Posted on by Staff Report

Veteran crew chief Darian Grubb will remain on the pit box full time in 2018. Hendrick Motorsports announced Wednesday Grubb will serve as crew chief for William Byron and the No. 24 team beginning next year, which completes the 2018 lineup for the four-car operation.

Grubb currently is crew chief of Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 team, a position he has held since Sept. 18, 2017, when he took over for Keith Rodden. Grubb, 42, won the 2011 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship with Tony Stewart. He has 23 wins in NASCAR’s top series.

RELATED: See Hendrick’s 2018 Daytona 500 paint schemes

“This is our last major piece of the puzzle for next season,” team owner Rick Hendrick said in a press release. “Darian is an all-around terrific person and a proven winner. The experience and leadership he brings will be a difference-maker for William and everyone on the team. He has a clear vision for the future and already is plugged in with our other crew chiefs. He’s a great fit.”

Hendrick Motorsports’ 2018 lineup is now complete with Wednesday’s news. The rest of the four-car lineup is Chase Elliott-Alan Gustafson in the No. 9; Jimmie Johnson-Chad Knaus in the No. 48; and Alex Bowman-Greg Ives in the No. 88.

Byron, currently competing for a championship in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, was signed by Hendrick as a developmental driver in 2016. His ascension to NASCAR’s top level has been swift, with one full-time season in both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (seven wins in 2016) and NASCAR XFINITY Series (three wins so far in 2017) under his belt.

MORE: Byron, Elliott get new numbers

“I have so much respect for Darian and everything he’s accomplished in this sport,” Byron said. “There aren’t many people with a résumé like his, and I will definitely tap into that knowledge from day one. He knows how to win races and win championships. To have that kind of person leading the No. 24 team gives me a ton of confidence about what we can all do together.”

Grubb originally joined Hendrick Motorsports in January 2003 and served as the lead race engineer for the No. 48 Chevrolet and driver Johnson from 2003-2006, including four races as interim crew chief during the team’s 2006 championship season.

In 2009, Grubb moved into a crew chief role at Stewart-Haas Racing and then joined Joe Gibbs Racing, winning nine races from 2012-2015 as crew chief for drivers Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards. Grubb rejoined Hendrick Motorsports in January 2016 to oversee race car manufacturing as vehicle production director and was recently promoted to director of competition systems.

“The opportunity to work with William and the No. 24 team is big,” Grubb said. “William is a phenomenal young driver and already a great communicator in the race car. I’m looking forward to building a strong relationship with him and working with Alan, Chad, Greg and all of our talented people. Everyone on the team will be committed to continuing the winning tradition of the No. 24.”

PHOTOS: History of the 24 car

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Watch today’s live stream

Tune in Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET as the Glass Case of Emotion Podcast, starring Wood Brothers Racing driver Ryan Blaney, broadcasts live from Las Vegas and the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show.

Blaney will make a special announcement, so come back to NASCAR.com at 2 p.m. ET or bookmark this page and return for some early afternoon/lunchtime fun, depending on your time zone.

Check out the full library of Glass of Case of Emotion podcasts here to get fun takes on the world of NASCAR from Blaney, co-hosts Kim Coon and Chuck Bush and other special guests.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s complete history at Texas

For his final full-time season as a driver, NASCAR.com will offer an analytical preview on Dale Earnhardt Jr. ahead of every remaining Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Race: AAA Texas 500

Date: Sunday, Nov. 5, 2 p.m. ET (NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Previous five results at Texas: 5th, 2nd, 6th, 3rd, 6th

RELATED: All of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s wins in the Monster Energy Series

Notable: Earnhardt Jr. won the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points race of his career at TMS, but he has failed to repeat the feat in the 28 other visits to the 1.5-mile track. However, statistically speaking Texas has been a good track for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, with seven top-five and 18 top-10 finishes there. His average starting and finishing positions are identical — 13.1 and second best among all 24 tracks he’s raced on in the series through the years. His fifth-place run at TMS in the spring was his first top five since June of 2016.

Memorable: Earnhardt Jr.’s victory in the DirecTV 500 at TMS came in his 12th career start in the series. After qualifying fourth, he led 106 of the race’s 334 laps, including the final 53. His winning margin over Jeff Burton was a comfortable 5.920 seconds. It was the first win for crew chief Tony Eury Sr., as well as the first victory for Dale Earnhardt Inc., the MENCS organization fielded by seven-time series champion Dale Earnhardt. “He’s like a wild horse,” Eury said of his young driver. “He’s something else; we knew the kid could do it,” the elder Earnhardt said.

