Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR fined Darrell Wallace Jr. $15,000 on Wednesday as a behavioral penalty under Sections 12.1; 12.8 a; 12.8.1 b of the NASCAR Rule Book. Those sections pertain to disciplinary action and NASCAR member conduct.


Wallace criticized NASCAR officials on social media following the XFINITYSeries’ Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway when expressing his displeasure with how the race ended. The finish was reviewed by NASCAR officials as the race ended under caution, and Aric Almirola was declared the winner. 


Section 12.1 of the rule book deals with the general procedure for a violation of NASCAR rules.


Rule 12.8 a deals with NASCAR membership and member conduct.


Rule 12.8.1 b deals with potential penalties and details having to do with member conduct.


The XFINITY Series driver pilots the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and is currently ninth in the series standings after a 20th-place finish at Daytona. 


Also on this week’s penalty report: The No. 1 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team of Jamie McMurray was issued a written warning for failing the pre-race laser inspection system. This is the team’s second warning. After four warnings, a team loses its pit selection for the next applicable race. 

Posted on by Team Release

RELATED: Buy Darlington tickets | ’16 throwback schemes
SHOP: No. 23 gear


A NASCAR ‘Throwback’ weekend at Darlington Raceway and two Toyota Camrys serve as the perfect canvas for Dr Pepper and Orange Crush to pay homage to their history. 

  

David Ragan’s No. 23 Dr Pepper paint scheme will echo the iconic “I’m a Pepper” look that we grew up with. Matt DiBenedetto’s No. 83 is going to stand out in the Orange Crush paint scheme from the 70s.


  

“We’re proud to have both Dr Pepper and Orange Crush featured on our cars for the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway,” said BK Racing owner Ron Devine. “Dr Pepper has been such a loyal partner of ours and we are thrilled to have them bring Orange Crush along for such an iconic race.”


“We’re thrilled to partner with NASCAR and BK Racing in remembering our heritage,” says Derek Dabrowski, Senior Director of Brand Marketing for Crush and Dr Pepper. ” ‘I’m a Pepper’ remains one of the most iconic slogans and jingles in U.S. advertising history, and it’s a great source of pride for ‘Peppers’ everywhere. We’re looking forward to honoring it with NASCAR fans during this throwback weekend.”


“We’re also excited to pay tribute to the rich heritage of Orange Crush,” continues Dabrowski. “We hope by showing off the brand’s throwback creative we can tap into the nostalgic feelings race spectators and our longtime Crush fans have for the brand.”



During the weeks leading up to the race, BK Racing’s social media will throwback to the history of the Dr Pepper brand. Fans can participate by using the hashtag #ImAPepper. Fans who participate will be entered to win autographed merchandise. The contest will run from August 18 through the Darlington race weekend.

Posted on by Nascar



MORE: NASCAR tweaks rules package for Kentucky

As a teenager thrown into NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series with the options of sink or swim, Joey Logano had few places of refuge.

Taking over the No. 20 Toyota of then two-time series champion Tony Stewart at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2009, Logano struggled under the weight of high expectations and a new series against much tougher competition.

But while his Sprint Cup education got off to a somewhat rocky start, it was success in NASCAR’s XFINITY Series that helped keep his confidence up and his progression steadily moving ahead.

And nowhere was that progression more evident than Kentucky Speedway, site of this weekend’s NASCAR triple-header featuring the Camping World Truck, XFINITY and Sprint Cup Series.

Logano, who currently has 25 career victories in the XFINITY Series, earned consecutive wins in 2008, ’09 and ’10 at the 1.5-mile track located in Sparta, Kentucky. His victory in the Meijer 300 in ’08, was his first in a NASCAR national series event.

“I tested here so much growing up,” said Logano, now 26 and competing fulltime for Team Penske in the Sprint Cup and on a partial schedule in the XFINITY Series.

“At Gibbs, this is where we came and tested six or seven times a year; it was a lot. So when I came here in an XFINITY Series car, it was like BOOM! I know this race track. I know what it takes to go fast and we won.”

NASCAR eliminated private team testing prior to the start of the 2015 season. Today, the only on-track time allowed other than race weekends are Goodyear tire tests and a handful of organizational tests.

The additional track time provided a wealth of benefits for Logano. No less important, though, was the overall competitiveness of the Joe Gibbs Racing XFINITY Series program at that time. JGR entries won 49 of 105 XFINITY Series races during the three-year span of ’08-10.

