NASCAR announced Wednesday that it will solidify its post-race inspection penalty structure for infractions stemming from the laser inspection station (LIS), eliminating the P2 and P3 levels for those violations. The P4 level for LIS infractions remains, and violations at this level will remain encumbered.
NASCAR also announced that neither the No. 78 driven by Martin Truex Jr. nor the No. 48 driven by Jimmie Johnson will be penalized for failing post-race LIS following last Sunday’s Chicagoland Speedway.
“The use of the LIS platform in post-race was really driven by the industry,” NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said in a teleconference Wednesday evening. “We had everyone collaborating to create the appropriate deterrent penalties if there was a a violation. As we headed toward the Chase, we were asked to further develop an enhanced deterrent for the Chase. … The important development was the new language surrounding the concept of an encumbered win.”
Martin Truex Jr. won the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, assuring the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team of a berth in the Round of 12 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Jimmie Johnson finished Sunday’s race in 12th place in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Both would have been assessed P2-level penalties for infractions discovered in post-race laser inspection. Those penalties were minor in nature, most people in the inudstry would agree, O’Donnell said. But assessing both teams penalties would be inherently unfair given the Chase structure. So NASCAR decided not to penalize either team and going forward will punish only P4-level post-race inspection infractions, which would be considered egregious.
“This was the most fair decision we could get to,” said O’Donnell, explaining that a points penalty assessed to a team still trying to get into the next round of the Chase would have dramatically different effects than on a team that is already locked into the Round of 12 with a win at Chicago. “Those penalties will not have the same impact on the competitors, based on the Chase format and the increased emphasis on win bonuses.”
MIAMI — In 2015, NASCAR witnessed one of the most remarkable comebacks in the sports’ history, as Kyle Busch collected his first career Sprint Cup Series championship by emerging victorious in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Regardless of which of the 16 Chase drivers are part of the Championship 4 at the 2016 Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday, November 20, there is guaranteed to be another comeback completed that day.
Hot off the release of their new single “Comeback Kid,” Grammy® Award-winning superstar sibling trio — The Band Perry — will make a special live performance prior to this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship race. The Band Perry will be featured in Homestead-Miami Speedway‘s pre-race show, which airs on Countdown to Green on NBC that Sunday. The Ford EcoBoost 400 championship race, which is televised in 185 countries and territories, will be broadcast on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio at 2:30 p.m. ET.
The Band Perry, which consists of siblings Kimberly Perry, Neil Perry and Reid Perry, are an unstoppable presence in music. The trio has released two studio albums, The Band Perry (2010) and Pioneer (2013). Their first album went certified platinum and included the sextuple-platinum chart-topper, “If I Die Young,” the platinum-selling “You Lie” and “All Your Life” (a No. 1 single). Their second album Pioneer was certified gold and also featured two No. 1 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with the song “Better Dig Two” and “DONE”, a first No. 1 for brothers Reid and Neil as songwriters. In February 2015, The Band Perry won their first Grammy®Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and have also earned multiple awards from the likes of The Country Music Association, CMT Music Awards, the American Country Awards and the Academy of Country Music. Recently named ambassadors for Teen Cancer America (a charity founded by The Who’s Roger Daltrey), The Band Perry recently launched a million-dollar fundraising campaign with the nonprofit to benefit Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital to expand the Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer program in Nashville. They are currently putting the finishing touches on their third studio album.
“We are thrilled to have The Band Perry performing in what will be an exciting day at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will be capped off with the Ford EcoBoost 400 championship race on Sunday,” said Homestead-Miami Speedway President Matthew Becherer. “The Band Perry has become a household name in country music, and having them kick off the Sprint Cup Series championship race with a pre-race concert will be an electrifying experience for NASCAR and all of our fans. We can’t wait to see the show they put on in November.”
Tickets for 2016 Ford Championship Weekend, which will be held November 18-20, are now available and can be purchased by calling (866) 409-RACE (7223) or visiting www.HomesteadMiamiSpeedway.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a first-person account from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Joey Logano about his childhood memories attending New Hampshire Motor Speedway, as well as his successful career at his home race track. New Hampshire will host Sunday’s Sprint Cup race, the Bad Boy Off Road 300 (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
I remember the first time I went to New Hampshire was in 1997, when I was seven years old. My family camped out by Turn 2, back there behind all the midway activities for the weekend. We were there for the weekend and watched the modified race, the Busch North race — at the time that’s what the K&N Pro Series East was called — and the Sprint Cup race. My family actually still has a photo album of the trip. I got pictures of the cars when they came out and practiced. Looking back on it, I guess that really was my first memory of NASCAR racing. It’s cool that I remember it, but I think everyone remembers the time you go to your first NASCAR race.
