Hamlin confident pit road miscues will be in the past

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Nascar

Denny Hamlin won the season-opening Daytona 500 and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has been going like gangbusters ever since.

Which isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Hamlin has been flagged six times this year for excessive speed on pit road. Toss in a couple of tire violations and most recently an improper fueling mishap at Dover on Sunday and it appears Hamlin and the No. 11 FedEx team are their own worst enemy.

Even on those occasions when they don’t have a problem, they seem to have a problem.

“We’re up to nine now, which is a pretty big number, through all the races,” Hamlin said Monday during a conference call with media. “Even this weekend (at Dover), we pitted twice under green and both times we got caught by a caution and that was a total of three laps down that we went, two laps once and one lap the next. It’s just too hard to overcome it.”

Teammate Matt Kenseth finally broke into the winner’s circle this past weekend, while Kyle Busch has three wins and Carl Edwards has two wins. All of which leads Hamlin, 13th in points, to acknowledge that “our results don’t look nearly as good as our teammates by any means.”

Busch is currently second in points, Edwards fourth and Sunday’s win moved Kenseth from 14th to 12th.

Pit road violations such as speeding result in a trip to the tail end of the line if the incident occurs under yellow flag conditions, or a return trip down pit road if it takes place under green.

“A lot of it is just hurting ourselves by having to go to the back of the pack so many times through the race,” Hamlin said. “We just need to have a smooth race; we’re going to get it together eventually. It’s taken a little bit of time. I’m very confident that by the time we get to the next month or two we’re going to have some of these bugs worked out and we’ll be contending for wins like our teammates are.”

Hamlin will attempt to become just the third driver to win back-to-back Sprint All-Star Race events when NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series teams arrive at Charlotte Motor Speedway for this weekend’s non-points event (Saturday, 9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The 113-lap race, which will be consist of two 50-lap segments followed by a 13-lap final segment, will be the first since NASCAR announced changes to the current rules package in an effort to lessen downforce and side force.

“I think it’s just kind of an effort to keep going down the path that we started this year of taking downforce away,” Hamlin said. “Most of these changes are going to take side force away, which to a fan may not mean much, but it’s all really an effort to take the center of the corner speed down.

“Ultimately we can take more chances when the speeds are down and the person in front of us is lifting off the throttle. It allows us to carry it in there, similar to like I did in Kansas. It gave me the opportunity to make a move. It may work, it may not.

“It didn’t in my case, but at least gave me the chance.”

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Nascar

Updates to the current rules package aimed at reducing both downforce and side force will be in place this weekend when NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams travel to Charlotte Motor Speedway to compete in the Sprint Showdown and Sprint All-Star race.

According to Gene Stefanyshyn, senior vice president of innovation and racing development for the sanctioning body, three areas have been addressed with the updates. They involve truck trailing arm and crossmember assembly, electric fans used for cooling purposes on the cars and rear wheel toe alignment.

The trailing arm issue was actually addressed previously with a change put into place before the series competed earlier this month at Kansas Speedway. Teams must now weld truck trailing arm mounting brackets (and mounting tabs, if used) to prevent movement. That change will remain in place for the remainder of the 2016 season.

Stefanyshyn said the decision to reduce the number of fans was made after it was determined that some of the units “have actually been creating downforce on the car.”

Limiting the number of cooling fans will provide “a good efficiency improvement as far as managing or attenuating some costs … and it also gave us a downforce reduction,” he said. “So it was a win-win. Some of those fans were driving things like bigger fans, bigger alternators, bigger batteries … that kind of thing.”

Rear toe alignment changes will decrease the amount of skew (slant) allowed in a car’s setup.

“We currently allow them to set up the car with some skew that provides not only a turning advantage but also a side force advantage,” he said. “Usually the way a team would set that up is on the right side they take 0.6 degrees of toe out and on the left side they do about 0.3 degrees of toe in. We’re going to change the specifications so it’s going to be neutral; it will be zero setup. That will take some of the skew out of the car, which will take some of the side force off the car.”

It is also expected to reduce corner speeds approximately 3 mph at a track such as Charlotte.

