Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: See the full weekend schedule | NBC Sports Live Extra


All times ET

Monday, Oct. 26
6 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lap (re-air), NBCSN
7 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lap (re-air), NBCSN
8 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lap (re-air), NBCSN
2 p.m., NASCAR 120, NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR America Live, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2

Tuesday, Oct. 27
6 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
8 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR America Live, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2

Wednesday, Oct. 28
6 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR America Live, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2

Thursday, Oct. 29
6 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR America Live, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Friday, Oct. 30
6 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, NBCSN
1 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, FS1
2 p.m., The 10: Greatest Truck Series Moments, FS1
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS1
4 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBC Sports Live Extra, CSN Mid Atlantic, CSN Chicago, CSN Northwest, CSN Bay Area, TCN (Philadelphia)
6 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN (tape delay) (Note: This can be seen live at 4:20 p.m. ET on Live Extra.)

Saturday, Oct. 31
9 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, CNBC
10 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
Noon, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, CNBC
1 p.m., NCWTS Setup, FS1
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kroger 200, FS1

Sunday, Nov. 1
10 a.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
11 a.m., NASCAR America Sunday, NBCSN
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN
1:15 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500, NBCSN
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Post-Race, NBCSN
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
11 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN
3 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lane (re-air), FS1

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Complete results


TALLADEGA, Ala. — Through no fault of his own, Joey Logano may have achieved the most unpopular sweep in NASCAR history on Sunday afternoon.



Why? Because his victory in the CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway knocked Dale Earnhardt Jr. out of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup — by a matter of inches.



When NASCAR threw the third caution of the race moments after the first bona fide attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag restart on Lap 195 — with Kevin Harvick‘s engine turning sour and cars wrecking behind him — Logano was inches ahead Earnhardt.



That call ended the race, giving Logano his third straight victory in the Chase’s Contender Round, the first time since the elimination format was instituted last season that a driver has won all three races in a single round.



The victory was Logano’s series-best sixth of the season, his first at Talladega and the 14th of his career.



“I had a good start, and then the 24 was pushing me and the plan worked perfectly but the inside lane started pulling back up,” Logano said of the final restart. “I saw the (caution) lights come on when I was still in the lead, and I thought we had it.



“It’s all about how the timing loops are and the camera makes sure that is what happened. It’s such a crazy race. There were such long green flag runs, you never see that. To pull it into victory lane here at Talladega is so cool.”



In addition to Logano, Carl Edwards (fifth on Sunday), Jeff Gordon (third), Kurt Busch (10th), Brad Keselowski (fourth), Martin Truex Jr. (seventh), Harvick (15th) and Kyle Busch (11th) advanced to the Eliminator Round of the Chase.



As formidable as Logano’s achievement was, it didn’t sit well with the heavily partisan Earnhardt crowd in the Talladega grandstands. Catcalls, debris and thumbs-down gestures greeted Logano’s celebratory burnout after NASCAR declared him the winner.



The green-white-checkered-flag restart came four laps after NASCAR extended a yellow-flag period when cars began wrecking in the tri-oval before the leaders crossed the start/finish line coming to green to start Lap 191.



Though NASCAR had amended a rule before the race, limiting the number of attempts at a green-white-checkered to one (down from three), the sanctioning body ruled the first try was not a bona fide attempt since the yellow waved before the first cars reached the stripe.



Earnhardt supported the amended rule before the race, and he continued to do so afterward, despite the outcome.



“Everybody is going to ask me a hundred times how I feel about the green-white-checkered rule now,” Earnhardt said. “I feel good about it. It was a good safe call. The race ended per the rules, and I’m totally OK with that.



“They decided officially who won the race, and Joey won it. He has had an awesome round. Unbelievable, really. We did everything we could today. Almost perfect, tried really hard.”



Earnhardt, who needed to win the race to advance to the Chase’s Eliminator Round, wasn’t the only casualty on Sunday. Matt Kenseth, in the same position as Earnhardt entering the race, was bounced from the Chase after wrecking on the green-white-checkered attempt and finishing 26th.



Ryan Newman (12th on Saturday) and Denny Hamlin were the other two drivers eliminated, Hamlin after the escape hatch above his driver’s seat dislodged during the race, requiring repeated repairs on pit road. Hamlin lost three laps in the process, got wrecked on the last restart and finished 37th to drop from second to 10th in the Chase standings.

