RELATED: All the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award finalists

A friendship made a decade ago has endured — and endeared, creating a heartwarming story. Logan Houptley and Mikayla Resh, children when they met, now are young adults who have a special bond that has led to the formation of a special cause.

At the age of 10, Houptley met Resh in his third-grade classroom after moving to a new school district in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Resh was bravely facing the challenges presented by multiple disabilities that included brain damage, cerebral palsy, seizure disorder along with blindness and deafness. Houptley didn’t see those challenges when he looked at Resh. Instead, he simply saw another child in need of compassion and kindness. Fellow classmates saw Resh in the same light.

Collectively, they made sure she knew that she belonged.

“I just found it so fascinating in third grade that the children who had grown up with Mikayla to that point already felt so comfortable with her and included her in the everyday life of the classroom,” Houptley, 20, said. “I just took to that.”

That experience stuck with Houptley. How could it not? And so the friendship continued — and continues still, along the way leading Houptley in 2010 to help found “Mikayla’s Voice.” The organization is dedicated to inspiring children and young adults to embrace individuals of all abilities, while championing cultural change by teaching communities about the importance of inclusion and acceptance. When Mikayla’s Voice was founded, Houptley served as co-president of the Junior Board of Directors until 2015, when he became a member of the Board of Directors.

Houptley, now living in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is proudly representing “Mikayla’s Voice” as one of four finalists for The NASCAR Foundation’s 2016 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award Presented by Nationwide. The award, which honors volunteers who work for children’s causes in their communities, will be presented by France — The NASCAR Foundation’s Chairwoman Emeritus and founder – on Sept. 27 during The NASCAR Foundation’s inaugural Honors Gala at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. The foundation will donate $100,000 to the charity represented by the award winner and $25,000 to each of the other three finalists’ charities. The award winner will be determined via an online vote now underway and running through Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. (ET) at NASCAR.com/Award.

Friends Mikayla Resh and Logan Houptley work on a finger painting together.

Houptley always has been a strong advocate for Resh and other children facing similar challenges. As a founding member of “Mikayla’s Voice,” Logan has spoken at national conventions about a book written on Resh’s life, promoted inclusion in sports and recreation through “Tri for Inclusion” triathlons and led a fundraising efforts for the organization.

Through books, school assemblies, recreational activities, cultural initiatives, and more, “Mikayla’s Voice” demonstrates vividly the importance of inclusion. Approximately 25,000 children have been impacted by the organization’s school assemblies; there have been 440 participants in Tri for Inclusion triathlons which pair able-bodied athletes with physically challenged athletes; and 14,000 children have been impacted by “Wheels of Friendship,” an initiative that allows children to paint with the wheels of a wheelchair and the paws of service dogs.

On Sunday, Houptley will attend the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway where he’ll be cheering for his favorite driver, Tony Stewart, who is making his final start at Pocono.

Most importantly, Houptley will be representing Mikayla’s Voice, meeting with media and other fans to talk about inclusion and acceptance – and the friendship which continues to chart his personal course.

“In terms of inclusion, I think we’ve made a big difference with ‘Mikayla’s Voice,’ ” Houptley said, “but in terms of the big picture, yes, we’ve made some strides there’s still a long way to go. … I’m definitely in for the long haul as far as I can tell.”

To learn more about this year’s finalists for The NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award Presented by Nationwide, and to cast your vote today, go to www.NASCAR.com/Award. Voting is open now until Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. ET. 

See the paint schemes for Pocono and Iowa for this weekend’s NASCAR events.

RELATED: Learn more about all 23 Sprint Cup tracks |
NASCAR’s official news release

NASCAR has released the starting times for 2017 races in all three national series.

Among the biggest changes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the first night race for next year will be May 13 at Kansas Speedway. The spring race at Texas Motor Speedway — typically run under the lights — moves to an afternoon green flag (1:30 p.m. ET).

Eight races from the first half of the season will move their afternoon starting times from 1 p.m. ET to 2 p.m. ET or later, including the season-opening Daytona 500 with a 2 p.m. ET start on Feb. 26, 2017.

The four races at Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway move from 1 p.m. ET starts to 3 p.m. ET green flags.

The later starting time is also the case for most of the second half of the season. The green flag will drop at 3 p.m. ET next year at Watkins Glen International and the Chase opener at Chicagoland. The rest of the Chase looks more similar to 2015 with 2 p.m. ET starts at New Hampshire, Dover and Talladega, and a slightly later 3 p.m. start at Kansas Speedway.

The season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway will again begin at 2:30 p.m.

As for the XFINITY Series, there will be seven night races including a three-race swing from Iowa Speedway (June 24) to Daytona (June 30) and Kentucky (July 7).

Its two stand-alone road course races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America in Wisconsin will start at 3:30 p.m. ET and 3 p.m. ET, respectively.

Both its season-opening race at Daytona and finale at Homestead will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will have a decidedly night-time look with 14 of its 23 races held under the lights.

The season opens with a 7:30 p.m. ET green flag at Daytona. There is an eight-race swing of starts at 5 p.m. ET or later between the May 12 race at Kansas (8:30 p.m.) and culminating with the hugely popular event at Eldora Speedway (9 p.m.) on July 19.

See the full schedules below.

Note: All times listed are ET. Subject to change.

2017 Sprint Cup Series schedule

2017 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES SCHEDULE

2017 Camping World Truck Series schedule

RELATED: Before and after: Watkins Glen repave

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams wrapped up a two-day organizational test Wednesday at newly repaved Watkins Glen International, emerging with better ideas of the challenges they’ll face when the series returns for the Aug. 4-7 race weekend.

Among those challenges: reworked curbing, a fast circuit and a harder-compound tire that has made grip elusive.

