NBCSN's 'NASCAR America' to move to 6 p.m. time slot

Posted on May 31, 2016 by

NBCSN’s “NASCAR America” will move to a new time beginning June 13, the network announced Tuesday. The one-hour evening program will move from a 5 p.m. ET start time to a 6 p.m. ET start time.

“It’s a shift that we think is going to be a great move, not only for us at NBC, but also for all of the viewers,” Vice President of NASCAR Productions Jeff Behnke told NASCAR.com. “We feel like there’s going to be more people at home to be able to be able to watch it (at 6 p.m.), whether they’re watching it on NBCSN, whether they’re watching it on the Live Extra app.

“We just feel like 6 o’clock is a window that we can get more eyeballs on it and whenever we can do something that we can help grow the sport and push things forward, that’s what we want to do.”

In addition to the start-time shift, the show will also feature “90-Minute Mondays” on select Mondays throughout the year, which involves the show extending from 60 to 90 minutes in length. This — in combination with two NBC studios located in NASCAR’s home base of Charlotte, North Carolina, where many of the race shops are located — will allow more for more in-depth coverage of the sport, Behnke said.

“The backbone of NBC Sports is storytelling,” Behnke said. “By going to ’90-Minute Mondays,’ it’s going to allow us to continue to tell the stories of these drivers. The different things we do on the show, we feel like certainly help the viewers. … We’ll be able to spend more time at race shops, we’ll certainly be able to have more time with highlights, more time with opinion and just breakdown sessions with our announcers.”

The announcer lineup for the network is star-studded, featuring former drivers and crew chiefs such as Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett, renowned drivers Kyle Petty and Jeff Burton, and former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Steve Letarte.

“We feel like the talent that we have is going to be a big part of what we do and what they have to offer is going to be a big part of what we do in those 90-minute shows,” Behnke said.

NBC Sports will resume race coverage of NASCAR beginning with the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 2.

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Staff Report

Chat with fans during the Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Staff Report

From 8-11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, NASCAR.com will live stream the post-race inspection process.

The three-hour look takes you behind the scenes as NASCAR officials inspect NASCAR Sprint Cup Series vehicles following Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The cars being inspected this week are: the No. 78 Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. (winner of Sunday’s race), the No. 4 Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick (runner-up in Sunday’s race) and the No. 16 Ford of Greg Biffle (random).

For more information on what the inspection process entails, click here.

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Track Release

RELATED: Buy tickets to the event

BROOKLYN, Mich. (May 31, 2016) – UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate will serve as the grand marshal for the FireKeepers Casino 400 on June 12 at Michigan International Speedway.

Tate will give the command of “Drivers, start your engines!” when the FireKeepers Casino 400 gets underway at 1 p.m. The FireKeepers Casino 400 will be broadcast live on FS1.

Tate is the Ultimate Fighting Championship Women’s Bantamweight Champion. She claimed the title in stunning fashion on March 5, defeating then-champ Holly Holm with a rear naked choke in the fifth round of UFC 196 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Tate is represented by KHI Management, the marketing agency owned by driver Kevin Harvick and his wife, DeLana.

Considered a fan favorite in the mixed martial arts world, Tate will defend her title July 9 in Las Vegas against No. 4-ranked Amanda Nunes at UFC 200.

“I’m excited and honored to be the grand marshal for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway,” Tate said. “There are a lot of things I look forward to doing at the track, but to give the command to start the engines is at the top of my list for sure.”

Training out of Las Vegas, Tate has fought professionally since 2007. She holds an 18-5-0 record in her professional MMA career and a 5-2-0 UFC record. Tate has also earned a host of accolades and recognitions, including being voted “Female Fighter of the Year” in 2011 by World MMA Awards.

“We are thrilled to have Miesha Tate serve as the Grand Marshal for the FireKeepers Casino 400,” track President Roger Curtis said. “A lot of our guests are fans of the UFC; I certainly am. And it will be exciting for us to share all the great things about NASCAR at Michigan International Speedway with her and really treat her to a thrilling event in our ‘octagon.’ “

Outside of the octagon, Tate has modeled for numerous publications and websites including ESPN Magazine’s Body Issue. Her fighting style, which focuses on wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, earns her praise from the media, as well as her peers.

