Setting the stage: Racing renewed under new format

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Staff Report

MARTINSVILLE: Stage 2 has thrilling ending

Just six weeks into the 2017 season, the implementation of stages for all three NASCAR national series has grown from mild concern to garage-wide positive reviews.

The format change, announced Jan. 23, provides two pre-determined breaks in each championship points event and rewards those drivers running in the top 10 at the end of each stage with additional championship and playoff points.

The format is used in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series.

The move does more than just generate additional opportunities for drivers to earn points — it also creates more up-on-the-wheel moments throughout the course of each event.

"I don’t think any of us went into it thinking that we were going to have incredible action at the end of every single stage," Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, told NASCAR.com on Wednesday before Martinsville. "But I think we have produced enough stages that were intriguing and compelling. One of the things I think has been really good for us — scoring in that top 10, a lot of times we’ll find a pretty intense battle for seventh, eighth, ninth just to get some more points built up. That’s something I don’t think we would have seen had we not had the stages laid out as they are."

Additional points earned in-race, a change in the end-of-race points structure and playoff points for not only stage "wins" but also race wins created a lot of questions.

But once the cars got on the track at Daytona in February and the system was put into play, concerns and any confusion began to abate.

"I think it’s a huge plus for our sport," said Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "At no point will you ever hear that stage racing has made the racing worse. There are only positives that come out of it."

Drivers inside the top 10 at the end of Stage 1 or Stage 2 receive between one and 10 points (10 for first, 9 for second, etc.) based on their running position. A driver that runs in the top five all day, for example, might actually earn more points than the race winner. That was the case at Phoenix earlier in March when Kyle Larson finished second in the race, and also was second in the first and second stages to earn more points (53) than race winner Ryan Newman (42), who earned only two stage points.

Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing) has earned 70 stage points through five races, the most of any driver in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. He has been running inside the top 10 at the end of the first two stages of all five of this season’s races. Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott has earned 63 while Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski has earned 58.

Twenty-two drivers have earned one or more stage points; 16 have yet to collect, including Kasey Kahne, Aric Almirola, Paul Menard and Daniel Suarez.

"It does bring some intensity that wasn’t there in the past," said Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. "Especially if you are in that eighth, ninth, 10th spot coming down to those last few laps. You are like ‘Man, I don’t want to give up any points. I really want these points.’ That was never the case before. We never had points to race for, so we were just kind of getting through the day hoping to be there at the end to get the points and now we are having to worry about points throughout the day."

This weekend, the series is at Martinsville Speedway for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hamlin, a five-time Martinsville winner, says the stages will have big impact at the .526-mile track.

"I think there are various strategies that could play out on this track; you don’t always have to pit at this track," Hamlin said. "We saw at Las Vegas the varying strategies, some played out OK for the guys and some of them didn’t work at all.

"I think at this track, if the caution falls at the right time, you could see someone who potentially dominates the race end up having to go back to 20th position and have to make up all those positions before the stage is over."

The lengths at Martinsville are 130 laps for each of the first two stages, with 240 laps making up the final stage. Stage lengths vary for each race depending on the length of the race. For the season-opening Daytona 500 at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, stage lengths were 60, 60 and 80 laps each.

Miller said stage lengths were determined based on several elements, not the least of which was fuel mileage.

"There’s a lot more that meets the eye than maybe where the stages breaks are located," he said. "A huge concern as we laid out the stages was not to place a stage where it immediately became a fuel conservation event to make it to the end of the stage.

"We had to make the stage long enough to where they absolutely had to stop for fuel or short enough to where they (all) could make it. It’s worked out different on different length tracks, like Phoenix they could make the stage ends (on fuel) but at the mile-and-a-halves and Fontana they couldn’t make the stage ends.

"So to get three stages to work out to where you don’t set any of them up to be a fuel mileage event is a little bit tricky, and I think we’ve done a good job at that."

Miller said officials will continue to look at the stage lengths, but that there are "no plans on the near horizon to change anything up."

