Qualifying issues put Johnson in tough positions

Posted on October 20, 2017October 20, 2017 by Reid Spencer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Jimmie Johnson knows he needs to do better at qualifying, but he’s not sure how to accomplish that goal.

The numbers don’t lie. Johnson’s average starting position through 31 races this season is 17.0. His previous low mark was 14.3 in his 2002 rookie year.

The mid-pack starting spots have had dire consequences. The seven-time champion’s lackluster efforts in time trials have translated to a career-worst average finish of 15.8. Though Johnson has won three times this season, he has finished in the top five only one other time.

Only one previous time in his career has Johnson failed to crack double digits in top fives. That was 15 years ago, when he posted six top-five results in his rookie season.

But the real negative of mediocrity in time trials manifests itself in stage racing. Starting from an average of 17th on the grid, Johnson has had difficulty accumulating stage points to any significant degree.

WATCH: Johnson says, ‘We are a team that thrives on adversity’

As a consequence, he’s eighth in the standings, fighting to retain a spot in the Round of 8 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff. It doesn’t help that the driver who is seven points behind him — Kyle Busch — has eight poles this season and an average starting position of 7.1.

That’s an average advantage of 10 spots over Johnson, or 10 points, to start every race. That’s why qualifying is No. 1 on Johnson’s to-do list of areas to improve.

He will start 12th at Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (NBCSN, 3 p.m. ET) after another subpar effort.

“It hasn’t been a strong suit of mine, and over the last couple of years, it has slipped even more,” Johnson told the NASCAR Wire Service on Friday at Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday’s Round of 12 elimination race. “This year, we knew before the season ever started that the importance of qualifying was going to ratchet up and be two to three times more important, essentially.

“Even with all that awareness and the thought process and attempts to raise our qualifying performance, we haven’t yet. And we’re looking at every option possible. Again, here this weekend, I personally am trying to find the right rhythm that is needed out there on the track to put up that lap time. Through practice and the three rounds of qualifying, at some point I can sneak the speed out of the car and post a good lap, and for whatever reason trying to back that up or do it lap after lap, just haven’t been able to pull that off.”

It’s not that Johnson has neglected qualifying in preparing for each race.

“We’ve spent a lot of time focusing on it, and we’re almost to a point now where we overthought it,” he said. “Are we slowing ourselves down from overthinking it in some regards?

“We’re aware and trying hard and have been trying hard to get that right. Hopefully, we get it.”

As an added incentive, Friday’s pole winner at Kansas Speedway earned the No. 1 pit stall next week at Martinsville, where the stall closest to the exit from pit road is a huge advantage.

But Johnson can’t worry about that now. If he doesn’t survive Kansas in the top eight, Martinsville won’t matter, where a possible record eighth championship is concerned.

Posted on October 20, 2017October 20, 2017 by Reid Spencer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – You can’t blame Martin Truex Jr. for looking ahead.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leader didn’t need to win the pole position at Kansas Speedway, having already qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs’ Round of 8 with a victory two weeks ago at Charlotte.

But by posting the fastest lap in Friday’s knockout qualifying session at the 1.5-mile track, Truex got a leg up on a trip to the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, because the time trials at Kansas came with a significant bonus — first choice of pit stalls for the Oct. 29 Round of 8 opener at Martinsville Speedway.

For the record, Truex ran the fastest lap of the afternoon in the final round of qualifying for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (on NBCSN at 3 p.m. ET), covering the distance in 28.719 seconds (188.029 mph) to beat Kevin Harvick (187.682 mph) for the top starting spot by .053 seconds.

But Truex had to push his car to the limit in the final round to earn his third Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his second at Kansas and the 15th of his career.

“I was shaking a little — I’m not going to lie,” Truex said. “My heart was beating. It gets the adrenaline going so high to put down a lap like that, to go the fastest you’ve gone all day in that final round.

“We put it all together. We got the balance better, and I stepped up and put it on the line out there, and it stuck. The commitment level was high, and the car handled it well. That’s always a good combination.”

Ryan Blaney had qualified third but his time was disallowed following post-qualifying inspection as it was found that the package tray on the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford did not maintain its original shape. As a result of that, Blaney will start from the 40th position in Sunday’s race.