Posted on by Brad Norman

RELATED: Chase Grid heading into Eliminator Round | Talladega results

Talladega was a wild ride on Sunday. Here’s what you need to know to sound literate at the water cooler — or to help you unfurl the events if you’re still confused after watching Joey Logano head to Victory Lane after the CampingWorld.com 500.

The Setup:

Before Sunday’s race, NASCAR ruled that only one attempt would be made at a green-white-checkered finish, and that approach came into play as the field wrecked before that one attempt could even be made. The actual green-white-checkered finish was fueled by controversy, as well, when a “Big One” erupted behind leaders Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Read more: New G-W-C rule comes into play in wild Talladega finish
Watch: Junior supports rule but says, ‘I was gonna win the race for sure’

The Chase Field Narrows:

Earnhardt Jr. looked like he was in position to get past Logano and win the race — thus gaining a berth in the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. But just after the green flag dropped for the final restart, Kevin Harvick made contact with Trevor Bayne. Harvick’s 15th-place result in the race put him seventh in the standings and a part of the final eight moving onto the third round of the Chase. Junior’s second-place finish ended his Chase run.

Read more: Junior’s championship hopes up in smoke
Watch: Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty review restart

The Questions:

Several drivers were upset after the race. Denny Hamlin‘s car was on fire, and he had endured early trouble with a roof hatch. Matt Kenseth‘s No. 20 was caught up in the final wreck. And Earnhardt Jr. was disappointed not to advance in the Chase. Frustration fueled questions about whether Harvick manipulated the finishing order to gain a berth in the Chase’s third round. His No. 4 was ailing, and if the race had made it for the full G-W-C, he might have fallen too far back to make the cut.

Read more: Did Harvick cause wreck? | Drivers question finish, laud Dale Jr.

After NASCAR officials went to video to determine the winner of the CampingWorld.com 500 and sort out the finishing order of the rest of the field, Logano was the winner. Four drivers failed to advance to the Eliminator Round, starting next week at Martinsville: Ryan Newman, Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr. and Kenseth.

Read more: Logano sweeps Contender Round | Chase Bubble Watch
Watch: JGR drivers react to Talladega finish

The Followup:

It will be an interesting week at the NASCAR R&D center. All four Stewart-Haas cars had problems Saturday during inspection. And NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton said in post-race comments that in his experience, things come out of the woodwork after races like this.

Watch: Helton answers questions after Talladega finish
Read more: SHR cars have inspection woes

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WATCH: Wildest rides of 2015



TALLADEGA, Ala. — The “Big One” hit in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, and it had an impact as massive as the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway oval itself.



The championship race took a sharp turn when the No. 51 of Matt Tifft came down from the top line into a dense pack of trucks on Lap 92 (of 98), triggering a 10-vehicle incident that brought out the red flag for nearly 15 minutes.



It was the last and worst shot to Matt Crafton, who led 43 laps but was involved in that incident that sent him tumbling down the leaderboard.



Crafton, who trailed Erik Jones by four points entering the fred’s 250 Presented by Coca-Cola, wound up 23 points behind the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver after finishing 24th. Four races remain in the 2015 season.



Jones finished fourth. Fellow title contender Tyler Reddick (Brad Keselowski Racing) was also involved in the wreck, but he rallied for a fifth-place result and is second in the standings, 18 points behind Jones.



Two-time defending series champion Crafton was aggravated over the radio at the Talladega-style racing — “it’s the greatest (expletive) racing,” he said sarcastically – and brief in his analysis on the points battle following the race.


“I had my problems,” Crafton said. “If (Jones and Tyler Reddick ) have their problems … I’m not worried about it. We’re going to try and go win the next four and see what happens.”



Crafton was plagued by a spate of bad incidents Saturday that put his hopes for a three-peat as series champion in serious jeopardy.



First, there was the large piece of debris that affixed itself to the front of Crafton’s No. 88 Toyota, which caused the driver — in the lead at the time — to drop back in the field behind the pack, so that the air from the pack would sweep the trash off.



