Posted on by Staff Report

Ray Alfalla (Slip Angle Motorsports) punctuated yet another stellar season in the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series Powered by iRacing by earning his fourth victory of the 2015 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Alfalla, who started a lap down because of technical trouble, sliced through the field in the early going and drove every bit like a driver with nothing to lose.

Last Row Motorsports‘ Jake Stergios finished second, followed by brother PJ. The Stergios brothers had the cars to beat on the short run, but could not match Alfalla’s speed as the laps added-up on their virtual Goodyears. Bryan Blackford was fourth, just edging Chris Overland and mirroring their places in the final standings.

Alfalla and Jake Stergios dominated for most of the evening, leading a combined 146 of 167 laps. Stergios was one of the first sim racers to experiment with the high line in Turns One and Two and the change in line brought his car to life. Polesitter Cody Byus (The TEAM) had no answer and was passed by Stergios just nine laps in.

As halfway approached, Jake still led but PJ had cut the margin and began to plan his move. On Lap 83 PJ drove to the bottom in Turn Three and cleared his brother off of Turn 4. A lap later, a caution stopped the battle and sent the leaders to the pits for tires and fuel.

PJ won the race off pit road but his time at the front was short-lived as Jake used the outside lane in Turns Three and Four to regain the lead. However, Alfalla was now within striking distance and began picking his way through the top five. On Lap 112, Alfalla took the lead for the first time and started to pull away, but a caution for Brad Davies (Drill Aisle) erased Alfalla’s lead and brought the leaders to pit road for the final time.

Alfalla won the race off pit road and looked set to drive away to victory, but Jake was strong and stayed right in Alfalla’s tire tracks. Stergios gave it a valiant effort, even getting alongside Alfalla at one point, but did not have the speed on the bottom to clear the race leader. He finally burned off his tires and had to settle for second, just over one second behind at the checkers.

Kenny Humpe, the 2015 series champion, did not have the result he was hoping for. Although he qualified fourth, Humpe lacked speed in race trim to compete for the win.  Still, a strong finish looked possible until his chance to record a twelfth top five of the season ended when he got loose off Turn Two on Lap 44 and pounded the inside wall. Humpe wound up forty-second, dead-last.

As Alfalla and Jake Stergios battled for the lead over the last 40 laps, PJ Stergios, Blackford, and Overland were locked in an intense battle for third on track, and third through fifth in the championship. PJ came away with third on both counts, a rather comfortable 19 points ahead of fourth place Blackford. Overland and Blackford fought side-by-side multiple times during the last fuel run, each needing to finish in front of the other to claim the $1,000 fourth place prize. Blackford’s long run speed was too much for Overland, who settled for fifth in the championship, a single point behind Blackford, and collected $500 for his efforts.

Further back in the standings, Nathan Wise was the last driver to secure his 2016 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series license by finishing twentieth in the standings. He beat Michael J Johnson (Gale Force Racing) by seven points despite limping a damaged car home to a thirty-seventh place finish at Homestead.

As the sixth NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series comes to a close, the story of the year has to be Humpe’s complete dominance through the first three quarters of the season. Though he faded a bit at the end, Humpe’s consistency was nothing like this series has ever seen. As he looks to become just the second repeat champion, Alfalla — already a two timer himself — looks to be his biggest competition. Nobody was stronger the last few races than Alfalla and he will carry that momentum into the off-season and, he hopes, to the start of 2016.

The NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series is off until February, giving drivers and teams some much-needed time off. What does next season have in store? With the NASCAR iRacing Pro Series bringing-in new talent, drivers undoubtedly changing teams, and iRacing build changes, it is always possible that different and unexpected drivers will challenge for wins.  However, Humpe and Alfalla will be on their games, and likely ready for any new challengers.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Watch Harvick’s burnout | Effort to hinder inspections?

 

Rodney Childers, crew chief for the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team and driver Kevin Harvick, used photos and humor to make his points after oblique but pointed accusations by fellow Sprint Cup competitors that Kevin Harvick‘s burnout at Dover may have been an effort to cover up infractions.

Childers tweeted a response to Tuesday’s insinuations.