“Miesha Tate packs a powerful punch, so she is the perfect grand marshall for the first FireKeepers Casino 400,” FireKeepers Casino Hotel President/CEO Brian Decorah.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series goes to Michigan International Speedway twice in 2016. The first of the track’s two NASCAR weekends is June 10-12 with the Corrigan Oil 200 ARCA Racing Series on June 10; NASCAR XFINITY Series Menards 250 presented by Valvoline on June 11; and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 on June 12.

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Pat DeCola

Kevinharvick

Harvick moves back up top after his second runner-up finish in three starts. And hey, the last time the series raced a track that started with ‘P’, Harvick won (Phoenix). On to Pocono.

More: Harvick: ‘I was swatting flies’

KyleBusch

-1

Two straight DNFs for the defending champ are tough to ignore, regardless of whether they were Busch’s fault.

Kurtbusch

We’re getting close to seeing an all-Busch sweep at the top of these Power Rankings. Could come after Pocono, where the Stewart-Haas Racing driver is the defending pole-winner.

JimmieJohnson

Johnson couldn’t keep up with Truex at Charlotte, and we could see the pair battle again at Pocono, where Johnson has an average finish of 9.5.

More: Johnson on Truex: ‘He wasn’t going to be denied’

BradKeselowski

Keselowski battled for a top-five finish at Charlotte in one of NASCAR’s most grueling races. It was so grueling, in fact, the Team Penske driver dropped eight pounds.

More: Keselowski loses significant weight in race

Carledwards

-3

Last year’s Coca-Cola 600 winner failed to make it two in a row, but does head to a track where he once won in his first attempt in 2005.

More: Pit road miscue costs Edwards

Joeylogano

-1

Mr. $1 Million didn’t sweep Charlotte, having been done in by a pit road hiccup. He has a pair of top-four finishes in his last three Pocono races, though.

More: Pit road penalty bites 22

Mattkenseth

After struggling to open the season, Kenseth now has four top 10s in his past five races.

Martintruex jr

Truex dominated Sunday’s race, and now heads to a track at which he dominated for a win last year (97 of 160 laps led) at Pocono.

More: Truex sets records, wins Coca-Cola 600

ChaseElliott

Elliott has run his top-10 finish streak to four in a row, and has a remarkable eight in his last 10 races.

More: Chase Elliott reveals Darlington paint scheme

DennyHamlin

It’s strange to see that Hamlin has top-10 finishes in less than half his races, but he’s notched two in a row.

DaleEarnhardt Jr.

-3

Earnhardt and Co. aren’t meeting their own preseason expectations and now have five straight finishes outside the top 10.

More: Junior’s speed sinks at Charlotte

AustinDillon

Dillon’s excellent record at Charlotte continued Sunday, as the track now ranks second on his career average-finish list (12.8).

Kylelarson

-1

Larson’s average finish at Pocono (9.0) and his only career Cup pole suggest we’ll see the talented driver in the fold yet again this weekend.

Ryanblaney

Blaney’s only national series experience at Pocono came in 2013 and 2014 in the Camping World Truck Series, but one of his four career wins came there.

Jamiemcmurray

Don’t be fooled by McMurray’s poor average finish of 19.1 at Pocono. Over his last eight races there, he has four top 10s and no finishes lower than 17th.

Ryannewman

Newman really excels at Pocono (12.8 average finish), but struggled last year with finishes of 39th and 23rd.

Kaseykahne

-2

Kahne won at Pocono as recently as 2013, but has two finishes of 42nd and 43rd since 2014.

RickyStenhouse Jr.

Stenhouse Jr. has just two top 10s on the year, and has yet to come close to getting one at Pocono, too.

Ajallmendinger

Bad news first, for AJ: Allmendinger has just two top-10 finishes in 16 races at Pocono. Good news: one of them was last summer at the Pennsylvania track.

