Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Updated Chase Grid | Who’s on the bubble? | Series standings


CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Crunch the numbers. Do the math. But don’t bother telling Tony Stewart the potential scenarios required for him to advance to the Round of 12 in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.


You’d be wasting your time and his time, too.


The only scenario Stewart, 45 and three times a Sprint Cup Series champion, cares about is the one that ends with him and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team celebrating in Victory Lane this weekend at Dover International Speedway.


“All we can do is go out and do the best we can this weekend,” Stewart said Wednesday during a daylong media stop in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. “It still amazes me how people can take something that’s so simple and make it so complicated. ‘Will we be watching where everybody else is?’


“Well yeah, I can waste my time and do that but … I’ve got to focus on winning the race. Because if I win the race I don’t have to worry about where they’re at. But if I go and do everything I can to try and win the race and I finish second, then wherever they are is wherever they are. I can’t control those guys on the race track so why focus your attention on it? It’s a waste of time.”


The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season is the final one for Stewart. He’ll remain involved in the series as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, which fields four Sprint Cup teams and one that will debut a NASCAR XFINITY Series entry next year. He’s a track owner, team owner and competitor in other series — some NASCAR-affiliated, some not — as well.


But his quest for a fourth title rests solely on the outcome of Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). A 16-driver field that began the Chase two weeks ago will be trimmed to 12 after Dover, and Stewart will arrive Friday 15th on the Chase Grid.


His approach to what could be his final race as a title contender will be no different than any other weekend.


“There is no mindset to it,” he said. “The most realistic mindset to go into it with is the same approach you go into it with every weekend of the year and that’s to go try to win the race. If you don’t, get the best finish you can get out of it. That’s not glamorous and that’s not what you want to hear … but it’s literally that simple. Go try to win the race. Do everything you can to win the race. If you can’t win the race, try to finish second. If you can’t finish second, try to finish third. It is as simple as it can possibly get.”


That Stewart is in this predicament is something of a surprise, given the strong summer run that saw him collect six top-10 finishes, including a win at Sonoma, in eight races. The No. 14 team, headed up by crew chief Mike Bugarewicz, seemed primed for a possible run at yet another title.

RELATED: See all of Stewart’s victories

But the results of the most recent six races weren’t nearly as impressive, with no finish higher than 16th.


“These things are such science projects,” Stewart said of today’s cars, “and pretty much the whole (SHR) organization fights the same thing. It’s whichever one can find the solution first.”


Teammate Kevin Harvick has guaranteed himself a spot in the Round of 12 with a win this past weekend at New Hampshire and Kurt Busch can advance either by points, depending on his finish, or with a victory. Teammate Danica Patrick is the only SHR entry not in the Chase field.

RELATED: Harvick surges late for Loudon win

“We’re going to have to rely on Kevin and Rodney (Childers, crew chief), Kurt and (Tony) Gibson (crew chief) for sure and do the best we can,” Stewart said. “We weren’t totally terrible at the spring race but definitely have to be better than we were to get done what we need to get done.”


Scenarios? Talk to Stewart at Homestead, if he happens to be one of the championship four. That’s when he’ll be more aware of such things.


“When you get to the last race of the year and you’re racing for a championship and you’ve got enough of a lead that no matter what, if you finish from here on up, then yeah, you think about that,” he said.


“But that’s not the scenario we’re in.”

Posted on by

Roush Fenway Racing has decided to reassign longtime pit crew coach Andy Ward, replacing him with Scott Bowen, a current RFR employee and an ex-pit crew member.

Ward has been at RFR for many years and has produced some very good pit crews. The Jack Roush-owned organization did not have any drivers qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this year.

Roush Fenway Racing released the following statement regarding the move:

“We continuously evaluate our race team operations at Roush Fenway, and as part of a mid-season restructuring we have implemented a change in the department structure with our pit crew teams. We have placed Scott Bowen, who previously was our head of purchasing, in charge of our pit crew operations. Scott is a longtime employee of Roush Fenway, and worked as an over-the-wall pit crew member for several years. We believe this change will prove beneficial in our continued effort to improve on-track performance.”

