Menard charges atop opening Pocono practice

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Staff Report

Paul Menard, potentially benefiting in his first race weekend with a new crew chief, topped the opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice Friday at Pocono Raceway.

Menard, driving the Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet, clocked a best lap of 177.438 mph on the 2.5-mile track. It’s the first weekend that Menard will be paired with crew chief Danny Stockman, who replaced Justin Alexander midweek.

Denny Hamlin, a four-time Pocono winner, was second-fastest at 177.406 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota. He was just ahead of defending Sprint Cup champ Kyle Busch, his teammate and last weekend’s winner at Indianapolis, in the JGR No. 18 Toyota.

Carl Edwards was fourth, keeping the line of Coach Joe Gibbs’ entries going. He was fourth-best at 176.977 mph in the No. 19 Toyota. Kevin Harvick, still seeking to end an 0-for-31 drought at the Tricky Triangle with his first Pocono win, completed the top five at 176.620 mph in preparation for Sunday’s Pennsylvania 400 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Danica Patrick had the best 10 consecutive lap average (171.094) with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. behind her at 167.161 mph. The two were the only drivers to run 10 consecutive practice laps.

Jeff Gordon turned the 22nd-fastest lap in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet, making his second straight appearance this weekend as an interim fill-in for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is recovering from concussion-like symptoms.

The session, originally scheduled for 85 minutes, was abbreviated to 63 minutes by water seeping up through seams in the 2.5-mile track’s surface.

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Track Release

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (July 29, 2016) — Jack Huston, star of the upcoming epic action adventure “BEN-HUR” from Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, will drive a 2016 Toyota Camry pace car to kick off the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It™ 355 at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, August 7.

This will be Huston’s first time serving as an Official Pace Car drive at a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event. He will also be recognized during pre-race ceremonies and will greet each NASCAR driver on stage during driver introductions.

“I am excited to join NASCAR and get behind the wheel of today’s modern chariot,” said Huston.

“BEN-HUR” is the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), an officer in the Roman army. Stripped of his title, separated from his family and the woman he loves (Nazanin Boniadi), Judah is forced into slavery. After years at sea, Judah returns to his homeland to seek revenge, but finds redemption. Based on Lew Wallace’s timeless novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The film also stars Rodrigo Santoro, Nazanin Boniadi, Ayelet Zurer, Pilou Asbaek, Sofia Black D’Elia and Morgan Freeman.

Timur Bekmambetov directed the film from a screenplay by Keith Clarke and John Ridley. Sean Daniel, Joni Levin, and Duncan Henderson served as producers, with Mark Burnett, Roma Downey, Keith Clarke, John Ridley, and Jason F. Brown serving as executive producers. “BEN-HUR” will be released in theaters on August 19, 2016.

Huston previously starred for four seasons in HBO’s hit series, Boardwalk Empire, as the sniper with the horribly disfigured face, ‘Richard Harrow.’ In 2013, Huston appeared in the critically acclaimed and award-winning film American Hustle, where he played mobster ‘Pete Musane.’ Additionally, he starred as ‘Young Ira’ in George Tillman Jr.’s film adaption of the Nicholas Sparks novel, The Longest Ride.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to Watkins Glen International August 4-7 for the Cheez-It™ 355 race weekend, which also features the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Bully Hill Vineyards 100, and the NASCAR XFINITY Series Zippo 200 at The Glen. Tickets for all of the action are available by calling 1-866-461-RACE or by logging on to www.theglen.com. Fans can also watch the Cheez-It™ 355 live on USA at 2:30 p.m. ET or listen on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Located within five (5) hours (~300 miles) of 25 percent of the US population, Watkins Glen International is the premier road racing facility in North America, voted “Best NASCAR Track” by readers of USA Today. Keep up with The Glen on Facebook and Twitter. For tickets, call 866-461-RACE or visit www.theglen.com.

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Team Release

Go Fas Racing is pleased to announce that Boris Said will return to pilot the No. 32 Genesee Brewing Company Ford Fusion at Watkins Glen International in August. Said has 51 starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from 1999-2015. The Carlsbad, California native has 15 NSCS starts at Watkins Glen including two top-ten finishes, one top-five finish and a best finish of third which came in 2005.

Rochester, New York-based Genesee Brewing Company has agreed to once again sponsor Go Fas Racing and Boris Said. The No. 32 Ford Fusion features a design inspired by Genesee’s heritage that was first introduced in 2015.