A total of 16 Sprint Cup teams — one permitted from each organization — tried to unlock the novelty of the $12 million resurfacing project, using a Goodyear tire that emphasizes durability at the expense of traction and wear. The rubber compound chosen is similar to that used July 9 at Kentucky Speedway, site of the Sprint Cup Series’ most recent race on a repaved track.

At Kentucky, the tire selection made for treacherous conditions in certain spots and made passing a delicate process. Though road courses don’t lend themselves to the multi-groove racing seen at several well-aged oval tracks, Watkins Glen might still be a tricky place to maneuver when the series reconvenes for the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen.

“The main thing we’ve learned so far is how hard the tire is,” said Jamie McMurray, driver of the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet. “It just seems to be no wear at all or lap time fall-off right now. This place didn’t ever wear tires like Sonoma, but it seems like the tire is pretty hard.”

Sonoma, the other road course where the Sprint Cup Series races, is a much more intricate circuit with qualifying speeds roughly 30 mph slower than at Watkins Glen’s open, free-wheeling layout.

The Goodyear tire compound designated for both the Watkins Glen test and the race weekend is the same used for right-side tires in XFINITY Series competition at Iowa Speedway. Those Iowa right-sides will be used at all four corners for the Sprint Cup event at the 2.45-mile road course.

Racing with a softer tire with more adhesion would potentially introduce the threat of excessive wear or blistering. It’s a trade-off that Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Chase Elliott says he’s willing to accept.

“I think a lot of it is just having a fresh surface like this, you’ve got to have a tire that’s pretty hard,” said Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports’ driver representative for the two-day test. “It’s fast, and to ask a tire to hold up, you’ve got to bring something that’s durable. It puts Goodyear in a tough spot, but I think they do a good job of trying to make the most of tough situations. There’s been a lot of repaves here lately and I know they’re working hard.”

David Groseclose, NASCAR’s lead tire engineer, said Wednesday that the benefits of competing with a more rigid rubber compound outweighed the potential drawbacks.

“As with all repaves — same thing as Kentucky — if you don’t have a hard tire, you’re going to blister them up,” Groseclose said. “The way that works is if you’ve got a soft compound and you use it, the soft compounds tend to retain heat. It’s just the nature of a soft compound. But on a repave, it’s not going to wear so that heat’s not going to be dissipated out of the tire. It has nowhere to go, so it stays in the tire, so that’s why it blisters up. That’s what we saw at Kentucky with the XFINITY and Truck Series.”

In addition to the surface itself, the track features new concrete for the rumble strips that border the circuit’s turns and run-off areas. Some drivers found the differences barely noticeable, but Kurt Busch discovered a distinction the hard way with an early Tuesday spin as he bounded over the apex points in the backstretch chicane on one of his initial laps.

“It’s a lot different,” said Tony Gibson, Busch’s crew chief on the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet. “Kurt’s like, ‘I’ve got to learn all the curbs again.’ The curbs over in the bus stop (chicane) are probably the biggest change. They’re way more aggressive, and they’ve tightened up, so it’s a lot tighter lane through there.”

Said Elliott, who will race here in Sprint Cup for the first time next weekend: “Some of the curbs may be a little different here or there, some a little rougher, a little smoother just depending on how they laid the asphalt in or however it worked. It’s as close as you could make a track from an old surface to a repave, for sure.”

Five Sprint Cup teams participated in a Goodyear tire test May 10-11, and another 16 were present for this week’s organizational test. For the remaining half of the field, the work toward finding the proper handle begins with opening practice on Friday, Aug. 5.

“If you get your balance right, it’ll be a no-drama,” Gibson said. “Man, I told Kurt earlier, ‘I’d hate to know I had to come here next Friday and hit the track for the first time and try to figure out these curbs and how much the race track has changed.’ It’ll be a handful in the short amount of time we get to practice.

“It’ll be interesting to see when we come back who has issues and who doesn’t. But it’s definitely going to be a plus to come and learn the race track, even if your car is not right or whatever, just getting here and getting behind the wheel and getting time on the race track is going to mean more.”

Pit notes:

— The full roster (in alphabetical order) of drivers and teams participating in the test: AJ Allmendinger (JTG Daugherty Racing), Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing), Clint Bowyer (HScott Motorsports), Chris Buescher (Front Row Motorsports), Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing), Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing), Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing), Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports), Brad Keselowski (Team Penske), Michael McDowell (Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing), Jamie McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing), Casey Mears (Germain Racing), Brian Scott (Richard Petty Motorsports), Regan Smith (Tommy Baldwin Racing), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing), Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing).

— Casey Mears turned the fastest lap in the two-day test, which was divided into four sessions of four hours apiece. Mears pushed the Germain Racing No. 13 Chevrolet in the closing session to a best lap of 126.7 mph, a good bit slower than the track qualifying record of 129.491 mph set by Marcos Ambrose in August 2014.

— Brad Keselowski returned to the track Wednesday, one day after his severe, nearly head-on crash in Turn 1. He turned 74 laps over both sessions in a reserve Team Penske No. 2 Ford.

— Two teams — Furniture Row Racing (driver Martin Truex Jr.) and Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing (driver Michael McDowell) — were absent from testing’s opening day, arriving in the Watkins Glen garage Wednesday in time for the two closing sessions.

— Wednesday’s final session was extended 30 minutes to a 5:30 p.m. ET close because of a nearly hour-long clean-up for fluid on the track. After Chase Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet suffered a broken axle, Clint Bowyer’s No. 15 Chevy ran over the part, damaging the car’s transmission.

— NASCAR XFINITY Series teams are scheduled to turn their first laps on the new Watkins Glen surface next Thursday. The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will stage a support race the following day on the 2.45-mile course.