Posted on by Staff Report

Two instances of bodywork modification — one mid-race, one post-race — caught the eye of NASCAR officials during last Saturday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.



Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, detailed those circumstances in a Monday morning appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “Morning Drive” program.

Kyle Busch scored his third Sprint Cup victory of the season in Saturday night’s GoBowling 400, breaking an 0-for-16 drought at the 1.5-mile Kansas City track, historically a stumbling block for the reigning series champ. Busch’s exuberant post-race burnout shredded the right-rear tire, causing significant damage to the fender of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota.



The notion of damaging a winning car to aid its path through post-race inspection became a trending topic during last season’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, with drivers describing the tactic as almost commonplace. The No. 18 car will get a full going-over this week at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.



“We really don’t like to see that happen,” Miller told SiriusXM. “There was a little bit of a rash of it last year and we kind of got that in check, and this is the first time we’ve seen it in a while. We certainly don’t like to see it, but I believe Kyle was very happy because he’s really, really struggled at that race track and he just got a little overzealous there with the celebration.



“We’ve had a lot of JGR cars through NASCAR, so we have a pretty good idea of what they’re doing with their stuff so I don’t … it’s not that suspicious to me, really.”



The other bodywork issue that drew officials’ attention, Miller said, involved the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet for driver Jamie McMurray . The team was flagged on Lap 30 in the 267-lap race for unapproved adjustments to the car’s body during a pit stop. Miller used a football analogy to describe the alteration.



“We’ve gone to great lengths to get bracing in the side of the cars and define how all the parts and pieces have gotta be, and that’s for one reason — so that the sides don’t cave in and the quarterpanels don’t cave in,” Miller said. “Their jackman looked like an offensive lineman throwing a block at the side of their car, so it caved the side in. We saw it, didn’t like it, and back down pit road they came to fix it. That’s just how it works. You can’t pull on the skirts or cave the sides in or alter the body of the car on pit road, and that’s what they did.”



The penalty mandated that the No. 1 team make an unscheduled stop to restore the bodywork to its original condition, drawing a stern protest from CGR crew chief Matt McCall. Miller said replays of the violation helped soothe the situation.



“By the time he actually knew what video we had, he’d calmed quite down,” Miller said.



Miller also said that NASCAR officials have experienced no major issues with teams properly fastening lug nuts in the two Sprint Cup races since clarifying the rules. The change has required officials to perform extra pre- and post-race checks for all 40 cars, but that the process has gone smoothly.



“We haven’t had any problems since we asked them to comply with that, so it’s actually been going pretty good,” Miller said. “It’s a little bit more work on us, but our guys are handling it really well and things have been good so far.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Martin Truex Jr. led a race-high 172 laps on Saturday night at Kansas Speedway, which serves as the “home” track for Denver-based Furniture Row Racing. A mechanical issue kept him out of Victory Lane, but his single-car team was the class of the field — just ask race-winner Kyle Busch.

 

“The 78 was probably the fastest car,” Busch said of his Toyota teammate.

 

It’s something to get used to.

 

Furniture Row Racing, owned by Barney Visser and stationed near the Rocky Mountains as opposed to “Race City USA,” has developed into one of the premier teams in NASCAR while operating under the radar to the west of the Mississippi River.

 

RELATED: Learn more about Furniture Row

 

Coming off a year in which the single-car organization qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the second time in three years, and then promptly followed that with a berth in the Championship 4 Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the organization may be even better in 2016.

 

This season’s results prove last year’s playoff push was no fluke. A manufacturer change from Chevrolet to Toyota brought alignment with Joe Gibbs Racing, and Truex is consistently one of the fastest cars every week. He and Furniture Row appear in excellent shape to qualify for the postseason for the second consecutive year, and perhaps another deep run is possible.

 

Here’s how driver and team got to this point.

 

The past

Visser began his career in the manufacturing business more than 40 years ago, starting the Furniture Row company in 1972 after growing up dreaming not of racing, but of business. That drive turned into a successful career in the west as the owner of several retailers — but when Visser decided to cut back, he caught the NASCAR bug.

