Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Byron in at Hendrick | Kahne out

DETROIT — The team dynamic at Hendrick Motorsports continued to skew younger this week with the addition of 19-year-old William Byron as driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet for 2018. The organization’s new-look lineup provides a striking age contrast for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who turns 42 next month and will have three teammates under age 25 starting next season.

If the age difference ever slips Johnson’s mind, he may not have to go far outside the organization for reminders. Current teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will cease full-time competition after the 2017 campaign, already has a head start on some punchlines.

“We never really thought about that until you see it on paper,” Earnhardt said Thursday at Chevrolet’s unveiling of the 2018 Camaro ZL1 for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, “and I know that (Johnson’s) even a bit taken aback by it when you really think about it. So he’s going to have his hands full with all the ribbing and jokes and memes and GIFs and all kinds of stuff that he’s going to be seeing throughout the year. We’re already kind of picking on it.

“We used to, we went to Fort Lauderdale as a team bonding experience and sat in a few bars, had a few beers about a year or two ago, just to sort of bridge the gaps between any of the crew chiefs and drivers. We all went together. They’re going to have to go to Carowinds (amusement park) or somewhere this year if they want to do that. And eat snow cones. I mean, the jokes are just going to keep coming. They write themselves.”

MORE: @nascarcasm chimes in

Johnson hasn’t chaperoned his teammates to any theme parks, but he already has shown an eagerness to help with their development. Chase Elliott, 21, will return for his third full year in the No. 24 Chevy next year, and 24-year-old Alex Bowman will take the seat of the No. 88 ride that Earnhardt will vacate at season’s end.

Byron, a three-time winner in the XFINITY Series this year, became the newest and youngest addition to the mix with this week’s news that he’ll replace Kasey Kahne for 2018, the latest jump in his stratospheric rise up the NASCAR ladder. It’s the same William Byron who still holds a fond childhood memory of a Halloween stop by Johnson’s house nearly a decade ago for trick-or-treating, getting an autograph on his makeshift pillowcase candy-holder from his idol and future teammate.

Johnson acknowledged that the team’s new composition firmly establishes him as the graybeard of the group, but that the Hendrick operation is now better positioned for long-term success.

“I’ve known that’s been the scenario brewing,” Johnson said of the new HMS age gap. “… I feel like with William, you certainly do recognize his age, but with Alex and Chase, they’ve both been in NASCAR vehicles for so long, yes they’re rookies but the age doesn’t stand out to me. William’s young, but he continues to impress me. I’ve seen him race in heated battles with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and come out on top and really handle things so well. I’m excited for him.

“I really think Hendrick has a very, very bright future and I’m also excited about my role to help mentor these guys and show them the ropes.”

RELATED: Key players in NASCAR’s Silly Season

Johnson will be present for much of his teammates’ early growth. The 83-time winner signed a three-year contract extension June 16, keeping him in the Hendrick Motorsports fold through the 2020 season.

Johnson’s advisory role will likely extend beyond the nuances of actually driving the car. His determination is firmly linked to his robust fitness regimen, another place where Johnson has led by example.

“Everybody looks up to him,” said team owner Rick Hendrick. “If you just think about it, he’s got all the guys working out. He’s got Dale Earnhardt Jr. riding a bicycle. He’s got him eating like he should, and Dale will tell you, it’s changed his life. So if these young guys will follow his work ethic, they’ll have a real shot at being champions because he is all about being a student of the sport.

“Whatever he does, he wants to be the best — riding bikes, running triathlons or driving a race car. That work ethic is what’s made Jimmie Johnson so great.”

It’s also what may make Johnson untouchable when it comes to making humorous jabs at either his advanced age or his teammates’ whippersnapper status. Johnson has shown little sign of losing a step in his vigorous running and cycling routine, an intense athleticism which has provided him with uncommon health and vitality for a 40-something.

Nor has Johnson slowed down on the race track. He has three victories already this year, continuing a 16-year string of multiple-win seasons that spans all the way back to the start of his premier series career in 2002.