Quotable: “Dad wasn’t one to waste a lot of time. There were some race tracks where he’d drive out of the race track in his uniform. He’d jump out of his car and into the rental car; he’d tell Teresa (Earnhardt) — I think he’s actually said over the radio before the race was over with to tell Richard (Childress, team owner) to tell Teresa to get the rental car ready. He was in a hurry to get out of the race track no matter what. So we won the race in Texas and he comes in there and he grabs me, said he was happy and all that. He said ‘I’m proud of you, I’m happy, enjoy this but you’ve got to find another ride home.’ He didn’t stay around for pictures or nothing. He was out of there.”

MORE: Dale Jr. dishes on wrecking other drivers

Posted on by Kathy Sheldon

RELATED: Elliott, Hamlin get face to face | Hamlin takes blame

After admitting on his Dale Junior Download podcast Tuesday that he has wrecked several drivers intentionally during his career — including himself — Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened the Twitter confessional to his fellow drivers Halloween night, using the hashtag #IWreckedEm.

In the podcast, Junior addressed the race- and playoffs-changing incident at Martinsville in which Denny Hamlin put his No. 11 Toyota’s bumper to Chase Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet, after Elliott had just taken the lead with four laps to go and appeared on target to claim his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory before wrecking.

WATCH: Denny Hamlin puts the bumper to Chase Elliott

Junior said, “I’d be surprised if there’s a driver who hasn’t intentionally wrecked somebody in their career.” Then he admitted to wrecking Kerry Lawrence, Stanton Barrett and Kasey Kahne over the years — and lastly Kyle Busch in 2008 at Richmond. The No. 88 driver admitted he was fined for a self-spin at Bristol because he bragged about the strategy play too much afterward.

He opened up the floodgates of self-cleansing with a reply to Landon Cassill later on social media, who tweeted, “In light of Dale’s humble admissions, I want to be the first to say to anyone I may have wrecked in the past, … you probably deserved it.”

Junior advised Cassill and others:

Travis Kvapil was paying attention and got an admission out of Junior.

Podcast cohort Mike Davis reminded Earnhardt of another instance:

 

Oh yeah, and this one, too … involving Brian Vickers:

 

Cassill made a confession and apology of his own:

The confessional no doubt will stay open Wednesday — isn’t that a more common church night than Tuesday? And fans are welcome to make their confessions as well.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Busch compares Gragson to Wallace | Playoffs standings

Noah Gragson’s breakthrough victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last weekend provided a celebratory stage for one of the sport’s most vibrant new personalities. But that storybook finish at venerable Martinsville Speedway contained a bigger-picture aspect, a generational fight with an influx of young drivers making inroads against the established guard.

Gragson led the way, with Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Harrison Burton a career-best fourth and Todd Gilliland fifth, putting three teenagers — all current or former members of the NASCAR Next youth initiative — in the top five. All three held their own against a pair of veteran series champions: Matt Crafton, who finished second, and Johnny Sauter, the defending series champ who came home third in Saturday’s race.

Gragson’s impressive high-lane power move gave him the race-winning pass and a tick mark for the victory column near the end of what’s been a topsy-turvy rookie season. Plus, his catch-fence chin-up and an upset stomach afterward may well resonate as one of the year’s most unusual post-race celebrations.

All three youngsters have benefitted from the tutelage of team namesake Kyle Busch, a former premier-series champion who has long had an eye for mining young talent. “I guess you can call him Professor Kyle at the university,” says the 19-year-old Gragson, who won in his 22nd career start.

RELATED: Full schedule for Texas 

Busch happily pointed out that all four of his KBM teams have posted wins this year, led by series points leader Christopher Bell’s five victories. But at least for now, Gragson has the bragging rights as the organization’s most recent winner.

“I know Noah likes to egg some of these guys on somewhat, so he’ll be a handful the next few weeks riding the high that he’s got from today,” Busch said. “He’s fun, though. He’s — what’s the word — over-exuberant? But they have a friendly rivalry at least between all of them. Being at KBM, they have that opportunity to succeed with each other’s success.”

Burton and Gilliland, both 17, have already been in thick competition with each other in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Burton claimed this season’s championship by just eight points over Gilliland, and the two combined to win nine of the series’ 14 races.

That competitive streak has extended to the Truck tour, where the new generation has an opportunity to prove its worth against highly regarded veterans.

“We want it. Us young kids, we want it so bad. And they want it, too,” Burton said. “They’re not going to roll over and give it to us easy, but all the young kids that are in the Truck Series, they’re really hungry and we’ll do about anything to win a race. That’s some of it, and I think some of it’s just the kids coming up now have so much experience. … That kind of plays into it, and I think just confidence level plays into it as well. I think a lot of young kids are really confident coming in. That’s huge.”

