Christopher Bell grabs fourth win of 2017 with Truck Series victory at Pocono

Posted on July 29, 2017July 30, 2017 by Reid Spencer

LONG POND, Pa. – With his boss out of the race, Christopher Bell filled the void, pulling away to win the Overton’s 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Saturday at Pocono Raceway.

Bell overtook John Hunter Nemechek on Lap 54 of 60 at the 2.5-mile triangular track and finished 1.964 seconds ahead of runner-up Ben Rhodes, who passed Nemechek for the second position on Lap 56.

One circuit later Ryan Truex took the third spot from Nemechek, who held on to fourth at the finish.

The victory was Bell’s first at Pocono, his fourth of the season and the sixth of his career – and it gave him the series points lead.

Kyle Busch, Bell’s team owner at Kyle Busch Motorsports, won the first two 15-lap stages, but moments after the restart that began the green-flag portion of the final stage on Lap 36, Busch’s No. 51 Toyota was wiped out by contact from Justin Haley’s Chevrolet.

After one more caution and the final restart on Lap 45, it took Bell nine laps to race from fifth to the lead. After battling side-by-side with Nemechek for two laps, Bell gained momentum through the Tunnel Turn and made the winning pass in Turn 3, after struggling to clear the No. 8 Chevrolet down the long frontstretch on the previous circuit.

“The only real passes that I made down the front straightaway were whenever they gave it to me,” Bell said. “It was pretty tough, because I wasn’t good enough with the side-draft to stall the guy beside me and clear him by the time I got to Turn 1. I looked up in my mirror, and whenever I got side-by-side (with Nemechek) we were just bringing all those guys behind us with us.

“I was just trying to figure out where we were going to beat him at, and, thankfully, I showed enough nose to where he couldn’t get to the bottom of the Tunnel Turn, and it screwed up his exit out of (Turn) 2.”

Ultimately, it was clean air that made the difference for Bell.

“It was definitely who could get in front on the restarts,” said Rhodes, who spent the last three laps breaking the draft with the pursuing Truex, taking Truex’s line and blocking the No. 16 Tundra.

“I was doing everything in my wheelhouse to keep him behind me,” Rhodes said.

Truex was keenly aware of the second-place finisher’s tactics but said he would have done the same thing if the positions had been reversed.

“Track position was extremely big,” said Truex, who posted the second-best finish of his Truck Series career, one spot short of the runner-up result he posted in last year’s season opener at Daytona. “Once we got single file, it was really hard to pass. There was a lot of blocking.

“It’s frustrating that we’re this good and this close, but it’s great that we’re continuing to have good runs like this.”

Bell leaves Pocono with an 18-point lead in the standings over defending champion Johnny Sauter, who started from the rear of the field because of unapproved adjustments to his No. 21 Chevrolet and finished fifth.

“That’s really special – I’m just so thankful to be able to drive this thing,” Bell said of assuming the series lead. “It’s a dream come true to be able to compete in the NASCAR series and to be able to drive for Toyota and Kyle Busch Motorsports. It’s just a dream come true.”

Note: The No. 52 truck of Stewart Friesen, which finished 12th in the race, was found in post-race inspection to be missing one lug nut. Any potential penalties will be announced next week.

Posted on July 29, 2017July 29, 2017 by Pat DeCola

MORE: Dale Jr. signs deal with NBC | Role could expand to NFL, Olympics

LONG POND, Pa. – For the past decade-and-a-half-plus, the majority of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s weekends have been rote.

He’d fly into a race track, hop in a race car, sign some autographs and head home a few days later. There’d be a brief stop in Victory Lane on occasion – 26 times, to be exact – but for the most part, the final dish didn’t stray too far from the tried-and-true recipe.

That’s all about to change.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver is set to hang up the fire suit at the end of the season – from full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition, at least – and strap into, well, a suit. He’s signed a broadcasting deal to call races for NBC Sports in 2018 and beyond, a venture mostly unfamiliar to him and certainly out of his realm of comfort.

“It’s been real easy to drive a race car and hang out in the garage,” Earnhardt Jr. said Saturday at Pocono Raceway, site of Sunday’s Overton’s 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “I know all these people and I’m comfortable there. I’m going to get out of that area and go places I’ve never been before, do things with folks I’ve never met before and try to broaden my horizons a little bit. I’m a little nervous to try something new. Hopefully it all goes pretty smooth and I don’t stumble out of the gate a little bit.”

