Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Full schedule for Michigan and Gateway | Playoff picture

BOSTON – Danica Patrick arrived at Charlestown’s Warren Prescott K-8 School on Wednesday morning to a sea of students chanting her name in unison, a DJ blaring top 40 hits and New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s Milo the Moose leading the charge in the dance circle.

The scene was electric for 10 a.m. on hump day in the middle of June, considering most kids would be counting down the days and minutes until summer vacation hits.

That’s what “DAN-I-CA! DAN-I-CA!” means to NASCAR’s younger demographic of fans.

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually had a welcoming like that, ever,” Patrick told the crowd, shortly after being serenaded by the school’s chorus with a pretty spot-on rendition of American Authors’ “Best Day of My Life.” That song choice surely wasn’t a coincidence.

Patrick responded by announcing to the school that all of its students would be gifted tickets to the upcoming Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 301 at NHMS (July 16, 3 p.m. ET, NBCSN), for which she was in the Bay State promoting.

NHMS photo

They went wild yet again.

“I’ll tell you what, those kids were really loud,” said Patrick, fresh off her two best results of the season at Dover and Pocono.  “I think it’s one of those moments that’s surreal and looking back, those are going to be the kinds of moments where it’s like ‘Wow, that really happened and kids cheered that loud.’

“And they know my name, first of all. They even know my name! And they’re cheering for (me). It was really nice to have that. It made me feel important for a second.”

It wouldn’t be the last stop of the day where everybody “knows (her) name,” – the afternoon ended at the Boston bar Cheers Beacon Hill, inspiration for the long-running sitcom, “Cheers.” There, she filmed a spoof of the show for the track’s social media team with a cameo from NHMS vice president and general manager, David McGrath.

As fun as the Cheers segment was, her appearance was all about the students. Or, in this case, “teachers.”

Patrick, eight girls from the school, and an NHMS social media winner (a 5-year-old girl from Topsfield, Massachusetts) took a trolley decked out with New Hampshire Motor Speedway logos and graphics around one of America’s most historical cities, stopping at important locales from the American Revolution. These tours are typically guided by a jovial, knowledgeable driver, but this one had a catch – the eight girls had prepared notes, took the microphone from “Buck,” Wednesday’s driver, and gave history lessons to Patrick at a few stops along the Boston Freedom Trail.

“The kids are impressive,” said the Cup veteran. “They all prepared information for the different sites that we’ve been seeing around the city of historical importance. The school did such a great job of not only getting all the kids together and getting them excited, but also incorporating something educational along with it, and then adding public speaking on top of that. I mean, what a challenge.

“They did an incredible job.”

The trolley made stops at the Bunker Hill Monument, the statue of Samuel Adams behind Faneuil Hall and the Boston Public Garden, home of the famous swan boats.

After a quick trip around the pond located in the Garden, Patrick got down on a knee to be eye-to-eye with the girls and had a message: “Work hard and dream big.”

The girls were clearly moved.

“Days like today, when you hear that you’re an inspiration, that’s the good stuff,” Patrick said.

“That’s what makes me think that my work, while sometimes frustrating, is worth it.”

Posted on by Jason Lofing

RELATED: 2017 iRacing

Cody Byus broke a long winless streak and won his first NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series race at Pocono Raceway on Tuesday night, surviving a green-white-checkered restart that wound up with over half the field, including championship frontrunner Ray Alfalla, crashed on the Long Pond straightaway.

Alex Bergeron navigated the wreck-filled conclusion to finish second after taking the white flag in seventh. Corey Vincent finished third, Logan Clampitt was fourth, and Zack Novak followed in fifth.

The finish was set up by a caution with 12 laps to go when Andrew Fayash and Kyle Putz crashed, erasing Byus’ large lead over Brian Schoenburg. Despite having 14 laps on his tires, Byus, along with eight others, did not pit, hoping their track position or another caution would help them maintain their spots at the front.

