Dale Jr. faces must-win situation at Talladega

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Jim Pedley

RELATED: Race Results | Standings | Chase Grid

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. used to own Talladega Superspeedway. After a disappointing run at Kansas Speedway in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, he’ll need to re-ascend to the throne next Sunday if he is to keep his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship hopes intact.

Can do, Earnhardt, who finished 21st at Kansas and two laps off the pace at Kansas, said after exiting his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on pit road.

“Don’t count us out,” he said. “We got confidence and we definitely have the car to do it … and Talladega is a race we can win.”

Earnhardt did not have the car to do it at Kansas. Nor did he have the precision in the pits that championship hopefuls need.

He started 15th in the second of the three Contender Round events and moved backward from there.

He was plagued by vibrations a couple of times in the race and then, on Lap 160, what he believed to be a loose wheel sent him to the pits under green. When he emerged, he had dropped off the lead lap.

RELATED: Loose wheel brings Junior to pit road

It marked the second time in the Chase that a loose wheel caused him problems. At Dover a couple weeks ago, he was plagued by one. But before he was about to pit, a caution saved him from having to make a green-flag stop and allowed him to advance to the three-race Contender Round.

Despite the wheel problems, Earnhardt insisted after the Kansas race that he has big confidence in his crew and crew chief.

“I’m fine,” he said. “We’ll get it figured out. I believe in my guys. I really do.”

Earnhardt will start the race at Talladega next Sunday 11th in points and 31 points out of the eighth and final berth in the Eliminator Round. A good finish won’t be good enough for Earnhardt’s championship chances. He will likely need The Finish.

His overall history at Talladega says a victory is very possible.

Earnhardt won the spring race at Talladega this year — but his the last victory before that was in 2004.

RELATED: Junior wins spring race at Talladega

Earnhardt, who said he arrived at Kansas knowing he would likely need to win Talladega in order to advance, said, basically, “so what” to that.

“I know that one race, one opportunity, one chance makes the odds feel bad, but we won there this year,” he said. “And we went to Daytona (which, like Talladega is a restrictor-plate track) and ran third in the 500 and we won our 125 (qualifying race).”

Earnhardt was asked late Sunday afternoon about the frustration of having such a good season boil down to one event.

“I’m not frustrated and I’m not emotionally drained or anything like that,” he said. “The Chase is going to give you these kind of results.

“I’ve been in this before and it is what it is.”

Posted on October 19, 2015 by

NASCAR.com editors Pat DeCola and Maggie MacKenzie are here to give their opinions on Joey Logano‘s race-winning, controversial move to get past Matt Kenseth at Kansas Speedway. Check out their take, then vote in our poll and let us know your view in the comments section below.

DeCola: OK, I think we all knew this was coming — the head-to-head debate about Joey Logano‘s controversial move in the closing laps of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway that put him in Victory Lane and Matt Kenseth on the edge of elimination.

Considering Logano already has a win in the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, it’s easy to point out his risky move as unnecessary and unsportsmanlike. Others tend to think it’s just hard racing for a win, no matter what. I’m in the camp of the former — Logano must have been upset that Kenseth had been blocking him, but still had a few laps to get by him cleanly in what appeared to be the faster car.

What else was Kenseth supposed to do, but block? He all but needed the win to advance to the Eliminator Round and couldn’t afford to let Logano by.

Had the pair been battling for a make-or-break win, I’m fine with that, but given Logano’s cushion, it felt aggressive to me.

MacKenzie: Hey Pat, it’s so nice to see you in this head-to-head debate with me. I understand your viewpoints on this touchy matter, but I am simply Team Logano. This may be the more unpopular side to be the spokesperson for, but I’m standing by the driver of the No. 22.

Yes, Logano won at Charlotte and locked a position in the Eliminator Round, but that doesn’t mean he should play nice when he’s fighting for a championship. Now with Kenseth, one of the field’s top competitors, at the bottom of the Chase leaderboard, Logano has a relatively clear path to that nice, shiny trophy.

And we shouldn’t lose sight that this is a competition, not a lesson on manners and etiquette.