Matt Kenseth will start third and Denny Hamlin fourth, as playoff drivers garnered the top four spots on the grid. Daniel Suarez was fifth, followed by Erik Jones and Kyle Busch, as Toyota drivers claimed six of the top seven starting positions, the only exception being the Ford of Harvick.

Because qualifying at Martinsville is on the same day as the race, pit selection at the .526-mile short track was tied to qualifying at Kansas, where the No. 1 pit stall gives a driver unfettered egress from pit road.

“It was definitely on our minds,” said Truex, who has won a series-best six races in a dream season for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team. “We talked about it. It was like ‘It’d be pretty nice to go to Martinsville and have the No. 1 pit stall.’

“It was definitely on our minds, but I don’t know if it really played into how we got the job done or not. But it was definitely good timing, more than anything, because that’s going to be huge for us going into the Round of 8 next week.”

Harvick, the 2014 series champion described his qualifying session as “three sketchy laps,” but feels he has a competitive car for the race that will trim the playoff field from 12 drivers to eight.

“I think we have a car that can be capable of staying up there and hopefully having a chance to win the race at the end,” Harvick said. “It’s a good start to the weekend. That’s half the battle when you’re trying to collect stage points in the first stage and get pit stall selection and try and gain all the advantages that you can on Friday.

“That’s something that our team did a good job at this year. I feel like our cars are a lot faster from the beginning of the year on the mile-and-a-half race tracks, and we’re on the game. It’s been a fun few weeks.”

Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who currently leads Kyle Busch by seven points for the final spot in the Round of 8, and will start 12th. Playoff driver Jamie McMurray qualified eighth in the fastest Chevrolet.

Playoff drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott will start 13th and 14th, respectively. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the only playoff driver who failed to make the second round, will take the green flag from 24th.

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on October 20, 2017October 20, 2017 by Pat DeCola

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — After last weekend’s disagreement with crew chief Mike Bugarewicz, Stewart-Haas Racing driver Clint Bowyer faced questions about the relationship with his pit boss Friday at Kansas Speedway.

Specifically, if a change needs to be made.

“I don’t know. It’s not time to, you know, start … it’s time to start thinking about that, but at the end of the day, it’s about depth in our organization and building and organization,” the Stewart-Haas Racing driver said. ” … Who knows? There could be a lot of different things that happen in the offseason for Stewart-Haas. You don’t know. I don’t know that. And you don’t know that or anybody else. I think time will tell and paint a lot clearer picture.”

After exiting his wrecked No. 14 Ford in last Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race, Bowyer and Bugarewicz could be seen jawing at each other before the veteran driver headed to the garage area.

MORE: Best photos from Kansas

The eight-time winner and 2012 championship runner-up chalked it up to “confusion,” but emotions have occasionally flared in Bowyer’s first season in the No. 14 car, which previously was driven by three-time champion and owner Tony Stewart.

Bowyer’s first season with SHR, while enjoying a significant increase in results and performance over his 2016 campaign with now-defunct HScott Motorsports, has seen its share of ups and downs. The No. 14 team has accumulated 12 top-10 finishes through 31 races, but Bowyer remains winless since 2012.

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Staff Report

A two-day test at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course produced plenty of valuable insights into the track that will serve as the elimination race in the Round of 16 in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Want more? Well, see for yourself.

Below is a 360-degree view of the 2.42-mile, 18-turn road course layout, from the cockpit of the No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet piloted by Daniel Hemric.

When the video starts, select the arrows in the top left of the screen to change the view in real time.

RELATED: Visit our YouTube page

Posted on October 20, 2017October 20, 2017 by Holly Cain

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Matt Kenseth isn’t sure yet if he’ll have a good chance of advancing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but he knows he must avoid a ‘bad’ day on Sunday.

His body of work at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway points to a positive potential.

Kenseth hasn’t finished worse than 14^th at the track since October of 2009 — a streak that includes 10 top-10 finishes in the last 14 races here and back-to-back wins in 2012-13 in a Jack Roush Ford and a Joe Gibbs Toyota, respectively.

Sitting in 10th place in the Playoffs standings heading into Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Kenseth needs a win to automatically advance or get some help from his fellow competitors ahead of him. He enters Sunday’s race eight points below the cutoff line, where Jimmie Johnson sits in eighth place and just one point behind Kyle Busch in ninth. To earn a position in the next round of the playoffs on points, he’ll need to be aggressive by earning valuable stage points and hope the former champions aren’t so fortunate.

