Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: XFINITY Chase Grid | Race results

 

FORT WORTH, Texas — Body damage. Pit road penalties. Electrical issues. Take your pick. NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers contending for spots in the Championship Round of the Chase had their share of problems Saturday during the running of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.

 

In a race dominated by Sprint Cup Series regulars — they led 175 of the race’s 200 laps — Chase XFINITY Series competitors battled it out among themselves for positioning with one race remaining to set the four-team field for the championship.

 

Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick finished 1-2-3; Keselowski led 145 circuits, Larson 30.

 

Among the eight contending for the XFINITY Chase title, Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez finished fourth and fifth, while Elliott Sadler (JR Motorsports) was sixth. A bit further back was Justin Allgaier (JRM) in 10th with Darrell Wallace (Roush Fenway Racing) 11th and teammate Ryan Reed 12th.

 

Blake Koch (Kaulig Racing) finished 14th and Brendan Gaughan (Richard Childress Racing) 15th.

 

Koch holds the fourth and final transfer spot in spite of his finish, leading Allgaier by a single point.

 

“That just showed the strength and depth of the new race team and how we’re growing together and getting stronger,” said Koch, whose single-car group had to go to a backup entry following an incident in practice a day earlier.

 

“To be able to rebound from that … and come out of here with a 14th-place finish, still be in the Chase with one race to go, I’m pretty proud of that.”

 

MORE: Koch: ‘I’m so proud of my team’

 

A speeding penalty Saturday on Lap 137 kept his No. 11 Chevrolet stuck on the back end of the lead-lap cars but cost him only a handful of spots at the time.

 

It was, he said, “the second (speeding penalty) of my life.”

 

“You have to push it hard right now to get everything you can, including on pit road,” Koch said. “You can’t just be cautious all race long. I went a little bit too far.

 

“I had no idea; we’re in a backup car so maybe our lights weren’t set perfectly. We just took it, had a positive attitude and worked our way back up through there.”

 

Electrical gremlins struck the No. 19 team of Suarez, the points leader, while running in the top three and just past the halfway point of the race.

 

“I knew I had a second battery, but you never know how long you are going to be able to go,” said Suarez, twice a winner this season. “We have a lot of blowers and switches in the race car that we need to use, some of them really help me a lot and some of them we don’t use any more. That’s part of racing. Luckily we made it through and we finished fifth.”

 

Suarez will head to Phoenix International Raceway with the points lead, one point ahead of Sadler.

 

Reed had damage to his No. 16 Ford practically right off the bat as the field bottled up on the initial restart. But the driver said he was uncertain how or if the damage affected his car — perhaps a bit less downforce on the front end, “but we were free all day so I don’t know how much that would have helped or hurt us not having the damage.

 

“It was just a tough day.”

 

He trails Koch by five points as the series regroups and prepares to head to PIR for next weekend’s next-to-last event.

 

“You just go out there and lay it all out on the line,” Reed said. “At that point it is your whole season. There is nothing left to lose there. You aren’t points racing at that point per se. You have to go beat those guys by five positions.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Chase Grid | Starting lineup at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas — Toyota officials are disappointed but not distraught now that the opportunity to put four of the automaker’s cars in the Championship 4 round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has come to an end.


“We kidded about it; it was mathematically possible up until Sunday afternoon (at Martinsville),” David Wilson, President and general manager, Toyota Racing Development, USA, told NASCAR.com Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. “But I don’t think any of us really thought that with the likes of Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano (still in contention), you know, that it was real.”


Joe Gibbs Racing is Toyota’s flagship organization in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, and its drivers won 11 times leading up to the start of the Chase. All four drivers — Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth — have advanced into the Round of 8 in spite of failing to win a Chase race this season.


RELATED: JGR drivers have plans for Texas


Martin Truex Jr., whose Furniture Row Racing team enjoys a technical alliance with JGR, won four times, including twice in the opening round of the Chase. But the title hopes of Truex and the No. 78 team soured when an engine did the same in the second round at Talladega.


Jimmie Johnson‘s victory at Martinsville last week guaranteed that there would be no Toyota sweep when it comes to the title-determining Ford EcoBoost 400, scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The six-time series champion and driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports is advancing to the final round for the first time under the elimination-style Chase format.

Three positions are still up for grabs, with only Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR) and next weekend’s stop at Phoenix remaining. Hamlin (second in points), Kenseth (third) and Busch (fourth) escaped Martinsville without incident but also without a final-round guarantee.


