Kurt Busch on Atlanta pole after Kyle's time disallowed

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Reid Spencer

HAMPTON, Ga. — Kurt Busch fell just short of beating brother Kyle Busch on the track during Friday’s time trials at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch covered the 1.54-mile distance in 28.925 seconds (191.668 mph) in the money round of knockout qualifying for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), beating his older brother by .013 seconds.

But the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed post-qualifying inspection, and his time was disallowed. That gave Kurt Busch his first Coors Light Pole Award at Atlanta in the first event contested this year with the lower-downforce competition package that will be in place at all open-motor race tracks.

Kurt Busch was remarkably consistent in each of the three rounds, running 191.635 mph in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet in both the first and second sessions and 191.582 mph in the third.

“It was a good, consistent car and I hope that translates into race speed as well,” Kurt Busch said. “But thanks to (crew chief) Tony Gibson and everybody at Stewart-Haas.

“It’s a matter of preparing the best car during the offseason to come to these 1.5-mile tracks and seeing what you’ve got. It’s just great to feel this right away with the speed and the energy from the car.”

Kurt Busch also lauded NASCAR for the inspection process that ultimately put him on the pole.

“Overall, with the way the developments came up from tech inspection, this shows the amount of enforcement that NASCAR is ready to apply to their technical procedures on what a car has to do to comply to all specs,” he said.

RELATED: See every car in the field

The disqualification to Kyle Busch — because his car failed the rear toe measurement on NASCAR’s laser platform — put Jamie McMurray‘s No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (190.130 mph) on the outside of the front row for the start of Sunday’s race.

“I’m really proud of everyone at the entire shop,” McMurray said. “When you come to a 1.5-mile track you’re really depending on your car. And our 1.5-mile program last year wasn’t where it needed to be. They put a lot of effort into it.

“Like I said during Speedweeks and all the offseason, this is where you really need to be good. The No. 42 car (teammate Kyle Larson) was fast in practice. He got really loose, it looked like, in his qualifying laps. But then, we were really good as well. So I’m proud of the effort by everybody on the McDonald’s Chevrolet. We’re off to a good start at the 1.5-mile tracks, which is critical.”

Trevor Bayne (189.987 mph) qualified third, beating by 15 positions his previous best starting spot at an open-motor race track (18th last year at Darlington).

“This season, we’re really looking forward to this low-downforce package, as we’ve talked about over the offseason,” Bayne said. “We felt like our best races were at the low downforce tracks, Kentucky and Darlington (last year’s two trial runs), so everybody that’s wondering what’s going on at Roush Fenway Racing — a lot of hard work and a lot of attention to detail.

“We had a meeting last week talking about execution. Everybody’s intentions are right. Everybody wants to go fast. Everybody wants to win races, but now we’ve got to execute and make sure we make these fast Fords last.”

Ryan Newman was fourth fastest, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carl Edwards. Denny Hamlin, last Sunday’s Daytona 500 winner, will start 12th.

Kyle Busch must take the green flag from the rear of the field.

Posted on February 26, 2016 by

Enter text here

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Nascar

RELATED: Complete schedule for Atlanta

Defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch expects this weekend’s racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be “nuts,” and if you know the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, then you know that such a description is meant in the most positive of ways.

The 1.54-mile track hosts all three NASCAR national series this weekend – an XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series doubleheader on Saturday and the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Sprint Cup event Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).

“It’s going to be pretty fun for us drivers,” Busch said. “It can be a handful, for sure, with the tire falloff the way it is and how exciting that race track can be.

“Cars that run hard at the beginning of a run, they’re going to fade at the end of a run and vice versa. You’re going to see some comers and goers as we typically do there. I would say that the groove is going to move around a lot because everyone is going to want to search for as much grip as they can. Typically that’s always just by moving around the race track and trying to find what helps best.”

Busch didn’t compete at Atlanta last year as injuries suffered in the season-opening XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway kept him sidelined for the first 11 points races of the year. Tracks in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Fontana, California, are early-season stops and host only one Sprint Cup race annually.

Having missed last year’s early treks might impact Busch and his No. 18 team slightly, “but I’ve been at these places enough now over the years that I shouldn’t have any sort of issues,” he said.

“I won Atlanta a couple of years ago (2013) … and I think I was going for three (wins) in a row at Fontana before I had to miss that race,” Busch added. “So I’m definitely looking forward to those places and this aero package as well, seeing what it will show us.”

This weekend’s race will be the first for Sprint Cup teams with the base 2016 rules package, a package that is similar to what was used last season at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway. It features a 3.5-inch spoiler, a quarter-inch leading splitter edge and a 33-inch wide radiator pan.