Only 30 points separate places three (Kyle Larson) through 10, and stage wins will be at a premium.

“Last time we were here we ran bad from the second we unloaded until we were done with the weekend,” Kenseth said. “I’m optimistic we’ll unload a decent speed today, it will drive decent, we’ll get it driving good tomorrow, I hope. Charlotte (two weeks ago) was a struggle. Never got to drive good the whole weekend. Didn’t run very well. Talladega is Talladega. Hopefully we can go this weekend and perform well.’’

The last time Kenseth was at Kansas — and he describes it as a “bad” day — he finished 12^th. He led 273 laps in the previous four races and sat on the pole for the spring race in 2016.

So the 2003 Cup champion actually comes to the track as a legitimate favorite to hoist a trophy. He has finishes of 11^th or better in four of the five 2017 playoff races, including mile-and-a-half tracks like Kansas, Chicago and Charlotte.

Kenseth’s body language and remarks in a press conference Friday might indicate he truly doesn’t know what to expect during this vital playoff weekend – race favorite or not. But his performance here gives gives him every reason to be optimistic.

“I think after they paved it, we had a couple years there where we just had really fast cars, then kind of things went right in the race, we were able to capitalize on that,’’ Kenseth surmised of his results at Kansas.

“You’re only as good as your last race. Our last one here we ran really, really bad. Looking forward to getting on the track today and hopefully redeeming ourselves this weekend.

“Obviously winning has been important to us. We haven’t been able to do that in about a year and a half. With all that being said, if we can’t run good here, we’re probably not going to run good anywhere the rest of the year. …

“This always has been one of my better race tracks from a driver standpoint. It’s a pretty basic race track, mile and a half, still not very bumpy. There’s multiple banking. But your intermediate stuff, if it’s ever going to run good, it should run good here. So hopefully we can make it run good.”

Posted on October 20, 2017October 20, 2017 by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Full Kansas schedule

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Jimmie Johnson, seven-time champion and two-time father, took the kids to lunch Wednesday ahead of his upcoming business trip to Kansas.

It wasn’t Genevieve and Lydia occupying the car seats in Johnson’s dad-mobile, however. It was his 2018 Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Alex Bowman and William Byron.

Just taking the kids to lunch.@AlexBRacing @WilliamByron pic.twitter.com/gWrBDVNB08

— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) October 18, 2017

The duo – who, ages combined, have a mere one year over the 42-year-old veteran – will respectively step into the roles previously filled by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Chevrolet) and Kasey Kahne (Byron will take over the No. 24 Chevrolet, with incumbent Chase Elliott switching to the No. 9 with his current 24 crew) next season.

Despite being locked into the zone of his own championship pursuit in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs – with the prospect of being on the wrong side of the cutoff line looming in Sunday’s Kansas Lottery 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN) – Johnson has begun to take the future of Hendrick Motorsports under his wing.

The lunch was more than just grabbing some food (perhaps tacos, at Johnson’s new Charlotte restaurant, Southbound) – it offered a chance for the upstarts to get inside the mind of one of NASCAR’s most prolific drivers of all time.

And part of that mentality? Just having a good time, cracking jokes and enjoying life.

“We were just going out to lunch; as a group we were just doing some things in the simulator and stuff like that. It was fun to kind of take that picture,” Byron said Friday before hitting the 1.5-mile track for practice ahead of Saturday’s XFINITY Series Playoff race, the Kansas Lottery 300 (3 p.m. ET, NBC). “The funny part was supposed to be being in the car seats. That was funny.”

More seriously, Johnson has spent time in the simulator over the past few weeks with his pupils, guiding the protégés and offering his tips and tricks to particular tracks.

The lessons are invaluable, and could pay dividends immediately. Johnson is the all-time wins leader at the Kansas City track — his three wins tied with Jeff Gordon — and Byron is aiming to continue his run atop the playoff standings with a solid showing in his first XFINITY start here.

Thanks to Johnson’s tutelage, Byron enters the weekend with a champion’s mindset.

“That was cool to kind of spend time with him and pull from his knowledge and just learn how he was going to approach this weekend,” said Byron. “It seems like he’s really ready to go. “We’re going to take the same approach and try and execute this weekend and hopefully have a good weekend.”

Posted on October 20, 2017August 15, 2018 by Staff Report

Kyle Larson sped to the top of the leaderboard in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice Friday afternoon at Kansas Speedway.