The rear toe change will be in place only for this weekend’s all-star events.

MORE: All-Star format | Eligible drivers

“We want to see what the effect of it is,” Stefanyshyn said. “The fans … we know directionally (that’s) downforce off. And we know the (teams) made some back, so taking it off puts us in a good spot. Plus it’s a good cost (savings). So everybody feels comfortable.”

The changes are part of the evolution of the lower downforce package that debuted in mid-2015 where it was used for races at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway. It was implemented full time for the 2016 season on all tracks except Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

Downforce is the pressure created across the surface of a vehicle at speed. Likewise, side force is generated by the flow of air along the sides of the vehicle.

Although teams continue to work to recover the loss of downforce with the current rules package, Stefanyshyn estimated that any gains teams have made have likely been relatively small.

“We took over 900 pounds of downforce off for this year. Some … are saying ‘Well, they’ve gotten it all back,’ ” he said. “We don’t believe that it’s been that drastic, that they’ve gotten all 900 back. We’re thinking it’s maybe 100-200, something like that,” he said.

Because the Sprint All-Star Race is a non-points event, it provides officials and teams the opportunity to observe the impact of the changes without the fear of upsetting the integrity of the regular season.

And officials at Charlotte have been behind the decision to roll out the changes during the all-star weekend.

“We really need to thank Marcus Smith here because when we do some of these things we want to make sure the tracks know the package is coming, they’re supportive,” Stefanyshyn said. “Marcus has been very open-minded to help us try some of these things.

“Everybody plays an important position here; we all want everybody together.”

Four teams are scheduled to take part in a one-day Goodyear tire test Tuesday at Michigan International Speedway, and are expected to have the latest changes in place while also looking at possible changes to the aerodynamic package for 2017.

The 2-mile track was the site of a high downforce test last year.

Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing), Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing), Aric Almirola (Richard Petty Motorsports) and Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing) are slated to participate in Tuesday’s test.

“A lot of stuff we’ve done have not been with aero pieces on the car but they do have an aero effect,” Stefanyshyn said of the latest changes. “But we are looking at other things, working on other things. We’ve been working on this for the last two or three years and the question on it is how do you implement it in a way that’s friendly, cost-effective and all that?

“Depending on how the journey goes and what we find out, that could be something we could consider for ’17. The good thing is now that we’re all working closely together, we’re further ahead quite a ways. So if we get to the point where we decide we want to implement, I think we do it in a very structured and calm way, not hectic … so that everybody feels comfortable.”

The Sprint All-Star Race weekend includes Friday’s Sprint Showdown, a 50-lap qualifying race for teams not already in the main event. Segment winners (the race consists of two 20-lap segments and a final 10-lap dash) earn a berth in Saturday night’s All-Star Race.

Now in its 32nd season, the All-Star Race itself consists of two 50-lap segments and a final 13-lap segment.

A Sprint Fan Vote winner will also make the Saturday night main event.

Posted on May 16, 2016 by

Breaking down the full field for the AAA 400 Drive For Autism at Dover International Speedway:

1. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth outdueled Kyle Larson to end his hard-luck start to the season and grab his first win of 2016. All four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers now have a victory. Grade: A

2. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Larson did everything short of bumping Kenseth to get his first Sprint Cup victory. Instead he settled for his fourth second-place finish in 87 starts and his fourth top 10 in five starts at Dover. Grade: A

3. Chase Elliott, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott overcame radio communication issues to make a late run at Kenseth before posting his eighth top-10 finish and move up four spots in the Sprint Cup Series driver standings to seventh. Grade: A

4. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne’s second top five in 2016 moved him back into the top 16 in the driver standings. He had three top fives all last season. Grade: A

5. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. A solid day for the No. 41. Busch ran among the leaders all afternoon to ring up his series-high 10th top 10. He also moved up two spots in the driver standings to third. Grade: A

6. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. Disaster struck when he clipped Austin Dillon while running second on Lap 283. Then un-disaster struck when the No. 2 wasn’t one of the 18 cars caught up in the big wreck. That’s what you call a good day. Grade: B

7. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin was all over the place Sunday, leading 15 laps, racking up another pit-road penalty and at one point finding himself two laps back. And this was before getting collected in the big wreck. It’s where you finish that counts, though. Grade: B

8. Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing. Blaney avoided mayhem to post a career-best third straight top 10. He also moved up to 15th in the driver standings. Grade: A

9. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota, Furniture Row Racing. You’ve heard this before: Truex deserved better. Truex led 47 laps and was a fixture in the top 10. Fate came calling again, though. During the 10th caution, he purposely slowed at the exit of pit road to allow the No. 19 to pass him so his No. 78 could start fourth on the outside of the second row with less than 50 laps to go. Unfortunately that put him right behind Jimmie Johnson, who touched off the big wreck on the restart. Grade: A

10. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Bayne spent only 46 laps in the top 15 and had an average position of 21.9. But he still netted a top-10 finish, his third of 2016, which is one more than he had all last season. Grade: B

11. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Menard was involved in the big wreck, but and in his highest running position. He was one of only two drivers who did not complete at least one lap in the top 10 Sunday (Tony Stewart was the other). Grade: C

12. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Bowyer manufactured his third consecutive top-20 finish, his first since he strung together four in races 24-27 last year. Grade: C

13. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Driving a backup car, Patrick posted her best finish since her last top 10 – a ninth at Bristol more than a year ago. Maybe that’s the formula. Grade: C

14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse is showing consistency: His finishes the past three races are 16th, 13th and 14th (Sunday). Grade: C

15. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick led a race-high 117 laps, and who knows how well he would have done if his pit crew had done its job? Harvick’s grade is an average of his A and his crew’s F. Grade: C

16. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Newman overcame a pit-road penalty and survived the big wreck, but he still dropped a spot in the standings to 18th, eight points out of 16th. Grade: C

17. David Ragan, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Ragan posted his best finish since last September at Chicagoland (15th). And with his average running position of 30th, that kicks off a theme for the next four drivers. Grade: B

18. Chris Buescher, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Buescher probably thought his day was toast when he went spinning with a little over 50 laps to go. Instead, he gets the best finish of his Sprint Cup career despite spending most of the day in the back of the field (29.0 average running position). Grade: B

19. Landon Cassill, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Cassill’s average running position was 31.1 and he was 33rd at the halfway point. He also wasn’t caught up in the big wreck. Grade: B

20. Michael McDowell, No. 95 Chevrolet, Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing. McDowell (30.0 average running position) raced in the neighborhood of David Ragan, Chris Buescher and Landon Cassill and finished in their neighborhood, too, for his best day since finishing 15th at Daytona. Grade: B

21. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. McMurray started his day in a backup car and finished a season-high five laps off the pace. Grade: C

22. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. Logano suffered heavy damage in the big wreck and finished the race nine laps back without a hood or any other sheet metal up front. Grade: C

23. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. The 18-car pileup cost Allmendinger more than a poor finish; it dropped him outside the top 16 in the driver standings to 17th. Grade: C

24. Brian Scott, No. 44 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. His duel with Danica provided in-race entertainment in the first 100 laps. Grade: C

25. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. When Johnson’s transmission wouldn’t go from second to third gear on the Lap 356 restart with the No. 48 on the outside of the front row, all the highlights of his day – moving up from starting 21st, passing 3,000 laps led at Dover – went out the window faster than it took 17 cars to pile up behind him. Grade: C

26. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. The big wreck triggered by Johnson ruined Mears’ day. Grade: C

27. Cole Whitt, No. 98 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Despite his third DNF of the season, Whitt posted his third-best finish of the season. Grade: C

28. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Just a handful of laps after avoiding the big wreck, Edwards was running third with 39 laps to go when a tap from behind from Kyle Larson sent the No. 19 hard into the inside wall nose first. Grade: B

29. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Biffle stayed out during the fourth caution and led six laps – the first laps he has led this season. The big wreck left him with his third DNF of the season, the same number he had in the previous five seasons combined. Grade: B-

30. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. The handling was not good on the No. 18, and the big wreck took care of the rest of Busch’s car. Grade: D

31. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. After making up the two laps he lost following purposeful contact from Tony Stewart on Lap 129, Almirola took a hard hit in the big wreck that left him with a potentially broken finger. In other words, not a good day. Grade: D

32. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Junior suffered his third DNF of the season and second in three races when the No. 88 was knocked out in the big wreck. Grade: C

33. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. A day to forget. Dillon brought out the fifth caution when a rotor broke on Lap 184 and he hit the wall. His team fixed the rotor, and he turned to the race only to be hit by Brad Keselowski on Lap 283. Grade: C

34. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. The No. 14 was not competitive (15th was its high point), and with 57 laps to go, the track bar on the No. 14 broke and punctured the oil tank. End of race. Grade: F

35. Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 32 Ford, Go Fas Racing. Earnhardt was running at the finish – but a career-high 66 laps back. Grade: D

36. Josh Wise, No. 30 Chevrolet, The Motorsports Group. Lost a cylinder early but was running at the finish. Grade: F

37. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Contact from Jamie McMurray sent Annett smashing into the inside wall on Lap 227, ending his day. Grade: D

38. Reed Sorenson, No. 55 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Sorenson’s day ended with a spin on Lap 214. Grade: F

39. Regan Smith, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Smith posted his worst finish of the season after going for a spin and hitting the wall on Lap 144. Grade: F

40. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. The Monster’s outside wall devoured its first victim when the No. 83’s right front tire went on Lap 120. Grade: F

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Staff Report

In what could seemingly be called the State of the Union for the No. 88 team at the near-midway point of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. proclaimed that the team has “got a lot of work to do” on Dirty Mo Radio’s “The Dale Jr. Download.”

Those words and more below came after Earnhardt’s involvement in an 18-car wreck on Lap 355 in the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway left him with a 32nd-place finish, the fourth straight finish outside the top 10 for the Hendrick Motorsports driver. That stretch has also seen the sport’s most popular driver drop from sixth to 11th in the driver point standings.

“Last week, it was ‘yeah, we finished 15th (at Kansas). We’ll get it figured out.’ This week, it’s more we got a problem, Houston,” Earnhardt said. “It’s time to start understanding how severe this situation is and get to owning it. Try to figure something out. We got a long season, lot of racing left.

“Not quite halfway to the Chase deadline (at Richmond) and I’m looking at this teams in the Chase and the teams that are not in the Chase and I know we’re better than them. It ain’t good enough to be just good enough to make it. In years past, we’ve won races, been locked in. We were up in the top five in points throughout the year. We definitely aren’t the team we were the past few years. We’ve got to figure out what’s going on. How we’re getting beat.”

A 26-time winner in the sport’s top series, Earnhardt is coming off seven wins in the past two seasons. In both of those seasons, Earnhardt had already registered a win by this point in the season (The Daytona 500 in 2014 and Talladega in May of 2015), which pretty much sewed up his postseason spot in the 16-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

This week’s Sprint All-Star Race (Saturday, May 21, approx. 9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) provides a bit of a real-time laboratory for the team to find some answers.

“This All-Star Race weekend coming up ain’t going to be the answer to all our problems, but it’s an opportunity to work on some of them. I’ll be honest with you, I’d rather win that (Coca-Cola) 600 a 1,000 times more than I’d rather win the All-Star Race. Running good and running better the rest of the year is much more important to me than stumbling into a million bucks on this all-star weekend.

“If we come out of the All-Star Race winners, but don’t understand how to go into the (Coca-Cola) 600 and be competitive, it does us no good. I put us learning something, us understanding how to get better and us getting better as a team above anything else going forward.”

The team doing most of the winning in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series of late is the Joe Gibbs Racing stable of Kyle Busch (the defending series champion), Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. Those four drivers have combined for seven wins through the first 12 races of the 2016 season. Last season, the foursome combined to win 14 races, including 11 of the final 21 races.

This season, Hendrick Motorsports has recorded two wins through the first 12 races of the season, both by Jimmie Johnson, among its four-driver lineup of Earnhardt, Johnson, Chase Elliott and Kasey Kahne.