DeCola: That clear path may not be as clear as it looks right now, however. Sure, if Kenseth is able to come out of Talledega still in the hunt for a title, he’ll have no choice but to race Logano cleanly, but in the other — more likely — scenario, Kenseth will have four races to ensure Logano isn’t the one holding said “nice, shiny trophy.”

It’s clear Logano added an enemy on the race track on Sunday, and with the volatile nature of the new Chase format the more cars aiming to take you out on the race track, the less chance you have to be holding the trophy at Homestead.

That said, if Logano continues to be faster than everyone else, it’s almost a moot point — but rest assured, Kenseth will have an opportunity to exact revenge on the No. 22 at some point before 2015 is up if he chooses.

And that risk doesn’t seem worth it to me for Joey.

MacKenzie: It is definitely apparent that Logano made a foe in Kenseth. There is no doubt about that, but this is what makes this sport so great.

Logano needed to do what was necessary in order to secure his fifth win of the season. In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter that he visited Victory Lane at Charlotte and is already advancing in the Chase. He did what he needed to do to lock up another win. Isn’t that what NASCAR is all about — winning? Because when it comes down to it, Logano’s resume will show his wins, not the means he took to get there.

And something tells me that if the Team Penske driver comes into contact with his “enemy” he’ll be able to handle himself just fine. So the “risk” of him facing off against an unhappy peer in the upcoming races is well worth it.

Posted on October 19, 2015 by

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Chase Grid

Below is a breakdown of how the full 43-car field fared at Kansas Speedway:

1. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. Logano used a strong restart to win his second straight Chase race — a career first — and his fifth victory of the year. | RELATED: Logano discusses win in Victory Lane

2. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin recovered after a lengthy pit stop to overhaul his car’s handling during the second caution period.

3. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. “Awesome job guys,” Johnson radioed his team. “That is the best race car we have had in a long time.” Subscribe to RaceView to hear driver audio

4. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne lined up inside the top five for the final restart and tried to make the bottom line work en route to his first top five since May 31 at Dover.

5. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Suspicious of oil on the high line, Busch cautiously navigated Kansas after getting into the wall a bit with 75 laps to go.

6. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Busch ran in the top 10 for most of the race even in light of a late-race tire vibration caused by a sliding wheel weight.

7. Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford. Wood Brothers Racing. Blaney turned his best Kansas start into his best Kansas finish and ran as high as third among the Chase contenders.

8. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. The outside pole winner took advantage of the first pit stall (courtesy of Brad Keselowski‘s penalty) throughout the race, including during the second caution when he picked up eight spots and won the race off pit road.

9. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. Getting into the wall early might have hurt the pole winner’s chances, but he joked it actually helped his car as he fought to stay in the top eight of the Chase Grid.

10. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon gritted out his 14th top 10 in his 20th and final Kansas appearance. | RELATED: Gordon discusses hard top-10 finish

11. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Newman spent most of the race running in the top 10, but just missed finishing there when he was shuffled back from eighth on the final restart.

12. Brian Scott, No. 33 Chevrolet, Circle Sport. Scott matched his best start of the season, lining up 16th in his Kansas debut Sunday, and went on to score his best Cup result of the year.

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse earned the beneficiary pass during the sixth caution flag and held on to score his second-best Kansas finish.

14. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth struggled to maintain his lead once he got into lapped traffic with seven laps to go and was moved over while apparently trying to block Joey Logano. | RELATED: Kenseth spins late at Kansas

15. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Chevrolet, Furniture Row Racing. Thankful to see the Lap 263 yellow flag, Truex earned the beneficiary pass and lined up 15th for the final restart.

16. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick’s strong run was stalled when he had to serve a late-race pit penalty. His troubles continued when his shifter broke. | RELATED: Harvick’s pit road penalty comes at bad time

17. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Biffle overcame an early vibration and worked with his team as his car swung from loose to tight in the closing laps.

18. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Bayne drew AJ Allmendinger‘s ire while racing for 23rd on Lap 100. After getting loose and hitting the wall, Allmendinger roughed up the No. 6’s bumper before hitting pit road.

19. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Running 22nd before the second caution flag, Menard picked up 11 spots on pit road with a two-tire decision.

20. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. McMurray picked up a couple spots after starting 28th, but with no grip, he got into the wall on Lap 50. Owner Chip Ganassi tweeted at the halfway point that his cars were “just not handling at all. I apologize to our fans. But not giving up!!!”

21. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Earnhardt’s Chase hopes took a hit with 100 laps to go when he had to make an unscheduled stop for a loose wheel. | RELATED: Dale Jr. faces must-win situation at Talladega

22. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Patrick worked through a tire vibration just before the halfway point on Sunday.

23. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. Mears opted not to pit during the final caution period, and held onto 23rd during the green-white-checkered finale.

24. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola restarted 15th after the third caution period but quickly lost control and track position when he started leaking power steering fluid.

25. David Ragan, No. 55 Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing. Ragan posted his fastest lap of the race while running 26th with 30 laps to go.

26. Justin Allgaier, No. 51 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Allgaier hit the wall twice on Sunday; the second time prompted officials to wave the sixth caution flag.

27. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. It was a long day for Allmendinger, who at first thought he was losing his motor. Later in the race, he hit the wall.

28. Sam Hornish Jr., No. 9 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. High water temps and subsequent contact with the wall made forward progress difficult for Hornish on Sunday.

29. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Larson drew upon his dirt track skills Sunday, but was unable to maintain control of his loose Chevy and finally spun on Lap 108.

30. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. DiBenedetto, winner of the beneficiary of the free pass after the second caution period, fought a car that became too free on long runs during his second Kansas appearance.

31. Alex Bowman, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Bowman continually worked with his in-car track bar adjuster to fight a tight-handling condition early in Sunday’s race.

32. Brett Moffitt, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. The rookie qualified 35th for Sunday’s race to earn his best Kansas start and went on to claim his best Kansas result.

33. Cole Whitt, No. 35 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Unlike his teammates, Whitt opted to pit for tires during the final caution period.

34. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Annett struggled with a tight-handling condition in his fourth Kansas outing.

35. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. “Driver error again,” Stewart muttered after getting loose and spinning on the backstretch to bring out the second caution flag. Watch: Stewart spins at Kansas

36. David Gilliland, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. During the fourth caution period, Gilliland made a couple stops on pit road so his team could make additional repairs to the right-rear after he scraped the wall.

37. Jeb Burton, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Burton told his team he was on the splitter in Turns 1 and 2 during the first half of Sunday’s race.

38. Reed Sorenson, No. 98 Ford, Premium Motorsports. Sorenson was penalized during his green-flag stop on Lap 94 for removing equipment from the box because a wrench was still stuck in the car after the stop.

39. Will Kimmel III, No. 32 Ford, GO FAS Racing. Kimmel made his Kansas debut on Sunday.

40. Clint Bowyer, No. 15, Michael Waltrip Racing. The Emporia, Kansas, native, struggled with a loose-handling condition and made hard contact with the wall while running 16th. Watch: Bowyer hits wall hard at Kansas

41. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Dillon had just cracked the top-five when a right-front tire failure sent him into the wall on Lap 155.

42. J.J. Yeley, No. 26 Toyota, BK Racing. Yeley brought out the first caution when he got into the wall on Lap 30 and busted his radiator.

43. Landon Cassill, No. 40 Chevrolet, Hillman Smith Motorsports. Shortly past halfway, Cassill’s motor “just laid over,” and he slowly rolled on the apron to the garage.

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Nascar

NASCAR and Goodyear officials, along with three Sprint Cup Series teams, return to Michigan International Speedway Tuesday to test a low downforce aerodynamic package scheduled for use at most venues where the series will compete in 2016.

Teams and drivers that will participate are: Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports; Chris Buescher, Roush Fenway Racing and Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing.

“The real key at Michigan is to see … what the top speeds are and understand that,” Greg Stucker, Director of Race Tire Sales for Goodyear, said Saturday at Kansas Speedway.

“We (tested) low downforce at Michigan in 2014; had a test up there and had a number of different (aero) packages and low downforce was one of them. We were pretty conservative at that point. So we’ve got some data to go off of and we’ll go back in the spring (of ’16) to confirm.”

