Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Latest updates, timeline on Dale Jr.

LOUDON, N.H. — Hendrick Motorsports sent the stock car racing world into a frenzy on Friday morning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, announcing that recently retired, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon would make a start at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Sunday in the No. 88 Chevrolet, should driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. need more time to recover from his concussion-related symptoms.



Nothing is official yet, but a tentative plan is in place for Gordon to return from a vacation in France in time to get to the track and get plenty of practice in to shake off any rust acquired since hanging up the fire suit in November.



The team is expecting to get a medical update on Earnhardt early this week, with a decision to be reached shortly thereafter.



That doesn’t mean the No. 88 crew isn’t already preparing for having a legend behind the wheel.



“I think a lot of us on the team have worked for Jeff throughout his illustrious career at Hendrick Motorsports. To be able to be part of that one more time would be pretty cool for those who have worked with him in the past, but also for those who’ve never worked with him,” crew chief Greg Ives told NASCAR.com after Sunday’s New Hampshire 301.

“He’s such an iconic member of the NASCAR world, fan base and people in the sport working around it for so long that I guess you look at it as a cool opportunity, but I’m not looking at that opportunity as something that I would want anything different than with Dale. I want him to be back in the car, but I don’t want him to rush things.”



While it’s neat to think about Gordon back behind the wheel — at arguably his best track, no less — Ives and Co. are maintaining perspective and hope for a speedy-yet-full recovery for their full-time driver.



“The main, important thing is for (Dale’s) health and also for the health of the race team to come back when he’s ready.



“I think if we do that, we’re going to have better performance overall rather than maybe coming back a little too soon.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Full race results | Updated Chase Grid

LOUDON, N.H. — When Tony Stewart announced the 2016 season would be his last as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver, he meant the entire season.

He wasn’t going to mail it in after missing the first eight races of the year, the result of a broken back.

He wasn’t going to give up when NASCAR officials fined him $35,000 for speaking out about the policing of lug nuts.

Even mired so deep in the points standings one had to turn the page to find his name, Stewart wasn’t ready to take the easy way out and coast through the remainder of the season.

NASCAR gave Stewart, a three-time series champion, a Chase waiver, meaning he was still considered eligible for one of the 16 spots in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, upon his return to competition.

At the time, the consensus seemed to be “What’s the harm? He might crack the top 30 in points, one of the Chase requirements, but the likelihood of Stewart winning a race …”

Last month in Sonoma, Stewart did just that. A week later, he broke into the top 30 in points at Daytona.

And here Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Stewart rallied for a runner-up finish to Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing), climbed to 28th in points to further solidify his chances at going after a fourth, and final, title.

RELATED: All of Stewart’s Sprint Cup victories

The Sonoma victory, which included a pass for the win on the final turn, gave the team more than a ticket to Victory Lane, he said.

“I don’t think Sonoma necessarily was an indication of why we ran good here, but it gave us a lot of confidence,” Stewart, 45, said following his performance. “It gave me a lot of confidence. It gave Mike (Bugarewicz, crew chief) confidence, really picked the morale of the team up.”

Sunday’s finish likely only deepened that conviction.

A two-tire stop during the first caution period of the New Hampshire 301 vaulted Stewart from outside the top 10 into sixth. Once back under green-flag conditions, Stewart realized the move was a mistake.

“It really bit us,” he said. “We got back to about 22nd, I think, and from then on it was just kind of fighting our way back.”

It wasn’t until there were only 50 or so laps remaining that the No. 14 reappeared in the top 10, Stewart having picked his way past once car and then another.

A spate of late cautions, four in the final 36 laps, saw the field bunched back up for restarts. The last three, he said, “were tough.”

“You needed to be on that outside line and hope that the guy on the inside didn’t push you up,” Stewart said. “The restarts are always, always interesting here, but if you could get through them and get through the chaos, you’ve got a shot at it.”