“As a company, I think everybody agrees that we can be faster. I think with us all working toward that goal, sooner or later the company itself is going to find that extra gear and it’s going to affect all four cars all at once. You see all the Gibbs guys, all quick — practice, qualifying, race. They are all together. That’s because their smart, they figured it out, they got something going that’s working for them and their sharing information.

“Our team’s do the same thing. Once we figure out what’s going on, once we figure out what we need, I think the whole company will step up. I feel positive that will happen before the Chase. … We got to go to work.”

Posted on May 16, 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 AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway.

The cars being inspected this week are: the No. 20 Toyota of Matt Kenseth (winner of Sunday’s race), the No. 42 Chevrolet of Kyle Larson (runner-up in Sunday’s race) and the No. 5 Chevrolet of Kasey Kahne (random car, finished fourth in Sunday’s race). Of note, Kahne’s car failed post-race laser inspection and will be evaluated further during the inspection process on Tuesday.

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

Posted on May 16, 2016 by NASCAR Wire Service

The NASCAR industry is nominated in multiple categories at this year’s Sports Business Awards, taking place Wednesday, May 18, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City’s Time Square. Among the nominations, NASCAR is up for League of the Year and NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France is up for Executive of the Year.

Launched in 2008 by SportsBusiness Journal, the awards recognize leaders who personify excellence in the business of sports. The nominees are judged by their respective accomplishments from March 1, 2015-Feb. 29, 2016.

Among the other NASCAR nominees up for hardware on Wednesday are Daytona International Speedway (Facility of the Year), Darlington’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 (Event of the Year) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Social Media in Sports). France spoke to Bloomberg TV about the nominations.

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NASCAR’s 2015 campaign included the activation of 10-year partnerships with FOX, NBC, IMG and Comcast; a record number of fans on digital and social media; and continued efforts to widen its appeal through youth and diversity, highlighted by Mexico’s Daniel Suárez, a NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate who captured the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

But, the cornerstone reasoning behind the nomination for both NASCAR and France may lie in the landmark Charter agreement the sanctioning body reached with 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams at the start of the 2016 season. After 18 months of negotiation, NASCAR and its race teams announced the nine-year agreement in early February, ensuring a future of increased stability and the ability to build long-term enterprise value for the first time in the sport’s history.

Also nominated for Sports League of the Year are the American Athletic Conference, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association and the PGA Tour.

Stan Kroenke (Kroenke Sports and Entertainment owner), Joe Lacob (Golden State Warriors owner), Rob Manfred (MLB commissioner) and Mark Parker (Nike CEO) join France as nominees in the Sports Executive of the Year category.

Daytona International Speedway earned the Sports Facility of the Year nomination after unveiling Daytona Rising, the $400 million renovation project that transformed DIS into the world’s first motorsports stadium. The project attracted a sellout crowd for the 2016 Daytona 500, won by Denny Hamlin in the closest finish in the race’s history.

Joining Daytona in the facility category is Avaya Stadium (home of the MLS’ San Jose Earthquakes), Bill Snyder Family Stadium (home of Kansas State football), Kyle Field (home of Texas A&M University football) and Petco Park (home of MLB’s San Diego Padres).

Earnhardt was late to the social media game, but proved to be a natural at the medium. Sprinkling in humor and a behind-the-curtain look at his sport, Earnhardt regularly engages with his nearly 1.5 million followers. In the ‘Best in Sports Social Media’ category, Earnhardt is pitted against the Chicago Blackhawks, Clemson University, the National Basketball Association and the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

Darlington Raceway hosted the most unique event on the 2015 NASCAR schedule with its Bojangles’ Southern 500. Billed as a ‘throwback weekend,’ Darlington celebrated its storied history with a 1970s-themed event that included 32 retro paint schemes, 14 NASCAR Hall of Famers and a variety of food and entertainment from the bygone era. Joining the Southern 500 in the ‘Sports Event of the Year’ category is the 2015 Belmont Stakes, the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao boxing match and Super Bowl 50.