“I’m always excited when it comes to racing at Watkins Glen,” said Boris Said. “Not only is Watkins Glen one of my favorite race tracks anywhere in the world, I just love the area, the fans, the food and everything about it! Being able to represent Genesee is a huge honor, so hopefully I can put on a good show for them.”

According to Matt Goldman, channel marketing manager for Genesee, the 138-year-old beer company, is thrilled to be a primary sponsor at The Glen for the fifth consecutive year, and third with Go Fas Racing. “We’re excited to bring both Genesee and racing legend Boris Said back to the Glen this August. Genesee is the oldest brewery in New York, and has enjoyed incredible popularity among race fans across the state. We can’t wait to connect with them once again this summer.”

“We’re extremely proud to announce the continuation of our partnership with Genesee Brewing Company for the third consecutive year at Watkins Glen”, said Team Owner Archie St. Hilaire. “The Genesee Brewery and their local distributors do a tremendous job marketing the partnership throughout the upstate New York area leading up to the race weekend with over 40 show car events and appearances. Boris will again be behind the wheel of the No.32 Genesee Ford Fusion and we couldn’t be more excited to have him driving for us again.”

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Qualifying results | See every car in the field

LONG POND, Pa. – Martin Truex Jr. found a lot more than light at the end of the Tunnel on Friday afternoon at Pocono Raceway.

Gaining time on the rest of the field through Turn 2—the Tunnel Turn—at the 2.5-mile triangular race track, Truex put his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota on the pole for Monday’s Pennsylvania 400 (on NBCSN at 11 a.m. ET; MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), knocking fellow Toyota Camry driver Carl Edwards out of the top starting spot.

It’s not that Truex and his team made a special point of emphasis on that particularly tricky corner. It just worked out that way, earning Truex his third Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Pocono and the 10th of his career.

“For whatever reason, today—all day long—I felt comfortable there, more so than past times here,” said Truex, who ran his fastest lap of the day (179.244 mph) in the third and final round of knockout qualifying for the 21st NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season. “The first race here (in June) we really struggled in the Tunnel Turn.

“We kind of focused on it a little bit coming back, as far as just making sure it was closer to Turn 1 and Turn 3 and not something that would really handcuff us so bad. So maybe that had something to do with it—I’m not sure—but it just kind of worked out that way, for whatever reason.

“Each round I felt a little bit more comfortable and was able to gain a little more time there, and the third round I was able to just kind of sail off in there and get a little bit lucky and hit it right. It’s one of those corners that, if you take a risk going in, nine out of 10 times it doesn’t pay off coming out of the corner. This time it did, and we were able to take advantage of it.”

On the strength of his run through the Tunnel Turn, Truex covered the distance in 50.211 seconds, .104 seconds faster than Edwards (178.873 mph), who thought he had the pole won when he completed his lap in the final round.

“As I crossed the line, I felt like, ‘That’s it’,” said Edwards, who was a close second to Kyle Busch in pole qualifying last week at Indianapolis. “But after seeing what (Truex) ran, I thought ‘Well, maybe I could go back and change this or that,’ but that was a really good lap for me. It just was.

“You can always go back and pick your lap apart, but the last two weeks, Indy and here, I was pretty proud of my lap, and they just got us.”

Paul Menard (178.671 mph) qualified third, the fastest of three Richard Childress Racing drivers in the top 12, with Ryan Newman placing fifth and Austin Dillon placing 12th. That’s the first time all three RCR Chevrolets have cracked the top 12 for the same race since August of 2014 at Michigan.

Denny Hamlin claimed the fourth spot on the grid. Tony Stewart, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano will start from positions six through 10, respectively.

Subbing for ailing Dale Earnhardt Jr., six-time Pocono winner Jeff Gordon advanced to the second round but went no farther, qualifying 24th. Gordon made two runs in the first round to ensure he would make the second, and that eventually cost him.

“The first time out, the car was pretty close, a little bit tight, but we should have been better that first time out, and then we wouldn’t of had to gone out the second time,” Gordon said. “But overall just too tight over the Tunnel (Turn).

“The car is really good down in (Turn) 1. I picked up speed every time we went out. I think having to do that last run our third time on tires didn’t really give us a good chance to advance and get the lap that we wanted. It’s still a work in progress.”