“Really, you can’t make fun of Jimmie because he kicks our tails so much every week typically that we can’t … really, what do you say?” Elliott said. “At the end of the day, yes he does have 20 years on me, but that experience shows up on the race track for a guy like him. He’s second to none, really, in a lot of ways. It’s hard to make fun of a guy like him.”

Either way, Johnson is bracing for it.

“It’s a bit new, so I know in the coming weeks, it’ll ramp up and certainly it’ll start next year,” Johnson said. “When you finally do get to work with these guys — and I’ve known them, William and Alex, for a long time — but once you get into the flow of a season and really form that relationship and the bond, then that ribbing will really start up. Maybe the first quarter of next year, I’ll have some good ones for you.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Chevy unveils Camaro ZL1

Chevrolet drivers on hand in Detroit for the unveiling of the Camaro ZL1 to be used in 2018 offered seemingly universal praise and excitement about the new Monster Energy Series car.

A sampling of some of the reaction on Twitter:

 


Posted on by DraftKings

Rankings below are based on a mixture of expected output and DraftKings’ NASCAR salaries for that day. The ordering is not based on highest projected fantasy totals, but rather by value of each driver.

(fppk = average fantasy points per $1,000 of salary. The typical median fppk for a 2016 race was in the threes. Plate tracks tend to be lower and short tracks tend to run higher due to the amount of laps.)

1. Martin Truex, Jr. ($10,600) – This car is fast everywhere. Cole Pearn could set up the #78 to out run a lunar rover on the Moon. Don’t be distracted by Truex’s finish in the first Michigan race. He had the best car, and he won the first two stages. The late race restarts cost Truex a couple spots. (6.2 fppk)

2. Kyle Larson ($10,300) – The fastest car in NASCAR belongs to Truex, but Larson’s aggressiveness and his propensity to run the high groove evens the playing field. Larson has won the last two Michigan races. (5.4 fppk)

3. Kyle Busch ($10,500) – His Michigan track history is so bad, that it can’t just tough breaks. In the June race, Busch scored the third most fantasy points. He’s fast every week but rarely does the No. 18 team make it through a week without a costly mistake. (5.2 fppk)

4. Denny Hamlin ($9,600) – Outside of the triumvirate of speed (Truex, Larson and Kyle Busch). Hamlin is the closest threat. The JGR Toyotas are the fastest cars in NASCAR, and this is a pure speed track. (3.9 fppk)

5. Chase Elliott ($9,800) – It’s true that Elliott has three consecutive second place finishes at Michigan. The last one is questionable. Elliot had a top-10 car, but he benefitted from restarting in the right position late in the race. (3.7 fppk)

6. Matt Kenseth ($9,300) – Like Hamlin, he has top-10 speed. Unlike Hamlin, Kenseth needs a win. The right strategy play could help Kenseth beat a fast car, but three fast cars? (3.6 fppk)

7. Kevin Harvick ($9,900) – It was announced last minute that Harvick would be forced to go to the back in the June race. Fantasy NASCAR players were frustrated, but it really didn’t matter. Harvick climbed back into the top-10, but he plateaued from there. (4.2 fppk)

8. Brad Keselowski ($9,400) – Michigan is Brad Keselowski’s home track, but he’s never won here. He was never in the picture for a win in the June race. As he lamented in a post race interview several weeks ago, the JGR Toyotas have all of the speed. (4.2 fppk)

9. Joey Logano ($9,000) – His 2016 wire-to-wire win at Michigan feels like a lifetime ago. Logano needs the win, but his Penske car doesn’t have the necessary speed. He has top-10 speed, but not the pure speed needed to win the Pure Michigan 400. (3.2 fppk)

10. Jimmie Johnson ($9,100) – He was very fast in practice in June, but because of damage, he had to switch to a backup car. By the end of stage one, Johnson was inside the top-10. From there, his car became uncontrollably loose, and he had nothing for the top-10 drivers. (3.7 fppk)

