Champion’s Week: How to see Dale Jr., NASCAR After the Lap up-close and personal

Posted on October 25, 2017October 25, 2017 by Staff Report

RELATED: More on Champion’s Week

The full Champion’s Week schedule from Nov. 28-30 is out, and sharp-eyed fans will notice a different type of event this year.

On Tuesday, Nov. 28, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will host an Appreci88ion event with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Presented by Nationwide, the evening with Junior is a special celebration of Earnhardt Jr.’s storied driving career.

Taking place at Rose. Rabbit. Lie., the event is exclusive to fans and starts at 9 p.m. local time and will feature surprise guests from Earnhardt’s career, a fitting final week for a man whose legacy includes a bevy of fans that make up Junior Nation.

MORE: Get tickets for this event

“I can’t imagine a better send-off than by spending time with people who made this career possible,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “That’s what this night in Las Vegas will be about. We’ll laugh. We’ll reminisce. We’ll be surrounded by fans. It’s the perfect finale made better in that 100 percent of the proceeds will go to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.”

Fans attending Champion’s Week also will see a retooled NASCAR After the Lap program on Wednesday, Nov. 29 (the show runs from 8-11 p.m. local time at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan). The yearly show is a fan favorite, with drivers rolling up their sleeves and letting their collective guard down. There are sure to be multiple moments that go viral on social media — maybe you’ll be in one of them.

After the Lap takes on added meaning this year with all ticket proceeds from the event benefiting the Vegas Strong Fund, which assists victims of last month’s shooting and strengthens the Las Vegas community.

This year, the fan event will feature a concert by country music star Lee Brice, along with a live, on-stage episode of the Glass Case of Emotion podcast, hosted by Ryan Blaney.

The full Champion’s Week schedule is available here. Highlights include the return of the NASCAR Fan Lounge at Beerhaus, the champions’ meet-and-greet on Tuesday where all three national series champions meet for a fan Q&A, NASCAR Victory Lap Fueled by Sunoco for some burnouts on the strip and the culmination of the week Thursday, Nov. 30, with the annual Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards.

Posted on October 25, 2017June 22, 2021 by Holly Cain

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. has been considered one of NASCAR’s top young talents for years now — well before the sport’s biggest icon, Richard Petty, signed the 24-year-old driver to a contract this week for the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

Long before he was showing off his goods in a Monster Energy Series car as a substitute driver for Aric Almirola, he was stunning fans and dropping the jaws of his competitors, moving up the stock-car ranks from the K&N Series to the Camping World Truck Series to the XFINITY Series.

I remember interviewing him four years ago at Dover International Speedway. He was racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and its garage was a good walk away from the Cup stars, the television cameras and media stomping grounds that dominate the weekend.

Standing just outside his truck was a smiling Wallace, excited about some opportunities he had just earned. It seemed at the time his rise would be swift.

He won the pole and finished runner-up in the K&N race that day. Then getting a huge opportunity in one of Joe Gibbs Racing’s XFINITY cars, Wallace won the pole as a rookie at Dover, too.

Like nearly anybody at all who has had a conversation with Wallace, watched his interviews and appreciated his talent, I always knew it would simply be a matter of “when” he got his big break.

But he’s earned his big chance, and it will be good for him and good for NASCAR — not just because he provides diversity as an African-American young man, but because he is talented and can win.

Blessed with great potential and a big personality, Wallace has never seemed to be wrapped up in social condition. He has always just wanted to race, content to earn his way into stock-car racing’s big time, never “expecting” anything based on anything other than what he did with a stock car or — given the right situation — what he could do with a stock car.

He’s candid, emotional and honest after a race — win or lose. And his ability to drive a race car has absolutely nothing to do with the color of his skin.

If his presence in NASCAR inspires others, then that is truly the cherry on top.

Wallace is a sponsor’s dream — extremely competitive and also young, hip, fun and eloquent. And especially this year, he will likely garner attention because of the historic nature of his presence.

The good news for him and for the Petty team is he will earn that attention because he is first and foremost, a talented race car driver with plenty of good things ahead.