“The cars over there then, like they are now, were dominant,” Logano said. “They were so fast. You just jump in them and win.

“So as a rookie, we would go to race tracks and know exactly what I needed at this track to be able to go out there and win.”

Logano made the move to Team Penske in 2013 and immediately earned his first top-10 championship points finish in the Sprint Cup Series. He has three top-10 results in three outings at Kentucky with Penske, including a runner-up finish last season.

Fourth in points, Logano has finished fifth or higher in his last four Sprint Cup Series starts, including a fourth-place result in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Teams will be attempting to solve the riddle of not only an entirely new racing surface at Kentucky when Saturday’s Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) gets underway, but a new track configuration as well.

In addition to the repave, workers also re-configured Turns 1 and 2 of the track, increasing the banking from 14 to 17 degrees during an extensive off-season upgrade.

The pit exit lane has also been widened from 14 feet to 30 feet and the width of the racing surface in Turns 1 and 2 has shrunk from 74 feet to 56 feet.

RELATED: Teams come to new-look Kentucky for test

Fourteen Sprint Cup teams tested on the new configuration June 13-14. Logano’s No. 22 Ford team, headed up by crew chief Todd Gordon, was among those logging laps and gathering data.

“It’s a different place now,” Logano noted. “But it’s still Kentucky; it still has the same trends.”


Posted on by



When the lug nut rule first got changed, PitTalks.com was a big advocate against it. Hitting four lug nuts was the future of pit road and over a year and a half, teams had gotten used to the rule and were moving on.

Here’s the reality: the rule has actually crippled two different stats, the first being the pit stop time. Every crew member wants to go fast and going back to five nuts has hurt pit times by over half a second on average, based on our calculations. It’s not easy re-adjusting to slow pit stops, but crews have managed.

On the flip side, the amount of loose wheels has almost gone away. Before NASCAR reinforced the five lug nut rule, we had been tracking known loose wheels at Sprint Cup Series races. We had confirmed 24 loose wheels up until the race at Richmond International Raceway on April 24. Since the rule was reinforced with penalty on April 25 heading into Talladega race weekend, we have only been able to confirm one loose wheel. 

A big reason for that is the penalty that comes with breaking the five lug nut rule. A $20,000 fine and one-race crew chief suspension is a huge hit to teams. Teams have slowed down to ensure no lug nuts come off and that all are tight at the end of the race.

Whether you agree with the rule or not, you can’t argue with the numbers: 24 to 1.

For more pit crew news, visit PitTalks.com.


Posted on by Staff Report

Three days after night racing at Daytona International Speedway, Tony Stewart was behind the wheel.

Of a USAC Midget.

Following a question-and-answer session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the two-time Brickyard 400 winner turned a few laps in Carson Macedo’s sprint car on the dirt Tuesday.

Indianapolis announced it was configuring a dirt track at the infield of the famed 2.5-mile oval as a retirement gift to Stewart.

 

“We’re excited to bring together two of Tony’s biggest passions: dirt track racing and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” track president Doug Boles told NASCAR.com. “Tony means so much to IMS and we really wanted to do something different and special in his honor before his last Brickyard 400. Our fans can’t wait to see all of NASCAR’s stars on July 24 and I know they’ll be cheering especially hard for ‘Smoke’ on race day.”

 

And by the looks of it, “Smoke” loved his gift.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Saturday night’s win at Daytona International Speedway by  Brad Keselowski  was the 100th for Team Penske in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. The historic victory came during a season in which Team Penske is celebrating its 50-year anniversary.

The journey to 100 is, of course, filled with numbers and some quirky stats. Here are some interesting tidbits, courtesy of Team Penske:

• In two of Team Penske’s 100 wins, the winning driver led only one lap. Both times in 2015 with Brad Keselowski at Auto Club Speedway and Joey Logano at Watkins Glen.

• Fifteen of Team Penske’s 100 wins have come from the pole position.

• Brad Keselowski dominated at Richmond International Raceway in 2014, leading 96 percent of the laps. That is the highest percentage of laps led by a winner in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition for Team Penske.

• Team Penske drivers have scored 12 wins at Bristol Motor Speedway, the most wins at a single track for the team. Rusty Wallace leads all Team Penske drivers with seven victories at the .533-mile track.

