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RELATED: No. 18 team fined; two suspended


The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 team was given a P3 penalty Wednesday regarding lug nuts and improper procedures during the last pit stop at Kansas. Included in those penalties were the suspension of crew chief Adam Stevens and front tire changer Josh Leslie.


The big question on pit road is who will replace Leslie at Dover, and how that will affect the No. 18 pit crew.


JGR confirmed to NASCAR.com and PitTalks that Brian Eastland will replace Leslie. Eastland was the front changer on the No. 78 of Martin Truex Jr. early in the year before being replaced by Chris Taylor. Eastland still is at JGR as a backup and should fill in nicely.  

The No. 18 crew was tops on pit road at Kansas and will still be very good at Dover. Yes, they will potentially have some chemistry and timing issues, but they still are a talented crew and Brian Eastland is a very good tire changer.



For more pit-crew news, visit PitTalks.com.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: All of Stewart’s premier series victories

 

None of us could have — nor would have — predicted at the time that Tony Stewart‘s win at Dover International Speedway in June of 2013 would have to stand nearly three years as his most recent NASCAR victory.

He led only the final three laps — efficient checkered flag work — beating Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon following a late-race restart. And when Stewart showed up in the media center for his winner’s press conference he was proud, but humble. Even a little surprised at the outcome.

He was also very “Tony-like” in answering reporters’ questions, a little surly here and there, but funny and disarming.

It was vintage Tony from his opening remark.

“As much as I hate to say it, it’s good to be back in the media center,” Stewart joked.

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads back to Delaware for this weekend’s AAA 400, it’s a good time to reflect on that victory and wonder where Stewart’s next will be as he charges toward a Chase berth in his final Sprint Cup season.

Although Stewart missed the first eight races of 2016 recovering from an offseason back injury, he is only 59 points behind 30th-place Regan Smith entering Sunday’s race. A win and a top-30 points position gives Stewart a last shot at a fourth championship.

His 12th-place finish at Kansas last week in only his second full race back (Ty Dillon relieved Stewart at Talladega) was especially encouraging considering he had only five finishes of 12th or better all of last season.

There is good reason to be hopeful that Stewart will make one last run. And if anything, his 2013 win at Dover proved much is possible in the final laps at the “Monster Mile.”

That win and Stewart’s reaction was so reflective of the “Smoke” this sport has cheered on for the last 18 seasons.

Before acknowledging any of his own handiwork behind the wheel, Stewart thanked his then-crew chief Steve Addington for getting the No. 14 Chevy good enough to win. He recognized Competition Director Greg Zipidelli for his work in coordinating the Stewart-Haas team. And Stewart redirected any praise going toward himself.

“There should be about 200 people sitting here that are all responsible for this (victory) here,” Stewart said.

RELATED: Stewart through the years

 

It was Stewart’s first win since the summer Daytona race a year earlier and questions about his future, his team’s future were starting to rumble in that 30-race span between victories. Looking back, it was a good problem to have.

Now he’s competed 80 times over three seasons since that Dover win — easily the longest winless streak in a sure-bet Hall of Fame career.

As the press conference continued that summer day at Dover, I remember watching Stewart and listening to him sound so genuinely grateful to hoist the trophy. He consistently deflected the praise, insisting the win was a reflection of his young Stewart-Haas Racing team, not so much his great ability to steer the car.

“I’ll be honest,” Stewart said. “I’m not the smartest guy in the world. You guys have known that over the last 15 years. I’ve proven that time and time again. I’m just smart enough to know to hire good people.”

Even today, Stewart is humble recalling the victory.

“I remember thinking that if someone had told me we were going to win, I would’ve told them they were crazy,” Stewart said this week. “We just didn’t have the car to win the race, but we had great pit strategy at the end. … We changed only two tires on that last stop to get up front. The car felt a lot better up there and it didn’t seem like the guys who took four tires had a huge advantage taking off. When we noticed we were catching the leaders, we kind of got going on the bottom and made up even more time.

“It was just a big win for us and really gave us some momentum for the next few races.”

There was no way to imagine all that has transpired in Stewart’s life or his career since then. We knew he was a winner — only 12 drivers have amassed more than his 48 wins — but now we have been reminded that Stewart is also a motivated, highly determined survivor.

He is one of the most talented race car drivers in history.

If you are a believer in happy endings, or just confident that Stewart’s great determination equals his great talent, then “Smoke will rise” – as they say. He will make this year’s Chase, or at least give one heckuva run.