The No. 4 team was a hot topic among other drivers at Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Contender Round Media Day on Tuesday, with several drivers questioning if the team would intentionally damage such a dominant race car and saying that the practice was relatively commonplace. Harvick led 355 of 400 laps in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. It was a race he had to win to reach the second round of the Chase after a wreck put him in last place in the field of 16 coming out of Chicagoland.

Childers also brought history to bear as he made his point about burnouts via photos on Instagram, posting 13 photos of Harvick doing victory burnouts, reaching back to the driver’s time in the No. 29 car.

 

Told about some competitors’ beliefs that Harvick’s contact with the wall during his celebratory burnout at Dover was intentional and a way to circumvent post-race inspection from revealing anything amiss, Harvick responded with amused wordplay.

“I knew how to knock my car back into compliance by rubbing it up against the wall,” he said, grinning.

 

RELATED: Watch Harvick in Victory Lane 

 

A few more photos from Childers:

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Gordon by the numbers at Charlotte

As Jeff Gordon‘s farewell tour winds down, so do the number of chances to scratch the win column in his final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The four-time champion sees opportunities in the seven races that remain, however, even as a bigger goal looms.

Gordon took his rightful place among the 12 title-eligible Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Tuesday, just days before the three-race Contender Round kicks off with this Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM). A victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend would provide a bookend for his career at the site of his first major-league triumph, back in 1994.

With 29 races in the books, Gordon is facing down the prospect of a winless final season, but he said a title ring for the thumb would be the ultimate trump card.

“I mean, I’ll be disappointed, but at the same time, I’m a realistic person and we’ve rarely put ourselves in position and had the cars and the team to do that,” Gordon said. “I think certainly Martinsville’s high on my list of opportunities, and I feel like we’ve been able to win there the last several years. I’ve got to make sure I go in there and do my job because I think we’re very capable of winning there.

“To me, the championship overrides that, and even if we don’t win a race and win the championship, that’ll supersede the win.”

Gordon qualified for the 10-race postseason on the basis of points and advanced through the first three-race series with finishes of 14th (Chicagoland), seventh (New Hampshire) and 12th (Dover). Passing the Challenger Round test mirrored the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 team’s steady effort from the regular season, when Gordon placed in the top 10 in half of the 26 races.

With the points re-racked for the next round, Gordon said having equal footing in the standings makes the championship race a new day for all 12 finalists, icing on the season-ending cake.

“I feel like it’s all bonus from here on out,” Gordon said. “We haven’t had the best year, but we’ve done a great job at fighting and overcoming things and here we are with having — up to the Chase — not a very great performance, and yet we’re in the Chase. And I think we showed in Chicago that we’ve improved our mile-and-a-half program. Let’s hope that continues these next two weeks, but it’s full-on reset.

“We came into this thing very far behind in bonus points and now we’re on an even playing field as far as points are concerned. You’ve got to just play to your strengths, and I think our strengths are that we’re very consistent, we’ve got a lot of fight in us, and we’ve had to fight through a lot of things this year, so we’re very experienced at that.”

Gordon exited the title hunt last year in the Eliminator Round, the final three-race series before the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Though the current Chase format is only in its second year, Gordon said the pressure “only intensifies from here” as the season winds down.

One team that has risen in close correlation with the stress levels has been the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 outfit helmed by defending series champion Kevin Harvick, who converted a must-win situation last weekend at Dover to keep his repeat hopes alive. Though Gordon said the focus remains in-house for the No. 24 bunch for the time being, it’s been hard to ignore the accomplishments from Harvick & Co.

“We’re in a category right now where it’s really just focus on how we get ourselves to Homestead and then see who we need to worry about, but the first step is just that,” Gordon said. “But I will say consistently every weekend, he’s at the top of board, he’s the guy that I think everybody’s measuring themselves off of, but in all honesty I think he’s in a whole ‘nother category right now.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: NASCAR official release

NASCAR issued P2-level penalties to Furniture Row Racing‘s No. 78 Chevrolet team for infractions found during last weekend’s Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway.
 
NASCAR officials confirmed the punishment Wednesday, saying that first-year crew chief Cole Pearn has been placed on probation until the end of the year. The P2 penalty was decided after a further review of the violation this week at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.
 
