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Kyle Busch underwent successful surgery on Thursday morning and is expected to make a full recovery in time for the start of the 2016 NASCAR season, Joe Gibbs Racing announced in a team release.

Busch, the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, underwent scheduled surgery to remove two metal plates in his left foot and a metal rod and screws in his right leg. The plates, rod and screws had helped to stabilize his foot and leg following injuries suffered in an accident last February at Daytona International Speedway.


Samantha Busch, Kyle’s wife, also tweeted about the successful surgery.

The 30-year-old won five races in the sport’s top series, including four out of five in the summer and the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 to win his first Sprint Cup championship. The injuries suffered at Daytona kept Busch out for the season’s first 11 races before he returned for the Sprint All-Star Race in May.

Earlier this month during Champion’s Week in Las Vegas, Busch was upbeat about his medical situation.

“For it being nine months and me feeling how I feel right now, I’m pretty confident I’ll be back to normal nine months after surgery. I still have pain today and every day; it still continues to get better.

“The doctors are pretty shocked at how well I feel right now with the stuff that’s still in the foot. The leg feels fine, it’s normal except on a 20-degree day — it’s got a weird feeling with the broken spot on the bone.”

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Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that Kelley Blue Book will join the list of sponsors for the team’s No. 24 Chevrolet and rookie Chase Elliott in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
 
The two-year agreement includes primary sponsorship for two Sprint Cup races annually, extending a relationship that began in 2014 with Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kelley Blue Book — a vehicle valuation and research company based in Irvine, California — will be an associate sponsor in other Sprint Cup Series events.
 
“Kelley Blue Book is a recognized and respected name in the automotive industry,” Elliott said in a release provided by the team. “It means a lot to have them support the No. 24 team, and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of their car. Continuing what they’ve started at Hendrick Motorsports is going to be a lot of fun. Our entire team is looking forward to making the program a success.”
 
Elliott, 20, is set for a Sunoco Rookie of the Year campaign in 2016, taking the reins of the iconic No. 24 Chevy from four-time series champion Jeff Gordon. The 2014 XFINITY Series champion competed in five Sprint Cup events last season in preparation for his first full season in NASCAR’s top division.
 
The Hendrick organization announced last May that NAPA Auto Parts would be Elliott’s primary sponsor for 24 races annually through the 2018 season.

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RELATED: Learn which drivers and crew chiefs are on the move


Roush Fenway Racing has at least one crew chief change for 2016, adding Brian Pattie to call the shots for veteran Greg Biffle and the No. 16 Ford team next year.
 
Pattie first confirmed the news on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday night. A Roush Fenway Racing representative confirmed the move Thursday.
 
Pattie served as crew chief to Clint Bowyer with Michael Waltrip Racing‘s No. 15 Toyota for most of the last four seasons, switching to David Ragan and MWR’s No. 55 team after the first Pocono race of 2015. The Waltrip-owned team ceased operation after the 2015 season.
 
Pattie replaces Matt Puccia, who had been paired with Biffle since the midway point of the 2011 season. During their time together, Biffle posted three victories and six Coors Light Pole Awards, but their most recent stretch has seen limited success. Biffle has been winless since June 2013.
 
The team did not confirm the remainder of Roush Fenway Racing‘s Sprint Cup lineup.

 

Bob Osborne served as crew chief for the No. 6 Ford in 2015, guiding Trevor Bayne in his first full season in NASCAR’s premier series. Nick Sandler joined the No. 17 team and driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. last year in his first stint as a crew chief.

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Tim O’Brien will fill the vacant lead engineer position for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team in the 2016 season, the team confirmed.

O’Brien worked with Clint Bowyer upon his arrival to Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012 before serving as the lead engineer for the No. 55 MWR team in 2015. His tenure with the Waltrip-owned team followed a seven-season stint with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

The position became available after former No. 88 lead engineer Kevin Meendering left Hendrick Motorsports to crew chief for Elliott Sadler‘s newly minted JR Motorsports ride in 2016. Meendering served as the No. 88 lead engineer for five seasons before his departure.

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RELATED: Buy Darlington tickets
MORE: Darlington wins Myers Brothers Award | See the ’15 throwback schemes

Darlington Raceway announced the theme of its award-winning throwback campaign on Wednesday for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 racing event on Labor Day weekend (Sept. 2-4. 2016). The track will focus on the 1975-84 era of the sport next year, a revolutionary time period when iconic drivers such as Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip left their imprints on stock car racing.

