Posted on by Nascar

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Officials with Chip Ganassi Racing and driver Kyle Larson announced a two-race sponsorship with credit card processor First Data on Monday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

First Data, whose corporate headquarters are located in Atlanta, will be the primary sponsor on Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet for upcoming Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races at Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway.

First Data and Martinsville Speedway officials recently announced the company would hold the naming rights to the track’s fall Monster Energy Series race, which will now be known as the First Data 500. That agreement is for three years, according to First Data.

The company served as a sponsor on the No. 1 Chevrolet of teammate Jamie McMurray at Martinsville last season. It will return in an associate role with McMurray at Martinsville this year.

Larson, 25, has three wins this season and is currently third in points.

“Last year we got a little bit of Chip’s car,” First Data chairman and CEO Frank Bisignano said. “This year we’ve got two cars. It’s all about forward trajectory. They are great guys to be in business with.”

Larson’s team currently carries primary sponsorship from Target and its related partners, however the retailer has said it will not return after the completion of the ’17 season.

Ganassi indicated First Data could be a partner in ’18 as well. Larson said he was confident funding would be in place, adding, “We have a lot of important things to worry about the rest of this year, a championship being one of them.

“Obviously with Target leaving a lot of people are probably looking at what we have for the future and I think this (First Data relationship) is a great step.”

Ganassi, a former racer, has been a NASCAR team owner since 2001 and open-wheel owner since the late ’80s. The current sponsorship climate is nothing new to the veteran car owner.

“I guess in some respects its more difficult than it’s ever been and in other respects it’s never been easy,” Ganassi said. “It’s just part of the business. You have to go with the flow.

“We’re going to be here; this is the only business I have. We’re going to be in business. … I think (the current climate) presents opportunities for us, more than anything, to go find new businesses, new partners, new people that are interested in the sport.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: The NASCAR fan’s guide to the eclipse

Chase Elliott may be up in his plane. Trevor Bayne joked that he may ride around wearing “a welding helmet.”

Monday’s solar eclipse is big news among scientists, astronomers and others interested in what goes on in the universe.

It has its place among folks in NASCAR as well.

“I didn’t know about it until about a week and a half ago,” Elliott, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. “I was at a friend’s house and he was telling me about it and telling me what he was going to do. He’s like ‘This is this huge deal.’ I’m like ‘What is?’ I didn’t know anything about it.”

Now that he’s been brought up to speed about the celestial occurrence, Elliott thinks he might have just the solution to avoid the crowded highways and eclipse-watching spots in the northeast corner of Georgia where the total solar eclipse can be seen. Those outside the path of totality will see varying portions of a partial solar eclipse, depending on their location.

“Yeah, I’m interested; I think it’s kind of cool,” said Elliott, who has his pilot’s license. “I feel like what would be really neat would be to go fly; go take off and be flying while it happens. So, I was going to go do that, possibly, if the weather was good on Monday.

“I do have a flight to catch Monday night, so if I can make the timing work I’d like to go fly and see it from the air if we can do that.”

Fellow Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Bayne joked that he would head out during the eclipse wearing a welding helmet to avoid damaging his eyes while watching the eclipse.

“I’ll be in Knoxville, so I’m going to go put myself in the traffic and drive around with a welding helmet and see if I can’t look at the sun a little bit,” the Roush Fenway Racing driver said. “That’s what everybody says to do.

“I don’t know how my retinas are going to like it. I was expecting it to be like complete dark, you just look up at it and everybody is like, ‘No, you cannot stare at the sun.’ I’ll get out a welding helmet, I guess.”

While NASCAR-sanctioned tracks are spread across the nation, only Kansas Speedway appears to be inside the 70-mile wide path across the country where the total eclipse can be seen.

According to track officials, however, there are no eclipse-watching plans in place.

Nashville’s Fairgrounds Speedway is in the path of totality but hasn’t hosted NASCAR’s top series since 1984.

Meanwhile, Texas Motor Speedway, which is located approximately 550 miles from the path of totality, isn’t letting that distance keep officials there from throwing a party.

The Speedway Motorsports Inc.-owned property is hosting a Monday watch party for fans as well as a “celestial-themed pre-event luncheon for its staff.”

The partial eclipse seen there will be shown on Big Hoss, the world’s largest TV and streamed on the tracks’ Facebook Live page.