NASCAR officials announced last week that a low downforce package, similar to the one used at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway earlier this season, would be put into play for the bulk of the races in 2016. The new base package will include a 3.5-inch spoiler, a quarter-inch leading splitter edge and 33-inch splitter extension panel (radiator pan). The changes will lessen the amount of downforce on the cars, similar to the changes made prior to the start of the ’15 season.

“The success of the races at Kentucky and Darlington in similar trim proved extremely valuable in accelerating rules development for 2016,” Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said in announcing the ’16 package.

“Now, as teams have even more time to prepare and a strong baseline of data, we anticipate the racing to be even better.”

Sprint Cup Series teams competed with a high drag package this year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the August race at Michigan. The changes, however, failed to produce the desired results.

Decreasing the area of the leading edge of the spoiler and radiator pan will lessen the amount of downforce on the front of the cars while a shorter spoiler will similarly impact rear downforce.

The current 2015 aero package, which will continue to be used in this year’s events at Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead, consists of a 6-inch spoiler and 38-inch splitter extension panel.

No major changes are expected for the sanctioning body’s superspeedway rules package, which will be used at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend.

Tuesday’s test is expected to consist of individual 10- and 25-lap runs in morning and afternoon sessions.

According to Michigan officials, the Turn 1 grandstand seats will be open for fans with no admission charge.

Weather conditions for Brooklyn, Michigan, on Tuesday call for a 10 percent chance of showers before 8 a.m. and a high near 69 degrees.

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Nascar

RELATED: Race results | Standings | Chase Grid

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kevin Harvick said his team was fortunate to finish as well as it did Sunday, a 16th-place finish leaving the defending series champion fifth in points following the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

“We didn’t have a great weekend,” the 2015 Sprint Cup Series champion admitted after enduring a broken gear shift knob and a pit road penalty for removing equipment during the course of the 269-lap event.

“A lot of things falling off and now we’ve got to go to Talladega and have a good week.

“All in all it could have been a lot worse … everybody kept digging.”

Harvick, 39, led only once for 21 laps but ran inside the top five for much of the race.

It all went haywire for the Stewart-Haas Racing team, however, coming through a round of green-flag stops with some 50 laps remaining.

After hitting pit road for service, Harvick pulled out of his pit box on Lap 213 with the fuel can still attached to his car, resulting in a stop-and-go penalty that quickly dropped him to 20th and one lap down. Shortly afterward, he radioed his crew to announce that the knob on the gear shifter had broken.

“It was just really hard to shift from second to third just because there was nothing to grab onto for leverage,” he said. “But in the end the car vibrated all day; I’m lucky something else didn’t break.”

The top eight in points advance out of the Contender Round and into the Eliminator Round following next week’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM). During the Challenger Round, Harvick kept his season alive in the opening round of the Chase, bouncing back from bad races at Chicagoland and New Hampshire to win comfortably at Dover.

Crew chief Rodney Childers says the team simply has to go to Talladega “and have a solid day.”

“It’s all about just racing,” he said. “Just like today. We go every week just to race; it’s not about anything other than that. Just do the best job you can and whatever happens, happens.”

The gear shifter problem and pit road violation were just a continuation of the team’s troubles at Kansas, according to Childers, who said the head of the shifter “looked like it wasn’t glued properly.”

“It started going south when we got here Friday,” Childers said of the team’s issues. “The brakes were dragging Friday. We finally got that fixed, qualified good and then (Saturday) didn’t go smooth.

“Then this morning the track bar slider locked up, we had to cut that off the car and replace it. Then the door seam broke(n) in half, the shifter broke and then we drove the gas can out.”

The broken door seam — a large crack ran down the driver’s side door area of the No. 4 Chevrolet — was a result of the beating the cars take from nothing more than air.

“A lot of these places that are real smooth … the air buffets a lot and it just beats them to death,” he said.

“I don’t think we necessarily had a bad weekend; a better weekend than most (teams). But our (fuel) mileage wasn’t very good and if we didn’t try to follow the car out of the box with the can we were going to run out anyway.”

Only one point separates Harvick, who was second in points entering Kansas, from eighth place Martin Truex Jr.

Outside the top eight heading to Talladega are Kyle Busch (ninth), Ryan Newman (10th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (11th) and Matt Kenseth (12th).