That was successful in freeing the debris, but being in the back presented problems on Lap 86 when Stanton Barrett got into the wall, hitting Crafton’s truck in the process. The ThorSport Racing driver was making his way up through the field before being drilled and sent into the inside wall, all of which preceded the final blow of the “Big One.”



Jones led six laps and was up front nearly the entire day after qualifying third. The 19-year-old ran 1-2 with Crafton prior to the No. 88 falling to the back to clean debris and extended his streak of consecutive top-10 finishes to 11, a run that began with his win at Iowa Speedway in June.


“Never would have thought that we could have come out of this race that far ahead,” Jones said of the points battle. “Everything from the best to the worst can happen here, and fortunately the best happened for us.”

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TALLADEGA, Ala. — All four Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets failed pre-qualifying inspection Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway due to the same issue — improper assembly of the radiator inlet duct panels, which did not conform to NASCAR rules, according to a NASCAR spokesperson.

All four teams — the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick, the No. 10 of Danica Patrick, the No. 14 of Tony Stewart and the No. 41 of Kurt Busch — had to replace the duct panels, a lengthy process that caused the Nos. 4 and 41 teams to still be in the garage working under the hood 90 minutes before qualifying began.

Those two cars were the last out of the garage, getting final approval less than an hour before single-car qualifying began at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

Any penalties would be announced next week, according to a NASCAR spokesperson. If there are points penalties, a potential appeal would also be expedited due to Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup points implications.

Rodney Childers, crew chief of the No. 4, doesn’t expect a points deduction, though.

Harvick finished seventh in Saturday’s qualifying, the highest of the SHR vehicles. Stewart was 12th, Busch was 14th and Patrick was 20th.

 

Patrick and Stewart will start from the rear, though. The No. 10 team changed transmissions Sunday morning, and the No. 14 team made adjustments.

 

Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon will lead the field to green in Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) after winning his 81st career Coors Light Pole Award.

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RELATED: Gordon wins ‘Dega pole | Complete lineup for Sunday


TALLADEGA, Ala. — Anything can happen at Talladega, and anything can happen in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
 
The specter of the gigantic 2.66-mile superspeedway and the reality of it being an elimination race in the Contender Round intersect here Sunday in the Alabama foothills.
 
Entering the CampingWorld.com 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) Joey Logano is safe, having won twice already in this three-race round to earn an automatic advancement. No one else can be overly confident of advancing to the eight-driver Eliminator Round, though.
 
Second-place Denny Hamlin, for example, is a mere 12 points ahead of eighth-place Martin Truex Jr., hardly a comfortably margin.
 
In fact, close proximity is the story throughout the Chase Grid.
 
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (11th place, 31 points behind Truex) and Matt Kenseth (12th place, 35 points behind Truex) almost certainly must win, but every other driver — again, with the exception of Logano — will likely have plenty of jangled nerves Sunday.
­
Here’s quick look at where things stand on the Chase Grid:
 
REASONABLY COMFORTABLE
• Denny Hamlin (second place, 12 points above cutoff)
 
SMALLER SEPARATION
• Kurt Busch (third place, seven points above cutoff and 13 points above ninth-place Kyle Busch): “Only plus-13? That is unbelievable. I would have hoped we could have been 25. That is how tight it is. This competition, you can’t get a spot on anybody and you can’t give up a spot. Plus-13 is not very exciting — wow, you kind of deflated my bubble there.”
 
• Carl Edwards (fourth place, six points above cutoff): “It is the most unpredictable track on the circuit, with basically ours and 10 other guys’ championship hopes on the line. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the race plays out. My guess is that it will be really chaotic, unpredictable at best.”
 
BUBBLE BOYS
• Kevin Harvick (fifth place, one point above cutoff): “I’ve just made the decision over the last several years that you go there and you try to position yourself at the front of the pack and you just let it happen. Otherwise, it’s just a complete mental drain on yourself and the team. That’s the strategy. That’s what we’re going to do.”
 
• Jeff Gordon (sixth place, one point above cutoff) | Read Gordon’s commentary here
 
• Brad Keselowski (seventh place, one point above cutoff) | Read Keselowski’s commentary here

• Martin Truex Jr. (eighth place): “We’re going to race our own race, that’s all you can do. You can’t predict when or where the ‘Big One’ will happen.”
 