On the restart with seven laps to go the field only made it to Turn 3 when another crash collected about half a dozen cars, setting up a two-lap shootout. On the restart, Byus got the jump on Schoenburg, who was left to battle with Alfalla and Nick Ottinger for second. Ottinger got a run on Schoenburg off Turn 1 but when he got to Schoenburg’s bumper to help push him forward, the two cars were not lined up. The contact sent Schoenburg down the track into Alfalla which caused him to spin and crash into the inside wall. No caution was thrown and the race for second continued.

With Byus pulling away as he took the white flag, Ottinger and Alfalla continued to battle for second as the two headed to Turn 1. Alfalla got the better run off the corner, closed to Ottinger’s bumper, and made contact, sending Ottinger straight into the outside wall while Alfalla crashed hard into the inside wall. Ryan Luza, who was running fourth, clipped Ottinger and was disqualified for hitting the incident limit.

The trio’s hard luck left Alfalla in 26th, Ottinger in 28th, and Luza one stop farther behind in 30th.

Byus started on pole but fell to third after just one lap as Novak and Dylan Duval looked to have the cars to beat early on. A pit stop for tires and adjustments appeared to wake up Byus’ car, however, and on Lap 28 he took the lead from Duval who then blew his engine when he missed a shift entering Turn 3.

Byus continued to lead until another caution on Lap 46 erased his lead and cost him track position as some of the lead-lap cars had already pitted under green. Byus wasted little time regaining the ground he lost, and on Lap 64 he easily passed Schoenburg for the lead.

A similar chain of events happened again on Lap 71 when a caution again cost Byus the lead. This time only two drivers, David Rattler and Chris Shearburn, stayed out and Byus made quick work of both, taking the lead with 22 laps to go and leading the rest of the way.

For all the chaos that took place on the final laps, the championship battle remained close due to Alfalla and Luza both having trouble. Alfalla now leads Bobby Zalenski by eight points while Luza has fallen to 32 points behind. Clampitt’s top-five result closed him to within five points of Luza while Vincent rounds out the top five, 50 points behind Alfalla.

Next up for the NPAS is the inaugural visit to Sonoma Raceway. The series has run at Watkins Glen International the past three seasons, but Sonoma is a different beast. Ottinger and Alfalla have been strong on road courses in the past, but do not discount Michael Conti and the Stergios brothers, Jake and PJ. Can Luza or Alfalla bounce back from their poor results at Pocono, or will a surprise winner find Victory Lane at the treacherous 11-turn circuit? Be sure to follow the action live on iRacing Live to find out!

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Find NBCSN in your area | How to find FS2 in your area

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 times are ET.

Monday, June 19
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., Beyond the Wheel, FS1

Tuesday, June 20
1 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 (re-air), FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR Scan All 43, NBCSN
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, June 21
7:30 a.m., XFINITY Series Michigan 250 (re-air), FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, June 22
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Scan All 43, NBCSN
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Scan All 43, NBCSN
8 p.m., NASCAR Scan All 43, NBCSN

Friday, June 23
7:30 a.m., Camping World Truck Series Drivin’ for Linemen 200 (re-air), FS1
10 a.m., Camping World Truck Series practice at Iowa, FS1
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition, FS1
12 p.m., Camping World Truck Series final practice at Iowa, FS1
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition, FS1
2 p.m., XFINITY Series practice at Iowa, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO)
3 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Sonoma, FS1 (Canada: TSN 2)
5 p.m., XFINITY Series final practice at Iowa, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO)
6:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice at Sonoma, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO)
8 p.m., Camping World Truck Series Setup at Iowa, FS1
8:30 p.m., Camping World Truck Series M&M’s 200, FS1

Saturday, June 24
3 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Sonoma (re-air), FS1
5 a.m., XFINITY Series final practice at Iowa (re-air), FS1
6 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Sonoma (re-air), FS1
7:30 a.m., Camping World Truck Series M&M’s 200 (re-air), FS1
2 p.m., NASCAR Race Classic: 1997 Daytona 500, FS1
2:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole qualifying at Sonoma, FS1 (Canada; TSN 5)
7 p.m., XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole qualifying at Iowa, FS1 (on tape delayed) (Canada: TSN GO)
8 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: XFINITY, FS1
8:30 p.m., XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250, FS1 (Canada: TSN 2)

Sunday, June 25
3:30 a.m., XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 (re-air), FS1
1:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
3 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350, FS1 (Canada: TSN 2)

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing team in the Camping World Truck Series were assessed penalties Wednesday for lug nuts not properly installed in last weekend’s races.

