Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Behind the scenes with Dale Jr. in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Former teammates and crew chiefs, officials and close friends, competitors, the newest series champion and even retired NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley came out to honor Dale Earnhardt Jr. here Tuesday evening as part of a charity event on the opening day of NASCAR’s Champion’s Week.

Earnhardt, who retired from full-time competition in NASCAR at the end of the 2017 season, wrapped up his Appreci88ion tour effort by taking part in an intimate, two-hour program with fans. The event was hosted by Nationwide, one of Earnhardt’s longtime sponsors in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

The event, combined with other fundraising endeavors throughout the ’17 season, resulted in a donation of $888,000 to the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

MORE: Dale and Amy set up fund | Click here to donate now

Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports for the past decade, was the evening’s first guest and the seven-time series champion admitted that his two biggest accomplishments relating to Earnhardt might have been getting his teammate into cycling and onto Twitter.

“I got this guy in spandex; I’ve got him on social media,” Johnson joked shortly after taking the stage.

RELATED: Johnson’s passion for fitness inspires Hendrick teammates

Earnhardt joined the social media platform Twitter shortly after winning the 2014 Daytona 500. He currently has more than 2.3 million followers, according to the site.

Former NASCAR President Mike Helton was on hand to recount one post-race “discussion” with Earnhardt and crew chief Tony Eury Sr. after race officiating had been called into question.

Helton’s advice as the pair tried to talk their way out of any repercussions?

“Ya’ll two just need to shut up and listen,” Helton said.

Martin Truex Jr., winner of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship and a former teammate at Dale Earnhardt Inc. was on hand, as were members of the Dirty Mo Posse, a group of close friends that formed during the early years of Earnhardt’s Cup career.

MORE: Truex Jr. on Dale Jr.: ‘I wouldn’t be here today without him’

Like Earnhardt, Brandon Bernstein was the son of a famous driver — his father Kenny Bernstein was a championship-winning drag racer — and both sons shared Budweiser as a primary sponsor during their careers.

Former crew chiefs Tony Eury Sr. and Tony Eury Jr. were on hand, leading Earnhardt to quip: “Damn, they’re supposed to be in Pensacola at the Snowball Derby!”

Eury Sr. is Earnhardt’s uncle, Eury Jr. his cousin. Each won races while atop the pit box for Earnhardt.

RELATED: Recap all of Junior’s wins | Dale Jr. through the years

Dale Jarrett, the 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee and 1999 series champion, has had a long friendship with Earnhardt, the two becoming close following the death of Earnhardt’s father in 2001.

“When I lost my dad,” Earnhardt said, “Dale came to my rescue. I don’t know how you knew.”

Earnhardt recalled returning to Daytona in July of ’01 and winning the race, then the many media obligations that followed. When he arrived back at his motorcoach to have a drink with some close friends, Jarrett had also hung around rather than return home.

“I remember you said you wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ Earnhardt said.

His father, Jarrett said, “did a lot for me early in my career.”

And when Jarrett won the championship while driving for Robert Yates, Earnhardt supplied a plane to transport team members to the awards dinner in New York.

“I kept asking him for the bill; my accountant wanted the bill so we could pay it and include it in our taxes for that year,” Jarrett said. “They had rented us the plane, carried 34 or 35 people to New York and then back home.

“Finally, around Dec. 27, I got the bill. I opened the envelope and on the bill he had written ‘Congratulations on your championship. No charge.'”

Three-time series champion Tony Stewart recalled a beating, banging XFINITY Series race with Earnhardt Jr. at Pikes Peak that resulted in the two drivers getting called to the NASCAR hauler afterward. “That might have been my first trip to the hauler,” Stewart said.

Earnhardt and Barkley met in 2014 and have been friends ever since.

RELATED: Charles Barkley, Dale Jr. take to go-karts

Barkley’s advice for the retired driver?

“You’ve got to find something to do,” he said. “I play golf and I fish pretty much every day.”

