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Before making their way down to Key West, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife Amy spent some time in Texas, and despite the lack of racing, Junior seemed to keep busy.

"I went and rode 60 miles on Monday and Tuesday — or was it Tuesday and Wednesday?" Earnhardt said on Tuesday’s "The Dale Jr. Download" podcast.

"I don’t know, does it matter? You rode a lot on that bike," said Amy, who was guest co-hosting the podcast. "You rode more than you needed to."

What really mattered is the 60 miles Junior rode during the offweek were 60 miles more than Jimmie Johnson did during his offweek in Mexico.


RELATED: Johnson’s passion for fitness inspires Hendrick teammates

"Sorry, Jimmie," said Amy, who revealed Johnson’s lack of workout time on the Download. "Throwing you way under the bus there, but Dale’s so proud of himself."


He certainly was.


"We’ve talked about our (driver) workout routine at (Hendrick Motorsports) and every week we get a report emailed to us about what everyone did," Earnhardt explained. "I did quite a bit of cycling, basically four hours of cycling, 60 miles. And I’m like ‘Yes! This is going to be awesome for the report.’ But I didn’t do any strength so I got a big zero on the strength.


"But I got the report in and I did the most and Jimmie Johnson, the workout beast that he is, did nothing."

So, Johnson, perhaps for the first time since Hendrick Motorsports started its driver workout program, gets "a pink zero" next to his name for the week.


Dale Jr. 60, Johnson, 0. You’re up, "Seven-time!"

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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Bristol
RELATED: More on Jones


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Erik Jones would be the first to tell you he is not high drama, flash-and-dash. Instead, the 20-year old Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie prefers a more workmanlike, low-key approach to his high-profile job.

And his rise up the standings this season reflects the rewards of that method.

The Furniture Row Racing driver heads to the always-exciting Bristol Motor Speedway bullring this weekend ranked 14th with a season-best eighth-place finish at Phoenix last month and five top-15 finishes through seven races.

RELATED: Full series standings

"I don’t usually have a lot to say most of the time," Jones said of his reserved demeanor during a test at Daytona International Speedway last week. "I always feel we have a job when we come to the race track, we know what we’re supposed to do."

His quiet manner with reporters is in sharp contrast to the noise he’s been making on track as a new Monster Energy Series driver in a new car — the No. 77 Toyota Camry — with a first-year crew chief in Chris Gayle.

Jones said he hasn’t necessarily sought out anyone from last year’s rookie class for advice on his maiden premier series season, instead just kind of put his head down and gone about his business. It’s certainly worked before for him.

"I don’t hang out with the other drivers too much," Jones said smiling. "I kind of do my own thing. I show up at the race track to do my job and that’s kind of always how it’s been. I’ve always lived the by the mentality that you bring your friends to the race track with you."

And so Jones’ friends must be impressed.

He has patiently and methodically worked forward in his debut season in NASCAR’s big leagues — improving each week in some aspect of competition. But then again, success is not new to him.


MORE: Jones on his late father: ‘I definitely think he’s proud’

He won the Camping World Truck Series championship at the age of 19 in his first full season of competition and finished fourth last year in the XFINITY Series championship in his only full year competing there. Clearly, Jones’ progress reflects both his quiet confidence and his great natural ability.

He considers the eighth-place showing at Phoenix (where he has a pair of Truck Series wins) the best full weekend he’s had so far in the Monster Energy Series and the top-10 has given him a healthy dose of assurance.

"We just worked our way forward all day," Jones recalled of that race. "We didn’t qualify that great, but we worked our way forward. We were running fifth with about 20 laps to go and if not for that late caution, I think we would have finished there. That was a day where I definitely felt good about it.

"Fontana (Auto Club Speedway) was another one. We consistently ran fourth to fifth to six all day long and then got a penalty late on the last (pit) stop. Those two races were really good for us as a team and races where I felt I had the speed to go up and be really competitive."

Jones has certainly established a pattern of high expectations collecting a truly remarkable 43 top-10 finishes in 63 XFINITY Series starts (entering Bristol) — a measure of 68 percent.

RELATED: Jones wins at Texas in XFINITY | All his XFINITY stats

Specifically, he has had great success at Bristol, starting from the pole position in three of his four XFINTY Series starts. He won from the pole position there last spring (and scored the Dash 4 Cash prize for that race) and has three top-10 finishes. He also has a strong XFINITY Series record at next week’s venue, Richmond International Raceway, with three top-five finishes, including a runner-up in the XFINITY Series race there last fall.