11. Clint Bowyer ($8,300) – He had a top-10 car all day in the first Michigan race. Bowyer got aggressive on a late race restart and wrecked. He didn’t destroy the car, but he fell to the back of the field after pitting to fix the damage. (4.0 fppk)

12. Jamie McMurray ($8,500) – For most of the Michigan race, McMurray ran just outside of the top-10. Not everyone was hurt by late race restarts. If someone is shuffled back, then someone slides forward. McMurray finished fifth. (3.3 fppk)

13. Ryan Blaney ($8,700) – This was a top-10 car in June. Blaney was full of confidence following his Pocono win, but he was the main victim of a late race restart caution. The bottom line backed up and Blaney got caught in the bottle neck. (2.8 fppk)

14. Daniel Suarez ($7,800) – The No. 19 JGR Toyota is a great car. The rookie is not quite skilled enough to win, but top-5 finishes are possible. If he doesn’t make a mistake or get caught in a restart wreck, he’ll earn at least a top-10. (4.3 fppk)

15. Erik Jones ($8,400) – In the June race, Jones was a darkhorse candidate for a win. Michigan is his home track and he was fast in practice, but a loose lug nut issue on pit road ruined his day. (3.5 fppk)

16. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. ($6,900) – Finishing position can be a misleading number. Stenhouse finished eighth in the June race, but his average running position was 16th. However, he’s done this so many times that it can’t be an accident. Stenhouse is taking advantage of late race restarts. (4.2 fppk)

17. Ty Dillon ($6,600) – In the 22 races this season, Ty Dillon has finished 22nd or better 17 times. His median finish is 18th. He’s a lock for me every single week for 50/50 contests. (4.7 fppk)

18. Kurt Busch ($8,000) – Like Harvick, Kurt was forced to start from the back. Just like Harvick, he made his way to the top-15 where he ran most of the race. Kurt has five top 15 finishes in his last seven Michigan races. (2.8 fppk)

19. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ($7,900) – If Junior doesn’t do something this week, he’ll fall out of the rankings. He has two Michigan wins under his belt, but he doesn’t have the car to compete with the JGR Toyotas. The Hendrick cars noticeably ran outside of the top-10 in the spring race. (2.5 fppk)

20. Ryan Newman ($7,300) – In June, Newman had top-20 speed in practice, give or take a spot or two. He had the same car in the race, and consistently turned laps. In the end, he finished 15th. Not a lot changes in two months. It should be another top-20 day, but not much more. (3.9 fppk)

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Drivers react to unveiling | See the new Chevrolet for ’18

DETROIT — Chevrolet dipped into its rich motorsports history in assembling the race car that will tackle the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, announcing Thursday that it will bring the Camaro ZL1 name to the sport’s top division.

History, in this case, doesn’t mean a relic, not with seven-time series champ Jimmie Johnson’s grand introduction of the freshly race-ready car — a snarling, fast-revving Thursday afternoon rip on Detroit’s East Jefferson Avenue echoing off the towers of General Motors’ Renaissance Center headquarters. The deep-blue car, which will replace the outgoing Chevy SS next year, was adorned with the No. 8, the favored car number of pioneering racer and company founder Louis Chevrolet.

It was enough to make longtime Chevy driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. consider his garage-space options back home in North Carolina.

“Certainly, yeah!” said Earnhardt, who arrived at Thursday’s ceremony in the Camaro pace car used this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. “I’ll build some space, whatever we’ve got to do.”

Bows toward history were all around as the cars took center stage with drivers, teams, NASCAR officials and eager GM employees, but among the 2018 Camaro’s primary objectives is current-day relevance, in the showroom and on the speedways. The race-prepared version will make its competition debut at Daytona International Speedway in February 2018.

The Chevy SS has been a formidable racer, with 71 wins in NASCAR’s premier series, but it has competed without a significant refreshing since its 2013 debut. From a consumer standpoint, the Camaro represents a more visible model than its road-going predecessor. The low-volume SS, a V8-powered four-door sedan based on the Australian-built Holden Commodore, ends its production run this year.