The No. 78 entry for Martin Truex Jr. was removed from the starting grid shortly before the green flag fell on Sunday’s AAA 400. NASCAR officials discovered issues with a flared wheel opening in pre-race ceremonies, and the team was required to fix the infraction in the Sprint Cup garage.
 
“I didn’t even see it, actually,” Truex said of the last-minute repairs. “I was at driver intros and Marty Snider from NBC was like, ‘Hey, your car’s not out here.’ I looked at (Ryan) Newman, he’s like, ‘Yeah, I just walked by it coming out here.’ Then I saw on TV that it was back in the garage. I was like, ‘Well, that’s not good.’ It actually wasn’t as bad as you’d think. I felt really good about the race car we had going into the race. I obviously felt really good about Dover; I always do. Something about that track just gives me a lot of confidence, and they’re like, ‘We’ve got to go to the rear.’ I’m like, ‘No worries, we’ll be fine.’
 
“If anything it made me more focused. I was kind of mad about it for a minute, and then I was like, you know what you’ve got to do, just go do it, and we did it, so it was good.”
 
Truex was forced to start at the rear of the 43-car field, rallying to finish 11th and secure his spot in the Contender Round, the next three-race series in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

RELATED: No. 78 team penalized for infractions at Dover


·       The No. 78 team has been penalized for an infraction that occurred during pre-race inspection on Oct. 4. This is a P2 level penalty (Sections 12.1; 20.4b; 20.4.2a; 12.5.3.2.2). Crew chief Cole Pearn has been placed on NASCAR probation through Dec. 31, 2015. 

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (October 7, 2015) — Twenty-two drivers have three days to compete for a spot in the motorsport industry’s top driver development program, the NASCAR Drive for Diversity (D4D), set to commence at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., Oct. 19-21, 2015.



Now in its 12th year, the annual Combine invites promising ethnically diverse and female drivers, ages 14 to 26, from across North America to test their skills over a three-day period in order to identify members of the NASCAR D4D Class of 2016.



“Finding and developing diverse athletes who will represent the future of NASCAR is at the core of our organization’s mission,” said NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Jim Cassidy. “Every year, the bar is raised with talented applicants who have the potential and determination to succeed. We’re proud to watch our graduates in the national series and develop more diverse talent to join them in the years to come.”



In partnership with Rev Racing, the Max Siegel-owned race team, D4D offers racing opportunities in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKPSE) and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) for one full season, providing drivers with equipment, mentoring, and competition experience.



“We could not be more excited about this year’s NASCAR Drive for Diversity Combine to select the 2016 Class of Rev Racing drivers,” said team CEO Max Siegel. “Coming off of our sixth consecutive multiple race winning season, we are focused on continuing to make our program and approach world class, as we prepare these young drivers to advance into the national series.”



The NASCAR D4D Combine has proven successful in identifying and developing future stars of the sport. Current D4D member Collin Cabre secured Rev Racing’s second win of 2015 with a victory at the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season finale at Dover International Speedway. In addition, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson and NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers Darrell Wallace Jr. and Daniel Suárez, leaders in the series’ Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings, are among the graduates of the program.



This year’s athletes include 13 women, notably the youngest combine participant ever at 14 years old, Macy Causey. Also participating are four stars from the NASCAR Mexico Series: Abraham Calderón, Enrique Contreras, Rubén García Jr. and Santiago Tovar.



Returning to defend their spots in the program are current NASCAR Whelen All-American Series drivers Dylan Smith and Natalie Decker.



Driver combine participants will be evaluated on their driving skills and will also be tested on a series of strength and agility exercises at Hampton University.



Fans can follow the Combine on Twitter at @NASCARDiversity and @RevRacing.

Below are invitees to the 12th annual NASCAR Drive for Diversity Combine: 


First Name

Last Name

Age

City

State/Country

Hannah

Adair

21

Tulsa

Okla.

Jairo

Avila

20

Alhambra

Calif.

Kayli

Barker

18

Las Vegas

Nev.

Nicole

Behar

17

Otis Orchards

Wash.

Abraham

Calderon

26

Monterrey

Mexico

Macy

Causey

14

Yorktown

Va.

