LEXINGTON, Ohio — The NASCAR world continues to mourn the loss of Bryan Clauson, a sprint car driver who died Sunday at the age of 27.

Clauson crashed Saturday night during a U.S. Auto Club (USAC) midget car race at the Belleville High Banks, a half-mile dirt track in Belleville, Kansas, and was airlifted to a hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was pronounced dead late Sunday.

Clauson was an accomplished sprint-car driver, who also made 26 starts in what is now the NASCAR XFINITY Series, will be remembered by teams this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a special decal. The Indiana native had several friends and acquaintances in the NASCAR garage including Justin Marks, who is a part-time driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet in the XFINITY Series.

“It’s incredibly sad,” Marks told NASCAR.com. “I met Bryan in 2007 when he was at Chip Ganassi Racing in Nationwide (now XFINITY.) He came through ARCA when I was in ARCA in ’06 and ’07, so I’ve known him for a long time. And really just in the last two years, got to know him better just because I got involved in the sport, World of Outlaws and he was around that.”

Marks co-owns a sprint-car organization, Larson Marks Racing, with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson. After Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Mid-Ohio Challenge (3:30 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Marks is heading out to the Knoxville Nationals in Iowa. Clauson would have competed in the sprint-car event this weekend.

“Bryan’s a racer, Lauren (his fiancée) is a racer and Tim’s (his father) a racer,” Marks said. “They’re just a racing family. It’s all they’ve ever known.”

Sam Hornish Jr. (driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet at Mid-Ohio) said the loss is one you never want to hear about.

“Racing is such a tight knit community of people,” Hornish said. “There’s always people that are there even though we are competing against each other, they want to see good things happen to other people if they can. So whenever there is a loss like that, you take it hard regardless of how well you were friends, not friends. Everybody’s definitely been thinking about it for quite a bit this week.”

Ty Dillon (driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet), who has dabbled in some racing outside of NASCAR, called Clauson “a highly admired person” who is “going to be missed.”

“Everybody’s got heavy hearts for the Clauson family,” Dillon said. “… It’s just sad. You feel for his family and you pray for them to be able to get through.”

Clauson had set a preseason goal of competing in 200 open-wheel races this year. That schedule included a start in the 100th Indianapolis 500, where he placed 23rd in his third effort at the famed Brickyard. According to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Clauson had accumulated 27 wins in 116 races this season.

“Bryan Clauson is the only guy in history to lead the Indy 500 (led three laps in the 2016 race) and win a 4/10 sprint car feature in the same day,” Marks said.

“That’s a racer. They don’t make them like that very much anymore.”

Sprint car driver Bryan Clauson, who died Sunday night following injuries incurred during a sprint race, helped better the lives of five people because he was an organ donor, his family announced Wednesday.

 

Clauson crashed Saturday night during a U.S. Auto Club (USAC) midget car race at the Belleville High Banks, a half-mile dirt track in Belleville, Kansas, and was airlifted to a hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was pronounced dead late Sunday.

 

Known for his skill in many forms of motorsports, Clauson made 26 career starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

 

The family’s full statement is below.

 

Additionally, NASCAR announced Wednesday it would honor Clauson with a decal on the NASCAR XFINITY Series cars this weekend at Mid-Ohio.

 

To honor the life of Bryan Clauson, NASCAR will make this decal available for XFINITY Series teams in Mid-Ohio. pic.twitter.com/Iu29gSOUvu

— NASCAR (@NASCAR)
August 10, 2016

 

“We would all like to thank you for all of your prayers and concerns over the last few days. It provided strength and comfort during a very difficult time for us.

 

Nothing prepares you for these moments. We have all watched from afar as other families have had to face their own tragedies or been there to support our family and friends as they have spent their own time in the hospital. However, nothing makes you ready to say goodbye. You take each moment as it comes and we could not have made it to this point with out all of you.

 

One of the gifts that Bryan gave us while we sat next to him praying for some good news, was the moment we found out that he was an organ donor. It shouldn’t have surprised us. All of us have felt Bryan’s generosity throughout his life. The gift of life is the most amazing gesture and Bryan will live on not only through us and all the people he touched along the way, but from the lucky individuals that will benefit from Bryan making a decision to be a donor.