Turning serious, Barkley told Earnhardt: “I admire you; I respect you for what you’ve accomplished as a driver.”

The check presentation, made by Nationwide’s Jim McCoy, wrapped up the program.

The Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund “is really the first charitable work I’ve done with Amy,” Earnhardt said. “And that means the world to me.”

MORE: Click here to donate now

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Moore passes away at age 92 | Moore through the years

Bud Moore passed away and I guess it’s appropriate, in a way, that most of the industry is in Las Vegas preparing to celebrate a championship.

Moore won a few of those during his career in NASCAR. He was car owner and crew chief for Joe Weatherly when Weatherly won back-to-back championships in 1962 and ’63. He was crew chief for Buck Baker when Baker won what’s now called the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title in ’57, too.

Some of the very best racers in NASCAR worked with or learned from Moore. Fellow Hall of Fame members Bobby Allison and Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough. Darrell Waltrip and Benny Parsons. HOF nominees Buddy Baker and Ricky Rudd, too.

Those folks collected most of Moore’s 63 wins as a car owner, but drivers such as Geoffrey Bodine and Morgan Shepherd, Darel Dieringer and Billy Wade also put Moore’s cars in the winner’s circle.

RELATED: Bud Moore’s stats as an owner

Moore was a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and he was 92, and he will and should be remembered much more for his service to his country than his service to stock car racing.

He was just a teenager when he joined the military and the next thing you know he’s aboard a ship off the coast of France and headed into one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. The D-Day Invasion, Utah Beach, Normandy, France.

More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded. Moore survived, and continued onward with the Third Army under the leadership of Gen. George Patton. Moore received five Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars, and they say he and his jeep driver even captured an entire regiment of enemy soldiers at one point.

“If you went through what we went through … when they celebrated the 50th year of D-Day in 1994, Union Oil offered to send me and my wife back over there for the celebration,” Moore said in 2011 when he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

“I wouldn’t go because I didn’t want to be reminded of what had happened. I left a lot of friends over there.”

Bud Moore was a hero. One of the last of his kind, one of the last of his generation.

RELATED: NASCAR community remembers Hall of Famer

His NASCAR racing career stretched from the early 1960s through 2000. His cars made 958 starts and his drivers scored nearly 300 top-five finishes. There were 43 poles along the way.

Among the 63 victories were wins in the legendary Daytona 500 and Southern 500.

Moore ran Ford entries for much of his career, although the early success in NASCAR came with Pontiac then Mercury. He also enjoyed success outside of NASCAR.

“We ran the Trans-Am series with the Mercury Cougar in ’67; the Cyclone with Tiny Lund in ’67 and ’68,” Moore recalled. “We won the championship for Ford in the Trans-Am series in 1970.

“We were the first ones to run the small block motor; did all the experimental work on it. As things went on, we did a lot for Ford and they did a lot for us too. I’m proud to have been associated with them for as long as we were. It was great to know you had a company stand behind you like that.”

• Bud Moore stories are plentiful. I’ll leave you with this one.

“We were driving back to the hotel in rental cars one year at Riverside (California), and Bud Moore and his group were in another car,” championship-winning crew chief and Hall of Fame member Dale Inman once told me.

“We started banging on each other’s cars and Bud yells, ‘When we get to the motel, we’re gonna whip your ass!'”

Those sorts of things took place back in the day, mostly out of fun and more a way to break the monotony of being on the road nearly every week than an actual threat of physical harm.

When the two groups arrived at the hotel, Moore jumped out of his car. But there’s one problem. His crew decides to stay inside the car.

“Bud jumps out and his crew locks their car doors,” Inman recalled. “So we get out and jump on him, toss him around. Just having fun with him.

“And his crew is in the car laughing their heads off.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Champion’s Week schedule | Full coverage

LAS VEGAS – Matthew, a sixth-grader, took a long look at the hero card.

Then he glanced up at Martin Truex Jr.’s face and made the connection.