The final restart, with 11 laps remaining, saw Stewart lined up sixth, trailing Kenseth, SHR teammate Kevin Harvick , Kyle Busch (JGR), Joey Logano (Team Penske) and Jamie McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing). He passed all but Kenseth, finishing 1.982 seconds behind the race winner.

“I think when Tony wants it, he’s kind of hard to beat,” JGR owner Joe Gibbs said afterward. “I didn’t like the fact he jumped up there at the end. I didn’t like the restart there. That made me nervous because I’ve seen Tony before.”

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the series’ next stop a week from now, although Stewart will be knee-deep in track ownership duties much sooner. The Camping World Truck Series heads to Eldora Speedway, which Stewart owns, in Rossburg, Ohio, Tuesday and Wednesday.

RELATED: Timeline of Stewart’s injury, recovery, run for a title

Still, he was able to take time to soak in his team’s latest accomplishment before heading off for what’s sure to be a busy week.

“This weekend probably what I’m most proud of is we really weren’t that strong, I don’t think, off the truck,” Stewart said. “I mean, we were OK, but there were guys that were three tenths faster than we were all day on Friday and even yesterday they were a solid two-tenths faster than we were.”

Bugarewicz worked “all night” prepping for Sunday’s race while Stewart was at Eldora. “My phone would vibrate … and it’s 11 at night and he’s got a question still that he wants feedback on, and that’s the stuff I like about him,” Stewart said.

“I mean, he’s a workaholic. … For a guy that’s not been the head guy on the pit box for very long, he’s got a lot of savvy about what’s going on there.”

I feel like things are kind of gelling around us … now everybody is just working, and I felt like from where we were on Friday to where we ended up today, it was a lot of momentum and a lot of gain through the weekend.”

 

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Support for Dale Jr.


LOUDON, N.H. – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner Rick Hendrick said driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. will undergo additional tests early next week as the popular driver works through concussion-like symptoms that sidelined him for Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.



“I’m not a doctor but he’s running through a bunch of tests, going to have some more tests the first of the week and he’s doing good,” Hendrick told members of the media Sunday morning at NHMS. “He wants to be in the car. The doctor’s going to tell him when it’s OK for him to be back. I know he’s anxious, and we want him back as soon as the doctor gives him clearance.”



Team officials announced July 14 that Earnhardt, winner of 26 Sprint Cup races, had not been cleared to race this weekend after visiting doctors for what he thought was a possible sinus infection.



JR Motorsports driver Alex Bowman was tabbed to drive the team’s No. 88 Chevrolet in Sunday’s race.



“Dale is special to me, taking the driving part away,” says Hendrick, who has fielded a car for Earnhardt since 2008. “I just want him to feel good when he gets back in the car. I don’t want him to push himself. He’s kind of an ironman, he doesn’t want to let the team down, he doesn’t want to let his fans down. But we need him for the long pull, and he wants to be in the car.



“The best thing the doctors can do is go through all the protocol and do all the tests, and there’s a bunch … to do. When they say ‘You’re good to go,’ he’ll be back.”



Should Earnhardt not be cleared to return in time for next week’s Sprint Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, four-time series champion Jeff Gordon will handle the driving duties.



Gordon stepped away from full-time competition at the end of 2015 to join the NASCAR on FOX broadcast team as an analyst. He was on vacation with his family when Earnhardt’s condition was announced.



“He thought I was kidding at first,” Hendrick said of his conversation with his former driver. “He was on vacation and I asked him what he was doing next week. He said ‘I’ll be in Indy, that’s one of my appearances I have to make.’ And I said, ‘Well, bring your driver’s uniform. Just in case.’



“He said, ‘Are you kidding?’ and I said ‘No, I’m serious.’ “



“If Dale can’t go, then Jeff is ready to step in.”



Hendrick said Gordon could fill in beyond next week’s race if necessary, but added that “we’re just taking it a week at a time.”



“Hopefully Dale is going to be back next week and it’s not even something that we think is going to happen,” he said. “But if it does … Jeff is a team player, he wants to support the organization and I’m sure he’ll do whatever he has to do.”