"I would say performance-wise other than last week at Texas (22nd in the Monster Energy Series race), I’ve been really happy with where we’ve run," Jones said. "We’ve run consistently in the top 10 at Phoenix, Fontana and Atlanta but we just didn’t get the finishes we deserved.

"Either way I look at it, we’ve done as good a job as we can and we brought fast race cars to the track. We’re just learning more about how to execute, how to close these races out, and how to get the finishes we feel like we are capable of."

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RELATED: Kenseth’s career stats

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Circle K, an international chain of convenience stores, will serve as the primary sponsor for six races this season with driver Matt Kenseth and the No. 20 Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

The multi-year sponsorship was announced Wednesday by JGR and Circle K officials at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.


"It seems like today, in general and not just in racing, there’s always more negative stories than positive so for me it’s always exciting to get a new sponsor into the sport at whatever level it’s at," Kenseth said. "… I always feel like that’s a positive for whole industry. I’m glad they’re on my car."

The Circle K sponsorship will debut on the car at this month’s race at Richmond, and will return for races at Talladega and Charlotte in May, Kentucky in July as well as Texas and Phoenix in November.

According to officials, the company will have associate branding on the car for those races in which it is not the primary sponsor.

Kenseth was sponsored by Dollar General through 2016 before that company left NASCAR.

The No. 20 entry has featured branding from DeWalt (Daytona, Atlanta), BlueDEF (Las Vegas), Tide Pods (Phoenix, Martinsville), PEAK (Auto Club) and Toyota "Let’s Go Places" (Texas) thus far this season.

RELATED: Tide back on Kenseth’s No. 20 car | PEAK to sponsor JGR duo

"In a perfect world you’d have your car fully-funded at a high level (for) years in advance," Kenseth said. "That would be the best case for everybody. But in today’s environment, there are very few cars that are actually like that."

Circle K has stores in 41 states and is owned by Canadian-based parent company Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. While the company has had previous NASCAR affiliations, this year’s sponsorship is a first in the role of a primary sponsor.

"It’s an exciting day for us, for all of our other sponsors as well," team owner Joe Gibbs said. "It’s also a huge benefit for Circle K to be matched with these companies."

JGR, which also fields teams for Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, still has open inventory on the No. 20 entry, but Kenseth said he’s been more focused on competition issues of late.

"I’ve been more worried about how we get our season turned around, running up front and hopefully winning some races," said the 2003 series champion.

RELATED: Kenseth likens himself to Super Bowl-winning QB

Since joining JGR in 2013, Kenseth has won 14 times. He won twice last year and finished fifth in the points standings. So far in ’17, he’s managed three top 10s, but three finishes of 36th or worse as well and sits 22nd in points as the series heads to Bristol this week for Sunday’s Food City 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

When it was suggested his season has been hit or miss, Kenseth noted that he’s "hit a lot of stuff. We haven’t missed much."

"I think looking at just the (No.) 20 that we’ve been off," he said. "… (Other than Atlanta), we just have not run very well really. … Some things are circumstances but I think if we can get running better, that solves a lot of your problems.

"We’re off a little bit for sure. It seems like the window is pretty small right now; it’s easy to miss it."


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RELATED: Read more Inside Groove



If you’ve spent literally any time on Twitter over the past two weeks, chances are you’ve seen the below tweet — because it’s been retweeted more than three million times.

Yes, Carter Wilkerson is well on his way to receiving free chicken nuggets for a year from fast food chain Wendy’s. All he has to do is get a measly 18 million retweets.


Considering he’s roughly 18 percent of the way there at press time (still an accomplishment!), he could use a little help to pick up the slack and finish off the remaining 15 million retweets.


Insert Michael McDowell and Leavine Family Racing.


LFR will feature a large decal on the TV panel of the No. 95 WRL Chevrolet SS with the Twitter hashtag #NuggsForCarter in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, FOX.) 







"I am blown away by all of the support!" Wilkerson said in a team release. "It all started out just for fun. I just really wanted some chicken nuggets. Now, we’ve raised more than $100,000 for charity and it just keeps growing. I’ve just about beat Ellen (DeGeneres, for this tweet, the most RT’ed ever), and I’m Twitter verified. I’m excited to see what’s next."



Kind of makes you wonder how many retweets it would take for an unlimited supply of Frostys, no?

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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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RELATED: Read more Inside Groove

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."