Said Gilliland: “I think that’s the whole goal of the Truck Series is to make a name for yourself as a young kid and it was fun racing against the veterans like Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton out there. They’re tough, so it’s always fun to learn from them as you go and definitely earn their respect as you go.”

Posted on by Jessica Ruffin

RELATED: Hauler driver by day, ghost hunter by night

Heading west on Interstate 20, just past the state line of Alabama and en route to Talladega Superspeeedway, the names of the nearby town names begin to look a bit different.

There’s Choccolocco and Chulafinnee, located in Talladega National Forest. Continuing further toward the massive superspeedway, Eastaboga crops up, with Ohatchee and Sylacauga not too far away.

The names are no coincidence; Native American tribes, who christened the area with traditional names, once inhabited the land in the Dry Valley. Even the name Talladega comes from a Muscogee (Creek tribe) word meaning “border town.”

It’s the kind of notion that lends itself to the eerie legend of the Talladega Jinx.

•   •   •

The way the legend goes, the Talladega Jinx surfaced before the superspeedway made its stake in the Alabama soil.

There are three prevailing theories to the Jinx’s formation: The first one suggests that when Andrew Jackson and fellow Native Americans seized the surrounding land from the Creek tribe, that caused a Creek shaman to curse the land. Another says that the speedway was built upon Indian burial grounds. The final one hypothesizes that a Native American chief was thrown off his horse and killed while racing in the area.

No. 17 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series hauler driver DeWayne “Ryder” Zirkle — who moonlights as a certified paranormal investigator — doesn’t believe in the legend of the Talladega Jinx, per say. He’s been coming to the Alabama track since 1990 and hasn’t experienced anything supernatural or strange personally.

But, he added, with all the history and stories, there’s got to be something to it.

“When you come into Talladega, there is a different feeling, there’s a different aura,” Ryder said. “It’s a huge place, it’s just a giant place and a lot of ground covered and I’m sure there’s things covered under this ground, too …

“Lots of people have the Sixth Sense — you can kind of feel or sense things that just aren’t right,” he continued. “From the time you pull into this place — I arrived the other morning at 3 o’clock in the morning — you get the eerie feeling somebody’s watching, somebody’s there, something’s going to happen.”

RELATED: @nascarcasm’s seven-word scary NASCAR stories

In 1973, Bobby Isaac was leading the race at Talladega when reports say that he heard voices telling him to get out of the car immediately. He pulled into the pits and refused to finish the race.

“Some say it’s sinister, some say it’s cursed, some say it’s just ghosts,” Ryder said with a slight smile. “Whatever — there’s a lot happening here and a lot of people have said that when you come onto the track, something almost takes your mind over and you do things here that you normally don’t do anywhere else.”

•   •   •

No. 6 hauler driver Scott “Poptop” Clodfelter is one of those who believes the legend.

He’s been venturing south to Talladega with Roush Fenway Racing since 2008 and nearly every time he makes the trip down south, he has unexplainable problems with the truck.

Problems that he doesn’t typically experience anywhere else but down in Alabama.

“It seems like for whatever reason when I go to Talladega — either on my way to Talladega or while I am there or on my way back — I seem to have some kind of issue related to travel with the truck,” Poptop said. “I’ve broke down coming back from that location several times — I’ve even had to be towed out of the interstate after I left Talladega Superspeedway within about five miles of the speedway.

“We’ve all had troubles on the road before with the trucks, trailers, as many miles as we’ve traveled,” he acknowledged later. “But it’s just so ironic.”

This past trip, he began having mechanical issues with the hauler when he arrived in Alabama, issues that plagued him the entire weekend. When he arrived back in North Carolina, though, those issues seemed to dissipate.

“We get back to North Carolina and have those issues repaired and there’s nothing to repair because nothing’s broke….” he said.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind that something weird is going to happen when I go over there.”

•   •   •

It’s a curious place, that Talladega Superspeedway. Beloved by many, NASCAR’s largest premier series track houses large crowds twice each year for races that always seem to thrill.

But beyond the sound of the exhaust and engines, smell of the campfire and all the (fittingly, sometimes weird and spooky) sights that Talladega Boulevard brings, there’s this legend of the Talladega Jinx.

And regardless of its veracity, it’s a spooky good tale for sitting around the campfire on those cool nights — or for Halloween.

Well, maybe not good for everyone.

