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For Chase Briscoe, stock car racing seemed an unrealistic goal.

Having excelled on dirt, switching to pavement racing was never really the plan. Then he participated – and finished second – in the 2013 PEAK Stock Car Challenge. Soon thereafter, Briscoe made a move to North Carolina, slept on couches, and volunteered at shops while looking for a big break.

Three years later, Briscoe’s a success story.

“I ended up going to one shop, and they let me have a test session, and that’s the team I drove for last year and won the championship with,” Briscoe said of Cunningham Motorsports in the ARCA Racing Series.

However, entering the year, Briscoe had just a handful of asphalt starts under his belt. Which made his unstoppable season hard to ignore. In 20 races, Briscoe earned six wins, six poles, with 14 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes, and 949 laps led.

This year, Briscoe takes the next step with a full-time ride in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In the Ford Performance driver development program, Briscoe will pilot Brad Keselowski Racing’s No. 29 truck.

“The biggest thing going from dirt to asphalt is the patience when it comes to racing on pavement,” Briscoe said. “Two-hundred miles is a long time, and I’m used to 25 laps. There’s a lot more that can happen and a lot more you can control in longer races.

“There’s many opportunities to throw a race away when you’re going 200 miles, whether it’s on pit road or restarts. So, I think the biggest thing (I’ve learned) is trying to execute an entire race. That’s the one thing I’ve really tried to make myself better at over the past year.”

Briscoe’s quick adaption to pavement is as impressive as his signing with BKR.

During his time volunteering at race shops, Briscoe crossed paths with Brian Keselowski, who encouraged his move south. Brian was also in brother and team owner Brad’s ear about Briscoe.

Briscoe didn’t wait around. When Austin Theriault was hurt driving for BKR in late 2015, Briscoe went and offered his services. Then during his ARCA tear, Briscoe was introduced to Brad. By the time Briscoe won the championship, he was offered the truck deal.

“My goal is going to be just like it was in the ARCA,” Briscoe said. “William Byron set the bar really high as far as rookie wins go. I’d love to beat that and hopefully beat it by a couple. Winning the championship (would) be big, it’s a different format than what I ran with ARCA, but if you can win races, it rewards you. So, win races and hopefully a championship.”

As for sleeping on couches, it wasn’t all bad.

“Christopher Bell was there,” Briscoe said of his friend. “Bell had the spare bedroom with the air mattress, and I was on the couch … It’ll be fun racing with him; it’s nice to have somebody that I know that I can go to who has experience with trucks like he does from last year.”

 

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Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski and fiancée Paige White were married on Feb. 10 in a ceremony the 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion said would "live on forever."

 

Keselowski tweeted the news and posted a video of the event Saturday evening.

 

 

 

The two dated for years before announcing their engagement in December 2016 — a lavish proposal in which Keselowski dropped to one knee in front of a beautiful horse and carriage, the moment captured by a photographer and shared on Twitter.

 

 

Keselowski, who turns 33 on Sunday, and his wife have one child together, Scarlett, who will turn 2 in May.

 

Congrats to the happy couple!

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Even though Myatt Snider has been deeply rooted in motorsports since a young age, some may only hear his name for the first time this year.

Snider is part of a star-studded lineup at Kyle Busch Motorsports in the No. 51 Toyota in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. But while his teammates (Christopher Bell, Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson) have become well-known in racing circles, 2017 will be Snider’s first year in a large spotlight.

When asked, Snider describes himself as a “Goofy kid from Charlotte.”

The word nerd also gets tossed about, as Snider mentions his interest in space. Although he’s now taking a break from his education because of an increased racing schedule, Snider had been studying physics. In his spare time, he tries to get to as many concerts as he can to feed his “pretty big infatuation” for rock music.

Make no mistake Snider has always had a passion for racing. Grandfather Gurney Snider was a car owner in the early days of NASCAR; cousin Jay Hedgecock has experience as a chassis builder as well as a late model car owner, and dad Marty Snider has spent many years as a pit reporter, currently with NBC Sports.

As a young child, Snider took in races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and when he was 10, asked his father if he could race. It started with Bandoleros and then Legend cars. Eventually, Snider moved to late models and last year dabbled in the ARCA Racing Series.