RELATED: Fast facts on the 2016 rules package

The changes lessen downforce and should create more off-throttle time for competitors, likely decreasing corner speeds and providing more opportunities for passing.

It is hoped that such changes will also put the racing back into the hands of the competitors, lessening the aero advantages enjoyed by the leader under previous aero rules. Changes made for 2015 helped; now officials are looking to push the envelope just a bit further.

Such a move likely won’t be a hardship for Busch, who won last year’s race at Kentucky and finished seventh at Darlington.

Even without the rules package, Busch said he knows what to expect when he heads out onto the 1.54-mile track at AMS. Its worn surface dramatically affects tire falloff, which, in turn, impacts handling and speed throughout the course of a run.

“It tends to get exciting (at Atlanta),” he said. “For as worn out as the surface is, it’s crazy how fast you go. Our qualifying times are going to be in the upper 190s, yet the surface is old and worn and you definitely will fall off on the long runs.

“That’s one of the things that will weird you out – just how fast it is.”

Busch, third in last week’s Daytona 500, has two career wins (’08 and ’13) and five top-10 finishes in 17 starts at Atlanta.

While he has not won a pole at Atlanta, he has qualified ninth or better in his last eight attempts.

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Zack Albert

After the initial, “Wait … what?” reaction to Stewart-Haas Racing‘s monumental announcement that brought a ruckus to an otherwise tranquil Wednesday in the NASCAR news cycle, the questions of how, why and what now persist.

Around this time next year, SHR will be completing Daytona’s Speedweeks with a four-car flotilla of Fords crossing the start/finish line in the Great American Race. It’s a staggering visual for a team that has been in the General Motors fold for its lifetime, and a driver/co-owner with even deeper Chevrolet ties.

The answer to how became clearer Wednesday, with Stewart himself describing the timetable that went from simple conversation to a much more accelerated negotiation process in a six-month span. It’s clear from Stewart’s fond words for Chevrolet that the bowtie that had adorned his cars for most of his NASCAR career wasn’t easily loosened, but the passion from each side stoked more passion from the other until the talks took a page from Ford’s slogan book to “go further.”

The other how — as in how a development with such high-stakes ramifications for the sport stayed under wraps for so long — may never be fully answered. For all of the “worst-kept secrets” that play out as expected in such a loose-lipped industry, this was a true undercover operation.

Answering the why is like peeling apart a genetically altered onion engineered to have more layers than normal. The telling quote from Wednesday’s 30-minute teleconference was Stewart speaking about the opportunity to “get out of the shadows and, to some degree, get off the coattails” of Hendrick Motorsports and be more of its own entity under the Ford umbrella. The move will bring Stewart-Haas into a relationship with Roush-Yates as an engine supplier, but the organization will now have the freedom to develop its own chassis.

Doing things his own way — much like his hero A.J. Foyt before him — has always been an endearing Stewart attribute. For a driver/owner who has always operated like a devil-may-care horse that shuns fences, the Ford deal offers incentive that reaches beyond whatever undisclosed financial motivation was part of the agreement.

The “what now” part may not be fully answered until Stewart-Haas Racing puts four new-nosed Fusions on the track at Daytona next February. The approaching transition has ripples that affect all three manufacturers, chassis and engine partners, plus several affiliated teams — all of whom have their own answers to the “why.”

Whither Hendrick Motorsports, which will be without one of its best customers for engines and chassis next season and which will continue to offer support through this year? And what of Roush-Yates, which will now need to ramp up production for a new four-car outfit with newly formed bonds to the blue oval? And what happens to the manufacturer balance of power once Ford evens the playing field in car count alone with Chevrolet if not also performance with Chevy and Toyota alike?

With both Stewart and Haas relaying reluctance to speak about the move for the rest of the season, the proof may be in that performance 11-plus months from now, rivaling Wednesday’s news as the best-kept secret in the NASCAR garage.

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Zack Albert

The NASCAR XFINITY Series points leader heading into the second race of the season has a familiar face, if not exactly a familiar home.

After years of bouncing from team to team, Elliott Sadler hopes he’s found the right landing place at JR Motorsports, reuniting with team principals Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller in their No. 1 Chevrolet. After finishing fourth behind JRM team driver Chase Elliott in the series’ opening round at Daytona last weekend, he enters Saturday’s Heads Up Georgia 250 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, PRN, SiriusXM) with a possible springboard into the rest of the 33-race schedule.

