Harvick and Johnson address scuffle

Posted on September 25, 2015 by

WATCH: Harvick jokes, moves on from Chicago incident

LOUDON, N.H. — A calm and measured Jimmie Johnson spoke to reporters late Friday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first time since he was involved in a post-race confrontation with reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ Kevin Harvick last week in the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway.

Harvick, on the contrary, was less eager to discuss the situation.

The defending champion, clearly not wanting to talk about the not-too-distant past in which he put shoved, punched — whatever you want to call it — Johnson following a wreck that relegated him to a 42nd-place finish in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup opener, didn’t say much else.

“I don’t have a lot to say about any of it. I’m here to race and to do what I need to do the next two weeks,” Harvick said Friday after qualifying second for Sunday’s Sylvania 300 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “I don’t look back. I just do what we have to do to focus on what we need to do looking forward. I’m not going to use (the media) to make threats, I can do that myself.”

Meanwhile, in the New Hampshire garage, the six-time champ Johnson acknowledged it was in an unpredictable situation for him to try and discuss the accident with Harvick last week, but he felt like it was the right thing to do.

“Obviously I wanted to go to his motorhome and try to talk to him about the situation at that point in time,” Johnson said. “I’ve been on the flipside of that before and although I wasn’t happy to see whoever it was, it meant something to me and I appreciated the fact they came to my bus to see me. That’s all I was trying to do.”

Johnson, who video shows walking away rather calmly from the agitated Harvick, said he fully expected a volatile situation.

“I wasn’t surprised he was that upset,” Johnson said. “Believe me, I knew good and well going over there that he wasn’t going to be in the best mood. It was just important to me to try and make contact with him, to talk to him based on experiences I’ve had.”

Johnson, who qualified fifth for the Sunday’s Sylvania 300 said he and Harvick have not spoken since the confrontation — “nothing yet” — but reiterated his stance that the whole incident between them was unintentional and a result of hard racing on a restart in the playoffs.

“It really was a racing incident,” Johnson said. “I was just trying to get back on the racetrack. Unfortunately that contact took place and it just sucks for those guys. I feel for Kevin, I feel for (crew chief) Rodney (Childers), for the Stewart-Haas folks, for Tony (Stewart) and for Gene (Haas).

“That’s not the situation any of us wanted to have happen. Unfortunately, that was racing and there was a lot of crazy stuff happening on that restart.

“I knew he wasn’t going to be in the best mood. I was expecting anything and everything. I didn’t go over there to fight. I went over to handle the situation the way I thought it was handled well with me in the past and hoping it would have the same impact.”

Harvick now stands 15th in the standings with two races before the first elimination occurs, narrowing the field of Chase drivers to 12. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver showed he can win a race when his back is against the wall – which might be the case here – as we saw when he needed a win at Phoenix in 2014’s penultimate race to advance to the championship at Homestead.

“I still think there’s a few different ways I can make it into the next round,” Harvick said. “In this situation last year when we were in Phoenix and a second-place finish still wouldn’t have gotten us to where we needed to be to get into the (Championship 4) without a win.

“I think you still have to go out with the mentality of trying to win a race. I think everybody around us knows that. We’re very aware of the aggressive nature that we need to go after that win.”

MORE: Punching bag appears in New Hampshire motorcoach lot

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Holly Cain

LOUDON, N.H. — When asked about his teammate Jimmie Johnson‘s post-race dust-up last week at Chicago, Jeff Gordon took both the high road and the middle ground.

Gordon, who had his own highly publicized, oft-replayed scuffle in last year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with Brad Keselowski at Texas, was asked about a confrontation between his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson and fellow Chevrolet driver Kevin Harvick after the two collided in the Chase opener at Chicagoland.

After the race, Harvick was seen on video shoving Johnson after the six-time champ came over to discuss the incident. After pushing Johnson, Harvick was restrained by his business manager while Johnson walked away from the situation.

How would Gordon have reacted?

“I wasn’t in that situation so you don’t know how you’re going to react in those situations until you’re in them,” Gordon said Friday from New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “We all agree maybe Jimmie should have waited a little longer before he approached Kevin on that one.

“When I look at Jimmie, his sincerity of trying to patch things up with somebody I believe he respects on the track and give his side of it is admirable, just maybe off on the timing of it.”