NASCAR competition officials delayed the start of qualifying by 20 minutes to allow teams extra time to make their way through the Laser Inspection Station (LIS). Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said that a glitch early Friday forced the wait time in the inspection process.

“I’m not exactly sure of the exact technical thing that happened (with the LIS), but it got back online really quick,” Miller said. “One thing I want to make clear is, the reason we’re moving this back is because we had a little bit of ownership in it with our equipment. On a regular weekend, if everything … if we had our time block and our equipment worked fine and this was a team issue getting through templates and they didn’t get out there, we would be inclined not to extend qualifying and if they miss qualifying it’s on them.”

Despite the delay, all teams made it through inspection in time for the first 20-minute round of qualifying. The last of those was the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota team for driver Kyle Busch, who cut it close but made his first qualifying pass with roughly five minutes left in the opening session. No. 18 crew chief Adam Stevens told NBCSN that the car was initially out of tolerance with the rear-axle toe. Busch will start 16th after missing out on the 12-driver cut after qualifying’s Round 2. His brother Kurt, who won the Sprint Cup tour’s most recent race at Pocono, was 15th-fastest and will start alongside him in the eighth row.

Contributing: Staff reports

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Posted on July 29, 2016 by Pat DeCola

LONG POND, Pa. — Richard Childress Racing is expected to announce its 2017 Sprint Cup Series driver lineup in the coming weeks.

Ryan Newman, in his third season as driver of the No. 31 RCR Chevrolet, isn’t quite sure if he’ll be a part of it.

“We haven’t talked about it in-depth yet, but we have talked about it,” Newman, 13th in points, said Thursday at Kalahari Resort in Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania. “Hopefully, we’ll get to sit down and talk about it soon.”

Newman has been arguably the organization’s most successful driver during his tenure with the longtime Sprint Cup Series stable, coming within a straightaway of his first championship in 2014 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

His numbers are down slightly from the past two seasons (just one top-five finish and seven finishes in the top 10), but his team, winless since he started driving the No. 31 Chevrolet, employs a consistent points-racing strategy that focuses on solid finishes rather than gambling for a victory.

It worked wonders in ’14, and with 12 finishes inside the top 15 this season and several more on the cusp, appears to be working in 2016. He sits 13th in the drivers points standings coming into Pocono. That doesn’t mean, however, that NASCAR’s “Rocket Man” isn’t looking to launch himself into Victory Lane.

“We’re kind of getting back into that zone of having better finishes, better runs,” Newman said. “We had a great run going last week (at Indianapolis) and crashed out with seven laps to go or whatever. So we feel like we’ve turned the momentum back in our favor but in the end we still have to deliver that victory.”

While Newman offers consistent, above-average production week in and week out, RCR may be faced with a tough decision as Childress’ grandson, Ty Dillon, appears ready for a full-time Sprint Cup Series ride with no clear path to a spot for him.

Still, the team owner told NASCAR.com earlier this year at Michigan International Speedway that he’s planning on having the ’16 XFINITY Series title hopeful in a Sprint Cup car full-time in 2017, while the exact organization and ride has yet to be finalized.

Dillon has made five starts in the No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet this season with a best finish of 20th (Texas). It’s possible Dillon could slide over to that ride full-time, but it would leave veteran Michael McDowell without a seat.

Dillon also ran three Sprint Cup Series races filling in for injured Tony Stewart in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, getting his season-best finish of 15th at Phoenix. His relief duty in the Talladega race was not credited as an official start for Dillon since Stewart began the race behind the wheel.

In a report by NBC Sports’ Dustin Long earlier this month, Childress said, “Right now, it’s just a lot of things are hanging. We’re trying to put together what’s going to be the best for everybody, not just for RCR, but for the drivers and the sponsors; we’re trying to put together good programs.”

Right now, Newman doesn’t appear to be getting his ducks in order just yet on the off chance he finds himself ousted from his ride in favor of the younger Dillon.

“I plan on (coming back),” he said. “If they’ll have me back, I’ll be there.”

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Nascar

NASCAR will implement structural enhancements to vehicles competing in the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series next season for races at its two biggest facilities, Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, in an effort to provide additional protection to its competitors.

A rules bulletin to teams Thursday detailed the safety measures which affect the front firewall and foot box areas, rear roll cage area behind the driver as well as along the left side door area of the driver’s compartment.

Referred to as anti-intrusion panels, the thickness of the pieces has been increased for additional strength and to allow each to be welded more significantly, according to officials.

