Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Stewart eager for more | See current Chase Grid

 

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.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Complete schedule | See the series standings

STATESVILLE, N.C. – There’s a huge difference between going fast and racing. Chad Kendrick says he was very good at the former, but the latter took some time to figure out.
 
Today, the split-second decisions he makes come from atop the pit box, where Kendrick is crew chief for driver Daniel Hemric and the No. 19 Ford of Brad Keselowski Racing in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series.
 
But there was a time at South Boston Speedway when the Late Models were hauling the mail around the 4/10th-mile oval …
 
“It was the best race I was ever having,” Kendrick, a native of Durham, North Carolina, said recently. “I was running fifth and Denny was leading. He spun or did something and had to go to the back.”
 
“Denny,” of course, was Denny Hamlin, this year’s Daytona 500 champion and winner of 27 NASCAR premier series races for Joe Gibbs Racing.
 
“He drove right back through the field,” Kendrick said. “I’m fourth now (after Hamlin went to the rear); he catches me and he’s not wasting time; he just knocks me out of the way. I was so mad … my tongue’s hanging out and I’m giving it everything I’ve got and this kid is just gone. And I can’t catch him.”
 
Hamlin, Kendrick and a host of others cut their racing teeth on tracks such as South Boston, trying to race their way out of anonymity. South Boston and Langley and Orange County and Southern National have helped make stars and have just as likely crushed dreams.
 
Hamlin might have had a better car on this particular day. But he might have had something else as well.
 
“It kind of hit me then – ‘Alright, I don’t have what they have,'” Kendrick said. “I can go run a good lap. But I can’t run that lap 150 (times) in a row. I can’t do some of the things they can do.
 
“I would love to tell you if I’d had the money … but I don’t think so. I maybe could have won a race here or there. But I don’t have what Brad (Keselowski) has or Ryan (Blaney) or even Daniel — I don’t have what those guys have. I don’t know what it is and I don’t know where they get it from, but something’s there that just clicks. They have it. This was the next best thing.”

RELATED: Sustainability goes from top to bottom with Penske, Keselowski
 
Hamlin succeeded, eventually moving on from the small local venues to become a bona fide NASCAR star. Kendrick made his way out, too, but in a slightly different fashion.
 
Kendrick is no anomaly. The NASCAR garage has its share of crew chiefs who raced and then, for one reason or another, eventually hung up their helmets. Crew chiefs Paul Wolfe (Keselowski) and Rodney Childers (Kevin Harvick) raced, as did Matt McCall (Jamie McMurray) and Greg Ives (Dale Earnhardt Jr.)
 
There were other stops along the way for most, other tasks to complete and other lessons to be learned.
 
Kendrick’s move to the pit box began innocently enough –- Timothy Peters, one of his former rivals from back in the Late Model days – offered him his first crew chief position prior to 2008. The two had worked together previously at Bobby Hamilton Racing (BHR).
 
“I probably learned 75 percent of everything I know about racing from Bobby,” Kendrick said of the 2004 Truck Series champion. “He was really good … if you wanted to know, wanted to learn and grow, he was there for you. Very open and just an awesome guy. …
 
“I loved working for him. I actually compare working here to working for Bobby.”
 
Other stops followed and their paths wouldn’t cross again until Peters called one day with an offer. A partial deal would put Peters on the track and Kendrick on the pit box. “He said, ‘By the way, you’re going to be the crew chief, the only mechanic, the only guy …” Kendrick said of Peters’ proposition.
 
How difficult could that be? Kendrick was about to find out. The two made only a handful of starts in ’08 and by the next season, the team added a second truck for a few races just to start and park and stay afloat financially.
 
When NASCAR instituted a new pit procedure rule for the Truck Series in ’09, things didn’t get any easier.
 
“That was the year that you did pit stops where you couldn’t do fuel and tires at the same time,” he said. “We never had enough people. I was the crew chief, I would jack on the tire stop, come back, throw the helmet and apron on, and fuel (the truck) during the fuel stop.”
 
The saving grace was a midseason call from Red Horse Racing owner Tom DeLoach, who wanted both Peters and Kendrick for his organization. The payoff came a few months later, in late October at Martinsville. Peters led 84 laps en route to his first series victory.
 
It was Kendrick’s first win as a crew chief, and remains his most memorable.
 
“One, it was at Martinsville with Timothy,” he said. “He and I had been through so much. … Going through all that and to get him his first win just meant a lot.
 
“The win last year (at Bristol Motor Speedway) with Blaney was the most exciting. It was the most dominant truck I’ve ever had and special in that as soon as we unloaded for practice, it was ‘OK, we’re the truck to beat.’
 