“Wow!” exclaimed Matthew, a pediatric patient at Sunrise Children’s Hospital, as he recognized the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Truex smiled back, happy to provide a moment of pleasure to a stricken child whose every step is accompanied by an IV machine.

A knot of reporters and photographers followed Truex on his visit to the hospital, but the champion’s appearance — during a week set aside to celebrate his accomplishments on the track, culminating in his first series title — had a much deeper meaning to the veteran driver than a mere photo opportunity.

MORE: Pollex discusses championship | Truex arrives for Champion’s Week

Truex’s girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, has been battling ovarian cancer. And even before Pollex was diagnosed in 2014, she and Truex had been active in children’s causes through the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation. Their “Catwalk for a Cause” fashion show has raised more than $550,000 in the fight against childhood and ovarian cancer.

“It’s definitely an honor to do it,” Truex said of the visit. “For them to ask us to come here, and for NASCAR to schedule it and put it all together … it’s such a grounding process when you go in there. It’s a constant reminder, when you see those kids, of just how lucky we are to do what we do, and not only that, to wake up and be healthy every day.

“It’s just so unfair to see them, and it breaks my heart to see how much pain they’re in and how tired they are. It’s a tough thing to figure out how to talk to them, what to say and try to just maybe cheer them up a little. It’s definitely humbling to come here and maybe help just a little bit.”

In the children’s playroom, Truex sat at a small table with four children. In front of them at the center of the table were two Pinewood Derby-style wooden cars decorated by the patients. One car bore the markings “MTJ 78.” The other read simply “Champion.”

Truex signed large hero cards and gave them to the children. Before he left the playroom, Truex and several of the children raced the wooden cars on a long, inclined track.

Through his frequent visits to the Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truex has interacted with many pediatric patients, but the appearances are never routine. Pollex’s battle against cancer makes them even more poignant.

“That’s why we do it at home,” Truex said. “We’re going to Levine’s in a few weeks to give out Christmas presents, to do the same thing — to try to shed a little light and a little happiness for them. I can’t imagine what they’re going through and how they must think and feel.

“It’s just a reminder of how lucky we are. That’s the biggest thing, I think.”

Visits like the “Giving Tuesday” trip to the Sunrise Children’s Hospital are emblematic of the way Truex hopes to represent the sport as its champion.

RELATED: NASCAR Foundation takes part in #GivingTuesday

“I love NASCAR. I love racing,” Truex said. “That’s what I grew up with as a childhood dream of mine. So I’m going to do the best job I can and try to represent the sport well. There are a lot of great champions who have come before me, and hopefully I’ll be able to hold up my end of the deal.

“I’ll try my best. I’m probably a little different than most have been, I would say, but hopefully I’ll bring something to the table that will help the sport.”

If you were to ask the children at Sunrise Hospital, he already has.

Posted on by Staff Report

SHOP: 2018 LVMS Races
RELATED: Full schedule | More info on Champion’s Week

The NASCAR world descends upon Las Vegas for its annual Champion’s Week. The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion Martin Truex Jr. will be celebrated on Thursday evening during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards. Before that, there is an Appreci88ion event with Dale Jr., the Myers Brothers Awards, Victory Lap where drivers do burnouts in the streets of Las Vegas and NASCAR After The Lap, which will include a live episode of the “Glass Case of Emotion” podcast with Ryan Blaney, Kim Coon and Chuck Bush. Keep up with all that happenings during Champion’s Week here.