“We led 374 out of 500 laps at Martinsville,” Wilson said. “For any Toyota team not to come away with a win, that was crushingly disappointing.


“The silver lining is we led 374 out of 500 laps. It wasn’t for a lack of speed.”


NASCAR’s latest Chase format has ensured that victory equals advancement into the next round. And it’s produced manufacturer parity, to a degree. All three groups, Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota, were represented in the 2014 Chase, the first season of the elimination-style format. Last year, only Ford missed putting a team in the final. And this year’s Round of 8 features the aforementioned four Toyota teams from JGR, three Chevrolet-branded teams and one from Ford.


The JGR accomplishment, Wilson said, “is just incredible.”


“I don’t know the next time that that, realistically, will happen, can happen,” he said. “Certainly we’re all proud of that.


“Now, having said that, that was arguably … Martin Truex’s engine failure at Talladega allowed that to happen. Would he have finished where he probably was going to? …


“Obviously we hated to see that happen. … To have two drivers like Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski (Team Penske Ford), who accounted for eight wins between them, for neither of them to have a chance to fight for a championship? That’s hard to swallow.


“And to come via a mechanical (issue), completely out of their control, no fault of their own? I hate it. I hate it from our perspective. But having said that, that’s the Chase. That happened to Jimmie Johnson just last year and here he’s going to Miami.


“You accept it and you try not to dwell on it. Try and focus out front.”


The lack of victories by JGR thus far in the Chase hasn’t been a concern, he said, because there have been opportunities for victories that just didn’t pan out. Performance has been strong.


“There’s not been a race,” Wilson said, “where we’ve said, ‘Man, we just sucked’ and we had no chance to win. The fact is, we’ve had the performance to put ourselves in position to win.”


What furor there was concerning the run-in-the-back ploy at Talladega, ensuring that three of the four JGR teams advanced into the Round of 8, has died down, and Wilson said the decision was never an issue.


It was “polarizing” among fans but not among Toyota officials who saw it as a game plan executed flawlessly.


“Here’s where I have a lot of faith, we’re all talking about it,” he said. “It’s kind of a conundrum based upon this format. Are there tweaks that NASCAR can make to relieve that awkwardness, to put a higher reward on finishing positions? … Right now I don’t know that anybody has the ‘Aha! This is what we need to do.’


“That’s the first time that we’ve really seen a multi-car strategy like that. … What they did isn’t new. What’s new is they did it in concert with their teammates and did it with a bigger picture in mind.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

(Photo credit: Chuck Norris Facebook)


FORT WORTH, Texas — Chuck Norris is so beloved, treasured and adored that the actor and martial arts expert has internet memes, Twitter handles and fan clubs dedicated to honoring his very existence.


According to the hugely popular and always creative Chuck Norris Facts website:


“The Bermuda Triangle used to be the Bermuda Square until Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked one of the corners off.'”


Another entry promises, “Chuck Norris can believe it’s not butter.'”


And of course, “Chuck Norris knows the last digit of pi.”


There are clever memes picturing Norris.


MORE: Chuck Norris and NASCAR — all the memes you need


“When Chuck Norris does push-ups, he doesn’t push himself up, he pushes the earth down,” says one.


“When Google has a question, they Norris it,” suggests another.


The popularity and fondness bestowed on Norris is much appreciated by the actor, who lives near Houston and will be trackside Sunday to introduce the eight Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers prior to the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.


It will truly be a mutual appreciation between NASCAR’s biggest stars and one of America’s most treasured celebrities.


“I’m looking forward to introducing the drivers and being with the NASCAR fans, plus I haven’t seen (track president) Eddie Gossage and (Speedway Motorsports Chairman) Bruton Smith in years so this will be a great opportunity to get re-acquainted,” Norris said.


“I used to go out to the track often when I lived in Dallas filming the Walker, Texas Ranger series. The Norrises just love speed. I used to race off-road and then I did the powerboat racing for a few years. We’re into all this racing stuff.”


Gossage thought it was the ultimate “natural” idea to invite Norris to introduce the Chase drivers prior to Sunday’s race.


“The thinking was, introducing the eight baddest drivers because they’re still in the Chase you need the baddest man on the planet,” Gossage said. “And with all the internet facts and memes it was obvious that has to be Chuck Norris. The fact he’s a friend and a Texan and been here a number of times, that’s an easy one to put together.”