The structural changes, part of NASCAR’s on-going comprehensive safety initiative, strengthen the interior area of the car surrounding the driver.

“We’ve been doing a very significant body of work over the last year and a half,” Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR Vice President of Innovation and Racing Development, said Thursday. “… We’ve done quite a bit of analysis, crash testing and we’ve come to the point now that we believe that the package is mature and we want to introduce it.

The changes impact existing pieces already in use with one minor exception — a new piece of material has been added behind the driver that extends from the existing anti-intrusion plating on the door bars into the rear sub frame.

The changes are not expected to adversely affect the weight of the vehicle or change center of gravity, impacting balance.

“Basically we are making the structure that encapsulates the driver more robust and susceptible to manage energy in a better way,” Stefanyshyn said.

“It’s been implemented … with the teams so that it can be done in the most efficient, quickest and easiest way.”

By making the enhancements optional for 2016, they could be implemented for this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega, the only remaining event to be held on a superspeedway. The new pieces will be mandatory on superspeedways for 2017 and likely for all events in ’18.

Defending Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch suffered a broken right leg and fractured left foot in February of 2015 when his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota struck a wall front-end first during an XFINITY Series race at Daytona. Busch missed the first 11 points races of the season due to the injuries.

The area of impact in the Busch crash was not protected by SAFER barrier at the time; it has since been added. SAFER barrier is a softer, energy-dissipating material mounted on the track wall.

Earlier this year, driver Danica Patrick was involved in a similar crash at Talladega, however the wall was protected by SAFER barrier. Other than bruising and some soreness, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was not injured.

Even with the SAFER barrier, Patrick’s impact bent the gas, brake and clutch pedals inside her No. 10 Chevrolet and according to Greg Zipadelli, Vice President of Competition for SHR, “the steering column was moved a ton.

“But it was intact,” he said a week after the incident.

“They’ve been talking about doing some work in the foot box (area); I think this is the perfect case of what happened. Would that help? I think it probably would have. I think she’s lucky she has short legs. Her feet got banged up but once she got going in that direction, she said she just kind of picked her feet up.”

Patrick underwent x-rays in the infield care center at Talladega and told FOX Sports 1 a week later when the series was at Kansas Speedway that she felt “totally fine.”

“I’ve got a couple of bruises; my arm came across and bent the steering wheel,” she said. “My foot went past the clutch pedal and came back on (after hitting the wall) … I’ve got a couple of bruises but I feel really good.”

Zipadelli said the sport “has come a long way” in the area of safety.

“You think about what happened a bunch of years ago, compare these cars,” he said. “We’re going faster; these guys are hauling the mail every place we go now. When they do wreck, knock on wood, there aren’t many complaints. I think they’ve done a really good job.”

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Nascar

CONCORD, N.C. — When Valvoline officials queried NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Paul Menard about his racing heroes, the first name on the list was Al Unser Jr.

So Menard couldn’t be more pleased that the Valvoline-themed throwback paint scheme he will run in this year’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 pays tribute to Unser Jr.’s lone NASCAR premier series start.

Menard’s Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet will carry the gray, orange and black color scheme used by Unser Jr. for the 1993 Daytona 500 with sponsor Valvoline featured on the hood when the series travels to Darlington Raceway for the annual Labor Day weekend classic.

“Little Al’s first NASCAR race was the Daytona 500 in 1993,” Menard said earlier this week as preparations for the unveiling of the paint scheme got underway. “The partnership with Valvoline this year — we got to talking earlier about who some of my racing heroes were and Al Jr. was right away, even without the Valvoline relationship. I’ve always been a huge fan of his. He was the guy in IndyCar that I always pulled for.”

Menard said he met the former open-wheel champion and two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 “when I was probably 12.”

“I remember; he probably doesn’t,” Menard continued. “But I pulled up (this morning) … and he was standing out in the parking lot. We were out there talking probably 10 or 15 minutes, just about the ’93 (Daytona) 500, his autocross stuff that he’s doing now, just talking about a little bit of racing.”

Unser Jr. was carrying the Valvoline colors in 1992 when he won his first Indy 500 title. Already a NASCAR sponsor, Valvoline wanted additional branding in ’93 to promote its line of synthetic products, particularly for that year’s Daytona 500.

And the Daytona 500 just happened to be on Unser Jr.’s bucket list.

