Aric Almirola featured in FS1’s newest documentary

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Staff Report

Editor’s note: The “El Corredor” documentary will air Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. ET on FS1’s “Race Hub” program.

For Aric Almirola, knowing where he came from and experiencing it are two different things.

At 6 p.m. ET on Sept. 27, “Race Hub” on FS1 will air its newest short documentary, titled El Corredor. Featuring Almirola, cameras follow the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver for Richard Petty Motorsports as he travels to Cuba for the very first time. In doing so, Almirola was able to trace his family roots and take in the Cuban culture.

Says Almirola: “I want to go to Cuba and see who I am and how I got to be a Cuban American who drives in NASCAR.”

Almirola was born on an Air Force Base in Florida in March of 1984 after his family fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

Posted on September 26, 2017June 21, 2021 by Staff Report

Two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams are scheduled to take part in a single-day Goodyear tire test Tuesday, Sept. 26 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Erik Jones will test for Furniture Row Racing (Toyota) while Ty Dillon is scheduled to participate in the test in an entry out of the Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) stable. Dillon competes in the series for Germain Racing.

Two organizations scheduled to take part in the 2018 development test have decided to bypass the event — Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford) and JTG Daugherty Racing (Chevrolet).

The Bristol tire test is open to the public; fans wishing to attend are asked to enter Gate 6 to access the grandstands.

Bristol Motor Speedway, a high-banked .533-mile oval, hosts two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races annually, as well as two XFINITY Series races and one Camping World Truck Series race.

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Staff Report

There are eight races left in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, and paint schemes for the No. 88 Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. have been determined for seven.

Fans will determine No. 8, slated to be run at Martinsville Speedway in the Oct. 29 First Data 500.

Nationwide’s “Pick the 88 Paint Scheme” promotion gives race fans the opportunity to vote for one of eight Nationwide paint schemes run by the Hendrick Motorsports driver from 2015-17.

MORE: Photos of iconic Earnhardt schemes

Those who vote also can enter for a chance to win Earnhardt’s signed gloves from the Martinsville race as well as a signed replica helmet.

To vote, go to www.Pickthe88PaintScheme.com. Current vote totals can be seen on the voting site.

The promotion is scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. ET, Tuesday, Sept. 26. The winning scheme will be revealed Sept. 27.

Earnhardt, voted the National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver for 14 consecutive years, is retiring from Monster Energy Series competition at the end of the 2017 season. He has 26 career wins in the series and is a two-time champion in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

Nationwide has been a primary sponsor of Earnhardt’s No. 88 entry since 2014.

RELATED: Junior through the years

Posted on September 25, 2017September 26, 2017 by Brad Norman

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The oldest track in NASCAR history got a modern makeover for its 70th anniversary.

On Sept. 23, for the first time ever, cars turned left under permanent LED lights at Martinsville Speedway in front of thousands who came out to be a part of history — including Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez, who enjoyed the late-model stock car action as fans. Dale Earnhardt Jr. even joined in on the action on Twitter.

The $5 million initiative — described as an “insurance policy” for late-afternoon finishes by track president Clay Campbell– was announced almost a year ago. Saturday’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300 race didn’t begin until 9:15 p.m. ET, which allowed the crowd to experience the lights in all their glory.

“Fan experience is going to be top notch, and the other thing is the 4k broadcasting ability,” said Keith Guzy, account manager at Graybar, the company that designed, built and installed the LED lights. “We think the overall fan experience and being able to do the 4k broadcasting is going to be second-to-none.”

Martinsville Speedway | Graybar

Colton Quinn, one of the engineers and designers on the project for Graybar, told NASCAR.com that the team wasn’t going to be satisfied until Martinsville Speedway looked exactly how it envisioned everything.

And he thinks the lights are pretty darn close.

“When we designed Martinsville, we went off a bunch of standards and made it right,” Quinn said. “A lot of what went into it was a lot of trial and error. It took about 15 iterations and designs. We ended up with a great product: cutting edge and LED.”

The feedback from drivers has already begun already rolling in, too.

“They’ve (drivers) said it’s better than racing under daylight, and there’s a reason for it. There’s a lot of thought behind it. There’s a lot of engineering that went into it. To make it right you’ve got to take your time.”

Although the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at Martinsville on Oct. 29 won’t be a night race, on the off-chance that it’s delayed, Martinsville Speedway will be ready to flip the switch.

As they say, let there be light.

Posted on September 25, 2017September 25, 2017 by NASCAR Statement

“Sports are a unifying influence in our society, bringing people of differing backgrounds and beliefs together. Our respect for the national anthem has always been a hallmark of our pre-race events. Thanks to the sacrifices of many, we live in a country of unparalleled freedoms and countless liberties, including the right to peacefully express one’s opinion.”

Posted on September 24, 2017September 24, 2017 by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. — A major, jaw-dropping moment in the NASCAR Playoffs happened near the conclusion of Stage 2 of Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Kevin Harvick and Austin Dillon made contact near Turn 2, causing billows of smoke to obstruct clear view of the track for the rest of the field, resulting in a major pileup. Several drivers were involved, including a handful of players in the NASCAR Playoffs.