Posted on by Staff Report

Tyler Reddick, the 20-year-old Californian who utilized his skills honed as a youth on dirt tracks to produce a runner-up NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finish in 2015 has struggled so far this year.



Through the first four races of his second full-time Truck Series season, Reddick has posted an average finish of just 16.2. He currently sits 15th in the series standings, 34 points off the lead held by Timothy Peters.



Reddick showed signs of breaking out last Friday in the Sunflower State when he led 56 laps – his highest total in 44 previous starts – but an unfortunate spin with three laps left in regulation caused him to place a season-high 13th.



Fortunately for the No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing driver, he next competes in the JACOB Companies 200 at Dover International Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) where he won last May.



Reddick finished eighth at the Monster Mile in his only other start there, in 2014, and is the only driver in the field who has won at Dover.



“The win last year was incredible and I think we can do it again,” Reddick said. “Dover is a challenging race track, but there’s something about it that I really like.  It can be a very physical track, even for 200 laps, but I’ll do everything I can to be at 110 percent.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Practice 2: Results

DOVER, Del. — Cole Custer topped the leaderboard in Thursday’s second and final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice at Dover International Speedway at 157.577 mph in the No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.


Right behind him was Christopher Bell in the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota at 157.377 mph.


Rounding out the top five were Ben Kennedy in the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet, Matt Tifft in the No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota and Daniel Hemric in the No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford.


Series points leader Timothy Peters was 11th-fastest with a speed of 155.293 mph in the No. 17 RHR Toyota.


In the session’s closing minutes, Kennedy brought out the caution after hitting the wall. NASCAR did not resume the practice after that.


Keystone Light Pole Qualifying is Friday at 2:15 p.m. ET on FS1.

Practice 1: Results

DOVER, Del. — Last week’s Kansas winner William Byron topped the leaderboard in Thursday’s first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice at Dover International Speedway at 159.426 mph in the No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.

Right behind him was Brandon Jones in the No. 71 Contreras Motorsports Chevrolet at 158.695 mph. Rounding out the top five were Matt Tifft (158.423 mph) in the No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota, Cameron Hayley (158.402 mph) in the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Toyota and Matt Crafton (158.040 mph) in the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota.

Series points leader Timothy Peters was 13th fastest in the session in the No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota.

The practice was halted with just over 10 minutes remaining to allow for an ambulance to leave the track. Thirteen minutes were added once trucks resumed the session at 2:58 p.m. ET.

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NASCAR’s latest winner in the Camping World Truck Series admitted after the fact that “I didn’t even know how to do a burnout,” but William Byron likely will have plenty of more opportunities to figure out that portion of the post-race celebration.

Less than a week ago, the 18-year-old won in just his fifth career start in the series, piloting the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 9 Toyota to victory at Kansas Speedway.

“I just kind of found the gears and watched the smoke in the back and it was just really cool,” Byron said of his celebration after losing the lead but rallying on a late-race restart that extended the race three laps beyond its scheduled 167-lap distance.

He became the eighth different winner for KBM, which began fielding entries in the series in 2010. Busch, the owner/driver, has earned 29 of the organization’s 47 career victories.

Byron will be chasing career win No. 2 this weekend as the NCWTS heads to Dover International Speedway for the series’ fifth stop of the season, the JACOB Companies 200, slated to get under way Friday at 5:30 p.m. ET (FS1, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Byron will be joined in the race by KBM teammates Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez.

A year ago, Byron wrapped up the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East title with a ninth-place finish at Dover. It was his first time at the track and because rain forced the cancellation of practice and qualifying, his first laps on the 1-mile concrete track were run under race conditions.

“Going back and being able to have practice to wrap my hands around the race track a little bit more will be helpful,” Byron said. “But also to have that instant experience I did last year. We had 125 laps of pretty intense racing.”

Byron didn’t begin his racing career until he was 14, somewhat late by today’s standards. But he quickly moved up through the ranks and landed a Late Model ride with JR Motorsports in 2014. Last year’s K&N title came while competing for HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks.

A year ago, crew chief Rudy Fugle helped guide Erik Jones to three victories and the series championship. Helping guide another youngster into Victory Lane, he said, “was different.”

“The last couple of years I’ve had some different drivers, more drivers (who were) … expected to win more out of the box,” Fugle said. “Now, with a young driver again, and learning how to coach him and how to do the right things, it was fun to watch, too, because he’s just got the raw talent and the speed just out of the box that you don’t have to teach.”