READ MORE: Bowman keeps missing Junior’s calls

The latest incident marks the second time Earnhardt Jr. has missed races for a concussion or concussion-like symptoms. In 2012 he missed two races late in the season after suffering two concussions in a six-week stretch.



Hendrick said he didn’t believe the latest incident raised a red flag and would possibly be something that could curtail his driver’s racing career.



“He and I talked about years beyond next year, around I guess Daytona,” Hendrick said. “If there was something major, major wrong I think (the doctors) would have seen it already.



“I’m very hopeful and he’s very hopeful and I think the doctors want to err on the side of being sure. We want him for a long time. He loves the fans, he loves the sport, he loves to race and we love him in the organization. I’m proud of him.”



Earnhardt was 13th in points prior to missing Sunday’s race. He is winless this season, meaning he would need a victory to possibly secure a spot in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The field of 16 will consist of this year’s race winners and, if there aren’t at least 16, additional positions to fill the field would be determined based on championship driver point standings.



Hendrick said his organization has not requested a medical waiver from NASCAR.



“I haven’t even thought about a waiver or any of that right now,” he said.



Chase eligibility includes the requirement that drivers attempt to qualify for all points races prior to the start of the Chase. Such waivers have been provided by NASCAR in the past. 


Posted on by Nascar

LOUDON, N.H. — NASCAR officials reiterated their policing of the sanctioning body’s pit road policy during the drivers’ meeting prior to Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), stressing that cars remain single file when coming onto pit road, that passing is allowed “only to the right” and that passing is officiated as “front bumper to front bumper.”

 

The issue arose following last weekend’s race at Kentucky Speedway when driver Martin Truex Jr. was penalized for passing on entry to pit road as he passed race leader Kevin Harvick on the left side while on pit road during a round of pit stops under caution. Truex (Furniture Row Racing) was second behind Harvick when he pulled his No. 78 Toyota to the inside and shot forward into his pit box, momentarily pulling ahead of the Stewart-Haas Racing driver.

 

First off pit road after the pit stop, Truex restarted 22nd as a result of the penalty.

 

Language included in Sunday’s drivers’ meeting video presentation outlined various race processes and included remaining single file, with passing only on the right.

 

“There’s been a lot of discussion and dialogue this week regarding pit-road rules,” Sprint Cup Series Managing Director Richard Buck said. “I want to take a moment review the rules and explain how we will officiate those rules. …

 

“Under caution, as mentioned in the video, no pulling up to pit. Remain in line, single-file, behind the caution car and maintain your position. Vehicles must maintain a reasonable speed behind the caution car. Reasonable speed is a judgement call and will be made by the NASCAR officials. You must enter pit road single-file, nose to tail, bumper to bumper and maintain pit road speed.

 

“Passing is only to the right once the car in front of you commits to his pit stall. Passing is defined and will be officiated in the same way as we do during the race on the race track — front bumper to front bumper.”

 

Drivers had previously noted there have been many instances of drivers pulling ahead of other competitors when pulling into their pit boxes on pit road.

 

“I saw him gas up after the timing line and make a pass,” Paul Menard , driver of the No. 27 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, said of the Truex incident during a test earlier this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “He had a really good pit box where he could really accelerate hard. At some of these tracks you can’t be as aggressive as that.”

 

On Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, defending Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch said he had “seen those moves being made before on pit road” without officials calling a penalty.

 

“That’s why I think more and more guys have gone into that have been trying to do that,” he said. “We play the timing lines way too much and so that was just some that was out there for (Truex) to play with and try … he did and they busted him for it.”

 

NASCAR uses timing lines embedded underneath pit road to monitor the speed of cars as they enter and exit the pits and pass through each section. The system uses measurements of distance over time to determine how fast cars are traveling when on pit road.

 

Drivers typically increase their speed after passing the first timing line in which their pit stall is located, since stopping for service will increase the overall time spent in that section.

 

Truex was not judged to be speeding when he made the move.

