Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Results | Standings 

 

LOUDON, N.H. — Another NASCAR XFINITY Series race, another set of milestones for Kyle Busch.

 

Leading 190 of 200 laps in Saturday’s AutoLotto 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Busch held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones in the closing laps to claim his 82nd career victory, extending his own series record.

 

In the process, Busch raised his total of XFINITY laps led to 17,064, once again extending his own record. Busch won for the fifth time in 11 races at the Magic Mile and the sixth time in 10 starts this season.

 

“I guess they’re big numbers,” said Busch, who ran the entire race on one set of left-side tires and arrived at the finish line 1.499 seconds ahead of Jones, who had taken four tires on his final pit stop under caution on Lap 178. “I really don’t know what big numbers are, and records are made to be broken.

 

“There may be somebody like me that comes along down the road that does the same thing that I’ve been fortunate enough to do … Running in this series is something fun for me to do, cool for me to do, and it also helps me out and gets me a little more experience.”

 

Brad Keselowski ran third but didn’t have an answer for the top two JGR cars. Daniel Suarez came home fourth, followed by Austin Dillon .

 

“We had a decent day,” Keselowski said. “A little better than where we have been, which was something to be proud of, but of course we want to get to Victory Lane with the (No. 22 Team Penske) Ford. We aren’t quite there, but we’ll keep pushing.

 

“That was a step in the right direction overall for sure.”

 

Busch may have been dominant up front, but there were compelling subplots behind him, the most noteworthy between Ty Dillon and Alex Bowman .

 

Bowman, who will sub for ailing Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, turned left into Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet off Turn 2 on Lap 76, sending Dillon’s car into the outside wall.

 

Dillon was convinced Bowman wrecked him on purpose. Bowman asserted his car was forced wide, and the contact was unintentional. Dillon returned to action 55 laps down after repairs in the garage and twice tried to impede Bowman’s progress on the track.

 

“He tried to wreck me about four times after (the accident),” Bowman said after the race. “I don’t blame him for being upset. He has every right to be upset…

 

“He drove me way up the race track (right before the contact). He obviously got tight underneath me. I had a ton of wheel in it, and it finally caught. I barely came off the wall. You come off the wall six inches and you tag somebody in the right rear. I hate that for the 3 car, but I definitely didn’t do it intentionally. He can think what he wants.”

 

Bowman was able to continue despite damage to the left front of his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and posted an eighth-place finish. Dillon, on the other hand, was scored 33rd and held third place in the XFINITY standings but fell to 48 points behind Suarez, who also expanded his series lead to 15 points over second-place Elliott Sadler , who ran 10th on Saturday.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Best at-track photos Saturday at New Hampshire


LOUDON, N.H. — Alex Bowman gained a lot of new fans this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway — but he may have earned an on-track enemy, as well.
 
Bowman, the 23-year-old tapped to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. (concussion-like symptoms) in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), got into an on-track incident with full-time XFINITY Series driver Ty Dillon shortly before the midway point in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Auto Lotto 200 race.
 
The No. 88 JR Motorsports driver appeared to clip the right rear of Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet on the straightaway, sending the title hopeful into the outside wall and out of race contention.
 
Bowman indicated over his team radio that it was not intentional and that his Camaro was battling tight handling, but Dillon wasn’t buying it.
 
“Just watching the replay, he wrecked me on purpose,” Dillon said in the garage as his No. 3 crew worked to repair his ride. ” … You can ask everybody that was around the 88 today. I’m sure after the race they’ll say that he was the toughest one to pass for whatever reason.
 
” … He felt like he needed to turn me down the straightaway. Obviously I’m not very happy. I’ll just try and be the cooler head right now because I’m glad he’s still out there on the track and not here (in the garage) with me.”
 
Bowman maintained after the race that while he “wasn’t really thrilled with how (Dillon) drove (him) prior to the wreck” that “it wasn’t, by any means, intentional,” but he’ll probably wait a bit to offer a face-to-face apology to Dillon.
 
“I’ll talk to him, probably let him cool down a little bit,” said Bowman, set for his first Sprint Cup Series start of the season on Sunday. “Kid tried to wreck me like four times but he couldn’t get it done after that. Probably let him calm down without it turning into just him yelling at me. That’s probably what he’s going to do. That’s probably what I’d do, too. I’d be upset, too. He has every right to be upset.
 