Also nominated are NASCAR Official Partners Toyota and XFINITY (Sports Sponsor of the Year). FedEx and Anheuser-Busch In Bev, which both sponsor NASCAR race teams, are also nominated in the Sports Sponsor of the Year category.

FOX Sports and NBC Sports Group, both of which broadcast NASCAR races, are each nominated in the ‘Best in Sports Media’ category.

FOX Sports continues its broadcast of the first portion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season during this Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (7 p.m. ET on FS1).

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Track Release

FORT WORTH, Texas (May 16, 2016) – O’Reilly Auto Parts and Texas Motor Speedway have signed a multi-year agreement for the national automotive aftermarket retailing leader to serve as the race entitlement sponsor for the annual April NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the world-renowned motorsports facility beginning in 2017.

O’Reilly Auto Parts will be linking its brand to the state’s best-attended, single-day sporting event and the Sprint Cup Series’ third-highest paying race in the newly named O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 that will be held Sunday, April 9, 2017.

The O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 will be the signature race entitlement of the deal, but the company also will continue its title sponsorship of the annual November XFINITY Series race at Texas Motor Speedway to ensure a year-round presence in a top-five metropolitan market. The current O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge XFINITY Series race that is part of a NASCAR tripleheader in November will be rebranded the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 beginning in 2017. The O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 XFINITY Series race is scheduled for Nov. 4, 2017.

In addition to the traditional branding assets in race entitlement agreements, O’Reilly Auto Parts will continue as the “Official Auto Parts Supplier of Texas Motor Speedway” and own exclusive status in the auto parts store category. No financial terms or specific length of the contract were disclosed.

“Expanding our partnership with Texas Motor Speedway helps us deepen our connection with loyal NASCAR fans and build the O’Reilly brand on a national stage,” O’Reilly Auto Parts Vice President of Marketing Doug Ruble said. “The O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 sponsorship gives us new ways to promote our stores, engage our customers and reinforce our commitment to motorsports.”

The agreement is O’Reilly Auto Parts’ initial race sponsorship venture on the Sprint Cup Series level at Texas Motor Speedway, but the publicly traded Fortune 500 company boasts an expansive NASCAR race entitlement portfolio at this venue.

Beginning with the O’Reilly 300 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in the fall of 1999, O’Reilly Auto Parts has been the title sponsor of six truck series races (1999-2004) and 27 XFINITY Series races (2002 through ’16 season) at Texas Motor Speedway.

That total includes sponsoring both the spring and fall XFINITY Series races annually since 2005 when Texas Motor Speedway added an annual fall NASCAR national series weekend. Under the new agreement, O’Reilly Auto Parts will relinquish its entitlement of the spring XFINITY Series race.

The multi-year deal includes an expansive, multi-pronged promotional plan for the Sprint Cup Series race in O’Reilly Auto Parts’ largest metropolitan market. The Springfield, Missouri-based company has more than 150 stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth Designated Market Area among its 4,600 in 44 states. O’Reilly Auto Parts and Texas Motor Speedway will be working in close cooperation to build this NASCAR race on a local, regional and national basis, engage race fans, increase attendance and attract race fans to its stores for all of their automotive needs.

“We had a great meeting with the O’Reilly management team in Missouri a few months ago, and the thing that excites me the most about the partnership is this is going to be the promotion they are going to hang their hat on companywide all year long,” Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said. “That’s exciting because it helps spread the word about the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, Texas Motor Speedway and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to all of their customers across the country. It helps build this event up and makes it bigger. This is a perfect fit for each other and I don’t know how we could have done any better.”

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Holly Cain

RELATED: Results | Standings post-Dover

DOVER, Del. — As Kyle Larson pulled onto Dover International Speedway‘s pit road following his runner-up finish in Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism, he sat in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet a moment before slipping his gloves off. He paused again and stared forward before removing his helmet and finally climbed out of the car to speak to the noticeably large group of reporters waiting for him.

The day’s third-place finisher, 20-year-old Chase Elliott walked up to shake the 23-year-old Larson’s hand after a fantastic final 20 laps of competition among the two youngsters and 2003 Cup champion Matt Kenseth, who scored his first win of the year. Then Larson’s team owner Chip Ganassi came by with a huge grin and high-five.