Snider has also been well-educated along the way, having worked at Joe Gibbs Racing. A senior in high school, Snider did an internship in the fabrication shop because he wanted to learn what went into full-time racing. From the fabrication shop, Snider took the chance to move around and learn other areas.

“I moved over to the main shop floor where I was building and tearing down (Matt) Kenseth’s cars, and in general learning about what I could with these cars,” Snider said. “After working on Kenseth’s cars, I went to work in the CNC shop, the engineering department, just kind of worked around the place and learned what I could from everybody.”

Snider will have no problem fitting in with his teammates, having known all of them in some form the last few years. Kyle Busch Motorsports will not lack personality this season.

“It’s really interesting because we’ve got people from all walks of life,” Snider said. “(Team owner) Kyle (Busch) is definitely the most interesting one to work with because he’s the most experienced out of all of us, and he’s an expert on the sport. Running with him and being a teammate, and one of his drivers is such a great position because he’s such a great resource.

“He knows so much about the sport of racing. So, working with Kyle is probably one of the best assets about being a part of this team. And it’s going to be a great asset to me learning how to be a better driver.”

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As Stewart-Haas Racing‘s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams work through the move to field Ford entries for the 2017 season, officials with engine supplier Roush Yates Engines have been just as busy trying to accommodate the addition of the four-car organization to its roster of teams.

Roush Yates Engines supplies power to seven organizations fielding a combined 13 teams in NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup Series. It also provides engines to Ford groups in NASCAR’s XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series.

Now tasked with building engines for SHR, which features drivers Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer and Danica Patrick, Roush Yates CEO Doug Yates said his group is looking forward to the challenge.

SHR officials announced the move to Ford one year ago, seemingly giving both organizations plenty of time to get a head-start on the ’17 program. However, SHR was still bound to Chevrolet last season, meaning no advance work with Ford could begin until the final race had been run at Homestead in November.

Yates said his company has been able to expand its headquarters, located in Mooresville, N.C., add necessary CNC equipment to address the increased workload and expand staff.

But the interaction between RYE and SHR didn’t begin in earnest until the ’16 season had ended. Barely two months ago.

"Our machine shop has been working six days a week, two 10-hour shifts, so pretty much around the clock making parts," Yates said. "We just have such a dedicated staff … really just going all-in to make sure that we’re prepared for the season and that the transition is seamless.

"But trying to understand (the SHR) systems, trying to make sure we dot every I and cross every T as far as that is concerned, and coming to some middle ground on how Stewart-Haas was used to operating the engine, and how we are at Ford Performance, has been an interesting thing as well.

"There are things that we did different than they were used to in the past that they liked, and there are things we had to compromise on, so it’s a long season and we’ll continue to work with them to make sure we’re getting everything we can out of the car and the engine. But it has been a lot of work."

Harvick was the SHR representative during an organizational test Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at Phoenix Raceway. Yates described it as a "good first step" with the organization, but the first of many.

"We worked on all the systems and also learned what kind of power curve, or torque curve, that Kevin … liked, so we’re gathering that data," he said.

Addressing the needs of SHR is only one part of what "getting ready for the 2017 season" means to Yates and his group. A new, lower downforce aero package and changes in the way the races are run are also a concern.

"The format is probably more concern to me," Yates said, "just because it’s unknown. What are we going to need to be prepared for? What is the race strategy and are we on the right end of that strategy?

"You win with advantages and that’s what we’re always looking for, so the pace the first part of the year is going to be faster than ever because we need to make sure we’re on top of the rule changes."


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NASCAR’s extensive history spans all the way back to its founding in 1948. Over the course of those nearly 69 years, plenty of races — from the first starts on Daytona Beach sand to today’s modern speedways — have taken place.

 

In that time, a colorful blend of pioneers and superstars have etched their names into NASCAR’s record books. Some all-time milestones may never be repeated while still other categories await new benchmarks to be written.

 

Going inside the numbers and traditions of the sport at racing-reference.info reveals plenty of all-time statistics and figures in what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. A sampling:

 

• All-time wins: 200 by Richard Petty. | See more
• All-time pole positions: 123 by Richard Petty.
• Most series championships: 7 by Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty.
• Most road-course wins: 9 by Jeff Gordon. | See more
• Most restrictor-plate wins: 12 by Jeff Gordon. | See more
• Most wins on dirt: 42 by Lee Petty. | See more
• All-time best winning percentage: 21.05 percent by Herb Thomas (48 wins in 228 career starts)
• All-time best average finish, career: 7.602 by Lee Petty.
• All-time best average starting position, career: 4.874 by Dick Hutcherson.
• All-time most laps completed: 307,836 by Richard Petty.
• All-time most laps led: 51,406 by Richard Petty.
• All-time lead-lap finishes: 588 by Jeff Gordon.
• Most all-time wins by car number: 209 by cars carrying No. 11. | See more

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FOX Sports announced additions to its driver-analyst lineup for the 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series, giving Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray one race each in the booth this season.