For more pit crew news, visit PitTalks.com.

Posted on by Staff Report

XFINITY Series regular Ryan Reed will attempt to make his Sprint Cup Series debut at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 23 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the team announced Wednesday afternoon.



Reed, who pilots the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford in the XFINITY Series, will drive the No. 99 Lilly Diabetes Ford in his debut.


The 2015 XFINITY Daytona winner has been racing in the XFINITY Series for three full seasons and has yet to attempt a Sprint Cup start in his racing career. He is currently one of the eight XFINITY drivers vying for the series championship in the inaugural Chase.

Posted on by Staff Report

Logan Clampitt (High Performance Motorsports) visited Victory Lane for the first time in the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series, holding off championship contenders Ray Alfalla (Slip Angle Motorsports) and PJ Stergios (ineX Racing) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Brad Davies came home behind Alfalla and Stergios, with Ryan Lowe rounding out the top five.

Clampitt used pit strategy to take the lead after a round of green-flag pit stops late in the race and never looked back. He showed impressive poise for a rookie on a pair of late-race restarts, maintaining the lead as chaos erupted behind him.

Stergios started on pole but outside polesitter Nick Ottinger had the fastest car on the first run and moved into the lead on Lap 12. Ottinger began building a gap that grew to nearly 1.5 seconds before the first caution flag flew on Lap 23, drawing the leaders to pit road.

The leaders all took four fresh tires and Ottinger won the race off pit road, barely beating Stergios who restarted in second. On the next run, Alfalla moved to second and kept pace with Ottinger as Stergios fell to fourth behind Josh Berry. The four would run in this order until the third caution flew on Lap 52 for Chris Overland’s spin.

Ottinger once again kept the lead on pit road and looked to run away from the field when the green flag flew. This time, however, Ottinger had company at the front as Alfalla showed he could keep pace as the run wore on. On Lap 92 Alfalla made his move on the bottom and drew alongside Ottinger through Turns 3 and 4 but could not complete the pass as he lost drive off the corner on the flatter bottom groove.

For the next nine laps Alfalla hounded the race leader, diving to the inside on multiple occasions without success. Finally, on Lap 101, Alfalla got a strong run off Turn 2 and completed the pass entering Turn 3. The lead awarded Alfalla with an important bonus point, but green flag pit stops loomed.

Clampitt pitted a couple laps before the race leaders and the strategy paid off as he inherited the lead with 30 laps to go once the pit cycle completed. Alfalla was closing with his fresher tires, but Timmy Hill‘s spin with 18 to go brought the leaders to pit road and set up the dash to the finish.

Alfalla maintains the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze championship lead into the series finale thanks to his runner-up finish. He gained one point on Stergios and holds a slim five-point lead. Disaster nearly struck Stergios with 10 laps to go when Mitchell Hunt crashed off Turn 2, slamming into Stergios’ door in the process. Somehow, Stergios continued on despite the damage and kept pace well enough to score a strong finish.

Jake Stergios appears relatively safe in third place, 104 points back of Alfalla and 22 points ahead of fourth-place driver Overland. Overland is in the middle of a points battle of his own as Dylan Duval (The TEAM) is now only two points behind after Overland’s troubles left him in 31st. The battle for the back end of the top five will likely be decided between the two as Kenny Humpe is 27 points back of Duval after experiencing Internet troubles.

With only one race remaining, all eyes will be on Alfalla and Stergios as the twosome head to Homestead-Miami Speedway in search of a NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series title title. Stergios is looking for his first championship while Alfalla is hoping to win his third after finishing runner-up the past three seasons. A five-point margin gives Alfalla the advantage, but if Stergios can get out to an early lead the pressure will be squarely on Alfalla.

Who will take home the crown? Be sure to tune into iRacing Live in two weeks to see the conclusion of the 2016 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series from Homestead!

