Ty Dillon, Erik Jones top Friday's Phoenix practices

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Staff Report

Practice 3 | Results

Ty Dillon led the final XFINITY Series practice on Friday, closing out the sessions at Phoenix International Raceway.

The Richard Childress Racing driver had a fast lap of 133.087 mph on his final run out of a total of 36 laps.

Current XFINITY Series points leader Daniel Suarez came up short to the No. 3 driver with a speed of 132.787 mph.

Erik Jones, who had led the first two practice sessions at the 1.022-mile track, was third-fastest in the closing round at 132.719 mph.

Defending race winner Kyle Busch was fourth-fastest (132.504 mph) and JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier completed the top five with a speed of 132.382 mph.

Along with Busch, other previous race winners in the field are Brad Keselowski and Elliott Sadler, who were seventh (132.129 mph) and 16th-fastest (130.957 mph), respectively.

The XFINITY Series returns to the track Saturday for Coors Light Pole Qualifying at 11:45 a.m. ET (FS1). The Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200 takes place at 2:30 p.m. ET (FOX).

Practice 2 | Results

Erik Jones found his way to the top of the leaderboard once again in the second XFINITY Series practice on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, after topping the first earlier in the day.

Jones ran the 1.022-mile desert track at a blistering clip of 134.053 mph to edge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and series points leader Daniel Suarez, who clocked in at 133.889 mph. Kyle Busch completed the JGR trio sweep with a best speed of 132.861 mph.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Ty Dillon (132.856 mph) and Brandon Jones (132.763 mph) rounded out the top five. Dillon made a whopping 67 circuits in the practice, the most of any driver.

The session included a lenghty red-flag period as track workers aimed to clean up debris caused by a wreck from the No. 07 driver Ray Black Jr., who broke an oil line and hit the wall.

“It just kind of came out of nowhere,” Black told FS1. “It’s not been a great start for us to the year.”

Practice 1 | Results

Erik Jones zipped to the top of the NASCAR XFINITY Series leaderboard in Friday’s opening practice at Phoenix International Raceway.

Jones drove the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota to a best lap of 134.128 mph on the 1-mile track. His speed was just .041 seconds quicker than second-fastest Ty Dillon, who pushed the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet to a lap of 133.924 mph in preparation for Saturday’s Axalta 200 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM), the fourth race of the XFINITY season.

Ryan Sieg was third-fastest at 133.393 mph with Brad Keselowski and Blake Koch completing the top five.

Points leader Daniel Suarez was 12th-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. Sprint Cup regular Kyle Busch, an eight-time Phoenix winner in XFINITY competition and Suarez’s JGR teammate, did not turn a lap in opening practice in the No. 18 Toyota.

The hourlong session was extended five minutes past its scheduled time after it was interrupted by a crash just past the halfway point involving Brennan Poole, who spun at the exit of Turn 4. Poole’s Chip Ganassi Racing No. 48 Chevrolet crunching into the sand barrels protecting the pit wall abutment. The lengthy clean-up at pit entrance left plenty of teams scrambling to turn laps in the final five minutes of the session.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Staff Report

Stewart-Haas Racing is moving to Fords starting in 2017, creating speculation on the future of some of the team’s drivers.

Kevin Harvick, who has driven a Chevrolet since his first premier series start in 2001, addressed that head-on last Friday morning at Phoenix International Raceway.

“I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t happen,” Harvick said when asked if he would drive a Ford for SHR in 2017. “For me I’m in the best position that I’ve been in with my team. I feel like I have the best crew chief in the garage. It would be pretty tough to turn around and walk out on everybody who has been a part of building everything that we have built so far.”

Harvick, the 2014 series champion, made his 500th consecutive start Sunday. The 40-year-old went on to win the race at Phoenix in a thrilling finish, holding off Carl Edwards for his eighth win at the 1-mile track.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Matt Crossman

Before President Ronald Reagan gave the command at Daytona in 1984, he had a fan in Bobby Allison. The feeling was mutual. The NASCAR Hall of Famer professed his respect for the president in 1982 and was later invited to the White House for a state dinner with Reagan and his wife, Nancy, who died earlier this week at age 94. The story below was told by Bobby Allison to Matt Crossman.

