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Photo credit: Richmond International Raceway
BUY TICKETS: See the races at Richmond

Richmond International Raceway announced Wednesday a retro look ahead of its first NASCAR weekend of 2017 on April 28-30, painting the exterior walls with red and white stripes.


The classic look will pay homage to the roots of the Virginia facility, which hosted its first race on the .75-mile track in September 1988. Before that, NASCAR series competed on the .542-mile fairgrounds oval with alternating red and white paint adorning the metal guardrails.


"I’ve always been fascinated by the historical racing images of the red and white on the wall at Richmond," track president Dennis Bickmeier said in a news release. "Our longtime fans have often shared their fond memories of the red stripes, so it is a great day when we can reconnect with our history on the track. The red stripes unite our past with our future. We hope fans will have an awe-inspiring moment as they walk into the track for our Toyota race weekend."


Sherwin-Williams, the official paint of NASCAR, is providing materials for the track makeover. The look will be in place in time for the Richmond’s first NASCAR weekend of the year, with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ Toyota Owners 400 on Sunday, April 30, and the ToyotaCare 250 for the NASCAR XFINITY Series the preceding day.


It’s the second track this year to adopt a vintage look for its retaining walls. Atlanta Motor Speedway debuted a red, white and blue striped appearance ahead of its NASCAR tripleheader weekend last month. Darlington Raceway reintroduced the red and white stripes — an initiative first promoted by longtime series sponsor R.J. Reynolds — ahead of the 2009 Southern 500.



Below is a look at the red striped walls in 1988. (Photo credit: ISC Images & Archives/Getty Images)

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A three-member appeals panel upheld L1-grade penalties Wednesday against Team Penske’s No. 2 Ford team for failing technical inspection after the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on March 19 at Phoenix Raceway.

 

The ruling by the National Motorsports Appeal Panel confirms the penalty issued by NASCAR on March 22, fining the team $65,000, handing a three-race suspension to crew chief Paul Wolfe, and docking Brad Keselowski 35 points in the drivers’ standings and Roger Penske an equal point total in the team owners’ standings.

 

Wednesday afternoon, Team Penske issued a statement saying that it will exercise its right to appeal the ruling to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer, Bryan Moss. NASCAR representatives said that a date for the final appeal hearing has not been set.

 

"While we are disappointed in today’s results, we plan to immediately request a final appeal hearing as outlined in the NASCAR rulebook," the team said in its statement. "While the appeals process runs its course, we will continue to move forward and our focus will remain on getting prepared for the upcoming Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway."

 

Wolfe has already served one race of his three-race ban, sitting out the March 26 event at Auto Club Speedway. Team Penske had delayed its appeal request until after the Auto Club race to provide an opportunity to further inspect its Phoenix vehicle at its Mooresville, North Carolina, shop.

 

Brian Wilson replaced Wolfe at Auto Club, leading the No. 2 team to a second-place finish. Wolfe returned — with the appeal pending — the following weekend at Martinsville Speedway, where Keselowski scored his second victory of the season.

 

A representative for Team Penske said that Wolfe would continue in his current role as the organization awaited a final appeal date to be determined. The Monster Energy Series is off this weekend, with the next scheduled event on April 23 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

 

Team Penske’s penalty fell under the heading of Section 20.17.3.1.2 of the 2017 NASCAR Rule Book, which addresses general measurements (in this instance, rear steer) in the team’s post-race pass through the Laser Inspection Station (LIS).

 

The three members of the National Motorsports Appeal Panel attending Wednesday’s hearing were:

 

— Rick Crawford, former driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
— Hunter Nickell, former president of the SPEED Channel
— Dale Pinilis, longtime operator of Bowman Gray Stadium

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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Pocono | See the races at Dover

SEE: Inaugural event in photos


PHILADELPHIA — Pocono Raceway, Dover International Speedway and Comcast are coming together for the second year in a row to bring NASCAR to the city in a major way for the NASCAR XFINITY Philadelphia Takeover. For the entire day of Tuesday, May 9, fans are invited to join the NASCAR stakeholders for numerous events at key locations across Philadelphia, celebrating the sport in advance of upcoming races near Comcast headquarters, the NASCAR XFINITY Series entitlement partner, at Pocono and Dover.