One thing I remember is when I got to meet Jeff Gordon that weekend, which was awesome because I grew up a huge Jeff Gordon fan. He was leaving an appearance and I was one of those people that kind of sat there on the side, waiting for him to come out. There he was and I got a picture with him. It’s funny — I still have the picture. We talked about it and showed it on a couple of NASCAR shows last year when Jeff was doing his farewell tour. My Mom’s thumb got over the lens of the camera, so it’s one of those pictures with a thumb in it. My Mom got Jeff to sign the photo a couple of years back and she framed it for me with another photo of Jeff and I sitting on the pit wall before driver intros. It’s a pretty cool memento and something that links one of my first memories with where I am today.
To me, New Hampshire is something special. Really special. Every driver out there has their favorite track and a place that means more to them than others, even if they don’t always tell you. New Hampshire is that place for me. I guess it started when I was just a fan and I went to that race and met Jeff Gordon. Then, when I moved into driving, things still just happened there. I started my first Sprint Cup race there in the No. 96 car back in 2008. Then I won my first Sprint Cup race there the next year in the No. 20.
But the most memorable moment to me was when we won there a couple of years ago in the fall race of 2014. That win was hands down the coolest win of my career. The Daytona 500 was neat. I mean who doesn’t grow up wanting to be a racecar driver and not want to win the Daytona 500? But the New Hampshire win beats it in my opinion. I think you can start to see why. For one, it’s my home track. Any win any driver gets at their home track is special. That is why my teammate Brad Keselowski wants to win at Michigan so bad. It’s on every driver’s bucket list. On top of that, it was the most challenging, most difficult track I went to as a driver. I sucked there. I literally did not know how to go fast. I remember one time we unloaded there and I started complaining about how bad the car was. Then, I look up and we were P1 on the board. I said, “I don’t know how to do this then. I don’t know what to tell you, because to me, it drives awful and we’re fast.”
So over time, I started figuring out that I need this and I need that, and got the car kind of feeling the way it’s supposed to. I had a lot of conversations with my crew chief Todd Gordon and we’ve worked together to make it better. Eventually, we conquered the hardest track for me — and my home track — so it’s all just worked out and it showed on the track.
That win in 2014 was just awesome for me personally. I don’t ever get out of the car at the start finish line (after a win). I just want to get to Victory Lane and celebrate with the team. But that was one of those moments where I thought: “I’m getting out of the car, I’m standing on top of it, I’m going to enjoy this moment. It’s going to be hard to have a win that’s larger than that.”
Something else that I love about New Hampshire is the fans. They love NASCAR racing and racing in general in the Northeast. It’s what got me to be a fan of the sport. I hope they grab some tickets and come out for an amazing weekend of racing when we go back up there this weekend. You go to Loudon as a New England guy and those are your people.
So we try to take advantage of every situation when we’re up there to look for ways to help, especially with the “Chasing Second Chances” initiative through the Joey Logano Foundation. We did our golf tournament in Connecticut with the spring race, and a lot of people were able to come to it. To me, all of this racing stuff is great and all, but it’s a platform to change people’s lives. I feel like it’s my calling. I’m supposed to use that.
It’s a privilege to have that opportunity to do what you’re supposed to do in this world. So, yeah, I want to win races and I want to win championships, but I want to do something more with the platform that God’s given me. So through the Joey Logano Foundation and through the Chasing Second Chances program, we’re trying to give people another shot at life in the New England area who were the victims of something out of their control or just made a bad decision and are working to make their life better.
In all honesty, the whole Chasing Second Chances throughout the next nine weeks (of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup) is a big deal. A lot of cool things for the next nine weeks. For more on Chasing Second Chances, click here.
As told to the NASCAR Wire Service’s Reid Spencer.
Mobil 1 technology proves itself every single weekend in some of the world’s top race cars. That’s why more than half of all NASCAR teams choose Mobil 1 for proven performance in the most extreme conditions on the race track.