He has earned this opportunity. It’s going to be fun watching him make the most out of it.

Posted on October 25, 2017October 25, 2017 by Nascar

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., who made four starts this year for Richard Petty Motorsports as a relief driver, will compete full-time for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series organization in 2018.

RPM officials announced the move Wednesday.

Wallace will replace Aric Almirola, who is leaving at the end of the 2017 season after a six-year stint driving the team’s iconic No. 43.

It was an injury to Almirola earlier this year that briefly put Wallace in the seat of the No. 43. He finished inside the top 20 in three of his four starts, including a best of 11th at Kentucky.

The four-race effort was an eye-opening experience, Wallace told NASCAR.com

“I didn’t know what the Cup Series was about,” he said. “I knew it was taking the next step. I didn’t know how big that step was. …

“Look at XFINITY and Trucks stats, I’m one of the most aggressive drivers out there on restarts. I take pride in that. I thought what I was going to bring to the table was somewhat enough. It barely put a dent in what you need to bring to the Cup Series. That’s to run 20th and I’m like ‘Holy cow!’ ”

Wallace is a six-time winner in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series with 45 starts. He made 85 starts in the XFINITY Series, including a dozen this year for Roush Fenway Racing before officials there shuttered the team. Wallace was fourth in points at the time.

A graduate of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, Wallace is the second African-American driver to win in one of NASCAR’s three national series. NASCAR Hall of Fame member Wendell Scott scored one victory in NASCAR’s top series on Dec. 1, 1963.

Wallace will be the 10th driver to pilot the No. 43 full-time since Petty, a seven-time champion and winner of a NASCAR record 200 races, stepped out of the car in November of 1992. Petty was one of the five inaugural members inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

“I think that’s pretty bad-ass, actually,” Wallace said of competing for such a legendary figure and family. “It’s so unique and I think there is a lot of history to unfold behind that between myself and him. The combination there is really just, I think, a dream come true and just a marketing dream for sure.”

Almirola won once while with RPM; he is only 33, but Petty says Wallace brings a bit of youth to the group.

“And he’s had pretty much success about everywhere he’s been,” Petty said. “We feel like he’s got enough experience to come into Cup racing and after running 3-4 races with us, we said ‘This (is) liable to be a good combination.’ ”

Success has been hard to come by for the organization in recent years, with only four wins coming since Petty’s retirement. Bobby Hamilton won twice for the group while John Andretti and Almirola each won once.

CAIN: Wallace earns his spotlight and will keep dazzling us

Almirola’s victory at Daytona in July of ’14 earned him a berth in the NASCAR Playoffs. But he finished 17th in points the following year and 26th last season. He is currently 29th after missing seven races due to a back injury suffered in May at Kansas Speedway.

Previously a two-car organization, RPM cut back to a single entry beginning in 2017.

“We are not a winning team right now,” Petty said. “We can’t put somebody in it and expect them to win the race. So we put Bubba in the car and say ‘OK we have to get consistent.’ We’ll work on getting in the top 15. We get that settled and we’ll go to 10 and just work your way up. And we feel like Bubba can do that.”

The Petty family has been involved in NASCAR since the very beginning — Richard’s father Lee, also a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, competed in the very first Strictly Stock race held in 1949 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“I don’t know that it’s that important for (NASCAR) to have the (Petty) name,” Petty said. “We’ve been here 68 years I guess, since 1949. Always been involved.”

BRUCE: Petty turns 80, but still ‘The King’ in so many ways

The 2018 changes will likely keep him showing up at the track, something he’s done nearly every weekend since those early days working for his father.

“I think with the coming deal, I sat down and said ‘you’re 80 years old. If you’re ever going to do anything, you better get involved,’ ” he said. “I think I’ll get more involved this coming year than what I’ve been in the past.”

While Wallace earned high marks for his brief time in the car earlier this season, he knows next year will be a different situation with different expectations.

“I think things went so well for me in these four races because I just kind of relaxed and let everything come to me,” Wallace said. “… All the stars need to be in line to win races and run well. You can’t make those stars be aligned. Sometimes it’s your day, sometimes it’s not. Coming to accept that was the biggest thing I think out of those four races that I learned.