&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Martinsville

Five-time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin surged to the top of the leaderboard in the waning seconds of Friday’s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin propelled his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the paperclip oval at 95.256 mph to secure the top spot.

Hamlin’s JGR teammate and reigning race winner Kyle Busch was next on the speed charts, his No. 18 Toyota hitting 95.06 mph.

Phoenix winner Ryan Newman was third-fastest in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (94.908 mph), while Chip Ganassi Racing’s Jamie McMurray (94.889 mph) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer (94.889 mph) rounded out the top five, respectively.

The opening session was pushed from 11:30 a.m. to a noon ET start time due to early rain and track-drying efforts. The cars rolled onto the track about 12:15 p.m. ET, 15 minutes into the rescheduled window.

Daniel Suarez signaled the red flag when his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota hit the wall in Turn 3, sustaining significant damage to the rear of the car. The team elected to bring out the backup car.

Smoke from the left-front tire of Ty Dillon’s No. 13 Chevrolet brought out the caution briefly during the abbreviated session.

Because track time for Friday remains at a premium with an uncertain weather forecast, practice hold penalties for four teams were deferred. NASCAR officials said enforcement of those penalties would come at a later time in the race weekend.

The cars of Ryan Blaney and Jeffrey Earnhardt were docked 15 minutes of practice for being late to pre-qualifying inspection last weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Earnhardt drew another 15-minute penalty, joining Trevor Bayne and Denny Hamlin among those failing pre-race inspection last weekend.

Earnhardt’s Circle Sport-TMG No. 33 team opted to serve one penalty in opening practice, deferring the other to a later session.

The Monster Energy Series is scheduled to be back on track at 5:05 p.m. ET for Coors Light Pole qualifying (FS1).

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Staff Report

RELATED: Starting lineup for Sunday

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Kyle Larson, the most recent winner and the points leader in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, said Friday he believes competing in local weekly shows is good for NASCAR and that others should be encouraged to compete outside of NASCAR as well.

Larson, 24, has one win and three second-place finishes in this season’s first five races. His fast start hasn’t led Chip Ganassi Racing officials to ask him to cut back on his extracurricular efforts and focus on his No. 42 Chevrolet team.

"I’ve got a deal with Chip where I can run 25 races, so I’m going to fill all 25 of those up this year," Larson said prior to practice at Martinsville Speedway. "I enjoy doing it and I had a lot of fun racing this week."

Three days after his second career win in the Monster Energy Series, Larson was back behind the wheel of a World of Outlaws entry, competing in the Placerville Short Track Showdown in Placerville, California.

Larson said he’s often asked "when are they going to shut you down?" and curb his outside racing interests.

"But I feel like everybody needs to encourage me and others to go race at your local short track and all that because I feel we’ve lost touch with our grassroots race fans," he said. "And I really think with me going back and doing that stuff and Kyle Busch running Late Model races throughout the year, it really kind of gets the local fans back excited about NASCAR."

Bobby Allison, the 1983 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, often raced several times throughout the week in between his Cup starts; Ken Schrader would race as many as 90-100 times each season while competing full time in Cup. Others also raced local shows on occasion.

"I would usually race on the short tracks before the Cup events as many as five times per week," Allison said. "Aside from my Cup efforts, I was really obsessed with running the short tracks as much as I could."

Many fans at local tracks weren’t close enough to tracks hosting NASCAR events and only got the opportunity to see NASCAR stars compete when those drivers showed up for mid-week shows.

"I ran the Modifieds for many years in the early 1960s," Allison said. "I also ran the Late Model Modifieds and many, many regular Late Model events. I would either take my own cars from Alabama or I would go to race tracks when asked to do so by promotors and would drive a car by local team owners."

Larson is in his fourth full season at NASCAR’s top level and won his first race last year, at Michigan.

He’ll carry a 29-point lead into Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

And regardless of how the following weeks and months play out, he said, he hopes to continue to race elsewhere when the opportunity is there.

"Yeah, I feel like everybody should, instead of making Chip and Felix (Sabates, minority team owner) feel like they have to shut me down," he said, "(they) should encourage them because it helps our fan base out."

