall race in September.

Hear the roar down the homestretch at Talladega Superspeedway during the GEICO 500.

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Watch the trophy presentation at Homestead-Miami Speedway after the Ford EcoBoost 400.

Visit PRIMESPORT.com to check out all that they have to offer for the 2018 NASCAR season or look for their VIP Tickets links on both the TICKETS and SCHEDULE pages on NASCAR.com!

Posted on by Staff Report

What channel is NASCAR programming on this week? We answer that and provide all the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

RELATED: Watch on the NBC Sports App |  How to find FS1, FS2 | How to find NBCSN

Tuesday, Dec. 5
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive, FS1

Wednesday, Dec. 6
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive, FS1 (re-air)

Posted on by NASCAR.com

RELATED: Learn more about the Official NASCAR Fan Council

Name: Kathryn
Current City: Wyckoff, New Jersey
Member since: 2011

Getting to know Kathryn

Q. Why did you join the Official NASCAR Fan Council?

“I joined the Official NASCAR Fan Council so that I may have my voice and opinions heard by influential persons in the sport of NASCAR. I feel as though the surveys provided by the NASCAR Fan Council have just as much influence individually as collectively – just like voting in your local or national election, everyone counts! Though members may have differing opinions, each person’s feedback is valued and taken into consideration with each survey submitted to the Fan Council.”

Q. How did you first become interested in NASCAR?

“I first became interested in NASCAR after a visit to Talladega Superspeedway in December 2008. After supporting my college football team, Rutgers, at the PapaJohns.com Bowl at Legion Field in Birmingham, my family and I were driving along I-20 to the airport in Atlanta and saw the giant flags of Talladega beckoning. We decided to stop and take a tour and boy, am I glad we did! The speedway was massive, and very impressive! Plus, my visit to International Motorsports Hall of Fame was a great history lesson. Since then, I have tried to watch at least 1 Truck/XFINITY/Cup race every weekend, plus whatever qualifying and practices possible.”

Q. What makes NASCAR special for you?

“NASCAR is such a unique sport. Where else do you get to see an entire weekend of your favorite sport (with practices, qualifying, and races of all the series), interact with like-minded fans at the Midway, tailgate, watch driver intros, hear the roar of flyovers, chant “drivers start your engines,” and have races nearly every weekend, February through November of each year? I love how the series travels to tracks all across the country so that everyone in the country has a “home track.” NASCAR is also a bonding time for my family and I – we try to visit tracks for tours whenever we are in the area when traveling.”

Q: Do you have any favorite NASCAR memories or traditions?

“My favorite NASCAR memories involve 2 race weekends when I won cold passes from a NASCAR sponsor (thank you, Hunt Brothers Pizza!) for my father and I. One was Father’s Day weekend at Michigan International Speedway and the other was for a spring race weekend at Dover International Speedway. The fact that we were so close to the drivers, haulers, garages was incredible! I was able to get many driver autographs. We were able to watch the Nationwide races from pit road, then celebrate alongside the drivers in Victory Lane. Joey Logano (my favorite driver) was the winner at the Dover XFINITY Race. While doing the Hat Dance, one of his crew members threw his hat over the fence after taking the needed picture and I caught it! The next day, Joey had an appearance at his hauler and I got him to sign the hat.”

Q: If you could go to any NASCAR race/track, where would you go?

“I would go back to Talladega Superspeedway. However, one of my goals is to visit every track on the premier circuit (I have been to 12 tracks so far).”

Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?

Driver: “Joey Logano.”
Track: “Talladega Superspeedway”
Memorabilia: “Various items of clothing and hero cards I have accumulated, all signed by Joey Logano. A piece of race used sheet metal signed by Brad Keselowski.”

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

“In my free time I like to spend time with family and friends, walk outside, cook, try new restaurants and foods, catch up on TV shows I missed during the week, listen to country music, read, and travel.

Q: Where is your dream car?

“A used NASCAR race car.”

Q: What would be your dream vacation?

“I want to set foot in all 50 states.”

From all of us at NASCAR, we thank Kathryn for her continued support and look forward to hearing from her in 2017.