The violations were discovered during post-race inspection.

Per the infraction under Sections 10.9.10.4 of the NASCAR Rule Book, Scott Graves, crew chief of the No. 19, was fined $10,000 and Buddy Sisco, crew chief of the No. 29, was fined $2,500.

The No. 19 Toyota, driven by Daniel Suarez, finished 15th in the Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway.

The No. 29 Ford, driven by Chase Briscoe, finished second in the winstaronlinegaming.com 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, after Christopher Bell edged him in a side-by-side, closing-laps battle.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Buy tickets to Darlington

Cole Custer and Stewart-Haas Racing will honor two-time XFINITY Series champion Sam Ard with the team’s throwback paint scheme at Darlington Raceway.

This will be the third year Darlington has hosted a throwback-themed weekend with both Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and XFINITY Series teams participating. Custer, who will compete at Darlington for the first time, will drive a No. 00 Haas Automation Ford with white and red lettering that is reminiscent of Ard’s car from the early 1980s.

Ard not only also drove the No. 00, but he also scored each of his 22 career wins with the number. He won back-to-back championships in 1983-84.

Ard died April 2 at the age of 78.

“The 00 number has been a part of my entire NASCAR career, and over the years I’ve gotten to know its history and met some of the people who worked with Sam and saw him race,” Custer said in a team release. “The more I learn about Sam and all that he accomplished, the more impressive it becomes. I feel like I’m driving his car, and I want to make him and his family proud. Guys like Sam Ard helped shape the sport into what it is today. Without him, I don’t know if the opportunity to drive race cars for a living would exist. I’m grateful for it and I’d like him and his family to know it.”

The Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 is Sept. 2 at 3:30 p.m. ET with coverage on NBCSN and MRN.

Posted on by Nascar

The 2017 season is shaping up to be a banner year for iconic car numbers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Some of the sport’s most recognizable numerals have begun to reappear in the winner’s circle, rekindling fond memories of drivers and races and battles and finishes from years gone by.

For the first time since 1991, three car numbers linked to tremendously successful pasts have won races during the same season – the No. 17, the No. 3 and the No. 21.

The latest to enjoy a return engagement in Victory Lane came Sunday at Pocono Raceway with 23-year-old Ryan Blaney behind the wheel of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. It was Blaney’s first win in the series and the 99th win for the legendary WBR organization.

It was the first win for the team since 2011 when another youngster, Trevor Bayne, won his first Monster Energy Series race. That one just happened to be the Daytona 500.

The shout-outs on social media were non-stop; the praise deserved for Blaney and the team. The Wood Brothers Racing organization is one of the oldest in the series. A lot of folks in the garage, regardless of their position, likely remember watching the familiar red and white No. 21 compete on the track when they were growing up. Their parents can probably recall seeing the car on the track when they were growing up as well. It’s a car and a team that’s been around, at one time set the standard, survived the lean years and now has come back strong.

NASCAR Hall of Fame member David Pearson is the driver most closely linked with the No. 21. Of his 105 career victories, 43 came in the No. 21 entry. Others have won for the Wood Brothers as well, but no one was as dominant as Pearson during his stay with the organization.

Now Blaney is the face of the team for an entirely new generation of race fans.

Austin Dillon’s win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was just as impressive and that victory put the No. 3 back in Victory Lane for the first time since 2000.

Fans of the No. 3 and seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt and Richard Childress Racing were pleased to see the car number return – Childress didn’t run the number for more than a decade after Earnhardt’s passing – but might have begun to wonder if they would ever see it back in the winner’s circle.

For the better part of two decades, seeing the No. 3 in Victory Lane was expected. And Earnhardt didn’t disappoint. Dillon’s win at Charlotte, his first in the series, gave those fans their answer and the victory has been one of the more popular ones of the season.

Which brings us to the No. 17. An iconic number? If you know your NASCAR, it certainly has its own history.