Blaney qualified on the outside of the front row and led the first 37 circuits at Bristol before a penalty for jumping the restart send him to the rear of the field.
 
“Then he drives all the way back through the field and wins the race,” Kendrick said. “That one was just really cool. You can be the best truck and you don’t win because your crew had a bad stop or something breaks or somebody gets into you … anything. The smallest things can happen. … But Ryan got determined. So that one is up there.”
 
Kendrick’s six wins have come with five different drivers – Peters, Blaney (2), John King, Parker Kligerman and Joey Logano.
 
“I wanted to give Brad his first (Truck) win,” Kendrick said, adding it was a “big battle” between he and fellow Brad Keselowski Racing crew chief Doug Randolph. But it was Randolph calling the shots when the team owner/driver made it to the winner’s circle, also at Bristol in 2014
 
“Just a couple of weeks ago, Brad gave Joey the truck we won with last year at Martinsville. I told Joey ‘Don’t ever run another truck race,'” Kendrick said. “Because I’m probably not going to be known for much of anything, but at least I can tell my grandkids I gave Joey Logano his only truck win.’ Doesn’t mean a lot, but …”

RELATED: Inside the new Chase format for the series
 
Now, he’ll try to add Hemric to his list of winning drivers. Hemric, 25, is in his first season with the organization and sits seventh in points after three races.
 
Teammate Tyler Reddick, 20, is a two-time race winner and driver of the team’s No. 29 with the veteran Randolph calling the shots. He’s 16th in points.
 
Next up for the series is the Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway (Friday, May 6, 8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the first of a three-week swing that includes stops at Dover International Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
 
Kendrick said both drivers are ready to get back on the track. Expectations remain high.
 
“At the front end of the year I would have told you we’d have a win by now,” he said. “I really thought we would. We’ve had brand new trucks all three races.
 
“I know we’ll win a race, both of our guys. I don’t think stretch to say we’ll win 2-3 in a row, between our teams.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

VOTE: Was Edwards’ move clean or dirty?

 

Carl Edwards was still smiling when he walked into the Richmond International Raceway media center to talk about his thrilling NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win an hour earlier Sunday afternoon. He surveyed the room of reporters and had a little small talk with crew chief Dave Rogers and team owner Joe Gibbs.

Then, to his credit, he got right to it.

“First off, if my cat ever gets sick, I don’t care how much it costs, I will take it to the Banfield Pet Hospital if that helps,” Edwards said, allowing a wide smile after immediately plugging his teammate Kyle Busch‘s race sponsor even before his own, XFINITY.

Earlier, Edwards landed his trademark victory back flip after the checkered flag. But what happened on the white flag lap with Busch may require some additional cordial contortions as well.

And that’s OK. That’s racing. The kind that pumps hearts and generates excitement.

Edwards’ bump-and-run pass — importantly, not bump-and-wreck — of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Busch on the last lap of Sunday’s race capped off an intriguing day of competition and amazingly marked the first time in the Richmond track’s long and storied history that a race was won with a final-lap pass.

The crowd was thrilled with the finish. The media was abuzz with the drama. And somewhere in heaven, Dale Earnhardt was having a good
“attaboy” moment too.

Lug nuts, schmug nuts. There was no talk of that Sunday afternoon. The week’s earlier dramatic obsession with pit stops was completely overshadowed by what makes this sport so good: actual close and dramatic racing on track. And daring last lap passes as Edwards had just executed.

It probably wouldn’t have mattered if it were Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle versus Ricky Stenhouse Jr. or Jimmie Johnson blowing by Dale Earnhardt Jr. — well, OK maybe on that one.

It was good stuff. The reason people like this sport.

So, while Edwards was grinning after the race, his JGR teammate Busch was understandably not, his Toyota having been carefully rearranged by Edwards last charge for a victory.

Busch, clearly and understandably unhappy with his “adjusted” finish, went into a bit of the NFL’s Marshawn Lynch mode in the media center afterward — repeating the same answer to both questions about the last lap contact with Edwards.

It was the second time in the season’s nine races that team owner, Joe Gibbs has had to address this kind of situation — which, if you think about it, isn’t a super bad thing.

Denny Hamlin‘s win in the season-opening Daytona 500 came on a last lap blow by of JGR teammate Matt Kenseth.

Gibbs was honest when asked about the team dynamics after such dramatic finishes between teammates.

“It’s a tough thing because it’s certainly painful for one side,” Gibbs said. “You’re on such a high with the other side. It’s tough. You kind of know what we’ll do is kind of go to work and work our way through it.”

Edwards said he and Busch did not speak after the race, but also anticipated some discussion before this week’s stop at Talladega Superspeedway, which interestingly enough so often relies on drafting “partners.”