Darlington Raceway is a bit closer to the path, 99.1 percent of the sun will be eclipsed in that region, and is offering a Monday only, Total Eclipse weekend ticket package.

The special ticket pricing will be available from midnight Sunday, Aug. 20 until midnight Monday Aug. 21.

Posted on by George Winkler

How sweet it is for some Kyle Busch fans on the morning after ‘Rowdy’s ‘Take that!’ moment at Bristol Motor Speedway when he swept the weekend.

Busch literally stood up for these fans by climbing on the door of his car to autograph their No. 18 flag.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Busch has ‘swept away’ his fans following a dominant performance. Remember this after he swept the Martinsville races in April 2016?

Note: Video contains language some might consider explicit

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RELATED: Results | Stage recaps | At-track photo gallery

BRISTOL, Tenn. – As he battled with Erik Jones on track Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, Matt Kenseth wasn’t worrying about the fact that a Jones win could potentially knock him out of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Rather, he couldn’t help but think about the rookie that he was racing hard with for the lead.

That it was the 21-year-old Furniture Row Racing driver who would be piloting his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota next season.

“I was more thinking about ‘That’s my replacement, I better run him down and pass him and show him that I can still do it better than he can,’” Kenseth said on pit road with a laugh after finishing fourth.

“It’s human nature,” he elaborated. “Whoever you’re catching for the lead, you always think something about them, right? If you’re catching Kyle, you’re thinking ‘Oh he won those two races, I hope I can beat him, he’s the best,’ or whatever. You’re always thinking something. At least I do.

RELATED: Jones on career-best finish: ‘It’s a bummer’

“When you get when you can sniff the victory, your mindset changes a little bit. It’s not just other cars, it’s the leader, so you (think) things like that every once in a while.”

In a sense, it was almost symbolic of the changing of the guard, the way the pair was racing one another hard — especially when Jones lightly bumped Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota, nudging him for the lead.

Almost to say, “I’m here now.”

“I think it was a spirited battle,” Joe Gibbs Racing team owner Joe Gibbs said on Kenseth-Jones fight for the lead. “I think tonight was a big night for both of them. I think they fought extremely hard.”

After the race, the two were together again – this time seated side-by-side in a post-race press conference.

And the bumping was brought up.

“Did you hit me?” Kenseth asked Jones.

“Just barely,” Jones replied.

“Didn’t remember,” Kenseth said lightheartedly. “Shouldn’t have brought it up. Now I’m mad. You guys laugh, wait till we leave here.

“Takes my ride and runs into me,” he then quipped.

 RELATED: Kenseth ‘not concerned’ about future

But while Kenseth wants to be competitive and continue racing, he also seems to have come to terms with the fact that Jones will be the one driving the No. 20 Toyota next season.

Kenseth’s exact future in racing is uncertain, yes. But he’s OK with that.

“I don’t really have anything to be unhappy about,” Kenseth said with Jones still sitting beside him. “I mean, I should say, ‘Knock on wood,’ because things can turn on dime. But my life couldn’t be much better. I’ve never really been in a better place. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. There’s more to life than racing.

“Yeah, I wish it kind of maybe would have went down a different way or maybe I had another year or two there. That’s not the way it worked out. I think everything happens or doesn’t happen for a reason. It will all become clear.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Results | Stage recaps | At-track photo gallery

BRISTOL, Tenn. – It was a career-best finish for Erik Jones but it wasn’t a career-first win so the youngster from Michigan still has much to accomplish in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

But he’s getting there.

During Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Jones led more than half the 500 laps after starting from the pole, clearly had the better car at times and was chasing down fellow Toyota driver Kyle Busch in the closing laps.

Then the race ended, time expired, Busch proved uncatchable.

Second place never seemed so good and yet so bad at the same time.

RELATED: Finishing second a ‘bummer’

“You don’t want to sound like you’re whining or being a sore loser by saying it sucks to run second, but it’s a bummer,” Jones said of his runner-up finish in his No. 77 Furniture Row Racing entry. “It hurts. You know you want to win every race you’re in. This was the first shot that I really had to come really close to it in the Cup Series.

“Bristol is a really good race track for myself. I thought we had a shot at it all night, led a ton of laps.”

“A ton” being 260 and they came, for the most part, in big chunks – 45 here, 37 there, and 107 toward the end. His laps led total for this season before Saturday night? Fifty.