“There were special races that I wanted to race in my career,” Unser Jr. said. “The Indy 500, the Daytona 500, the Daytona 24 Hours and Le Mans. Those are the ones that I really wanted to run as a kid.

“The Indy 500 is really where my heart is so we’d been doing that. But yeah, I wanted to run the Daytona 500 sometime during my career and it was just a blessing when Valvoline called me up and said, ‘You know, we’d like to do this down in Daytona. Would you like to do it?’

“I said, ‘Of course I would. It’s got to be with a great team.’

“They said, ‘We’ve contacted Hendrick Motorsports,’ and I go, ‘Awesome.’ “

At that time, the Hendrick organization consisted of three teams with drivers Ken Schrader, Ricky Rudd and rookie Jeff Gordon. The addition of Unser Jr. made it a four-team effort for the series’ most notable race.

A crash during the second of two twin qualifying races three days before the 500, however, cost Unser Jr. his primary entry and he wound up racing Schrader’s backup Chevrolet Lumina.

Instead of a gray, orange and black paint scheme, Unser Jr.’s race-day car was white with the Valvoline branding on the hood and across the rear quarter panels.

A crash with less that 50 laps remaining took Unser Jr. out of contention, and he finished 36th.

When told that Menard and Valvoline were bringing the original paint scheme back to the track for the Darlington throwback weekend, Unser said he was “just overwhelmed.”

“Mainly because this was just a one off,” he said, “not a traditional kind of car with a lot of running behind it, a lot of heritage to it. So when they contacted me and said they were thinking about doing this throwback at Darlington … it was a true blessing.”

Menard praised Valvoline for not only bringing back the paint scheme, but for the company’s long involvement in auto racing.

“The brand is iconic in our sport,” he said. “You pick out right away where that Valvoline car is on the race track, whether it’s a stock car race or IndyCar races, NHRA. They’re always around the sport. They have a huge racing legacy and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

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Posted on July 28, 2016 by Holly Cain

Aric Almirola insists he was absolutely prepared to climb into his No. 43 Smithfield Ford this Sunday for the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway completely focused on nothing other than scoring a victory and working toward earning a position in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

But his public relations team brought up an important milestone that even he conceded was definitely worth noting, if not celebrating. This Sunday’s race marks the 32-year old Almirola’s 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start — a significant measure of his staying power and a testament to how far he’s come. Literally.

He is the son of a Cuban immigrant on his dad’s side of the family and the grandson of one of Florida’s most celebrated and accomplished racers — Sam Rodriguez — on his mom’s side. That has created a unique background dynamic that gives Almirola motivation and pride. And makes this weekend a heartfelt measure of success.

“I think here I am and my dad came over from Cuba and 50 years later I’m making my 200th start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Richard Petty,” Almirola said. “It’s so crazy to me, what living in this country affords you and allows you to be able to do, and my grandparents made that decision to come over here and take this chance.”

The sheer number of starts represents a mark of opportunity for Almirola. Making it into NASCAR’s big league was always the harder path, the road less travelled.

But he has made it. And that’s only the beginning.

“I don’t think anybody dreams about running two hundred races, they dream about ‘a’ race,” Almirola said. “So as a kid I dreamed about driving ‘a’ Cup car, running ‘a’ race. So, now the fact I’ve had the opportunity to do it two hundred times, when you realize that, and the marketing department brings to your attention that, ‘Hey, Pocono is going to be your 200th start,’ it really makes you kind of reflect on everything that’s led up to this.

“From being a kid racing go-karts all the way up to all the opportunities I’ve had. I realize by reflecting on all that stuff how fortunate and blessed I am.”

The thing is, Almirola could have just as easily been a star baseball player as a winning NASCAR driver.

His native city of Tampa, Florida is a ballplayer’s town. It produced Wade Boggs and Lou Piniella. Both Dwight Gooden and Gary Sheffield graduated from Almirola’s Hillsborough High School.

A calendar year in this part of the country has traditionally been delineated by baseball and football seasons. That just makes Almirola’s success climbing the NASCAR ranks even more impressive.

“I was in somewhat of a hot bed there for athletes,” Almirola said smiling. “But I had a really strong passion for racing and I know that made me somewhat of an outsider at school growing up. When friends would ask, ‘Hey what are you doing this weekend?’ I’d say, I was going racing.