“Selfishly, it’s going to be a great race car, but it’s also going to be really good for the dealer business,” said Rick Hendrick, who has dual stakes in the Camaro through his dealership empire and Hendrick Motorsports operation. Earlier Thursday, Hendrick took delivery of the first production Camaro ZL1 1LE at Chevrolet’s Lansing, Michigan, plant.

“When you’ve got 50 years of heritage and being a performance car, from the Z28 all the way through the line, the reviews on this car have been off the chart.”

In this photo, the street model sits on the left, the race car on the right. HHP/HAROLD HINSON

 

Keeping the road and track relation a strong one was a key part of the race car’s development, said Mark Kent, GM’s Director of Racing. Kent indicated that the street car’s dimensions dovetailed nicely with the required proportions of NASCAR’s current sixth-generation car platform. The similarities were so uncanny, Kent said, that he had to offer periodic reminders during group reviews about which one was the race car.

Kent said wind-tunnel testing of the racing Camaro prototype had produced positive aerodynamic data, which drivers were eager to back up in testing and next year’s competition. While performance indicators have stoked optimism within the Chevy camp, the truest test is likely to come in Daytona’s Speedweeks next winter.

“You don’t really know,” said Kyle Larson, a two-time winner this year in Chip Ganassi Racing’s Chevrolets. “I think you see with Toyota this year, it seemed like it took them a month or so to learn their new car, so hopefully we don’t have those little growing pains. They’re not even pains, because they’re still competitive. Hopefully we’re fast right off the bat with it. I think we will be. I think any time you develop something new, you’re developing it to be faster, and I don’t see why we shouldn’t be faster that where we are this season.”

Said Johnson: “When you give the engineers a chance to refine a vehicle, then I think the heritage that the Camaro has, we definitely have high expectations for the car and for a faster vehicle than what we’re racing right now.”

Once the performance bar is established, what remains are landmarks — the first pole, the first win and the ultimate goal of the first championship. The vying for those “firsts” will add an extra layer to the competition for bragging rights within the automaker’s ranks.

Though Earnhardt’s full-time career will be coming to a close before the Camaro ZL1’s racing debut, he said he’ll be watching those contests with interest.

“I think that’s something that’s on all the drivers’ minds, to be the guy to get the first win. There’s all kinds of little milestones like that in manufacturing and within your team,” Earnhardt said, noting that the next victory for his Hendrick-owned team will be its 250th.

“I’m sure all the guys will be gunning for it here in February to put that thing in Victory Lane. It’d be awesome if we could do it at the Daytona 500, biggest race of the season to have a Camaro in Victory Lane. It’d be awesome.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: See the race at Mid-Ohio | Full schedule for Mid-Ohio

Justin Marks says he had two dreams as a child – to win a race at one of NASCAR’s top levels and to climb mountains. But not just any mountains.

One box has been checked. The second? Well, he’s working on it.

Marks is the defending winner of the Mid-Ohio Challenge, the NASCAR XFINITY Series race scheduled for Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

RELATED: Recap every Mid-Ohio XFINITY Series race

He’s also in training toward what he hopes will one day be a trek to the top of Mt. Everest, at 29,029 feet the world’s highest mountain.

Photo courtesy of Justin Marks

“I almost really turned my back on my climbing dream until I won that race at Mid-Ohio,” Marks told NASCAR.com. “I think that next week I started going, ‘I did it; I won a big NASCAR race.’ And I started thinking I had two dreams when I was a kid and I’m halfway there. There’s one left to do.”

Marks, 36, is an accomplished road racer and his experience paid off last year when much of the XFINITY Series race at Mid-Ohio was run in the rain.

It wasn’t a win that was handed to him, however. He was seventh on a late restart with less than 15 laps to go, but made his way to third with 13 circuits remaining. When then-leader Ty Dillon slid off the track 10 laps from the finish, Marks, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, moved out front.

He had a 17-second lead when a final caution appeared and set up a two-lap run to the finish. He quickly pulled away from Sam Hornish Jr., who finished second, to earn his first career NASCAR victory.