” … He’ll get over it someday.”
 
Dillon was able to get back out on the track after the midway mark, but came out more than 50 laps off the pace. He finished 33rd.
 
The championship hopeful came into the race 19 points behind leader Daniel Suarez, in third place. That gap widened to 48 points, just six ahead of second-place finisher Erik Jones .
 
“Pretty upset right now. It’s not how you race,” Dillon said. “You don’t turn me when we’re going down the straightaway. I don’t know what to say, because I don’t have anything good to say, except for I’m glad he’s not around right now.
 
“Seemed like (his car) turned pretty good down the straightaway when I was passed him, so maybe he needs to figure out what loose and tight mean. Maybe I can explain it to him.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Drivers react to Junior’s news

LOUDON, N.H. – Doug Duchardt, general manager for Hendrick Motorsports, says there was no indication that driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. was dealing with concussion-like symptoms during the organization’s weekly competition meeting earlier this week.



Two days after that meeting, Duchardt and others were informed that the 41-year-old would not be competing in this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.



“Tuesdays we have our competition meeting and he shows up and he’s just normal Dale,” Duchardt said during a press conference Friday morning at NHMS. “It was Mexican day, so he was in a good mood. … It was just a normal day. If you sat down and listened to him discuss the Kentucky race … you would just think he was no different.”



On Thursday, HMS officials announced that Earnhardt had not been cleared by doctors to compete this weekend, and that Alex Bowman would replace Earnhardt in the team’s No. 88 Chevrolet.



In Thursday’s statement from the team announcing the driver change, Earnhardt said he was not feeling well going into last weekend’s race at Kentucky Speedway. After returning from the race, he saw doctors for what he initially thought was a severe sinus infection.



“When that didn’t help, I decided to dig a little deeper,” Earnhardt said. “Because of my symptoms and my history with concussions, and after my recent wrecks at Michigan and Daytona, I reached out and met with a neurological specialist. After further evaluation, they felt it was best for me to sit out.”



His timeline for returning to competition is unknown and Earnhardt is expected to see doctors again next week for an update on his condition. Duchardt said if Earnhardt is unable to return for next week’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, former HMS driver Jeff Gordon , a four-time series champion who retired from driving at the end of 2015, would be his replacement in the No. 88 entry.



Duchardt would not speculate on any potential replacements beyond next weekend’s event. “We will obviously be thinking about contingency plans, but we don’t have anything formalized for sure past Indy,” he said.



This weekend’s race will mark the second time Earnhardt has been sidelined by a concussion or concussion-like symptoms. In 2012, he missed two races late in the season following a hard crash during a test at Kansas Speedway.



According to David Higdon, Chief Communications Officer for the sanctioning body, NASCAR “requires drivers to submit a baseline neurocognitive assessment, such as an impact test … as a prerequisite for being licensed to compete.”



The requirement became mandatory in 2013 following “comprehensive, industry-wide education process,” Higdon said.



“Additionally, NASCAR’s medical advisory group, a team of consulting physicians who work directly with the league on policy development while regularly meeting with drivers to continue the education process, includes many leaders in the neurological field. …



“Another important element worth noting is the active role our drivers and teams take in monitoring their health. Drivers approach this responsibility very seriously and that ultimately benefits their entire team, the sport and their fellow competitors.



“We applaud Dale Earnhardt Jr. for being a great example dating back to 2012 where he chose not to race in Charlotte and in Kansas during the Chase and has made that decision this weekend as well.”



At Michigan last month, Earnhardt was involved in an incident with fellow drivers Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger, but was able to drive his car back to the garage. At the time he told FS1 that the impact “wasn’t too bad, actually.”



Barely one month later, Earnhardt was one of 22 competitors caught up in a crash at Daytona.



Duchardt said there was no advance warning that something was amiss following the incidents at MIS or Daytona. “We didn’t know of anything until he started talking to Greg (Ives, crew chief) about not feeling quite right in Kentucky,” he said.



“I think this weekend he is just, per doctor’s orders, laying low like most people in these situations – minimum stimulation and just work to get better and keep activities down.”



Higdon said officials would “need to receive a notice from an independent board-certified neurologist” before Earnhardt, or any driver diagnosed with a similar injury, would be allowed to return.



“That would be our expectation that the driver is prepared and able to compete in our sport,” he said.