It’s not completely uncharted territory for the 14-time Most Popular Driver, however. He has a few races under his belt from the booth already, calling an XFINITY Series event for FOX last year and sitting in for portions of a pair of Monster Energy Series races while sitting out with concussion-related symptoms at the tail-end of 2016.

The brief stints offered a taste of Analyst Dale, and the limited sample size points to that version being refreshingly similar to the genuine quality Driver Dale provides (along with Bossman Dale and Water Cooler Dale, thankfully.)

It’s something that Earnhardt aims to continue once that gig becomes full-time.

“I hope that I’m able to be comfortable being honest. You can cross the line and I’ve done it before, you just have to know when you’ve crossed it and admit it,” he said. “I think that people, my peers included, are OK (with criticism) as long as you own it. I hope that I’m being brought into the booth because of who I am and how I am and how I act and my honesty and candid conversation.

“I want to be that same person I am in the booth. I don’t want to change or be molded into something different or polished up. I mean, I definitely want to get better and I want to be great at it. I want to work at it and do what I need to do, but I also want that freedom to be honest and be candid. But if you’re going to do that, you’re obviously going to step on a toe or two, and you’re also going to be wrong sometimes. And when you’re wrong, it’s best — and I’ve always felt like I did a good job of this — is owning it and moving on.”

NBC snagged Earnhardt for that authenticity, for sure, and it’s largely why fans flock to the genial driver – even more so than his famous last name.

There’s little chance the unfiltered — but fair — Earnhardt suddenly becomes a buttoned-up, corporate mouthpiece once he picks up the microphone. It’s not why he was hired.

“I think that Sam (Flood, NBC Sports Executive Producer) has told me that he hired me to be me. I’m hoping that the ‘me’ he is talking about is the guy that you guys (the media) know and the person I am on social media and Twitter, because that’s what I enjoy and that’s what I want when I get into the booth; to be that candid and be that honest,” Earnhardt said. “I’m not going to attack anybody. I didn’t like getting attacked when I was a race car driver and I certainly wouldn’t want to do that to any of my peers. I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys.”

Following Sunday’s race — likely one of his best remaining shots at win No. 27 and the playoff berth that would come along with it — a mere 15 races will remain in one of the sport’s prolific, even if not the most decorated, careers of all time. But it could be the dawn of another great one. It’s too soon to tell.

There’s a little uneasiness that comes along with that, naturally, not just for the throngs of Junior Nation, but for Junior, himself.

But it’s dissipating as the weeks tick by.

“As I get closer to the end of the season and what comes next, it starts to get clearer, what I’m going to be doing. And I’m more comfortable and I’m starting to learn that I’m not going to be put in any compromising situations. I don’t have to do anything that I don’t feel comfortable with,” he said. “As we accept and decline opportunities, we’re going to have ultimate control over what we get ourselves into. The anxiety is coming down a little bit and the excitement level is rising a little bit as it gets a little more clear as to what I’m going to be doing.

“When you make such a big change in your life, there’s a lot of unknowns and you’re a little nervous and scared at first.

“But all that stuff is starting to kind of clear up.”

Posted on July 29, 2017July 29, 2017 by Reid Spencer

LONG POND, Pa. – Martin Truex Jr.’s collision with Kyle Busch as the two drivers battled for the lead last Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway produced ramifications that extended well beyond the race.

After the wreck, which Truex triggered when his No. 78 Toyota got loose beneath Busch’s No. 18 Camry, Truex’s tire changers Chris Taylor (front) and Lee Cunningham (rear) were involved in a heated confrontation with Busch’s crew chief, Adam Stevens, who strode into the No. 78 pit area after receiving taunts from the rival crewmen.

Just one problem. The No. 78 crew is actually assembled by Joe Gibbs Racing (Busch’s team) and is outsourced to Furniture Row Racing (Truex’s team) as part of the alliance between the two Toyota organizations.

Team owner Joe Gibbs opted to suspend the two tires changers for three races each because they had initiated the controversy. The complication is that Truex is competing against Busch for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship, and the suspensions could have a profound effect, Truex believes.