Gordon said he also understood Harvick’s extreme frustration. After the contact with Johnson’s car, Harvick’s car blew a tire and hit the wall, suffering enough damage to send the team to the garage for an extended amount of time. He returned to the track but finished 42nd — putting him in a big deficit with two races left to advance to the next elimination round.

“On the flip side with Kevin, I can completely understand the frustration and anger that would be built up in a situation like that,” Gordon said. “I can’t see where he did anything wrong. He tried to restart and didn’t get as good a restart as he wanted. Someone got inside of him and he’s holding his ground and they made contact.

“It was a racing incident in my opinion.”

And, Gordon conceded, the whole situation held a familiar feel.

“It does remind me of the incident I had with Keselowski last year where a guy’s being aggressive and making a move and that’s all fine and good until your tire blows,” Gordon said. “You need to understand the level of anger that’s going to be built from that, especially if it takes you out of the Chase.

“That’s why I reacted the way I reacted and probably why Kevin did as well.”

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Holly Cain

LOUDON, N.H. — Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth shook off reporters’ questions.

Both Logano and Kenseth downplayed the post-race confrontation between Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick. The incident took place after last week’s opener for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Chicagoland.

“Didn’t see it, don’t know,” Kenseth said, referring to a video clip that showed Harvick shoving Johnson in the garage.

Logano, who has previously had his own post-race confrontation with Harvick, was equally unwilling to offer an opinion.

“I really don’t have much of a reaction to be honest with you, I’m focused on my own thing,” Logano said Friday morning before opening practice for Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“It is what it is. That’s what seems to happen in the Chase. Emotions seem to get fired up pretty quick and I don’t really have a reaction. I’m not surprised. I’m not anything. It is what it is.”

Logano was actually in the catbird seat for the Johnson and Harvick on-track collision that precipitated the off-track situation.

Johnson said his car was hit from behind by Logano on a re-start and that sent him down onto the track apron three-wide with Harvick.

Johnson tried to get that bottom lane on-track back and that’s when his and Harvick’s Chevrolets touched just briefly, leaving Harvick with a smoking tire. A few laps later Harvick’s car hit the wall, suffering significant damage and leaving him with a 42nd-place finish.

Harvick took issue with what he thought was Johnson forcing his way back on track. Logano told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on pit road after the race that he did not touch Johnson and wasn’t involved in any way.

After the race, the six-time Cup champ Johnson, still dressed in his driver’s suit, waited outside Harvick’s motorcoach to speak with the reigning champ about the incident. A video replay shows Harvick push Johnson in the chest and then him being restrained as Johnson calmly walked away from the situation.

Neither Logano nor Kenseth is willing to count Harvick out of the championship picture despite the fact his Chicagoland afternoon puts the champ on the outside looking in with two races left to determine the top 12 drivers who advance to the next Chase round (the Contender Round).

Harvick is in 15th position in the standings — 22 points behind Gordon in 12th place. He was ranked 16th until Clint Bowyer received a hefty 25-point penalty from NASCAR this week dropping him behind Harvick in points.

The defending race winner Logano, meanwhile, is ranked sixth in the standings and was very confident in his Team Penske squad, keeping Kenseth’s Joe Gibbs Racing team honest.

Since Kyle Busch‘s victory July 19 at the New Hampshire mile, every Cup race has been won by Gibbs’ four-car Toyota organization or Penske’s two-car Ford effort. But both Logano and Kenseth noted Harvick’s speed at Chicago.

“I wouldn’t consider them out at this point by no means,” Logano said of Harvick. “They’re still a very strong team and they’ll be up there racing hard and trying to get to the next round.

“If you look at the big picture, obviously you want the fastest cars out because it gives you the best chance when you get to (the championship finale at) Homestead. But I’m not gonna change or do anything different out there. I’ve still got to get myself there. That’s Priority 1, getting our team to Homestead.”

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Staff Report

Practice 2 recap | Practice 2 results

Closing out Friday’s practice runs, Austin Dillon continued his speedy streak and led the final session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, topping the leaderboard with a speed of 133.166 mph.

Dillon led the series’ opening practice on Friday with a speed of 131.311 mph.

Spencer Gallagher was second-fastest in the closing session with a speed of 132.720 mph.

Cameron Hayley (132.577 mph), Matt Crafton (132.406 mph) and Kyle Busch (132.232 mph) completed the top-five fastest during the one hour, 25-minute session.

Defending race winner Cole Custer came in as ninth-fastest (131.597 mph). Custer was 11th-fastest in the opening round.