As the Official Motor Oil of NASCAR, Mobil 1 is also proven every weekend in the unsung vehicles that make racing possible — pace cars, service trucks, track dryers, EMT vehicles, tow trucks, and more.
In the second instalment of the Mobil 1 “Our Normal Drives” video series on NASCAR.com, we examine a day on the job with NASCAR XFINITY Series Pace Car driver Mike Dolan. Each race weekend, Dolan’s anything-but-normal drive involves leading the 40-car NASCAR XFINITY Series field around the track.
Watch today’s video, which is part of NASCAR Inside Track presented by Mobil 1, then come back throughout the season for more in-depth looks at NASCAR from Mobil 1.
RELATED: See the XFINITY Chase Grid | Every ’16 winner | Get to know the field
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Of the 12 drivers that make up this year’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase field, only three won races during the “regular” season, so the fact that the three appeared to be feeling pretty good about their chances Tuesday during media day activities at the NASCAR Hall of Fame came as no surprise.
Erik Jones, 20, won more races than anyone not named Kyle Busch, four to be exact, and most folks here seemed to agree, some more grudgingly than others, that the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 team is the one to beat.
Veteran Elliott Sadler won twice, and the Emporia, Virginia native has been around the track a few times. His career, in fact, was already underway when the Jones family welcomed young Erik into the world. Sadler’s wins in the No. 1 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports came this year at Talladega and Darlington and Sadler is the only guy in the field who can say he was in the inaugural Chase for both the premier series and the XFINITY Series.
Daniel Suarez, Jones’ teammate, earned his first series victory at Michigan. He enters the seven-race playoff, which begins with this weekend’s VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at Kentucky Speedway (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with three top-five finishes in his last four starts. The other result was a top-10 so Suarez and the No. 19 team appear to be on top of their game as well.
No one is conceding anything just yet however. Not the Richard Childress Racing trio of Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan or Brandon Jones; Sadler’s JRM teammate Justin Allgaier or Roush Fenway Racing’s Darrell Wallace Jr. and Ryan Reed. Even single-team entrants Brennan Poole (Chip Ganassi Racing), Ryan Sieg (RSS Racing), and Blake Koch (Kaulig Racing) spoke of the potential for advancing from one round to the next and keeping title hopes alive.
“I don’t know if that’s good or bad,” a grinning Sadler said of his dual Chase experience. “I do remember being part of the first ever (Sprint) Cup Chase and now this one. It’s pretty cool.”
The benefits of that 2004 experience are limited, but useful nonetheless.
“It’s not like I’m a seasoned quarterback that can read the defense better than a rookie quarterback,” Sadler said. “I think that’s when experience plays a part. Now it’s just about which teams can get their cars the fastest, what driver can give the best information and not make mistakes on the track. Everybody that’s part of this Chase can do just as good of a job as anybody else, no matter their age or where they are from or how many years they’ve raced. I don’t think that’s a big part of it.
“The only thing I think I know is the difference in the intensity level; that’s the biggest thing I remember about being a part of the (Sprint Cup) Chase. The next week it was like ‘holy cow, it’s flipped the switch.’ Not only racing other guys but your team, what they are going through, the driver, the communication. It’s like everything is set to fast forward … and you have to understand how to communicate at such a different level.”
Jones is coming off a 2015 season that saw the Byron, Michigan native win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title, and he’s headed for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in ’17 as a teammate with Martin Truex Jr. at Furniture Row Racing.
Six times this season, he and Suarez have finished a race with both cars in the top five. In 13 other races, at least one of the two have finished fifth or higher.
The teammate tag doesn’t go out the window with the Chase now at hand. But both, along with 10 others, are racing for a shot at a single prize.
“It’s tough; the teammate deal is always tough in racing,” Jones said. “… There are times when you have to race like teammates and times your race as competitors. It’s a tough balance for sure, but it’s also nice when you go to the race track and you have other drivers to lean on, you can get information from and better each other.
“Hopefully we’re both in Homestead chasing the championship.”
Suarez also understands the benefits that come with a competitive teammate and agreed that “it’s hard to balance out because both of us want to race hard for wins.
“I think we’re going to be in good shape,” he said. “Both of us have a good shot to be competitive every single weekend for the Chase.”