Larson pushed the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet to a best lap of 189.056 mph around the 1.5-mile Kansas City track. He sits third in the NASCAR Playoffs standings ahead of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the final race in the postseason’s Round of 12.

Kevin Harvick, a two-time Kansas winner, was second-fastest in the 85-minute session, clocking 187.500 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford. Kyle Busch was third in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota with Ryan Blaney fourth in the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford.

Series points leader Martin Truex Jr. turned in the fifth-fastest lap in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota, as championship-eligible drivers swept the top five. Both he and Brad Keselowski (24th-fastest in first practice) have automatically advanced to the Round of 8 by virtue of their victories earlier in the current round.

Driver Comparison

Kyle Busch

Martin Truex Jr.

Kevin Harvick

All Others

View Data

The top spot changed hands several times over the last half-hour of practice as teams turned their focus to making mock qualifying passes. Coors Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled Friday at 6:15 p.m. ET (NBCSN) for the sixth event in the 10-race Playoffs.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet brushed the outside retaining wall at the exit of Turn 4 at approximately the 15-minute mark of practice.

Posted on October 20, 2017August 15, 2018 by DraftKings

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Driver rankings for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway are based on a mixture of expected output and DraftKings’ NASCAR salaries for that day. The ordering is not based on highest projected fantasy totals, but rather by value of each driver.

(FPPK = average fantasy points per $1,000 of salary.)

1. Martin Truex, Jr. ($10,800) — Nothing has changed: He’s still the NASCAR daily fantasy darling. Truex’s high level of consistency might be the best season by an athlete in any daily fantasy sport ever, as he has sat atop the leaderboard since March. (6.4 FPPK)

2. Kyle Busch ($10,300) — He needs to win, or if he runs up front in Stage 1 and 2, he possibly could advance with a top-five finish. It’s complicated, and it will change throughout the race, but winning would make the math a lot easier for Busch, who has five consecutive top-five finishes at Kansas. (5.4 FPPK)

3. Kyle Larson ($9,800) — He was conspicuously slow last month at Chicago to start the playoffs. The No. 42 was a top-five car, but it could not challenge the leader. It’s hard to pass the leader. It’s called aerodynamics. Two weeks ago at Charlotte, Larson never led, but he earned the second-most fast-lap points. (5.6 FPPK)

4. Kevin Harvick ($9,600) — As the season progresses, the Stewart-Haas Racing team learns more and more about its new Ford. In the last two intermediate track races, Harvick’s car has come alive. At Chicago, he ran 26 fast laps. He followed that with 86 fast laps at Charlotte. (4.3 FPPK)

5. Chase Elliott ($9,100) — Charlotte and Chicago are both intermediate tracks, and Dover is not that much different. Most teams run a similar setup at Dover and Charlotte. Elliott’s average running position at Chicago was second. It was fourth at Dover and third at Charlotte. (4.1 FPPK)

6. Jimmie Johnson ($9,900) — As long as Kyle Busch doesn’t win, a top-10 finish will advance Johnson to Round 3. A top-five likely will lock him into the next round. In the last four Kansas races, Johnson has three top-five finishes. (3.8 FPPK)

7. Ryan Blaney ($8,500) — He started on pole in the first Kansas race and went on to score 19 fast-lap points and 21 laps-led points. Those points did not come at the very beginning, when he had the ideal track position. He battled the entire race, leading laps eight separate times. (2.8 FPPK)

8. Denny Hamlin ($8,5800) — In the last eight intermediate track races, Hamlin’s average running position was seventh or better in each race. He’s fast but not the fastest. Only once has Hamlin earned significant fast-lap points, and that was in his encumbered win at Darlington. (4.1 FPPK)

9. Erik Jones ($8,000) — He had one of the best cars at the intermediate tracks in the summer, and his car still is the same. The difference has been starting position. The Charlotte and Chicago races were not that racey. Even a Toyota will struggle to pass 20 cars. (4.1 FPPK)

10. Brad Keselowski ($10,100) — Just like the final race of Round 1, this race is meaningless. Keselowski can earn playoff points by winning a stage. That’s one point. It would be a near miracle for BK to find the speed to outrace the Toyotas. If he does, it’s one point. He’s just out there this week. (4.2 FPPK)