“That kind of separated me from a lot of kids at school — not in a bad way, I wasn’t an outcast in a negative way, but I didn’t have as close a relationship with kids at school because I didn’t go parties at their house Friday night after football games. I was always working on my race cars or go-karts and racing on the weekends.

“I wasn’t looking for something to do on the weekend. I already had it.”

“I was always going to be a NASCAR guy. My grandfather raced sprint cars, so obviously the open wheel path was there, too. He’d race at East Bay every Saturday night and occasionally travel around the country going to races. But every Sunday it was normal, to get up, eat breakfast, hang around the house and then watch the Cup race. That was routine around my parents and my grandparents. We love NASCAR.”

The result for Almirola has been a starring role driving his sport’s most iconic car — the No. 43 — for the sport’s biggest legend, Petty.

NASCAR’s crown jewel, Daytona International Speedway, is also Almirola’s “home track” and fittingly the venue he won his first Sprint Cup Series race in 2014, the Coke Zero 400 — exactly 30 years after his boss Petty scored his historic 200th victory at the track.

Consider this: Petty’s win total would be equivalent to Almirola winning every start he’s made.

Though that remains the only Cup victory so far for Almirola, it was enough to propel him into the 2014 Chase and make him only more eager to return. His team’s best finish this year is a 12th-place in the season-opening Daytona 500. He’s had four top-15 showings — three in the season’s opening four races. He ranks 25th in points entering Pocono, hopeful to score a win in one of the remaining six races to set the 16-driver Chase field.

“I think the reality is we have struggled this season and you can tell by watching the race and looking at our results,” Almirola said. “This year has been a struggle and we can’t really put our finger on what’s wrong. People often ask what’s wrong and it sounds like a smart-aleck answer, but if I knew, we’d fix it.

“There are a couple places looking ahead that have been strong for us. Bristol comes to top of mind. We had a chance to win there a couple years ago battling with Carl Edwards. And then there’s (regular season finale) Richmond. Last year we went there kinda do or die to make the Chase and finished fourth, but had a really strong car and a legitimate chance to win that race, too. Those are kind of top of mind to me where we might go in and get a win.”

Listening to Almirola reflect on his first 200 races, there is both a fond memory of what it took to get to this point and a distinct urgency in his voice to succeed in a way worthy of the hard work already put in.

“Making my 200th start really forces me to reflect and when I do that and think about doing it for Richard Petty, who is very much an American icon. And I can’t help but reflect on my family, which has done so much and sacrificed so much to get me where I’m at,” Almirola said.

“It really is amazing.”

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Staff Report

NASCAR competition officials announced Thursday morning that the Sprint Cup Series’ Aug. 28 race at Michigan International Speedway will feature an additional, final test of the provisional 2017 aerodynamics rules package.

The reduced downforce rules setup will be the same that was used in the series’ June 12 stop at the 2-mile oval. NASCAR’s top division also used forms of the package during the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and the series’ stop at Kentucky Speedway earlier this month.

The most prominent visible changes from the current rules package are a smaller rear spoiler — reduced 1 inch to a 2.5-inch height — and the removal of rear-axle offset or “skew.” Those adjustments — combined with modifications to cooling fans, the front splitter and the rear-deck fin — continue the trend in NASCAR’s premier series of limiting the effects of downforce and sideforce on the cars. The effects have favored driver control over an overly stabilized car in an effort to promote passing and side-by-side racing.

Before Thursday’s announcement, the series’ July 9 Quaker State 400 at newly repaved Kentucky was to be the final audition for the 2017 base package. Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, said after that race that he wouldn’t rule out an additional tryout, but indicated that the sanctioning body would likely avoid tinkering with aero rules for the final 10 races that make up the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.

“After tonight we’ll go back and we’ll sort of reconvene with the drivers and the owners and the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and decide where we’re going,” Miller said July 9. “We’re open to a lot of different options, and if something like that bubbles up and we have industry support for it, nothing right now is out of the question.”

Miller added that the Kentucky race was originally intended to be the proposed package’s final event to provide teams “the most runway” toward preparations for next season. But when asked, drivers said they supported one final demonstration, singling out Michigan as a possible venue.

“I think, obviously subject to change after this weekend is over, but my initial thought is I would like to see it back at Michigan with just a few subtle changes that can be ascertained from what we’ve learned over this weekend and the previous Michigan weekend,” Brad Keselowski said July 7. “Maybe a small tweak from what we’ve learned and go again at Michigan in the second race would kind of be my initial thought, so I would say yes.”