Racing as a hobby at Colorado National Speedway led to his desire to start a NASCAR XFINITY Series team, which has evolved into the successful single-car Sprint Cup team. (The first year in Cup was 2005.)

The organization earned its first win in 2011 when Regan Smith won the historic Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. In 2013, Kurt Busch qualified for the postseason and would finish the season 10th in points, then the best standing in team history.

That changed last year. Truex Jr. joined the company before the 2014 season after losing his ride at Michael Waltrip Racing when that organization went from three cars to two.

 

In 2015, Truex and first-year crew chief Cole Pearn led Furniture Row to its second-ever win when he conquered the “Tricky Triangle” of Pocono. It capped a four-race stretch in which Truex led 454 laps and asserted Furniture Row as a premier series power.

A technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing buoyed Furniture Row, then running Chevrolets, last year — and Truex would advance deeper into the Chase than any of RCR’s three drivers.

 

The present

Speed hasn’t been a problem for Furniture Row Racing after the switch to Toyota. If anything, the team has been faster this year.

 

“If we were going to run and be happy running in the middle of the field week in and week out, we would have been fine where we were,” Furniture Row General Manager Joe Garone said before the season. “But Chevrolet has their hands full. They have plenty of teams and, as a new one coming in we were always going to be the bottom team. They can only spread themselves so thin. So, honestly, there wasn’t the opportunity for us to get to the upper tier.
 
“Toyota looked at it completely differently. They could see the benefits that we bring to the table as a single-car team partnered with one of their teams, and they jumped right on board.”

 

Truex has one top-five and four top-10 finishes through 11 races, but that doesn’t fully tell the story. His 370 laps led are behind only Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards and Stewart-Haas Racing‘s Kevin Harvick.

 

His average start (12.2) and average finish (12.7) both rank in the top 10 in NASCAR; only six other drivers can say the same.

 

In short, there’s been plenty of speed, just not finishes — Kansas was shaping up to be one of the most dominant showings of the season until a fluke tire issue caused the No. 78 to pit from the lead late.

 

“I couldn’t believe it,” Truex said after the race. “It’s frustrating, but that’s how it goes. We’re going to win some races (this year), for sure. We keep bringing cars like that, we’re going to win some. … It’s tough, but it happens. It’s part of racing.”

 

Watch: Truex Jr. stays positive after tough finish

 

The future
Truex Jr. and Furniture Row Racing have proven to be a good fit, and the addition of sponsors such as Bass Pro Shop and Auto Owners Insurance help the team move toward a reality of running two cars.

 

In July of last year, Visser told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio: “We’d like to have (a second team) by ’17. … We think maybe ’17 it’s going to roll around the way we need it to. We’re going to have to attract the sponsors. When we finally get the sponsors, we’ll be able to do it.”

 

A technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing will likely prove fruitful for years, as the JGR Toyota Camrys appear to have a leg up on the field, and Truex himself sits above Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth in the points standings.

 

“I don’t like to look back, but I think it’s safe to say that we had the opportunity to have two win stickers on our car at this point of the season,” Truex said before Kansas, which could have been win No. 3. “We’ve gone through a major transition by switching to Toyota and having a new technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. I truly feel that we’ve come a long way in a short period of time, and feel the rest of the season looks promising for our Furniture Row Racing team.”

Posted on by Kathy Sheldon

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Matt Kenseth led just three laps of Saturday’s GoBowling 400 at Kansas Speedway, but the No. 20 spent much of the night knocking on the door.

 

After two late restarts and a four-car crash that Kenseth’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota avoided, he finished fourth behind winner Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, respectively.

 

A fourth-place finish is Kenseth’s best mark of the season — a season sprinkled with bad luck and simply bizarre circumstances at times.

 

“You always want the finishes,” Kenseth said after the Saturday night race. “We’ve run up front, terrible finishes. A lot of races we haven’t even finished this year. So you always want to get the finish.

 

“I felt like we ran better than all three cars that finished in front of us so that part I guess is a little bit disappointing. The 78 ( Martin Truex Jr. ) had us covered but those other guys I felt like after 10 laps we were probably better than they were. Still didn’t quite get the finish.”