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Nascar

CONCORD, N.C. — In a race punctuated by long, green-flag runs, Dale Earnhardt Jr. went from 25th to 10th in the opening 60 laps of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

While most of those in the top 10 were holding their own, Earnhardt and Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing) were on the move. Larson had started 24th and cracked the top 10 after only 40 laps on the 1.5-mile track. Earnhardt’s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet climbed as high as seventh early.

But as daylight turned to darkness and the track temperature cooled, Earnhardt’s fortunes also waned.

“We made a ton of changes all night trying to help the car,” Earnhardt, 14th at the finish, said. “We were stuck there around 11th and couldn’t move forward.

“The way it took off at the start of the race I thought it showed a lot of promise. There were times in the race when we ran top-five laps but track position hurt us, the track cooled off and everybody was running the bottom. It was just hard to pass.”

Restart opportunities were few — the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ longest race at 600 miles was slowed only four times by caution flags.

The final yellow, for debris on the backstretch, fell with only 60 laps remaining and Earnhardt already on pit road. By taking the wave-around, he was able to remain on the lead lap, but not allowed to pit under the yellow.

“When they don’t throw the debris cautions, we’re going to have a lot of green flag (stops),” he said. “We got caught on pit road when one of those debris cautions came out late in the race and it bit us.

“There wasn’t any debris out on the track (for much of the race) so there wasn’t any use in throwing the yellow; they didn’t and we ran green.”

With three second-place finishes in the first eight races, Earnhardt had been as high as sixth in points. But recent weeks haven’t been as kind to the team. Sunday’s result was his seventh outside the top 10 and he’s winless through the season’s first 13 stops.

He’ll head to Pocono Raceway next weekend 13th in points.

“We were doing OK, running about 10th, 11th all night,” he said. “When the race started, the car was great and we moved all the way up to seventh.

“I was really happy with the car, but when it got cool the top (groove) went away. The track cooled off, the bottom gripped up and that’s where everybody ran.”

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Nascar

RELATED: Results | Standings | At-track gallery

CONCORD, N.C. — Joey Logano‘s crew was in a rush to service the Team Penske No. 22 Ford.

Carl Edwards was in a rush to get onto pit road in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Separate incidents. Similar outcomes.

Both were flagged for infractions during Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Both were costly penalties.

Logano was running third when he hit pit road during a round of green-flag pit stops that began on Lap 252 of the 400-lap, 600-mile race. But a crewman was across pit wall and inside the pit box too quickly, and during a green-flag stop that meant another trip down pit road for the driver.

He was 21st after returning to the race, battled his way back onto the lead lap and eventually finished ninth. A week earlier he had won the series’ Sprint All-Star Race, a non-points event that included a $1 million winner’s purse.

“You’re trying to have these really fast pit stops and you’ve got to push everything,” Logano said of the miscue. “Green flag penalties are tough to overcome. We were down a lap (but) we raced to get our lap back, which was pretty cool. We didn’t have to get a (free pass) or anything like that, we just raced up in front of the leader, so that was cool.”

It was Logano’s seventh top 10 of the season, but he’s still searching for his first points win of the year.

“Once you get on these restarts, after about 4-5 laps … it was just hard to pass,” he said. “A lot harder than in the All-Star Race.”

Edwards’ gaffe came a bit later, but likewise occurred during a round of green-flag stops. A pit road speeding penalty on Lap 297 brought his No. 19 Toyota back to pit road; a second speeding penalty while serving the first compounded the problem.

The defending winner of the series’ longest race, Edwards wound up 18th in the final rundown.

“I just got greedy,” a sheepish Edwards said afterward on pit road. “I was doing really well getting onto pit road and I thought, ‘All right, I’m going to get a little more,’ and that didn’t work. Then I let it snowball. I made a rookie mistake of trying to make my pass-through as fast as I could and I sped by, I think, a half a mile an hour. If I’d known I was going to speed I would have gone a little faster and gotten my money’s worth.”

Edwards won consecutive races earlier this year. In the three races since his last victory, he’s yet to finish inside the top 10.

“I screwed it up,” he said. “I think we had a solid top-four car, maybe a top-three car so it’s really tough to swallow that one. It’s a mistake; I better learn from it. …

“We didn’t quit; I’m proud of my guys for sticking behind me. … That’s just tough.”

