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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Bristol
RELATED: Kenseth, JGR nab new sponsor in Circle K


CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Matt Kenseth Retirement Tour hit a major snag Wednesday when the 2003 NASCAR champion showed up to help announce a new primary sponsor for his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Kenseth, the 2003 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, will be supported in a primary role by the convenience store chain Circle K for six races this season, part of a multi-year sponsorship agreement unveiled by JGR and Circle K officials at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

When JGR officials announced a week ago that the organization was holding a press conference with Kenseth and team owner Joe Gibbs, there was speculation that it was to announce Kenseth’s retirement.

"I’m just glad I’m still driving tomorrow," Kenseth cracked when Circle K sponsorship was unveiled.

At 45, Kenseth is the oldest active full-time competitor in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. His 38 career victories include two Daytona 500 titles and he’s won at all but five of the current tracks on the series schedule (Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Martinsville, Indianapolis and Atlanta).

"I didn’t realize they put out a release that we were having this press conference today," he said, adding that he began getting texts from folks wanting to know if rumors of his retirement were accurate.

"I had no idea what they were talking about," he said.

"As long as you guys have known me, if I was going to do something like that I wouldn’t call a press conference. I probably just wouldn’t show up at Daytona and everybody would say, ‘Is Matt racing this year?’ Or (I would) send out like a four-word tweet."

Retirement’s not something he’s put much thought into lately, he said, joking that he plans to drive for "15 or 20 (more years).

"If (New England Patriots quarterback) Tom Brady can play football at 40 and still win Super Bowls, I think 45 is pretty young to try and win races."

Through the season’s first seven races, Kenseth has three top 10s as well as three finishes of 36th or worse. He’s 22nd in points heading into Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Gibbs, whose organization also fields entries for Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez, said he hopes Kenseth remains at JGR "into the future."

"That’s kind of our game plan," Gibbs said.

"I’ve got to tell you, right now I look at him and he’s on that bike all the time now, he’s in probably as good of shape as he’s ever been in his life and I know he has a burning desire to keep driving."


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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Kansas Speedway



Drivers, start your … virtual engines?


Kansas Speedway announced one of the more unique social strategy campaigns of the season this week with its #Virtual400, set to kick off Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET.


Sixteen of NASCAR’s top drivers will be powered by tweets and posts in a ‘race’ on Twitter and Facebook. Fans advance their drivers forward by posting on their social media accounts with unique hashtags, #KSS(driver number). For example, #KSS88 for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.


Each original post counts toward distance on the virtual Kansas Speedway — click here to check it out.


Participating drivers are: Earnhardt, Kyle Larson, Kansas native Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Trevor Bayne.

The first driver to complete 400 miles is the winner. 


The best part? Fans who tweet with one of the driver hashtags and register on the website have a chance to win two tickets and two pre-race passes to the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 13. The winner will be announced on Thursday.



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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Bristol

 

Everyone knows that with short tracks come short tempers.

 

Kevin Harvick, the 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, knows this as well as any other driver. He recounted a particularly vibrant run-in with a typically mild-mannered Greg Biffle at Bristol Motor Speedway back in 2002 on his "Happy Hours" SiriusXM radio program Tuesday night.

 

With Bristol set to host races once again this weekend and Harvick slated to run Sunday’s Food City 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) co-host Matt Yocum brought up the raucous event that occurred in the XFINITY Series between a wispy-goateed Harvick and Biffle, who was running for a title at the time. (He later went on to win it that season.)

 

"You’re sitting there with your arms crossed, big smile on your face and everybody knows what you’re going to do," Yocum said. "As soon as that race is over, it was like off the top rope, Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka, flying across the deck lid."

Harvick had been wrecked by Biffle late in the race and waited for Biffle on pit road — while the race was finishing up — and had a "chat" with the former Roush Fenway Racing driver once he parked his car.

Perhaps inspired by Wrestlemania X8, which aired less than a week prior to the incident, Harvick performed perhaps the most unique maneuver in a scrum that NASCAR has seen throughout its rich history of post-race dust-ups.