“Think I’m going to start trying to respect it a little bit more, maybe I’ll have better luck the next time I go,” Poptop said with a chuckle.

Cue spooky music — hey, it’s Halloween.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Tempers flare for Hamlin, Elliott | Hamlin apologizes, regrets outcome

Will Sunday’s Chase Elliott vs. Denny Hamlin dust-up from Martinsville Speedway carry over to next week?

Maybe so, maybe no. But at least according to Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports entry, the rules of engagement going forward may have changed. 

“I’m cool with it,” Gustafson said from pit road after surveying the damage to Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet. “When we have his back tires jacked up going into probably (turn) three at Texas, that’ll be a bigger corner, then just be good with that, too.”

MORE: Martinsville fans swing to Elliott | Elliott offers his take | Hamlin’s side of things

With the opportunities to advance to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ championship stage dwindling, it’s clear the gloves are off for at least two of the eight drivers still alive in the Playoffs. Elliott’s hurt feelings were evident in post-race interviews, and with good reason. One of his best chances at making that first premier-series trip to Victory Lane — and the championship-race berth that went with it — evaporated with help from the forceful front bumper of Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota. Elliott’s post-race contact with Hamlin’s car and their confrontational words afterward underscored his frustration. 

Having Martinsville as a table-setter for the Playoffs’ Round of 8 is a high-risk, high-reward game. Gustafson knows it full well, having helped guide Jeff Gordon’s drive to a championship berth in 2015 with a clutch Martinsville win that pushed the No. 24 team to an emotional high. Sunday’s race ranked among the lows.

“I don’t know if I expected to be just wrecked, but you never know,” Gustafson said. “It’s pretty intense, and it’s Martinsville, and it’s a transfer to Homestead. Got a lot on the line, but yeah, so anything can happen.”

Gustafson has had the front-row ticket for Elliott’s development this year, a season that’s seen its share of near-misses for a breakthrough triumph. The 21-year-old driver has been a runner-up four times this season, six times in his brief Monster Energy Series career.

RELATED: Drivers with most runner-up finishes before first win

Along the way, he’s been among his own harshest critics. Sunday, Elliott had another place to lay the blame, but still had little to show for his stellar performance than 123 laps led and a 27th-place finish.

“I think he’s improved,” Gustafson said. “He’s done an incredible job and it’s unfortunate that race wins have eluded us because I think that’s the only thing that we haven’t been able to do this year. We’ve done everything else.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The drama between Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott garnered most of the attention after Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway, and justifiably so.

 

When Hamlin dumped Elliott in Turn 3 with three laps left in regulation, the entire complexion of the race — and of Elliott’s season — changed in an instant.

WATCH: Hamlin moves Elliott for the lead

 

Overshadowed, but not overlooked, was the ongoing war between Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contenders Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney, who swapped sheet metal throughout the event.

 

During a 121-lap green-flag run that consumed the second stage of the race, Harvick pounded on the bumper of Blaney’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, as Blaney used every tactic he could muster to keep Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Fusion behind him.

 

After every caution, it seemed, Blaney and Harvick would be racing in close quarters, and both ran out of patience.

 

During one sequence, after Harvick hit Blaney repeatedly from behind, Blaney turned left and door-slammed Harvick’s Ford down the frontstretch. Blaney later apologized to his team on the radio for damaging the car.

 

Both drivers were involved in a multicar wreck after race winner Kyle Busch took the checkered flag, with Harvick coming home fifth and Blaney sliding across the finish line in eighth.

 

After exiting their cars, the drivers had a pointed conversation on pit road.

 

“I just told him, I said, ‘Look, if you’re going to park it at Martinsville, you’re going to get hit,’” Harvick said. “He didn’t like getting hit, and I didn’t like the cheap shots, the brake checks and the hitting down the straightaway.

 

“It’s like I told him, I said, ‘If you want to race hard and you want to run into me after I pass you, that’s fine, but slamming me down the straightaway and brake-checking me is another thing.’ That’s the easy way to race.”

 

Blaney provided a bland explanation of the post-race conversation.

 

“We were just talking about how the race was and what we could do to avoid it the next time,” Blaney said.

 

Overall, though, it was the kind of action Harvick thrives on, and the top five was an added bonus.

 

“Bent fenders, hurt feelings — I love it,” Harvick said.

Posted on by Zack Albert

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin has enjoyed something of a home-state advantage at Martinsville Speedway, where the smoky burnouts for his five wins through the years have been cheered by mostly adoring fans.