• Both Rusty Wallace and Kurt Busch won their first race with Team Penske at Bristol.

• The No. 2 for Team Penske has scored 64 victories. Rusty Wallace has 37, Brad Keselowski has 19 and Kurt Busch has eight.

• In Team Penske’s 100 victories, winning drivers led 12,295 laps en route to Victory Lane. 

• Rusty Wallace scored 10 victories in 1993, the most wins for a Team Penske driver in a single season of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition.

• In 2014, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano teamed to score 11 victories, the most for Team Penske in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

• Rusty Wallace started 33rd at New Hampshire in 1993, the deepest a Team Penske driver has started and won.

• Team Penske’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win came in the 1973 Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway with driver Mark Donohue.

• In addition to the familiar 2, 12 and 22 numbers for Team Penske, the team also fielded the No. 16 for NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison in the 1970s, with Allison scoring three of the car’s four victories.

• Rusty Wallace and Joey Logano are the only drivers to win three races in a row for Team Penske. Wallace accomplished this twice, in 1993 winning Bristol, North Wilkesboro and Martinsville in succession, and in 1994 winning Dover, Pocono and Michigan. Logano accomplished this in 2015 by winning at Charlotte, Kansas, and Talladega in the Round of 12 of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

• Forty-nine of the 100 wins came with the winning driver starting within the top five.

• Team Penske has scored a Sprint Cup Series victory every year since 1991.

Posted on by Pat DeCola
https://www.nascar.com/drivers/brad-keselowski/
BradKeselowski
3
Team Penske

Keselowski dominated the Daytona field to a tune of 115 laps led, rounding out his restrictor-plate prowess by collecting his first win at the Florida track.

 

MORE: Kes captures first Daytona win

A big wreck took Harvick out of the race, saddled him with a 39th-place finish — and he still holds a standings lead of 14 points.

 

MORE: ‘Big One’ nets Harvick, others

The third of four Fords in the top five, Logano is starting to put the pieces of a solid stretch together — unless the guy that used to drive his No. 22 has anything to say about it.

 

MORE: Logano’s thoughts on Busch contact

In case you missed the reference in Logano’s capsule, this is the guy who used to drive his No. 22. And Busch is not happy.

 

MORE: Busch, Gibson have harsh words for Logano

Edwards’ record at Kentucky is a mixed bag — as is a trend for a majority of Sprint Ciup drivers, it seems — but he does have two top fives at the track: his first race there — and his most recent.

https://www.nascar.com/drivers/kyle-busch/
KyleBusch
0
Joe Gibbs Racing

Busch had a four-race swoon after his Kansas win, but appears to be back on track after a runner-up finish at Daytona and a top 10 at Sonoma — plus he’s the defending race winner at Kentucky.

 

MORE: Busch back on track after bad streak

Sure, Truex only has two top 10s at Kentucky, but he’s never finished outside the top 20. Don’t expect a down night for the No. 78 driver.

https://www.nascar.com/drivers/jimmie-johnson/
JimmieJohnson
-1
Hendrick Motorsports

Johnson and Jamie McMurray wrecked, landing 35th- and 34th-place finishes, respectively. They had a little chat about it after, but things didn’t get too heated — after all, they do have six championships between them.

 

MORE: Johnson, McMurray talk after wreck

https://www.nascar.com/drivers/chase-elliott/
ChaseElliott
0
Hendrick Motorsports

Elliott has never raced at the Sprint Cup level at Kentucky, but he does have two top 10s in XFINITY Series competition.

https://www.nascar.com/drivers/denny-hamlin/
DennyHamlin
1
Joe Gibbs Racing

Like several other drives, Hamlin has two top fives at Kentucky, with some other not-so-good results.

Kenseth had a disappointing day at Daytona, but hey — at least he has a primary sponsor for 2017.

 

MORE: DeWalt extends with JGR, Kenseth

Larson’s short career at Kentucky is not wonderful, with finishes of 40th and 35th. That said — he started first last year and started sixth in 2014.

https://www.nascar.com/drivers/austin-dillon/
AustinDillon
2
Richard Childress Racing

Dillon’s restrictor-plate success continued at Daytona and he’s now approaching the top 10 in points.