"Well, I can tell you this. Everybody didn’t know what I was going to do while I was standing on that pit box like I was, because I don’t even think that I knew I was going to hurdle a car," Harvick said. "But, you know, I’m pissed.

"I’m sitting up on that pit box and I don’t know why, but when you’re 25 you feel like you have to make a scene out of everything and at that particular point I felt like I needed to make a scene out of everything and you’re trotting down pit road and you’re like ‘I’m getting there, I’m getting there … now what am I going to do?’ Just the first instinct was to leap from the wall, over the deck lid and off the top rope. I had Biffle by the collar and I didn’t know what to do from that particular point because it was a big mosh pit."

Before Harvick could decide what to do, it was decided for him.

"I’ll never forget the fact that, I think it was the jackman who was also the pit crew coach and I can’t remember his name, but he was the biggest dude I’ve ever seen on pit road and he just comes through this sea of people and was knocking people out of the way and he grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out like I’m 2 (years old). It may have been fun for the fans, but man I got my butt chewed in that big red trailer after that. They were not happy with me. … Yeah, I lost (my mind.)"

Just shy of a decade later, the pair mixed it up again, this time at Martinsville.

 

 

Short tracks, man. They’ll getcha.

 

On that note, be sure to tune in Sunday to see some great racing action … and whatever else may come along with it.

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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Bristol

Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Beer Ford Fusion will look like a million bucks at the May 20 Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, and one race fan will have an opportunity to cash in, as well.

 

As Stewart-Haas Racing driver and 2007 All-Star Race winner Harvick races for the $1 million prize, Busch Beer will match that first-place prize if indeed Harvick takes the checkered flag.

 

The beer brand is launching its Busch Bucks loyalty program, and fans who are 21 and older and enroll in it on BuschBucks.com between April 17 and May 6 will be eligible to win the big prize.

 

"While we want to win every single week, the Busch Bucks million-dollar giveaway definitely ups the ante and adds some serious pressure to the No. 4 team in the All-Star Race," Harvick said in a news release. "Even though it’s a non-points exhibition race, the stakes are going to be about as high as they can possibly be on May 20."

 

Fans who enroll in the Busch Bucks program also can take home Busch-themed prizes. The way it works is fans register, purchase eligible Busch products, upload their receipts to BuschBucks.com to collect points, then redeem the points for prizes that include T-shirts, coolers, hats and more.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — GMS Racing announced Monday that 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship challenger Ben Kennedy will run at least 12 NASCAR XFINITY Series races for the team this season, beginning with the May 27 Hisense 4K TV 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

 

This is in addition to the nine XFINITY Series races Kennedy already has lined up with Richard Childress Racing, where he will make his season debut at Talladega Superspeedway on May 6.

 

Kennedy has one previous XFINITY Series start, finishing 10th at Iowa Speedway following a sixth-place qualifying effort in a Richard Childress Racing car last year.

 

The additional races with GMS this season are something Kennedy has been working on for months. And it reunites him with the team where he won his first Truck Series race — at Bristol Motor Speedway last year.

 

"It’s good to kind of have those relationships already set in stone and of course, great to be with GMS," Kennedy told NASCAR.com of the additional races with the team. "I enjoy being there. It’s a good group of people, who mean well and work hard. And I’m confident we’ll be fast.

 

"It worked out great last year, knocking down a win at Bristol and making our way to the playoffs and almost making it to (the season finale at) Homestead. It’s cool to be back with those guys. … I never really left, I guess."

 

Kennedy said he could not be more ready to take his first green flag of the season next month and feels confident the additional races with GMS will be a big boost in his development.

 

"The conversation to get me in the second car has been ongoing since the end of last season," Kennedy said. "Everyone that works at GMS is so dedicated to the team. There’s a sense of family at the shop and at the track so I’m glad everything has finally lined up.

 

"GMS has shown speed this year in both series and I know that they will give me the necessary tools to run up front."

 

The team is equally as confident in Kennedy, who has 26 top-10 finishes in 73 Camping World Truck Series starts, including 10 top-five showings and the win at Bristol last summer in just his 10th start after moving to the GMS truck team midseason.