Most notably among the day’s festivities, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series cars from participating teams JR Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Childress Racing will be taking over the city streets during the midday hours, making a pit stop in front of Philadelphia City Hall and putting on a show for fans along the way. A large cast of drivers from the NASCAR XFINITY Series will be spread across the city throughout the day, visiting the Franklin Institute, Reading Terminal Market, Thomas Edison High School and Philadelphia Phillies game that evening.


A star-studded lineup of drivers is expected to be in attendance for the day, including Ryan Reed, Darrell "Bubba" Wallace, Jr., William Byron, Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, Ben Kennedy, Brennan Poole, Cole Custer and Blake Koch.


New for this year, fans are invited to participate in an expanded fan fest, located at the Comcast Center on the front plaza. Amidst activities for all ages, they can meet with the top NASCAR XFINITY Series stars and celebrate NASCAR’s takeover of the city for the day. Throughout the entire day, families will have the opportunity to receive free tickets to the upcoming NASCAR XFINITY Series races at Dover International Speedway and Pocono Raceway. In fact, kids ages 12 and younger are admitted free to all NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races, making it easier for families to create memories at the racetrack.


"We’re thrilled to bring together so many valuable partnerships within NASCAR for one big celebration at Comcast headquarters," said Matt Lederer, Executive Director, Sports Brand Strategy, Comcast. "Our involvement in the sport is something we take great pride in at Comcast, and pulling off another major event like this with Dover, Pocono and NASCAR is a testament to the health of this sport and all who are involved. We know that our local economy benefits from fans coming to the area for this day, and for the upcoming events at Pocono and Dover."


Back-to-back race weekends at nearby venues in the month of June will give fans from the Philadelphia area and beyond the opportunity to see their racing heroes following the NASCAR XFINITY Philadelphia Takeover. First, the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Dover International Speedway on June 3, followed by the Pocono Green 250 at Pocono Raceway on June 10.


"We are looking forward to making a splash in Philadelphia with our friends from Comcast and Pocono Raceway in advance of our upcoming race weekend," said Mike Tatoian, president and CEO of Dover International Speedway. "We know that the NASCAR fanbase in Philadelphia is sizeable, and passionate, and we are thrilled to bring the stars of the NASCAR XFINITY Series to town before they hit the track."


"We are really excited about our second takeover of my hometown of Philadelphia," said Pocono Raceway President and CEO Brandon Igdalsky. "Between all of the visits to area places, the laps around the city and the live pit stops at City Hall it will be an incredible day. We started a great event last year with Comcast and now with the help of Dover, we have made it even better, including a fan event. We hope to see everyone May 9th in Philadelphia."


Fans are encouraged to follow along with the events of the day via social media and use #XFINITYTakeover to join the conversation. On Twitter, @XFINITYRacing, @PoconoRaceway, @MonsterMile and @NASCAR_XFINITY will all carry updates, along with Pocono Raceway and Dover International Speedway on Facebook. 


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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Bristol

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Joey Logano was his typical smiles and optimism at Daytona International Speedway on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, where five Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams tested for both NASCAR and Goodyear before enjoying the first off weekend of the 2017 season.

 

"Obviously, tests are hard to come by these days, there aren’t many of them," Logano said. "Yesterday (Tuesday) was interesting with a lot of different packages coming from NASCAR and today a Goodyear test. We did four 25-lap runs in a five-car pack to give them some data this morning and help them make decisions on their tire selections.

 

"Now this afternoon we get to play a little bit. The fun part’s about to start for me."

 

NASCAR had the drivers — also including Alex Bowman (in Jimmie Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevy), Stewart-Haas Racing’s Danica Patrick, Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman and Furniture Row Racing rookie Erik Jones — try out various packages.

 

Specifically on Tuesday they tried variations of a new NASCAR design to keep the race cars from going airborne easily or frequently.

 

Wednesday morning the drivers worked on tire feedback for Goodyear and then the afternoon was dedicated to more individual team-centric goals.

 

It’s been an accomplished early portion of the season for the 2015 Daytona 500 winner Logano, who said he was glad the teams had this test on the 2.5-mile high banks. As good as his Team Penske group has performed this year, he hasn’t won a race yet.

 

Yet.

