Veteran crew chief Tony Eury Jr. will serve as crew chief for Todd Szegedy in the No. 15 15-40 Connection car in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race Wednesday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Rob Fuller Motorsports announced Monday afternoon.

“After getting to know Todd, I am excited to be his crew chief in Bristol,” Eury said in a team release. “I think we have a legitimate shot to win, and we’re going to have some fun with it as well. I’ve paid attention to how the track is from past modified races, and I think working on super late models every week can be applied to working on the modified car as well. We are going in with a game plan, but I might bring a few ideas to the table that we can try and see what happens!”

Eury Jr. is cousin of Sprint Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and served as Junior’s Sprint Cup crew chief on a part-time basis for four seasons and full-time in 2006 and 2008. The duo won twice during their full-time seasons together. Eury also captained the Sprint Cup pit box for Brad Keselowski and Michael Waltrip briefly, as well as Danica Patrick in the XFINITY Series. Eury’s father, Tony Eury Sr., served as crew chief for Earnhardt Jr. as well (1999- 2004) and Dale Earnhardt in the XFINITY Series.

Eury Jr. was named general manager for Mooresville, North Carolina-based LFR Chassis, Inc. in 2014.

The Bush’s Beans 150 will take place Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 6 p.m. at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Camping World Truck Series’ UNOH 200 follows the conclusion of the 150-miler, beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

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Jamie McMurray‘s No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet will honor Bill Elliott at this year’s Southern 500 throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway.

Elliott ran the “Mac Tonight” scheme originally in 1997, and the midnight blue car will ride again in the Sept. 4 Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.)

The McDonald’s scheme harkens back to a McDonald’s “Mac Tonight” advertising campaign.

“I am excited that McDonald’s is bringing back the Mac Tonight paint scheme for this race,” McMurray said. “Last year was so much fun to see all the different throwback looks that teams had for the Southern 500 race. I think that Darlington has done a great job to get so many of the teams to participate and have a unique weekend to celebrate the history of NASCAR.”

RELATED: See all the Darlington throwback paint schemes

This year’s throwback theme focuses on the era of 1975-84.  More than two dozen throwback paint schemes for this year’s running of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 (Sunday, Sept. 4, 6 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR) have been announced. The program launched last season and is expected to continue for the next several seasons.

RELATED: Bristol unveils Colossus video screen

Ryan Blaney‘s No. 21 car will feature a special Virginia Tech football paint scheme this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, and Wood Brothers Racing unveiled the look on the gridiron Monday morning.

Racing’s “Last Great Colosseum” is host to the Tennessee-Virginia Tech college football game on Sept. 10., and the No. 21 team is helping get the party started early.

Hokies coach Bud Foster poses with Leonard Wood and the VT car Friday. 

“Virginia Tech has been a big part of the Wood Brothers for a long, long time,” said Leonard Wood, who helped his brother, Glen, found the race team in 1950. “We’ve been friends with Coach Foster and just met the new coach [Justin Fuente]. I never dreamed when my daughter was going to Virginia Tech that we’d have a race car on the practice field here at Virginia Tech. It’s just awesome.

“That ‘VT’ on the hood just jumps out at you and I love the color combination. It’s one of my favorites.”

The Virginia Tech scheme also will run at the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 held Oct. 30 at Martinsville Speedway, and Hokies junior wide receiver Cam Phillips likes the Ford’s look.

“You’ve got colleges and you’ve got football teams, but Virginia Tech is our hometown college team. We pull for them all the time,” Leonard Wood said. “Hopefully they’ll win. We’ll be racing in Richmond on the night of Sept. 10, the night that they’re playing in the Battle at Bristol, so we won’t be watching the game, but we’ll be paying attention. We’ll be watching Twitter.”

CONCORD, N.C. (Aug. 15, 2016) – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will pay tribute to the late Bryan Clauson this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway by running the Fastenal scheme that Clauson raced during the 2008 NASCAR XFINITY Series season.

“It will be a huge honor to run the same Fastenal scheme that Bryan raced in 2008,” Stenhouse said. “This past week has been difficult for many but it has been great to see the racing community join together to support Bryan’s family, friends and Lauren. Bryan was one of my best friends and hopefully we can ‘parked it’ in Victory Lane on Saturday for Bryan.”

.@StenhouseJr will honor Bryan Clauson by running his 2008 @FastenalRacing scheme#BCforeverhttps://t.co/3DCDedI6JT pic.twitter.com/YuwDbNO1pk

—
Roush Fenway Racing (@roushfenway)
August 15, 2016

In 2008, Fastenal served as the primary partner for Clauson’s No. 40 Chip Ganassi machine. In his 21 starts, he scored one pole award at Daytona International Speedway and one top-five and two top-10 finishes.

“Ricky approached us last week about the opportunity to honor Bryan at Bristol by running the paint scheme we ran with him in 2008,” said Brooke Mlsna, vice president of marketing at Fastenel. “We thought it was an admirable tribute to someone we looked at as a valued member of the Blue Team.”