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Staff Report

RELATED: Read more Inside Groove

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Never let it be said that Kyle Larson isn’t a man of the people, at least when it comes to flying.

One week after visiting Victory Lane at Auto Club Speedway, Larson arrived at Martinsville Speedway revealing that a significant portion of his air travel is done commercially. Though his celeb stature in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series could afford him a more luxurious lifestyle, Larson indicated he’s quite the penny-pincher.

"Yeah, I fly commercial as much as I can and fly with the team," Larson said Friday before opening practice. "That’s a lot of money to be private flying, especially to the West Coast. Yeah, I’m cheap with my money when it comes to flying. And, I like to rack up the miles so I can maybe get some free trips."

Larson admits he does spring for first-class seating on occasion. His son, Owen, is now 2 years old and requires his own airline seat — another addition in cost. Even then, he’s maintained a frugal overall philosophy that has led to some ribbing from friends and fellow competitors, with Larson singling out Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as offenders.

"Obviously she’s a very wealthy person, but she doesn’t understand why I would purchase a coach ticket when coach is $120 versus first class being $500," Larson said with a grin. "I’m going to save that money."

Seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, scheduled for a press availability in the Martinsville media center after Larson, seemed amused with his fellow Chevrolet driver’s financial sense. But in a nod to Larson’s budding talent and the potential windfall from padding his win total, Johnson suggested he’d join the elite jet-setter ranks in the near future.

"Just for the record, though, his commercial flight days are about over," Johnson said.

&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

Posted on March 31, 2017May 9, 2017 by Staff Report

RELATED: Full schedule | Weather radar | Starting lineup

Wet weather washed out the latter half of Friday’s on-track schedule at Martinsville Speedway, with rain canceling Coors Light Pole Qualifying in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and final practice for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Since qualifying was rained out in the top series, the lineup for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will be determined by the rule book. The owner standings put Auto Club winner Kyle Larson in the top starting spot with Chase Elliott joining him on the front row. Neither has a win at the 0.526-mile track.

Shortly before final Camping World Truck Series practice was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET, the track advised fans to evacuate the grandstands due to a block of storms coming into the area. On hand to combat the wet weather this weekend are: eight Air Titans, four jet dryers, one Elgin sweeper and a track broom. At 3:45 p.m., officials called off the afternoon’s on-track activities.
Morning rain delayed the start of Friday’s on-track activity, pushing Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice from 11:30 a.m. ET to noon, with practice ending at 1 p.m. ET. That moved opening Camping World Truck Series back to run from 1:10 to 2 p.m. ET.

Saturday’s schedule sees two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practices on tap for 10 a.m. ET and 1:30 p.m. ET. Keystone Light Pole Qualifying for the Camping World Truck Series will take place at 11:05 a.m. ET. All three of these events will televised on FS1.

Saturday’s schedule will conclude with the third race of the Camping World Truck Series season, the Alpha Energy Solutions 250 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Staff Report

NASCAR XFINITY Series stars Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. and Elliott Sadler are returning to Las Vegas this week, but not for a race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The drivers are joining such luminaries as Jake Owen, Kellie Pickler, Darius Rucker and Miss America Savvy Shields as presenters at the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards at T-Mobile Arena on April 2. Wallace and Sadler will take the stage to announce the Video of the Year Award presented by XFINITY.

Co-hosted by country music superstars Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley, the awards show will be broadcast live (8-11 p.m. ET, delayed 8-11 PT) on CBS. Musicians slated to perform include Reba McIntire, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and the Backstreet Boys.

Sadler helpfully provided NASCAR.com with his current country music playlist. Be sure to tune in Sunday, April 2, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Elliott Sadler’s playlist
• The Baby, Blake Shelton
• Troubadour, George Strait
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler), Alabama
• Wagon Wheel, Darius Rucker
• Cowboys and Angels, Dustin Lynch
• Stay, Florida Georgia Line
• Drink a Beer, Luke Bryan
• You Should Be Here, Cole Swindell

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Martinsville

MORE: JGR announces that Rogers taking indefinite personal leave

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Count Daniel Suarez among the surprised upon learning that crew chief Dave Rogers, who had guided his first five starts in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, would be taking a personal leave of absence.