When I won Daytona in ’82, Reagan was going through a political deal where guys were really hammering him about he wasn’t a good enough president about something. In Victory Lane at the 1982 Daytona 500, when they stuck the camera in my face and the microphone in my face, I said, “I love Ronald Reagan.”

It went out all over. Ronald Reagan happened to be watching that broadcast that day and he saw that. So then (my wife) Judy and I got invited to go to the White House for a state dinner, which was quite an affair.

We were up in New York for the ’83 championship banquet. Somebody under his command called and said, “The president would like to have you and Judy at the White House for a state dinner.” I had to go rent a tux — we didn’t wear tuxes yet at the awards banquet. I had a regular suit.

I went across the street there in New York City, got a tux, tried on the pants and shirt, bow tie, all that stuff. I told the guy I wear size 10 1/2 shoe. So he grabs a pair of shoes and sticks them in a shoe box and says, “OK, they’re in there.”

I go to Mike Curb’s apartment in Washington D.C. to get dressed. I get my tux all on and my bow tie and my studs. I put my left foot down into my left shoe. I put my right foot down — into another left shoe.

So here I am, with two left feet. Mike wasn’t there. His sister was there. She called him to see if he had a pair of patent leather shoes for a tux. He said, “Yeah, they’re right there. But you know I have little tiny feet.”

Mike Curb had size 7 1/2 shoes. So I put my size 10 1/2 feet into those 7 1/2 shoes. I was so in agony. Nancy Reagan asked me to dance, and I couldn’t dance. I could barely stand up. It hurt to sit down, even.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 11, 2016) — Days after Ford Motor Company celebrated its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the season, the manufacturer will take home its third NASCAR “Driving Business Award.” Ford is the first three-time recipient of the annual award, which is bestowed upon the Official NASCAR Partner that demonstrates leadership and results through its participation in the NASCAR Fuel for Business (NFFB) Council.

The NFFB Council hosted its first meeting of the year last week in Las Vegas, bringing together an exclusive group of nearly 60 Official NASCAR Partners. Ford has been competing in NASCAR since 1949 and has been a proud member of the NFFB Council since 2007. Council members bring key personnel from across their organization to construct customized deals that help address specific business needs.

As a result of Ford’s participation in the Council in 2015, Ford aligned business goals with a number of Official NASCAR Partners, resulting in highly visible partnerships and a number of programs that were successful in “Driving Business.”

“As a proud member of the Council, winning the ‘Driving Business Award’ for the third time is proof, yet again, of how effective the NASCAR Fuel for Business Council platform is at generating a positive return on investment for partners,” said Tim Duerr, Ford Performance motorsports marketing manager. “At Ford, we’re constantly identifying new and innovative ways to add value to our partnerships, and this tool maximizes our B2B strategy in motorsports.”

As one of the most active participants of the NFFB Council in 2015, Ford identified procurement opportunities, optimized chances for NASCAR partners to purchase Ford vehicles for their fleets, offered participation in Ford’s “Partner Recognition Program” and created successful co-marketing programs. Highlights from Ford’s success in 2015 leveraging the NFFB Council include:

• Ford sold more than 3,500 vehicles through its “Partner Recognition Program”

• Co-marketing programs with MillerCoors, Goodyear and SiriusXM result in nearly 900 vehicles sold

• Ford executed multiple deals that eclipsed $5 million in value

• More than two-thirds of Council members participated in business-to-business deals with Ford

“Ford continues to be a preeminent member of the NASCAR Fuel for Business Council, setting the standard as an active and dedicated partner during our quarterly meetings,” said Steve Phelps, NASCAR executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “Committed to winning both on and off the track, Ford’s ability to execute business-to-business deals delivered results worthy of being a three-time recipient of the award.”

Since the NFFB’s 2004 inception, the Council has facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue and savings to its participating members.

Be sure to watch the next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race — the Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, March 13 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by RJ Kraft

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kasey Kahne looked to have a fast car in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway before smoke began unexpectedly pouring out of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the first of three rounds.

Kahne coasted toward the entrance of pit road off Turn 4. The car did not appear to have any flames coming from under the hood and, after a few minutes, it was towed to the garage.

“I got out of the car about when it started smoking but I shut the car off in Turn 1 after I took the lap and then in Turn 3 it started smoking a little,” Kahne said. “And then I could here it running so I shut everything off, batteries, everything in there. I got out and it was still running. It just kept running until I drove away in the ambulance and then it just shut off. I’m just really confused on what was going on. I really have no idea.”