 

It was not lost on our family as we sat huddled around him, holding his hands, comforting him and each other, saying our last goodbye that five families were also sitting in a hospital room somewhere, comforting their loved one and each other while praying for a miracle that Bryan ultimately delivered for them. We are so proud of our Bryan for making this decision.

 

The Nebraska Organ Recovery team made the entire process very comforting. Their compassion, love, and respect when treating Bryan did not go unnoticed. We want to acknowledge every member of the Nebraska Organ Recovery team. Thank you for loving our Bryan.

 

If you are a donor, thank you. If you are not, please consider for a moment becoming one. We have seen first hand how amazing it feels on both sides of the coin. It is the greatest gift that one person can give another. We promise.

 

Again, thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers and friendship. We look forward to seeing you at the races.

 

Lauren, Tim, Di, Taylor”

CONCORD, N.C. — Chad Knaus acknowledges that his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team with driver Jimmie Johnson has endured “a tough, tough summer,” but remains confident that the team can and will again be a contender when this year’s NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup arrives.

“It’s been horrible; we could have just stayed home,” the longtime crew chief said Wednesday at the organization’s No. 48 shop. “We’ve had great performances … Indianapolis we were running really, really well, thought we had a great shot at it. Michigan … Dover we should have won, we had a transmission problem there and crashed.

“We’ve had a lot of really weird things happen. Some by our own fault, and others by things that happened like last Sunday at Watkins Glen. … But the beauty of it is going into the Chase, those are tracks that we are really comfortable with.

“Chicago? We’re great there. Dover (where Johnson has 10 career victories); Loudon, we sat on the pole (in July). Name ’em. Martinsville? We love it. All those races kind of cater to us so we’re excited about it.”

Johnson and Knaus have won six Sprint Cup championships since the team’s debut in 2001, and Knaus called the shots for 75 of Johnson’s 77 career victories. Two of those came earlier this year, at Atlanta and Auto Club Speedway, and Johnson sat third in points after the season’s first 13 races.

But in the nine races that have followed, there has been just one top 10 and an uncharacteristically-high four DNFs. While he secured one of the 16 spots in this year’s Chase field with his third-place finish at Indy, Johnson has fallen seven spots in the points, and currently sits 10th overall.

His two victories this season extended Johnson’s streak of multiple-win seasons to 15. But early-season wins aren’t unusual for the series’ winningest active driver. Thirty-eight of his 77 career wins have come between the months of February and June.

He’s been just as successful late in the year, with 31 victories between September and November.

July and August haven’t been as kind with just eight career wins during the annual summer stretch.

This year, Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski won back to back at Daytona and Kentucky to kick off July; Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and most recently Denny Hamlin swept three of the last four Sprint Cup Series events. JGR drivers have won 10 of 22 races this season.

“You can’t compare yourself to (JGR),” Knaus said. “We don’t really look at their performance; we look at ours. That’s what we have to do. If we try to focus our efforts outside of what it is we’re doing, we’re just taking away from what it is that we do. So we look internally and try to improve upon what we have and don’t worry too much about what everybody else has.”

Resistance to change isn’t the problem, he said, noting that, “We try things every weekend, everywhere.

“That’s just what you do,” Knaus continued. “If you don’t, you’re never going to be competitive. … That’s just the nature of our industry.

“What else are you going to do? Are you going to change your driver? No. Are you going to change me? I hope not. We’re not going to change our pit crew, they’re solid.

“Our cars (are) always evolving. We’re always changing and ever-changing.”

The winner of a NASCAR-record five consecutive championships (2006-10), Johnson added a sixth in 2013. However, he’s finished 10th and 11th in the two previous seasons, years in which NASCAR officials re-tooled the Chase to include an elimination-style format.

Four races remain before the start of this year’s Chase, beginning with the Aug. 20 running of the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).

From there, it’s a return trip to Michigan, on to Darlington and finally Richmond before the green flag falls on this year’s 10-race Chase at Chicago.

Recapturing that early-season momentum has almost become expected from the No. 48 team. That doesn’t make it any less difficult.

“You’ve got to get your feet,” Knaus said. “Obviously right now it’s pretty darn difficult.

“But the good thing about this group is (while) we have some young players on the team, the core group of guys is pretty solid, have been here for a long time. So they understand what it is that we are going through. They understand the ups and the downs, the ebb and flow of racing.