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Arnold Palmer’s day at the track

Brian Vickers was in Beijing, China on business when the phone messages started piling up with condolences and the news that his friend, golfing legend Arnold Palmer, 87, had died Sunday.

Vickers, a former XFINITY Series champion and a three-time Sprint Cup Series race winner, appeared in multiple television commercials with Palmer to promote a medicine to help with blood clots — a condition they both suffered from. But it was the time off-camera with Palmer that Vickers said he would remember most fondly.

“He was so easy to work with, such a nice guy,” Vickers told NASCAR.com late Monday from China.

“The thing I enjoyed most was sitting around when we weren’t shooting (the commercial) — at lunch, dinner or on the golf course just listening to some of his stories.

“I wish only that I had more time to spend with him. I’ve gotten to know him over the past five years and he was so nice, just fantastic. He is great to work with. We had a lot of fun throughout the entire campaign and off of it as well. He even helped me fix my grip for golf.”

Vickers got the chance to interact with Palmer during their playful but educational television commercials for the Janssen Pharmaceuticals drug Xarelto. And he was still amazed at the four-time Masters champion’s skill on the golf course even though he was well into his 80s.

“When we shot that commercial — the last one with Janssen just a couple years ago — he was still smoking every single guy out there in putting,” Vickers recalled. “He wasn’t out-driving anybody anymore, but on the green he was literally draining putts one after another, 30-foot putts no one else could hit.

“It was unbelievable, just amazing to see this guy just dropping putt after putt, 30-footers on oscillating greens. I can tell you, that’s the way I want to go out.”

For Vickers, the opportunity to work with Palmer was a life-impacting turn of events. And he was extremely proud to carry the champion’s “Arnie’s Army” charitable foundation on his race cars at both Martinsville and Auto Club Speedway earlier this season while filling in for an injured Tony Stewart.

“I’m obviously going to miss him, he was a great guy,” Vickers said. “It’s a sad day, but I look at the end of life as more of a celebration of what you accomplish in life. And he accomplished a lot.

“I would say people should celebrate his life. He did a lot for the American people and the American dream throughout his career, he was an inspiration and in that regard he should be celebrated.”

And he will be.

Posted on by Staff Report

NEW YORK — Andy Hoffman, founder of the Nebraska-based Team Jack Foundation dedicated to funding pediatric brain cancer research, was the recipient of The NASCAR Foundation’s sixth annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award presented by Nationwide on Tuesday night, during The Foundation’s inaugural Honors Gala at the Marriott Marquis.
 
This year’s award presentation is the highlight of the “10 Years of Giving” celebration for The NASCAR Foundation, which has donated approximately $25 million to impact the lives of children since its inception in 2006. The Honors Gala raised more than $1.6 million to benefit hospitalized children across the country through the recently established Speediatrics Children’s Fund.
 
The award is presented to a NASCAR fan who has done outstanding work on behalf of children in need in their community. The award honors the philanthropic ideals of the late Betty Jane France, who started The NASCAR Foundation in 2006.
 
The NASCAR Foundation will donate $100,000 to “Team Jack,” which was founded by Hoffman and his wife Brianna in 2013, two years after their son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Team Jack works to raise research funds and create national awareness of pediatric brain cancer.
 
Hoffman, from Atkinson, Nebraska, was chosen via an online fan vote on NASCAR.com.
 
“I am humbled to have won the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award,” Hoffman said. “Receiving this award is truly a reflection of all of those amazing people that helped support the Team Jack Foundation since day one. Winning this award, literally, could be the difference between life or death for a child someday. Our hope is that the $100,000 donation will provide the seed money for us to help fund yet another clinical trial.”
 
There were three other finalists for the award; each will receive $25,000 from The NASCAR Foundation for the charity they represent. Those finalists: Jim Giaccone of Bayville, New York, representing the New York-based Tuesday’s Children organization; Logan Houptley of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a founding member of the Mikayla’s Voice organization in Nazareth, Pennsylvania; and Parker White of Greensboro, North Carolina, founder of BackPack Beginnings.