11. Joey Logano ($9,300) — The No. 22 team is experimenting. Practice times will be hard to trust. When it comes to an actual race, it might go back to its original setups, or maybe it will find something and compete with the Toyotas. (3.3 FPPK)

12. Kurt Busch ($8,100) — Too many drivers qualify for the playoffs but only the best advance. Busch has finished worse than 19th in all five playoff races. He didn’t make it to Round 2 of the playoffs. (2.9 FPPK)

13. Jamie McMurray ($8,400) — It has been a season full of top-10s for McMurray (16). His strategy was to earn those top-10s and race up front this season, and he has accomplished that. The only thing he lacks is a win. This week, he must win to advance in the playoffs. (3.4 FPPK)

14. Matt Kenseth ($9,000) — Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch all are ahead of Kenseth in the playoff standings. A win would be nice, but Kenseth has yet to do that this season. A good finish and bad luck for the other playoff drivers is more likely. (3.7 FPPK)

15. Clint Bowyer ($8,700) — This has been a disappointing season, as the expectations were too high for Bowyer’s first season with SHR. No one jumps into an untested Ford and beats the Toyotas. Kansas is a home race for Bowyer, but he has just two top-five finishes in 18 races at his home track. (3.3 FPPK)

16. Ryan Newman ($7,600) — He has finished 12th or better in six of the last seven races at Kansas. His six-race, top-12 streak was snapped in May when he suffered an oil pump failure and finished 40th. (4.3 FPPK)

17. Daniel Suarez ($7,400) — The best way to decide whether or not to roster Suarez is to scratch off his name. This is the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing car. There is a real stigma surrounding Suarez, who’s consistently underpriced, but he has the 10th-best average finish this season. (4.1 FPPK)

18. Kasey Kahne ($8,300) — To say Kahne has struggled at intermediate tracks is an understatement. Two weeks ago, Kahne finished ninth at Charlotte. A top-10 at Kansas is not a stretch, as Kahne’s worst average running position in the last six races there is 16th. (3.1 FPPK)

19. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. ($7,800) — This is not a great situation for Stenhouse. He needs to win to advance in the playoffs, but he has led just two laps at an intermediate track this year (Charlotte in May). (3.8 FPPK)

20. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ($8,300) — The father-to-be is on his hottest streak of the season. He finished seventh at Dover, 12th at Charlotte and seventh at Talladega. It would be really easy to mock those numbers, but let’s be positive. Junior is in contention for a top-10 finish this weekend. (2.8 FPPK)

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Posted on October 20, 2017August 16, 2018 by Chase Wilhelm

Editor’s note: This story is part of our Fit Row series that focuses on the health and fitness aspects of racing and its superstar drivers. Presented by Lilly Diabetes, the exclusive diabetes health partner of NASCAR, the series will feature 10 themed stories.

Every Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team looks for any type of edge on the competition — both on and off the race track.

At Joe Gibbs Racing, extra attention on the health and fitness of members in their organization is just one reason why the four-car Toyota brigade has achieved so much success.

JGR has gone all-in when it comes to focusing on human performance, and that process accelerated with the addition of its new, state-of-the-art sports medicine room, which opened in January.

Before walking into the medicine room, you’re welcomed into the approximately 4,000-square foot training facility through the organization’s impressive gym, housing a wide range of fitness machines utilized by JGR’s fleet of drivers and crew members.

A quick turn to the left and you walk right into the spacious medicine room that overlooks the gym, holding multiple massage tables and chairs, a space for stretching activities, various equipment to service injuries and hot and cool tubs for recovery purposes.

Driver Comparison

Kyle Busch

Martin Truex Jr.

Kevin Harvick

All Others

View Data

MORE FIT ROW: How Bowyer stays active … on a farm

The room even holds a ballet bar with a mirror, a popular tool with the guys while working on various stretching techniques.

“When we renovated, we looked toward a bigger PT (personal training) area,” said Michael Lepp, JGR’s senior athletic director. “We wanted to have it ready for the season. A lot of the things we were doing were in closer quarters. This is all still relatively new to the sport.”

It’s a space they had to build from the ground up — literally.

“There was no floor here,” Lepp said. “We didn’t know what we could do because this was actually the drop-off to the engine room. So, we had to build a floor.”

The renovation of JGR’s training facilities began roughly four years ago when the team brought on full-time doctor and physical therapy specialist Jena Gatses.