“I’ll go into Daytona with fingers crossed and eyes open wide.”

Posted on October 25, 2017January 21, 2022 by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Soon after the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series™ champion is crowned at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup will head to Las Vegas as NASCAR hosts its annual Champion’s Week festivities. Fans will gather in Las Vegas for events honoring the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Playoff Drivers, Sunoco Rookie of the Year and other season-ending award recipients.

Beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 28 and culminating Thursday, Nov. 30, NASCAR Champion’s Week will feature the annual NASCAR National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Myers Brothers Awards at the Wynn Las Vegas as well as the return of the NASCAR Fan Lounge at Beerhaus located at The Park, situated between New York-New York Hotel & Casino and Monte Carlo Resort and Casino.

This year, a special celebration of the storied driving career of Dale Earnhardt Jr. “Appreci88ion An Evening with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Presented by Nationwide” will take place at Rose. Rabbit. Lie. at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28. The exclusive fan event will feature surprise guests from Earnhardt’s career with proceeds benefitting Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers will take to the famed Las Vegas Strip when they get behind the wheel of their race cars for NASCAR Victory Lap Fueled by Sunoco on Wednesday, Nov 29. Fans will be treated to burnouts along Las Vegas Blvd. at the Spring Mountain Rd. and Harmon Ave. intersections before finishing with a post-lap driver tell-all on Toshiba Plaza outside T-Mobile Arena. The event will be simulcast live on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and NASCAR.com.

NASCAR and live music rev up the Las Vegas night at NASCAR After The Lap Supporting the Vegas Strong Fund, Wednesday, Nov. 29 at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. This year, the fan event will feature a concert by country music star Lee Brice and the first-ever live-on-stage episode of Glass Case of Emotion, with Ryan Blaney as a host and guests to include Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers. VIP areas hosted by event sponsors, Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota will feature appearances by Playoff drivers. All ticket proceeds from this event will benefit the Vegas Strong Fund assisting victims & strengthening the Las Vegas community.

Festivities will conclude with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards, a star-studded event featuring the Champion, 16 Playoff drivers and a fan red carpet at Wynn Las Vegas. NBCSN presents this year’s awards on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 9 p.m. ET, while Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, will carry the award show live beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

Posted on October 25, 2017 by Staff Report

WELCOME, N.C. (October 25, 2017) – NASCAR veteran Andy Petree will assist Richard Childress Racing in an advisory role in the competition area. Petree, who has held numerous roles in his 30-year stock car racing career, will be retained as an outside resource. Petree has experience as a championship-winning crew chief, driver, team owner and most recently, as an analyst for Fox Sports.

“We welcome Andy to RCR in an advisory role,” said RCR Chairman and CEO Richard Childress. “Andy is someone I’ve known for many years and his knowledge of our industry runs deep. He is well respected within our community and will provide a fresh perspective as we evaluate opportunities to improve.”

Petree’s NASCAR accomplishments are admirable; he was the crew chief for the late Dale Earnhardt when he won championships in 1993 and 1994. Petree worked as a car owner from 1996 to 2004 and fielded teams in all three of NASCAR’s top touring series. In 2015, Petree worked with Fox Sports as an analyst for its NASCAR broadcast and daily television show.

Posted on October 25, 2017October 25, 2017 by Steve Luvender

Friends, race fans, fellow countrymen and Twitter people – we need your help.

With just a few races remaining in Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s illustrious driving career, there’s not a lot of time left to send a retirement gift wishing NASCAR’s most popular driver of all time well in his transition into retirement (using the term “retirement” loosely).

It is necessary for us to send Dale Jr. a retirement gift. Dale Jr. has recently retweeted both of us on separate occasions. We take that as a sign that we’re basically best friends with him now and he wants to hang out with us a lot.

NASCAR’s race tracks have heaped gifts upon Dale Jr. in his final season— from charitable donations to an actual car driven by his father, gifted by Talladega Superspeedway — and we feel sort of obligated to give him a little something, too.

But we — the Twitter.com community — can do even better. Maybe. We think.

