Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 1 results



Martin Truex Jr. set the early pace in Friday’s opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.



Truex hustled the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota to a best lap of 133.562 mph around the 1.058-mile track. He’ll seek his first Granite State victory in Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the 19th of 36 points-paying Sprint Cup races this season.



Carl Edwards was second-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota, with his 133.380-mph lap bumped off the top spot late in the 85-minute session. Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch, a New Hampshire winner in this race last July, was third-best in another Gibbs entry, the No. 18 Toyota.



Kurt Busch (133.091 mph) landed the fourth-fastest lap with JGR driver Denny Hamlin (132.956) completing the top five.



Alex Bowman , substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he recovers from concussion-like symptoms, notched the 13th-fastest lap in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet. Bowman, a part-time competitor in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for JR Motorsports, is scheduled to make his first Sprint Cup start of the season in Sunday’s 301-lapper.



Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series is scheduled for 4:45 p.m. ET (NBCSN). Two additional 55-minute practices are scheduled Saturday at 10 a.m. ET (CNBC) and 12:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN).

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Drivers react, offer thoughts on Earnhardt Jr. news


Hendrick Motorsports indicated that Jeff Gordon would return to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr. next weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway if Earnhardt has not fully recovered from concussion-like symptoms.



Gordon, a four-time champion in NASCAR’s premier series, ended his full-time driving career last season. All of his 93 victories and 797 starts came during his 23-year career with Hendrick Motorsports, which fields four cars including the No. 88 Chevrolet driven by Earnhardt Jr.



Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that Earnhardt would miss this Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with concussion-like symptoms. Earnhardt also missed time in the 2012 season, sitting out two races after sustaining two concussions in a stretch of six weeks.



Doug Duchardt, Hendrick Motorsports’ general manager, revealed the striking news of Gordon’s possible Indy return on July 24 in the Crown Royal Presents the Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the Brickyard during a press conference Friday morning at New Hampshire. Gordon is NASCAR’s all-time winningest driver at the historic Brickyard with five Indianapolis victories on his Hall of Fame-worthy resume.



Duchardt said that there was no timetable for Earnhardt’s return to competition, reiterating the organization’s stance from Thursday’s announcement.



“I really don’t want to speculate past Indy,” Duchardt said. “I think we just want to take it one race at a time here. I think putting any speculation past that is assuming that Dale is not going to be ready for that amount of time. We will obviously be thinking about contingency plans, but we don’t have anything formalized for sure past Indy.”



Alex Bowman will be making his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start of the season in the Hendrick No. 88 Chevrolet. Bowman, 23, is also a part-time competitor for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.



Duchardt indicated that Gordon was not strongly considered for this weekend’s duty at New Hampshire because before Thursday, all indications were that Earnhardt potentially needed only a relief driver instead of a full-fledged replacement. Additionally, Gordon revealed Thursday that he was currently in France, which would have made for a tight turnaround to prepare for competition in New England this weekend.



NASCAR spokesperson David Higdon said that for Earnhardt to return to racing, competition officials would need notice of medical clearance from an independent, board-certified neurologist. Duchardt said that the team would make a determination by the middle of next week for the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet at Indianapolis.



“For (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and the team, certainly the way Jeff sits in the car and what we have to do to prepare the car for Jeff they have to get ready for that,” Duchardt said. But, I think I would be looking around Wednesday time frame.”



Ryan Newman , a 15th-year veteran with Richard Childress Racing, said that a driver of Gordon’s caliber would likely be capable of competitively rejoining the series without signs of rust.



“Yeah, just because you go to the nude beach for a couple of months doesn’t mean you don’t know how to put your underwear back on,” Newman said, prompting laughter in the NHMS media center.

Posted on by Staff Report

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup doesn’t begin until September, but several drivers have the opportunity to clinch a spot in the top 30 this weekend at New Hampshire Motor 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 races at New Hampshire:


NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Possible to Clinch:


Kyle Busch (3 Wins, 521 Points, +304 Points Ahead of 31st) — Busch can only clinch a top-30 spot with help.


Carl Edwards (2 Wins, 566 Points, +349 Points Ahead of 31st) — Edwards needs to clinch a top-30 spot, which he should be able to do before the Chase cutoff as he’s 349 points ahead of 31st now. With multiple wins, the clinching of a top-30 spot will also clinch his Chase berth.


