Sprint Cup qualifying order for Talladega

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Staff Report

#	Car	Driver	Team
1	7	Regan Smith	Golden Corral Chevrolet
2	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger/Hungry Jack/Crisco Chevrolet
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Chevrolet
4	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevrolet
5	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Dustless Blasting Toyota
6	46	Michael Annett	Pilot Flying J Chevrolet
7	30	* Josh Wise	Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet
8	32	Bobby Labonte	Rimrock Devlin Ford
9	23	David Ragan	Schluter Systems Toyota
10	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Nationwide Chevrolet
11	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford
12	43	Aric Almirola	Fresh From Florida Ford
13	14	Ty Dillon(i)	Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
14	15	Clint Bowyer	AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet
15	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Insurance Chevrolet
16	34	Chris Buescher #	Love’s Travel Stops/CSX-Play it Safe Ford
17	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Fifth Third Bank Ford
18	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota
19	19	Carl Edwards	ARRIS Toyota
20	78	Martin Truex Jr	Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota
21	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota
22	44	Brian Scott #	Twisted Tea Ford
23	38	Landon Cassill	FR8Auctions Ford
24	3	Austin Dillon	Dow – Energy & Water/Intellifresh Chevrolet
25	98	* Cole Whitt	RticCoolers.com Toyota
26	27	Paul Menard	Moen/Menards Chevrolet
27	18	Kyle Busch	Skittles Marvel Toyota
28	35	* David Gilliland	Shaw’s Southern Belle Seafood Ford
29	21	* Ryan Blaney #	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford
30	55	* Michael Waltrip	Peak & BlueDEF Toyota
31	16	Greg Biffle	Ford EcoBoost Ford
32	95	Michael McDowell	Thrivent Financial Chevrolet
33	42	Kyle Larson	Target Chevrolet
34	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford
35	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet
36	4	Kevin Harvick	Busch Fishing Chevrolet
37	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Ford
38	10	Danica Patrick	Aspen Dental Chevrolet
39	41	Kurt Busch	Monster Energy Chevrolet
40	24	Chase Elliott #	NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
41	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s Chevrolet

* Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Full schedule for Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Dale Earnhardt Sr. would have been 65 years old on Friday.

Fittingly, his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., spoke about his father on Friday at Talladega Superspeedway, where the paternal duo has a combined 16 Sprint Cup Series victories.

“It’s crazy to think of what he would have been like at 65 years old,” said the Hendrick Motorsports driver. “You kind of had an idea he wouldn’t have changed a whole lot had he lived a little bit longer, but at 65 and what would he have been like at 80 and all those things would be hard to imagine.”

RELATED: Crew, competitors recall Earnhardt’s final win | See all of his 76 wins

So often in racing — and in sports in general — names and figures come and go as they pass through, their careers short or long.

One has remained constant — Earnhardt.

“One of the best things about it, and I’ve said it before, is that it’s great that people still talk about him. That the sport, his fans, the media, that everybody still acknowledges who he was and what he meant. That is all I care about … that we don’t ever forget just the impact that he had because I felt like he had so much influence, definitely in the top five, top three people that influenced this sport as a whole, as much as Bill (France) Sr. and guys like that. I put him right up there with people that really changed the sport.

“It’s so awesome to see him get that kind of appreciation and recognition after all these years. Hopefully, that is something that never changes. I see it on his birthday and days like this is when I’m reminded of that appreciation that everybody has for him.”

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Pat DeCola

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Following last weekend’s thrilling finish to the Sprint Cup series race at Richmond International Raceway in which Carl Edwards bumped teammate Kyle Busch from the lead to pick up his second straight victory, the lingering question in the days leading up to this weekend’s events at Talladega Superspeedway was if the Joe Gibbs Racing duo would bury the hatchet.

According to Edwards, the two drivers have yet to speak to each other.

“No, Kyle and I have not had a chance to talk yet,” Edwards said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. “I was testing at (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) for two days. I missed the meetings. This weekend will require us to all get together as a group and work well together. I’m sure we’ll have a chance to talk.”

Busch confirmed Sunday at Talladega during the pre-race telecast that he and Edwards still have yet to clear the air, replying to FOX Sports analyst Kenny Wallace‘s question about the situation with a simple, “No.”

Much was made of the move that saw Edwards nudge his teammate Busch, the reigning series champion, up the track in Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap to beat him by .675 seconds on the Virginia short track.