Logano lost one position in the points standings, falling from eighth to ninth. Edwards fell a spot as well, from fourth to fifth, but with two wins is assured a slot in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Posted on May 30, 2016 by

Breaking down the full field for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway :

1. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota, Furniture Row Racing. A historic win. Truex set so many records, we can’t list them all. So we’ll settle for this one: He led a Sprint Cup-record 588 miles. Oh, and his 392 laps led … taken alone, they would rank 121st all time in series history. Grade: AAA+ (and that might be a tad low)

2. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Another second-place finish for Harvick (47th of his career). One more and he ties Lee Petty for 10th all time. Grade: A

3. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson sniffed the lead after the final restart, but Superman said no. Instead, Johnson will be the answer to the trivia question: Who led the second-most laps (five) of the 2016 Coca-Cola 600? Sort of like: Who was the second-leading scorer the night Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game? And, no, I don’t know. Grade: A

4. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin picked up 5 seconds on leader Martin Truex Jr. on the night’s second pit stop … and still lost by 6.4 seconds. That’ll happen in a 600-mile race. Grade: A

5. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. Keselowski and Kevin Harvick raced so close to each other for the first half of the race, you’d have thought a big ol’ magnet in one of the cars was keeping them side by side. Grade: A

6. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Busch increased his series-leading top-10 finishes to 11 and also moved up a spot to second in the standings behind Kevin Harvick. Grade: A

7. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Disaster came knocking on a green-flag pit stop late in the first half of the race when Austin Dillon fired out of his pit stall and went way wide into Kenseth. Fortunately the impact was minimal. Grade: A

8. Chase Elliott, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott was running eighth when he was hit with a speeding penalty on the first pit stop; 373 laps later he finished eighth. Nice job. Grade: A

9. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. Not that Logano would have been able to run down Martin Truex Jr., but any chance at the win went away during green-flag pit stops around Lap 254 when a crew member was over the wall too soon. After serving the penalty, Logano was 21st, one lap down, which effectively ended his night. The team battled back, but that’s a mistake that can’t be made, especially with your driver running so well in such a big race. Grade: D

10. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Newman was penalized for speeding on pit road during the third caution but battled back to post his fourth top 10 of the season and move up a spot to 16th in the standings. Grade: B

11. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Biffle posted his best finish of the season but couldn’t end his drought of top-10 finishes. His previous top 10 was last September at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when he finished fourth. Grade: B

12. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Dillon started 28th and needed all 400 laps to claw his way up. Grade: B

13. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Larson made a lot of noise early and was running fourth at the halfway point before fading. Grade: B

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Junior was on pit road when the final yellow flag came out, and he took the wave-around to return to the lead lap … albeit a little deeper in the field for the final restart with 56 laps to go. He was never vying for a win, but that cost him a higher finish. Grade: B

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse was the lucky dog on the final caution, enabling him to score his sixth finish in the teens (13th through 16th) in the past seven races. Grade: B

16. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. Allmendinger’s 19.3 average running position was highest among drivers finishing in the top 20 and his 10 laps in the top 15 were the lowest. Grade: C

17. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Menard’s 11th-place-finish at Dover coupled with his 17th Sunday gave him his second-best back-to-back finishes of the season, behind his 15th-8th at Auto Club and Martinsville. Grade: C

18. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Edwards was a fixture in the top 10 and running third when he was hit with two green-flag pit-road speeding penalties. The first came when he was too fast entering the pits on Lap 298. The second came when he was too fast entering pit road to do his pass-through penalty, which required him to do a stop-and-go on the next lap. That put a fork in any chance for a decent finish: Grade: D

19. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. McMurray’s average running position was 19.1, and that’s exactly where he finished. Grade: C

20. Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing. Not a bad finish considering Blaney was hit with his first pit-road speeding penalty of the season on the competition caution, had to return to pit road because of a loose wheel during the third caution and had his right rear tire go down with three laps to go. Grade: C

21. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Danica’s consistent: Sunday’s finish was her eighth in the 20s this season. Grade: C

22. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne’s right front tire went down early putting him two laps back, and he spent the rest of the night slowly making up ground. Grade: C

23. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Bowyer was never a factor and saw his string of top-20 finishes end at three. Grade: C

24. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart qualified 21st but rolled off the grid 39th when NASCAR caught a crew member making an unauthorized change to the car on pit road before the race. A pit-road penalty for speeding during the third caution didn’t help things, either. Grade: D

25. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Since getting his first top 10 of the season at Bristol, Bayne has had a top-10 finish every other race. If the pattern holds, he’ll get his first top 10 at Pocono next week. Grade: C

26. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola finished outside the top 10 for the 14th consecutive race, the fourth-longest such streak of his Cup career. Grade: C

27. Landon Cassill, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Of the season’s 13 races, Cassill has finished 25th, 26th, 27th or 28th six times. Grade: C

28. Regan Smith, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Smith posted his second-best finish in his past eight races. Grade: C

29. Brian Scott, No. 44 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Scott finished in the top 30 for the fourth race in a row. Grade: C-

30. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. Mears’ finish is his worst in the 600 since a 33rd-place finish in the rain-shortened 2009 race while driving for Richard Childress Racing. Grade: D

31. David Ragan, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Ragan finished seven laps back but was running at the finish; he had DNFs in both Charlotte races last year. Grade: D

32. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. Although he finished 32nd, DiBenedetto was running at the finish, unlike in two of the previous three races. Grade: D

33. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch was running 10th and flirting with a top-10 finish when he cut a tire with seven laps to go and smacked the outside wall hard. Instead, he finished with his second straight DNF. Grade: B-

34. Michael McDowell, No. 95 Chevrolet, Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing. McDowell posted his worst finish of the season. Grade: D

35. Cole Whitt, No. 98 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Whitt was running at the finish, nine laps back. Grade: D

36. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Annett finished 10 laps back. Grade: F

37. Chris Buescher, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Buescher could not build on his career-best 18th-place finish at Dover. Grade: F

38. Josh Wise, No. 30 Chevrolet, The Motorsports Group. Wise finished 13 laps back but was running at the finish for the fourth time in the past five races. Grade: F

39. Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 32 Ford, Go Fas Racing. Earnhardt’s finish was a season low. Grade: F

40. Reed Sorenson, No. 55 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Sorenson completed 200 laps before clutch issues ended his night. Grade: F

Posted on May 30, 2016 by RJ Kraft

CONCORD, N.C. — Finishing as a runner-up is a familiar feeling for Kevin Harvick. He’s done it three times this season after doing it a modern-era record 13 times last year.

Then there’s Jimmie Johnson, a mainstay on the intermediate tracks with seven career wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Yet in the Coca-Cola 600, finishing second and third as Harvick and Johnson respectively did, to the dominant performance of Martin Truex Jr. could almost feel like a victory in its own right. Truex was on a completely different level Sunday, leading 392 of 400 laps (a Charlotte Motor Speedway record) and 588 of the 600 miles run (the most ever in a NASCAR race) to score the victory.

The changing conditions of the race saw Harvick’s car come to life in the latter quarter of the night, and he overtook Johnson for second place but couldn’t quite get to Truex. That result was a departure from the beginning of the night where the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader had what he described as a “10th-place car.”

“Early on, we were just really, really bad,” Harvick said. “Our Jimmy John’s Chevy was just tight getting into the corners and loose getting up off the corners and there were just a lot of problems that we really couldn’t narrow-in on one thing to change something.

“Rodney (Childers, crew chief) came on the radio and he said ‘Hey, we just made a huge adjustment.’ And from that point on, it was a lot better. I really thought we were just going to drive right by him (Truex), but I got tight those last two runs compared to the run that we were really good and made up all the ground.”

The gains the No. 4 crew made over the night were not lost on the 2014 champion, a three-time winner at Charlotte.

“When you’re able to take a 10th‑place car at best, for the first 450 miles and make adjustments on it, those are huge gains,” Harvick said. “I was just happy we were competitive at the end of the race. We didn’t have the fastest car, obviously. It seemed like the 78 must have led the whole race.”