Kevin Harvick (1 Win, 599 Points, +382 Points Ahead of 31st) — Harvick has already clinched his top-30 spot, but the only way he can clinch a Chase berth at this point is by being a multi-race winner, so his only chance to clinch at New Hampshire is with a win.


Kurt Busch (1 Win, 583 Points, +366 Points Ahead of 31st) — Can clinch with a win.


Joey Logano (1 Win, 533 Points, +316 Points Ahead of 31st) — Can clinch with a win.


Martin Truex Jr (1 Win, 514 Points, +297 Points Ahead of 31st) — Needs some help next week to clinch a top-30 and would also need a win to join the multi-winner club to clinch his Chase berth.


NASCAR XFINITY Series

Possible to Clinch:


Erik Jones (2 Wins, 480 Points, +393 Points Ahead of 31st) — Jones has multiple wins and clinched a top-30 spot in the standings at New Hampshire, sealing his Chase berth.


Daniel Suarez (1 Win, 537 Points, +450 Points Ahead of 31st) — Suarez has clinched a top-30 spot, but can only clinch a Chase berth by joining the multi-winner club, so he did not clinch at New Hampshire.


Elliott Sadler (1 Win, 528 Points, +441 Points Ahead of 31st) — Sadler has clinched a top-30 spot, but can only clinch a Chase berth by joining the multi-winner club, so he did not clinch at New Hampshire.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full starting lineup | See every car in the field


LOUDON, N.H. — After one of the roughest stretches in his career, Jimmie Johnson got a welcome boost on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.


Saving his fastest lap for the third and final round of knockout qualifying, Johnson won the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (1:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN), covering the 1.058-mile distance in 28.430 seconds (133.971 mph).


The pole was the 50th won in a Chevrolet SS in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.


Johnson edged Kyle Busch (133.830 mph) for the top starting spot by .030 seconds, earning his first pole at the Magic Mile, his first of the 2016 season and the 35th of his career.


Busch, however, owned the fastest lap of the day, running 134.080 mph (28.407 seconds) to pace the second round, but Johnson was quickest when it counted most.


With only one top 10 in his last nine races, Johnson needed a catalyst, but his car was so off-kilter during a mock qualifying run during opening practice that he thought something had broken on the No. 48 Chevrolet.


While his team reset the car to the specifications in place when it unloaded, Johnson went on a 32-mile bike ride with fellow driver Matt Kenseth to clear his head.


When he returned for time trials, the car was better.


“We had a really weird set of tires or something odd go on on our mock run at the end of practice,” Johnson said. “It felt like something was broken on the car. So to come back and have good speed in the car and advance, I knew after round two we would have a shot at the pole, because we were able to keep our lap count down and advance to the next round on our first lap in each session. 


“And then put together a smooth lap. I felt like it could have been faster, but certainly a good smooth one, and it was enough.”


And having speed in the car was a shot of adrenaline to a team that has been struggling.


“We’ve had a lot of tough races,” Johnson acknowledged. “Qualifying has been so-so. I’m not the best at qualifying. I think the majority of that emotion was the fact that we actually got a pole. 


“We don’t have many. It’s not our strong suit. Just a good day all-in-all, and certainly something this Lowe’s team needed after the tough couple of months… Today’s a big day for us.”


Martin Truex Jr. will start third, after bumping his way into the final 12 .001 seconds over fellow Toyota driver Carl Edwards in the closing seconds of the 10-minute second round. Truex covered the distance in 28.675 seconds (132.827 mph) to knock Edwards out of the final round.


Truex then secured the third position on the grid with a lap at 133.371 mph.


“It’s been a hectic day,” Truex said. “It seems like we’ve been thrashing all day long. Everything is last-minute, last-second and just throwing stuff at it, but when it counts we keep hitting it.


“We were first in practice and third here. We barely made it through the second round and then went on to finish third. All in all, it was a good day. Just a lot of quick decisions by everyone.”


Kurt Busch will start fourth, followed by Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano , who led the first round of time trials at 133.166 mph.


Chase Elliott , Kevin Harvick , Brad Keselowski and AJ Allmendinger claimed the seventh through 10th starting spots, respectively.


Substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who is sidelined with concussion-like symptoms, Alex Bowman earned the 20th starting position in the No. 88 Chevrolet. Though Earnhardt wasn’t at New Hampshire, he nevertheless contributed to Johnson’s pole-winning run.