 

There were no questions from drivers about the process following Buck’s comments.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: See what happened to Harvick last fall

LOUDON, N.H. — During the past two years, Kevin Harvick has led more laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway than any other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver.

Yet in each of those four starts, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver failed to come away with the victory.

Harvick, the 2014 series champion, has led 379 of 1,209 laps at the 1.058-mile venue located in Loudon, New Hampshire. He led 216 at NHMS last year in the fall race, the second of 10 that made up Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff.

But his No. 4 Chevrolet ran out of fuel with less than three laps remaining, and after pitting, Harvick finished 21st. His two previous starts at NHMS had resulted in third-place finishes after leading 59 laps in the July race of ’15 and 104 the race the previous fall.

“That’s one I want to win really bad because I feel like we’ve given so many away there,” Rodney Childers, Harvick’s crew chief, said earlier this week. “Last fall we had a stinking good car, didn’t get it full on the last stop, didn’t realize it wasn’t full. We ran probably the whole last run still leading the race and still ran out.”

Harvick has one win this year, at Phoenix, and has been the series points leader for much of the season. His return as one of 16 Chase competitors for this year is all but guaranteed. Only one of his 32 career wins have come at the “Magic Mile” however, and that took place nearly a decade ago.

While Harvick has done nearly everything but win at Loudon in recent years, the victories have gone to others. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch swept the two races last season and Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski were in Victory Lane in ’14.

Keselowski is the only other competitor in the same vicinity as Harvick when it comes to laps led at NHMS, with 321 to his credit. He’s the series’ most recent winner, claiming back-to-back victories at Daytona and Kentucky.

Childers has one New Hampshire victory, guiding Brian Vickers to the win in 2013. It was the final win for the now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing organization.

Helping put Harvick back there would be big. Coming off a ninth-place run at Kentucky was a nice rebound after finishing 39th at Daytona a week earlier.

“Every time we’ve been (to New Hampshire) we’ve been really good so hopefully we can go up there and be good again,” Childers said. “I think having that good run last week at Kentucky gave everybody a little bit of confidence back. It’s time to start ramping things up and get ready for the Chase.”

On Friday, Harvick qualified eighth in the 40-car field. He was 21st in Friday’s opening practice and fourth in Saturday’s two sessions.

The New Hampshire 301 is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

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RELATED: Where does 2 crew stack up midseason?

Team Penske’s No. 2 crew members had double the reason to celebrate Brad Keselowski ‘s back-to-back victories at Daytona and Kentucky in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. That’s because jackman Braxton Brannon and gasman Nick Hensley both added to their families during the joyous past two weeks.

Anyone who has ever been involved in the waiting process understands the stress of having a baby. The due dates were only three days apart and both guys had been on wait for the past two weeks.  But the babies arrived safely on opposite ends of the Kentucky weekend and the crew members didn’t miss a beat.

For the Brannon family it was their first child. They welcomed a baby girl on July 7. For the Hensley family, they welcomed their second boy on July 11.

“It was a tough decision to go to that race while they were still in the hospital,” Brannon said. “Caroline told me to go and I think it was the right decision. Caroline is doing great now and the baby.”

Hensley echoed his feeling of relief.

“I knew the next two races (after Sonoma) were Saturday night races, and close enough to home that Team Penske would do everything they could to get me home in a hurry if something happened,” Hensley said. “I was more nervous for Braxton, this was my second child and I had stayed home from the Talladega race in 2014 for the birth of my first child, and I didn’t want him to miss that special moment with his family.”

So three weeks ago the No. 2 crew had two wins on the season and a total of one kid between the six over-the-wall guys. Now, two weeks later, the team has two more wins and two more family members.

For more pit crew news, visit PitTalks.com.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full New Hampshire results | Standings | Chase Grid
SHOP: Stewart gear

Tony Stewart returned from a back injury in April and the three-time Sprint Cup Series champion is in pursuit of one of the 16 spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in his final season. Here’s a look at where the driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet stands in his hunt after Sunday’s runner-up finish in the New Hampshire 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the season’s 19th of 26 regular-season races.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED
The three-time champion followed a top-five finish at Kentucky with a runner-up in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet at New Hampshire, Stewart’s second-best showing of the season. That moved Stewart into 28th place in the drivers point standings.  