Series points leader Erik Jones finished seventh in final practice.

The Camping World Truck Series returns to the track on Saturday at 10:10 a.m. ET for Keystone Light Pole Qualifying with TV coverage on FOX Sports 1. The series’ UNOH 175 will also take place Saturday at 1 p.m. ET (FS1).

Practice 1 recap | Practice 1 results

Austin Dillon led the opening NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday with a high speed of 131.311 mph.

The Sprint Cup Series regular topped the leaderboard on Lap 12 of 14.

Current Truck Series points leader Erik Jones was second-fastest with a speed of 130.995 mph.

Timothy Peters (130.788 mph), Matt Crafton (130.604 mph) and Kyle Busch (130.434 mph) rounded out the top-five fastest on the leaderboard.

Busch is one of two drivers in this weekend’s field that has won at the New England track. The KB Motorsports driver has been victorious at Loudon in the Truck Series from 2009 to 2011.

Last year Cole Custer earned his first Truck Series win of his career at Loudon and become the series’ youngest winner (he was 16 years old at the time). This year, the JR Motorsports driver was 11th-fastest (129.252 mph) in the opening session.

The Truck Series returns to the track this afternoon at 3 p.m. ET with TV coverage on FOX Sports 1.

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 2 results

SPARTA, Ky. — Rain ended Friday’s on-track activity early for the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Kentucky Speedway. Final practice was set to run from 6 p.m. to 7:25 p.m. ET, but a red flag for wet weather came out around 30 minutes in with NASCAR calling it shortly thereafter.

At the time of the stoppage, Drew Herring (175.959 mph) was at the top of the speed chart. Herring is practicing and qualifying the No. 54 Toyota for Erik Jones and Joe Gibbs Racing at Kentucky. Jones will be in the No. 54 for the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Ryan Blaney (175.661 mph) and Daniel Suarez (175.593 mph) were in the top three in the final practice session.

Brian Scott topped the opening practice with a speed of 178.159 mph, followed by his RCR teammates of Ty Dillon (177.439 mph) and Brandon Jones (177.194 mph).

Chris Buescher enters this weekend’s race with a 25-point lead on Dillon and a 28-point lead on defending series champion Chase Elliott in the driver championship standings. Brendan Gaughan is the defending race winner.

The VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 is the final standalone of the 2015 XFINITY Series schedule.

XFINITY Coors Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 4:45 p.m. ET (NBCSN/Live Extra) with the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

Brad Keselowski won the July XFINITY Series race at Kentucky in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. That car will be driven this weekend by Ryan Blaney, who won this race in 2013 for his first career XFINITY Series win.

It has been a rainy NASCAR season for the 1.5-mile oval track as much of the NASCAR tripleheader schedule in July was washed out by rain. All three national series races were run at their scheduled times, but most practice and qualifying sessions were rained out.

RELATED: Practice 1 results

Brian Scott topped the leaderboard during the final minutes of opening NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Kentucky Speedway. In the series’ final stand-alone event of the year, Scott had a fastest lap of 178.159 mph in his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Scott’s RCR teammate, Ty Dillon, was right behind him, wheeling his No. 3 Chevrolet around the 1.5-mile track with a fastest lap of 177.439 mph.

Next was Brandon Jones, who finished with the third-fastest lap (177.194 mph) after topping the leaderboard for much of the first session.

Ryan Blaney (176.840 mph) and Daniel Suarez (176.811 mph) were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Defending race winner Brendan Gaughan was ninth-fastest, pulling a fastest lap of 175.279 mph.

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Staff Report

The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing pit crew for Martin Truex Jr‘s Chevrolet will have replacement tire changers in the second Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Front-tire changer Dave Collins is out for Sunday’s Sylvania 300 after suffering an ankle injury during a Wednesday practice session. Josh Franko, a Michael Waltrip Racing backup pit-crew member, will be his replacement.

The rear-tire changing duties are also changing hands as Adam Hartman will take over for Kyle Turner. Hartman is also a backup crewmember for MWR.

The Furniture Row Racing over-the-wall crew works from the MWR shop in Cornelius, North Carolina.

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Staff Report

Making a late run in Friday’s opening practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards soared to the top the leaderboard, his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota turning a fast lap of 136.894 mph.