Two current NASCAR Hall of Fame members enjoyed their share of success in cars carrying the number – Pearson and Darrell Waltrip.

Pearson drove the No. 17 while competing for Holman-Moody, winning two championships (1968-69) and 30 races.

Waltrip won 15 times while using the number – when he formed his own team and went out on his own and again once his career began to wind down. Waltrip won 84 times overall – his first win and his last win came in the No. 17.

Roush Fenway Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. kicked off this year’s run of first-time winners with a victory in the No. 17 at Talladega Superspeedway. Before his breakthrough victory, the 17 hadn’t been a winner since 2012 with Matt Kenseth.

Kenseth certainly fared well with the number – winning 24 times. But for most long-time fans, the No. 17 has always stirred memories of Pearson and Waltrip and the success each enjoyed.

And now it’s been passed along to Stenhouse.

With three first-time winners, all 20-somethings, it has already been a tremendous year for NASCAR’s younger competitors.

But it’s been quite the year for legendary car numbers too, and the regular season is barely past the halfway mark.

There’s still plenty of time for new faces, and old numbers, to join the growing list.

Posted on by Staff Report

These may be the most meaningful gloves Austin Dillon has ever received — and we’re not talking about the ones he wears inside a race car.

The Richard Childress Racing driver, still floating from his Coca-Cola 600 win at Charlotte Motor Speedway, received a humbling letter earlier this week from Lt. Col. Philip Pearsall.

MORE: Relive Dillon’s marquee victory

The full-page dispatch also contained an autographed pair of Lt. Col. Pearsall’s gloves. Gloves he wore during every single combat mission in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003-06. The gloves, Pearsall wrote, represent “sacrifice, sweat, dedication and hard work” — traits Dillon himself owned in earning his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win.

In exchange, Pearsall suggested a swap of gloves — which Dillon gladly accepted, according to his Instagram post Tuesday night.

“One of the coolest things I’ve ever received came through the mail today,” Dillon wrote. “Hope you guys read the letter. It’s so awesome knowing that our true heroes that defend our country are the biggest NASCAR fans.”

Dillon’s win in the Coca-Cola 600 was the first race in the NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola platform, a six-week initiative encapsulating the industry’s collective expression of respect and gratitude to our armed forces.

Check out the gloves and images below.

RELATED: More about NASCAR Salutes

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Blaney celebrates in style | Schedule for Michigan, Gateway

Ryan Blaney’s breakthrough onto the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ list of race winners prompted a positive reaction from many in the Pocono Raceway grandstands. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s response to his fellow competitor and close friend’s first win was much the same, but included helpful tips in planning the victory celebration.

Earnhardt detailed his connection to Blaney and his own eventful Pocono weekend in Tuesday’s edition of the “Dale Jr. Download” on his Dirty Mo Radio network.

Earnhardt said Blaney texted him for advice on how best to toast Sunday’s win. Earnhardt told Blaney just to open his own doors to invite close friends, a group that included Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danica Patrick and members of his Wood Brothers Racing team.

That party went well into Monday morning’s wee hours, but Earnhardt said there was plenty of cause for celebration.

“He’s a good guy, easy to like, has a great story, driving with the Wood Brothers,” Earnhardt said. “I think any time the Wood Brothers win, that’s going to be a popular win, but you tie Ryan Blaney into that, that kind of makes him a little bit of a hero for a lot of folks that the new fan and the old-school core fan can kind of grasp onto that.”

MORE: Wood Brothers Racing through the years

Earnhardt said he had taken notice of Blaney early on, mentioning a strong seventh-place result in his NASCAR XFINITY Series debut (Richmond, 2012) as a launching pad to becoming a winner in all three NASCAR national series. Blaney’s talent was a known quantity, Earnhardt said, but his deft handling of off-track obligations has set him apart.

“Another thing I like about Ryan, and we talked about this last week on the podcast, is his ability to interact with the fans on social media, his willingness to go represent and promote the sport outside of the NASCAR bubble even, on TV shows and so forth,” Earnhardt said. “You have to have guys like that. That’s not the most important part of the job. The fact that he’s talented and good inside the car is great — that’s the most important part. But he goes out of his way, really, to market the sport and himself.”