Enrique

Contreras

22

San Antonio

Texas

Madeline

Crane

17

Meansville

Ga.

Claire

Decker

20

Eagle River

Wis.

Natalie

Decker

18

Eagle River

Wis.

Juan

Garcia

17

Bogota

Colombia

Ruben

Garcia Jr.

19

Mexico City

Mexico

Ali

Kern

22

Fremont

Ohio

Enrique

Limon

17

Mexico City

Mexico

Mariah

McGriff

20

Vail

Ariz.

Becca

Monopoli

26

Lakeland

Fla.

Erika

Newcome

20

Pickerington

Ohio

Hannah

Newhouse

18

Twin Falls

Idaho

Vanessa

Robinson

25

Las Cruces

N.M.

Dylan

Smith

23

Concord

N.C.

Walter

Thomas

16

Indianapolis

Ind.

Santiago

Tovar

22

Mexico City

Mexico


In addition to drivers, NASCAR Drive for Diversity has successfully identified and developed pit crew members to find employment opportunities within the sport. The NASCAR Drive for Diversity Pit Crew Challenge Tour will host its final Combine of the year at the NASCAR Research and Development Center on October 9, 2015 in Concord, North Carolina.

Posted on by

Editor’s note: During each week of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, The Joey Logano Foundation will provide grants to a non-profit in each of the race markets in a program called “Chasing Second Chances.” Each week, Logano will detail those plans for NASCAR.com.

 

Thanks for your support this week! It wasn’t the finish we wanted, but we made it to the Contender Round and one step closer to the goal! The 22 team will keep pushing forward and focus on finishing strong this week in Charlotte.

 

This Week’s Cause: Domestic Violence

 

There are many causes in October worth mentioning. One of the most visible symbols of the month is pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness. While I think that is an outstanding cause, I wanted to look at an issue that may not get as much attention.

 

For the month of October, Chasing Second Chances is going to bring awareness to domestic violence. Domestic violence affects entire communities. The individual being abused, family, friends and co-workers all feel the reach of domestic violence.   

 

We have worked with various non-profits in this field getting ready for this platform to launch and I have really learned a lot about the difficulty in identifying and helping someone in this situation. My hope is if there is someone reading this that is in an abusive relationship or suspects someone they know is in one, they will have the strength and resources to find and/or offer help.

 

What is Domestic Violence?

 

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)…

 

Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and emotional abuse. The frequency and severity of domestic violence can vary dramatically; however, the one constant component of domestic violence is one partner’s consistent efforts to maintain power and control over the other.

 

The issue of domestic violence is one that affects every community in our country. According to NCADV nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by a partner in the United States. That is equal to 10 million men and women a year. Of these cases, approximately 95 percent are female victims of male partners. Domestic violence can result in physical injury, psychological trauma and even death.

 

Resources Available

 

If you or someone you know needs assistance, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or, online go to DomesticShelters.org. There you can find resources in your direct area.

 

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence website has a lot of information too under resources that can offer help.

 

This Week’s Joey Logano Foundation Chasing Second Chances Partner

 

This week’s charity partner is Dove’s Nest. Dove’s Nest is the women’s program at the Charlotte Rescue Mission, a non-profit in the Charlotte community that has been changing lives for 75 years.

 

In 1992 Charlotte Rescue Mission launched the Dove’s Nest program. The program started in a small house serving 12 women and has now grown to a 120-bed facility able to house women and their children as they go through the recovery process.

The focus of Dove’s Nest is to serve women struggling with addiction, poverty or hopelessness with the goal of returning them to society as productive, self-sufficient citizens. They want their clients to achieve long-term sobriety, find employment and stable housing, and restore and build healthy relationships. Over 90 percent of the women who come to Dove’s Nest have experienced some sort of abuse that has led to their addiction.

Our foundation will be funding the Nurturing Families program at Dove’s Nest. This program includes curriculum and classes used to teach these women and their children how to have healthy relationships since addiction often means for these kids, there has been abuse or neglect at home.