That news dropped late Wednesday, a key personnel shuffle on one of the sport’s high-profile teams. Suarez didn’t get much early notice.

"I pretty much got to know this almost at the same time as you guys," said Suarez, who will start 19th in Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville Speedway. "It was something that took me as a surprise and actually it took him as a surprise as well. It was a hard week for the whole organization, but luckily Joe Gibbs Racing is a family. Everyone supports each other very well. He’s still part of the team even when he’s not here with us right now. He’s still in communication with all of us."

MORE: Sunday’s full roster, lineup

Scott Graves will be atop the team’s pit box starting this weekend, reuniting the driver-crew chief pairing that fueled Suarez’s championship run last year in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Any sense of stability would help what’s already been a scramble of a race weekend on NASCAR’s oldest track.

The Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate ran 12 laps in the opening Monster Energy Series practice on the .526-mile circuit before overcooking the entry to Turn 3 on his first mock qualifying run and crumpling the rear of his primary No. 19 Toyota. Shuffling to unload a reserve car in the face of uncertain weather and scheduling added to the personnel swap’s Friday curveball.

WATCH: Suarez smacks wall in opening practice

The primary concern for the balance of the weekend beyond shaking down the team’s backup car: Suarez’s adjustment to a different voice in his ear while he continues to learn the nuances of racing at NASCAR’s highest level.

"I felt like for sure I was getting to a point with Dave where we were kind of slowly making that chemistry and communication. Making those click," Suarez said. "It’s never good when you’re in that spot of knowing each other and then we have to split. The good thing is that I know Scott very well and he knows me very well. And actually I was expecting to race with him more than 14, 15 times in XFINITY stuff this year so we know him very well. He knows what I need to be fast. He knows my weak points as well. I think having Scott jump into the (Monster Energy Series) program is important.

"And I hope we don’t have to get back any. I hope we stay the same or even forward. And try to move from there. Luckily we got a great group of guys that are supporting Scott and myself and everything we need to try to move forward because we don’t have any time to lose right now racing every week."

Suarez indicated that he had a measure of influence into Graves’ appointment, but that his concerns were also with Rogers, who has been a crew chief in the Gibbs organization since 2005. JGR had indicated Wednesday that Rogers’ leave was indefinite, and Suarez was uncertain of his time frame as well.

"We’ve been together just five races and we are right now very tight friends," Suarez said. "I really respect his decision. I can tell you that he wishes he was here. I wish him the best with whatever decision he is making. I just hope that he comes back soon to do whatever that he loves to do — that is being in the races and being at the race track every weekend just like myself."

&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Posted on March 30, 2017May 9, 2017 by Staff Report

Photo credit: Red Horse Racing
BUY TICKETS: See the races at Martinsville

Reunited and it feels so good. That’s the mantra for veteran driver Timothy Peters and crew chief Chad Kendrick heading into Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville Speedway.

The race is the third of the 2017 season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and marks the first time that the Peters-Kendrick pairing has been back at the 0.526-mile track since their win there in 2009.

“It’s pretty cool being able to reunite and how things worked out,” Peters told NASCAR.com. “Obviously, both of us getting our first win together was a pretty big deal at Martinsville. Since our last time that we won, pretty much we haven’t worked together since but remained good friends. Chad’s matured as a crew chief. I’ve matured as a driver and he’s had great success at Martinsville. Going back this weekend is a great homecoming.”

That homecoming feeling is aided by two factors: both Peters and Kendrick consider Martinsville to be their home track, and the duo’s back story goes back to short track and Late Model circuits all over Virginia. The two raced each other and both admitted they did not like the other at first.

“He was THE guy to beat,” Kendrick said. “He was the guy when I first started racing against him in the late ’90s, I didn’t really care for him. We didn’t really know each other. We were just competitors and I didn’t really like him. It was more of he was THE guy and you wanted to beat that guy.”