Earnhardt is 13th in points and has yet to win this season. His eligibility for one of the 16 positions in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup upon his return, should he be in position to qualify for a spot, would be determined by NASCAR. Attempting to compete in all races is one of the Chase eligibility requirements, although NASCAR can award an exemption based on each individual situation. Defending series champion Kyle Busch was provided a waiver last season after missing the first 11 points races due to injury; three-time series champion Tony Stewart has also received a waiver after missing this year’s first eight races due to injury.



Because of Earnhardt’s initial concerns of potential sinus issues, Bowman was already on standby with the plan to replace the veteran once Earnhardt started Sunday’s race at New Hampshire, according to Duchardt. When Earnhardt wasn’t cleared to return to competition, the team moved forward with Bowman as the replacement.



“The most important thing in this whole process is for Dale to get better and feel better,” Duchardt said, “and we’re going to let that happen on the timeline it’s going to happen on.



“And so, basically, less than 24 hours ago we found out that Dale couldn’t run. We had Alex lined up to be in the car. It made perfect sense. And I have confidence that he and Greg will go a good job this weekend.”

Posted on by Nascar

WATCH: Keselowski stretches fuel cell to win at Kentucky | No. 2 needed tow truck for Victory Lane

 

When Brad Keselowski‘s No. 2 Ford began to run out of fuel with barely two laps remaining in last Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, his crew quickly told him to “get the right switch going, get the right switch going.”

 

The Team Penske driver, and 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, was able to keep his engine running and hold off Carl Edwards for his fourth win of the season.

 

If Keselowski was out of fuel, how did he manage to hold off Edwards, continue on and score the victory?

 

The “right switch” his team referred to controlled the fuel pump to the reserve fuel tank, a small secondary unit located inside the car’s fuel cell. The small box holds less than a gallon of fuel. As the fuel in the primary cell burns off and the level of the fuel drops, the small amount of fuel, less than one gallon, in the reserve stays constant.

 

Most, if not all, Sprint Cup teams have similar units inside their car’s fuel cells.

 

“Basically you’re allowed to run like a little Kevlar tank inside your fuel cell,” Rodney Childers, crew chief for the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet with Kevin Harvick, said. “It’s just a little square box with round hole in it. … You can basically run the car out of fuel and then flip the switch, which there’s a pump inside that little box, and at least get back to pit road.”

 

Or in Keselowski’s case, to Victory Lane.

 

Fuel mileage and track size can come into play. On a bigger track such as Talladega, Daytona or Indy, for example, the amount in the reserve might not be enough to allow a driver to complete a lap or more at speed. That likely wouldn’t be the case on a shorter venue, such as a Bristol or Martinsville.

 

“I’m sure it’s different for every team,” Richard Childress Racing driver Paul Menard said. “I had to use it (at Kentucky); we were about four laps short and with six laps to go my car stumbled down the frontstretch.”

 

While Menard said having such a system can be beneficial, he also noted that it has its drawbacks.

 

“The disadvantage of that — I could have run one more lap or two more laps without stumbling (had the fuel not been held in the reserve box),” he said.

 

“We don’t have fuel gauges so you just go off that fuel pressure.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 1 results



Martin Truex Jr. set the early pace in Friday’s opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.



Truex hustled the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota to a best lap of 133.562 mph around the 1.058-mile track. He’ll seek his first Granite State victory in Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the 19th of 36 points-paying Sprint Cup races this season.



Carl Edwards was second-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota, with his 133.380-mph lap bumped off the top spot late in the 85-minute session. Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch, a New Hampshire winner in this race last July, was third-best in another Gibbs entry, the No. 18 Toyota.



Kurt Busch (133.091 mph) landed the fourth-fastest lap with JGR driver Denny Hamlin (132.956) completing the top five.



Alex Bowman , substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he recovers from concussion-like symptoms, notched the 13th-fastest lap in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet. Bowman, a part-time competitor in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for JR Motorsports, is scheduled to make his first Sprint Cup start of the season in Sunday’s 301-lapper.



Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series is scheduled for 4:45 p.m. ET (NBCSN). Two additional 55-minute practices are scheduled Saturday at 10 a.m. ET (CNBC) and 12:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN).

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Drivers react, offer thoughts on Earnhardt Jr. news


Hendrick Motorsports indicated that Jeff Gordon would return to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr. next weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway if Earnhardt has not fully recovered from concussion-like symptoms.