Gatses had a vision for an upgraded space that would give JGR the opportunity to take personal training to the next level — all conveniently located under one roof. After a collective team effort, she was able to make that vision an incredible reality.

“I gave (Lepp) the base of everything and what we needed it (the medicine room) for,” Gatses said. “He trusted me because the guys gave him the feedback and they’ve learned to trust me.

“It’s unbelievable. I’m so lucky because no other PT gets to go beyond mediocre.”

MORE: JGR’s push for excellence in pit crew training

The room gives Gatses a chance to really hone in on the needs of JGR’s drivers and crew members, serving as the organization’s own personal doctor’s office. It continues to put the team at the forefront of health and wellness.

“As far as personal training, strength and conditioning and on-site people, all of that is new,” Gatses said. “Now it’s about let’s better you in your position and your skill. I’ll get you normal, then I also work on preventative stuff.

“You see someone get hurt and then you nurse them back to health, then you see them get better. We even have different attachments and stuff we’ve created with our engineers to PT and rehab them back to their actual job. So, if they get hurt and the race is on the weekend, we’re not just going to wait and see on Sunday and see what happens. We’re going to modify things and test it here first.”

MORE FIT ROW: McMurray in thick of cycling craze

It doesn’t just stop at providing the quality facilities necessary to achieve a higher level of physical performance. Constant dedication to keeping up with the latest medical research plays a huge part, as well.

“We are up-to-date with modern science and clinical experience,” Gatses said. “Just doing it and learning it every single day and working to just getting them as good as good as they can be every single week.

“With medical stuff, everything always changes. You could be right one day, then the next research comes out and says you were wrong. It takes a lot of education and you can’t force it on people.”

At the end of the day, it’s all about taking care of the JGR family. Gatses and Lepp are both very thankful they have all the facilities and resources imaginable to do so.

In a sport where success is separated by thousandths of an inch or thousandths of a second, JGR has taken great strides to ensure its pit crews are on the cutting edge of health and fitness.

“Motorsports is about marginal gains,” Lepp said. “Human performance is 10 marginal gains that might give you a tenth of a second. It’s not we found this one big thing that turned around everything. It’s not some big thing a team finds, it’s usually a bunch of little things. In human performance, it’s about small gains that you implement.”

Posted on October 20, 2017October 29, 2017 by Staff Report

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series each open the Round of 8 for their respective playoffs at Martinsville Speedway.

Monster Energy Series on-track events are also live streamed online on the NBC Sports App, which can be accessed here. Check out the full on-track weekend schedule below.

Note: All times are ET

SUNDAY, OCT. 29
12:05 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results) (Canada: TSN 2)
3 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series First Data 500, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (500 laps, 263 miles) (Follow Live) (Canada: TSN 4, 5)

PRE-RACE SCHEDULE
1:30:00 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Driver/Crew Chief Meeting (Outside Turn 4)
2:20:00 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Driver Introductions
2:59:15 p.m.: Pledge of Allegiance: TBD
3:00:00 p.m.: Intro Presentation of Colors by: Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Regimental Color Guard
3:00:20 p.m.: Invocation by: Mike Hatfield, Chatham Heights Baptist Church
3:01:00 p.m.: National Anthem by: Gaither Vocal Band
3:02:30 p.m.: Fly by TOT: The Bandit Flight Team (Turn 4 to 1)
3:07:30 p.m.: “Drivers, Start Your Engines” by: Frank Bisignano, First Data CEO and Chairman
3:13:00 p.m.: Start of the “First Data 500” (500 Laps, 263 Miles)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
6:30 p.m. (approx.): Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

FRIDAY, OCT. 27
1-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, FS1 (Results)
3-4:07 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS1 (Results)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
11:30 a.m.: Jeb Burton and Harrison Burton
12:15 p.m.: Christopher Bell, Ben Rhodes and Johnny Sauter

SATURDAY, OCT. 28
10 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS1 (Results)
11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBC Sports App (Results) (Canada: TSN GO)
1 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Texas Roadhouse 200 presented by Alpha Energy Solutions, FS1 (200 laps, 105.2 miles) (Results)
4-4:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results) (Canada: TSN GO)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
10 a.m.: Eddie & Len Wood with Ryan Blaney
10:30 a.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
11 a.m.: Denny Hamlin
2:30 p.m. (approx.): Post-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race

GARAGECAM (Watch Live)
11 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series