RELATED: A dominant showing for Truex

Harvick wasn’t the only one trying to run down Truex’s No. 78 Toyota in the race. Johnson also had a few shots at trying to get by the 78 but couldn’t quite make it stick.

“I thought I had him clear twice and somehow he just drove by on the straightaway,” Johnson said. “His car was just really strong and there were many times where I thought I’d get close and then he’d pick the pace up a couple tenths. I think he had plenty of speed on the side and could really control the race.”

Johnson, victorious at the 1.5-mile track as recently as 2014, led five laps on the night — the second-highest total.

“This is the best car we’ve had in Charlotte for a long, long time,” Johnson said. “It just shows you how good the 78 (Truex) was and the 4 (Harvick) got a little better than us in the end.”

The third-place finish was Johnson’s first top-five finish in a month since a third-place effort at Richmond International Raceway. The result also saw Johnson move up two spots to third in the point standings.

“It just drove really good all night long,” Johnson explained. “Balance stayed very similar from corner entry to corner exit, which is tough to do here. I could drive the car, the car wasn’t driving me. The last few times we’ve been here, I’ve just been kind of hanging on so I think we are going the right way with the race cars.”

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Nascar

CONCORD, N.C. — Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick have more in common than being long-time car owners in NASCAR.

Both men have seen their teams win multiple championships. Both have fielded entries for some of NASCAR’s most talented drivers.

And both are going into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame as members of the Class of 2017.

Their friendship has been built on respect for each other’s accomplishments as well as years of fierce competition.

Sometimes, what has taken place on the track has tested the limits of that friendship. But it remains unchanged.

“We’ve had some situations where we’ve had to go up to each other and say, ‘You know, we’re not driving the cars,’ ” Hendrick said Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of the Coca-Cola 600.

Specifically, in 1988 when Dale Earnhardt, driving for Childress, and Geoff Bodine, driving for Hendrick, were embroiled in a feud that became so intense it resulted in all four being summoned to NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida, to meet with CEO Bill France.

It was a rivalry that had been building for quite some time. It all came to a head here at CMS.

“That was back when Dale and Geoff were wrecking each other, right here (at Charlotte), and it was costing us a lot of money,” Hendrick said.

It was the Coca-Cola 600 race weekend, and during the Saturday race, the Winn-Dixie 300, contact from Earnhardt sent Bodine spinning and into the wall. Afterward, Bodine made a trip to Earnhardt’s garage stall, drawing an imaginary “X” over the car.

“That was his engine builder next to the car. I was just wishing him good luck for today,” Bodine said during a pre-race television interview.

In Sunday’s 600, contact between the pair sent Bodine’s No. 5 Chevrolet to the garage. This time, NASCAR officials penalized Earnhardt, holding the driver of the black No. 3 Chevrolet on pit road for five laps.

The following week, both drivers and the two car owners were summoned to Daytona. The incident was recreated for the movie “Days of Thunder.”

“They made a movie about it,” Hendrick recalled. “We got summoned to Daytona; Bill France brought us in a room … Dale, Geoff Bodine, Richard and myself.

“I’m not going to use all the words he used but he said, ‘There aren’t two monkeys that are going to mess up our show. … We can sit here and watch videos all day.’ … but Richard and I had already agreed that we couldn’t control it; we tried to, but it was costing us a lot of money.

“Mr. France said, ‘We’re going to go have dinner.’ Dale said, ‘I’ve got some plans.’ Mr. France said, ‘There’s the phone, change your plans.’

“Richard and I rode together; Dale and Bodine rode together and we never did have any more trouble.”

Childress, who won six premier series titles with Earnhardt at the helm of his cars, said such incidents weren’t exactly “great,” but said it was a fun time in the series.

“That wasn’t fun that night,” Hendrick said.

“That wasn’t any fun at all,” replied Childress. “He (France) was serious. He definitely said ‘I don’t care if one of you has to run on one side of the track and the other run on the other side, you better not do it again.’ He was pretty serious.

“But you look back on that … to be part of it and build the friendship we did … it was quite a trip.”

In addition to Childress and Hendrick, drivers Mark Martin and Benny Parsons, along with former car owner Raymond Parks, will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January 2017.