Here’s the ripple effect of how drivers racing for the Monster Energy Series title were impacted from the wreck. All of the drivers below were involved in the incident except Ryan Newman, who benefited indirectly.

Martin Truex Jr., fifth place: Truex had the best rebound of any driver involved in the incident, driving his tail off in the Final Stage to cull together a top-five finish — and nearly a win, had his late two-tire strategy panned out. The Furniture Row Racing driver was already locked into the Round of 12, anyway, so he was the driver who could’ve afforded a hiccup the most … but that’s not how the No. 78 team rolls.

Denny Hamlin, 12th place: Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota had a loose wheel shortly into the Final Stage, forcing his team to come down pit road for an unscheduled stop. It’s unclear if the issue was related to the wreck, but possible if not likely. Either way, a 12th-place finish for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is much, much better than things could have been. He leaves Loudon a relatively safe fifth in the playoffs standings.

Ryan Newman, 13th place: The fickleness of the playoffs shines brightly here, as Newman placed 13th — like Hamlin, a solid rebound — but still sits 14th in terms of standings. It helped him that Kurt Busch took a tumble, but Newman was unable to capitalize with a better finish. As such, he’s a single point from the cutoff line, but another above-average run at Dover could be enough to move the No. 31 onto the next round.

Austin Dillon, 19th place: The wreck didn’t hurt Dillon tremendously in terms of his finishing position — he didn’t run higher than 13th or lower than 20th despite the snafu, keeping in line with his previous three finishes at NHMS of 13th, 16th and 15th place. It also didn’t help him. He’s a driver that competitors will be focusing on at Dover, as he heads to the ‘Monster Mile’ sitting right on the bubble with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Kevin Harvick, 36th place: For as bad as the wreck itself was, Harvick was able to sustain a poor finish like this and remain in good standing by virtue of the playoffs points he collected during the season and last week’s third-place finish. The 2014 champion is 25 points above the cutoff line, and as long as he can avoid another subpar 37th-place finish like he endured at last year’s fall Dover race, there’s a better-than-not chance he’ll slide through to the next round.

Kurt Busch, 37th place: The impact for the Daytona 500 winner was massive. There isn’t much worse luck than being obstructed and plowing head-first into your teammate, but the situation is more difficult for Busch than Harvick. The veteran leaves New Hampshire second-to-last in the playoffs standings, but the cutoff line is within sight: he’s 17 points behind Stenhouse/Dillon for the final spot. That said — drivers ahead of him in the standings can afford to race a little more cautiously than he’ll have to, so Busch finds himself in a bit of a win-or-bust scenario next week at Dover.

Posted on September 24, 2017September 24, 2017 by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. — Second verse, (much) better than the first.

Joe Gibbs Racing made a pit crew swap to Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota team heading into the NASCAR Playoffs, moving the No. 19 crew of teammate Daniel Suarez over to the 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion’s pit box.

Last week at Chicagoland Speedway there were a few bumps in the road in the postseason opener. Busch led a race-high 85 laps in the event but came away with a 15th-place finish after an unscheduled extra pit stop that stemmed from a loose right-rear wheel. To make matters worse, the team was hit with a penalty for coming over the wall too soon. Busch needed to perform a pass-thru as penalty, and was unable to recover.

Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was a completely different story for the 18 crew, as Busch won the race and there were no discernible miscues to be seen on pit road.

“Pit stops are a key to the sport. They have been for as long as I’ve been involved, and they’ll continue to be I assume,” crew chief Adam Stevens said after celebrating his team’s third win of 2017. “You know, we had a couple hiccups last week, and like I said pre-race, loose wheels happen, they happen to everybody, and then we made a mistake serving our penalty.”

A leader is one that has a certain degree of accountability, and Stevens showed such leadership.

“I put as much of that on myself for not covering all my bases communicating with a new group of guys. I could have done a better job, and it bit us.”

Stevens continued to explain that the move was a calculated decision made over the course of the season as the team assessed many aspects. With eight races remaining, the team has to be pleased with the response to last week’s misfire — after all, winning cures all.

“Moving forward from that, you know, they’re trained professionals,” Stevens said. “They’re the best in the world at what they do, and we made that decision based off of months and months of data and lots of meetings and lots of heartache, and we’re not going to unmake it based off of one week’s data.

“I think it showed today that that was a good call, and I think the guys did a great job and rose to the occasion, and I expect nothing less of them the rest of the year.”

Posted on September 24, 2017September 27, 2017 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.

All Monster Energy Series and XFINITY Series events are also live streamed online on the NBC Sports App, which can be accessed here. Events that are only available on NBC Sports App are noted below.