Kennedy will be paired again with crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz, who guided him to a top-10 finish at Kansas Speedway in their only race together — Kennedy’s first with GMS in 2016.

 

"We couldn’t be more excited to have Ben fill our second car," said GMS Racing Director of Competition, Mike Beam. "This is a huge step for our XFINITY Series program and I look forward to watching Ben learn and grow as a driver through it."

 

Kennedy, 25, has five top-five finishes on intermediate tracks such as Charlotte where he will be making his GMS season debut. He scored four top-five finishes with GMS last year and earned a bid to the Truck Series playoffs.

 

"I’m very ready to go. It’s been a long offseason for me, so it’s great to know Talladega is around the corner and even better to know we’re going to Charlotte after and will have a pretty busy schedule," Kennedy said. "I’m looking forward to it.

"It’s been a bit bittersweet. I’ve had a lot of downtime and able to work on some of my other ventures, but at the same time I’m ready to get back in the car and get focused. It will be good having the next month to really prepare and hone in on my first couple of races."

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RELATED: Read more Inside Groove

@nascarcasm held his annual Peeps 400 this week in honor of the marshmallow, Easter-time treat. The premise: 16 Peeps with numbers corresponding to the drivers in last year’s playoff field were placed in a microwave, heat set to high for five minutes. The one Peep to outlast the other 15 will be crowned the winner of the 2017 Peeps 400. Watch the video below to see who won. 

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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Bristol


Next weekend’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (April 24, 1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the 25-year sponsorship anniversary between the grocery chain and the track.

 

Yes, 25 years. The Silver Anniversary is a testament, of course, to a perfect pairing of brands that both receive great value from their partnership.

Even now, the Food City sponsorship of Bristol Motor Speedway’s spring Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event is as strong as ever. It is the second-longest race entitlement in NASCAR, trailing only the Coca-Cola sponsorship of the 600-mile May race at Charlotte.

Initially, it wasn’t a long-term deal between the two, but after the 1992 Food City 500, officials were ready to return as soon as the next season. 

"We signed the (initial) agreement and we had a great first race," Steve Smith, Food City President and CEO, previously told NASCAR.com. "Alan Kulwicki actually won our first race in 1992; I remember that well. We were off and running."

Smith said his company, founded by his father, Jack, became involved at the right time in the sport, when the fan base was on the upswing, TV coverage was gaining traction and sponsorship dollars were flowing.

"What happened with Bristol was really indicative of what was happening with NASCAR — it was just growing and growing," he said. "Five years later, Bruton (Smith, Speedway Motorsports Inc., founder) bought the track and things just really started to escalate here with the amenities and the things that they did for the race fans. … Folks love coming here, they love the racing environment, and they love, I think, the southern hospitality.

"We try, as a sponsor, to do a lot of things to get them in here a little bit early, whether it’s Food City Race Night or other events to really make it a full week of fun for the race fan."


RELATED: Learn more about the track

In addition to the Monster Energy Series sponsorship, the company also sponsors the August NASCAR XFINITY Series event at Bristol. While there have been times that spending money on race entitlement rights might have been questionable, Smith said, "I don’t think there’s ever been a time when we really thought about dropping the race."

The return for Food City, he said, comes in many forms. No. 1 is name recognition.

"We’re a relatively small regional company," Smith said. "But it’s a sense of pride for our associates, our customers who know we sponsor racing. NASCAR fans are very loyal, they’re loyal to the brands that are involved whether it’s Food City or other consumer products sponsors. We think it helps us sell more products and bring more people in to our stores."

In February 2014, Food City and BMS officials announced a five-year extension for the naming rights of the track’s spring race. So the relationship will continue through 2019 — at least.

"At the end of the day, it’s hard to put a financial statement together that proves that it’s a great spend, but we’ve been doing good ever since we been sponsoring racing so we don’t want to stop there," Smith said.

 

— Kenny Bruce contributed to this article

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Editor’s note: Every Friday during the season, "Tweets You Might Have Missed" presents eight of the best NASCAR-related tweets from the week. 