In seven starts at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile, the two-time NXS champion has scored two top-five and three top-10 finishes. Stenhouse earned his best career finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2014 finishing second behind former Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards after an unexpected caution came with two laps remaining followed by a rain shower.

LEXINGTON, Ohio— Ryan Blaney qualified third and finished third in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Mid-Ohio Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, but it was far from that simple or cut and dried on Saturday afternoon.

“Not a bad day, lots of ups and downs and luckily it ended on a high note,” Blaney said of his day at the 2.258-mile track.

The downs of the day came early as the Team Penske driver had to start at the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments but he wasted no time navigating his way to towards the front. By Lap 30, he had cracked his way back into the top five. That was not the only adversity Blaney battled through.

Wet weather came early at Mid-Ohio, bringing out a caution on the opening lap that allowed teams to put on rain tires.

“It was such a weird race, starting fairly dry and then raining,” Blaney said. “Everyone has to learn how to rain race right away and then it drying back out and trying to figure out when to put slicks back on or stay on the wets and then it started pouring again.”

While Blaney held his own in the rain, the No. 22 car was at its best when the track was drying out. The 22-year-old led six laps (Laps 48-53) just past the midway point of the 75-lap event.

But then the rain began falling again and after restarting on the front row on Lap 56, Blaney had some contact with the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Sam Hornish Jr. After going off track briefly, Blaney was in 12th place on Lap 60. He made up some ground late in the event, gaining nine spots over the final 15 laps for his first top-five finish (in just his fourth start) of the season in the XFINITY Series.

The rain and the constantly evolving strategies made for an interesting day for the young racer amid his first time racing in the rain.

“There’s some moments where it’s fun and some moments where you’re ready to rip the steering wheel off,” Blaney said of of the task. “I had a handful at moments. At the end of the day, it was a lot of fun and you get to experience a race in the rain.

“…There was some calamity at some points but I thought it was overall pretty fun. Just to get that experience and go back and forth between slick and rain (tires). That was really challenging, and drivers like challenges. Just nice to race in the rain finally. That’s my first time.”

This start came on the final off weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cupp Series, where Blaney pilots the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Blaney enters Saturday’s night race at Bristol (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) outside of the 16-driver Chase Grid with just four regular-season races left before the postseason field gets set.

He sits 18 points back of Kyle Larson for the last spot, with Trevor Bayne and Kasey Kahne between himself and Larson. Should Chris Buescher claim a spot in the top 30 in points by the end of the Richmond race on Sept. 30, Blaney would be in a deeper hole to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Entering the 0.533-mile track, Blaney’s mindset is focused on joining Buescher as a rookie winner.

“We are going to go into the last four races trying to win just like we always do every week,” Blaney said of his pursuit of a Chase spot. 

A win over any of the final four regular-season Sprint Cup races (Bristol, Michigan, Darlington or Richmond) would essentially lock the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate into the postseason field.

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RELATED: Mid-Ohio results

LEXINGTON, Ohio — For Alon Day, sitting next to race runner-up Sam Hornish Jr. in a post-race press conference was a thrill.

Day received congratulations from one of his “childhood heroes” after a 13th-place finish in his NASCAR national series debut in the XFINITY Series’ Mid-Ohio Challenge Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The NASCAR Next driver was the first Israeli driver to make a NASCAR national series start as well.

The 24-year-old turned plenty of heads with a lengthy amount of time in the top 10 during a wet race at Mid-Ohio.

The No. 40 MBM Motorsports Dodge had a best finish of 30th this year at Talladega coming into Mid-Ohio, something that was not lost on Day.

“When the deal came, they told me you were going to drive the No. 40 car,” Day said. ” … My expectation wasn’t that high to be honest. I said if I would finish like 25th, I’d be super happy with that and to find myself fighting for the lead, that’s not bad.”

In road racing, it’s been said that rain is the great equalizer. Day, for one, was excited by that prospect — so much so that it came in conversation with Hornish earlier in the week.

“He said the other day, ‘I want it to rain,’ ” Hornish shared. “I said, ” ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ “

The wet weather, though, proved beneficial for Day, who started 22nd. A caution for weather came out quickly, leading teams to pit for rain tires on Lap 3.

“The moment the rain hit, I realized we were going to change to rain tires,” Day said. “I knew I had the speed to attack as soon as possible. Just on the first restart, I began attacking immediately.

“I knew some guys would be a bit slow on the rain. I have some experience in the rain in Europe, we’re used to driving in the rain all the time. I’m really happy. (You) can’t imagine how excited I am sitting here.”

Day has honed his skills in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, scoring a second-place overall in the championship run for the 2015 season. He has raised his game in 2016 in that series with two wins and four top-fives, en route to becoming the first driver outside of North America to be selected to NASCAR Next.

Day is set to drive for MBM again at another road course, Road America, on Aug. 27 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and hopes to do more beyond that.

“We expect to do five more races but it all depends on sponsorship and finding the budget,” Day said.