RELATED: Cain: Edwards’ move is what racing is all about

Was it clean? Was it dirty? Should it matter that they’re teammates? Should it matter that they’re both already virtually locked into the Chase for the Sprint Cup by virtue of their early-season wins?

(A NASCAR.com poll revealed that 76 percent of our readers deemed it a clean, racing move, for what it’s worth.)

But it all boils down to how the pair — who’ve been racing against each other full-time for over a decade, but have been teammates for just over a year — will handle things moving forward, both on and off the track.

Busch was understandably terse in his post-race press conference at Richmond on Sunday, deflecting questions about the incident and instead noting how good of a car his team gave him.

The two-time 2016 race winner has yet to offer any comment since.

Posted on April 28, 2016 by

In an effort to improve pit stops, Stewart-Haas Racing has moved around several crew members between its teams.

This past weekend’s Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway saw different faces on different teams. So let’s start with the easy stuff: The No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) and No. 41 (Kurt Busch) looked to be the same as at Daytona. Both teams have been performing at a top level for years, and we didn’t see any changes as of Richmond.

Now the fun stuff. The No. 10 car of Danica Patrick had a different front carrier, rear changer, and rear carrier. The team moved rear carrier Matt Holzbaur to the front and added rear changer Jonathan Sherman and rear carrier Jeremy Howard. Both Sherman and Howard came from the No. 38 team (Landon Cassill), which is pit supported by SHR. The No. 14 of Tony Stewart got a new front changer in Ryan Mulder. Mulder was moved from the rear of the No. 10 to the front of the No. 14.

The No. 38 team got a new front changer, front carrier, rear changer and rear carrier. Bryan Jacobsen moved from the No. 14 is now on the front with Jeff Shoaf, who moved from the No. 10 team. Anchoring the rear are now Chris Jackson and Tyler Bullard, who previously had worked up front on the 38.

From what we can tell, no new pit crew members were hired or fired, just a restructuring of crewmen. Sometimes it takes a shake up to get the best crews together and it looks like SHR is trying to find the best combinations for its teams.

For more pit crew news, visit PitTalks.com.

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Staff Report

Brad Keselowski Racing announced Thursday that it plans to field a third truck in two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races in May.

BKR plans to field the No. 2 Ford for Austin Cindric on May 13 at Dover International Raceway and for Austin Theriault on May 20 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The two will race alongside the Statesville, North Carolina-based team’s two full-time drivers — Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reddick.

The 17-year-old Cindric is scheduled to make just his third Camping World Truck Series start. He was 25th (Martinsville) and 14th (Phoenix) driving BKR’s No. 29 Ford in two appearances near the end of last season.

“A track called the ‘Monster Mile’ shouldn’t be taken lightly,” Cindric said in a news release provided by the team. “They tell me that the two truck races that I was able to do last year at Martinsville and Phoenix were difficult tracks to figure out, and I believe Dover will be the same. As I haven’t been able to test, I’ve been watching as much video as possible while reaching out to as many people as I can to pick their brain about what it takes to be fast at Dover. I’m just going in with no expectations, trying to absorb as much information as possible and have fun with it.”

Theriault, 22, will be making his second start of the year after placing a crash-related 27th in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. He also made nine starts for BKR last season, recording two top-five finishes (Daytona, Texas).

“I was really proud of the effort at Daytona and how strong our performance was, and I feel like Charlotte won’t be any different,” Theriault said. “I’m going there with the expectation to win. I know we will have a strong Ford F-150 race truck at Charlotte and we plan to perform well, just like we did earlier this year at Daytona. At the end of the day, we want to win, and we have all the resources here at BKR to do just that at Charlotte.”

Posted on April 27, 2016 by

This weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway will bring new excitement, drama and possibly a surprising race winner. Hendrick Motorsports is typically known as the organization to beat at the 2.66-mile track, but the recent domination of Joe Gibbs Racing‘s four-car team may threaten the HMS quartet in the battle to top the leaderboard.

In the latest Head-to-Head, NASCAR.com’s Taylor Starer and Maggie MacKenzie debate which team is more likely to prevail at Talladega. Read their thoughts and vote in the poll below with your opinion.

MACKENZIE: Let’s get the Talladega weekend going. There’s something about ‘Dega that makes it so intriguing, from big wrecks to big wins. Now, if there’s one thing certain, it’s that Hendrick Motorsports and the superspeedway go together perfectly. Dale Earnhardt Jr., for example, goes into every ‘Dega race as the clear favorite thanks to his six wins there — his winningest track to date. And let’s not forget his 12 top fives and 16 top 10s, either.

Junior has led multiple laps during each of the last five Sprint Cup races at the Alabama track, so expect the No. 88 to be up front once again and lead.

STARER: Dale Jr. always brings it at Talladega, that’s no secret. But the success Joe Gibbs Racing has seen this season is proving to be unmatchable. For starters, the four-car Toyota team just swept the month of April, with Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards dominating races at Martinsville, Texas, Bristol and Richmond.

Junior and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports wheelhouse have a strong history at ‘Dega, but JGR has some serious momentum this season. I’d be interested to see if Junior’s Talladega knowledge is enough to outsmart everything JGR has learned so far this season.

MACKENZIE: There’s no doubt that the JGR foursome has been on fire lately and whatever ingredients it has been mixing up make for one sweet concoction. With that being said, don’t forget that Hendrick has been having success thus far, too.

“Six-Time” added two wins to his resume this year at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway, while Kasey Kahne earned a season-best, fourth-place result at last week’s Richmond race. And let’s not count out rookie Chase Elliott. Elliott is the best newcomer in the Cup field and his back-to-back top-five finishes at Texas and Bristol proved he can outrace the veterans. It’s only a matter of time before the 20-year-old wheels that iconic No. 24 to Victory Lane.

STARER: All valid points, Maggie. But let’s not forget who won this year’s Daytona 500, the only other restrictor-plate race that the Sprint Cup Series has run this season. That’s right, Denny Hamlin. And it wasn’t Hamlin’s first show of superspeedway success. The No. 11 JGR driver saw Victory Lane at the Talladega spring race in 2014, and his teammate Matt Kenseth won there in 2012.

You make a good argument with Elliott, but this will be the rookie’s first Sprint Cup Series attempt at Talladega, a track known to eat newbies alive. Let’s just hope the No. 24 Chevrolet makes it till the end of the 188-lap event with few scratches.

MACKENZIE: You make a good point there about Hamlin and the Daytona 500, Taylor. My mind, however, keeps going back to this race last year. Hamlin earned a respectable ninth-place finish, but who got the 1-2? That would be Junior and Johnson, who led a combined 117 of the 188 laps run that day. Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards finished 25th and 32nd, respectively.

Talladega is quite unpredictable, but my money is on a similar finish to 2015.

STARER: Ah yes, I was at this race last year and the No. 88’s dominance was tough to beat. There’s no doubt that Junior’s chances of running up front are strong — I just think JGR’s are stronger, especially since Busch is back after missing this race last year. Despite what went down last week at Richmond, the Toyota team seems to be learning as a unit, hence why this team has compiled multiple wins, top-fives and top-10 finishes in 2016. There’s not just one superspeedway star at JGR, which improves its odds, and that’s what matters most.

But, we’ll just have to see where the cards fall. After all, it’s ‘Dega, baby.

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Staff Report

Ty Dillon said Wednesday that he plans to qualify Stewart-Haas Racing‘s No. 14 Chevrolet as part of his relief efforts for owner/driver Tony Stewart this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

Dillon told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that he’s discussed a preliminary game plan with No. 14 crew chief Mike Bugarewicz to split time in the cockpit with Stewart, who made his season debut last Sunday at Richmond after missing the first eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races of 2016 with a broken back.

“Sounds like Tony’s got to get in and make some practice laps to make it official and then I’ll get in and run some practice and not sure if we’re going to draft or what,” Dillon told SiriusXM. “I’ll qualify the car and Tony will start the race and it sounds like he’ll run to maybe the first caution, but you never know with Tony. He might like his race car and want to stay out there.

“But I think he’ll probably run to the first caution, we’ll try and make the swap as quick as possible, hopefully not lose a lap, and we’ll go to racing and hopefully win the race for Tony and hopefully get him that win he needs.”

Stewart, a three-time premier series champion, announced his comeback from injury last Thursday, finishing 19th three days later in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond. In plotting what he called a “strategic approach” for this return, Stewart said he planned to start Sunday’s GEICO 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) but give way to relief driver Dillon during the Talladega race, noting his desire to avoid extended racing at the 2.66-mile track, where the potential for large, high-speed crashes is much greater.

Stewart has a chance to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs in his final season, thanks to a medical exemption granted by the sanctioning body. The waiver allows for Chase eligibility provided all other criteria are met — foremost winning a race and placing among the top 30 in the drivers’ standings.

By NASCAR rules, Stewart would accrue championship points or a potential victory as the driver of record by starting the race — regardless of what percentage of laps Dillon completes.

“The cool thing is, it’d mean I won a Sprint Cup race, so that would be awesome, too,” Dillon said. “In general, if that happens, we’re going to have a great time and everybody’s going to be happy. But there hasn’t been a race in my life where I haven’t gone out and the goal’s not been to win the race. I’m going to do everything as usual and get the best finish possible for Tony and if it ends up being a win, we’re going to have a heck of a party.”

Dillon, 24, divided interim driver duties in the No. 14 Chevrolet with Brian Vickers as Stewart recovered from the injuries he suffered Jan. 31 in an all-terrain vehicle crash. In his three stints behind the wheel, Dillon indicated that he ran a similar seat set-up to Stewart’s, which he said should help facilitate a speedy mid-race driver change in Sunday’s event.

Stewart plans to resume normal full-time driving the following weekend at Kansas Speedway. Dillon is set to continue in his full-time job racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series with part-time detail in NASCAR’s top division as part of an alliance with Richard Childress Racing and Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing.

Regardless of the No. 14 team’s result Sunday, Dillon said the support from Stewart and the rest of SHR has been an enriching experience.

“Not just being able to drive for Stewart-Haas, but to have Tony and the guys have me come out and fill in for the race means so much for me, not only just getting experience but confidence-wise for my career, knowing that someone else believes in me, knows that I can get the job done,” Dillon said. “Tony, every race that I’ve run so far has been such an awesome help on the radio. He’s just such a good guy and always willing to help. He’s done so much for my career in just the past couple months, it’s incredible.

“Excited to be getting back in at Talladega. It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be a little bit different than the past couple of races I’ve ran in the 14 car, but I think we’re going to have a shot.”

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Staff Report

Four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers concluded a two-day Goodyear tire test Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For three-time series champion Tony Stewart, it wrapped up what he said would be the final tire test of his career.

Stewart joined last weekend’s winner Carl Edwards, Aric Almirola and rookie Chase Elliott among drivers involved at the Brickyard, helping Goodyear officials determine the proper tire compound for the Sprint Cup Series’ annual visit on July 24. Stewart was fresh from his season debut at Richmond International Raceway, where he placed 19th after missing eight races with a broken back suffered in an all-terrain vehicle incident Jan. 31.

As was the case Sunday at Richmond, Stewart was in good spirits as he eased back into full-time racing in what is scheduled to be his final NASCAR season as a driver.

“I’m actually having fun up here,” said Stewart, an Indiana native. “This is my last tire test as a driver, so I’ve been having fun working with the Goodyear guys and it’s been kind of fun because three of the main guys here when I started here are at this test, which they don’t always get to come to the same test together. It’s kind of nice to be working with them one last time.

“It’s nice to be home and I think any chance, any time that we’ve had an opportunity to go test here, I always jumped on it. I don’t like to go test — it’s boring to me — but I’ve always liked any chance I got to come up to Indy and test. That’s something I always wanted to do.”

Stewart’s next NASCAR appearance at the venerable Speedway is scheduled this summer, when he’ll compete in what will likely be his final Indianapolis race. The 44-year-old Stewart said he’s had less chance to reminisce about his memories of the home-state track than to get accustomed to the reduced-downforce aerodynamics package that made its debut this year.

“It’s probably more just fresh on my mind of being back in the car. I haven’t driven with this low-downforce package other than just Richmond last weekend, which you aren’t really going to see a big effect of it. Being here and seeing how much different it feels, it’s fun to kind of get acclimated again and that’s the big thing that I wanted to leave here with was just feeling like that I was up to speed with what the aero package was and knowing what the feel is like.”

Edwards has won the last two Sprint Cup races, including last Sunday’s bump-and-run past Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to prevail at Richmond. Edwards said he hadn’t had a chance to speak with Busch about the incident with his quick transition from the Virginia short track to Indianapolis before heading to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend.

Edwards’ more immediate focus was to provide feedback to Goodyear engineers after a battery of tests at the historic 2.5-mile track.

“There’s a lot of stuff to learn here,” Edwards said. “This track, it’s difficult for a number of reasons, but really for me, just the weather today versus yesterday, it’s hard to determine how much of it is the weather. As the track changes, the Goodyear rubber lays down, it changes. The challenge for us is as we make these changes with the car to try to separate the track changes and the temperature changes from the actual changes to the car.

“So it’s a pretty difficult place to test and to figure things out, but that kind of makes it fun. We’ve got my crew chief and my team of engineers over there, and I mean they are going through every … I mean, they’re really over there thinking and working hard, and those kind of challenges are fun.”

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Staff Report

Defending NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series champion Kenny Humpe (The TEAM) found the winner’s circle for the first time in 2016, taking the checkered flag at Richmond International Raceway after leading a race-high 88 of 200 laps.

Humpe comfortably held-off Allen Boes (Deadzone) by 2.8 seconds, while Boes narrowly beat Ray Alfalla (Slip Angle Motorsports) for second. Corey Vincent followed the pair in fourth, 4.4 seconds behind the winner, with Matt Bussa rounding-out the top five.

Humpe started from the outside of the front row and took the lead from pole sitter Nick Ottinger on Lap 26, shortly after the second caution flag of the race. He continued to lead until Lap 83 when the field headed to pit road for service under caution. Alfalla and Cody Byus had better pit stops than Humpe, relegating him to third on the restart.

After the race went back to green Humpe struggled to close on Alfalla and Byus and, instead, settled into third spot. However, as the run wore on Humpe began gaining on Byus and finally passed him on Lap 138. Alfalla had begun to slow by this point and Humpe made his move for the lead on Lap 145 and nearly had a race-ending moment.

As the two raced side-by-side through Turn Three, Humpe suddenly decided to pit for tires but overshot pit entry and narrowly avoided the safety barrels protecting the end of pit wall. Although the mistake cost him time, Humpe kept his car in one piece and safely made it to pit road next time around while Alfalla waited another lap before making his final stop.

That extra lap proved costly to Alfalla, as he re-entered the track behind Humpe in spite of the defending champion’s botched pit entry a couple laps prior. Although Bussa and Boes were ahead of Humpe and Alfalla, Humpe had no trouble dispatching them. The pass on Bussa only put Humpe in eighth, but the seven cars in front of him had yet to make their final stops and were no match for Humpe on fresh tires. He took the lead for the final time on Lap 168 and never looked back.

Unsurprisingly, track position was of the highest importance at Richmond as none of the top five finishers started lower than twelfth and none of the top ten worse than fifteenth.

Several sim racers in the running for the championship encountered trouble at Richmond, including both of the Stergios siblings. Jake Stergios (ineX Racing) was caught up in a crash and finished thirty-eighth while brother PJ sustained damage of his own but was able to continue and salvage a fourteenth place result. Chris Overland also went laps down early but took wave-arounds to get back into contention, finishing a respectable tenth.

PJ Stergios’ issues enabled Alfalla to leave Richmond with a nine-point cushion at the top of the standings with Boes an additional ten points back. Jake Stergios slipped to fourth, 54 points back after his troubles. Humpe’s victory vaulted him to fifth in a dead heat with Overland but, trailing Alfalla by 62 points, he will need more runs like his Richmond win to get himself back into contention.

Week Seven takes the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the first of four consecutive 1.5 mile tracks on the sim racing schedule. Vegas should play-out similarly to the Week Five race at Texas, so look for the Stergios brothers and Alfalla to be at the front. Can Humpe go back-to-back or will Slip Angle and ineX continue their dominance at the downforce tracks? Find out in two weeks on iRacingLive.

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Staff Report

When he announced his return to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing, Stewart-Haas Racing driver and co-owner Tony Stewart said he would qualify his No. 14 Chevrolet this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway and start Sunday’s race, but ultimately give his seat to standby driver Ty Dillon at some point during the GEICO 500 (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

However, Dillon told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday that he would qualify the car and that both he and Stewart would practice the car on Friday.

Stewart’s first race since injuring his back in an offseason all-terrain vehicle accident came last Sunday at Richmond, and Talladega — a 2.66-mile track where peril exists in every moment — was enough of a risk for doctors to ask Stewart to step out of the seat at some point Sunday.

“Smoke” has been granted a waiver that makes him eligible to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He initially was ineligible due to not meeting the requirement of attempting to start every race. Now, he can attempt to qualify for the postseason — the most simple road into the Chase is to win one of the remaining regular-season races and climb into the top 30 in the points standings.

All of which leads to these questions: Does Tony Stewart earn points at Talladega? What would happen if Ty Dillon won?

The answer from NASCAR: If Stewart begins the race, he is the driver of record. The points accrued from whatever place Dillon finishes go into the standings under Stewart’s name. If Dillon finishes the race in the No. 14 and winds up in Victory Lane, it will go down as a victory for Stewart and would count toward his Chase eligibility.