“So. once we get going it’s not going to be that big of a deal I don’t think. We throw in a couple of top 10s, then a top five and then I think everything is going to be just fine.”

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — The weekend announcement that up-and-coming star Erik Jones will drive a second Furniture Row Racing car in 2017 was one of the worst-kept secrets in recent big-time NASCAR news. And that’s a real compliment to Jones and to the organization.

 

People are intently interested in the championship-worthy team’s expansion. All the buzz and grins speak largely about the team’s firm place among Sprint Cup Series top shelf. Expansion is a logical next step.

 

And looking around at team executives, its drivers and Toyota bigwigs last weekend at Watkins Glen International when Jones’ new No. 77 5-hour Energy Camry was unveiled, there are both high hopes and high expectations.

 

“Today has been a long time coming for Furniture Row Racing,” team owner Barney Visser acknowledged over the weekend.

 

Jones, the 20-year-old reigning Camping World Truck Series champion, currently is contending for the XFINITY Series title with three wins this season while driving a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

 

His ticket to the Sprint Cup was inevitable.

 

This will be an important step for the young Jones, but also for the Denver-based Furniture Row Racing team that already is hard at work preparing its shop to house and operate a second team — which, Visser said Wednesday night on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, may only house Jones for one season.

 

“With how we’re running, we will get a very, very good driver after he leaves, if he leaves, and I’m fairly certain he will,” Visser said. “We will attract one of the best drivers in the garage for that second slot, I am confident. The cars are just going to be running too well.”

 

When asked again about the likelihood of Jones leaving after one year, Visser said: “I think that’s most likely. We’re working on that. What I am saying is the team will go on no matter what and people need to understand that when they come looking for jobs.”

From Toyota’s standpoint, at least for 2017, this is as natural an evolution as possible. Jones has been “their guy.” Pairing him with veteran Martin Truex Jr., driver of the team’s current No. 78 Toyota, is the right development right now for manufacturer, team and driver. 

 

From Toyota’s perspective, Jones also is truly the first driver the manufacturer has groomed from development series to big league.

 

“I think it’s a great story for Toyota, but probably a greater story for NASCAR and the future of our sport,” Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson said at Watkins Glen. “We’re all really proud of Erik and think a lot of him not just as a talent, but as a person.

 

“With Erik, obviously he’s a rookie and we like the chemistry of having the veteran Martin Truex side-by-side. And the other great thing is we have the Gibbs drivers to lean on. Our intention is Erik will sit in the competition meetings as early as this season and observe and learn.

 

“The point we really wanted to make was for Toyota and for Furniture Row adding an additional team, this isn’t a one-year deal. My intention is to run at least six Toyotas in the (Sprint) Cup Series from 2017 running forward.”

 

And while initially the expectations will be tightly controlled, below the surface, a real feeling of progress and hope appeared after speaking with the team’s executives, and its current championship caliber driver, Truex.

 

“This goes into the very beginning when we started Furniture Row,” team president Joe Garone said. “We just gradually have ramped it up and built the relationships that we felt we’ve needed to be successful. That comes back to Barney’s commitment to invest in the team and our sponsors that Barney brought to the team, Denver Mattress and Furniture Row. … To finally get to a platform that will support multiple cars.

 

“It’s huge. It’s at the sacrifice of a lot of hours and a lot of hard work from a lot of people. We’re just really excited to be at this platform right now.”

 

Truex, who has qualified for this year’s Chase courtesy of one of the most dominating performances in recent years — he led all but eight laps of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte — acknowledged the change in logistics and said, “It’s going to be a little more work getting off the ground, but fortunately it’s early enough this season to get the cars built and ready for next year.”

 

Truex signed a two-year contract extension with the team earlier last week, as well.

 

“The biggest thing is I’m excited for Barney and Furniture Row to grow the program,” he said. “It’s nice to see the success and him having fun with it and able to expand. Two teams should be a more efficient way of doing business and it should make sure we’re around for a long time.

 

“This is no different than the JGR guys welcoming us into the system. We’ll all work as one to make our team the best it can be. Erik seems like a great kid and obviously has a lot of talent.”

See what the cars will look like at the XFINITY Series race at Mid-Ohio.