 

The two newcomers join returning guest analysts Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano as Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers lending their voices to XFINITY Series broadcasts.

 

Elliott, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series last season, will help call the action March 4 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in his home state of Georgia. McMurray, a former Daytona 500 winner, will join Adam Alexander and Michael Waltrip in the FOX booth for the series’ March 11 stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

 

Harvick, who earned high marks for his guest commentary on XFINITY telecasts the last two years, will have the biggest workload among the group. He’ll be in the booth for five races, beginning with the season-opening PowerShares QQQ 300 (Feb. 25, 3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Daytona International Speedway. Harvick is also planning to serve as guest analyst for three events in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this year.

 

Team Penske teammates Keselowski and Logano have been tapped for two races each. FOX Sports indicated that guest analysts for three races would be determined later in the season.

 

The network previously announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would serve as guest commentator in the Feb. 18 Advance Auto Parts Clash (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM), a non-points exhibition for a select field of Monster Energy Cup Series drivers.


* indicates a non-XFINITY Series race

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NASCAR’s race enhancements have set up stages that will see drivers battling for stage wins and playoff bonus points. The impact of accumulating playoff points has a big benefit during the 10-race playoff in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series that starts in September, and it could lead to added pressure on pit road.

 

A playoff point from a stage win could end up representing the difference between a driver advancing deeper into the playoffs or being eliminated based on the amount of playoff points one carries into a round. Those point perks could be delivered to a driver by some clutch work on pit road.

That fact is not lost on Mike Lepp, the senior athletic advisor at Joe Gibbs Racing, who was the organization’s longtime athletic director working with the team’s pit crews.

“With the new format — can you get those stage wins with a pit stop? Yes, you can,” Lepp told NASCAR.com. “All you got to do is go back to the All-Star Race. If you go back and look at that All-Star stop, which is similar to what this is, we went from fourth to first.”

RELATED: Fast facts about the race enhancements

In 2015, JGR driver Denny Hamlin used a strong final stop in the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway to leave pit road with a lead he would not give up over the final 10 laps for the $1 million win.

“I think pit stops are going to start getting looked at even more — more scrutiny and more pressure because winning a stage is points that carry over (to the playoffs). We see every one of these championships have been one or two things. I think the pressure on pit stops is going to go up with the new format.”

Playoff points will be added at the start of the playoffs and then roll over at the start of every subsequent round of the playoffs except for when the four drivers reach the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Interestingly enough, Hamlin advanced to the Round of 8 in 2016 on a best finish tiebreaker over Austin Dillon as they had the same amount of points after the fall race at Talladega.

“You could name 10 instances during the season where that point came from,” Lepp said. “That is what you always try to tell the drivers and tell people. You start thinking about, you win the Daytona 500, you are in the playoff. … Now you go, I can’t just say I’m in the playoffs, I got to still get some points and build a cushion in case something comes down to a tiebreaker. Those stages wins are going to become important — people are going to look at them.

“Are you going to cost yourself a whole race doing something stupid to win a stage and you can’t win the whole race because you did something silly? No. I think you are going to look at it and go, we’ve seen the instances. Look at Tony and Carl in 2011 (Stewart and Edwards finished tied in the standings in 2011, but Stewart won the title on a wins tiebreaker). Tiebreakers can be big deals. I think that’s another pressure thing that these guys have to think about on the over-the-wall stuff.”

The enhancements will also change a crew chief’s thinking as Paul Wolfe, who sits atop the pit box for Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske team, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s Tradin’ Paint on Friday.

“The strategy, calling the race, when to pit, when not to with these segments that will be a big one for me,” Wolfe said.