Larson had come less than two-tenths of a second (.188) from earning his first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. He drove his heart out.

And by the time Larson began answering reporters’ questions, the disappointment had turned into pride. It was a fantastic — if not perfect — ending to the day and Larson proved himself a clean, adept competitor. Just not a winner this day.

Yet.

“We were really good today,” Larson said. “A lot of good cars wrecked and I knew I was probably the car to beat. I tried to be patient but could see Matt was pretty loose in front of me and it’s so hard to pass someone on the bottom there. I was too patient there for a while and allowed Chase to get by. Then I got by (Elliott) and I got another shot at him (Kenseth) there at the end and was trying to do all I could to pass him without getting into him.

“Matt is probably the cleanest driver out here and I wanted to race with a lot of respect and I feel like I did a good job with that. I probably could have gotten into him in (Turns) one and two and gotten by him, but I didn’t want to do that to him.”

Larson said he was intent to race Kenseth cleanly and apologized for any role he may have had when the previous leader — and Kenseth’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate — Carl Edwards crashed with 39 laps remaining as the two competed closely for position.

“From my view, I got a run on the 19 (Edwards) to go to the bottom and the 41 (Kurt Busch) and him were outside,” Larson recounted. “I’m not sure if Carl got loose or went to block me, but I got into him and feel bad about that, even if it’s not my fault.”

When told of Larson’s comments, Edwards said he was glad to hear the acknowledgement.

Kenseth said he was impressed with the way both Larson and Elliott raced in the final laps.

“He was freer than me and turning better,” Kenseth said. “I started trying to find the grip in the middle of the track and held him off.

“I think if he would have snuck inside, it would have been over. He raced me really, really hard, but clean at the same time. He’s a great race car driver. To me it doesn’t even seem right that he hasn’t won yet. He’s got a bunch of victories in front of him for sure. He’s a really, really clean, hard racer, and a fast learner.”

Larson’s team owner Chip Ganassi was all smiles walking away from the series 2014 Rookie of the Year on pit road.

“Obviously, the driver’s doing the job, but it’s a lot of hard work these guys have been doing for a long, long time,” Ganassi said. “That’s the good thing about this business, it’s kind of self-motivating. If you’re not a self-starter it’s hard to be in this business. You get motivated every Sunday at 1 o’clock, you better be ready.

“So I was happy.”

Larson’s 85 laps out front Sunday was nearly a personal best — he led 90 at Bristol Motor Speedway last year — and was easily the most this season considering he had only led nine total (at Talladega Superspeedway).

This was his third career runner-up finish (also at Auto Club Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2014) and marks his second top-five run this season after a third-place showing on April 3 at Martinsville Speedway. This was Larson’s fourth top-10 finish in five races at Dover.

“We’ve been building better race cars,” Larson said. “We’ve been learning stuff with the chassis, a lot of bodywork. Just everybody at the shop has been working really, really hard. It’s been really hard to stay positive but it’s showing now. I think everybody has stayed positive, but really deep to build better stuff and we all just keep working hard.”

MORE: Relive the day in photos

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will head to Charlotte Motor Speedway this week, while the NASCAR XFINITY Series is off. Check out the full weekend schedule below.

Note: All times are ET

SATURDAY, MAY 21:

ON TRACK
— 9:42-10:52 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint All-Star Race practice/pit road speed practice, FS1 (Results)
— 11:30 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Showdown (20 laps, 20 laps, 10 laps), FS1 (Segment 3 Results)
— 1 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NC Education Lottery 200 (134 laps, 201 miles), FS1 (Results)
— 7:10 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying (three laps with pit stop), FS1 (Canceled due to rain – full lineup set by owner points)
— 9 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint All-Star Race (50 laps, 50 laps, 13 laps) FS1 (Results)