Yeah, a gift of Dale Earnhardt’s actual 1980 race car was kind of cool. And New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s musket and Tricorn Patriot hat was certainly something (if nothing else, we thank NHMS for the “Patriot Dale” photos that are better than we could ever muster with Photoshop). And we’d be remiss not to mention the many donations tracks are making in Dale’s name to several worthy charitable causes.

However, these gifts lean towards sentimental and/or altruistic. That’s not our particular brand of motor oil.

Dale is a man of class and refinement, but we’re looking to get Dale something that appeals to his other side – the one that tosses demolished race cars on his lawn and decorates an entire room in his house with Elvis memorabilia. The one that spends hours on eBay bidding on “Cannonball Run” lunchboxes. Think less “This would definitely appeal to Dale’s sentimental side” and more “OMG Amy’s gonna HATE this but oh well.” Think Skymall clearance section.

That’s where you come in.

Together, we have emptied our swear jars and have decided that we have a budget of $88. Eighty-eight whole dollars.

Tweet us your very best suggestions that fit within our lofty, generous budget. We’ll curate some the best gifts, select our very favorite, and send it to Junior himself. Our plan is to ship it to the JR Motorsports shop, as our numerous direct messages to Dale asking for his home address have resulted in restraining orders and threatening messages from Gus the Dog.

Send your suggestions to @steveluvender and @nascarcasm. We’ll make our decision in roughly three weeks. Remember, the less useful the item, the better.

Happy shopping, and thanks in advance for your help.

@SteveLuvender & @nascarcasm

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

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: First Data 500

Date: Sunday, Oct. 29, 3 p.m. ET (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Previous five results at Martinsville: 34th, 14th, 4th, 36th, 1st

Notable: In 34 starts at Martinsville, Earnhardt has just one victory at the short track, but he has finished in the top 10 18 times, including four times in the last seven races. The No. 88 team was forced to exit April’s race early after a crash on Lap 418. Sunday’s Martinsville finale will be extra special for the Earnhardts as wife Amy, who recently announced the couple would be expecting a baby girl, will drive the pace car. Earnhardt will also wheel the ‘Gray Ghost’ paint scheme that the fans voted on.

Memorable: Earnhardt’s lone Victory Lane celebration at the .526-mile track came in October 2014. The No. 88 team sat in fifth position for a restart with just five laps to go. He had just been eliminated from the playoffs the week before at Talladega, but stole the coveted grandfather clock trophy from several drivers still in the hunt, including former teammate Jeff Gordon. Earnhardt credits his team’s decision to take tires with eight laps left as a key to grabbing the win he had desperately wanted. The win also came on the 10th anniversary of the tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of several Hendrick Motorsports employees.

Quotable: “Martinsville this weekend should be a lot of fun. We’ve got the Gray Ghost – I appreciate everybody voting for that paint scheme so I can run it,” Earnhardt said in a team release. “I didn’t get to drive that car last year and I love that car, so I may have swayed the vote because I went on social media and said, ‘That’s the one I’d love to run.’ I’m excited to get the opportunity to drive that car this weekend. Martinsville is a great track for us. I love the short tracks and short-track racing.”

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Staff Report

The Nos. 22 and 19 teams in the NASCAR XFINITY Series received penalties for lug nuts not properly installed following Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.

Crew chiefs Greg Erwin (No. 22 team) and Dave Rogers (No. 19) each were fined $5,000 when their cars were found with one unsecured lug nut in post-race inspection.

Ryan Blaney drove the No. 22 Ford to a third-place finish, while Matt Tifft finished eighth in the No. 19 Toyota.

The XFINITY Series Playoffs return to the track for the second race in the Round of 8 on Nov. 4 at Texas Motor Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

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

The 2017 season is not over yet but Dale Earnhardt Jr. already has his favorite moment.

“Probably the day I found out Amy was pregnant,” Earnhardt said to answer a fan question on his latest Dale Jr. Download podcast episode.

MORE: Baby news brings big joy to Dale | Our favorite photo from the soon-to-be parents

But Earnhardt revealed that day ended up being extra special because he was informed of the big news after arriving home from another exciting trip. A huge Washington Redskins fan, Earnhardt spent that day, Aug. 30, at the team’s luncheon as a guest speaker.