For all of his work on television, in movies and as one of the most accomplished American martial arts experts, the 76-year old Norris is still genuinely amazed at the warm reception he receives everywhere he goes. And he has a good sense of humor about the cult-like following that has developed worldwide with the memes and fan clubs.


“It’s interesting,” Norris allowed with a laugh. “These Chuck Norris facts have reconnected me with the young people again. There’s a young college kid that sent me the first three Chuck Norris facts and I read them.


“The first one I ever read was: ‘They wanted to put Chuck Norris on Mount Rushmore but the granite wasn’t tough enough.’ It’s been 10 years since I saw that one.”


“And,” he recalled, “I did two tours in Iraq to shake hands with the troops and I did that with over 40,000 soldiers because they were bugging their commanders to shake my hand after hearing these Chuck Norris facts.


“Every time one of them came over to shake my hand, he’d tell me a Chuck Norris fact. And then I’d go to the commode and Chuck Norris facts were written on the wall. I thought, ‘I can’t get away from these things.'”


Nor does he really want to.


His popularity and decades long work in his first love, martial arts, along with his well-received work in television shows like the long-running Walker, Texas Ranger and movies such as Delta Force and Missing in Action make Norris one of the most recognizable faces in the world.


And he is using that support and following to continue his great work with the KickStart Kids Foundation he formed in 1992. The program is truly the heart of his commitment to giving back. He and his wife Gena chair the foundation, which has worked with at-risk children and proudly helped graduate over 85,000 since the organization began.


For the next week the Norries are selling “Chuck Yeah” t-shirts at represent.com/chuckyeah to raise money for their KickStart Foundation.


“I’m a huge NASCAR fan and my son Eric has been driving in NASCAR for years, so we thought this would be a great opportunity,” Norris said.


“This race gives me the opportunity to help our fundraiser for the Kick Start program. Most of these kids have gone on to college and been successful in their own right.”


So for this weekend, Norrises intensity comes with a wide smile and proud heart.


“I just love going out there and meeting these drivers,” Norris said. “They are just down-to-earth guys and they have great values. Those are the kind of guys I like to be around.”


And it’s definitely a mutual feeling.

Posted on by Staff Report

BK Racing‘s Matt DiBenedetto, driver of the No. 83 Toyota, will not compete in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway after entering concussion protocol, according to the team. Jeffrey Earnhardt will pilot the car in his absence.

DiBenedetto was not cleared by physicians to race, the team announced in a statement, following a wreck in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race.

 

DiBenedetto smacked the wall in a solo incident after completing 129 of 200 laps in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge. He was treated and released from the infield care center and finished 36th.

 

 

DiBenedetto’s absence due to being in a concussion protocol is the second such instance in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this year. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss the remainder of the 2016 season as he recovers from his own concussion.

 

NASCAR announced Oct. 24, 2013, that beginning in 2014 the sanctioning body would mandate preseason neurocognitive baseline testing as part of its comprehensive concussion prevention and management program for all of its national series drivers.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: XFINITY Chase Grid | Race results

 

NASCAR officials discovered a trio of issues in post-race inspection after Saturday’s XFINITY Series event at Texas Motor Speedway.

 

The JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet of third-place finisher Kevin Harvick and the Richard Childress Racing No. 62 Chevy of 15th-place Brendan Gaughan measured too low in the rear after Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge.

 

While the Sprint Cup Series scrapped rules on ride heights ahead of the 2014 season, those requirements remain in place for the XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series. For XFINITY teams, the penalty has been a 10-point deduction in the past.

 

The JR Motorsports No. 1 Chevrolet of sixth-place finisher Elliott Sadler was also flagged for having 19 of its 20 lug nuts properly attached. Since those regulations were instituted this year, teams have typically been fined for those violations.

 

NASCAR officials said that three cars would return to the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further inspection. They are:

 

— The Team Penske No. 22 Ford of race runner-up Brad Keselowski
— The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota of fourth-place Erik Jones
— The Richard Childress Racing No. 2 Chevrolet of seventh-place Austin Dillon

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Final practice results | Pit stall assignments | 10-lap averages

Brad Keselowski soared to the top of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series leaderboard in final practice Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway.