Chat with fans this weekend during the NASCAR action at both New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Kentucky Speedway.
Teaming up with sponsor Aspen Dental, Stewart-Haas Racing driver Danica Patrick put a smile on a United States Army veteran’s face after surprising him on Rachael Ray’s talk show.
The veteran, Daryl Pratt, was being honored on Ray’s show when Patrick came barreling out in a go-kart to surprise Pratt with a year’s dental coverage at his nearest Aspen Dental.
Aspen Dental has given away more than six million dollars of dental care to thousands of veterans as part of their Healthy Mouth Movement.
Watch the happy moment here.
Sunday’s race in Chicago had its fair share of speeding penalties entering and exiting pit road. In total, there were 11 penalties called on teams for speeding — including, three Chase contenders (Nos. 18, 20 and 48).
The most damaging penalty was on the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team (Jimmie Johnson) during a cycle of green-flag pit stops. The team served a pass-through penalty on Lap 236 after speeding while exiting pit road. Johnson led a race-high 118 laps.
You might be asking, how this happens and what can be done to fix it?
Drivers don’t use speedometers for maintaining speed. Instead, they use gear and RPM. Thus, before a race they know what gear and RPM to use in order to maintain pit road speed. NASCAR, then, controls the speed by using timing lines in multiple sections of pit road. So whenever there is a penalty NASCAR can tell the teams what section the speeding was in.
Since the race at Indianapolis, NASCAR added extra pit road speeding lines for all tracks in this stretch except Bristol, meaning drivers and teams have had to make an in-season adjustment.
Teams will pick pit stalls depending on a few things but an important factor is timing lines — which can be tricky. If a driver is good at getting in and out of their pit box and can get all he can on the timing lines, then that team has an advantage over the field.
The disadvantage, howvever, occurs when you risk it and get caught. The penalties, as was the case of Johnson, can end the day on a sour note.
The Chicagoland event saw eight of the 11 penalties from speeding while exiting pit road. Six occured under green flag conditions.
After this weekend, teams might start to think twice about risk vs. reward when it comes to speed on pit road.
For more pit crew news, visit PitTalks.com.
CONCORD, N.C. (Sept. 20, 2016) — Great Clips Inc. will continue its sponsorship of Hendrick Motorsports and the No. 5 Chevrolet SS team of driver Kasey Kahne in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with a contract extension through 2018.
The two-year agreement covers the 2017 and 2018 seasons and secures primary sponsorship of the No. 5 Chevrolet SS for 10 events annually. Great Clips, which joined Hendrick Motorsports as a partner in 2012, also will be a major associate sponsor of the No. 5 team each year.
The world’s largest salon brand, Great Clips became a first-time Sprint Cup primary sponsor with three races in 2013. The program grew to 10 primary races annually in 2014.
“We are very pleased to extend our relationship with Hendrick Motorsports and with Kasey through the 2018 NASCAR season,” said Terri Miller, senior vice president of marketing and communications, Great Clips Inc. “Kasey has been a member of the Great Clips family for over 13 years and is a great ambassador of our brand. He embodies the same qualities and values that are synonymous with Great Clips — loyalty, family, dedication and a passion to succeed.
“We have built a successful partnership with Hendrick Motorsports over the last several years that has allowed us to activate and elevate our brand and partner programs to a new level, and we are excited to be able to continue that into the future.”
Since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2012, Kahne, 36, has earned three Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berths and five race wins with the No. 5 team. The Enumclaw, Washington, native has 17 career victories, 27 pole positions and 165 top-10 finishes in NASCAR’s top division.
“Great Clips has a very strong culture,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “The company cares deeply about relationships with their customers, franchisees, stylists, corporate staff and partners. We’ve enjoyed working together to build an effective program, and it’s been terrific to see the Great Clips business grow over that time. We’re committed to their success and look forward to the future.”
Minneapolis-based Great Clips, which has more than 4,000 locations and 1,200 salon owners who employ 40,000 stylists throughout the United States and Canada, has a long history with Kahne. Since 2003, the company has supported his efforts as both a driver and car owner across multiple racing series.
“Great Clips has believed in me throughout my career,” Kahne said. “They’re a big part of the No. 5 team, and we feel like members of their team, too. It’s been an awesome partnership, and I’m grateful for their commitment and support. It means a lot to represent them on and off the track.”