Ben Kennedy to compete in IRONMAN post-Loudon race

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.”

Posted on September 25, 2015 by RJ Kraft

SPARTA, Ky. — Rain has been Ryan Blaney‘s foe in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying.

Last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, rain washed out qualifying, which meant Blaney went home. His Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford team has made just 11 starts this season (with four more left) and Blaney and his team have been sent home due to three qualifying rainouts and cancellations. Under the NASCAR rulebook, the teams with the fewest attempts get sent home in the event of qualifying being canceled.

“It’s very frustrating to be honest with you,” Blaney told NASCAR.com at Kentucky Speedway, where he is driving in the NASCAR XFINITY Series this weekend. “Not only for me, but for the whole team. They work so hard to get those cars to the race track.

“Having a fast car for all three of those races is just an extra slap in the face after you get sent home. That’s really unfortunate.”

That frustration comes from Blaney having a fast piece at the track. He finished his lone Chicagoland practice ninth. Blaney also was ninth in final practice at Daytona, but didn’t make the race as that qualifying session was rained out. Blaney also didn’t make the show at Kentucky when that qualifying session was canceled because rain wrecked havoc on the schedule and NASCAR wanted to give teams more time to feel out the reduced downforce package that was debuting that weekend.

“We’ve been lucky to have fast cars. That’s the first thing to know that you have fast race cars that you bring to the track so that’s something you can be confident about and be proud of. And if everyone knows that we’re there, it’s a lot better than being 30th and getting rained out, then you are like ‘well, we weren’t that good anyway.'”

And while Blaney admits he would be “a little bit biased” on changing the qualifying rules, he sees both sides of the coin.

“It just differs with situations,” Blaney said. “You have guys that show up to the racetrack every single week. Maybe they don’t have the proper funding or the technology to run quite as well but they are at the racetrack every single week. On the other hand you have us, who are fortunate enough to have really good funding and a team behind us to where we’re fast but we don’t race every week. It’s kind of a toss-up. There’s always going to be a positive and negative to each rule. It’s NASCAR’s judgment to do whatever they do.”

With the No. 21 Wood Brothers team not running this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Blaney is driving the No. 22 Team Penske Ford in the NASCAR XFINITY Series VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney won this race in 2013 for his first XFINITY Series win and his Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski won the summer XFINITY Series race here this season in the same car.

The No. 22 has been piloted by Keselowski, Blaney, Joey Logano and Alex Tagliani this season and leads the owner standings in the XFINITY Series as it looks for a third straight owners’ title.

“The best thing we can do is to try and focus on winning races in this 22 car and try to bring home a championship,” Blaney said.

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Daytona International Speedway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Award-winning country music duo Florida Georgia Line, comprised of Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, will perform the DAYTONA 500 Pre-Race Show prior to the start of the 58^th annual DAYTONA 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, Feb. 21 (FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN Radio and SiriusXM Radio), the first ever “Great American Race” to be held at Daytona International Speedway following the completion of the $400 million DAYTONA Rising frontstretch redevelopment project.

“We are thrilled to secure Florida Georgia Line as the performers for the DAYTONA 500 Pre-Race Show,” Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III said. “Florida Georgia Line is country music’s premier duo and will provide race fans with an energetic performance prior to the start of the DAYTONA 500.”

All race fans who purchase Sprint FANZONE/Pre-Race access for the DAYTONA 500 will be able to view Florida Georgia Line’s DAYTONA 500 Pre-Race Show, as well as driver introductions, from the grass tri-oval area. A limited number of DAYTONA 500 Pre-Race Concert ticket packages, available starting at $235, have been designed around Florida Georgia Line and include a DAYTONA 500 ticket, Sprint FANZONE/Pre-Race access and VIP area access to the performance. Race fans who have already purchased DAYTONA 500 tickets can add Sprint FANZONE/Pre-Race access and VIP area access for $110. All VIP ticket packages will be available beginning at 9 a.m. on Sept. 28.

For Kelley, performing at the “World Center of Racing” will be a homecoming having grown up in the neighboring city of Ormond Beach. Kelley attended Seabreeze High School and Daytona State College and his father, Ed Kelley, has been the mayor of Ormond Beach since 2010.