Said Matt Kenseth, the defending race winner of Michigan’s August 400-miler: “I think Michigan is a pretty good judge. I mean, there’s only the one race on it, but that place is starting to wear in a little bit. They’ve been able to bring a little bit softer tire. The groove has been widening out because it’s been a few years since the repave, so I think that’s our fastest top-speed track we go to. I think that’s a pretty good place to evaluate it.”

Next month’s Pure Michigan 400 will mark the first time in three races that the 2-mile track has hosted consecutive Sprint Cup events with the same rules package. Last August, competition officials experimented with a high-drag aero configuration before trying out the potential 2017 package in June. The set-up was also used by four teams during a Goodyear tire test at Michigan on May 17.

Michigan was last repaved ahead of the 2012 season.

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Staff Report

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup doesn’t begin until September, but several drivers could officially clinch a spot in the postseason field this weekend at Pocono Raceway.

So far, the five drivers who have clinched Chase berths are Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth.

Below are Chase-clinching scenarios for this weekend’s Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono:

Possible to Clinch:

Kevin Harvick (1 win, 671 points, +434 points ahead of 31st): Can clinch with a win.

Kurt Busch (1 wins, 627 points, +390 points ahead of 31st): Can clinch with a win.

Joey Logano (1 Win, 606 points, +369 points ahead of 31st): Can clinch with a win.

Martin Truex Jr (1 win, 573 points, +336 points ahead of 31st): Can clinch with a win.

Denny Hamlin (1 win, 542 points, +305 points ahead of 31st): Can clinch with a win.

All of the above drivers have already clinched a position in the top 30 in the drivers points standings, but need to clear the multiple wins hurdle.

It’s possible that no drivers will clinch a Chase berth this weekend if a driver wins his first race of the season or an already-clinched driver wins.

XFINITY Series

The XFINITY Series Chase doesn’t begin until September as well, but several drivers are looking to close their playoff position up with a win. At present, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Elliott Sadler are locked into the postseason. Below are the Chase-clinching scenarios for XFINITY drivers at Iowa this weekend.

UPDATE: Erik Jones’ win at Iowa, his third of the season, means no driver clinches a Chase spot.

Possible to clinch:

Ty Dillon (0 Wins, 558 Points, +460 Points Ahead of 31st) – Can clinch with a win.

Justin Allgaier (0 Wins, 542 Points, +444 Points Ahead of 31st) – Can clinch with a win.

Brendan Gaughan (0 Wins, 535 Points, +437 Points Ahead of 31st) – Can clinch with a win.

Brandon Jones (0 Wins, 520 Points, +422 Points Ahead of 31st) – Can clinch with a win.

Brennan Poole (0 Wins, 519 Points, +421 Points Ahead of 31st) – Can clinch with a win.

Darrell Wallace Jr. (0 Wins, 486 Points, +388 Points Ahead of 31st) – Can clinch with a win.

Ryan Reed (0 Wins, 433 Points, +335 Points Ahead of 31st) – Can clinch with a win.

Ryan Sieg (0 Wins, 420 Points, +322 Points Ahead of 31st) – Can clinch with a win.

Blake Koch (0 Wins, 403 Points, +305 Points Ahead of 31st) – Can clinch with a win.

Camping World Truck Series

The Camping World Truck Series Chase doesn’t begin until September, but several drivers are looking to firm up their playoff position up with a win. At present, only William Byron and Matt Crafton are locked into the postseason. Below are the Chase-clinching scenarios for Camping World Truck Series drivers at Pocono this weekend.

UPDATE: With Byron’s fifth win of the season, no driver clinched a spot at Pocono.

Possible to clinch:

Johnny Sauter (1 Win, 253 Points, +207 Points Ahead of 31st) – He has clinched a Top 30, but needs to join the multiple winners club in order to clinch a Chase berth, so he only clinches with a win.

Christopher Bell (1 Win, 245 Points, +199 Points Ahead of 31st) – He has clinched a Top 30, but needs to join the multiple winners club in order to clinch a Chase berth, so he only clinches with a win.

John Hunter Nemechek (1 Win, 232 Points, +186 Points Ahead of 31st) – He has clinched a Top 30, but needs to join the multiple winners club in order to clinch a Chase berth, so he only clinches with a win.