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NASCAR’s premier series entitlement sponsor Monster Energy was awarded brand of the year and recognized as a luminary honoree at the sixth annual 2017 Cynopsis Sports Media Awards on Thursday morning in New York City.

 

NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Global Sales and Marketing Officer Steve Phelps presented Monster Energy with the Gem Award, which honors the brand of the year. Monster Energy Senior Vice President of Marketing Sam Pontrelli accepted the award on behalf of the company.

"It’s a great honor," Pontrelli told NASCAR.com. "Monster Energy is 15 years old now and we’ve come a long way in a very short period of time by doing things a little differently than other people in terms of business community of being kind of a nontraditional brand. So it’s really nice to be recognized as brand of the year even though we don’t do things like everyone else. It almost acknowledges that fact that, ‘OK they are a legitimate player even though they don’t play like everyone else.’ "

Monster Energy was announced with a multi-year deal as the premier series entitlement sponsor in late 2016. The energy drink company, which embodies the notion of being a lifestyle brand with its motto "A lifestyle in a can," now has a large presence at NASCAR races from 300X300 foot activation stations to Monster Energy girls who interact with fans and help winning teams celebrate in Victory Lane. The company also maintains a huge social media presence.

For Pontrelli, its nontraditional methods in a very traditional industry like the beverage industry is what sets Monster Energy apart.

 

"So many brands that are in kind of our same (industry) do very traditional things," Pontrelli said. " … Our roots are very much different than that, so it’s nice to see that people have an open mind to something other than just the very traditional and have acknowledged the fact that we can be a legitimate player without doing the same thing that is expected of a company like ours.

"…Going into our NASCAR sponsorship, what we really wanted to do was make sure that Monster’s personality came through to NASCAR. Rather than becoming kind of another NASCAR brand, we wanted to make sure that we brought our personality to NASCAR."

Marrying a popular and traditional brand like NASCAR with Monster Energy’s innovative nature has allowed growth for the company. This award validates that, Pontrelli says.

"(The award) means that we can continue to evolve as a company and have very positive outcome from it," Pontrelli said. "Originally we started with very, very niche sports; skateboarding, BMX and motocross that were influential in setting the personality for our brand. But there weren’t a whole lot of people watching all those sports. And so as we started evolving as a brand and getting into things that got a little more eyeballs, and got a little bit more traditional, we were worried about ‘How is this evolution going to affect our brand?’ And so by going into NASCAR, it was a really big risk for us because we didn’t want to appear like we were evolving too quickly in (becoming) the entitlement sponsor of one of the top four sporting series in the country.

"And so to be recognized by Cynopsis in a very positive way kind of legitimizes that we can continue to evolve the brand and do new things and still be recognized as an innovator and a brand that is still very much influential among the sports community in this kind of new way that we’re approaching this."


NASCAR was nominated in multiple Cynopsis Sports Media Award categories and received top honors in Overall Social Media Excellence, recognizing the best use of social media platforms in sports.

 

From the 2016 Daytona 500 through the playoffs and championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, NASCAR social media drove record-setting metrics last season as the sport continued to evolve its overall marketing strategy and lead with social media. 

Last year, NASCAR generated 4.3 billion impressions and 287 million engagements – a 101 percent year-over-year increase – on Facebook and Twitter. NASCAR also doubled its Snapchat Live Stories and brought fans closer to key moments of the season on Facebook Live, including Tony Stewart’s final Monster Energy Series race and the announcement of Monster Energy as premier series entitlement partner.

 

The 2016 season also marked the introduction of NASCAR’s Social Media Partner Engagement team, built to provide ongoing strategic counsel and social support for official partners.

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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Bristol

All these seasons (16), all these Monster Energy NASCAR Cup win trophies (81) and all those Hall of Fame-ready championships (seven) later, the perpetually good-natured Jimmie Johnson can still smile when people wonder if his success train has derailed. Even a bit.

His victory Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway – now giving him a winner’s cowboy hat for every day of the week — simultaneously assured his fans all is well with an automatic playoff bid and left the others to mutter, "Here we go again."