“It’s a dream come true to play in the city where I was born, went to high school in and now have the honor of being a part of one of my family’s favorite sporting events, the DAYTONA 500,” Kelley said. “Performing at the 500 feels full circle to me as I grew up working the 500 as a fundraiser for our baseball team and was in awe then and still am.”

“We’re extremely thankful for the opportunity to be part of such a huge day for NASCAR and our fans. We can’t wait to bring the biggest party the DAYTONA 500 has ever seen,” Hubbard said.

Florida Georgia Line fueled with three scorching consecutive #1 hits — GOLD-certified “Sippin’ On Fire” and “Sun Daze” and 2X PLATINUM-certified “Dirt” — and the recently-released title track, Florida Georgia Line radiates with the GOLD-certified sophomore album ANYTHING GOES (Republic Nashville). Their latest album soared to a #1 debut on the all-genre Billboard 200 and Billboard Top Country Albums charts with music critics and fans alike embracing the superstar duo’s fresh sound. FGL has skyrocketed to stardom becoming the only artist in history to join Brooks & Dunn in achieving four back-to-back, multi-week #1 singles; breaking the record for longest #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and selling over 21 million tracks worldwide of their 2X PLATINUM debut HERE’S TO THE GOOD TIMES and ANYTHING GOES.

Taking their undeniable songwriting skills to the next level and discovering new talent, FGL recently formed publishing company Tree Vibez Music, whose moniker was aptly inspired by Kelley’s custom treetop recording studio built by Pete Nelson for the hit show Treehouse Masters. In addition to collaborating across genres with sensations like Nelly and Jason Derulo, FGL has racked up a plethora industry awards, closing out an epic 2014 topping four of Billboard’s year-end charts and leading Forbes “30 Under 30” list. The accolades continue to pour in: FGL brought home two ACM Awards — their second consecutive Vocal Duo of the Year title and Vocal Event of the Year (“This Is How We Roll” featuring Luke Bryan) — a CMT Music Award for Duo Video of the Year (“Dirt”) and tallied four Billboard Music Awards nominations. They are currently on tour through October 17.

Those wishing to attend the 58th annual DAYTONA 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race will need to act quickly as there will be a limited number of tickets available due to the reduced seating capacity in the new stadium. Fans should also note:

· Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-PITSHOP or visiting www.DAYTONA500.com.

· Hospitality and premium seat packages, including the Trioval Club, the Rolex 24 Lounge and Sprint FANZONE/Pre-Race wristbands are also available.

· For all other Speedweeks events, children 12 and under are $10 in reserved grandstands and free in general admission areas and in the Sprint FANZONE.

Fans can also visit PrimeSport.com, the new official ticket exchange and travel package provider of Daytona International Speedway. Offering multiple options for tickets, lodging and hospitality, https://www.primesport.com/d/daytona-500-tickets is ideal for fans looking for the ultimate racing experience

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Holly Cain

LOUDON, N.H. — What blossomed from an out-of-the-box idea conceived in the American desert in the mid-1990s is now marking an important NASCAR milestone. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will celebrate its 500th race with Saturday’s UNOH 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and the series’ staying power is a testament to simultaneously embracing new ideas and old-style racing.

Today’s Truck Series is both a throwback concept and a racing vision that has evolved mightily in the past three decades. It started off as a chance to seize on the popularity of pick-up trucks and take an exciting form of racing from “off road” to “on track,” where it has become one of the most popular forms of racing in America.

Racing stars have been born, NASCAR got to show its wares in new, often smaller markets and truck manufacturers still benefited with a slightly varied version of an old NASCAR promise: “What wins on Friday night, sells on Monday mornings.”

The series is unique in that it is both retro and futuristic, providing an old-style, hard-knocks brand of close competition while also serving as a training ground for young drivers and a platform for NASCAR to try out new rules and formats.

And many people might not be aware of NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France’s early involvement in helping the series through humble beginnings to the thriving national competition it is today.

“From the very beginning, for a lot of reasons, we got a lot of good competition out of it and obviously that is the heart and soul of a national race division,” France told NASCAR.com. “We were fortunate to get up-and-coming drivers in combination with some venues that would put on an exciting event. From the early days, our competition guys designed good, smart rules packages that increased competition and made it an exciting series. Most of those attributes remain today.”