The 2 team has been known to roll the dice on strategy, whether it’s a call for four fresh tires on the last lap of regulation (under caution) at Fontana in 2015 that saw Keselowski drive up from 18th to the lead on the final lap, or last year at Kentucky, with three wins in hand, when Keselowski and Wolfe gambled on fuel and held off Carl Edwards for a victory.

“I think you’ll see it evolve as we go and people learn how the format’s going to play and strategies and different ideas,” Wolfe said. “As your season goes on, whether or not you get a win early, or if you are trying to race your way in on points, I think guys could be on different strategies during the race depending on what their ultimate goal is for that weekend. … I think you got to be able to adapt and continue to learn as we go to the early stages of the season.

“Whenever there is this much change, a lot of times, I like it. I think it’s exciting. It means there’s opportunity. An opportunity to get a head start on some guys and hopefully we can be a team that does that and have some success early on with all this.”

In addition to earning a playoff point for a stage win, drivers can receive points for finishing in the top 10 of a stage. Those points are part of one’s point total immediately. The race enhancements are part of all three NASCAR national series starting in 2017.

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Spencer Gallagher has a question for you.

"How would you feel if you were a NASCAR driver?" he asks.

If it brings a smile to your face, then Gallagher says there’s the answer as to why he is the way he is — a ridiculously funny guy whose personality will take over the XFINITY Series garage this year.

Yes, Gallagher says he has always been a happy-go-lucky guy. It’s no front. He’s certainly not doing it for attention.

"The first time I got into a stock car and turned the engine on and started turning laps, it became real to me, and it hasn’t stopped being a joyous experience," said Gallagher, who will embark on his rookie XFINITY Series season in 2017 with GMS Racing. "If you wonder where I get that mile-wide smile at the track, I’m living my dream every second of the day when I get to wake up and go drive a race car, and I see no reason not to love that."

"I could be ditch-digging for God’s sake. But I get to wake up every day and drive a race vehicle, so of course, I’m going to love that. There’s no reason to hold that back. People love to see passion. People love to see people who love what they do. I love the hell out of what I do."

From sunglasses painted red, white and blue to a "Run GMS" T-shirt (based off hip-hop group Run DMC), Gallagher can instantly ignite any room. He skillfully incorporated the word "fatso" into an answer during last month’s NASCAR Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway when asked about his change in diet and fitness.

Don’t tell officials at GMS Racing, but Gallagher admitted he’s been thinking about getting "Run GMS" tattooed on his arm. In other words, for fans who are looking for a driver with personality, Gallagher is their guy. And he’s heard feedback from some who have taken a liking to him for that very reason.

"What I try to always remind myself is once upon a time I wasn’t going to be a race car driver," Gallagher said. "I was going to live in San Francisco and work on computers the rest of my life and be happy as a clam. But you know what, here I am, and this is a universe I’m lucky to be in, so I always try to keep that joy in my heart. And I do think the fans really resonate with it.

"People want to have that internal confirmation that if they can’t be driving a race car, the guy that they’re rooting for is having the time of his life out there. I think that means something to them."

What will Gallagher do in 2017 to continue to bring smiles to fans’ faces? Have no fear because he’s recently come into possession of Snapchat Spectacles. Google it and you might get some ideas about the fun that lies ahead.

 

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ELGIN, Ill.  – Elgin Sweeper, the leading manufacturer of street sweepers for general street maintenance, special industrial and airport applications, has renewed its partnership with NASCAR Greenu2122 for three years and will continue to serve as the Official Sweeper of NASCAR Green.

"Elgin Sweeper has provided trackside support for NASCAR for more than 15 years. Since we entered into our NASCAR Green partnership four years ago, we have experienced incredible success," said Mike Higgins, vice president and general manager of Elgin Sweeper. "Our company shares NASCAR’s passion for, and commitment to, protecting the environment through sustainable practices."

"Elgin Sweepers are essential to maintaining a clean and dry surface during our events," said Jim Cassidy, senior vice president, racing operations at NASCAR. "Every race weekend, Elgin Sweepers deliver dependable and clean technology that helps us return to green flagging racing more efficiently."

 
Official Sweeper of NASCAR Green

As the Official Sweeper of NASCAR Green, Elgin Sweeper is present at each NASCAR race event weekend to support NASCAR’s Air Titan equipment to dry rain-soaked racetracks, saving jet fuel and reduce NASCAR’s overall carbon footprint. In addition to supporting the Air Titan equipment with the revolutionary Elgin Crosswind® Specialty Track Sweeper, the company helps clean and dry the tracks during caution periods when necessary.