At the time of the incident, which brought out a red flag, Kahne had recorded the second-fastest lap at 137.190 mph in the opening round of the three-round group qualifying. By the time the round concluded, Kahne was credited with recording the third-fastest lap.

Because he was unable to make it out for the second round of qualifying, Kahne will be assigned the 24th starting spot for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The team is going to a backup engine. As a result, Kahne will start at the rear of the field when the field takes the green flag for Sunday’s race.

The 35-year-old enters the weekend 13th in the standings and coming off his first top 10 of the year (a 10th-place finish at Las Vegas). In 23 starts at Phoenix, Kahne has one win (in November of 2011) with five top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes. In this race last year, Kahne recorded a fourth-place finish.

MORE: Paint Scheme Preview for Phoenix

Posted on March 11, 2016 by RJ Kraft

AVONDALE, Ariz. — The relationship between crew chief and driver is always an interesting one. The crew chief can serve as coach, confidant, motivator, psychologist and in the case of Austin Dillon and Slugger Labbe, a “brother.”

“We are like two brothers a little bit. We are both very aggressive personalities,” Dillon said of his crew chief on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, site of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “He is not afraid to tell me when he thinks I’ve messed up and I’m not afraid to tell him when I think he has messed up.”

Dillon and Labbe’s fiery exchange last weekend during the Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway showcased the intensity of both sides during a tire call on a pit stop at the 1.5-mile track. Dillon went on to overcome a speeding penalty on pit road to record a fifth-place finish in the race, his first top five of the season and first at an intermediate track in his Sprint Cup career.

“It’s a part of being intense,” Dillon said. “I’ve been intense in all the different levels of racing I’ve come up through here. I felt like we lacked a little bit of that intensity that I’m used to when we got to the Cup Series. Slugger kind of brought that back to me.”

Dillon likened his communication with Labbe to that which he had with Danny Stockman Jr., who guided him to championships in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (in 2013) and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (in 2011). Stockman is now the crew chief for the No. 2 XFINITY Series team for which Dillon is one of the drivers.

“Slugger is really good at being blunt with things and I’ve learned to be able to take it, and he can take it, too. That is what I love about him. I can tell him right to his face, ‘Hey this is no good.’ He will go to work on it. Same with me, if he thinks I’m not driving right, I will go to work, too.

“We’ve got a pretty good understanding throughout our team that we are a family on and off the track. If we get into each other, it’s like the big brother/little brother rule — you can mess with him all you want, but no one else can. When it comes down to it, we’ve got each other’s backs. We want the best, we want to win.”

That intensity has served him well in his pairing with Labbe thus far as Dillon moves closer to getting to Victory Lane for the first time in the Sprint Cup Series. The driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is enjoying the best stretch of his Cup career. The 25-year-old sits ninth in the point standings coming into Phoenix thanks to a top five, two top 10s and a near top 10. (A ninth-place at Daytona and a fifth-place at Las Vegas with an 11th-place finish at Atlanta in between.)

“If you look back to last year, we have kind of had this streak going to the end of last year,” Dillon said. “I really enjoy working with Slugger and my group of engineers that are with me. … The work is paying off we just have to keep plugging along and never stop working.”

Since Labbe was placed atop the pit box for the No. 3 team in late June of 2015, Dillon has six top 10s in 24 races with the veteran crew chief. To put that in perspective, Dillon recorded just five top 10s with Gil Martin on top of the pit box for 51 races before RCR made the crew chief change.

With those gains, Dillon’s growth as a driver has not gone unnoticed in the garage.

“I think Austin himself is a student of the sport and he’s paid attention to what he needs to do, how he needs to do things and he continuously gets better,” Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet and a former driver at RCR, said on Friday.

“You can see that from the outside looking in that he wants to concentrate on his job and he wants to go out and get better each and every week. I think a lot of that really started to stem last year from the success that he had in the XFINITY car. As we went through the year, the more success he had, the better he got on Sunday. I think a lot of that just has to do with him getting better as a driver. He is in tune with what is happening on the race track and with the race car it seems just by looking in.”

MORE: Can Harvick win again at Phoenix? | Harvick talks future with SHR

Posted on March 11, 2016 by RJ Kraft

SHOP: Batman v. Superman NASCAR gear

AVONDALE, Ariz. — A hero faceoff will take place next weekend at Auto Club Speedway in the Auto Club 400 with teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. front and center.  