“Momentum is the main thing,” Sadler said after last weekend’s top-five effort at Daytona. “Look, guys, I’m in a great situation. A lot of people don’t know the history of Dale Jr. and Kelley and myself. We’ve known each other since we were teenagers. For our relationship to come full circle and be at this race team, to see how much effort they have put into the program this winter. Showed today, three of the top four were JR Motorsports cars. I feel like we have some good stuff coming down the road.”

Though his agreement with JRM was made public only last October, Elliott said he’s already become enamored with the team’s preparation. But it isn’t the only factor that’s won him over.

“I’ve been very impressed on the family atmosphere,” Sadler said. “There’s a lot of racers over there that do it for the fun of it, do it for the love of the sport. That seems to have impressed me the most so far.”

Sadler’s XFINITY tenure has had its own measure of success, but it’s also required several suitcase changes. Since returning to the series full-time in 2011, Sadler has finished no worse than sixth in the final standings but his driving duties have spanned four employers in a five-year stretch — Kevin Harvick Inc. (2011), Richard Childress Racing (2012), Joe Gibbs Racing (2013-14) and Roush Fenway Racing (2015).

Will his fifth team in six seasons be the change that takes root? Earnhardt hopes to provide some stability, both with JRM’s technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports and with new crew chief Kevin Meendering.

“The last couple years have been a little challenging for him,” Earnhardt said last weekend at Daytona. “I’m hoping that we give him a great foundation and a lot of support to be able to be competitive this year, get back to Victory Lane. We got a great crew chief working with him, as well. Our crew chief lineup is very strong. That’s going to carry our team, our whole company this year.

“You always think about trying to get the best driver you can in the seat, but, boy, I’ve learned over the last five years how important that crew chief is. We’ve got, I think, the best guys in the garage on all three cars.”

While Daytona results typically have no direct correlation to rest-of-the-season performance, Sadler said he’s already impressed despite the small sample size of time together with JRM.

“That always feels good,” Sadler said. “These guys have put a lot of effort in my race cars, and I think it showed all weekend how good all of our cars were. And I think we’ll have something when we get to Atlanta also.”

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Pat DeCola

Danica Patrick scored a career-best sixth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2014, and touts a career-best average finish of 18.0 at the 1.54-mile facility.

So, yes, this weekend’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is a race she always has circled on her calendar each year.

“I am optimistic. I feel like (crew chief Billy Scott and I) are both ready for the challenge,” Patrick told NASCAR.com on Thursday. “I don’t know what it is about Atlanta. I think that I feel like I tend to actually do well at the more challenging, unique tracks than I do at a lot of other ones.

“When you come to your Atlantas or your Martinsvilles or something like that, I seem to do pretty well. I think one of the things that they both take is some discipline and taking the car to the limit but not going too far at times, but also being able to find that limit.”

While Atlanta Motor Speedway and its roughened-up, worn asphalt will still be familiar to Patrick, the specifics of the car she’ll be piloting are a bit foreign.

NASCAR is debuting the reduced-downforce rules package in full force this weekend after trial runs at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway in 2015. The package was not entirely friendly to the fourth-year Stewart-Haas Racing driver for their initial introductions, relegating Patrick to finishes of 34th and 42nd (crash), respectively.

“I haven’t driven the low downforce package since … last year. I hope it’s good,” said Patrick, who placed 16th at Atlanta in 2015. “I’m a little nervous because it’s been a long time. I know it’s going to be more challenging to drive and the balance is going to be different and I’m in a scenario where I have a new crew chief so we’re going to have to hopefully communicate quickly and efficiently right off the bat to make the car better if it’s not right.”

Patrick mentioned that she’s specifically looking forward to working more with first-year crew chief Scott, after deeming Daytona “a good start” following an incident with the No. 16 of Greg Biffle that forced her into a second consecutive finish of 35^th at the “World Center of Racing.”

“I feel like we communicated well. I feel like we kept our cool throughout everything and we communicated well. At this point in time, we’ve done one race and it’s a speedway, so handling is usually not such a challenge. (Atlanta) will be a first real good test of our ability to communicate efficiently, well, and to just understanding each other. I think that takes time,” Patrick said. “When I say the car is tight, my ‘the car is tight’ is different than someone else’s. When I say it’s really tight, it might be not tight at all for someone else. Those are the things that we just have to start communicating and really over-communicating initially so that we can fast forward that learning curve and get up to speed.”

When Patrick hits the track for opening Sprint Cup Series practice Friday at 11 a.m. ET (on FS1), not only will she be sporting the new-look package and still-fresh crew chief, but she’ll have a different sponsor on board than she sported at Daytona in Aspen Dental.