RELATED: Marks nabs first XFINITY win at raining Mid-Ohio

“That was a big deal for me,” Marks said. “It’s a big deal for anybody to win. When these guys win a ton of races – Kyle Busch chasing 200 wins and all this kind of stuff – the winning is just a part of life. But for somebody like me, I did not grow up in a racing family. I’ve not had a lot of rides in my career that were not sponsor-driven. I’ve had some but not a lot. I don’t have a big racing pedigree.

“I’m a race car driver because I grew up as a fan and I wanted to try to do it because my heroes were race car drivers. So when you’ve got someone like me who grows up in the Silicon Valley to a family that’s basically a technology investment family and I just came home one day and decided I wanted to be a race car driver … I went to these races and got Tony Stewart’s autograph, got all these guys’ autographs.

“Fast forward — to win a race in the XFINITY Series at that level for a company like Chip Ganassi Racing, on paper it shouldn’t happen. … People in this town think that guys like me shouldn’t win races. Especially races where there’s not attrition, where you’ve got to race and win it on pace.

“So it was emotional for me because I felt like it was a big deal. It was a big, big deal personally because I beat Sam Hornish Jr. and Ryan Blaney and Ty Dillon and these guys at the end of the race that I just sort of think are better drivers than me.”

RELATED: Hear Marks talk about climbing Mt. Everest

Marks has several business interests outside his own racing efforts, including ownership in the GoPro Motorplex karting facility and co-ownership with Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson in Larson-Marks Racing, which fields an entry in the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series.

He is scheduled to make one more start for the No. 42 teams this year, at Road America later this month, and will also race at Road Atlanta in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race there, making his fourth start of the season in that series for Turner Motorsport.

But much of the fall will be spent in training, he said. He’s already been to Ecuador where he scaled two volcanos above 18,000 feet to gain experience hiking at altitude. In January, he is scheduled to travel to Argentina to climb Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America at just under 23,000 feet.

Photo courtesy of Justin Marks

“That’s the first real altitude test and if my body performs well at that altitude then it’s time to turn the attention to the Himalayas and Nepal,” he said. “Once we get out there and start getting experience at those extreme altitudes and with oxygen, then it becomes ready to start training for Everest.”

It’s a three- or four-year plan, Marks said, “and I’m basically at the end of Year 1 right now.

“I like exploring what I’m capable of and I think that’s independent of my interest in racing. The human body is an incredible machine and that all of us are only utilizing a small percentage of what we are capable of.

“I think training to climb the highest mountain in the world really, really lets you know what you’re made of. And I guess that’s probably the most interesting aspect for me.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: See the races in Michigan | Full Michigan schedule

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t won a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points race since the fall of 2015, and there are some wondering if NASCAR’s most popular driver will be back in Victory Lane before the end of the 2017 season.

“He ought to just hang it up now,” said a neighbor Sunday evening, noting Earnhardt’s early departure from the I LOVE NEW YORK 355 at Watkins Glen international.

“I don’t even know where he finished; TV didn’t mention him when I got home and turned it on,” a parking attendant explained Monday morning.

It isn’t the first time NASCAR’s most popular driver has found himself and his team in a funk. But it likely will be the last.

Earnhardt Jr., 42, is scheduled to step away at season’s end, racing no more in the Monster Energy Series, appearing only occasionally in the XFINITY Series, and moving to the television booth to work with NBC during the second half of the ’18 season.

RELATED: Dale Jr. to join NBC for 2018 season

Fourteen races remain.

He will enter Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) riding a 41-race winless streak.

He will enter Sunday’s race having failed to finish four of his previous nine starts. He will enter Sunday’s race 23rd in points and needing a victory to earn one of the 16 berths for the upcoming 10-race championship-determining playoff.

On two other occasions, Earnhardt has rolled into the Irish Hills trailed by a lengthy run of futility. Both times those streaks came to an end on the 2-mile track that has been hosting NASCAR events since 1969.

RELATED: Will the Irish Hills smile on Junior once more?