Gordon, a four-time champion in NASCAR’s premier series, ended his full-time driving career last season. All of his 93 victories and 797 starts came during his 23-year career with Hendrick Motorsports, which fields four cars including the No. 88 Chevrolet driven by Earnhardt Jr.



Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that Earnhardt would miss this Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with concussion-like symptoms. Earnhardt also missed time in the 2012 season, sitting out two races after sustaining two concussions in a stretch of six weeks.



Doug Duchardt, Hendrick Motorsports’ general manager, revealed the striking news of Gordon’s possible Indy return on July 24 in the Crown Royal Presents the Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the Brickyard during a press conference Friday morning at New Hampshire. Gordon is NASCAR’s all-time winningest driver at the historic Brickyard with five Indianapolis victories on his Hall of Fame-worthy resume.



Duchardt said that there was no timetable for Earnhardt’s return to competition, reiterating the organization’s stance from Thursday’s announcement.



“I really don’t want to speculate past Indy,” Duchardt said. “I think we just want to take it one race at a time here. I think putting any speculation past that is assuming that Dale is not going to be ready for that amount of time. We will obviously be thinking about contingency plans, but we don’t have anything formalized for sure past Indy.”



Alex Bowman will be making his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start of the season in the Hendrick No. 88 Chevrolet. Bowman, 23, is also a part-time competitor for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.



Duchardt indicated that Gordon was not strongly considered for this weekend’s duty at New Hampshire because before Thursday, all indications were that Earnhardt potentially needed only a relief driver instead of a full-fledged replacement. Additionally, Gordon revealed Thursday that he was currently in France, which would have made for a tight turnaround to prepare for competition in New England this weekend.



NASCAR spokesperson David Higdon said that for Earnhardt to return to racing, competition officials would need notice of medical clearance from an independent, board-certified neurologist. Duchardt said that the team would make a determination by the middle of next week for the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet at Indianapolis.



“For (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and the team, certainly the way Jeff sits in the car and what we have to do to prepare the car for Jeff they have to get ready for that,” Duchardt said. But, I think I would be looking around Wednesday time frame.”



Ryan Newman , a 15th-year veteran with Richard Childress Racing, said that a driver of Gordon’s caliber would likely be capable of competitively rejoining the series without signs of rust.



“Yeah, just because you go to the nude beach for a couple of months doesn’t mean you don’t know how to put your underwear back on,” Newman said, prompting laughter in the NHMS media center.

Posted on by Staff Report

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup doesn’t begin until September, but several drivers have the opportunity to clinch a spot in the top 30 this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, thus securing a spot in the NASCAR playoffs. To clinch an early Chase berth, a driver must have multiple wins and a top-30 spot.


Below are Chase-clinching scenarios for this weekend’s races at New Hampshire:


NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Possible to Clinch:


Kyle Busch (3 Wins, 521 Points, +304 Points Ahead of 31st) — Busch can only clinch a top-30 spot with help.


Carl Edwards (2 Wins, 566 Points, +349 Points Ahead of 31st) — Edwards needs to clinch a top-30 spot, which he should be able to do before the Chase cutoff as he’s 349 points ahead of 31st now. With multiple wins, the clinching of a top-30 spot will also clinch his Chase berth.


Kevin Harvick (1 Win, 599 Points, +382 Points Ahead of 31st) — Harvick has already clinched his top-30 spot, but the only way he can clinch a Chase berth at this point is by being a multi-race winner, so his only chance to clinch at New Hampshire is with a win.


Kurt Busch (1 Win, 583 Points, +366 Points Ahead of 31st) — Can clinch with a win.


Joey Logano (1 Win, 533 Points, +316 Points Ahead of 31st) — Can clinch with a win.


Martin Truex Jr (1 Win, 514 Points, +297 Points Ahead of 31st) — Needs some help next week to clinch a top-30 and would also need a win to join the multi-winner club to clinch his Chase berth.


NASCAR XFINITY Series

Possible to Clinch:


Erik Jones (2 Wins, 480 Points, +393 Points Ahead of 31st) — Jones has multiple wins and clinched a top-30 spot in the standings at New Hampshire, sealing his Chase berth.


Daniel Suarez (1 Win, 537 Points, +450 Points Ahead of 31st) — Suarez has clinched a top-30 spot, but can only clinch a Chase berth by joining the multi-winner club, so he did not clinch at New Hampshire.