 

"I just wanna win, that’s me, I’m not happy unless I win and I’ll be mad if I finish second," said Logano, who drives the Team Penske No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford. "That’s just the 22 team. We have one goal, to win. And everything short of that isn’t failure, but it’s not achieving our goal.

 

"That’s our strategy, our approach. And we have better days than others. We know that."

 

He’s coming off a "better day" — a season-best third-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday and has six top-six finishes through the first seven races of 2017. And yet for all that, Logano is ranked sixth in the standings, which are topped by several new faces of excellence.

 

"We haven’t put the whole race together in all honesty," Logano said. "When we’ve had fast race cars, we’ve had pit road penalties or weird things happen that we don’t score the stage points and we don’t put ourselves in position to win. We put ourselves in position to get a top-five again.

 

"Last week we had a 10th-place car and put ourselves in position to win, but we weren’t fast enough to win the race.

 

"We have to take both of those things and put ourselves in Victory Lane, which I feel is just around the corner. Our cars aren’t far off."

 

RELATED: Upping the ante at the All-Star Race | FAQ

 

Logano, the defending Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race winner, told reporters he was good with the changes announced Tuesday to the May 20 invitational. But he deferred to his veteran crew chief Todd Gordon about the new tire strategy — including a softer, green-lettered "option" tire available to teams for the first time ever.

 

"It’s interesting," Logano said. "It will change it up for sure with a tire like that and change the strategy. You should probably talk to Todd. For me, it’s pretty basic, pass the car in front of me."

 

Speaking about the early season to date, Logano grinned in replying to questions about the "young guns" charging through the points standings. Kyle Larson, 24, currently leads 21-year-old Chase Elliott by 17 points atop the standings. Including Logano (ranked fifth, 72 points behind Larson) and 23-year-old Ryan Blaney, right behind in sixth place – four drivers 26 or younger leading the way.

 

MORE: Monster Energy Series driver points standings

 

Logano remains confident his first victory of 2017 is imminent. He’s a two-time winner at tiny Bristol Motor Speedway, where the series visits April 23 after the off week, and he’s also a winner at the following venue, Richmond International Raceway.

 

And while Logano recognizes he’s on the "upside" of the youth movement, the 17-time Cup winner was quick to remind that he has big boy trump cards in experience and confidence. And success.

 

"I don’t think I’m old. I’m 26, for crying out loud," he said smiling. "I do like that I have more experience than all of them. And that plays in my hand that I have nine years of experience, plus I’m 26 so I have plenty of youth, too. … I’m in a very good spot.

 

"Those first three or four years of sucking are paying off now, so that’s good," he said with a laugh.

 

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NASCAR issued penalties Wednesday to the Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 team for post-race infractions after last weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.



Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove the No. 17 Ford to a 14th-place finish in last Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, but NASCAR officials found one of the car’s 20 lug nuts was improperly installed in a post-race check. Wednesday, RFR crew chief Brian Pattie was fined $10,000 for the safety violation.



Pattie, who has been atop the pit box for four victories in NASCAR’s premier series, is in his second season with the Jack Roush-owned organization. It’s his first season paired with Stenhouse, who is currently ranked 19th in the drivers’ standings after the year’s first seven races.



The penalty is the lightest for post-race lug-nut violations, under the updated deterrence system that NASCAR competition officials released Feb. 16. The penalty for two improperly fastened lug nuts rises to a $20,000 fine and one-race crew chief suspension. Three or more unsecured lug nuts results in a L1-grade penalty with a three-race ban for the crew chief, a $65,000 fine and the loss of 35 championship points in both the drivers’ and team owners’ standings.

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RELATED: Read more Inside Groove

READ UP ON All-STAR NEWS: RELEASE | FAQs | Upping the ante

 

NASCAR revealed Tuesday a revamped format for the 2017 All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Part of this update includes tire strategy, with different colored lettering to identify the varied rubber.

 

Each team will be granted one set of softer "option" tires to use, which provide more grip and thus, speed. The catch, however, is teams who choose the soft tires for the fourth and final stage must start behind drivers who choose regular tires, which do not wear out as quickly. Decisions, decisions.

 

Check out the speedy, soft tires set to make its debut May 20 (8:15 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), compared to the regular "prime" tires.