Quicken Loans 400
June 17, 2012

A four-year, 143-race winless streak came to an end in the June stop at Michigan as Earnhardt led 95 of the race’s 200 laps and enjoyed a whopping 5.3-second advantage on runner-up Tony Stewart when he took the checkered flag.

While the streak had been noteworthy, Earnhardt appeared to be on the brink of returning to Victory Lane for much of the season with runner-up finishes at Daytona in February and Richmond in April, and third-place runs at Auto Club and Martinsville.

While the Father’s Day win turned out to be his only victory of the year, it did help prepare the No. 88 team for the playoffs.

LifeLock 400
June 15, 2008

Four years before Earnhardt snapped the 143-race skid at Michigan, he broke a 76-race winless streak at the same track.

The ’08 season was Earnhardt’s first after joining Hendrick Motorsports following eight seasons at Dale Earnhardt Inc., the organization founded by his father, seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt.

Teamed with cousin Tony Eury Jr. as his crew chief, Earnhardt opened the year with non-points wins in what was then the Budweiser Shootout and his Gatorade Duel qualifying race. But a victory in a points-paying race wouldn’t occur until nearly midseason.

Earnhardt started third at MIS after rain forced officials to set the lineup per the rulebook and he was far from dominant in the race, leading only 14 laps.

But he did have something several others did not – enough fuel to make it to the end when late cautions pushed the race into overtime.

Pure Michigan 400
Aug. 13, 2017

Michigan is one of 12 tracks where Earnhardt has at least one victory. Earlier this year, he finished ninth in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at the 2-mile track, one his four top 10s so far in 2017.

Two years ago, his was a team of all seasons, with Earnhardt winning in the spring at Talladega, in the summer at Daytona and in the fall at Phoenix.

The ’15 Phoenix win remains his most recent victory. Although 59 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points races have been contested since then, Earnhardt missed the final 18 of last year due to injury, leaving his current winless run at 41.

Longer streaks have gone by the wayside at Michigan. But on those occasions, Earnhardt and his team were running better, were more competitive week in and week out, with an average finish of 11.2 in ’08 and 7.9 in ’12. His average finish through this year’s first 22 races is 22.0.

Some feel this may be Earnhardt’s best shot at a victory and a spot in the playoffs. The time for another streak to come to an end.

The numbers indicate it’ll be more difficult this time around.

Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: Be part of the throwback weekend at Darlington
RELATED: See every revealed Darlington paint scheme

Spencer Gallagher and GMS Racing will forgo the standard blue-and-white paint scheme at Darlington Raceway for something a little, uh, flashier.

The No. 23 Chevrolet in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race will undergo a total overhaul to honor Michael Waltrip’s 1986 No. 23 Hawaiian Punch Pontiac in the track’s third annual throwback weekend.

“I am really excited about being a part of the throwback weekend at Darlington,” Gallagher said in a team release. “I have always looked up to Michael (Waltrip) so getting the opportunity to honor him is an amazing feeling. He has done a lot for this sport and to be able to bring back some memories and history for him and the fans is really exciting.”

This season marks the third year that Darlington will host a throwback-themed Bojangles’ Southern 500 event. This year’s event will focus on the 1985-1989 era, considered a time of growth and exposure for the sport.

“I love the throwback weekend at Darlington,” Waltrip said in a team release. “I’m honored that Spencer is racing my rookie year scheme. I came into NASCAR with a ton of energy, enthusiasm and appreciation for the sport and Spencer (Gallagher) is the same way. He will love every minute of racing at Darlington, just like I did.”

 

Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the action at Michigan | See the action at Mid-Ohio
RELATED: Full schedule for Michigan, Mid-Ohio

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series head to Michigan International Speedway while the NASCAR XFINITY Series will be in Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend. Below are the stage lengths for each race.