His Kansas victory all but assured Byron of a spot in this year’s Chase for those competing in the Truck Series. The top eight drivers (based on wins and/or points) will qualify for the seven-race playoff.

Series regulars Johnny Sauter (Daytona) and John Hunter Nemechek (Atlanta) have also earned wins this season.

A dozen more races remain before the Chase gets underway. And of course there’s high school graduation.

“My graduation is May 27 and actually an off-weekend, so I’m pretty fortunate with that and get to enjoy that,” Byron said. “It’s a good balance between going to school and being a completely normal kid and people really have no idea what’s going on when we get to the race track.

“Then the cool part is that I like to just kind of do my business at school and keep my grades up and then get to the race track and enjoy myself.”

Bryon is seventh in points in the Truck Series with finishes of third and first in his last two outings. He finished 13th in the season-opening race at Daytona while engine trouble resulted in a 32nd-place finish at Atlanta.

Posted on by Staff Report

Corey Vincent (Overclock Motorsports) broke through for his first victory of the 2016 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, narrowly holding-off Slip Angle Motorsports’ Ray Alfalla and Tyler Hudson (One Up Motorsports) on a 33-lap run to the checkered flag.

 

Alfalla started on the pole and ran up front throughout the race but did not have the long-run speed to get the best of Vincent. Hudson, meanwhile, took the lead late but could not hold on over the long run to the finish; he finished third after leading with fewer than 10 laps remaining. It was Hudson’s first top-five finish of the season. The TEAM’s Kenny Humpe followed his win at Richmond with a fourth-place result after starting 41st, and Cody Byus rounded out the top five.

 

Alfalla led early from the pole but lost the top spot when Vincent pitted one lap earlier for tires. The two were content to run nose-to-tail during the second tire run as they pulled away from the field. During the next round of stops, Alfalla pitted first, and his extra lap on fresher tires propelled him back to the front by nearly two seconds.

 

Vincent was unfazed by the deficit, however, and slowly began chipping into Alfalla’s lead. It took nearly 20 laps, but Vincent finally wrested the top spot from Alfalla and began to pull away once again. But another pit stop was looming.

 

Further back, Mitchell Hunt (High Performance Motorsports) was holding third but had dropped more than a full straightaway behind Vincent and Alfalla, making it a two-car race for the win barring a yellow. The caution held off for a third round of green-flag stops and once again, it was Alfalla who hit pit road first; but this time, his one-lap advantage on tires did not gain him the lead.

 

Vincent took complete command of the race after the third stop, gapping Alfalla by 2.5 seconds. That lead would evaporate when the yellow flew for the first and only time of the race on Lap 131.

 

The caution drew the leaders to pit road for their last set of fresh tires and adjustments with Vincent winning the race off pit road followed by Alfalla and Hudson. With 33 laps to go, the race went green and the three quickly jumped out ahead of the field. Hudson used the inside to his advantage and moved ahead of Alfalla, then set his sights on Vincent for the lead.

 

Two laps after the restart, Hudson made his move, drawing alongside Vincent after getting a great run off Turn 4. Hudson cleared Vincent in Turn 1 but Vincent attempted a crossover move off Turn Two, pulling back alongside Hudson down the backstretch. The two raced side-by-side through Turns 3 and 4 with Hudson getting the best of it to take the lead with 30 laps to go.

 

For the next 20 laps, Vincent hounded Hudson but could not find a way around until Hudson got tight off Turn Two with just nine laps remaining. Vincent capitalized on the mistake, surging to the race lead and bringing Alfalla to second while Hudson fell to third. The three simracers would ride in their respective positions to the finish with old tires making passing all but impossible barring a mistake.

 

Alfalla’s runner-up finish helped grow his series points lead, which now sits at 14 markers over seventh-place finisher PJ Stergios (ineX Racing). Allen Boes (Deadzone) lost ground after dropping out of the race, and now finds himself 60 points back of the lead in third, tied with Jake Stergios. Humpe bookends the top five, a remarkable rebound considering the poor start to the season he endured.

With Vegas in the rearview mirror, the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series moves to another 1.5-mile track – Charlotte Motor Speedway – for the longest race of the season. Charlotte may be the same size as Vegas, but the tracks could not be more difference surface-wise.  Smooth and very fast, CMS requires a much different setup than the rough corners at LVMS. In addition, the high corner speeds at Charlotte tend to make passing difficult, making a good qualifying effort all the more important. Who is up to the challenge of 300 miles? Find out in two weeks by catching all the simracing action on iRacing Live!