 

Keselowski claimed the top perch with a best lap of 190.685 mph in the Team Penske No. 2 Ford. He’ll start fourth in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) after a solid effort in Friday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying on the 1.5-mile track.

 

Martin Truex Jr. — like Keselowski, a contender who saw his championship hopes fizzle in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs’ previous round — was second-fastest in the 50-minute session. He turned a best lap of 189.787 mph in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota.

 

Kyle Busch, a winner at the Fort Worth track in April, shook off an eventful Friday to post the third-fastest lap in Saturday’s final practice. His Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota clocked a 189.753 mph lap to secure his spot as the fastest of the eight remaining Chase contenders.

 

Fellow Chaser Joey Logano was fourth-best (189.707 mph) in the Team Penske No. 22 Ford with rookie Chase Elliott (189.447) completing the top five.

 

The remaining Chase drivers and their rank in final practice: Carl Edwards (eighth), Kurt Busch (10th), Jimmie Johnson (15th), Denny Hamlin (18th) and Matt Kenseth (19th). Of those, only Johnson — on the strength of his Martinsville victory last weekend — has clinched a berth in the Championship 4 Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

 

Austin Dillon, who landed his third career Sprint Cup pole in Friday qualifying, was 11th-fastest in final practice.

Blaney tops Saturday’s early practice (Practice 2 results)

Ryan Blaney led Saturday’s first Sprint Cup Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway, notching a top speed of 188.515 mph.

 

The Wood Brothers Racing driver put up his fastest time on his first lap out of 31 runs. 

 

AJ Allmendinger was second-fastest to Blaney with a speed of 188.508 mph. 

 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (187.846 mph), Casey Mears (187.826 mph) and Paul Menard (187.572 mph) completed the top five, respectively.

 

The fastest Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup driver was Joey Logano, coming in as ninth-fastest at 187.026 mph.

 

Chase contender and 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick — who was quickest in Friday’s practice — was 30th-fastest today (183.761 mph).

 

Defending series champion and two-time Texas victor Kyle Busch hit the wall in yesterday’s opening practice and was forced to a backup No. 18 Toyota. Busch came in at 23rd-fastest (184.704 mph).

 

Jimmie Johnson, a six-time winner at the Lone Star State track and the winner of the last four fall races at Texas, was 16th-fastest (185.810 mph). Johnson’s win last weekend at Martinsville has already put the Hendrick Motorsports driver in the Chase’s Championship 4. 

 

Polesitter for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC) Austin Dillon was 25th-fastest (184.150 mph).

Posted on by Staff Report

Practice 1: Results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 24 Chase Elliott # 16 25 181.325
2 44 Brian Scott # 5 14 180.716


Practice 2: Results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 19 Carl Edwards (C) 1 10 183.137
2 3 Austin Dillon 1 10 182.523
3 31 Ryan Newman 1 10 182.522
4 18 Kyle Busch (C) 19 28 181.828
5 15 Clint Bowyer 1 10 181.818
6 1 Jamie McMurray 1 10 181.810
7 42 Kyle Larson 1 10 181.706
8 2 Brad Keselowski 24 33 181.636
9 48 Jimmie Johnson (C) 1 10 181.439
10 20 Matt Kenseth (C) 18 27 181.422
11 34 Chris Buescher # 1 10 181.360
12 95 Michael McDowell 5 14 181.254
13 11 Denny Hamlin (C) 7 16 180.956
14 21 * Ryan Blaney # 15 24 180.550
15 27 Paul Menard 17 26 180.352
16 5 Kasey Kahne 9 18 180.269
17 47 AJ Allmendinger 19 28 180.205
18 44 Brian Scott # 19 28 180.195
19 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 28 37 180.059
20 78 Martin Truex Jr. 19 28 180.053
21 10 Danica Patrick 1 10 179.377
22 24 Chase Elliott # 11 20 179.358
23 43 Aric Almirola 17 26 179.269
24 6 Trevor Bayne 19 28 179.093
25 4 Kevin Harvick (C) 16 25 178.449
26 83 Matt DiBenedetto 6 15 176.445