“I wish it was anybody but my teammate that we had to race like that with,'” Edwards said. “Big picture to me, we both got wins (already) and we’re both in the Chase and it’s fun to race your teammate for the win.'”

Edwards’ crew chief Dave Rogers — who is also Busch’s former crew chief — was direct with his assessment. And he said what most race fans feel.

“If we look at the big picture, today was a great day for NASCAR,” Rogers said, reiterating that he and Busch are still close friends. “Our fans don’t want to see teammate orders. They don’t deserve teammates to fall in line. They deserve good, hard racing.

“So, I think today was a great day for the sport. It stinks that we had to move a teammate. I’m sure (Busch’s crew chief) Adam (Stevens) and I will talk about it and Carl and Kyle will talk about it. But I think it would be very disappointing to our fans if Joe imposed a team order and told us, ‘Hey, have a parade instead of a race.’ “

If Edwards hadn’t have made the move, we’d be having a whole different, much more difficult conversation.

Instead, NASCAR has another shining example of what draws people to this sport: close racing, dramatic finishes and lots of “can-you-believe-that?” instances.

True last-lap passes are what people want to talk about. Not lug nuts, councils or pit road penalties. That’s not where the authentic action is.

Busch will have a chance to “equal the score.”

It’s called intense competition.

Would Busch have done the same thing on Sunday? Of course he would.

Will he if some opportunity presents itself in the future? You bet.

Edwards knows its coming. And so do we.

That’s why people love this sport.

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing team of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was assessed a P3 penalty for a violation at Richmond International Raceway, a punishment that includes the suspension of crew chief Nick Sandler.
 
During opening day inspection, the No. 17 did not meet vehicle safety specifications. According to the penalty report, the steering wheel coupling did not meet the SFI 42.1 specification, which relates to the steering wheel quick disconnect/release.
 
Sandler has been suspended from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points events through May 4, which entails one race — this weekend’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Additionally, he was fined $20,000 and is on probation until Dec. 31.
 
Stenhouse, who finished 26th at Richmond, currently sits 19th in the points standings.
 
In addition to the penalty on the No. 17 team, two other teams were issued written warnings for failing pre-race inspection.
 
The No. 48 of Jimmie Johnson failed twice at the template inspection and the No. 14 of Tony Stewart failed twice at the LIS (laser inspection system) station.
 
Both received a written warning as it was the first offense for each.

Posted on by Staff Report

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s infamous banana-and-mayo sandwich turned into a $159,935.33 fundraising endeavor.

The No. 88 driver announced on April 7 that JR Motorsports would be turning his favorite lunch sandwich into an opportunity to raise money for Blessings in a Backpack, a nonprofit organization that raises funds to help provide food for hungry elementary school-age children across America. After nearly three weeks of donations to the fundraiser’s website DaleJrSandwich.com, Junior took to Twitter to announce the total amount raised.

This announcement comes on the heels of Earnhardt’s XFINITY Series win at Richmond International Raceway, when he took the checkered flag driving the No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet. Earnhardt toasted the win in Victory Lane by chowing down on a banana-and-mayo sandwich.

Donations to the Dale Junior Foundation will continue to be accepted at thedalejrfoundation.org. 

WATCH: Junior eats favorite sandwich in Victory Lane

Posted on by Staff Report

Photos courtesy of Jeff Gordon‘s Twitter account, @JeffGordonWeb

RELATED: Photos of Gordon through the years


Christmas arrived in April at Hendrick Motorsports on Tuesday, and it was worth the wait. Four-time champion Jeff Gordon was on hand with team owner Rick Hendrick to distribute some pretty slick hardware.


Celebrating Gordon’s career in style, Hendrick and the NASCAR on FOX broadcaster gave out more than 600 rings commemorating the driver of the No. 24’s legendary career.


Gordon tweeted about the special gathering.


Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Buy Darlington tickets | ’16 throwback schemes | SHOP: Bayne gear


Trevor Bayne and Roush Fenway Racing have unveiled the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford that will take the track at Darlington Raceway for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 (Sept. 4, 6 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on Labor Day weekend.

Bayne’s car will carry the same red, white and blue design that Mark Martin‘s Ford did during the 1996 and 1997 seasons in the sport’s top series. Martin won four races with the look in the two years.

“It’s an honor any time you are mentioned alongside Mark Martin,” Bayne said in a team release. “He obviously contributed a lot to Roush Fenway and this organization, so to carry a paint scheme that he ran for the second year in a row is really cool.  Our team has been working really hard and running well this season, so I’m hopeful that we can make Mark proud.”