His final pass for the lead came on pit road when he went from second to first during a yellow flag following a spin by Chase Elliott.

Busch returned the favor on the track with 56 laps remaining, overtaking Jones for the 21st and final lead change.

RELATED: Busch fends off Jones

Jones’ last four starts have resulted in top-10 finishes of eighth, 10th, third and now second. First can’t be too far off, can it?

“I think we had this one circled,” crew chief Chris Gayle said. “We knew this one was probably our best attempt at getting into the (playoffs).

“We can still go to Richmond and do it, we just didn’t get any laps at Richmond (in the spring race). We wrecked on Lap 3 so we don’t really know what we have there.

“This was one where we felt like we had a great race car the first race, we could go back, work hard and we could contend to win. We did, just unfortunately one spot short, right?”

Jones is 16th in points, but without a win he might as well be 26th. Three drivers lower in points have been to Victory Lane, meaning they will qualify for one of the 16 available playoff spots and keep those without wins, such as Jones, out of the postseason picture.

Bristol was an opportunity to change that outlook.

“I felt like we had a really strong car in the spring,” Jones said of a top-20 run at BMS earlier this year. “Felt like I could improve myself and improve what we had in the race car compared to what we had there.

“We did that. We qualified on the pole … led a ton of laps. We just didn’t quite keep up with it.

“Yeah, this was our best shot to win. Did I feel any pressure? No. I was just actually really calm this week. I really had a sense we were going to run really well. I had a really good feeling about it.”

Jones’ stay in the No. 77 is coming to an end; he’ll move over to the No. 20 at JGR in 2018 where he will replace 2003 series champ Matt Kenseth. Saturday night, he found himself battling Kenseth on numerous occasions for position on the track.

Afterward, the two were seated side-by-side in the media center. It could have been awkward. It wasn’t.

In two weeks when the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to action at Darlington Raceway, Jones will renew his attempt to earn that first career victory.

The disappointment of Bristol will be forgotten.

Saturday night, it was still fresh.

“It’s more disappointing just because you saw him drive his guts out all day,” Gayle said of his driver. “I feel like we had the best car and I think we had the best driver. Just got a little snookered there at the end. …

“I’m proud of him. It’s disappointing but I think it just shows the talent level he has. They always tell you that you have to lose one or two before you win one and I guess this was the first one we had to lose. I guess that’s why it stings a little bit.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Kyle Busch cops Bristol triple | At-track photos

Kyle Busch admits that he has his share of detractors on social media, but after his sweeping Saturday night victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, some of NASCAR’s top drivers and personalities praised him for his latest accomplishment.

Busch prevailed in all three NASCAR national series this week, equaling the rare tripleheader sweep he achieved at the .533-mile track in 2010. He is the only driver to complete the three-race sweep at Bristol, and that prompted superlatives and applause from fellow competitor Kyle Larson and from NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip, a 12-time Bristol winner.

“It’s awesome. I appreciate that,” Busch said after learning of Larson’s compliment. “It’s an honor, a humbling statement. Larson is obviously arguably one of the most talented guys as well, too, to hit our sport in a long, long time and people will continue to say that about him as well.”

The rest of the NASCAR community had similarly kind words:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned a 23rd-place finish in his final race at Bristol Motor Speedway as a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver. That brings his average finish this season to 21.7.

But for those who were looking to place blame for this season’s struggles on Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Earnhardt had some strong words to say on Twitter following Saturday night’s race.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Results | Standings | Playoff standings | Detailed recap | At-track photos
SHOP: Kyle Busch gear | VIP TICKETS

BRISTOL, Tenn. – In a race fraught with tension, and with a pack of drivers with desperate agendas chasing him to the finish line, Kyle Busch held off Erik Jones to complete a sweep of all three NASCAR touring series with Saturday night’s keystone victory in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

In winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series main event at the .533-mile concrete track, Busch capped a long weekend that saw him win Wednesday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event and Friday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race.

Having accomplished the same feat at Bristol in 2010, Busch was the only driver in NASCAR history to achieve the three-series sweep in the same week at the same track. Now he’s the only driver to have done it twice.

Dicing through traffic on the final 79-lap green-flag run, Busch crossed the finish line 1.422 seconds ahead of Jones, a Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender, who will join the race winner as a teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing next year.