 

Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 78 team know about bad luck. After dominating much of the race and leading 172 laps, a tire problem sent the Furniture Row Racing Toyota down pit road for an unscheduled stop that put them a lap down.

 

“I don’t know what the racing gods have against me,” Truex radioed to his team after coming on Lap 216 in to fix a vibration after something got jammed up in a wheel.

 

“Did everyone search their souls and figure out who’s livin’ wrong?” Truex’s team radioed on a subsequent caution as Truex fought to a 14th-place finish.

 

Kenseth has seen his share of rotten luck this season, but despite race-ending crashes at Las Vegas and Talladega and a tangled black-flag situation at Atlanta — where he had dominated before a pit road violation and communication mixup — Kenseth doesn’t feel like dark forces are to blame.

 

“All our problems we’ve had all year haven’t necessarily been luck,” Kenseth said. “I feel like everybody did a good job tonight. We executed everything good. We just weren’t quite fast enough and weren’t quite in the right positions. We got a decent finish so that was good.”

 

Kenseth comes out of Kansas up one place in the drivers point standings to 14th, 121 points behind series leader Harvick.

Kenny Bruce contributed to this report.

Posted on by Kathy Sheldon

RELATED: Race results | Busch earns first Kansas win | Standings post-race


KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Denny Hamlin said he was “going for it” when he got loose in Turn 4 on Lap 241. His fishtailing No. 11 Toyota then sent Brad Keselowski‘s No. 2 sideways as well, eventually creating a four-car pileup in Saturday night’s GoBowling 400.

Also caught up in the late wreck at Kansas Speedway was Keselowski’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano in the No. 22 Ford. Kyle Larson‘s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet was pinned against the outside wall.

The four cars raced out of a Lap 240 restart for a shot at leader Kyle Busch, on the heels of the night’s fifth caution when Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 17 spun.

Logano came into the wreck last and couldn’t see what was happening in front of him through thick smoke. He didn’t place any blame for the accident, saying, “It was just racing, it wasn’t hard racing.”

Logano added, “It just sucks to be coming out of the infield care center two weeks in a row. … We made some good changes on it and actually made it to where I thought it was a possible winning car,” referencing a tangle he was involved in at Talladega Superspeedway.

Larson was dismayed about getting caught up in yet another wreck, especially with possibly his fastest car this season and best chance at getting that crucial win for a Chase bid.

Larson has finished on the lead lap of only five of the 2016 season’s 11 races, with a wreck also ending his day at Fontana.

Keselowski is already essentially in the Chase with wins at Las Vegas and Talladega while Hamlin’s post-season hopes look promising thanks to the season-opening Daytona 500 win.

The No. 2 Team Penske driver said the drive to win was what led to the wreck, saying Larson “did what he had to do” but opened the door to Hamlin by trying to block and protect his position.

“I’m disappointed, but I don’t think there was anything malicious,” Keselowski said. “We’re just all racing for wins and that was everybody’s shot to win the race.”

Hamlin said he put the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team behind with two speeding penalties on pit road earlier in the race and was working hard to put a fast car up front.

“I was going in there three-wide. I wasn’t letting off and the 42 (Larson) was just too close up there. It wasn’t his fault by any means, but we were both trying to drive in there to clear each other and I just got loose.


“I’ve got to get better on pit lane to give us a chance and then I was just going for it there because I knew our car had some speed. I was on two tires and the guys in front of me were on none or two. I was just going for it. I’ve got the win and that’s part of this format is going for it and that’s what we did.”


MORE: Relive the day in photos

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Results | GoBowling 400 recap | Post-Kansas standings

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The most disappointed man in Kansas Saturday night was Martin Truex Jr.

He forced a smile as he climbed from his Furniture Row Racing Toyota, but there was disappointment in his eyes.

“It sucks. I don’t know what you want me to say,” Truex responded as members of the media crowded him back against his car on pit road. “It’s not fun to lead all those laps and come up 14th. I wish the race was longer. We were hunting them down quick at the end.”

On a warm night at Kansas Speedway, Truex dominated the GoBowling 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, only to see a broken bolt on a rear wheel strip a potential victory from his grasp.