Last year at Darlington, Bayne honored a different paint scheme that Martin drove in 1998. You can see that paint scheme here.

“It’s going to be really cool to see that car on the track again at Darlington,” Martin said in a team release. “It’s always been one of my favorite paint schemes and we had a lot of good times taking that car to Victory Lane and leading a lot of laps during that time. I look at it as a tribute to all the guys that put the hard work in on those cars and gave us the opportunity to go out and compete each week.”

Check out the original look driven by Martin below.

Posted on by Staff Report

Tony Stewart, fresh off his return to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, is among the four drivers scheduled to take part in a two-day Goodyear tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

Stewart, who missed the first eight points races of the 2016 season due to a back injury, made his first start of the season in this past weekend’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. He finished 19th in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

 

He is currently scheduled to qualify and start this weekend’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) but will turn over the driving duties to NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Ty Dillon at some point during the race.

Drivers expected to join the three-time series champion for the Goodyear test on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis track are Aric Almirola (No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford), Carl Edwards (No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) and Chase Elliott (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet). Edwards enters this weekend’s race at Talladega with a two-race win streak, having won at Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway.

 

Because it is a Goodyear test, the grandstands will not be open. However, fans may view the action from the Turn 2 viewing mounds located adjacent to the Hall of Fame Museum.

 

This year’s Crown Royal Presents the ‘Your Hero’s Name Here’ at the Brickyard 400 is scheduled for Sunday, July 24 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Staff Report

PJ Stergios (ineX Racing Team) became the first multiple-race winner in the 2016 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series Powered by iRacing by passing Slip Angle Motorsports’ Ray Alfalla for the lead with 15 laps to go at Texas Motor Speedway. The two were clearly the class of the field, leading a combined 148 of 167 laps, but Stergios got the best of Alfalla on the long run to the checkers.

 

The battle for third came down to the wire with Nicholas Johnston (HPM) holding-off Jake Stergios by less than two-tenths of a second. Logan Clampitt, making his series debut, finished an impressive fifth.

 

Stergios trailed Alfalla by around half a second after the two made their final pit stops under green but quickly closed to the leader’s bumper in only a handful of laps. Stergios hounded the former series champion for nearly 20 laps, waiting for a rare mistake.  His chance finally materialized when a lapped car on fresher tires passed Alfalla on the outside entering Turn Three. The pass forced Alfalla to compromise his entry, enabling Stergios to draw alongside down the front straightaway. The pair battled side-by-side for a couple of laps before Stergios cleared Alfalla and began pulling away.

 

“The last stint was pretty crazy with guys on all sorts of different strategies, so well done by everyone for keeping it going for so long despite some very close moments,” Stergios said.

 

Alfalla took control of the race early on, needing just six laps to assume the lead from his outside pole grid position. However, the race was not without incident for Alfalla. On Lap 82 he brought his car to pit road for routine service and, since he pitted early in the window, found himself in heavy traffic after returning to the track.

 

Not even a lap later, Dylan Duval got loose and slammed the wall off Turn 4, forcing Alfalla to dive to the grass in avoidance. Fortunately for Alfalla the off-road excursion did not damage his car, but a caution for another crash four laps later robbed him of valuable track position.

 

While Alfalla had unlapped himself after his green-flag stop, having fresh tires was so critical he pitted again under the caution and restarted eleventh on Lap 92. Alfalla had little trouble with traffic and by Lap 126 he was already back in the runner-up spot behind Stergios. Knowing passing Stergios on track would prove difficult, Alfalla chose to pit a lap earlier than his rival. While that enabled Alfalla to take the lead, in the end he could not hold it.

 

Stergios’ win broke the tie with Alfalla atop the championship standings. Stergios now leads by three points over Alfalla as the two have begun distancing themselves from the rest of the field. Jake Stergios is third, 21 points back of his brother. He is followed closely by Allen Boes, who is only a single point back in fourth after an eighth place effort at Texas. Chris Overland still holds fifth despite finishing 37th in the Lone Star state, but he is now 58 points behind and just two in front of Andrew Fayash III, who is in the running for “biggest surprise” of the sim racing season thus far.

 

Next up on the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series schedule are the tight confines of Richmond International Raceway. The .75-mile short track is the only venue on the schedule less than a mile in length and will force teams to build a much different setup than the last two races.

 

With the 2016 season quickly turning into the PJ Stergios vs. Alfalla show at the front, can any other sim racers challenge their dominance? The uniqueness of Richmond may play into the field’s hands but Stergios and Alfalla will be bringing their A-games to the virtual Virginia track — as usual. Who will find their way to Victory Lane? Find out in two weeks on iRacingLive!