Elliott Sadler (1 Win, 528 Points, +441 Points Ahead of 31st) — Sadler has clinched a top-30 spot, but can only clinch a Chase berth by joining the multi-winner club, so he did not clinch at New Hampshire.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full starting lineup | See every car in the field


LOUDON, N.H. — After one of the roughest stretches in his career, Jimmie Johnson got a welcome boost on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.


Saving his fastest lap for the third and final round of knockout qualifying, Johnson won the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (1:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN), covering the 1.058-mile distance in 28.430 seconds (133.971 mph).


The pole was the 50th won in a Chevrolet SS in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.


Johnson edged Kyle Busch (133.830 mph) for the top starting spot by .030 seconds, earning his first pole at the Magic Mile, his first of the 2016 season and the 35th of his career.


Busch, however, owned the fastest lap of the day, running 134.080 mph (28.407 seconds) to pace the second round, but Johnson was quickest when it counted most.


With only one top 10 in his last nine races, Johnson needed a catalyst, but his car was so off-kilter during a mock qualifying run during opening practice that he thought something had broken on the No. 48 Chevrolet.


While his team reset the car to the specifications in place when it unloaded, Johnson went on a 32-mile bike ride with fellow driver Matt Kenseth to clear his head.


When he returned for time trials, the car was better.


“We had a really weird set of tires or something odd go on on our mock run at the end of practice,” Johnson said. “It felt like something was broken on the car. So to come back and have good speed in the car and advance, I knew after round two we would have a shot at the pole, because we were able to keep our lap count down and advance to the next round on our first lap in each session. 


“And then put together a smooth lap. I felt like it could have been faster, but certainly a good smooth one, and it was enough.”


And having speed in the car was a shot of adrenaline to a team that has been struggling.


“We’ve had a lot of tough races,” Johnson acknowledged. “Qualifying has been so-so. I’m not the best at qualifying. I think the majority of that emotion was the fact that we actually got a pole. 


“We don’t have many. It’s not our strong suit. Just a good day all-in-all, and certainly something this Lowe’s team needed after the tough couple of months… Today’s a big day for us.”


Martin Truex Jr. will start third, after bumping his way into the final 12 .001 seconds over fellow Toyota driver Carl Edwards in the closing seconds of the 10-minute second round. Truex covered the distance in 28.675 seconds (132.827 mph) to knock Edwards out of the final round.


Truex then secured the third position on the grid with a lap at 133.371 mph.


“It’s been a hectic day,” Truex said. “It seems like we’ve been thrashing all day long. Everything is last-minute, last-second and just throwing stuff at it, but when it counts we keep hitting it.


“We were first in practice and third here. We barely made it through the second round and then went on to finish third. All in all, it was a good day. Just a lot of quick decisions by everyone.”


Kurt Busch will start fourth, followed by Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano , who led the first round of time trials at 133.166 mph.


Chase Elliott , Kevin Harvick , Brad Keselowski and AJ Allmendinger claimed the seventh through 10th starting spots, respectively.


Substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who is sidelined with concussion-like symptoms, Alex Bowman earned the 20th starting position in the No. 88 Chevrolet. Though Earnhardt wasn’t at New Hampshire, he nevertheless contributed to Johnson’s pole-winning run.


“He did come here and test for us,” said Johnson, who is driving a new chassis this week. “And he gave us the foundation for the way our cars unloaded today. So big thanks to the 88 team, Dale and (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and those guys for having a great test session and giving us an opportunity for the pole today.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. — Alex Bowman recently got perhaps the most important phone call of his career.

And he sent it to voicemail.

It was No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crew chief Greg Ives on the horn, calling to see if the 23-year-old could fill in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. — battling concussion symptoms — this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“Yeah, it’s been a crazy 12 hours for sure,” Bowman said Friday at the track. “I think the first time Greg called me I was at work, so I didn’t even answer. But it’s definitely not the circumstances that I want to get an opportunity like this.

“… Obviously I’m hoping Dale feels better, but at the same time it’s the best opportunity I’ve ever had in my life. I’m ready to just plug into their program and do my job. I’ll give them the best feedback I can and go from there. I’m really confident in the whole team. Obviously they bring great race cars to the track every weekend, so if I just do my job I feel like we would be good to plug into it.”