 

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR levied a P3 penalty against the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Kyle Busch for infractions in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GoBowling 400 event on Saturday at Kansas Speedway.

Adam Stevens, crew chief, was fined $20,000, suspended from all NASCAR Series Championship points events through May 18 and put on NASCAR probation through Dec. 31.

The No. 18 team’s front tire changer, Josh Leslie, was suspended through May 18 and put on NASCAR probation through Dec. 31.

The No. 18 was penalized under sections 12:1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing), 10.11.3 (pit road equipment) and 12.5.3.4.1 (which outlines the P3-level penalty) of the NASCAR Rule Book.

According to Richard Buck, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series managing director, an infraction with the No. 18’s lug nuts was found in post-race inspection. NASCAR mandates that all wheels and lug nuts be secured in a safe manner and that all five lug nuts be installed.


Joe Gibbs Racing will not appeal the penalty, the team announced in a press release Wednesday. Todd Berrier will replace Stevens atop the pit box at Dover.

The JGR team statement read, “The 18 team utilized unaltered stock lug nuts during Saturday night‘s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway and each wheel had all five lug nuts attached to the wheel at the conclusion of the race. The team does acknowledge that not all lug nuts were tightened to the wheel.”


Busch started sixth and finished first at Kansas for his third win of the season. Busch, the 2015 series champion, sits atop the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.

In additon to the No. 18 team’s penalty, NASCAR issued written warnings to the Nos. 43 and 78 teams (for failing pre-qualifying laser inspection twice) and the Nos. 7, 43, 47 and 48 teams (for failing pre-qualifying template inspection twice).

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Cast your vote now

 

With the Sprint Fan Vote well underway, the top-five vote-getters among the field have been released.

 

Fans are stilll able to cast their votes for any of the 30 drivers in the running, but the top five thus far are as follows, in alphabetical order: Ryan Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Danica Patrick.

Patrick won the Sprint Fan Vote last year and in 2013, becoming the first two-time Sprint Fan Vote winner. Young drivers Elliott and Blaney currently lead the Sunoco Rookie of the Year competition, while DiBenedetto made a splash in the NASCAR scene with his emotional career-best sixth-place finish in April at Bristol Motor Speedway. Larson is coming off a run at Kansas in which he showed plenty of speed, but was caught up in a late wreck not of his own doing.

Even if your favorite driver isn’t on the top-five list, don’t worry — there’s still time to help him catch up. Fans can vote daily by downloading the NASCAR Mobile App or visiting www.nascar.com/SprintFanVote, with votes that are shared on Facebook or Twitter counting for double.

Fans have until 5 p.m. ET May 20 to cast their votes and NASCAR will announce the winner of the Sprint Fan Vote in Victory Lane post-Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 20 (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio). The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race is scheduled for May 21.

 

If any of the Sprint Fan Vote candidates wins in the races leading up to the Sprint All-Star Race, he or she will automatically earn a spot in the race and their name will be removed from the Sprint Fan Vote ballot.

 

To purchase ticket packages for the Sprint All-Star Race weekend — which includes the Sprint Showdown, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series N.C. Education Lottery 200, Andy Grammer pre-race concert powered by Rayovac and the Sprint All-Star Race and qualifying — call Charlotte Motor Speedway at 1-800-455-FANS or visit CharlotteMotorSpeedway.com.

 

Fans wishing to engage in the #SprintAllStar Race conversation through the #SprintFanVote window are encouraged to follow @MissSprintCup, @CLTMotorSpdwy and @NASCAR on Twitter.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Buy Darlington tickets | ’16 throwback schemes

WELCOME, N.C. — It seemed almost appropriate that on the day that Richard Childress Racing unveiled its retro paint schemes for this year’s throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, one of the team’s drivers would arrive in a “Dukes of Hazzard” Dodge Charger.

Ryan Newman said his vehicle choice wasn’t an intentional nod to the historic track’s nostalgia movement.

“My truck is hauling hay right now,” Newman said. “It was basically the only thing I had that I could take my kid to school with that had a car seat in it and then drive here and get here pretty quick.”

Sure enough, the bright orange No. 01 General Lee was equipped with a child seat, something that Bo and Luke Duke never really had during the television show’s seven-season run. Newman’s version, however, made for a popular addition to the carpool lane.

“There’s quite a few pictures that get taken at that school,” Newman said. “You’d be surprised.”