“It’s a tough situation for us to be in — there’s no doubt about that,” Truex told reporters after a Fan Fest appearance at Pocono Raceway on Friday night. “I’m obviously not happy about how it all went down. I’m disappointed that I made a mistake, and it got us kind of in this position. I guess it is what it is, and we’ll deal with it the best we can, and we’ll go forward.”

Making the suspensions all the more costly is the excellence of his crew.

“It’s a big impact when they’re two of the best out there,” Truex said. “Our pit crew has been amazing this year, putting us in position to win multiple races, not making mistakes — they’ve got everything. Those two guys are unbelievable, what they do. We’re obviously at a disadvantage without them.”

Truex hopes, however, that the altercation won’t have a negative effect on the strong working relationship between the two organizations.

“I hope not,” Truex said. “I don’t think so. Again, it’s unfortunate that the mistake I made on the race track caused all this stuff to blow up. I’m proud of our pit crew guys and what they’ve done this year and what they continue to do for us. And like I said, we’ll just get through the next couple weeks as best we can.”

Posted on July 29, 2017July 30, 2017 by Pat DeCola

Quick facts and figures at a glance for Sunday’s race at the “Tricky Triangle”

What: Overton’s 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (Race No. 21)

Where: Pocono Raceway, 2.5-mile tri-oval in Long Pond, Pennsylvania

Green flag: 3:18 p.m. ET

TV/Radio: NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Forecast: Sunny, with a high near 74. North wind 6 to 8 mph – forecast.weather.gov

Honorary Starter: Sergeant Major of the Army Daniel A. Dailey

National anthem: Robin Smith

Grand Marshal: Peter Hagemann, Vice President of E Commerce Overton’s

Race distance: 160 laps, 400 miles

Pit road speed: 55 mph

Caution car speed: 70 mph

Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends on Lap 50; Stage 2 ends on Lap 100; Final stage ends on Lap 160

Posted on July 29, 2017June 16, 2021 by Staff Report

Take a look at the fastest times among the drivers to run 10 consecutive laps in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practices at Pocono Raceway.

PRACTICE 1: RESULTS

Pos	Car	Driver	From Lap	To Lap	Avg Speed
1	1	Jamie McMurray	9	18	172.280
2	31	Ryan Newman	12	21	171.884
3	14	Clint Bowyer	10	19	171.418

FINAL PRACTICE: RESULTS

Pos	Car	Driver	From Lap	To Lap	Avg Speed
1	18	Kyle Busch	1	10	173.058
2	14	Clint Bowyer	1	10	172.203
3	1	Jamie McMurray	1	10	172.132
4	2	Brad Keselowski	1	10	171.527
5	5	Kasey Kahne	12	21	171.426
6	95	Michael McDowell	1	10	169.596
7	32	Matt DiBenedetto	1	10	168.519

Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.
*Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Posted on July 29, 2017July 30, 2017 by Staff Report

FINAL PRACTICE: RESULTS | Best 10-lap times

Kyle Busch topped the final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Pocono Raceway on Saturday. Busch topped the speed charts with a fast lap of 176.824 mph. The “Tricky Triangle” is one of two Monster Energy Series tracks that the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver has yet to win at.

Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray came in second and third in the session. Larson (No. 42 Chevrolet) put up a lap at 175.908 mph, while McMurray (No. 1 Chevrolet, 175.647 mph) came in third in the 50-minute session.

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 175.415 mph) and Chase Elliott (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 175.261 mph) rounded out the top five.

Ryan Blaney, the most recent Pocono winner finished the session in sixth, while defending race winner Chris Buescher finished the session in 24th.

For final practice, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Daniel Suarez and the No. 77 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of Erik Jones served 15-minute practice holds for failing pre-race inspection twice at Indianapolis. The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of points leader Martin Truex Jr. served a 30-minute practice hold in final practice for failing pre-race inspection three times at Indianapolis. Despite the limited on-track time, Truex finished seventh in the final practice.

Monster Energy Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying will take place at 11:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN, ahead of Sunday’s race, the Overton’s 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

PRACTICE 1: RESULTS | Best 10-lap times

Matt Kenseth led the opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Pocono Raceway. Kenseth posted a fast lap of 176.077 mph in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. The 2003 champion won this race in 2015.