And Earnhardt picked up on what’s become a recurring theme: the 23-year-old’s victory as part of the infusion of young drivers into the mix.

“That’s just the cycle of youth coming into the sport,” Earnhardt said. “This is a new generation of drivers. It’s their time. It’s the beginning of their careers. It’s just like when we saw Jeff Gordon come into the sport and win his first race or Jeff Burton, those kind of guys. You’re seeing some new talent, new guys coming in to stake their claim.”

Among other topics from Earnhardt’s podcast:

• Earnhardt left Pocono happy for his friend, but lamenting his own 38th-place finish, the result of his second engine failure and missed shift of the weekend. His Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet crew assured him post-race that nothing was different with the transmission housing, the shifter handle or the gear-shift pattern.

“That really leaves me with no answers on why this keeps happening. It’s really embarrassing because racing’s a team sport, you don’t want to be that guy. You don’t want to go out there and work hard all day and be the guy that costs everybody the game, right? If you’re in a team sport, there’s days where you’re going to be that guy, so you’ve got to be able to deal with it but it’s really not a lot of fun.

“I just told the team that it was on me, we’ll work hard to figure out what we can do to make sure this doesn’t happen when we come back (to Pocono on July 30).”

• Earnhardt also answered a fan’s question during the mailbag segment on whether car owner Rick Hendrick would change the team’s car number from No. 88 back to No. 25 after the driver’s retirement at the end of the season.

“I would be fine with whatever Rick wanted,” Earnhardt said. “If he wants to bring the 25 back, but I think he’ll keep the 88 because the 88 has some value to the partner, a lot of value to the Nationwide partner, and I think that has value also for HMS.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Keselowski’s Darlington throwback | Full schedule for Michigan, Gateway

With the 2012 championship and 22 of his 23 race trophies coming as a Team Penske driver, Brad Keselowski confirmed Tuesday that his hope and intention is to re-up with Roger Penske and extend his contract with the team.

Asked in a Tuesday teleconference why a new agreement to drive the famous No. 2 Miller Lite Ford hasn’t been signed yet, the soon-to-be free agent Keselowski chuckled a bit before assuring that he feels a contract extension with his team is imminent.

“Well, that’s a great question, one that I hope to have answered very, very soon,” Keselowski allowed. “And I can tell you that I’ve gone a long ways in my life and career with the help of Roger and all Team Penske and I hope to continue to do so. So I think that’s all I can say really at the moment.”

Since taking a job at Penske, Keselowski, 33, has provided plenty of reasons for the team to re-sign him to a contract. In addition to the wins and championship, Keselowski has 126 top-10 finishes in 283 starts – 44 percent of his race starts – and he has won Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races at 15 of the circuit’s 23 tracks.

The series visits one track still to be checked off the win list for the former champ, Keselowski’s home-state Michigan International Speedway – site of Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).

Keselowski conceded that earlier in his eight-year full-time Cup career, he felt a lot of pressure – from himself and others – to score a win at Michigan. Now, the years and the accomplishments have helped form perspective, and the Rochester Hills native says he is in a great place headed to the track this week.

“You know, earlier in my career it used to feel like a ton of pressure,” Keselowski said. “But as of late, I don’t seem to feel quite as pressured by it. I think maybe that’s just changes in my life or changes in the status of my career as I’ve become more established.

“But now I just look at it and I think of how amazing it is to run well there, and I don’t seem to get stressed about if I don’t run well there. And that’s been good. But I would say it certainly affects people in different ways. And in my case it’s affected me differently as I’ve grown older.”

Keselowski already has two wins this season and snapped a two-race DNF streak with a fifth-place showing at Pocono Raceway on Sunday. In addition to his two wins, Keselowski has three runner-up finishes in 2017 and is fifth in the season points standings.

He’s finished no worse than ninth in his last six starts at the 2-mile Michigan track – with top-five showings in his last two. He was fourth in this race in 2016 and third in the second Michigan race.

And the summer beyond looks encouraging: He is the defending winner of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway and has three wins at Kentucky, two venues that start the series’ July swing.