LATEST NEWS
— Champion Martin Truex Jr. honored at award show
— Cain: Dale Jr., Truex Jr.: Friends, competitors, champions in so many ways
— Cole Pearn picks up unique souvenir
— Best quotes from the 2017 Monster Energy Series Awards
— Blaney, Elliott discuss ‘learning curves’ as young drivers
— Kenseth reflects on emotional win at Phoenix
— Johnson, Hamlin share 2018 expectations
— Kyle Busch jokes about inheriting ‘Junior Nation’
— Dale Jr. wins 2017 NMPA Most Popular Driver Award
— Julian Maha wins 2017 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award
— Red Carpet Photos: 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards
— Las Vegas playoff race reveals name for 2018
— Watch the full replay of the star-studded ‘Glass Case of Emotion’
— Johnson passes down champion’s journal
— Kurt Busch confident he’ll be back at SHR in 2018
— Dale Jr. to serve as 2018 Daytona 500 grand marshal
— Hamlin on Elliott: Rules of engagement established for 2018
— Austin Dillon: Championship 4 the goal in 2018
— Martin Truex Jr., Sherry Pollex receive Myers Brothers Award
— Cole Pearn takes home Champion Crew Chief Award
— Dale Jr. presented with Chevrolet Lifetime Achievement Award
— Kyle Larson named Mobil 1 Driver of the Year
— No. 18 crew honored as Mechanix Wear Most Valuable Pit Crew Award
— Bruton Smith receives Buddy Shuman Award
— Erik Jones accepts Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award
— FOX Sports, NBC Sports honored with 2017 NASCAR Marketing Achievement Award
— Dancing with Dale? Earnhardt says ‘that’s never going to happen’
— Stars come out to salute Dale Jr. at Appreci88ion event
— Appreci88ion: Behind the scenes with Dale Jr.
— Hospital visits hits home for Truex Jr.
— Larson, Credit One Bank expand sponsorship relationship
— Scenes from 2017 NASCAR Champion’s Week
— NBCSN reveals lineup for 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards
— Eventful Champion’s Week, driver appearances on tap for Las Vegas

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Career stats for Kyle Larson

LAS VEGAS – Kyle Larson wasted no time making NASCAR’s Champion’s Week in Las Vegas a cause to celebrate Tuesday afternoon with his Chip Ganassi Racing team formally introducing Credit One Bank as a primary sponsor for the No. 42 Chevrolet in 2018.

The bank, which is also the Official Credit Card of NASCAR, will be the team’s largest sponsor and most prevalent logo on the car for multiple races. Exact details of the agreement weren’t disclosed. It will begin its multi-year association with the 2018 Daytona 500.

“It’s great that Credit One Bank will be expanding their partnership with our team next season,” said Larson, a four-time 2017 race winner and playoff driver. “It’s been cool to see their excitement and interest in our team and NASCAR grow throughout this year. We’ve had some exciting races with them on board and hopefully there’s more to come next year.”

For the past four seasons, Target had been Larson’s primary sponsor, but the retail company decided to move to other interests after the 2017 season.

“Our sales people at the shop with our team were never worried,” Larson told NASCAR.com. “They felt confident in the relationship they had with Credit One, and for Credit One to step up shows how much they appreciate our team and I know how much we appreciate them.”

Credit One will also appear as an “associate sponsor” on the No. 1 Chevrolet of Larson’s teammate Jamie McMurray next season, the same car its brand debuted with in 2016. 

The partnership between Larson and Credit One comes just weeks after Larson, 25, was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Sports 2018 List. He had a breakout year in NASCAR’s premier ranks scoring an impressive eight runner-up finishes in addition to his four victories – two of the second-place showings came with Credit One on the hood.

RELATED: Larson makes prestigious Forbes list

“Credit One Bank is thrilled to continue our partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing and the No. 42 team and Kyle Larson by becoming the leading team sponsor,” said Laura Faulkner, Vice President of Marketing Communications for Credit One.

The bank’s increased sponsorship of Larson caps a significant year in sports for the company, which is also a sponsor of the NHL’s expansion Vegas Golden Knights team located near a brand-new 154,000-square foot corporate headquarters in Las Vegas and opening in December.

Posted on by

RELATED: Full Champion’s Week schedule | Champion’s Week events, more

STAMFORD, Conn. – November 28, 2017 – NBCSN commemorates the conclusion of the 2017 NASCAR Season, with complete coverage of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards, this Thursday, November 30 at 9 p.m. ET. A special two-hour edition of NASCAR America kicks off the evening at 7 p.m. ET, with on-site red carpet coverage from the Wynn Las Vegas, in Las Vegas.