Cameras were front and center Wednesday morning at Childress’ shop, capturing images of Newman and teammate Austin Dillon driving up in eye-catching cars with overtures to the organization’s rich NASCAR pedigree. Newman’s No. 31 Chevrolet will carry period-style Caterpillar logos for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at the historic South Carolina track, and Dillon’s No. 3 Chevy will be trimmed out in American Ethanol livery evocative of the Piedmont Airlines scheme that adorned RCR’s flagship car for its first victory back in 1983.

Ricky Rudd, RCR’s driver at the time, was in attendance Wednesday at the organization’s sprawling campus, helping Childress spin tales of when the operation had just four full-time employees and cashed checks for as little as $200 in contingency prize money. Today, the payroll number tops 500 and the winner’s purse has more zeros on the checks.

 

Besides the heritage colors and logos, Childress’ design team also captured the spirit of the team’s early 1980s growth through typefaces. Both cars unveiled Wednesday will feature numerals from the time period before Dale Earnhardt made RCR’s stylized No. 3 famous.


“I think we just tried to play within the years that Darlington gave us,” Dillon said, referring to the track’s focus on the 1975-84 era for its Labor Day classic, “and I think there’s no better way than to celebrate RCR’s first win with this scheme. American Ethanol allowing us to do it, Ricky Rudd coming today — that was really cool and special just talking to him and hearing a little bit of what was going on back in the day and how RCR’s grown.”

Few teams invested more into the NASCAR throwback initiative’s debut last year that Richard Childress Racing. All three of its teams turned back the clock not only with paint schemes, but also with their garage attire, which featured ringer T-shirts, white work pants and red Converse Chuck Taylors to round out the look of the No. 3 crew.

Wednesday’s program re-positioned RCR as an active participant for Darlington’s retro encore, with the No. 27 Chevrolet’s look for driver Paul Menard to be revealed at a later date.

“It’s a lot of different connections that tie in together into one weekend,” Newman said. “I’m a big, as I think you guys know, fan of the history of our sport and it’s pretty cool to see the way it all came together last year. I’m even more excited to see what’s going to pop up this year.”

So is Chip Wile, who has left a compelling legacy of embracing stock-car racing tradition during his nearly three-year run as Darlington Raceway track president. Wile, in his second week as the newly tapped president of Daytona International Speedway, took in Wednesday’s unveiling with a contingent from NASCAR’s first superspeedway.

Wile said Darlington’s communications team had continual contact with its stakeholders before last year’s first throwback weekend, almost needing to sell the concept to teams and sponsors alike.

“Now that we’ve had a year under our belts and people have actually seen it, it’s a heck of a lot easier to have these conversations,” Wile said. “Richard Childress Racing, since Day 1 since we came to visit them at the end of 2014, they said, ‘We’re in.’ They along with Stewart-Haas and a number of others have really helped champion this program for us.”

MORE: See the 2015 Darlington throwback schemes

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: See The Glen before and after the repave

Five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers and their teams will be the first to roll out onto Watkins Glen International following the track’s off-season repaving project this week when they participate in a Goodyear tire test scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
 
2014 Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing), Kasey Kahne (Hendrick Motorsports), Trevor Bayne (Roush Fenway Racing), Carl Edwards (Joe Gibbs Racing) and Joey Logano (Team Penske) are scheduled to take part in the test.
 
WGI is one of only two road courses hosting Sprint Cup Series events. Sonoma Raceway will host the Toyota/Save Mart 350 June 24-26 while the WGI event, the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen, is scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 5-7.
 
The entire 3.4-mile layout at WGI has been repaved, although NASCAR events are contested on the shorter 2.45-mile portion of the track, avoiding the area of the layout known as “the boot.”
 
It is the first complete repave of the facility since 1989 and cost approximately $12 million.
 
In addition to the resurfacing of the race track, workers also poured new concrete on pit road, completed electrical work, installed concrete rumble strips in the turns and finished grading and grassing along the track’s perimeter.
 
According to weather reports for the Watkins Glen area, temperatures are expected to be in the high 60s to low 70s Tuesday and Wednesday with a zero percent chance of precipitation.
 
Logano is the defending race winner for the Cheez-It 355.

WGI is also scheduled to host an organization test for Sprint Cup Series teams July 26-27. Under NASCAR’s Unified Testing policy, only one team per organization is allowed to participate in those tests.

Other organizational tests are scheduled this year for Kentucky Speedway (June 13-14), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 12-13), Chicagoland Speedway (Aug. 23-24) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Oct. 18-19).