Bowman will take over the reins of the No. 88 in Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for a one-race shot in the Sprint Cup Series, his first start of the year after back-to-back full slates in 2014 and 2015. Should Earnhardt need another week to recover, HMS officials noted that recently retired four-time champion Jeff Gordon would be behind the wheel at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Gordon in at Indy if Junior can’t drive

The young, talented Bowman is a part of Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports stable, taking on a nine-race stint in the XFINITY Series in the No. 88 Camaro. His rapport with the organization — his four straight top-10 finishes so far this year probably didn’t hurt either — made the decision a near lock.

“Dale and Greg and I felt like Alex (Bowman) was the right person,” said Doug Duchardt, Hendrick Motorsports General Manager. “He’s run the XFINITY car. He’s done a good job in that car. He is part of the JR Motorsports system and part of our system. And so, Greg reached out to Alex. Alex came in Tuesday night to get fitted for the car.”

For Bowman, the once highly touted prospect whose career took a detour after losing his Sprint Cup ride in January — and finding out about it on Twitter, no less — it’s another positive opportunity that comes via Earnhardt, albeit in an unfortunate way this time around.

After the Arizona native learned he was jobless in late January, Earnhardt stepped in to work with Bowman to come up with a partial XFINITY Series schedule for the driver after he ran two races for the organization in 2014.

While those two races didn’t result in spectacular finishes (12th at Charlotte, 17th at Phoenix in the No. 5), it paid off for JRM in 2016, as Bowman now sports a sterling 6.25 average finish through four races.

“I think I can really thank Dale, Jr. for saving my career two years ago pretty much, with those two XFINITY races at Charlotte and Phoenix, and then for the opportunity to run nine races this year with him,” said Bowman, who placed 13th in the first practice session Friday with a best speed of 132.172 mph.

“Obviously, we have been knocking on the door to get some wins and it has been a lot of fun.

“He has been a good friend to me. He has been somebody that I can lean on all the time. Obviously, I hate to see him not feeling well. That was my first thought, but he has done a lot for my career and I couldn’t be any more thankful than I am. I owe him a lot. It’s just been an honor to get the phone call to fill in for him.”

 

Posted on by Nascar



NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson will return to the Camping World Truck Series, and to the dirt, when the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver competes for GMS Racing in next week’s stop at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.


The Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby is scheduled for Wednesday, July 20th (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).


It will be just the second Truck Series start this year for Larson, 23, and his 12th overall in the series. He finished fourth with the GMS team earlier this season at Martinsville Speedway.


Larson has two previous Truck starts at Eldora, finishing second in 2013 and 26th the following year. The well-known dirt track was also the site of a record-equaling run by the Elk Grove, California, native. In 2011, Larson became only the second driver to win all three races on the same night in the Four Crown Nationals.


“We ran three different types of cars there in one night — Midget, non-wing Sprint cars and Silver Crown,” he said. “That was my first time at Eldora. I won a Midget race the next year there and then I’ve crashed really hard there a couple of times.


“It’s a cool, historic race track with very prestigious races going on there. … If I could win a Truck race there it would be pretty special.”

His 26th-place finish in ’14 is misleading. The young driver was battling with eventual race winner Darrell Wallace Jr. in the closing laps when he continued to make hard contact with the wall, damaging his truck and taking him out of contention.


It likely played a role in his decision not to return to the event as a driver last season.


“I don’t know; I honestly didn’t have a ton of fun” he said of the ’14 effort. “It was slick and slow. I guess I made it exciting to watch on TV, hitting the wall and stuff. … This year with Rico (Abreu) running and (Christopher) Bell being in it, and I thought there would be some more of those guys in it, I just thought it’d be fun to get back out and run the race again.


“I’m hoping it rains a lot before the race so the track can be wet and sticky and rough.”


GMS Racing fields fulltime entries for drivers Johnny Sauter and Spencer Gallagher as well as additional entries for a variety of drivers.


Larson said talks earlier in the year enabled him to land the Martinsville ride and that at the time the group had “a few other races that were options I could run. I chose Eldora as one of them.


“GMS is a really good team, they have really great trucks, great people there,” he said, “and an awesome race shop.”


DC Solar, which sponsors Chip Ganassi Racing driver Brennan Poole in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, will sponsor the Larson entry at Eldora. The company also sponsored Poole in last year’s Camping World Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.


Larson is winless in Sprint Cup competition, but has four wins in the XFINITY Series and one victory in the Camping World Truck Series.