NASCAR on NBC’s Krista Voda (@KristaVoda) and Rutledge Wood (@RutledgeWood) host Thursday evening’s award ceremony honoring 2017 Monster Energy Series Champion, and driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota, Martin Truex Jr. Coverage will include a special tribute to Dale Earnhardt Jr., as NASCAR celebrates the final season for motorsport’s most iconic driver of his era. In addition, the show will feature the announcement of the National Motorsports Press Association’s Most Popular Driver award, won by Earnhardt Jr. for the past 14 years.

Carolyn Manno (@carolynmanno) will anchor Thursday’s red-carpet edition of NASCAR America. Manno will be joined on set by NASCAR on NBC analysts Kyle Petty (@KylePetty) and Parker Kligerman (@pkligerman), from NBC Sports Group’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. NASCAR on NBC pit reporters Kelli Stavast (@KelliStavast) and Marty Snider (@HeyMartysnider) will contribute on-site from the NASCAR Awards red carpet at the Wynn Las Vegas. Highlighted by exclusive interviews with all 16 NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers, Thursday’s special pre-awards edition of NASCAR America will also include interviews with NASCAR legends and the many celebrities in attendance.

Posted on by Steve Luvender

MORE: 2017 season review in GIFs

2017 was such a

season for racing. It’s a bummer that

and

, but at least we can look forward to 2018 when

and

.

Before the season started, I predicted this was going to be

’s breakout season, but I was wrong — it was actually a season marked by

and

. Who could have guessed that

, too?

I was hoping to see a

and

rivalry heat up, but it never happened. I think

should be banned because of his/her antics, because I am

.

Out of the Championship 4, I was really pulling for

to go all the way, since he’s

. In my opinion, of all the Playoff drivers, it’s just not fair that

didn’t win the championship because

.

Anyway, it’s time for the off-season, which means

. If 2018 is anything like 2017, I’m going to

.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Twitter was buzzing Tuesday morning after a Hollywood Life report emerged saying newly-retired Dale Earnhardt Jr. was high on the list of stars being considered for a spot on the upcoming, all-athlete season of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Could NASCAR’s most popular driver become the next stock car star to appear on the hit show, following in the nimble footsteps of Michael Waltrip?

MORE: Recap Waltrip’s time on DWTS

For a quick second, NASCAR Nation was all like …

But then Earnhardt responded to Adam Stern of Sports Business Daily’s tweet linking to the report.

And emphatic fist pumps quickly turned to …

Welp, so much for that.

Here’s to hoping that Matt Kenseth is second on producers’ list.

Posted on by Staff Report

MORE: Bud Moore, NASCAR Hall of Famer, passes away at age 92

NASCAR Hall of Famer Bud Moore passed away at the age of 92.

A decorated member of America’s “Greatest Generation” who went on to win NASCAR championships as car owner and crew chief after serving in the military during World War II, Moore had been the oldest living member of the Hall of Fame.

NASCAR Nation offered condolences to the late American hero on Twitter after the news broke.

RELATED: Bud Moore through the years | Hall of Fame speech


Posted on by Staff Report

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s involvement with Nationwide Children’s Hospital will continue into his retirement as he and wife Amy announced the creation of the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund at the hospital via Twitter on Tuesday morning.


Earnhardt has been visiting the Nationwide Children’s Hospital for the past three years, making five trips to the Columbus, Ohio-based facility through his partnership with Nationwide. He most recently made a trip to the hospital in July, ahead of the tripleheader race weekend at Kentucky Speedway. As a retirement present, the track presented him with a special jukebox that would be given to the hospital.

RELATED: Earnhardt finds, gives comfort at Nationwide Children’s Hospital

The hospital also named an area of the facility the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Activity Room last season.

“We will continue to go,” Earnhardt said in a press conference after his July visit. “We will be connected to that place forever. Can’t wait to go back. Can’t wait to take a whole planeload of people with me that have never seen it before so they can see what is going on.”