“He did come here and test for us,” said Johnson, who is driving a new chassis this week. “And he gave us the foundation for the way our cars unloaded today. So big thanks to the 88 team, Dale and (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and those guys for having a great test session and giving us an opportunity for the pole today.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. — Alex Bowman recently got perhaps the most important phone call of his career.

And he sent it to voicemail.

It was No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crew chief Greg Ives on the horn, calling to see if the 23-year-old could fill in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. — battling concussion symptoms — this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“Yeah, it’s been a crazy 12 hours for sure,” Bowman said Friday at the track. “I think the first time Greg called me I was at work, so I didn’t even answer. But it’s definitely not the circumstances that I want to get an opportunity like this.

“… Obviously I’m hoping Dale feels better, but at the same time it’s the best opportunity I’ve ever had in my life. I’m ready to just plug into their program and do my job. I’ll give them the best feedback I can and go from there. I’m really confident in the whole team. Obviously they bring great race cars to the track every weekend, so if I just do my job I feel like we would be good to plug into it.”

Bowman will take over the reins of the No. 88 in Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for a one-race shot in the Sprint Cup Series, his first start of the year after back-to-back full slates in 2014 and 2015. Should Earnhardt need another week to recover, HMS officials noted that recently retired four-time champion Jeff Gordon would be behind the wheel at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Gordon in at Indy if Junior can’t drive

The young, talented Bowman is a part of Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports stable, taking on a nine-race stint in the XFINITY Series in the No. 88 Camaro. His rapport with the organization — his four straight top-10 finishes so far this year probably didn’t hurt either — made the decision a near lock.

“Dale and Greg and I felt like Alex (Bowman) was the right person,” said Doug Duchardt, Hendrick Motorsports General Manager. “He’s run the XFINITY car. He’s done a good job in that car. He is part of the JR Motorsports system and part of our system. And so, Greg reached out to Alex. Alex came in Tuesday night to get fitted for the car.”

For Bowman, the once highly touted prospect whose career took a detour after losing his Sprint Cup ride in January — and finding out about it on Twitter, no less — it’s another positive opportunity that comes via Earnhardt, albeit in an unfortunate way this time around.

After the Arizona native learned he was jobless in late January, Earnhardt stepped in to work with Bowman to come up with a partial XFINITY Series schedule for the driver after he ran two races for the organization in 2014.

While those two races didn’t result in spectacular finishes (12th at Charlotte, 17th at Phoenix in the No. 5), it paid off for JRM in 2016, as Bowman now sports a sterling 6.25 average finish through four races.

“I think I can really thank Dale, Jr. for saving my career two years ago pretty much, with those two XFINITY races at Charlotte and Phoenix, and then for the opportunity to run nine races this year with him,” said Bowman, who placed 13th in the first practice session Friday with a best speed of 132.172 mph.

“Obviously, we have been knocking on the door to get some wins and it has been a lot of fun.

“He has been a good friend to me. He has been somebody that I can lean on all the time. Obviously, I hate to see him not feeling well. That was my first thought, but he has done a lot for my career and I couldn’t be any more thankful than I am. I owe him a lot. It’s just been an honor to get the phone call to fill in for him.”

 

Posted on by Nascar



NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson will return to the Camping World Truck Series, and to the dirt, when the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver competes for GMS Racing in next week’s stop at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.


The Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby is scheduled for Wednesday, July 20th (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).


It will be just the second Truck Series start this year for Larson, 23, and his 12th overall in the series. He finished fourth with the GMS team earlier this season at Martinsville Speedway.


Larson has two previous Truck starts at Eldora, finishing second in 2013 and 26th the following year. The well-known dirt track was also the site of a record-equaling run by the Elk Grove, California, native. In 2011, Larson became only the second driver to win all three races on the same night in the Four Crown Nationals.


“We ran three different types of cars there in one night — Midget, non-wing Sprint cars and Silver Crown,” he said. “That was my first time at Eldora. I won a Midget race the next year there and then I’ve crashed really hard there a couple of times.


“It’s a cool, historic race track with very prestigious races going on there. … If I could win a Truck race there it would be pretty special.”

His 26th-place finish in ’14 is misleading. The young driver was battling with eventual race winner Darrell Wallace Jr. in the closing laps when he continued to make hard contact with the wall, damaging his truck and taking him out of contention.