“The track will be celebrating the 1975-84 time period of the sport during our throwback weekend in 2016,” Darlington Raceway President Chip Wile said in a release on the track’s website.

“We had tremendous response from the industry last season, which included the race teams, NASCAR, NBC, Goodyear and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, to name a few. This is a fun and unique way to honor the history and heritage of NASCAR racing at one of the sport’s most iconic tracks on Labor Day weekend.”

This season marks the second year of Darlington’s throwback campaign, which saw drivers wheel old-school schemes, brought back the original NASCAR logo and honored Hall of Fame drivers, among other initiatives. The program proved incredibly successful in the industry and received the prestigious NMPA Myers Brothers Award on Dec. 3 for its inaugural running. Wile has said that the program was part of a five-year platform.

Last year also saw the return of the race to Labor Day weekend for the first time since 2003. The South Carolina hosts events for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series.

The track will announce events surrounding the throwback weekend as the Southern 500 approaches.

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RELATED: See all the drivers and crew chiefs on the move in 2016

Richard Petty Motorsports announced Wednesday that Chris Heroy will take the reins as crew chief for the No. 9 Ford and rookie driver Brian Scott in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series next season.
 
Heroy has served as crew chief for Chip Ganassi Racing‘s No. 42 Chevrolet for the past four years, two each with drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Kyle Larson. The 38-year-old — nicknamed “Shine” (short for “sunshine”) for his easygoing demeanor — was previously the lead engineer for Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 team.
 
Heroy has netted 14 top-five finishes and three Coors Light Pole Awards in 144 Sprint Cup appearances as a crew chief. He’ll work alongside former colleague Trent Owens, currently the crew chief for the No. 43 Ford and driver Aric Almirola.
 
“I’m really excited to join the team,” Heroy said in a release provided by RPM. “I really enjoyed working with Kyle (Larson) for his rookie season, and I’m looking forward to working with Brian as he works toward the Rookie of the Year title. This team has done a great job building consistency over the past year and continuing their winning tradition is a top priority, and I believe we can accomplish that this season.
 
“I’m excited to work with Trent as well. We worked together when Kyle was racing for both Ganassi and Turner Scott. I think we will work well together, and we can get Richard Petty Motorsports to Victory Lane.”
 
Scott, a Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate for next season, was announced last week as the Petty team’s replacement for Sam Hornish Jr., who parted ways with RPM after one season in the No. 9 ride. Drew Blickensderfer began last year as crew chief for the No. 9 Fusion, ceding that role in May to Kevin “Bono” Manion for the rest of the season.
 
The 27-year-old Scott, a NASCAR XFINITY Series regular the past six seasons, has 17 starts in NASCAR’s top division over the last three years. He won his only Coors Light Pole Award in May 2014 at Talladega Superspeedway.

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Remember when Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage gifted Jeff Gordon a couple of ponies before his final race at the track in November?

For those who were wondering, the ponies are doing just fine in their new home and now we know their names: PomPom and Nutella.

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DARLINGTON, S.C. (Dec. 14, 2015) — Three of the most legendary names in motorsports have been selected for induction into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.

NASCAR multi-championship team owners Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs, along with four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and three-time IndyCar champion driver Al Unser, make up the 2016 NMPA Hall of Fame induction class.

The three motorsports giants will be officially inducted on January 16, 2016, at the Embassy Suites in Concord, North Carolina.

• Born in 1949, Joseph Riddick “Rick” Hendrick III was raised on the family farm near Palmer Springs, Virginia. At 27, he was the youngest Chevrolet dealer in the U.S., and built an empire that has grown into the sixth-largest automotive group in the country.

But it is in NASCAR where Hendrick and his Hendrick Motorsports organization have made the biggest impact.

Since its first race in the 1984 Daytona 500 (finished eighth) and its first win seven races later by Geoff Bodine at Martinsville Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has amassed countless NASCAR records in its 32-year existence.

Among the most notable: 14 NASCAR driver championships, including 11 in the premier Sprint Cup Series and 14 owner championships across three national series.