 

 

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RELATED: See the complete iRacing schedule

Allen Boes scored his first NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series win of the 2017 season at Texas Motor Speedway, ending Ryan Luza’s two-race winning streak as the erstwhile championship leader found trouble late in the going. Boes held off Cody Byus after a restart with seven laps to go. Byus was keeping pace with Boes, but a caution with three laps remaining ended his shot at making a late-race move for the win. Kenny Humpe was third, followed by teammates Bobby Zalenski and Chris Overland.


Boes and Luza had the best cars for much of the event with Luza leading 73 of 167 laps while Boes led 72. However, Luza’s chance to win evaporated when he got caught back in traffic after a pit stop and had a run-in with Kenny Humpe. The collision with Humpe, and then the wall, caused significant damaged to Luza’s car and he wound-up nineteenth.


The night began with Michael Conti leading the field to the green flag but the yellow was back out before the field made it to Turn 3. Phillip Diaz got sideways off Turn 2 before being hooked into the wall, causing a huge stack-up halfway back in the field. While most of the pack saw the crash, a couple drivers further back seemed not to and collected nearly a dozen cars.


When the dust cleared and the green waved again the lead was hotly contested among several sim racers. Byus wasted little time passing Conti for the lead on Lap Seven only to see Logan Clampitt take the lead for himself one lap later. By Lap 20 the groove had widened and Boes, who was running the middle lane, took his first turn at the front after getting by Clampitt off Turn 4. Boes could not lead for long either as Luza took the top spot on Lap 26, right as the second yellow of the race slowed the action.


Luza won the race off pit road and build a decent lead once the race went green. Boes and Byus were quick enough to keep in touch, but not quite quick enough to challenge Luza for the top spot. The field would get another shot at him though, as a caution on Lap 65 slowed the pace right before many of the leaders were planning to pit under green.


Once again, Luza was first off pit road and held the lead as the laps wore on after the restart. Byus kept in closer contact this time, never letting Luza get more than a few car lengths ahead. The two ran in the same fashion until both hit pit road under green on Lap 100 for tires and fuel. Boes inherited the lead and before he could pit Bryan Blackford was spun by Nick Ottinger, causing the yellow to fly which trapped many drivers a lap down, necessitating a wave-around.


Although he was not among those trapped, Luza did pit again under the caution and restarted third behind Boes and Brian Schoenburg with Byus to his outside in fourth. Boes held off Luza who had fallen to fifth before a crash involving Schoenburg, Ray Alfalla, and several others brought the leaders to the pits again on Lap 120, putting them well within their fuel window.


Boes maintained the lead off pit road but it was Luza who was on the move when the race returned to green. Luza quickly moved from fifth to second and looked a bit quicker than Boes on the long run but on Lap 144 yet another caution stopped his progress. The two pitted and maintained their positions, leading to a 19-lap shootout.


Luza did not have the best short-run speed and lost second position to Byus after the restart. On Lap 155 Humpe tried to move around Luza in Turn 4 which is when the two got together, sending Luza for a spin and setting up the final dash to the finish.


Luza’s poor finish cost him the championship lead, as Clampitt now leads by seven points over Luza as the regular season has reached the one-third mark. Zalenski is now third, 18 points behind and three in front of Alfalla, who like Luza, finished mid-pack as the result of his crash. Darik Bourdeau recovered from an early spin to finish and holds down fifth in the standings.


After three races at tracks 1.5 mile or more, the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series returns to a shorter track as the 1-mile Phoenix Raceway plays host for Week Five. Phoenix takes a much different setup than the downforce tracks, making it somewhat of a sim racing wildcard. Can Luza rebound for his third win, or can Alfalla or Clampitt visit Victory Lane for the first time in 2017? Find out in two weeks on iRacing Live!

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BUY TICKETS: Buy tickets for Daytona and all 2017 races

 

Liftoff panels, ride heights and aero ducts will be on the menu today at Daytona International Speedway as NASCAR and Goodyear officials, along with five Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams, begin a two-day test at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

 

Erik Jones (Furniture Row Racing Toyota), Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet), Joey Logano (Team Penske Ford), Danica Patrick (Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) and Ryan Newman (Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) are scheduled to take part in the program.