MORE: Dillon remains undaunted at Daytona

https://www.nascar.com/drivers/dale-earnhardt-jr/
DaleEarnhardt Jr.
-1
Hendrick Motorsports

Junior has — wait for it — two top fives at Kentucky. He did have the pole in 2013, which was his last pole on an intermediate track.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before — Newman has two top fives at Kentucky. It certainly seems like we’re going to see a mixed bag of drivers in the top 5 and top 10 this weekend.

With two wins at Kentucky in the XFINITY Series, one would think Blaney should excel in his first Sprint Cup start there.

For the last six races, Kahne has alternated a top 10 with a non-top-10. If the trend holds, he’ll finish in the top 10 at Kentucky — as long as he stays out of the … 10’s … way.

 

MORE: Danica: I ‘definitely’ could take Kasey

Another solid race for Bayne at Daytona led what could be the beginning of a long overdue Roush renaissance.

 

MORE: Bayne leads banner day for Roush

McMurray only has one top-10 finish at Kentucky in his career, but it was a runner-up performance.

Stewart wrecked out of his final Daytona race, but managed to still move into the top 30 in points. Given his situation, that’s still a win.

 

MORE: Stewart wrecks in final Daytona race

 

Posted on by Holly Cain



DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — For the storied Penske Racing organization Brad Keselowski‘s victory in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola served as an important exclamation point — the 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win for legendary team owner Roger Penske.

 

As team officials and the night’s victor came into the Daytona International Speedway media center just after midnight, they donned specially designed black hats that sported a simple red number: 100.

 

Even for a team like Penske’s, which holds records across all forms of auto racing, Keselowski’s win at Daytona felt so significant.

 

“I would just say that the 100th in NASCAR is something special,” Penske said following the race. “To do it here on the Fourth of July weekend, it’s amazing. But it’s a byproduct of all the good people we have, and to me we’ve got to continue to remember that. I just think that (Keselowski crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) and the team, we lose more than we win in this business, and you’ve got to know how to deal with the downs and take advantage of the ups. And I guess 100 wins puts us in a good position, but you look at (Joe) Gibbs and you look at (Richard) Childress and certainly (Rick) Hendrick, these guys have won a lot of races.

 

“I think we’ve competed in multiple series, and I think we’re almost at 450 wins now, and we’re I think three or four away from 500 poles.  Our goal is 500 and 500. This was the first step to get to 100 in NASCAR.”

 

Eight drivers have contributed to Penske’s Sprint Cup win tally, from legends such as the late Mark Donohue (one) to NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison (four) and Rusty Wallace (37).

 

Penske’s current drivers Joey Logano (13) and 2012 Cup champion Keselowski (19) have already combined for four wins this season alone.

 

“The wins are never easy to come by, and I think this one means a lot to me for sure because looking at our past here, it hasn’t been all that rosy,”  said Keselowski, whose win Saturday night was the team’s third on the Daytona high banks — Ryan Newman won the 50th anniversary version of the Daytona 500 in 2008 and Logano won the 2015 Daytona 500.

 

“I was telling Roger Penske when I was in Victory Lane and the fireworks were going off, usually I’m loading up the car and about to be to the airport, so it’s nice to be here and have a great finish.”

 

In addition to the historical significance of Keselowski’s Daytona victory, his new three-win tally for the season ties him with Kyle Busch for the most wins in 2016 and places him second in the Sprint Cup points standings and at the top of the Chase Grid.

 

“It’s a huge deal, 100 wins for Roger here at the Sprint Cup level,” Keselowski said. “I know his next goal will be 200. I’ll probably hear it tomorrow. Someone gave me a stat, over the last two or three years since Joey has been on board, between the two of us we’ve won 20 or 30 percent of all the races Penske has ever won in Cup, so we’re certainly in a great spot.

 

“But the captain, he likes to look forward, and I think that’s a good thing.”


Team Penske’s 100 wins

Driver Numbers of wins
Rusty Wallace 37
Brad Keselowski 19
Joey Logano 13
Ryan Newman 13
Kurt Busch 10
Bobby Allison 4
Jeremy Mayfield 3
Mark Donohue 1
Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Watch the live stream here


From 8-11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, NASCAR.com will live stream the post-race inspection process at the Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

The three-hour look takes you behind the scenes as NASCAR officials inspect Sprint Cup Series vehicles following Saturday night’s race at Daytona International Speedway.

The cars at the R&D Center this week are: the No. 2 Ford of Brad Keselowski (winner of Saturday’s race) and the No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch (finished second in Saturday’s race).