Kyle Larson (No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, 175.957 mph) was second in the session followed by Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Erik Jones (No. 77 Furniture Row Racing, 175.415 mph). Kyle Busch (No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 175.360 mph) and defending race winner Chris Buescher (No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet, 174.774 mph) rounded out the top five.

Ryan Blaney, the most recent winner at the “Tricky Triangle” in June, finished the practice session eighth.

Despite limited practice time, Martin Truex Jr. finished the practice session seventh. Truex Jr.’s No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team was one of several teams that incurred a 15-minute practice hold for this session for being late to pre-race inspection at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend. The teams assessed holds were: The No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Clint Bowyer, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Daniel Suarez, the No. 23 BK Racing Toyota of Corey LaJoie, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford of Landon Cassill, the No. 72 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet of Cole Whitt, the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of Truex Jr. and the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet of Michael McDowell.

Posted on July 28, 2017July 28, 2017 by Nascar

NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Preece wanted to make a media appearance on behalf of Iowa Speedway last week. Unfortunately, his job got in the way.

Sounds crazy doesn’t it?

“If I had done it, I would have had to miss work,” Preece said Friday at Iowa Speedway, site of Saturday’s U.S. Cellular 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN). “And that’s my job. That’s what pays the bills.”

Actually, the “job” he couldn’t miss was racing related as well: The 26-year-old Preece works for his team owner in the Whelen Modified Series, preparing his car each week before heading off to race on weekends.

Preece won the modified title in ’13 and he has two wins this season.

He competed fulltime in the XFINITY Series last year, finishing 17th in points for team owner Johnny Davis, but by the end of the year he had decided to return to his Modified roots. And hope a better opportunity would present itself.

It did when Joe Gibbs Racing came calling earlier this season with a two-race opportunity in the organization’s No. 20 Toyota. In his first start with the team, Preece finished second to teammate Kyle Busch at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The result brought the Berlin, Connecticut, native a bit more attention than he expected.

“Yeah, just because when does somebody who finishes second usually get a lot of attention?” Preece said Friday.

“I think I accomplished what I needed to accomplish and that was to show that I can do it if I had the right opportunity. I think it’s very obvious that Joe Gibbs Racing brings a very well-prepared race car and (crew chief) Chris Gabehart absolutely has a great team behind him … to have a great car on the track.”

Six drivers have competed in the No. 20 this season – Preece, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Benjamin.

Saturday’s race is Preece’s final scheduled start for the group, and he would like to join Hamlin and Jones, who won with the team this year.

He nearly did so at New Hampshire, but felt he left a good impression.

“I just felt like I needed to show three things,” he said. “A) Don’t wreck a race car, don’t put a dent in the panel; B) pass race cars like we did in that first segment, coming from 15th or wherever it was to finish second to Kyle; and C) show I could finish off a race, too. Not just run in the top five and then disappear somewhere toward the end but finish there also. That was pretty much what the goals were.”

He also hoped to win.

“I went there with the full intention to try and do it; we came up one spot short but it was to Kyle Busch, who wins all these races all the time,” Preece said. “I learned a lot being behind him, just kind of seeing what he looks for in a race car so if I get another opportunity to go there or to a track’s that’s similar I know what to look for in the future.”

The future has arrived. Opportunity No. 2 awaits Preece in Iowa.

He was second-fastest in Friday’s final practice after running third-fastest in the opening session at Iowa.

“We’re getting there,” he said.

Posted on July 28, 2017June 22, 2021 by Nascar

NEWTON, Iowa – It was barely a month ago that William Byron won his first NASCAR XFINITY Series race and now he returns to Iowa Speedway with two more victories and rumors that have him headed to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Quite a jump for a 19-year-old who has just one full season of NASCAR competition under his belt.

If that’s the case, of course. Silly season may be in full swing but Byron doesn’t seem to be paying attention.

The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports says he doesn’t know where 2018 will find him.

“No, but I’m focused on this year,” he said Friday at Iowa, site of Saturday’s U.S. Cellular 250 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “Just trying to run for a championship this year.

“I’ve got a great opportunity to run fulltime in this series and there’s still a lot to learn, a lot of good race cars to compete with.”

Byron trails JRM teammate Elliott Sadler in the points standings (665-625) but has three race wins and 17 playoff points, both tops in the series.