BELOW THE LINE
• Kyle Busch (ninth place, six points behind the cutoff line): “Last year we were the top point-total scorer of the first two rounds and we were seeded the highest without a win, and we went to Talladega and we sure learned how to throw that away. … For us, if we can do the same thing again, then we’ll do the same thing again. I think what we can do a better job of — instead of being one of the only guys to race at the back of the pack and get ourselves caught up in something that none of the other Chasers were involved in — is race with all the rest of the Chasers.”
 
• Ryan Newman (10th place, eight points behind the cutoff line): “I think we have a better opportunity of winning here than some of the other tracks. They say anyone can win Talladega. That certainly gives us the better odds I’d say than some other tracks.”

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Race day info

What: 47th annual CampingWorld.com 500.

Where: Talladega Superspeedway, 2.66-mile oval in Talladega, Alabama. | Learn more about the track

Green flag time: 2:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Forecast: Mostly cloudy, high of 76 degrees, 20 percent chance of rain, according to the National Weather Service

National anthem: 313th United States Army Band

Grand marshal: Marcus Lemonis, Chairman and CEO, Camping World and Good Sam

Distance: 188 laps, 500.08 miles.  

Pit road speed: 55 mph.

Caution car speed: 70 mph.

On the front row

1. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (194.500 mph)

2. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (193.638 mph)

RELATED: See the full lineup

 

To the rear

Danica Patrick (transmission change); Justin Allgaier (adjustments to car following qualifying); Tony Stewart (adjustments).

Fastest in practice

First practice: Greg Biffle, No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford (201.189 mph). | Results 

Final practice: Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Team Penske Ford (196.423 mph) | Results

Key story lines

1. Jeff Gordon sits on pole in final Talladega race | Read more

2. Kes says drivers will ‘race scared’ at Talladega | Read more

3. Facing must-win scenario, Earnhardt Jr. comfortable in car | Read more

4. Annoyed Kenseth says Logano is ‘lying’ about Kansas incident | Read more

Former winners in the field

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (6), Jeff Gordon (6), Brad Keselowski (3), Clint Bowyer (2), Jimmie Johnson (2), Jamie McMurray (2), Kyle Busch (1), Denny Hamlin (1), Kevin Harvick (1), Matt Kenseth (1), Bobby Labonte (1), David Ragan (1), Tony Stewart (1), Michael Waltrip (1)

They said it

“Everything we do here is a risk vs. reward proposition, and the odds aren’t in your favor. Eventually you’re gonna wreck. You’re relying on others to give while you’re taking and sometimes people are just tired of giving.” — Brad Keselowski

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TALLADEGA, Ala. – Martin Truex Jr.’s time during the first round of single-car qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday was disallowed after he dipped below the double-yellow line during his lap.

His lap of 191.762 mph would have been good for 21st in the starting lineup but instead he will start from the back of the field in 43rd for Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

“We didn’t make qualifying runs in practice or anything so we really didn’t know what we had and honestly ran faster than we thought we would have,” Truex said. “Good job by the team, obviously, preparing the car.

“The double-yellow line deal, I just didn’t know anything about it. So, Cole (Pearn, crew chief) said, ‘Sorry, guess I should have told you the change.’ Just one of those memos that I didn’t get, so a little confused there.”


NASCAR ruled in July prior to the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway that drivers’ qualifying times at superspeedways would be disallowed if they passed below the double-yellow line. However, Daytona’s qualifying rainout meant the rule premiered this weekend at Talladega, the next restrictor-plate race on the Sprint Cup schedule.

 
Because of the disqualification, the No. 78 team will have the last choice for pit stall selection. Nonetheless, the mistake isn’t detrimental to the No. 78 team, who had strategized they would ride in the back from the start.
 
“We kinda planned to ride in the back for the first part anyways, so it makes it a lot easier to get back there,” Pearn said in the garage.
 
“… At some point, we’ll have to make a transition to the front, especially if it gets into a track position game. But we kind of thought it might be smart for a bit at the start, just to make sure the game doesn’t change somehow early in the going. Makes it an easier decision now.”