After leading 172 of the first 211 laps, Truex headed to pit road as a late cycle of green-flag pit stops got underway. But as soon as he headed back out onto the track, he said, he knew something was amiss.

“I knew right away,” he said. “It was shaking.”

His first thought?

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it.

“The wheel was on tight, but it was crooked because there was something jammed behind it.”

It wasn’t the fault of his crew, he said, but rather a funky, how-could-that happen occurrence.

Forced back to pit road to correct the problem, the three-time winner returned to the track once more, this time buried deep in the field, 20th and one lap down.

Able to regain the lost lap, Truex began working his way back through the field as the final 50 laps of the 267-lap race played out. By Lap 255 he was 17th but could only get back inside the top 15 before fellow Toyota driver Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) was flagged the race winner.

“You always know there’s the possibility of those things happening; you just hope they are earlier in the race and you can overcome them,” Truex said. “We certainly had a car fast enough that we could have overcome that if it was earlier. We just ran out of time there at the end.”

It was the second race this season that Truex had led the most laps but failed to come away with the victory. He led 141 at Texas Motor Speedway but finished sixth. He began the season with a second-place finish to Denny Hamlin (JGR) in the Daytona 500, losing by .010 second.

Busch’s winning car rumbled slowly by as Truex calmly continued to answer questions. Team owner Joe Gibbs, whose organization supplies the pit crew for Furniture Row, as well as providing technical support, stopped by after checking with the crew to try and explain the unexplainable to the driver.

“I swear, you watch guys win races that don’t have the fastest car or on fuel mileage and all this stuff and it’s like, ‘Damn,’ ” Truex said. “Someday I’m going to get on one of those or (be) on the other side of one of them.

“Usually you can dominate and win, but it’s tough and it happens. It’s part of racing.”

The Furniture Row Racing team, which advanced to the Championship Round with Truex last season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, switched from Chevrolet to Toyota before the 2016 season. That ended an alliance with Richard Childress Racing and began one with JGR.

This week’s pole winner has been a force through the first segment of the season, but Victory Lane has continued to elude the 35-year-old.


Crew chief Cole Pearn could only shrug his shoulders afterward. “We run the same stuff every week,” he said. “We’ve never had a problem and randomly when you’re leading you get that. So … whatever.

“You just have to put it behind you. Heck, it’s kind of laughable at this point. We just do our homework, figure out what happened and go get them next week. That’s all we can do.”

The setback cost Truex, a native of Mayetta, New Jersey, only one spot in the points standings — he’s now 10th and headed to Dover International Speedway next week, his “hometown” track.

“It’s hard when you give them away like that,” Truex said. “It’s hard to get cars that good in this series. … We’ll just keep trying, that’s all you can do. It’s a team sport, win and lose as a team.”

MORE: A day at the track

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Race results | Updated standings


KANSAS CITY, Kan. — It was a night that an 18-year-old scored his first career in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series. A two-time champion went from first to 10th to second. And the first- and second-place trucks on the final lap wrecked before they got to the finish line.



In other words, Friday night’s Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway was your typical Truck Series race.



“It got pretty exciting there; obviously all you hope for at the end of a deal like this, especially with all the cautions we had in the race, was to have an opportunity,” said third-place finisher Daniel Hemric (Brad Keselowski Racing).



William Byron seized the opportunity, picking up the win for Kyle Busch Motorsports after getting nearly overwhelmed on a green, white, checkered restart.



But contact between Johnny Sauter (GMS Racing) and Ben Rhodes (ThorSport Racing) while battling for the lead shot their chances and opened the door for Byron.


RELATED: Rhodes makes contact with Sauter


“It was very interesting,” runnerup Matt Crafton (ThorSport), the two-time series champ said, pausing to watch a replay of the final lap play out and the leaders spin.



“Wow. He smoked her down in there, didn’t he?



“I shoved it three wide in the middle and I’m like ‘Yeah, this probably isn’t the way to go.’ I lifted just a little bit, got it back to the bottom and got a decent run. The bottom had been terrible all night and I got a decent run, everybody got loose and checked up … it worked out for me.”