 

Again, the effects of domestic violence have far reaching consequences. Drug addiction can be one. Dove’s Nest has proven to be successful in providing quality care assisting these women to end their addictions and deal with the trauma that led them down the wrong path. We are so proud to support another amazing organization through our Chasing Second Chances platform. For more information on Dove’s Nest, please visit http://charlotterescuemission.org/.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Harvick wins | Bruce: Pressure produced another gem from Harvick

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Was it a preventive measure or nothing more than another long, smoky celebration?
 
Kevin Harvick‘s dominating victory in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway took the Stewart-Haas Racing driver from the brink of elimination in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and put him squarely into the Contender Round of the 10-race playoff.
 
His celebratory burnout, which concluded as the back of his No. 4 Chevrolet made contact with the wall, has raised questions about damage done to a winning vehicle before it is loaded up and transported, by NASCAR officials, back to the sanctioning body’s research and development center in Concord, North Carolina.
 
“I did?” Harvick said when asked about the incident during Tuesday’s Chase Contender Round Media Day gathering at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “I didn’t even know.”
 
Told that some believed the contact was intentional and a way to circumvent NASCAR officials discovering anything amiss, Harvick seemed amused.
 
“I knew how to knock my car back into compliance by rubbing it up against the wall,” he said, grinning.

RELATED: Harvick’s ‘walk-off wins’ among clutch moments in sports
 
Whether Harvick was on the level or simply going with the rumor of the day, drivers have taken similar measures in the past to hide automotive trade secrets.
 
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” 2012 Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski said when asked if drivers have intentionally damaged their cars after winning.
 
The reason, he said, is simple.
 
“Because of the way the tech (inspection) process works.
 
“The cars aren’t (inspected) the same way at the track as they can be … at the R&D Center,” the Team Penske driver said. “It’s been going on for a long time. I’m not making any accusations. … It’s not anything new to this sport.
 
“I’ve definitely blown tires out. I think every driver has done something to do some kind of damage to their car.”
 
NASCAR officials inspect each car three times during the course of a race weekend at the track — the initial inspection before practice gets underway, again prior to qualifying and a third time before the start of the race.
 
The race-winning entry, runner-up and a random selection are also inspected at the track following each race.
 
Typically, those three cars are then transported to the R&D center for a more detailed inspection that is done each Tuesday.
 
“You don’t want to discredit anyone’s win because what he did was really, really impressive,” Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin said. “But obviously, as all the other competitors, whoever doesn’t win each week wants to make sure they’re on a level playing field with whoever did win.
 
“Me, going forward, I would like to see some kind of way of ensuring that our cars all stay intact for the R&D Center because right now, the R&D Center is kind of a moot point if guys tear up their cars.”
 
JGR teammate and fellow Chase competitor Carl Edwards, who finished 15th at Dover, said he didn’t see anything related to Harvick’s post-race celebration.
 
“I don’t know what happened there exactly,” Edwards said. “I’ll say this, that car was extremely fast and it’s a shame they tore it up. A car that fast, you don’t want to tear it up.
 
“They’re performing very well and you’re going to have to beat those guys. They’re getting it done.”

RELATED: Where does Harvick rank in Power Rankings Presented by Sprint?
 
The consistency and the speed shown by Harvick’s team during the last two seasons have been impossible to ignore. And it’s what most teams trying to beat the defending series champion have tried to attain for themselves.
 
“That’s what was good about the 4 car last year and that’s what’s been good about them this time,” Richard Childress Racing driver Ryan Newman said. “He had two failures (at Chicago and New Hampshire) and then a complete success. Questionable but complete. … I don’t need to say anything more.”
 
No matter the driver in question, Newman said, “I don’t think destroying a race car is at all respectful to anybody. I’ve never personally done it, never had the need to.”
 
It’s a constant tug-of-war, the battle to push the envelope and work in the ever-shrinking gray areas of the rulebook without getting one’s hands slapped. A team might be doing something that isn’t specifically outside the rules, but if it’s working, you don’t want to give officials the opportunity to reel your team back in.
 
“NASCAR’s really smart, and the teams are really smart, and they’re constantly battling each other to outsmart each other,” Hamlin said. “So it’s always a game, and the game never stops from when you leave the shop until you get to that R&D Center.”
 