It likely played a role in his decision not to return to the event as a driver last season.


“I don’t know; I honestly didn’t have a ton of fun” he said of the ’14 effort. “It was slick and slow. I guess I made it exciting to watch on TV, hitting the wall and stuff. … This year with Rico (Abreu) running and (Christopher) Bell being in it, and I thought there would be some more of those guys in it, I just thought it’d be fun to get back out and run the race again.


“I’m hoping it rains a lot before the race so the track can be wet and sticky and rough.”


GMS Racing fields fulltime entries for drivers Johnny Sauter and Spencer Gallagher as well as additional entries for a variety of drivers.


Larson said talks earlier in the year enabled him to land the Martinsville ride and that at the time the group had “a few other races that were options I could run. I chose Eldora as one of them.


“GMS is a really good team, they have really great trucks, great people there,” he said, “and an awesome race shop.”


DC Solar, which sponsors Chip Ganassi Racing driver Brennan Poole in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, will sponsor the Larson entry at Eldora. The company also sponsored Poole in last year’s Camping World Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.


Larson is winless in Sprint Cup competition, but has four wins in the XFINITY Series and one victory in the Camping World Truck Series.


Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Dale Jr. out at New Hampshire


Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday evening that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would miss this weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway due to concussion-like symptoms.


Drivers, crew chiefs and others were quick to offer their support via social media.


Posted on by Staff Report



RELATED: Drivers react to Junior news

 

Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not compete in this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after experiencing concussion-like symptoms.

The team indicated in a statement that physicians did not clear Earnhardt to race after an evaluation this week. Alex Bowman, who drives part-time for Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports team in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, was named as this weekend’s interim driver in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet for Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM).

Earnhardt started and finished 13th last weekend at Kentucky Speedway. The 41-year-old driver ranks 13th in the drivers’ standings with eight races left in the regular season.

“I wasn’t feeling great the week going into Kentucky and thought it was possibly severe allergies,” Earnhardt said in a statement provided by the team. “I saw a family doctor and was given medication for allergies and a sinus infection. When that didn’t help, I decided to dig a little deeper. Because of my symptoms and my history with concussions, and after my recent wrecks at Michigan and Daytona, I reached out and met with a neurological specialist. After further evaluation, they felt it was best for me to sit out.

“I’m disappointed about missing New Hampshire this weekend. I’m looking forward to treatment with the goal of getting back in the race car when the doctors say I’m ready.”

 

The team indicated that there was no clear timetable for Earnhardt’s return and that it would provide an update next week regarding his status for Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 24.

Earnhardt missed two Sprint Cup Series races in the 2012 season after suffering two concussions in a six-week stretch. This spring, Earnhardt said he would donate his brain to science upon his death, helping contribute to the growing research field of sports brain trauma. He said in April that he had contacted the Concussion Legacy Foundation and the Boston University center for CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) studies.

“I’m proud of Dale for standing up,” said Rick Hendrick. “The number-one priority is his health, so we’re going to give him all the time he needs. We completely support the decision by the doctors and will be ready to go win races when he’s 100 percent. In the meantime, we have full confidence in (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and the team, and we know they’ll do a great job.”

The development throws Earnhardt’s postseason status into question. By missing a regular-season start for medical reasons, he would need a waiver from competition officials to be eligible for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, provided he meets all other criteria — a regular-season win plus top-30 standings in points, or qualifying as part of the top points-earners among the top 16 drivers. Earnhardt is currently 14th on the provisional Chase grid.

The team said that Hendrick Motorsports general manager Doug Duchardt, Ives and Bowman would be available for interviews and updates Friday morning at the New Hampshire track.

Bowman competed full-time in the Sprint Cup Series for two seasons, driving for BK Racing in 2014 and Tommy Baldwin Racing the following year. He has top-10 finishes in each of his four XFINITY Series starts for JR Motorsports this season.


Posted on by Staff Report



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

Joe Gibbs Racing revealed the throwback paint scheme for Carl Edwards‘ No. 19 Toyota on Thursday, paying tribute to three-time champion Tony Stewart at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ annual nostalgic celebration at Darlington Raceway.