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RELATED: Kenseth says Logano should stop ‘running his mouth’

 

TALLADEGA, Ala. — It has been The Joey Logano Show in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup over the past couple weeks, as the Team Penske driver has won two straight races in the Contender Round at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway. The yellow No. 22 seems to have regained its strength after its season-opening Daytona 500 victory, accumulating five wins that tie Matt Kenseth for a series-best in 2015.

But as Logano celebrates in a shower of confetti, his Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski — who hasn’t won since March — is left peering in from outside Victory Lane. “Bad Brad” has been relatively quiet this year without the post-race fireworks amid six victories last season, including one in the first race of the 2014 Chase at Chicagoland and the Talladega Chase race last year.

Compared with Logano’s handful of wins, particularly in recent weeks, the gap between the two begs the question: What’s the No. 2 team missing?

“I’m happy for Joey and his success, so I’m not discouraged by it,” Keselowski said on Friday. “I feel like this sport cycles. … Last year up until we had the issue at Martinsville, we had six wins, we had the most wins of anyone last year, and I felt my cars were probably some of the best in the garage, if not the best, and the last few weeks we haven’t showcased that. 

“But I know it can cycle.  It could cycle in the next three weeks.”

 

RELATED: Keselowski says drivers will ‘race scared’ at Talladega

If he can survive Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) the next three weeks will be the most crucial for Keselowski’s No. 2 team, as he could be fighting for his second Sprint Cup Series championship. Keselowski’s outlook remains positive – he has 21 top-10 finishes this season, including Auto Club Speedway victory. He also sat on the pole last week at Kansas and showed plenty of speed throughout the weekend during practice.

It was something the No. 22 team noticed.

“Are there things that (the No. 2 team members) lean on? No differently than we normally do,” Logano’s crew chief Todd Gordon said in the Talladega garage on Saturday. “… We used a lot of what the 2 car had last weekend. They had a lot of speed at Kansas in qualifying and practice. So we’re always aware of those things.”

Logano and Keselowski are one of the more teamwork-minded duos in the garage, working together on-track more than many Cup team members. The same philosophy carries into the Team Penske shop meetings, Gordon says.

“We share everything every week — We’re aware of what everyone is doing,” Gordon said. “You have ebs and flows and I think there’s been a couple things with this year and the way the races have played out that have played to Joey’s strengths. You have come-and-go and momentum changes different ways. 

“I don’t think the 2 car’s got challenges ahead of them. They’re definitely a title contender as well.”

For Keselowski, the title talk that surrounds his teammate and close friend doesn’t diminish his own season – if anything, it’s heartening as he heads into the foreboding Talladega and the rest of the season.

“It’s encouraging for me in the sense that we know we have the same potential that we just have to find it,” Keselowski said. “I think our teams operate quite a bit differently and I would say it’s probably encouraging for my team to try new things and to be better and expand.  So I don’t take any negative from it.  I’m certainly not happy to not be winning as much as he is, but that’s not a negative connotation.  I think it’s an opportunity more so than anything else.

” … I really feel like for our team that if we can get through this weekend, that we’ll go all the way to Homestead.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Play the new games here

 

Can’t get enough NASCAR gaming? Neither could we, which is why NASCAR.com now has two additional games to play — NASCAR Slots and NASCAR Trivia Tournament.

 

Developed by Dusenberry Martin Racing, the world’s first digital race team that competes in the digital entertainment world, both games are available on NASCAR.com.

 

NASCAR Trivia Tournament mirrors the Trivial Pursuit concept, with questions coming in six different categories: Drivers, Fantastic Finishes, Tracks, Pop Culture, General Knowledge and Champions. Just like in NASCAR itself, speed counts — the faster you answer, the more points you score. Also keep an eye on your multiplier. Answer five consecutive questions correctly to max it out and score the most points.

NASCAR Slots is just like visiting Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Play for credits and win big — in-game only, of course — and try to earn some bonus games as well. Early next year mobile app versions of each game will be released.

“Dusenberry Martin Racing is 100 percent focused on producing mass market games for NASCAR fans,” said Matt Dusenberry, DMR’s director of NASCAR Industry Relations. “Our ‘something for everyone’ strategy, including classic games like NASCAR Trivia Duel and NASCAR Slots Games, are the beginning of broadening our portfolio beyond the traditional console racing game. We want to deliver multiple options for NASCAR fans of all ages, to enable a fun games.NASCAR.com experience.”