Practice 3: Results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 78 Martin Truex Jr. 1 10 184.413
2 24 Chase Elliott # 1 10 184.197
3 2 Brad Keselowski 1 10 184.191
4 22 Joey Logano (C) 1 10 183.859
5 19 Carl Edwards (C) 1 10 183.852
6 3 Austin Dillon 1 10 183.725
7 20 Matt Kenseth (C) 1 10 183.593
8 31 Ryan Newman 1 10 183.461
9 21 * Ryan Blaney # 1 10 183.127
10 1 Jamie McMurray 9 18 182.165
11 15 Clint Bowyer 1 10 182.001
12 10 Danica Patrick 1 10 181.994
13 4 Kevin Harvick (C) 24 33 181.751
14 34 Chris Buescher # 1 10 181.669
15 48 Jimmie Johnson (C) 26 35 181.503
16 88 Alex Bowman(i) 22 31 181.318
17 13 Casey Mears 1 10 181.287
18 16 Greg Biffle 16 25 180.947
19 5 Kasey Kahne 23 32 180.909
20 42 Kyle Larson 14 23 180.432
21 47 AJ Allmendinger 19 28 180.366
22 18 Kyle Busch (C) 26 35 179.947
23 27 Paul Menard 28 37 179.922
24 11 Denny Hamlin (C) 22 31 179.581
25 41 Kurt Busch (C) 21 30 179.305
26 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 6 15 179.238
27 6 Trevor Bayne 23 32 178.983
28 83 Matt DiBenedetto 1 10 178.801
29 44 Brian Scott # 13 22 178.252
30 43 Aric Almirola 23 32 178.044
31 93 * Ryan Ellis(i) 1 10 177.479
32 23 David Ragan 1 10 177.317
33 46 Michael Annett 1 10 176.402
34 38 Landon Cassill 22 31 176.278

— Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above charts. (C) indicates driver is in the Chase for the NASCAR  Sprint Cup. (#) indicates Sunoco Rookie of the Year Candidate. (*) indicates driver required to qualify on time. (i) indicates ineligible for  Sprint Cup championship points.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full race results | Updated Chase Grid


FORT WORTH, Tex. — Grabbing the lead after a restart on Lap 171 of 200, Kyle Larson moved to the top of the track just in time to hold off polesitter Brad Keselowski for the victory in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.

In a race that saw Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez open some breathing room in the inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase with respective fourth- and fifth-place finishes, Larson got a push from sixth-place finisher Elliott Sadler on the decisive restart and kept Keselowski behind him for the final 30 laps.

Despite brushing the outside wall in Turn 1 with eight laps left, Larson’s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet got to the finish line .385 seconds ahead of Keselowski’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford, as the winner worked traffic over the closing five laps.

“I love seeing Elliott Sadler behind me on the restarts,” said Larson, who won for the first time at Texas, the second time this season and the fifth time in his career. “He’s really good at taking off and pushing. He helped me win Pocono earlier this year, and he helped me win this one.

“I was just really tight on the short runs in traffic there, but once I got to clean air, I was like, ‘Oh, man, I’m loose,’ and I got nervous and got to the top just in time to get rolling. I actually got loose over the bumps and hit the wall in (Turn) 1. But I had a big enough gap when I hit the wall that he wasn’t able to get to me.”

In fact, the brush with the wall helped to tighten the handling condition of Larson’s car and made it easier to drive.

Seeking his first XFINITY Series victory of the season, Keselowski led 145 laps and was delighted with the speed in his car. But that emotion was tempered by the disappointment of losing a race with perhaps the fastest car.

“Whatever car got out in front, with the way the aerodynamics are, was going to control the pace,” Keselowski said. “It’s so hard to pass because the aero is so important and the cars are so equal that way.

“I thought maybe we were just a touch faster, but without the track position, you lose too much grip behind the guy to do anything.”

NASCAR Sprint Cup regular Kevin Harvick finished third, more than five seconds behind the two frontrunners.

Suarez took over the Chase lead by one point over Sadler and 17 clear of fifth-place Justin Allgaier, with a cut to the top four drivers looming next Saturday at Phoenix. Jones gained two positions to third place, seven points ahead of Allgaier.

One point separates fourth-place Blake Koch (14th Saturday) from Allgaier, who came home 10th at the 1.5-mile track.

“It was one of the first good points days we’ve had in this Chase,” Jones said. “It was a good, solid day — what we needed to do. We want to go, obviously, and try to win these races, but we just didn’t have the car to do it today.”

Ryan Reed, Darrell Wallace Jr., and Brendan Gaughan are sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, in the Chase standings. Reed trails Koch by five points entering the Phoenix race, with Wallace behind by 20 and Gaughan 23 back of the current cut line.