“I go to this Redskins luncheon, freakin’ having a blast, right? Hanging out with the whole team and all the execs; just incredible to be able to be there. Fan-boying like crazy. Thinking, what a great day,” Earnhardt describes.

“Come home. Excited. Telling Amy all about it and then she tells me that she’s pregnant. It was a lot going on. I came home, just like that tweet that the guy said, this is the greatest day ever, Amy! And she’s like, well, let me tell you.”

Oh, and don’t worry Earnhardt also has some favorite memories from what he’s done on track, too.

“I think getting the poles at Daytona and Talladega,” he said. “We don’t have a win to brag about or we usually have a win at this point that sticks out, so I’ll say getting those two poles. I mean, when’s the last time we won a pole, much less two poles in same season?”

That’d be 2013, Dale. But we can blame it on pregnancy brain.

Posted on October 24, 2017October 24, 2017 by Holly Cain

There are few things in big-time auto racing you can predict with certainty.

However, the likelihood Kyle Larson will win a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship is one of those rare, not really going-out-on-a-limb expectations. And when he finally hoists that trophy in the near future, he will feel tremendous accomplishment. Not just because he won that trophy but because he experienced the loss of another one first.

After his No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet blew an engine early in the playoff elimination race Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Larson stood outside his team hauler and patiently, thoughtfully answered every single question from every news outlet surrounding him — television, radio and print reporters two- and three-deep.

He probably would have preferred to just go inside his team’s hauler and in the privacy of those confines put his head in his hands. He was a popular and good-sense favorite to challenge Sunday’s race winner Martin Truex Jr. for the championship in the season finale on Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Instead, his postseason abruptly ended with a blown engine — his first in four years at the Monster Energy Series level.

In the minutes after Larson’s Chip Ganassi Racing team parked his hobbled car in the Kansas garage, the 25-year-old looked as shocked by the chain of events as everyone else watching.

As the gathering of reporters eventually dispersed, Larson went inside the team’s trailer. Moments later NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin let himself into the trailer behind Larson, surely to offer perspective and consolation to the young superstar.

Being assured that he will have another chance to hold the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup high one day probably was of little consolation to Larson on Sunday. But he will have more opportunity.

MORE: Larson joins list of playoff surprises

From the first time I met and interviewed Larson — back before his first Camping World Truck Series start in 2012 — something just felt different about him. He is calm, good-natured, thoughtful and obviously super talented — the rare combination of a lot of talent but also the drive to make use of it and continue to learn.

He gets it honestly. His parents are down-to-earth and supportive — so happy and eager to now watch their son shine on the sport’s biggest stage after cheering him on as a kid on the rural high banks near their Northern California home.

Team owner Chip Ganassi also liked Larson’s vibe and chose him to drive, to rise in the ranks, to perhaps bring the organization its first Monster Energy Series championship — without asking Larson to bring any kind of sponsorship or money to the team.

This is an important distinction and a rare occurrence in auto racing these days. But it’s worked out well for Ganassi, who says he “had a feeling” about Larson’s trajectory. And it’s worked out for Larson whose natural talent and good disposition has made him one of NASCAR’s brightest stars.

In many ways — and not just their shared California cool — Larson reminds me of a certain seven-time champ from Southern California. Like Jimmie Johnson, Larson came from modest beginnings and earned a shot in NASCAR’s big leagues because of his talent and promise.

And like Johnson, Larson has already developed a reputation for his good nature, steady demeanor and high ability behind the wheel.

Sunday’s turn of events was especially remarkable considering Larson is having his breakout year — collecting four wins and sweeping both races at Michigan. He’s led more than 1,000 laps and has eight runner-up finishes to complement the trophies — including three second-place finishes in a row at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix early in the season.

His four wins are one more than Johnson and second only to Truex among the remaining eight playoff drivers.

It all speaks to a championship future ahead for Larson, even though that may not come as any consolation to him now. The talent on track and grace away from it are another indication the sport is in good hands — very good hands.