Johnson will sport a Superman paint scheme on his No. 48 Chevrolet, while Earnhardt will carry a Batman paint scheme on his No. 88 Chevrolet ahead of the March 25th release of the movie, “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.”   

At Phoenix International Raceway for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion issued a proclamation.  

“Superman’s going to kick Batman’s butt, bottom line,” Johnson said on Friday at Phoenix, the second of the three-race NASCAR Goes West swing.  

“I didn’t have a say, but I was very happy to end up with Superman,” Johnson said. “I think Mark Martin called me that years ago and some have used that reference and nickname from time to time. I feel it was much more fitting than Batman.”

  Martin, a teammate of Johnson’s at Hendrick Motorsports from 2009 to 2011, gave him that nickname following his win in 2009 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In that race, Johnson passed Martin with 24 laps to go and never relinquished the lead while Martin finished second.

  Earnhardt has a history sporting paint schemes with both superheroes in recent years. In 2012, with “The Dark Knight Rises” as part of his paint scheme at Michigan International Speedway, he won the June race at the two-mile track. As recently as 2014, he sported a Superman paint scheme at Charlotte Motor Speedway (in May) and Michigan (in June).  

Earlier this week, the fire suits for both drivers were revealed; the paint schemes were unveiled in January. 

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Staff Report

Editor’s note: Photo courtesy of Chevrolet Racing

For Justin Dubin of San Diego, California, being the most recent winner of an online Chevrolet Racing sweepstakes could not have turned out any better: He won a brand-new Chevrolet Silverado and a trip to NASCAR’s postseason banquet.

“This has been a great experience, definitely one of the coolest things to happen in my life,” Durbin said before picking up his new pickup last week. “Winning this sweepstakes is a sign that the universe loves me.”

The online sweepstakes, put together by Chevy Motorsports and NASCAR last September, culminated with Dubin winning the Grand Prize, which included a 2016 Silverado and a trip for two to Las Vegas for the 2015 NASCAR Champions Week events and banquet in December.

“The purpose of the sweepstakes is to utilize the platform as an opportunity to work with partners in a capacity that reaches a lot of fans,” said Meagan Quinn, Chevy Racing Digital and Social Media Marketing Manager. “This allows us to reach people who might not otherwise consider Chevrolet.

“The sweepstakes’ creative and call to action of entering for a chance to win, allows us the opportunity to collect opt-ins, with which fans confirm that they are interested in receiving more information from Chevrolet. From there, we can contact them about special offers. This platform has been successful in producing high sales conversions.”

Dubin received delivery of his 2016 Silverado on Friday, March 4, at Courtesy Chevrolet in San Diego.

Chevrolet’s latest online sweepstakes winner already has plans for his new Silverado, which pairs brains with brawn to build upon the legacy of the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickup trucks on the road.

“The Silverado is a great fit for my personality,” Dubin said. “We love the outdoors and plan to tow a lot of toys behind this great truck.”

Posted on March 10, 2016 by

NASCAR Diversity Award recipient Macy Causey was featured in the March issue of Sport Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd alongside other prominent athletes thanks to her running list of racing-related accolades.

In April, the 15-year-old competed in her first race at Langley Speedway in the Late Model Division, becoming the youngest female to race at the .396-mile track. She has NASCAR in her blood, too — her grandmother, Diane Teel, was the first woman to start a race in what is now the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

Causey then went on to receive the Langley Speedway Rookie of the Year honors.

Her most recent accomplishment came in February when she was honored with the NASCAR Diversity Award’s ninth annual Young Racer Award.

The SI feature can be found here.

Posted on March 9, 2016 by

A lot of unknowns and excitement awaits as NASCAR Goes West continues this week at Phoenix International Raceway. In this episode of the Dirty Air Podcast, the crew of Jonathan Merryman, Matthew Dillner and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Regan Smith break down all the hot topics going into the Good Sam 500.

Among the hottest topics:

– Las Vegas was a bust for many drivers, as pit road speeding broke the bank

– The low-downforce package hits a short track for the first time

– Who can stop Kevin Harvick in Phoenix and grab the checkered flag?

Log on to the iTunes Store and subscribe.

Or watch the full replay on YouTube.