Harvick, safely into the next round, isn’t fretting over all the chatter. His team won, he celebrated, and it doesn’t get much simpler than that.
 
“The thing about it now is people expect that,” Harvick said of the post-race burnout. ” … Back in 2003 was the first time that the rear tires blew off the car at Indianapolis down the frontstretch. That’s not something new. It’s just something that’s been fun.
 
“These things are hard to win and I enjoy celebrating and (I) am going to burn the tires off.”

MORE: Crew chief Childers responds to theories

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Where does No. 88 team stack up in this week’s pit crew rankings?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he doesn’t anticipate any further changes to his pit crew even though teammate Jimmie Johnson has been knocked out of this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
 
Earnhardt and fellow Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon advanced into the Contender Round of the Chase, which begins this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Johnson, a six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, did not secure one of the 12 Chase positions, falling by the wayside when a rear axle seal failed during Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.

RELATED: Johnson’s dream of seventh title in 2015 washed away at Dover
 
Speaking to the media Tuesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Earnhardt couldn’t guarantee that there would be no changes in his over-the-wall crew, “but I would like to keep my guys,” he said.
 
Earnhardt’s last win came in July at Daytona. His pass of Jamie McMurray in the closing laps at Dover vaulted him into the Contender Round, but he and his team had to overcome a loose wheel during the race to put themselves back in contention. A caution allowed Earnhardt to pit and correct the problem and kept him from having to come to pit road under green-flag conditions.
 
“I’ll be honest with you. … I don’t know what’s going to happen. You might find out tomorrow that somebody got changed,” he said. “I don’t think you build a guy’s trust … he needs to know that you believe in him; the same for the driver. The driver needs to know the team believes he can do it.
 
“I think the (tire) carrier, the (tire) changer, all those guys want to think that the driver and everyone involved believes in them when they go over the wall.
 
“If I take the 48 guys because I think they’re better, then what am I going to do next year when we have to start from scratch again? All those guys that are on my car now are going to be pissed off because I don’t believe in them because I took the 48 guys when the going got tough.
 
“So I don’t believe in doing that. I think that my guys can do it; I think we will find the combination that works for us to get to the end of the season and beyond.”

RELATED: Change made to No. 88 pit crew
 
Earnhardt’s No. 88 crew has been retooled in recent weeks, most recently for Dover as front-tire changer Scott Brzozowski replaced David Mayo, who had earlier been replaced by Kevin Novak but had been brought back onto the main crew.
 
The addition of Brzozowski can possibly be a game-changer for the team, according to Earnhardt.
 
“I hope that Scott wants to stick around beyond this season,” he said. “I actually talked to him today.
 
“It’s not like we need two new (tire) changers. We just need one key guy that can come in and kind of elevate the standard and push everyone. Over the past couple of years when we’ve had great pit crews, a lot of the guys that we’ve been working with this year were on those teams.
 
“If you get one guy in there that’s kind of a key player … like a wide receiver or a quarterback is to a football team, he can really elevate the play of everybody around him and boost the entire crew; just the confidence that those guys have going over the wall when he’s a part of it changes the whole consistency of the team.”
 
Gordon’s No. 24 team picked up the services of tire changer Nick Odell recently, which freed up the move for Brzozowski to the 88. Gordon, a four-time champion in his final full-time season, is still searching for his first win in 2015.
 
“We really want Scott to try to wrap his brain around sticking with us,” Earnhardt said. “We could really use a guy like him on the 88 car to bring some stability to the rest of the group. I’ve got a lot of faith in our guys; it’s not like we need to go crazy and blow it up, go looking outside our system.”
 
Any crew changes for his team, he said, would be orchestrated by crew chief Greg Ives and Hendrick Motorsports General Manager Doug Duchardt.
 
Swapping individual crew members heading into the Chase isn’t unusual. There have even been cases of swapping entire crews, in the middle of a race no less, as Johnson and Gordon did in 2010.
 
“I know teams have done that before but I just feel like, yeah you might get somewhere in the short term and get some stability but over the long term you basically have just destroyed the integrity of the team you have,” Earnhardt said. “Having those guys back at the beginning of next season is not going to be an option. They’re not going to want to work for you once you take them off the car during the Chase.”