 

Edwards, the defending race winner of the Sept. 4 Bojangles’ Southern 500 at the South Carolina track, will pilot an ARRIS-sponsored Camry in the company’s familiar orange and white colors. The arrangement and typefaces, however, will resemble the paint scheme from Stewart’s rookie season in 1999, which Home Depot was a primary sponsor.

 

Joe Gibbs Racing, celebrating its 25th anniversary season in NASCAR, unveiled the paint scheme during a Facebook Live broadcast.

 

For Dave Rogers, Edwards’ crew chief, the look rekindled plenty of remembrances from his earliest years with the Gibbs organization.

 

“That’s bad to the bone,” Rogers said during the team’s broadcast reveal. “That brings back a lot of good memories. Tony Stewart‘s rookie year, starting with Greg Zipadelli as a crew chief, I was an engineer on the team. That goes back to my early days at Joe Gibbs Racing. I started in ’98; that’s 1999. That car looks beautiful. It’s gotta be fast if it looks that good.”

 

Stewart scored 33 of his 49 career victories in NASCAR’s premier series while with the Gibbs organization. Before leaving JGR in 2009 to form Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart also notched two of his three championships, carrying the Gibbs banner for his titles in 2002 and 2005.

 

Edwards notched his first Darlington Raceway victory last season. Stewart will seek his first in his last trip to the historic 1.366-mile track.


Posted on by Matt Crossman



RELATED: Race Center for AutoLotto 200

 

There’s a cadence to a lap at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Gas, lift, brake, turn the wheel. Gas, lift, brake, turn the wheel. Gas, lift, brake, turn the wheel. The best drivers do each of those things in the same place at the same time on every lap, a mad-dash meets a metronome at more than 100 mph.

 

Because it has short straightaways, tight corners and little banking, New Hampshire demands mistake-free rhythm, and the drivers who succeed at Loudon coax all four of their limbs to work in concert from the green flag until the checkered. NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Darrell Wallace Jr. has found a unique way off the track to fine-tune his rhythm on the track: He plays the drums. “My mom says I was beating on pots and pans since I was 2 years old. So I guess I had something for it,” he says.

 

RELATED: Growing NASCAR one tweet at a time

 

He got his first drum set when he was 11 or 12, and he played the bass drum in the seventh and eighth grade band. He gave the instrument up for a while, and then last year, when he bought a house, he bought a new kit.

 

Since then, he says, he has practiced the drums daily, often for two hours at a time. “The drums help with hand-eye coordination,” he says, which next to patience is the most important attribute a driver needs. “You’re doing something different with each arm and each leg on your body. It’s something to keep a good rhythm with — which is what you need. You need a good rhythm with hitting your marks every time. I think that helps out a lot.”

 

New Hampshire, site of this weekend’s AutoLotto 200, requires more rhythm and timing than most tracks. (AutoLotto, a new mobile application that allows users to play the Powerball from their smartphones, is also the sponsor on Wallace’s No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang.) Intermediate tracks with wide surfaces and ample banking, like Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, allow drivers to move up and down the race track searching for the fastest line. At the restrictor-plate tracks of Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, the draft means no two laps are ever exactly the same.

 

The difference between places like that and places like New Hampshire is the difference between a jam session and a recording session, the difference between going with the flow and being precise. At New Hampshire, if drivers miss the beat, even by a fraction of a second, it could mean the difference between getting booed off stage and being hailed for an encore.

 

“That place is pretty tough if you can’t get around there,” Wallace says “You’ve got to be able to learn how the car will handle under heavy braking. You’ve got to have a lot of patience through the center of the corner, letting the car rotate and turn. You’ve got to have good forward drive off the corner. You can’t spin the tires coming off the corner. So it’s all about rhythm — where your lifting points are, where your marks are.”

 

The way Wallace prepares to play a song is similar to the way he prepares to race at a track. He listens to the song, and if there is video available, he watches that. Before the New Hampshire race, he plans to watch last year’s TV coverage and whatever in-car cameras he can find, including his own, which he will examine to see where on the track he was fast and where he wasn’t. For other drivers, he will watch the steering wheel/attitude of the car and listen to the throttle for clues about when and where they hit their marks.

 

“It’s a quick process leading up to the point to play (a song), but then it’s going back and recording yourselves thousands of times going back and watching where you’re messing up,” he says. “It takes time, and it takes patience. There’s a lot of tough parts about a certain race track. There’s a lot of tough parts about learning a song.”

 

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