But a chance meeting at a chassis shop saw the two bond and become friends with Kendrick helping Peters work on his Late Model entry if he wasn’t racing. That relationship carried forward when Peters got the call to go to Bobby Hamilton Racing where Kendrick worked as a mechanic for the team. From there, came the crew chief position with Peters in 2009 that started with Premier Racing before the two went to Red Horse Racing in the middle of the season.

Opportunities took Kendrick elsewhere over the past seven years, including most recently a four-year stint atop the box at Brad Keselowski Racing. During that time, Kendrick scored five wins atop the box. Meanwhile, Peters has spent that time behind the wheel for Red Horse Racing, tallying an additional nine wins.

RACE-WEEKEND RECOLLECTIONS

All of which points back to that October weekend in 2009 at Martinsville that put the pair in Victory Lane for the first time in a NASCAR national series.

It began with disappointment when Peters qualified 11th.

“I honestly thought the end of the world was coming because we were buried in traffic,” Peters said. “At the time — and it still is — really hard to pass (at Martinsville), even if you have a good truck. … Once we got in great track position and found ourselves in the lead, inside 10 to go, it felt like 100 to go because I knew we were close on fuel — as was everybody else.

“When you know that you are close on fuel and you don’t want to run out and you’re in the lead and on the cusp of your first win, you could just about hear anything that you think could possibly be going wrong.”

Kendrick described Peters as being in a panic mode after qualifying and recalled how the newer surface at Martinsville played a role in the race strategy.

“Back then, the track was a relatively new surface — three or four years old — you could almost run the entire race, especially a Truck race, on a set of tires. It almost came down to who was willing to pit first and think they could make it to the end on fuel. I remember I kind of had in my head what lap we could do that on and catch a couple cautions. We pitted somewhere around Lap 35, we pitted one time. We only had one shot at it. We pitted and he was loose. I remember going down on the track bar and putting a round of wedge in it and told him, ‘Hey don’t rush anything, take care of your tires because everybody else has still got to pit. Then, you are going to have to push it hard.’

“About 15 laps or so later, the rest of the lead-lap trucks pitted and we went to about third or fourth and he drove to the lead from there. He held off a lot of good guys. I remember Denny Hamlin was in that race. Harvick was in that race. There were a lot of heavy hitters in that race, (Ron) Hornaday (Jr.) and (Todd) Bodine. All those guys. There were some late cautions there at the end and he was able to hold everybody back and get our first win.”

The victory was a boost to both and made the 14-to-16-hour days working on their truck all the more worth it. And now as they return to the historic track, both have their eyes on winning a grandfather clock together, since the 2009 win was the last year they gave away a Cup-like trophy at the track.

“We’ve been close many times,” Peters said. “Chad is one-up on me for his previous win there (with Joey Logano in 2015) and he has a clock, so I’d like to add to his collection and I’d like to add a clock to my collection.”

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Martinsville

Seth Barbour, crew chief for the No. 6 XFINITY team of Darrell Wallace Jr., was fined $5,000 on Wednesday for lug nuts not properly installed following Saturday’s Service King 300 at Auto Club Speedway.

Wallace Jr. finished sixth in the Southern California race, his fourth consecutive sixth-place finish in the XFINITY Series this season.

The XFINITY Series is off this weekend, but will be back in action at Texas Motor Speedway with the My Bariatric Solutions 300 on Saturday, April 8 (1:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on March 30, 2017May 9, 2017 by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Martinsville
RELATED: Full schedule for Martinsville

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series are at Martinsville Speedway this weekend.

Below are the stage lengths for each race. Click here to bookmark stage lengths for every race this season.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (Race is Sunday, 2 p.m. ET, FS1)

Stage 1: Ends on Lap 130
Stage 2: Ends on Lap 260
Final Stage: Scheduled to end on Lap 500

Camping World Truck Series (Race is Saturday, 3 p.m. ET, FOX)

Stage 1: Ends on Lap 70
Stage 2: Ends on Lap 140
Final Stage: Scheduled to end on Lap 250

&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;