Twelve drivers will qualify for this year’s seven-race playoff, which begin Sept. 23 at Kentucky Speedway. Justin Allgaier, another JRM driver, is third in points and along with Ryan Reed (Roush Fenway Racing), the only other driver with a victory and assurance of advancing to the playoffs.

Byron wasted no time after collecting his first win here last month – a week later he was back in victory lane, this time at Daytona International Speedway. He’s the series’ most recent winner, having come away from Indianapolis Motor Speedway with victory No. 3 last week.

MENCS team owner Rick Hendrick, a partner in JRM, said last weekend at Indy that plans for his group’s No. 5 team, with driver Kasey Kahne, are not set for ’18. Speculation is that Byron could wind up in the entry.

Kahne won the Brickyard 400, ending a 102-race winless streak.

Byron, who won seven times in the Camping World Truck Series in ’16 while driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, said his focus is on the No. 9 “and what we can do.” Next year will have to wait.

“Trying to get as many bonus points as we can for the playoffs … other than that just have fun and proud to be a part of JRM and HMS and everybody there,” he said.

“Good to see the sweep we got last week (with JRM/HMS); it was pretty cool, and hopefully we can build on that.”

Posted on July 28, 2017July 30, 2017 by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -– Premium Motorsports announced that Canada native Gary Klutt will make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut Aug. 6 at Watkins Glen behind the wheel of the No. 15 Color Compass Chevrolet.

Klutt is currently in his third season driving in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series and enjoyed his first start in a National series at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park last summer, driving the No. 51 KBM Tundra, coming back from a mid-race incident to finish 11th.

Klutt’s largest partner for the event will be Color Compass, a Canadian paint distributor that is excited to get involved in Klutt’s blossoming career and he makes his debut at the pinnacle of the sport. The No. 15 Chevrolet also will feature Fusillo Construction, and continued support from Pioneer Family Pools for Klutt’s Monster Energy Series Series Debut.

“Ever since 2015 when we won our first NASCAR Pinty’s Series race I had the goal to one day compete in the Cup Series at Watkins Glen” Klutt said. “This is an incredible opportunity. I have to thank Jay Robinson and everyone at Premium Motorsports for it.

“I am excited to work with Mark Hillman as my crew chief for the race. I have heard nothing but good things, and I’m sure we’ll get along well!” Klutt said.

“Obviously, this is a huge step for me, having only made one national series start, and I’m under no illusions, it’s going to be tough. But I think if we can run a clean race and work a good strategy we’ll do just fine!”

Coming from the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, Klutt is no stranger to road course racing. The series visits five each season, boasting strong fields, with racers such as, Alex Tagliani, and former F1 Champion Jacques Villeneuve.

Klutt will also compete on Friday, Aug. 4 in his Nascar K&N Series East debut for Calabrese Motorsports.

“This is going to be such a fun weekend getting to run two races at such a world class track… I can’t wait!” smiled Klutt.

Posted on July 28, 2017July 30, 2017 by

NEWTON, Iowa (July 28, 2017) – Iowa Speedway has long since been a track that all NASCAR, ARCA and INDYCAR drivers circle on their calendars. Now, for the first time ever, console video gamers can experience the Fastest Short Track on the Planet firsthand in NASCAR Heat 2, the upcoming racing title from 704Games, NASCAR Team Properties’ exclusive console simulation-style video game licensee.

“Joining NASCAR Heat 2 is a big deal for us as a track,” said Iowa Speedway President Jimmy Small. “The release of this game is a way for us to share short track racing with a larger audience, from the driver’s seat, no less.”

Developed by Monster Games, NASCAR Heat 2 expands on the core experience of last year’s NASCAR Heat Evolution with a deeper career mode supporting all three national racing series, upgraded visuals, physics and damage models, expanded online multiplayer functionality, and the return of two-player local multiplayer. It features all the top drivers, teams, and incredibly detailed environments, giving fans a true-to-life racing challenge that captures the feel of driving on tracks like Iowa Speedway.

NASCAR Heat 2 is expected to launch in North America on Sept. 12, 2017, for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One and Windows PC. Fans can pre-order NASCAR Heat 2 and find additional information throughout the summer on the game’s official website: www.NASCARHeat.com. Fans can also follow NASCAR Heat 2 on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates.

MORE: See Kyle Busch on the cover