Yep. Here we go again and what a historical ride this could be.

To be fair, this has been the statistically slowest start to a season in his career. Even after his win Sunday he’s ranked a surprisingly low 11th – up three spots from last week.

After the season-opening six races leading into Texas produced "Johnson subpar" results, there was plenty of speculation that the multi-time and reigning champion No. 48 team might have finally recessed a bit. That the group might have become "human" – you know, found itself mired in a  … "slump."

If you can really consider six races without a trophy, a slump, for Pete’s sake.

RELATED: Johnson rallies, corrals Texas win


At no point during the early season did Johnson or his fearless team leader, crew chief Chad Knaus, appear worried, however. They met all their media requirements – with a smile. And even after a qualifying gaffe just this Friday at Texas, there was no panic.

It was sort of similar to the 2016 season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, when NASCAR officials discovered a last minute, technical concern on the car. The team had to push the Chevrolet off the starting grid, go through inspection again and Johnson lined up last for the season-finale, championship-determining green flag.

Again, no panic on the team.

Johnson methodically worked his way back toward the front at Miami, took the lead with three laps of extra time remaining and drove off to earn his record-tying seventh Cup title – a championship tally many believe will never happen again in the sport. Yet, it’s a number Johnson may well add to.

It was brilliant work — and even more dramatic considering the obstacles the team had to overcome. But it was of little surprise to those that know this group best.

"I think there’s a little bit of vintage 48 in that," Knaus conceded Sunday at Texas. "It seems as though we have in times of turmoil and distress managed to get some pretty solid finishes with the 48 car, and I think that’s a true testament to Jimmie and his ability to not waver.


"He doesn’t get spooked. He doesn’t get too crazy. He keeps his calm. He’s very calm in nature as we all know. So him doing that and allowing us to work on the race car the way that we need to without panic setting in, I think there’s definitely an element to that. We love a challenge."

And the team has had its share in the early portion of this season.

That’s why being Jimmie Johnson is such a bonus – a perpetually under-appreciated advantage.

The El Cajon, California, native remains calm, cool and collected no matter the size of the challenge.

And it’s actually a good lesson for all of us who are less inclined to breathe and set-in.

Even after requiring three bags of IV fluid following a steamy race and malfunction with Johnson’s in-car drinking system at Texas on Sunday, he still fulfilled a winner’s obligation for a press conference.

RELATED: Johnson taken to infield care center after Texas win


After hearing about how "off" Johnson felt in Victory Lane, some in the media center were quite sure he would understandably beg off. He had done all the television and radio interviews while in Victory Lane, after all.

But no, nearly two hours after the race, Johnson came in and answered all the interview questions anyone had. All class.

My question was the same to Knaus and later to Johnson. What’s the secret in keeping so cool under so much pressure, to achieving ultimate excellence when odds are toughest?


"There certainly is a mindset that works for everyone, and for me, much more on the reserved side has always paid off for me," Johnson said. "It may be the environment. At Homestead, kind of reacting to things and keeping me under control was good. And today was good.

"I feel like at times when I start up front or we’ve had a dominant weekend, you’re kind of expected to perform, and you can try too hard easily in this sport. I don’t know exactly, but maybe there is something, and kind of just being knocked down a notch, like ‘OK, this is going to be a working man’s day,’ we’re going to have to fight through a lot, stay calm, identify with 100 percent, because again, it’s very easy to step over that line and bust your butt, from a pit call being too aggressive, too aggressive on pit lane in the car, passing other cars like we did today.
 

"I had to be so patient, and in the end, the patience kind of paid off for me."

It did. Again.

And now, somewhere on a beach in Mexico, Johnson is vacationing with his family during NASCAR’s Easter off-week. He joked Sunday that he planned to indulge in Mexican food, get a tan (or sunburn, he worried) and most likely, enjoy a margarita. Or two.

So here’s a toast to you Jimmie.

Congrats on the way you keep bringing it, racing like you’re trying to earn your first win.

All while reminding everyone why you are such a true champion.