“Man, Erik Jones put up a whale of a fight,” said Busch, who won for the second time this season, the sixth time at Bristol (most among active drivers) and the 40th time in his career. “That’s all I had. I was running with my tongue hanging out. My arms were Jello and my throat hurts, but man that’s awesome.

“Can’t say enough about everybody on my Joe Gibbs Racing team. Adam Stevens (crew chief) and the guys are phenomenal. Car might not have been perfect, but I’m never perfect. I never feel like we’re perfect, but this Caramel Camry was fast. So proud of these guys, so proud of my team, so proud of Joe Gibbs Racing. So proud of Rowdy Nation, this one’s for you.”

One bobble by Busch in the closing laps, however, and Jones could have usurped a playoff spot and made the lives of playoff hopefuls Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray and Clint Bowyer much more stressful.

RELATED: Busch battles Jones for victory

When the final green-flag run commenced on Lap 422 after the eighth caution of the race for Landon Cassill’s hard crash into the Turn 1 wall, Jones took off, with Busch and Kenseth trailing him. Kenseth grabbed the second spot on Lap 428, but Busch soon regained the position and made what proved to be the winning pass of Jones on Lap 445.

On the same lap, Kenseth slipped past Jones into second, but with a deft touch with his front bumper on lap 465, Jones broke Kenseth’s momentum and regained the second spot.

On the playoff bubble with two races left, Kenseth had two hopes: to win for himself to clinch a playoff berth, and to keep Jones out of Victory Lane to keep the number of unique winners this season at 13, leaving three playoff spots open on points.

Kenseth, who will cede his ride in the No. 20 JGR Toyota to Jones in 2018, slipped to fourth at the finish but solidified his playoff position, moving past Jamie McMurray to eighth in the standings.

But Kenseth provided the line of the night in the media center, after he was reminded that Jones had bumped him in the closing run.

“Takes my ride — and runs into me,” Kenseth quipped.

Jones, on the other hand, left the track thinking about what might have been.

RELATED: Second is a ‘bummer’ for Jones

“You don’t want to sound like you’re whining or being a sore loser by saying it sucks to run second, but it’s a bummer,” said Jones, who started on the pole and led 260 of 500 laps before posting a career-best finish. “It hurts. You know, you want to win every race you’re in. This was the first shot that I really had to come really close to it in the Cup Series.

“Bristol is a really good racetrack for myself. Thought we had a shot at it all night, led a ton of laps. It’s Kyle Busch. He won all three races here this weekend. So I feel like I’m close to him here—just trying to find that last little bit.”

Notes: With Denny Hamlin finishing third, Toyotas swept the top four finishing positions. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. started 31st, struggled to find speed in his car and finished 23rd, three laps down, in his final ride at Bristol in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. … Chafing from the current absence of a contract extension despite his victory in the Daytona 500, Kurt Busch got fresh tires on Lap 417 and drove like a man with something to prove. In his 600th Cup race, Busch restarted 12th on Lap 422 and charged into fourth place before coming home fifth at the finish. … The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Daniel Suarez was found to have one lug nut unsecured in post-race inspection. Any potential penalty would be announced next week by NASCAR.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

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

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.

RELATED: Watch on the NBC Sports App |  How to find CNBC on your TV

Monday, August 21
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Tuesday, August 22
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, August 23
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, August 24
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR The Decades: The 1980s, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Saturday, August 26
2 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Road America, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO)
3 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Series Bush’s Beans 150, NBCSN
4 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice at Road America, NBCSN (Canada: TSN GO)

Sunday, August 27
11:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying at Road America, CNBC (Canada: TSN GO) CANCELED
2:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Countdown to Green, NBC
3 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Johnsonville 180 at Road America, NBC (Canada: TSN 2)

 


Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the Road America action 

RELATED: How to find CNBC on your TV

This week, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series enjoy an off week, while the XFINITY Series goes road-course racing at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Check out the full weekend schedule below.

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

Note: All times are ET

SATURDAY, August 26
2-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Road America, NBCSN (Results)
4-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice at Road America, NBCSN (Results)

SUNDAY, August 27
11:45 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, CNBC (Results)
3 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Johnsonville 180 (45 laps, 182.16 miles), NBC (Results)