Click here to bookmark the stage lengths for every race in 2017.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (Race is Sunday, 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN)
Stage 1: Ends on Lap 60
Stage 2: Ends on Lap 120
Final Stage: Scheduled to end on Lap 200

NASCAR XFINITY Series (Race is Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN)
Stage 1: Ends on Lap 20
Stage 2: Ends on Lap 40
Final Stage: Scheduled to end on Lap 75

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (Race is Saturday, 1 p.m. ET on FS1)
Stage 1: Ends on Lap 30
Stage 2: Ends on Lap 60
Final Stage: Scheduled to end on Lap 100

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: XFINITY Series schedule

CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR XFINITY Series teams will have the option of using a flange-fit composite body at three races later this season as the series moves toward incorporating the body into competition full-time by 2019.

 

XFINITY Series director Wayne Auton told NASCAR.com that teams will have the option of running the composite body at Richmond, Dover and Phoenix this year, and it is expected to also be optional for ’18 at all tracks other than superspeedways.

 

“It’s an option,” Auton said. “You can still run the steel (body) but we will have some weight and aero changes (in place) between the two bodies” to keep the playing field level.

 

Approximately 90 percent of those expected to compete in the Richmond XFINITY Series race (7:30 p.m. ET, 9/8, NBCSN) have already indicated they will compete with the new composite body.

 

BUY TICKETS: See the composite body at Richmond

 

Teams in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series have competed with the composite body for two years and Auton said officials learned much from that process. While the bodies themselves will be similar, Auton said additional bracing has been added for cars competing in the XFINITY Series.

 

Five Star RaceCar Bodies, based in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, will supply the various body parts.

 

Unlike steel bodies which are welded to the chassis, composite bodies are bolted via bracing onto the chassis and can be removed and replaced much easier.

 

“Definitely the amount of labor it takes to re-tool a car (is a big benefit),” Auton said. “You could take the body off this car and still work on your race car where with a steel-body car, it’s attached to the chassis. If you want to take the front end off and work in the engine compartment, you just unbolt it, take it off, work on your car and when you get ready to go to the race track, put the fender back on it, the hood on it, put the nose on it, load ‘er up, go to the race track and have a great time.

 

“If you don’t get into the frame and suspension (with damage), you could take the side off a car and put one back on it out in the parking lot. The labor … is where the owners are going to save the money. The body parts are about the same as what a steel body costs but the (savings will be in) labor time, the turnaround time.”

 

The laminate blend material can be broken, but for the most part it retains its shape when struck.

 

From an inspection standpoint, Auton said initially nothing should change although as the car is put through the rigors of competition, some tweaks might become necessary.

 

The current templates will continue to be used in the inspection process. There are also markings on the outside of the car where a laser system will be used, starting at Richmond, to ensure the body is square to the frame.

 

“That’s not to say that when we get to Richmond we find something new that we need to adjust before we get to Dover,” Auton said. “Then we run it at Dover, which is a month later, and we’ll probably find something out at Dover that we might need to adjust before we get to Phoenix.

 

BUY TICKETS: See the composite body at Dover | Phoenix

 

“That’s the cool part about this car, the collaboration that we’ve got with the teams. Everybody is working in one direction. … That’s the reason we decided to use it at three short tracks. Let the teams get used to it. Let them learn what the process is of maybe changing a body; if I get in the wall how is the car going to hold up? …

 

“We’re just interested in getting driver feedback on how the car feels. We’re interested in getting team feedback on what they think the adjustments need to be and then when we roll into Atlanta next year definitely we will have this body ready to go, the teams will be ready and prepared.”

 

There will be no additional practice time because of the new piece.

Posted on by Staff Report

About 125 kids ages 7-14 went on a special field trip Wednesday to Charlotte Motor Speedway for Camp LUCK, a medically-supervised camp for children with heart disease. The camp, based in Charlotte, was founded by 2016 by Comcast Community Champion of the Year, Wade Jackson.

During the event, XFINITY Series drivers such as JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier and Richard Childress Racing’s Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric stopped for a meet-and-greet with the kids and to show them around garages and pit road.

Additionally, the kids were able to watch a pit stop by the No. 2 RCR XFINITY Series pit crew, an event arranged by 2016 award finalist and RCR pit crew coach Ray Wright.

Take a look at some of the highlights from social media: