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Officials used a combination of science and common sense when it came to preparing the fresh racing surface at Kentucky Speedway for this weekend’s NASCAR tripleheader.


An application of lime helped draw the oils out of the new asphalt and expedited the aging process, while a generous helping of soap and water, removed by pressure washing, cleansed the surface before officials trotted out a device to measure the frictional value of the racing surface.


The 1.5-mile track will host the Quaker State 400 Saturday (7:30 p.m., NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR), the 18th of 36 Sprint Cup Series events of 2016. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and XFINITY Series events are slated for Thursday and Friday, respectively.


An off-season repaving project using a coarser type of asphalt will greet teams in all three series this weekend.


Following a two-day test at the facility (June 13-14), workers continued preparations by using a device known as the tire dragon to work more rubber into the racing surface, using tires that had come off the cars after the test, in an effort to wear off the “new” and hopefully speed up the process of creating multiple racing grooves.


“When we arrived, there was no driving line, no rubber, it was a clean sheet of paper,” Jerry Kaproth, Manager, Testing Logistics and Track Engineering for NASCAR said during last month’s test.


“The goal is not only to allow the rubber to get embedded into the track, but (create) a wide racing groove so we can … get to the point where we’re having double-wide racing. We feel very comfortable with what we see.


“When we’re done … we think it will be a very competitive race track.”


Officials measured the frictional value, or slipperiness, of the racing surface on several occasions to gauge how much rubber was able to adhere to the surface. Measurements were taken before and after the lime was applied, again once the surface had been cleaned and then again after the first morning session during last month’s test.


According to Kaproth, officials saw between a five- and 10-percent increase.


Several drivers participating in the test said rubber buildup was more noticeable in Turns 1 and 2, which are now banked higher than those in 3 and 4.


Kaproth said readings did not indicate any drastic change in the rubber buildup in different turns, but said that “the dynamics of the car handling may indicate that to the driver.


“Our readings are pretty consistent,” he said. “We break the tracks up into three different grooves — low, mid and high — and we average the readings from those three grooves.”


A key component that will determine how much rubber builds up on the racing surface will be the tires provided by Goodyear for this weekend’s races.


According to a release from the company, teams in all three series will run the same left-side tires while Sprint Cup teams will have a specific right-side tire for their event.


The tire choice was made following last month’s organizational test at the speedway and features the same left-side tire code as was used earlier this year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.


The right-side tire is the same, construction-wise, as that which was used at Michigan in June. However, it is a single compound rather than the multi-zone used at several other venues.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Chase bubble heading into Dover


DOVER, Del. — If practice makes perfect, expect a bit of imperfection Sunday when NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams compete in the Citizen Solider 400 here at Dover International Speedway.


Rain that hampered practice on Friday and forced the cancelation of qualifying continued to be an issue on Saturday. The start of the morning practice was delayed briefly and then cut short, and conditions had not improved in time for the day’s final practice to take place.

The result? Two hours or so of track time heading into a race that will determine who remains in contention for this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup and who does not.

Sunday’s elimination race (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the final stop in the opening Field of 16; Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega make up the second round that will see the 12-team field cut to eight.

Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, is one of four drivers outside the top 12 and facing an early exit. He and Jamie McMurray (Chip Ganassi Racing) trail 12th-place Kyle Larson (CGR) by five points. Tony Stewart (Stewart-Haas Racing) and Chris Buescher (Front Row Motorsports) are 15th and 16th, respectively.

“It is not ideal by any means,” Dillon, ninth and 23rd in the two practice sessions, said. “I wish we just had a regular sunny weekend where we could work on the car and really adjust the car, but it hasn’t been that. 

“We’ve got to take our knowledge from everything and do our best job to put together a piece on the track that we can go after. We are going to see how it works out.”


RELATED: Drivers who have been clutch in the Chase

With qualifying canceled, the 40-car field was set per the NASCAR rulebook, leaving officials to determine the lineup based on current owner points. That put Brad Keselowski (Team Penske No. 2 Ford) on the pole with Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota) completing the front row.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and defending series champion Kyle Busch will line up on the second row.

Truex and Kevin Harvick (SHR) are the only two drivers who posted wins in the opening round to lock themselves into the Round of 12. Harvick will start sixth, alongside Joey Logano (Team Penske).

Denny Hamlin (JGR) will start seventh and said his No. 11 team has “had our struggles for sure (in) the first practice, trying to get everything set.

“The balance is not where we need it to be so (we) definitely wanted a little bit more track time. We would like to have it … but we’ve also got some good teammates as well, so we’ll play off that.”

MORE: Starting lineup, rosters for Sunday’s race at Dover

Carl Edwards, the fourth entry out of JGR, said he wasn’t worried about the lack of on-track activity. But it’s been nearly a decade since the 37-year-old scored his only win on the 1-mile concrete track. He hasn’t finished in the top 10 at Dover since 2012 and was 28th here earlier this season.

“My gut (feeling) is we’re going to be just fine,” Edwards said. “We’re going to move through here, go to Victory Lane and move on to Charlotte. But man, this place … it can bite you. You’ve got to respect this place so we’ve got to be smart and think of the big picture.”

Those outside the Chase picture said they were no less certain of what to expect when the green flag drops for Sunday’s race.

“It’s tough,” noted Roush Fenway Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.. “You want to set your car up based off the end of that (final) practice, but you know that the race track is going to get worse than that and it’s going to build more rubber than that. So that’s what we’ve been deciphering back and forth.”

Stenhouse was second fastest in the lone Saturday session and said he felt good about the speed in his No. 17 Ford. Only Jeff Gordon, subbing for the recovering Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, posted a faster lap.

“It drove OK and had OK speed,” Stenhouse said. “Hopefully we don’t mess that up. Sometimes you overthink things and try too much instead of just doing small things and keeping your car close. I think fortunately this weekend we’re close and we can fine-tune it.”

 

Posted on by Staff Report

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup might not begin until September, but several drivers have the opportunity to clinch a spot in the top 30 this weekend at Kentucky Speedway, thus securing a spot in the NASCAR playoffs. To clinch an early Chase berth, a driver must have multiple wins and a top-30 spot.

 

Below are Chase-clinching scenarios for this weekend’s Sprint Cup race in the Bluegrass State:

Brad Keselowski : With three wins this season thus far, last week’s Daytona winner can clinch a top-30 spot if he is 361 points ahead of the 31st spot in the point standings. Second-ranked Keselowski is currently 342 points ahead of 31st-place Brian Scott , so he’ll need help to accomplish this feat.

Carl Edwards : A two-time 2016 victor, Edwards currently has 527 points, 318 points ahead of 31st-place Scott. Like Keselowski, he’ll need to be 361 points ahead of 31st-place post-Kentucky in order to clinch a top-30 spot, and also needs help to achieve this.

Kevin Harvick : While Harvick sits atop the points standings, he only has one win to his name in 2016. He can clinch a top-30 spot this weekend if he’s 361 points ahead of 31st-place, but he’ll need multiple wins to officially solidify his spot. If a new driver were to win each upcoming race, not all drivers with a single victory will automatically make the Chase. With another win, it will be impossible for the 31st-place driver to pass Harvick based on the limited points available for runner-up results and the current close proximity of 30th and 31st-places.

Kurt Busch: Currently at 545 points with one 2016 win, Busch will need to clinch a top-30 spot at Kentucky and earn another win before the Chase begins to officially clinch a spot. He’s in a similar boat to Harvick where he’ll need some help to clinch.

Joey Logano : Logano currently has one win and 531 points, and is 322 points ahead of the 31st-place position. He’ll need to clinch a top-30 spot at Kentucky and earn another win to clinch.

XFINITY Series clinching scenarios

Daniel Suarez: Suarez currently has one win and 499 points and is 412 points ahead of 31st place. To clinch, he needs to win and leave Kentucky with a 451-point lead over the 31st-place driver.

Elliott Sadler : Sadler has one win and 493 Points and is 406 points ahead of 31st. He needs to win and leave Kentucky with a 451-point lead over 31st place in order to clinch.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitor John Wes Townley will not compete as scheduled in Thursday’s truck series race because he is undergoing treatment for a “possible concussion,” his team said in a statement Wednesday.


Townley’s No. 05 Jive Communications Chevrolet will be driven by Parker Kligerman this week at Kentucky Speedway.


A team release announced the news without further detail. It said Townley is hopeful to return to the seat of his truck for the July 20 race at the Tony Stewart-owned Eldora Speedway in Ohio.


Townley was involved in a physical altercation with Spencer Gallagher during the truck race at Gateway Motorsports Park two weeks ago. Townley was fined $15,000 by NASCAR for his actions. He publicly apologized.


Gallagher also apologized for his role in the confrontation. He was fined $12,500 for his actions. Both drivers were placed on probation until Dec. 31.


“I want to apologize to NASCAR and my fans,” Townley said after the fine. “That’s not the way I want to represent myself, Zaxby’s or Jive Communications. I’ll try my best to make sure it never happens again.”


Townley was planning to compete in last Friday’s XFINITY race in Daytona Beach, but withdrew, saying he was focusing on this week’s truck and ARCA race.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR fined Darrell Wallace Jr. $15,000 on Wednesday as a behavioral penalty under Sections 12.1; 12.8 a; 12.8.1 b of the NASCAR Rule Book. Those sections pertain to disciplinary action and NASCAR member conduct.


Wallace criticized NASCAR officials on social media following the XFINITYSeries’ Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway when expressing his displeasure with how the race ended. The finish was reviewed by NASCAR officials as the race ended under caution, and Aric Almirola was declared the winner. 


Section 12.1 of the rule book deals with the general procedure for a violation of NASCAR rules.


Rule 12.8 a deals with NASCAR membership and member conduct.


Rule 12.8.1 b deals with potential penalties and details having to do with member conduct.


The XFINITY Series driver pilots the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and is currently ninth in the series standings after a 20th-place finish at Daytona. 


Also on this week’s penalty report: The No. 1 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team of Jamie McMurray was issued a written warning for failing the pre-race laser inspection system. This is the team’s second warning. After four warnings, a team loses its pit selection for the next applicable race. 

Posted on by Team Release

RELATED: Buy Darlington tickets | ’16 throwback schemes
SHOP: No. 23 gear


A NASCAR ‘Throwback’ weekend at Darlington Raceway and two Toyota Camrys serve as the perfect canvas for Dr Pepper and Orange Crush to pay homage to their history. 

  

David Ragan’s No. 23 Dr Pepper paint scheme will echo the iconic “I’m a Pepper” look that we grew up with. Matt DiBenedetto’s No. 83 is going to stand out in the Orange Crush paint scheme from the 70s.


  

“We’re proud to have both Dr Pepper and Orange Crush featured on our cars for the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway,” said BK Racing owner Ron Devine. “Dr Pepper has been such a loyal partner of ours and we are thrilled to have them bring Orange Crush along for such an iconic race.”


“We’re thrilled to partner with NASCAR and BK Racing in remembering our heritage,” says Derek Dabrowski, Senior Director of Brand Marketing for Crush and Dr Pepper. ” ‘I’m a Pepper’ remains one of the most iconic slogans and jingles in U.S. advertising history, and it’s a great source of pride for ‘Peppers’ everywhere. We’re looking forward to honoring it with NASCAR fans during this throwback weekend.”


“We’re also excited to pay tribute to the rich heritage of Orange Crush,” continues Dabrowski. “We hope by showing off the brand’s throwback creative we can tap into the nostalgic feelings race spectators and our longtime Crush fans have for the brand.”



During the weeks leading up to the race, BK Racing’s social media will throwback to the history of the Dr Pepper brand. Fans can participate by using the hashtag #ImAPepper. Fans who participate will be entered to win autographed merchandise. The contest will run from August 18 through the Darlington race weekend.

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MORE: NASCAR tweaks rules package for Kentucky

As a teenager thrown into NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series with the options of sink or swim, Joey Logano had few places of refuge.

Taking over the No. 20 Toyota of then two-time series champion Tony Stewart at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2009, Logano struggled under the weight of high expectations and a new series against much tougher competition.

But while his Sprint Cup education got off to a somewhat rocky start, it was success in NASCAR’s XFINITY Series that helped keep his confidence up and his progression steadily moving ahead.

And nowhere was that progression more evident than Kentucky Speedway, site of this weekend’s NASCAR triple-header featuring the Camping World Truck, XFINITY and Sprint Cup Series.

Logano, who currently has 25 career victories in the XFINITY Series, earned consecutive wins in 2008, ’09 and ’10 at the 1.5-mile track located in Sparta, Kentucky. His victory in the Meijer 300 in ’08, was his first in a NASCAR national series event.

“I tested here so much growing up,” said Logano, now 26 and competing fulltime for Team Penske in the Sprint Cup and on a partial schedule in the XFINITY Series.

“At Gibbs, this is where we came and tested six or seven times a year; it was a lot. So when I came here in an XFINITY Series car, it was like BOOM! I know this race track. I know what it takes to go fast and we won.”

NASCAR eliminated private team testing prior to the start of the 2015 season. Today, the only on-track time allowed other than race weekends are Goodyear tire tests and a handful of organizational tests.

The additional track time provided a wealth of benefits for Logano. No less important, though, was the overall competitiveness of the Joe Gibbs Racing XFINITY Series program at that time. JGR entries won 49 of 105 XFINITY Series races during the three-year span of ’08-10.

“The cars over there then, like they are now, were dominant,” Logano said. “They were so fast. You just jump in them and win.

“So as a rookie, we would go to race tracks and know exactly what I needed at this track to be able to go out there and win.”

Logano made the move to Team Penske in 2013 and immediately earned his first top-10 championship points finish in the Sprint Cup Series. He has three top-10 results in three outings at Kentucky with Penske, including a runner-up finish last season.

Fourth in points, Logano has finished fifth or higher in his last four Sprint Cup Series starts, including a fourth-place result in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Teams will be attempting to solve the riddle of not only an entirely new racing surface at Kentucky when Saturday’s Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) gets underway, but a new track configuration as well.

In addition to the repave, workers also re-configured Turns 1 and 2 of the track, increasing the banking from 14 to 17 degrees during an extensive off-season upgrade.

The pit exit lane has also been widened from 14 feet to 30 feet and the width of the racing surface in Turns 1 and 2 has shrunk from 74 feet to 56 feet.

RELATED: Teams come to new-look Kentucky for test

Fourteen Sprint Cup teams tested on the new configuration June 13-14. Logano’s No. 22 Ford team, headed up by crew chief Todd Gordon, was among those logging laps and gathering data.

“It’s a different place now,” Logano noted. “But it’s still Kentucky; it still has the same trends.”


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When the lug nut rule first got changed, PitTalks.com was a big advocate against it. Hitting four lug nuts was the future of pit road and over a year and a half, teams had gotten used to the rule and were moving on.

Here’s the reality: the rule has actually crippled two different stats, the first being the pit stop time. Every crew member wants to go fast and going back to five nuts has hurt pit times by over half a second on average, based on our calculations. It’s not easy re-adjusting to slow pit stops, but crews have managed.

On the flip side, the amount of loose wheels has almost gone away. Before NASCAR reinforced the five lug nut rule, we had been tracking known loose wheels at Sprint Cup Series races. We had confirmed 24 loose wheels up until the race at Richmond International Raceway on April 24. Since the rule was reinforced with penalty on April 25 heading into Talladega race weekend, we have only been able to confirm one loose wheel. 

A big reason for that is the penalty that comes with breaking the five lug nut rule. A $20,000 fine and one-race crew chief suspension is a huge hit to teams. Teams have slowed down to ensure no lug nuts come off and that all are tight at the end of the race.

Whether you agree with the rule or not, you can’t argue with the numbers: 24 to 1.

For more pit crew news, visit PitTalks.com.


Posted on by Staff Report

Three days after night racing at Daytona International Speedway, Tony Stewart was behind the wheel.

Of a USAC Midget.

Following a question-and-answer session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the two-time Brickyard 400 winner turned a few laps in Carson Macedo’s sprint car on the dirt Tuesday.

Indianapolis announced it was configuring a dirt track at the infield of the famed 2.5-mile oval as a retirement gift to Stewart.

 

“We’re excited to bring together two of Tony’s biggest passions: dirt track racing and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” track president Doug Boles told NASCAR.com. “Tony means so much to IMS and we really wanted to do something different and special in his honor before his last Brickyard 400. Our fans can’t wait to see all of NASCAR’s stars on July 24 and I know they’ll be cheering especially hard for ‘Smoke’ on race day.”

 

And by the looks of it, “Smoke” loved his gift.