SHOP: Danica’s die-casts for the 2016 season

Aspen Dental returns to the No. 10 Chevrolet, and is kicking off the third annual “Healthy Mouth Movement” program in conjunction with “Got Your 6” and the “Smile 4 Vets” social media campaign.

The programs align perfectly with the race sponsor in providing aid to veterans.

“It’s three years of the Healthy Mouth Movement and of Aspen being a sponsor on the car with me,” Patrick said. “We’ve had a great run; just last year alone, Aspen donated $2.8 million worth of free care to veterans alone, so they’re just a great company. They give back and they care about people having healthy mouths.

“Starting this week, if you tweet a picture of a selfie of you smiling and use the hashtag ‘#SmileForVets’, Aspen donates $1 to a group called ‘Got Your 6’, which help veterans.”

Got Your 6 — meaning “I’ve got your back” — is a collective impact campaign that works to bridge the military-civilian divide.

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Pat DeCola

Stewart-Haas Racing sent shock waves through NASCAR on Wednesday, announcing an impending change in manufacturers from Chevrolet to Ford starting in 2017.

The move also came as a surprise to fourth-year SHR driver Danica Patrick, who was not privy to negotiations between management and manufacturer, nor was she asked for any input.

“No, that’s a team decision and they look out for the well-being of the team and to look out for the longevity as far as not just past this year, but into the future,” Patrick told NASCAR.com on Thursday. “Their ultimate goal is getting the cars to be as fast as possible and getting us to Victory Lane and in a position to then win championships.

“They’re doing whatever they feel will make that as real as possible. As a driver, I do everything I can to perform on the weekends. I communicate with my crew chief, and keep team morale up and other things, so our jobs are not the same.”

SHR has been among the strongest teams on the track in recent years, with championships coming in 2011 (team co-owner Tony Stewart ) and 2014 (Kevin Harvick), along with a total of 30 Sprint Cup Series victories since 2009.

With things seemingly trending up for the organization, Wednesday’s news was a surprise to most, especially given the technical alliance SHR has with fellow Chevrolet-backed Hendrick Motorsports, which owns six of the past 10 Cup titles.

Patrick, whose stock car career — from ARCA and K&N to the Cup Series — has all been behind the wheel of a Chevrolet, is adopting a team-first attitude, ready to move on to Ford.

“(Driving a Chevy my whole career) is just a matter of what happened,” said Patrick. “It’s not because I said ‘I want to drive a Chevy’ or ‘I want to drive a Ford’ or ‘I want to drive a Toyota’. It has nothing to do with that. It’s about the team and the people involved and I think that Tony’s done a great job of getting people involved that are great and that create successful teams.

“I haven’t been involved in a manufacturer change in a team before, so I don’t have experience, but I’m sure the team will do everything they can to minimize any transition time and to only improve performance.”

Posted on February 24, 2016 by

At 8:59 a.m. our rundown was set and we were about to head down to the studio to tape the show.

By 9:01 a.m., the rundown was out the window and we DID IT LIVE. Well, live to tape.

Regan Smith, Jonathan Merryman, and Chuck Bush jumped in the NASCAR.com Radio Studio and had a little chat about some of the hot topics this week in NASCAR. Those topics included:

– Stewart-Haas Racing to move from Chevrolet to Ford in 2017 (which was announced at 9 a.m.),
– Denny Hamlin wins in the closest finish in Daytona 500 history, and
– The guys look ahead to the new rules package in Atlanta.

Listen to the full show below or click the links below and SUBSCRIBE:

Log on to the iTunes Store and subscribe

Or watch the full replay on YouTube

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Nascar

Longtime NASCAR team owner Jack Roush and four-time Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday highlight five new nominees to be considered for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2017.

Roush and Hornaday join former premier series driver Ricky Rudd, winning engine builder Waddell Wilson and television broadcaster/journalist Ken Squier as first-time nominees.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame Nominating Committee met last week in Daytona Beach, Florida, to determine this year’s list of nominees.

All 15 of those on the 2016 list that were not chosen for induction return on the 2017 ballot.

Roush, 73, has been a car owner in NASCAR’s premier series since 1988, and the Roush Fenway Racing organization has earned 135 Sprint Cup victories as well as two series championships.

Four RFR drivers have won five XFINITY Series titles while the organization also sports one CWTS crown.

Hornaday, 57, won Truck Series titles in 1996, ’98, 2007 and ’09. When he stepped aside at the end of the 2014 season, his 51 career victories were tops for the series, a mark that still stands.