“There’s some great charts that show that a driver’s best years are right around age 39,” Keselowski said. “… so I still have six of the best years of my career left. And I want to see those to fruition. I’m driven to win multiple championships, and I have that opportunity.

“And it’s more of a waste for me to not see that opportunity and make the most of it or at least take it than it would be to even have an injury in that time span.

“So I’m going to make the most of it and I’m looking forward to it.”

Posted on by Steve Luvender

NASCAR’s first of two annual visits to the most triangular race course on the Monster Energy Cup Series circuit, Pocono Raceway, left fans with a nail-biting finish and a first-time winner.

THUMBS UP to Ryan Blaney for winning the race despite being unable to communicate with his team through radio.

It was beautifully appropriate that the oldest active team in NASCAR had to rely on some old-school communication when Ryan Blaney wasn’t able to communicate with his team throughout the race Sunday.

That meant communicating in a way that would make the old-school Wood Brothers proud: Telling their driver to place his hand on the roof of the car if he’s battling a loose condition, or outside the window, on the door of the car, if the car was tight.

It was baffling to team members that the technique worked at all. Typically, crews rely heavily on detailed driver feedback to make the car faster.

Maybe Ryan Blaney will return next week with some more old-school hand signals. Hey, it worked at Pocono.

THUMBS DOWN to animals interrupting on-track activity throughout the weekend.

A fox — no, not Pocono Raceway’s track mascot, Tricky the Fox — interrupted XFINITY Series qualifying.

Then, the fox (or a friend) made another appearance in Cup Series practice on Saturday.

Animals scampering around the track at Pocono is nothing new. Just ask Stephen Leicht.

At least it wasn’t the bear spotted by Matt Tifft on the way to the track.

Whatever the case, animals, please take heed: it’s best to stay away from the parts of a motorsports facility where loud, fast race cars congregate.

THUMBS UP to Bubba Wallace celebrating his friend’s win.

Darrell Wallace Jr. made his much anticipated Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut at Pocono Sunday—and when his good friend Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag, he was naturally there to partake in post-race celebrations.

Celebrations that took place well into the night, that is.

Thumbs up to friendship—especially at 3:44 AM.

THUMBS DOWN for fans having a collective heart attack when Mike Joy shouted out “CAUTION!” with two laps to go, in the midst of a heated battle for a victory—while there wasn’t really a caution.

I know, I know. Running a race broadcast is no easy feat. You’ve got to keep an eye on action all over the track, stay calm while producers are shouting things in your ear, and help quash nostalgic conversations when Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip get carried away reminiscing about the good old days—all while keeping millions of TV viewers informed and entertained.

In the tense closing laps, Kevin Harvick trailed Ryan Blaney closely. Everyone was focused on the battle between the veteran champion and the Cup Series newcomer—one false move could have changed the outcome of the race.

Suddenly, while the two leaders approached the white flag, lead announcer Mike Joy shouted, “Caution!” when Cole Whitt’s car went up in smoke.

But the yellow flag never actually came out as Whitt’s car made it off track safely. It turns out Mike Joy had some bad intel. The cars raced to the finish and Ryan Blaney held on for his first victory.

https://twitter.com/AndrewMarino711/status/874034318204694528

THIS WAS NO TIME FOR A PRANK, MIKE JOY.

(Mike Joy, of course, apologized for the mix-up, and we won’t really hold it against him. Mostly.)

BIGGEST THUMBS UP OF THE WEEK goes to Brad Keselowski performing the Victory Lane interview with Ryan Blaney. This was too cool.

The day before his big win, Blaney was part of FOX’s all-driver TV broadcast of the XFINITY Series race at Pocono, acting as a pit reporter for the day—which, of course, included the duty of interviewing eventual race winner (and Blaney’s quasi-teammate), Brad Keselowski.

The next day, of course, Blaney scored his first victory, and the roles were reversed—Brad Keselowski performed an impromptu Victory Lane interview with Ryan Blaney.

Nobody expected Keselowski to put on his reporter’s hat, but it was the cherry on top of an exciting weekend of racing.

(And Brad did a heck of a job, too.)