Posted on by Staff Report

Richard Childress Racing revealed Austin Dillon‘s primary 2017 paint scheme for his No. 3 Chevrolet on Tuesday.

 

 

Sponsor Dow returns to the No. 3 Chevrolet SS for the fourth consecutive year. The sponsor has been on Dillon’s car since he reintroduced the iconic No. 3 to the Sprint Cup Series in 2014.

 

This season has marked Dillon’s most successful to date, as the 26-year-old driver qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the first time in his career and also has a career-high 10 top-10 finishes with eight races remaining in the season.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full race results | Updated Chase Grid
SHOP: Chase gear

Two races into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and several drivers are in jeopardy of not advancing past the Round of 16, which ends next Sunday at Dover International Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Let’s find out which drivers are resting comfortably following Sunday’s Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Who’s hot: Kevin Harvick. Harvick came into Loudon one point shy of advancement after a dismal showing (20th) in the Chase opener in Chicago. The 2014 champion and the man nicknamed “The Closer” came on strong on the final restart to take the lead on Lap 295 and nab a win and a locked-in spot in the Round of 12. The victory, in which he only led eight laps, has to erase a little bit of the bitter taste from last fall’s race at New Hampshire, where Harvick led 216 laps but ran out of fuel with two to go.

Matt Kenseth. Kenseth came into this race with two straight wins at the “Magic Mile” and looked to be closing in on his third-straight win before Harvick surged on a late restart. The 2003 champion led 105 laps en route to a runner-up finish and moved up to fourth in the standings, 25 points to the good of transferring into the next round.

Kyle Larson. A top-10 finish at Loudon moved Larson from 15th in the standings (two points back of the last transfer spot) to 12th and five points to the good. It was an up-and-down weekend for the third-year driver, who didn’t show the same speed in the race he had shown in practice. Still, he is on the right side of the bubble heading to Dover, where the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver has an average finish of 6.2 and led 85 laps in the spring en route to a runner-up finish.


Who’s not: Tony Stewart: The three-time champion was stuck a lap down for much of the second half of the race and finished 23rd, the second-lowest finish among the Chase field. The result had to be disappointing for “Smoke” after a runner-up showing at New Hampshire in July. Following a summer surge thanks to his Sonoma win, Stewart has not notched a top-10 finish in six races and is on the wrong side of the Chase cut line heading to Dover.

Austin Dillon. The weekend started rough when a wreck in the latter stages of the opening practice forced the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 team to pull out a backup car. Dillon’s 16th-place finish was aided by a few late cautions to get him back on the lead lap, but he is still five points behind the cutoff line. On top of that, his overall numbers at Dover (see below) have the Chase rookie in a very tough spot to advance.


Four in, four out: Here’s a look at the Chase bubble, with four drivers being eliminated after the third race of this round, at Dover International Speedway.

Chase Bubble Watch

Standing Driver Point Differential from Cutoff
9. Chase Elliott +16
10. Carl Edwards +16
11. Kurt Busch +15
12. Kyle Larson +5
———— CUT-OFF LINE ————
13. Jamie McMurray -5
14. Austin Dillon -5
15. Tony Stewart -11
16. Chris Buescher -30


Up next: Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway, Sunday Oct. 2, 2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Who it favors

Most wins: 10 (Jimmie Johnson, most all-time)

Best driver rating: 118.1 (Jimmie Johnson-29 races), 108.5 (Matt Kenseth-35 races)

Best average finish: 3.0 (Chase Elliott-one race), 6.2 (Kyle Larson-five races), 9.6 (Jimmie Johnson-29 races)

Who it hurts

Fewest top 10s: 0 (Austin Dillon-six races, Chris Buescher-one race)

Worst driver rating: 48.8 (Chris Buescher-one race), 66.2 (Austin Dillon-six races), 70.6 (Tony Stewart-34 races)

Worst average finish: 26.7 (Austin Dillon-six races), 18.6 (Denny Hamlin-21 races), 18.2 (Kurt Busch-32 races)