Jimmie Johnson paced the field the majority of the session, taking the lead in the first 30 minutes of the session. As drivers began to make mock qualifying runs, Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet tumbled down the charts, until a late run put him back in the second spot (136.311 mph).

Brad Keselowski‘s No. 2 Team Penske Ford briefly led the field, ultimately settling into the third spot on the leaderboard by the end of the two-and-a-half-hour session with a fastest lap of 136.155 mph.

Kyle Larson‘s impressive 136.058-mph lap late in the session sent the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet to the fourth spot on the speed charts.

Kurt Busch rounded out the top group, wheeling the fifth-fastest speed (136.019 mph) in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

Reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick‘s fast lap of 135.434 mph put him 11th on the leaderboard in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

The Sprint Cup Series is back on track at 4:45 p.m. ET for Coors Light Pole Qualifying (NBCSN).

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Qualifying results

LOUDON, N.H. – Posting the fastest lap of Friday’s time trials late in the final round of knockout qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards knocked Kevin Harvick off the pole for Sunday’s Sylvania 300, the second race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Edwards covered the 1.058-mile distance in 27.604 seconds (137.980 mph) to earn his third Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his second at New Hampshire — completing a season sweep of the top starting spot at the Magic Mile — and the 16th of his career.

“To be honest, that third round surprised me, how fast we were,” said Edwards, who was 11th fastest in the second round. “I think it helped me almost to struggle through the second round, ’cause I thought, ‘Aw, heck with it,’ and I just kind of went for it in the third round.

“The car has a ton of speed. I hate to admit how poorly I drove it the first and second rounds, but I think it really says a lot about how fast the car is.”

Needing a victory or an extremely high finish to restore his hopes of repeating as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Harvick (137.845 mph) posted a lap .027 seconds slower than that the pole winner to earn the second-place starting spot.

“I felt like I probably left those few hundredths of a second not being aggressive enough off the exit of Turn 2, and as good as the car was off of Turn 4,” Harvick said. “Small crumbs. It’s hard to balance that here, because if you push the car too much, you wind up giving up two or three tenths (of a second) instead of two or three hundredths.”

Harvick, however, declined to address his confrontation with Jimmie Johnson after last Sunday’s Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway. Side-to-side contact with Johnson’s Chevrolet ultimately flattened the left rear tire of Harvick’s No. 4 Chevy, sending him spinning into the Turn 3 wall and relegating him to a 42nd-place finish.

That result left Harvick last in the 16-driver Chase standings and incensed at the six-time champion. When Johnson approached the reigning champ in the motor coach lot after the race, Harvick responded with a blow to Johnson’s chest, as one of Harvick’s handlers tried to keep the drivers apart.

Asked whether Johnson might have something to worry about in Sunday’s race, Harvick replied, “I don’t look back. I just do what we have to do to focus on what we need to do looking forward. I’m not going to use you guys (the press) to make threats. I can do that myself.”

Kurt Busch, Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, qualified third at 137.800 mph, followed by Brad Keselowski (137.671 mph) and Johnson (137.621 mph), as Chase drivers claimed the top five positions on the grid.

Non-Chaser Kyle Larson was sixth fastest, while Chase drivers Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified seventh through 11th, respectively.

Other Chase competitors will start as follows: Matt Kenseth, 13th; Kyle Busch, 17th; Paul Menard, 20th; Martin Truex Jr., 21st; Jamie McMurray, 23rd and Clint Bowyer, 26th. Bowyer was the only Chase driver who failed to advance past the first round.

Travis Kvapil failed to make the 43-car field.

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. — NASCAR will crown two Iron Men on Sunday.

Jeff Gordon, who will take the nod for most consecutive races run (789) in the Sprint Cup Series when the green flag drops for Sunday’s Sylvania 300 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra), will occupy most of the headlines, but Camping World Truck Series driver Ben Kennedy‘s pursuit of IRONMAN triathlon status is nothing to ignore.

Following the conclusion of Saturday’s UNOH 175 (1 p.m. ET, FS1), Kennedy will hop on a plane with his mother, Lesa France Kennedy, en route to Augusta, Georgia, where the pair and her boyfriend will all compete in a 70.3-mile IRONMAN race.

We’ve seen fitness freaks Jimmie Johnson, Landon Cassill and Josh Wise spend their off-time training for these types of events, but until recently it never appeared to be on Kennedy’s radar.