The idea of racing pick-up trucks was the brainchild of a group of off-road racers competing in the Southwest. They had the idea but recognized having NASCAR’s marketing, promotional and sanctioning arms behind the series would make all the difference. And it didn’t take much to convince France of the potential.

He was living out West at the time, holding an assortment of titles while learning the “family business” and he helped push the idea of racing trucks along to his father, NASCAR Chairman Bill France Jr. Both men recognized it as a real niche and big opportunity.

“We were able to look at and work with the original founders of the concept,” Brian France said. “The car manufacturers were really focused on trucks at the time. Our fan base related to trucks and we thought we could design a rules package and series around all of that. We thought we could market it and extend NASCAR in some areas.

“Most of that worked out just nicely.”

After a lot of behind-the-scenes blood, sweat and tears — including fast and furious work from a handful of truck builders — the France family proudly announced the launch of NASCAR’s newest national series in May of 1994. A series of exhibition races in the West were held that summer piquing interest from competitor and spectator. The first official green flag was dropped on Feb. 5, 1995, at Phoenix International Raceway in a race won by eventual champion, California-native Mike Skinner.

The seasons since have launched the careers of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ stars such as Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and included stops by reigning Cup champion Kevin Harvick and 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski.

The Truck Series’ unique pairing with IMSA sports car races and IndyCar events has brought NASCAR racing to a non-traditional audience and allowed the sanctioning body to test out new pit road rules and formats, including the green-white-checkered flag concept used now in all three national series.

Today’s Camping World Truck Series remains a popular, must-see TV for fans and continues to be a thriving development opportunity for young drivers such as current points leader Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney, Darrell Wallace Jr., Ty Dillon and last week’s newest first-time winner, 18-year old second-generation NASCAR racer John Hunter Nemechek. They all get regular chances to gauge their racing progress competing against the likes of successful Cup drivers such as Kyle Busch and Keselowski, who also own truck teams.

“It’s gone through a lot of different generations for positioning,” France said. “And where it’s ended up is the best place. It’s basically a throwback to how racing used to be. It gives us our best look back at that style of racing, shorter events, more contact typically and smaller venues that we can get into because of the cost structure.

“It allows us to hold onto a page of NASCAR’s history that is very definitive for us. That’s a good thing and allows us to take it to venues and do things we might not take risks on with other national divisions. It gives us good flexibility.

“It remains a great entry point for up-and-coming drivers to run on some venues that other national divisions run on and some new ones. It allows them a place to break out and that’s always a good thing for us to develop talent.

“It serves a lot of other purposes, but most notably our core fan base in NASCAR often believes that’s the best racing in NASCAR.”

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Staff Report

The following are team press releases previewing the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM).

Joe Gibbs Racing:
Kyle Busch | Team preview
Carl Edwards | Team preview
Matt Kenseth | Team preview
Denny Hamlin: No preview

Stewart-Haas Racing:
Kevin Harvick | Team preview
Kurt Busch | Team preview

Hendrick Motorsports:
Jeff Gordon | Team preview
Jimmie Johnson | Team preview
Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Team preview

Team Penske:
Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano | Team preview

Richard Childress Racing:
Paul Menard | Team preview
Ryan Newman | Team preview

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates:
Jamie McMurray | Team preview

Furniture Row Racing:
Martin Truex Jr. | Team preview

Michael Waltrip Racing:
Clint Bowyer | Team preview

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Staff Report

Michael Waltrip Racing formally filed its appeal of the No. 15 team’s P4 penalty on Thursday, one day after NASCAR handed down the original punishment.

MWR’s appeal will be heard Wednesday, Sept. 30, but the team’s request to defer suspensions was granted — that means Clint Bowyer‘s crew chief Billy Scott is permitted to sit atop the pit box at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend.

The team’s original penalty consisted of Bowyer losing 25 driver points, team co-owner Rob Kauffman docked 25 owner points and Scott fined $75,000 and suspended for three races. Scott was also placed on probation for six months.