Posted on October 19, 2015 by

“Next February will be quite the feeling,” said Chase Elliott on the night of his paint scheme unveil for the 2016 season.

Elliott is set to take over for the almost-retiree Jeff Gordon and will sit behind the wheel of the iconic No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in just a few months, beginning with the season-opening Daytona 500.

But the famed No. 24 car will have a new look next season, which Elliott and team owner Rick Hendrick revealed on Monday via FS1’s NASCAR Race Hub.

Feast your �� on @chaseelliott’s 2016 @NAPARacing Chevy SS! #NAPAKnowHow pic.twitter.com/uFku6mwCAe

— NAPA Racing (@NAPARacing) October 19, 2015

The duo discussed the redesigned No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet and what to expect from the 2014 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion.

“We are just so excited about this young man,” Hendrick said.

Elliott couldn’t be more excited either. “(The) 24 team in particular has a lot of great guys,” Elliott said, referring especially to crew chief Alan Gustafson, who is returning for next year’s season.

“If I can do my job we have shot there (in next year’s Chase).”

Strapping into the No. 24 car with Hendrick-high expectations is a daunting task for the young racer, but not out of Elliott’s grasp, according to the man himself.

“(Jeff) thinks the world about this guy,” Hendrick said, continuing on to say that Gordon would undoubtedly serve as a mentor for Elliott, along with the other three Hendrick drivers.

In the meantime, Elliott still has three more XFINITY races to finish of 2015’s season and to defend his title. He currently sits in second place in the standings, 27 points behind Chris Buescher.

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Staff Report

NASCAR officials are considering alterations to its overtime finish procedures at restrictor-plate tracks, potentially making a rules change ahead of this weekend’s events at Talladega Superspeedway.

Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer, mentioned the possibility Monday morning during a semi-weekly competition debrief with NASCAR.com.

Drivers said they had discussions with NASCAR officials about potential tweaks for Talladega and sister track Daytona International Speedway, where restrictor plates limit horsepower and speeds, often keeping the field in tightly knit packs. To reduce the potential for late-race carnage, one option considered was reducing the number of possible attempts for a green-white-checkered overtime finish from its current maximum of three.

Those rules may be in place in time for Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM), the sixth of 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.

“We are looking at the potential for a procedural change, and that would be it,” O’Donnell said. “I know there was talk about some other things we may be looking at from a race car perspective, but that’s not the case. Still in some final discussions with the industry regarding the green-white-checker procedure, so we expect to have something out by the latest, Wednesday of this week heading into Talladega.”

Any potential change would mark the first major alteration of the green-white-checkered rules since their debut in 2004. O’Donnell said many factors, including the racing history at Talladega, would be considered before making a shift in procedures.

“I think you just look at the race track and the competitors heading in, some of the historicals we’ve seen,” O’Donnell said. “We’re going to make our best effort, regardless, to finish a race under green and I think you’ve seen that. I think in the last 40 to 42 races, we’ve only seen six races where there have been more than one attempt, so we’re looking at all the data to see what we can find out, but ultimately our job and what we want to see is for the race to finish under green-flag conditions.”

One change that will certainly be in effect for this weekend is the addition of more energy-absorbing walls at Talladega. The track announced Oct. 8 that all exterior and interior retaining walls at the 2.66-mile facility were now protected by the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier.

Several tracks have made similar safety measures in the wake of Kyle Busch‘s severe crash in the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener at Daytona in February.

“Talladega’s added over 8,000 feet of SAFER barriers, which is terrific,” O’Donnell said. “What we’ve seen really from the entire industry coming out of Daytona, and we’ve said this, that we’re going to work with the tracks to expedite all the SAFER barriers at each of the tracks. We’ve seen that. We’ve seen the track operators really step up, especially those that have had one event early on and then had a fall event. They’ve made a number of changes.

“Really pleased with the progress all the tracks have made. We’ll continue to see that through the end of this season and certainly as we head into ’16, so I think the message is clear of what we expect and the competitors expect, and I think the tracks are delivering on those expectations each and every race now.”

O’Donnell also put a wrap on the most recent race weekend at Kansas Speedway, which was capped by Joey Logano‘s late-race contact with Matt Kenseth on the way to victory in the Hollywood Casino 400. O’Donnell chalked the run-in to “just some good hard racing” in a high-pressure situation, with Logano trying to deny his rival an automatic berth in the Chase’s next round.

Both drivers had strong words for each other during post-race interviews, but nothing became physical between the two or their teams. O’Donnell said he didn’t expect retaliation in the weeks ahead, and that NASCAR would only intervene if the conflict potentially escalated.

“Ultimately, we like to leave it in the drivers’ hands to work things out. These guys race each other week in and week out. It’s a long season and tend to work it out among themselves. If we have to, though, we will get involved and we’ll sit down with the drivers and make sure that they’re on the same page and we don’t see any retaliatory events on the race track. In this case, I think Matt and Joey will talk and if not, if both of those guys or one says, ‘hey, I need you guys to come in and bring us together,’ we’ll do that. But certainly expect those guys to work it out.”

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Staff Report

Stewart-Haas Racing has called a news conference Wednesday with driver Kurt Busch and team co-owner Tony Stewart at 12 p.m. ET, the team announced Sunday night. There will also be a car unveiling, according to the team.

The event will have video live-streamed — bookmark NASCAR.com/presspass to tune in.

Busch’s contract is up at the end of 2016, and SHR officials have said the two sides were closing in on an agreement. Stewart in August said an extension would come “soon.”

A 27-time winner in NASCAR’s top series, Busch has three wins since joining SHR for the 2014 season. In his two seasons at SHR, he’s qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup twice. He’s currently third in the standings with one race remaining in the Contender Round.

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Staff Report

RELATED: Watch the live stream here

From 8-11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, NASCAR.com will live stream the post-race inspection process at the Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

The three-hour look takes you behind the scenes as NASCAR officials inspect NASCAR Sprint Cup Series vehicles following Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

The cars at the R&D Center this week are: the No. 22 Ford of Joey Logano (won Sunday’s race), the No. 11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin (finished second in Sunday’s race) and the No. 21 Ford of Ryan Blaney (the random car selected).

For more information on what the inspection process entails, click here.

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Pat DeCola

Joey Logano‘s late-race move to get past the leading No. 20 car of Matt Kenseth in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway remains a topic of hot debate, and the Team Penske driver addressed the controversial maneuver Monday morning on “The Dan Patrick Show,” simulcasted on NBCSN.

While the five-time 2015 Sprint Cup Series winner expressed his disappointment that Kenseth’s Toyota was spun out, he certainly isn’t apologizing for racing hard despite already advancing to the Eliminator Round.

“I think all of us are racers; we all just want to race hard and race for wins,” Logano said. “He was doing what he needed to do and I was doing what I had to do and it’s unfortunate we collided there and ended up getting tangled up.

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s just hard racing. We were both racing for a win. It’s Chase time right now and everyone has picked up their intensity level and sometimes things happen.”

Things happen, but was the move intentional? Logano appeared to have the faster car and theoretically could’ve passed Kenseth during the final laps – but a spin? The lower Kenseth finishes in the running order, the less likely it is that the 2003 champ moves on to the Eliminator, an obvious benefit for Logano.

A little bump to the 20 could certainly be looked at as a strategy.

“I wouldn’t say it was a tactic. Our tactic was to go out there and win the race. That’s what we tried to do,” Logano replied after Patrick asked if the bump was part of the plan. “We don’t try to go out there and wreck someone, by no means, but we go out there and try to race hard. He was racing hard, as well. That’s just what happens sometimes.

“I think the way NASCAR has applied this new Chase format with the elimination process, it really puts a lot of people in do-or-die situations and when that happens, crazy things seem to happen on the race track. NASCAR has put us in a position where we have to race hard. I think it puts a great product on the race track and it’s a lot of fun for the fans to watch.”

There’s no denying the new format of the Chase has increased the drama for the season’s 10-race playoff system – we saw that start last year – which has just added to an already exhilarating way to end the season.

Because of this, Patrick asked Logano if he viewed himself as an entertainer.

“I’m here to race; I’m not here to entertain,” said Logano. “In the meantime, if we entertain some people, that’s great. But my job … Roger Penske hired me to win races.

“That’s my job and I need to produce that.”