The home-field faithful made a dramatic turn Sunday night in Martinsville’s first prime-time finish under artificial light, lustily booing the Commonwealth native for the late-race tactics that denied Chase Elliott another shot at his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win.

That same court of public opinion swung its heft behind the young Elliott, who egged on fans to a boisterous din that muffled Hamlin’s post-race interview, simulcast on the track’s big-screen ISM Vision display.

RELATED: Get full race results

Hamlin emphasized that the stakes for postseason-eligible drivers this time of the year are stratospheric, with Victory Lane visits meaning berths in the championship round at Homestead-Miami Speedway next month. That, he said, meant more than winning a popularity contest in what was formerly friendly territory.

“I don’t care about that,” Hamlin said. “I’m just trying to get to Homestead.”

MORE: Hamlin tweets apology to Elliott

And so was Elliott, whipping the crowd into anticipation each of the four times he took the lead in Sunday’s First Data 500. The table was set for another “We’re going to Homestead!” moment for the driver of the No. 24, with Elliott poised to reprise Jeff Gordon’s title-round clincher from two years ago. That bit of Martinsville magic came on yet another chilly autumn day under the onset of darkness at NASCAR’s oldest venue.

This year’s Martinsville moment for Elliott fizzled two laps before the scheduled end when Hamlin drove in aggressively in Turn 3, sending Elliott’s Chevrolet looping off his No. 11 Toyota’s nose and into the outside retaining wall.

WATCH: Hamlin makes contact with Elliott

That sent the event — the opener to the three-race Round of 8 — into overtime and stirred the crowd’s voice to new decibel levels. That ruckus heightened when Elliott broadsided Hamlin after the checkered flag and the two rivals exchanged words on the backstretch.

“Well, it’s just unnecessary,” said Elliott, who waved his arms toward the frontstretch grandstand to fan the emotional flames. “I think these fans have been coming here a long time and they know when somebody gets wrecked and when somebody had a nice fight for the lead, and that wasn’t one. That’s it.”

The fans have been coming here for a long time — 70 years to be precise — all lured in by the special brand of full-contact racing that has long been the .526-mile track’s calling card.

The addition of a high-tech LED lighting system has given Martinsville new capabilities for nighttime events. The existing capabilities — for producing slam-bang finishes and new rivalries with an overflow of emotion — remain captivating in their own right.

“All’s fair in this deal …,” Hamlin said. “Any time you get to a race track like this and get late-race restarts and you know that you have a Cup Series championship chance on the line, that’s what’s going to happen.”

Posted on by Brad Norman

RELATED: Full race results | Updated standings

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Brad Keselowski had the checkered flag in his reach Sunday night.

A race that the No. 2 Ford driver had called a “must-win” for his team, Keselowski collected two stage wins and led 108 laps, but his hope of crossing the start/finish line first crumbled quickly as he was sent up the track by Chase Elliott with less than 10 laps remaining.

“I haven’t seen the video,” Keselowski said after finishing fourth. “I just knew I got in the corner and he (Elliott) was inside me and we had contact.  I haven’t seen any more of that to really have any clarity to it.  The track is just real slick on the restarts for everybody.  You saw that.”

Under the new LED lights at the Virginia track, tensions were high as the First Data 500 came to a conclusion. With Championship 4 positions on the line for the eight remaining playoff drivers, it’s to be expected that aggressive driving comes with the territory. Especially at a track like Martinsville, and that’s something Keselowski understands.

WATCH: Tempers flare for Elliott, Hamlin

“It takes about five laps for anyone to get going or more, especially the leader, but there was a lot of hard fighting here because it’s a short track,” Keselowski said. “That’s what short tracks are kind of about is rooting and gauging.  You try not to take anybody out.”

Keselowski’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano was battling for a top-five finish late in the race until a blown tire ultimately caused him to spin out on Lap 493, which brought out a caution while Keselowski had the lead. Racing on the ensuing restart set up the eventual Keselowski-Elliott contact.

Several drivers after the race were asked if they thought the No. 22 driver, who is not in the playoff hunt, should have pitted with a tire rub to avoid a potential yellow flag, especially with his teammate leading the race.

“I think we’ve all got to be smarter for our company,” Kyle Busch, winner of the First Data 500 explained. “Certainly I think Logano lost his opportunity, lost his chance to win. I think they’re not really racing for anything, if you will … you’ve got to look at the greater good of the company, I would like to expect that our guys are smart enough to do that.”

Keselowski is third place in the NASCAR Playoffs standings — 38 points behind leader Martin Truex Jr, who notched a quiet second-place run on Sunday, but 29 points above the cutoff line.

MORE: Wrecked cars at short track