“I have such great respect for the people who cover our sport and the role they play in keeping our fans informed,” Hendrick said upon learning of his selection by NMPA members. “The NMPA has done so much to give back to the NASCAR community and highlight people’s contributions through programs like The Myers Brothers Award and Driver of the Year. It takes a lot of commitment and sacrifice to do what our media members do every week. To be recognized by that group of people is very humbling.”

• Known simply as “Coach” — even his wife and children call him that — Joe Jackson Gibbs’ eye for talent and the ability to mold individuals into champions has made him a legendary team builder in both the National Football League and NASCAR.

In 16 seasons as an NFL head coach, the Mocksville, North Carolina, native compiled an overall record of 171-101 and three Super Bowl championships.

In 23 seasons as a NASCAR team owner, Gibbs’ teams have won four Sprint Cup championships, including the 2015 title with Kyle Busch, and 128 Sprint Cup race wins. JGR has also compiled four XFINITY Series owner (and one driver) championships and 112 race wins.

Gibbs also owned a team that won two NHRA Pro Stock drag racing championships, as well as two runner-up season finishes in Top Fuel in the 1990s.

• The Unser family has long been synonymous with open-wheel racing, from Jerry to Bobby, Robby, Johnny and Al Jr.

But no one ranks higher on the family tree of racing success than Al Unser.

The Albuquerque, New Mexico, native enjoyed a career that most racers only dream about, including being one of only three drivers (others are A.J. Foyt and Rick Mears) to win the legendary Indianapolis 500 four separate times.

Unser drove for some of the most notable teams in the open-wheel world including Penske, Foyt and Granatelli, and is the only driver to have both a brother (Bobby) and son (Al Jr.) as fellow Indy 500 champions.

In 337 career Indy Car starts, he earned 40 wins, 127 podiums, 29 poles and three championships.

He even dipped his toe into NASCAR, with three top-10 finishes in just five starts.

No matter what he was called, be it “Big Al” or “Al Sr.”, one phrase will always offer the best description: “A racer’s racer.”

Hendrick received 88 percent of votes cast by NMPA members, Gibbs received 76 percent and Unser received 66 percent.

Others receiving votes were four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and three-time IndyCar champ Rick Mears, as well as NASCAR Winston Cup championship-winning crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine.

The NMPA Hall of Fame is located on the grounds of Darlington Raceway and has been in operation since 1965. Hendrick, Gibbs and Unser become the 96th through 98th members of the Hall.

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Roush Fenway Racing officials have announced the addition of three key members to its competition group as the organization prepares for the 2016 NASCAR season and beyond.
 
Kurt Romberg, most recently chief aerodynamicist for Hendrick Motorsports, has been named Technical Director of Aerodynamics at RFR. Prior to joining Hendrick, Romberg worked with General Motors and Petty Enterprises. He spent the last 15 years at Hendrick.
 
Dr. Kent Day has been named Manager of Simulation. Day has more than two decades of experience and has served as technical director at Team Penske and Richard Childress Racing. In his last role, Day specialized in vehicle dynamics while with Michael Waltrip Racing.
 
Vojin Jaksic worked at RFR from 2005-11 before leaving for stints with MWR and Joe Gibbs Racing. He will serve as research and development/special projects manager in his new role.
 
“It takes great talent to win in this sport and we are very pleased with the additions we have made on the competition front,” team owner Jack Roush said in a statement announcing the new hires. “We recognize the importance of putting the appropriate personnel into place as we continue our relentless pursuit to put the best and most competitive race teams on the track.”
 
Roush Fenway Racing captured its eighth NASCAR championship in 2015 with driver Chris Buescher winning the XFINITY Series title. The organization also won Sprint Cup with Matt Kenseth (2003) and Kurt Busch (’04); XFINITY Series titles with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2011-12), Carl Edwards (’07) and Greg Biffle (’02), as well as the Camping World Truck Series championship with Biffle in 2000.
 
This past season, RFR failed to place a driver in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the first time since the format debuted in ’04. Biffle finished 20th in the final points standings, while teammates Stenhouse and Trevor Bayne were 25th and 29th respectively.
 
Roush Fenway drivers have won 135 Sprint Cup races (third most in the series), 137 in the XFINITY Series and 50 in the Truck Series. The organization has not fielded a Truck entry since ’09.