“I don’t know (how it happened),” the 23-year-old said Friday at the ‘Magic Mile.’ “It came about in November of last year. We were all sitting down at dinner; it was me, my mom and her boyfriend and we’d done some small triathlons, 5Ks but nothing major.

“I’ve always wanted to do at least a half IRONMAN and we were probably a little bit crazy in the head (at the time), but it was something that we committed to and now we’re here doing it this weekend.”

Kennedy said that as his career has progressed, he’s come to realize the importance fitness and nutrition play when he’s in the truck. There have been a few “wake up calls”, as he put it, when he realized he needed to be more physically fit as he advanced within the sport and races got longer and more demanding.

Now, he’s using the same training program that Carl Edwards, arguably NASCAR’s fittest driver, uses and he’s seeing the benefits play up both off the track in his alternate racing career and on the track, where he already has more top-fives and is on pace to earn more top 10s than his 2014 campaign.

Kennedy’s competitive nature — which every NASCAR driver certainly needs, to an extent — is apparent, but he’s keeping his expectations in check for Sunday, when he’ll have to swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles and run 13.1 miles just to complete the grueling race.

“I’ve got two different goals and I’ll just be happy finishing, honestly,” said Kennedy, whose other goal is to place first in his age group and qualify for the next stage in Australia. “Especially after this weekend, because I’m going to race on Saturday and jump on a plane right after to fly down to Georgia.

“Only thing I’m worried about is being kind of wired after the race, because I know I’m going to be wired even more so about Sunday morning. I don’t know how much sleep I’ll get.”

No matter if he places first or not; or even if he finishes or not, the five months of training that led up to Sunday are enough to be proud of for anyone, let alone a NASCAR national series driver trying to balance a race schedule on top of a routine that saw him doing two of the three legs every day.

Sunday will tie Kennedy back together with his childhood hero, whose legend in the sport will be further ingrained around 2 p.m. ET.

Just another reason for him to admire the four-time Sprint Cup Series champion.

“With everything that Gordon’s done for the sport; I remember when I was, I think, 3 years old, I had the opportunity to meet him and he was the first driver I think I ever met,” Kennedy said. “I made that connection in the back of my mind growing up through my childhood that he was always my favorite driver.

“It’s so cool to see him running so good at this point of his career. You look at some athletes and they’re not at their strongest the last couple years of their career, but Jeff Gordon, he’s as strong as he’s ever been, especially in the field that’s out there; it’s so unbelievably competitive. It’s cool to see what he’s done and brought to the sport.”

Posted on September 25, 2015 by RJ Kraft

SPARTA, Ky. — Brandon Jones will be with Richard Childress Racing’s NASCAR XFINITY Series program in 2016, but this time, he will have a ride all his own.

RCR announced the news on Friday afternoon that the 18-year-old Georgia native will have a full-time ride in the series for next season. The team noted in a release that his crew chief and team will be named at a later date.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Jones told NASCAR.com at Kentucky Speedway. “Been looking forward to that for awhile.”

Jones has gotten his feet wet in the XFINITY Series this year in the team’s No. 33 Chevrolet, which is also driven by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars Austin Dillon and Paul Menard.

The VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kentucky Speedway marks his fifth start in the series, with his best finish — an eighth-place result — coming in his series debut in May at Iowa Speedway. In Friday’s opening practice, Jones was third-fastest on the speed chart (177.194 mph).

“Brandon’s performance in his limited schedule with RCR this season has been very impressive,” Richard Childress, chairman and chief executive officer of RCR, said in a team release. “We’re thrilled to provide him an opportunity in 2016 to showcase his talents over an entire XFINITY Series season.”

In addition to his XFINITY seat time, Jones has run a pretty steady schedule in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for GMS Racing in the No. 33 Chevrolet. He has two top fives this season in 11 starts this season, including a runner-up showing at Iowa in June.

The young driver thinks his learning curve will be a bit accelerated with his Truck Series experience at most of the tracks that the XFINITY Series runs at.

“I think there’s going to be five or so tracks I haven’t been to, but that won’t be bad at all,” Jones said. “I’m pretty excited being able to go back to some of these tracks in an XFINITY car.”

For Jones, the deal took some time to come together, but now that it is in place, he is ready to get going.

“We’ve been trying to kind of get a deal together for awhile now,” Jones said. “I’ve been talking to a couple different programs and seeing what our best option was and it all just came together over there. Really proud of everybody that has worked on that so hard and got us going.”