Rudd earned 23 premier series wins in a career that spanned three decades. One of the top road racers of his generation, Rudd scored NASCAR wins for some of the sport’s top team owners, including Richard Childress, Bud Moore and Rick Hendrick. Winning the 1997 Brickyard 400 was notable as Rudd managed the feat as an owner/driver.

Wilson’s engines took drivers to more than 100 premier series victories, while as a crew chief, he won 19 times, including three times in the Daytona 500.

Squier began his broadcasting career at age 12 (his father owned and operated a television station) and was part of the first crew to call the Daytona 500 live (in 1979). The Squier-Hall Award, created in 2012, honors the contributions of media to the success of the sport and is named in honor of Squier and longtime Motor Racing Network broadcaster Barney Hall.

The Nominating Committee also determined the list of five candidates for the Landmark Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to NASCAR. New to the 2017 list is Janet Guthrie, the first woman to qualify for and compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500. She joins Martinsville (Va.) Speedway track founder H. Clay Earles, former car owner Raymond Parks, Ralph Seagraves of former series sponsor RJ Reynolds and its Sports Marketing Enterprises marketing arm, and Squier.

The 15 returning nominees among those to be considered for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame for 2017:

Buddy Baker — Nineteen career premier series wins.

Red Byron — NASCAR’s first strictly stock champion.

Richard Childress — Currently boasts 105 premiers series wins and six championships as a car owner.

Ray Evernham — Won three premier series titles as crew chief for Jeff Gordon; as an owner, worked with Dodge when the manufacturer re-entered NASCAR.

Ray Fox — Car owner, engine builder and crew chief; won 14 times as an owner.

Rick Hendrick — Team owner whose Hendrick Motorsports organization has won 11 premier series titles and 240 races.

Harry Hyde — For two decades (1960s though ’80s), Hyde was one of the most successful crew chiefs in the garage; helped guide Bobby Isaac to the 1970 premier series title.

Alan Kulwicki — Won premier series title in 1992 as an owner/driver.

Mark Martin — Took runner-up honors in championship battle five times; ended career with 40 premier series wins, 49 in XFINITY Series and seven in Trucks.

Herschel McGriff — A four-time winner based on the West Coast, McGriff enjoyed one of the longest NASCAR driving careers in NASCAR; former Winston West Series champion.

Raymond Parks — First team owner to win strictly stock championship (with driver Red Byron).

Benny Parsons — Former premier series champion who enjoyed a successful second career in the broadcast booth.

Larry Phillips — Legendary short track ace from the Midwest; won five NASCAR national Weekly Series titles and seven regional championships.

Mike Stefanik — Winner of seven NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and two K&N Pro Series East titles for a record-tying nine NASCAR championships.

Robert Yates — Engine builder and championship winning team owner (57 wins).

Voting Panel and Nominating Committee members will meet May 25 to determine the 2017 Hall of Fame class.

Posted on February 24, 2016 by

The Sprint Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, where drivers will get their first taste of the reduced-downforce rules package in the 2016 season. The aero package debuted last season in July at Kentucky Speedway and made another run in September at Darlington Raceway.

Several drivers — primarily in the Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske camp — were fans of the package, their strong finishes reflecting their approval of the changes.

Carl Edwards was particularly notable, as his average finish of 2.5 at Kentucky and Darlington far surpasses his 14.0 average finish for the 2015 season. Three of the four JGR drivers (Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch) finished in the top 10 at Kentucky and Darlington, and the fourth — Matt Kenseth — recorded a fifth-place result at Kentucky. Both Team Penske drivers — Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano — ran inside the top six at both events. Half of Stewart-Haas Racing — Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch — also proved consistent with the low downforce package, finishing in the top 10 at the pair of races.

However, other powerhouses — such as Hendrick Motorsports — didn’t fare as well. While Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the Hendrick squad at Darlington with an eighth-place result, he fell short at Kentucky with a 21st-place finish. Likewise, Jimmie Johnson scored a ninth-place finish at Kentucky, but came up 19th at Darlington.

See the table below of the consistently best drivers under the low downforce rules package at Kentucky and Darlington in 2015, all of them finishing in the top 12 for both events.

Best drivers under new rules package in 2015

Driver	Team	Kentucky	Darlington	Avg. finish	2015 avg. finish
Carl Edwards	Joe Gibbs Racing	4th	1st	2.5	14.0
Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	3rd	3rd	3.0	13.6
Joey Logano	Team Penske	2nd	4th	3.0	9.2
Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	1st	7th	4.0	10.8
Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	6th	2nd	4.0	11.1
Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	8th	5th	6.5	8.7
Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	10th	6th	8.0	11.1
Aric Almirola	Richard Petty Motorsports	12th	11th	11.5	17.9