 

“We’ve got three bodies of work we’re going to try to do,” Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR Senior Vice President Innovation and Racing Development, told NASCAR.com. “Once we learn from that, we take the best solution and that will go into the Goodyear test (on Wednesday).”

 

Simulation and wind tunnel testing have shown that liftoff panels, which are installed underneath the rear of the car, can further reduce the likelihood of liftoff by a vehicle on the track.

 

But what officials don’t know, Stefanyshyn said, is “when we put cars together (out on the track), will it screw up the racing?”

 

“We have two versions of the liftoff panel,” he said. “We know they both work. Is there one that’s better for racing? They could both hurt the racing and if that’s the case, we’ll scratch it.”

 

 

If it doesn’t hamper the quality of competition, work in that area will continue, likely with a battery of additional tests in the wind tunnel before such changes would be implemented for competition.

MORE: Evolution of track repave on display at Texas



While vehicles becoming airborne have become less frequent in recent years, the potential still exists. In this year’s season-opening race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, two-time series champ Matt Crafton’s Toyota flipped when it was turned after contact in the right rear, then struck nose first as it was traveling backward. Crafton was not injured.

 

Second on the agenda, according to Stefanyshyn, is removing the minimum ride height requirements currently in place for races at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR eliminated ride height minimums at all tracks except for superspeedways in 2014.

 

The aim is two-fold — having the ride height rules universal across the series should make it easier for teams; keeping the car lower on the track also lessens the opportunity for liftoff.

 

“Now what will happen, because we’ll get the car down, she’ll probably go a bit faster,” Stefanyshyn said. “But I think the combination of holding it closer to the ground in a spin with the liftoff panels we will actually be in a better situation. So (the cars) may go quicker, but we’ll be in a better spot because the car won’t get un-sprung and the (liftoff) panels will help us. And we’ll also have some (restrictor) plates so we can manage the speed.”

 

In conjunction with the removal of ride heights minimums, teams will also experiment with different spoiler sizes in an effort to enhance throttle feel.

 

NASCAR XFINITY Series teams will use aero ducts as part of their race package for this year’s event at Indianapolis, but officials said there currently are no plans for the pieces, which divert air through the front of the car and out through the front wheel openings, to be employed elsewhere.

RELATED: Indianapolis announces race package for July

 

However, since NASCAR will have teams in place at Daytona, Stefanyshyn said it would be worthwhile to gather data on the pieces’ impact.

 

“We’re trying to use this time to do some potential learning for intermediate tracks and take the next step,” he said. “So that is not superspeedway specific, it’s more learning. ‘OK we’re here anyway, let’s learn.’ And what we learn could apply to superspeedways, it could apply to intermediates.”

 

The Daytona Beach weather forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday calls for sunny skies and temperatures in the mid- to upper 70s.

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RELATED: Read more Inside Groove


Well, it looks like everything’s back to normal. and .

After going six whole weeks without a win, I thought Jimmie Johnson . Boy, was I or what?!

As much as Jimmie Johnson rose to the occasion, gave him a run for his money Sunday. What a performance! For a second, I thought this would finally be the week that .

The track reconfiguration at Texas Motor Speedway made the track very . I guess what they say is true: everything’s in Texas!

What I really don’t understand is why Jimmie Johnson and his team’s ability. I think the true secret to the No. 48 team’s success is .

Now it’s time for an off-week — no racing next Sunday. As , this is .

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Driver Chris Buescher, the No. 37 JTG Daugherty team and NASCAR fans were relieved Sunday when jackman Zack Young tweeted that he was OK after being hit amid a spin on pit road at Texas Motor Speedway.

 

 

While entering pit road during a competition caution on Lap 30 of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, Buescher’s car was clipped by Erik Jones’ No. 77 Toyota. That spun Buescher into his pit stall, and the rear tires flipped toward pit road and crashed into over-the-wall crew member Young.

 

On Tuesday, Young tweeted the video, as taken from the front tire changer’s helment camera.

Young told PitTalks.com that he "jumped but got hit by the right rear quarter panel, which threw me a good 10 feet in the air toward pit wall."

 

Young told the website on Tuesday that he was treated immediately after the incident at the Texas Motor Speedway infield care center and was later seen by Charlotte orthopedic physicians. It appears nothing in his hand was broken, but he will receive a full report this week.