PRE-RACE ALL-STAR RACE SCHEDULE
— 8:49:00 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All Star Race, Driver & Crew Intros
— 9:10:00 p.m.: Presentation of Colors by: 14th Weather Squadron, US Air Force, Asheville, North Carolina
— 9:10:20 p.m.: Invocation by: Joe Gibbs
— 9:11:00 p.m.: National Anthem by: Caleb Johnson
— 9:12:30 p.m.: Fly-by TOT: Team Aerodynamix (Turn 4 to Turn 1)
— 9:17:30 p.m. (approx.): “Drivers, Start Your Engines” by: Tony Stewart (Done from inside his car)
— 9:26:00 p.m. (approx.): Start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Race

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
–2:15 p.m. (approx): Post-Camping World Truck Series race
–10:15 p.m. (approx.): Post-NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race

DAILY ROUNDUP
— Elliott wins Sprint Fan Vote
— Bayne, Biffle, Larson win Sprint Showdown
— Crafton wins Truck Series race at Charlotte
— Logano wins Sprint All-Star Race, $1 million prize
— Stewart, Kenseth collide in Sprint All-Star Race

THURSDAY, MAY 19:

ON TRACK
— 12:30-1:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice — canceled due to rain
— 2:30-3:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series second practice — canceled due to rain
— 6:45-7:45 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice — time moved due to rain (Results)

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 11:15 a.m.: Christopher Bell
— 11:30 a.m.: Daniel Hemric
— 11:45 a.m.: Cole Custer

DAILY ROUNDUP
— Harvick signs long-term extension with Stewart-Haas Racing
— How the Sprint All-Star Race works
— Larson on winning: ‘I want to do it the right way’

FRIDAY, MAY 20:

ON TRACK
— 1:30-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Showdown final practice (Sprint Showdown qualifying), FS1 (canceled)
— 3-4:40 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint All-Star Race final practice, FS1 (postponed to Saturday)
— 4:45-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint All-Star Race pit road speed practice, FS1 (postponed to Saturday)
— 5:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS1 (canceled — starting lineup)
— 7:15 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Showdown (20 laps, 20 laps, 10 laps), FS1 (postponed to Saturday)
— 8:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NC Education Lottery 200 (134 laps, 201 miles), FS1 (postponed to Saturday)

GARAGECAM (Watch live)
— 2:30 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series — canceled

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 11 a.m.: Dusenberry Martin Racing announcement with Carl Edwards
— 11:30 a.m.: Matt Kenseth
— 12:45 p.m.: Ryan Blaney
— 1:15 p.m.: Kevin Harvick
— 10 p.m. (approx.): Post-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race

DAILY ROUNDUP
— Harvick: ‘Never, ever worried’ about contract extension
— Rain washes out Friday’s on-track schedule
— Strategic choice awaits drivers: Lead vs. fresh tires
— Dusenberry Martin Racing announces NASCAR Heat Evolution

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Staff Report

Tony Stewart returned from a back injury in April and the three-time champion is in pursuit of one of the 16 spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in his final season. Here’s a look at where the driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet stands in his pursuit after the season’s 12th of 26 regular-season races.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED

It was a rough weekend for the three-time Dover winner who took his last trip to Victory Lane in 2013 at the “Monster Mile.” First, Stewart was forced to a backup car after wrecking in practice Friday, and started 34th. He’d worked his way up to steadily running in the 20s until Lap 343, when he suddenly broke a track bar. The bar punctured the oil tank, and smoke billowed from the rear of his No. 14 Chevrolet as he made his way to the garage. He ended up finishing exactly where he began: 34th, but was 58 laps down.

WHAT HE NEEDS
Stewart received a waiver from NASCAR for Chase eligibility. The surest way into the Chase is by winning before the end of regular season (at Richmond International Raceway on Sept. 10) and climb into the top 30 in the points standings. En route to his 2015 championship, Kyle Busch faced a similar path after missing the first 11 races with a leg injury. Currently, Stewart is 37th in the standings, 67 points behind David Ragan for 30th place.

WHAT’S NEXT
“Smoke” heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600 on May 29 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Stewart has just one of his 48 career wins at the 1.5-mile track, with it coming in 2003. He has six top fives and 13 top 10s in 33 starts there.