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Staff Report

Officials with FOX Sports issued a statement late Wednesday saying Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not currently scheduled to appear as a guest analyst during the network’s coverage of NASCAR XFINITY Series races next season.

“While FOX Sports has had informal conversations with Dale Earnhardt Jr. about joining the FOX Sports NASCAR XFINITY Series booth in the future, as several of his fellow racers did in 2015, nothing has been determined,” the statement read. “We apologize for the confusion.”

In a press release issued earlier Wednesday, FOX reported that the Hendrick Motorsports driver would become the latest in a line of Sprint Cup drivers to step into the broadcast booth, joining 2015 guest analysts Jeff Gordon , Kevin Harvick , Brad Keselowski , Clint Bowyer and Danica Patrick .

According to the initial release, “Earnhardt Jr. … made the announcement Saturday in an interview with FOX SPORTS LIVE co-hosts Dan O’Toole and Jay Onrait in a video posted in “The Jay and Dan Podcast.”

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Zack Albert

This one hurts. When news came down midday Wednesday that the stiffest of the four NASCAR penalties for last weekend’s technical missteps was directed at Michael Waltrip Racing, it marked the latest in a series of hurts, like reopening a wound already full from an ocean’s worth of salt.

The P4-level infraction left Clint Bowyer, MWR’s lone hope in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, back in the postseason’s starting blocks, stripping the No. 15 Toyota team of the 25 points it had to show for a 19th-place effort last Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. The violation for an illegally mounted track bar also tacked fines, suspensions and probation onto an organization that’s already reeling from its planned exit from stock-car racing at the year’s end.

RELATED: Bowyer docked 25 points

Michael Waltrip Racing issued a statement on the heels of the penalty’s announcement, saying that it “respectfully disagrees” with NASCAR’s ruling. On Thursday, the team formally filed an appeal — MWR will make its case on Sept. 30. That may mean that the proceedings may have more instances of “please” and “thank you” in the immediate appeal, but the impact is far greater than any niceties that might arise. Either way, it’s a tough way to realize that the adjustable track bar that debuted this season is not as adjustable as previously thought.

Regardless of how the expedited hearing might play out, the statement made the rare step of acknowledging the organization’s past transgressions, saying, “MWR has made mistakes in the past, but we feel we are correct in this instance.” It’s much like the child who’s been a repeat offender when dipping his or her hand into the cookie jar attempting to plead an honest case, even as the crumbs from previous trespasses still pockmark their sleeves.

And those blunders have been monumental ones, in some instances career-altering indiscretions with further-reaching implications than mere mistakes. Barring an egregious infraction from another corner of the garage in the next nine weeks, the Waltrip-owned organization will end its run with the distinction of twice holding the record for the most severe penalty in NASCAR’s history.

The first infamous record-setter came shockingly in what was supposed to be Toyota’s first big splash in NASCAR’s major leagues, when Waltrip’s car failed inspection ahead of the 2007 Daytona 500 because of illegally altered fuel. The Japanese automaker managed to overcome that initial black eye, but it left what turned out to be a lasting smudge.

The second and more glaring encroachment on the rules came before the 2013 Chase, when the organization was found to have manipulated the results of the regular-season finale. The aftermath was a scaled-down MWR, with Martin Truex Jr. and longtime sponsor NAPA both bolting for greener grass elsewhere.

Contrast against those two violations, Wednesday’s P4 revelation might be considered small potatoes — not quite russets, but not fingerlings either.

It would be shortsighted to chalk MWR’s demise solely up to its most prominent scandal. Other factors — whether financial, technological or merely circumstantial — certainly played a role.

The verdict of the appeal will matter, potentially giving Bowyer renewed hope in one last Chase pursuit or glum closure to the MWR era. Only time — expedited or not — will tell.

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Zack Albert

RELATED: Bowyer docked 25 points

Contrast against those two violations, Wednesday’s P4 revelation might be considered small potatoes — not quite russets, but not fingerlings either.

It would be shortsighted to chalk MWR’s demise solely up to its most prominent scandal. Other factors — whether financial, technological or merely circumstantial — certainly played a role.

The verdict of the appeal will matter, potentially giving Bowyer renewed hope in one last Chase pursuit or glum closure to the MWR era. Only time — expedited or not — will tell.