Monday, Sept. 25
1:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at New Hampshire (replay), FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Tuesday, Sept. 26
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, Sept. 27
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, Sept. 28
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NWMT: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Friday, Sept. 29
10 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Dover, NBCSN
12 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Dover, NBCSN
2:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice at Dover, NBCSN
3:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying at Dover, NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN

Saturday, Sept. 30
11:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying at Dover, CNBC
1 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice at Dover, CNBC
2:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Countdown to Green at Dover, NBCSN
3 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200 at Dover, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying at Las Vegas, FS2
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series SetUp at Las Vegas, FS1
8 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Las Vegas 350, FS1

Sunday, Oct. 1
11:30 a.m., NASCAR RaceDay at Dover, FS1
1:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Countdown to Green at Dover, NBCSN
2 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Apache Warrior 400 at Dover, NBCSN
5:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Post-Race Show at Dover, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN

Posted on September 24, 2017September 24, 2017 by Staff Report

As Kyle Busch advanced into the Round of 12 of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski also had reason to celebrate.

Following Sunday’s ISM Connect 300, NASCAR confirmed that both Larson and Keselowski have clinched Round of 12 spots on points.

Along with Martin Truex Jr.’s victory at Chicagoland Speedway, that means only eight spots remain as the Monster Energy Series looks ahead to the first playoff elimination race next Sunday at Dover International Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. currently holds the 12th and final spot in the standings, while Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne find themselves on the outside looking in with one race remaining in the Round of 16.

Posted on September 24, 2017September 25, 2017 by Reid Spencer

LOUDON, N.H. – Kyle Busch didn’t need a smokescreen to win Sunday’s ISM Connect 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – he simply had to survive one.

Driving unscathed through a cloud of smoke on the backstretch on the final lap of the second stage, Busch, the polesitter, took control of the race at the halfway point and beat Kyle Larson to the finish line by 2.641 seconds.

In winning for the third time this season, the third time at Loudon and the 41st time in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, Busch led 187 of 300 laps at the 1.058-mile track and locked up a spot in the Round of 12.

But Busch had a close call when contact between Austin Dillon’s Chevrolet and Kevin Harvick’s Ford on Lap 150 turned Harvick sideways and lit up his tires. Kurt Busch plowed into the side of Harvick’s car, followed by Jeffrey Earnhardt.

MORE: Wreck takes out playoffs drivers

The No. 78 Toyota of race leader and first stage winner Martin Truex Jr. was collateral damage in the wreck, as was the Chevy of Dale Earnhardt Jr., but the race winner slowed dramatically and squeezed between Harvick’s disabled car and the outside wall to win the second stage under caution.

From that point on, Busch was in control, save for a three-lap stint late in the race when Truex took a short-lived lead with a two-tire stop under caution.

“That was pretty intense,” Busch said of the wreck he avoided. “That was some ‘Days of Thunder’ stuff over there. You couldn’t see anything. It was just a wall of smoke over there off of Turn 2. I was listening to my spotter and basically was told to stop, and I was like ‘Sounds like a good idea.’

“I just checked up as much as I could. Of course, I was trying not to get run into from behind. I didn’t know who was behind me – I knew (eventual third-place finisher) Matt (Kenseth) was there. But all in all, just a great day. We ran up front all day long, we executed, we did what we were supposed to do, and it’s awesome to win here in the Granite State in front of these fans.”

PHOTOS: Wreck shots, plus more from Loudon

Busch wasn’t the only driver to secure a spot in the Round of 12. Larson and fourth-place finisher Brad Keselowski also are assured of advancing on points. With Truex gaining the next round thanks to his victory in last Sunday’s Playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway, four of the 12 berths are taken.

Larson finished second for the eighth time this season.

“I kind of ran around third to fifth all race long,” said Larson, who led Lap 77 under caution – the only lap not led by either Busch or Truex. “I felt like I wasn’t great on short runs, but I was really good on long runs, which was kind of opposite of practice. I was kind of happy about that. Got a good restart there at the end, got to second, and kept my pace up with Kyle a little bit there.

“But he could just get pointed a little bit better than me and get the throttle down where I would spin my tires a little bit. Too loose there on the short run, but if we could have had a long run, maybe who knows? But he was fast, 78 (Truex) was fast, Matt (Kenseth) was really good, so I thought we were probably fourth best or so.”

Truex finished fifth after falling to 17th after the Lap 150 wreck deprived him of the stage win. Non-Playoff drivers Erik Jones, Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez grabbed the sixth through eighth spots, respectively, followed by Ryan Blaney in ninth and Joey Logano in 10th.

Harvick finished 36th and fell to 10th in the standings. The news was worse for Kurt Busch, who had no margin for error. Busch ended the day in 37th place, dropping to 15th in the Playoff standings, 17 points below the current cutoff for the Round of 12.

Calamity also befell Kasey Kahne, who started the weekend with a new crew chief, Darian Grubb, and a ninth-place qualifying effort. But a broken rear suspension part sent Kahne to the garage for 11 laps and dropped him to 35th at the finish.

Kahne heads to Dover 16th in the series standings, likely needing a victory at the Monster Mile to keep his title hopes alive in his last season behind the wheel of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.