MORE: Relive the day in photos

Hemric and Crafton each improved five positions in the points standings — Hemric vaulted from seventh to fifth and Crafton returned to the top-10 after sitting on the outside following the season’s second and third races. He now sits sixth as the series prepares for to head to Dover International Speedway next week. It will be the first back-to-back race weekends for the series this season.



Crafton led 57 laps, tops in a 170-lap race that was slowed by 11 cautions.



The leader on a restart on Lap 135, Crafton quickly fell back through the field after contact with the second-place truck of Timothy Peters (Red Horse Racing). Gathering it back in after falling to 10th, he slowly began working his way back toward the front.



“I was like, ‘OK, we’ll probably be all right, probably drive back by here in a minute'” Crafton said of the initial setback. But advancing through the field proved to be a handful and the final restart saw his No. 88 Toyota seventh in the running order.



And then?

“That last restart was just chaos,” he said.

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series all will head to Dover International Speedway this week. Check out the full weekend schedule below.


Note: All times are ET



SUNDAY, MAY 15:

PRE-RACE SCHEDULE
— 11 a.m.: NSCS Driver/Crew Chief Meeting (NCWTS Garage Area Tent)
— 12:20 p.m.: NSCS Driver Introductions with NASCAR Special Awards presented backstage
— 1:00:00 p.m.: Intro Presentation of Colors by: Dover Air Force Base Color Guard
— 1:00:20 p.m.: Invocation by: Dan Schafer, Pastor of Calvary Assembly of God in Heightstown, New Jersey
— 1:01:00 p.m.: National Anthem by: Tom Dixon, Nashville recording artist 
— 1:02:00 p.m.: Aerial Adventures (3) Parachutists Land on track (frontstretch, turn 1 and turn 4) 
— 1:02:40 p.m.: Flyover TOT by: (2) US Navy F/A – 18C Hornets Strike Fighter Squadron from Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia (Turn 3 > Turn 2) 
— 1:07:30 p.m.: “Drivers, Start Your Engines” by: Jason Jones, Star of the TBS comedy, “The Detour” 
— 1:15:00 p.m.: Green Flag: AAA 400 Drive For Autism (400 Laps / 400 Miles) 


ON TRACK

— 1 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA 400 Drive for Autism (400 laps, 400 miles), FS1 (Results)

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)

— 4:30 p.m.: (approx.) NSCS post-race


DAILY ROUNDUP
— Kenseth holds off Larson, wins at chaotic “Monster Mile”
— Larson, Elliott hunt down Kenseth in final laps
— Monster-size wreck claims 18 cars at Dover
— Edwards knocked out of contention with 40 laps remaining

THURSDAY, MAY 12:

ON TRACK
— 2:00-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice (Results)
— 4:00-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice (Results)



DAILY ROUNDUP

— Byron, Custer quickest at Thursday’s practices

— Recalling Stewart’s last win at Dover — and looking to his next

— JGR confirms No. 18 pit crew replacement

— Fantasy Fastlane: Dover


FRIDAY, MAY 13:

ON TRACK

— 10-10:55 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, FS1 (Results)

— 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FS1 (Results)

— 12:30-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, FS1 (Results) — Ended early due to rain

— 2:15 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS1 (Results) — Canceled due to rain

— 3:45 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1 (Results) — Canceled due to rain
— 5:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series JACOB Companies 200 (200 laps, 200 miles), FS1 (Results)

GARAGECAM (Watch live)
— 10:30 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series


PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)

— 8:45 a.m.: Brendan Gaughan

— 9 a.m.: Joey Logano

— 9:15 a.m.: Ty Dillon

— 9:30 a.m.: Martin Truex Jr. 