With a win locked up at Sonoma, inside the top 30 is where Stewart needs to be in order to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. As it stands now, he’s in the provisional Chase Grid. He leads 29th-place Landon Cassill by three points and 31st-place driver Brian Scott by 67 points.


WHAT HE NEEDS
Stewart received a waiver from NASCAR for Chase eligibility. The surest way into the Chase is by winning before the end of regular season (at Richmond International Raceway on Sept. 10) — which Stewart did at Sonoma — and remain in the top 30 in the points standings. En route to his 2015 championship, Kyle Busch faced a similar path after missing the first 11 races with a leg injury. With the win in the bank, Stewart can focus on remaining in the top 30. He sits 28th in the standings with 287 points. He is six points beind Casey Mears , who sits at 27th place in the standings. 

WHAT’S NEXT
“Smoke” heads to his hometrack of Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 24 at 3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he has two victories. In his 17 starts there, Stewart has seven top fives and 11 top 10s. 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Updated Chase Grid | Stewart Chase watch

 

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards officially clinched berths in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs based on their finishes in Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Busch, the defending series champion, led a race-high 133 laps and finished eighth in Sunday’s New Hampshire 301. Edwards faded to a 20th-place finish after involvement in a crash that forced the last of the race’s seven yellow flags.

Each qualify for championship eligibility in the 10-race postseason based on their status as multiple winners in the regular season and because of their points stature in the Sprint Cup driver standings, mathematically unable to fall outside of the top 30 requirement.

 

“With NASCAR, it’s our playoff. That’s what it’s all about,” said Coach Joe Gibbs, whose organization fields four full-time Toyota teams including the No. 18 for Busch and No. 19 for Edwards. “It’s a thrill for us to be in there. I think the key is, as you continue to work during the year, try and keep your performance up and try and point towards the playoffs. When you get to the playoffs, you never know what’s going to happen because it’s a little three‑race playoff. That’s what it is. You take your best shot, but what you want to do is hopefully continue to improve as the year goes along, and that’s kind of our goal.”

Heading into Sunday’s 301-lapper, Brad Keselowski was the only certified Chase-eligible driver, based on his points position and status as a winner of multiple regular-season races. Keselowski leads the series this year with four victories.

Seven regular-season races remain before the 16-driver championship field is set. Eleven drivers have scored regular-season wins to virtually secure Chase berths, leaving five spots open for competitors to race their way into the playoffs with victories or points.

The Sprint Cup Series’ next race — the Crown Royal Presents The Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the Brickyard — is scheduled Sunday, July 24 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Kenseth’s late charge nets New Hampshire win

MORE: Watch the live stream on Tuesday at 8 a.m. ET

The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota of race winner Matt Kenseth failed post-race inspection Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.



The car did not meet compliance in the laser inspection station (LIS) after Sunday’s New Hampshire 301. The car will face further scrutiny this week at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

“A failure at track doesn’t necessarily mean a failure once we get it back to the R&D Center,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive” on Monday.

“What we’re going to do, and the reason we bring it back to the R&D Center, is to look at what, if any, damage occurred to that car,” O’Donnell continued. “What, if any, parts were broken? We’ve got the best engineers in the world, so were they manufactured to possibly break? We’ve got to go through all those things. If, after that, we determine if it’s still a violation, we would issue a penalty.” 



The Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet for race runner-up Tony Stewart passed the LIS platform post-race and will also be taken to the NASCAR R&D Center for further evaluation.



The cars for the remaining top-five finishers — Joey Logano (third), Kevin Harvick (fourth) and Greg Biffle (fifth) — plus the random selection of seventh-finisher Ryan Newman were all cleared in post-race inspection at the 1.058-mile track.