"For years, most racetracks borrowed a local street sweeper, or used a small machine designed for sweeping parking lots," Higgins said. "As the Official Sweeper of NASCAR Green, Elgin Sweeper has raised the bar in terms of racetrack sweeping, drying and conditioning, mitigating dust left behind from absorbent products used to clean fuel spills on the track, and removing rubber and debris in and around the pit area."

Elgin Crosswind Specialty Track Sweeper

In 2016, the Elgin Track Sweeper helped with drying rain-soaked tracks and vacuuming up standing water, rubber and debris around the pit area at 76 races of the National Series and more than 200 National Series practice sessions.

"Based on our Crosswind GRS unit used to vacuum liquid glycol from airport runways, the Elgin Track Sweeper includes unique technology features developed specifically for a racetrack setting," said James Crockett, product manager at Elgin Sweeper. "These features include a thermal imaging camera that helps the operator locate liquids that may be camouflaged from the naked eye; a side air-blast nozzle capable of moving air at 270 mph for locations such as grass on the inside field, pit areas and weepers; a reverse sweep system equipped with radar; a 20,000 CFM-rated fan; a hydraulically-driven side broom with plastic bristles; and a soft-wall attachment to vacuum out behind the cracks on the racetrack and the soft wall before and after each race.

"By speeding up the time it takes to clean and dry the track, the Elgin Track Sweeper assists the overall process of keeping the race event on schedule," Crockett said. "By doing so, the overall operations energy usage around the track – electricity used in the suites, media centers and lighting systems – is also significantly reduced."

Crockett added that the powerful and effective technology incorporated in the Elgin Track Sweeper has been used in sweepers purchased globally by military customers to help keep their respective air force and navy runways clean of debris.

Shared Power technology

The company’s proprietary shared technology system diverts the formerly wasted energy from the sweeper’s chassis engine back to power the Elgin Track Sweeper itself. "This technology offsets about 16 metric tons of carbon dioxide being put into the environment over the course of a full NASCAR season, which is the equivalent of planting 372 new tree seedlings," Crockett said.

Elgin Track Sweeper by the numbers

•       The first Elgin Track Sweeper was built in 2001 for the Kansas Speedway.

•       The sweeper picks up to 50 gallons of water per minute.

•       The sweeper saves roughly one gallon of diesel fuel per hour.

•       The sweeper’s 10-foot sweep path covers the width of 1.5 race cars.

•       16 NASCAR-certified drivers operate the Elgin Track Sweeper throughout the race season.

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CHARLOTTE — RacingJobs.com, a new innovative website for matching race teams with employees, was launched this week by Steve Letarte, the NBC Sports NASCAR booth analyst who scored 15 victories as a crew chief for Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (including a 2014 Daytona 500 triumph).

Using a smart, searchable database that creates anonymous but detailed online profiles for prospective racing employees, race teams can fill needed positions based on desired qualifications such as education, work experience, skill sets and pay scale.

"The response from the industry is clear," Letarte said. "Race teams are excited for RacingJobs.com and the service it provides in helping them find the right candidates for the right job."

RacingJobs.com won’t be limited in its scope.

Every job that is necessary in the competition side of auto racing — from pit crews to road crews to race shops, from engineers to interior mechanics to fabricators — will be available to be filled by a talent pool that will represent every series, from NASCAR to drag racing to IndyCar.

Race teams can search based on potential openings, ensuring that the prospective employees’ education, experience and proficiency are commensurate with the job’s qualifications.

A list of potential candidates is populated off the search, and the race team winnows the list to the best matches. RacingJobs.com then emails prospects on that filtered list to provide contact information and instructions for reaching the race team — keeping candidates anonymous until they decide to pursue an opportunity.

Because individuals are the foundation to any successful company, RacingJobs.com streamlines the hiring model for the racing industry.

In keeping the profiles anonymous, all prospective employees are on equal ground, and the barriers to entry in a tough job market are reduced. Instead of a search based solely on "who you know" or word-of-mouth networking, having the desired qualifications and correct skill sets will earn consideration on their own merits.

"I created RacingJobs.com to improve the hiring process in motorsports," Letarte said. "This project has been several months in the making, and I’m excited about the site going live and making a positive impact in the industry."