— 12:45 p.m.: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

— 1:15 p.m.: Jimmie Johnson

— 5 p.m.: (approx.) NSCS post-qualifying

— 7:30 p.m.: (approx.) NCWTS post-race

DAILY ROUNDUP
— Crafton conquers Dover for Truck win
— Harvick to start up front after qualifying rained out
— Stewart, Danica involved in early practice wreck
— RCR teammates discuss A. Dillon’s strong start to ’16


SATURDAY, MAY 14:

ON TRACK

— 9:30-10:25 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series second practice, FS1 (Results)

— 10:45 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series qualifying, FS1 (Results)

— 12:30-1:25 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, FS2 (Results)

— 2 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 Heat #1 (40 laps, 40 miles), FOX (Results)

— 2:50 p.m. (approx): NASCAR XFINITY Series Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 Heat #2 (40 laps, 40 miles), FOX (Results)

— 3:30 p.m. (approx): NASCAR XFINITY Series Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 main race (120 laps, 120 miles), FOX (Results)

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)

— 4:30 p.m.: (approx.) NXS post-race


DAILY ROUNDUP
— Key story lines to watch for Sunday’s race
— Jones wins at Dover, takes Dash 4 Cash prize
— Johnson: A monster talent at Dover
— Bubba makes history, strides with Dover runner-up

Posted on by Staff Report

With Kyle Busch‘s win Saturday night at Kansas Speedway — long a place where he has struggled over the years — ‘Rowdy’ checked another track off his all-time list of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series conquests.

 

The GoBowling 400 victory, along with his win at Martinsville earlier this year, leaves only Charlotte Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway as unchecked tracks on the list. And Busch still visits each facility twice this season, starting at Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 on May 29.

 

Below is a list of Busch’s starts and wins at every active track on the Sprint Cup circuit.

Kyle Busch Wins By Track

Track Starts Wins
Atlanta 18 2
Auto Club 18 3
Bristol 22 5
Charlotte 24 0
Chicagoland 11 1
Darlington 11 1
Daytona 22 1
Dover 22 2
Homestead 11 1
Indianapolis 11 1
Kansas 17 1
Kentucky 5 2
Las Vegas 12 1
Martinsville 22 1
Michigan 22 1
New Hampshire 22 2
Phoenix 22 1
Pocono 22 0
Richmond 22 4
Sonoma 11 2
Talladega 22 1
Texas 21 2
Watkins Glen 11 2
Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Coverage of Stewart’s accident, comeback | Updated Chase Grid

 

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 11th of 26 regular-season races.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED

The two-time Kansas winner proved why he’s so good at the 1.5-mile track, just missing the top 10 with a 12th-place finish. “Smoke” even led for 12 laps while a cycle of green flag pit stops was taking place. 

WHAT HE NEEDS
Stewart has received a waiver from NASCAR for Chase eligibility. The sureest 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, 59 points behind Regan Smith for 30th place.

WHAT’S NEXT
“Smoke” heads to Dover International Speedway for the AAA 400 Drive for Autism race on May 15 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The 1-mile track has been the site of three of Stewart’s 48 wins, including his most recent win in 2013. In addition to the three wins at the “Monster Mile,” Stewart also has 11 top fives and 17 top 10s in 33 starts there.

 

MORE: See all of Stewart’s wins | “Smoke” granted Chase waiver

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Find FOX Sports 1 in your area


All times ET

Monday, May 9
8:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: GoBowling 400 (re-air), FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN

Tuesday, May 10
9:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra 250 (re-air), FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN

Wednesday, May 11
Noon, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra 250 (re-air), FS2
2 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: GoBowling 400 (re-air), FS2
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN

Thursday, May 12
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Race: Tucson Speedway (taped), NBCSN
6:30 p.m., Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge: Mazda (re-air), FS2

Friday, May 13
8 a.m., Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge: Mazda (re-air), FS1
10 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, FS1
11 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FS1
12:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, FS1
2 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series SetUp, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: May Dover Race, FS1

Saturday, May 14
3 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: May Dover Race (re-air), FS1
9:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FS1
10:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
Noon, NASCAR Race Hub: Weekend Edition, FS1
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, FS2
1:30 p.m., One Hot Night: The NASCAR 1992 All-Star Race (re-air), FS2
2 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series FOX Pre-Race Show, FOX
2:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series: Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200, FOX

Sunday, May 15
2:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series: Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 (re-air), FS1
8:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series: Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 (re-air), FS1
11:30 a.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
1 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: AAA 400 Drive for Autism, FS1
11:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: AAA 400 Drive for Autism (re-air), FS1