Posted on by Nascar

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Joey Logano is the 2015 Daytona 500 champion … and an action hero?

Logano and Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski are “starring” in a pair of movie trailer-style videos, part of the auto manufacturer’s Ford Nation Sweepstakes platform geared around this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The storyline for Logano’s piece, which debuts Wednesday and is titled “Code Name Cobra,” has the 25-year-old racer, and winner of 11 Sprint Cup Series events, rescuing Miss Sprint Cup Madison Martin and retrieving the stolen Sprint Cup trophy.

RELATED: Watch the video

Brett Bortle directed the piece and filming took place in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in July.

“It came out better than I thought it would, for sure,” a grinning Logano said. “He did a good job for what he had to work with.”

Earlier this year, Logano and Keselowski appeared on camera briefly in “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!”

Logano had a single line in “Sharknado 3” (“That!” he exclaims to his teammate as sharks begin raining down on a racetrack).

In Code Name Cobra, Logano is the “star.”

“I’m going to stick to my day job, but I do enjoy acting,” he said. “I’m getting better, I would say. It takes me a little bit to let loose, let my guard down.

“It’s kind of weird when you’ve got to do things and there are cameras and a bunch of people staring at you while you’re doing it. I try to block it out … and then you have to do something goofy. If you just block it out and commit … it actually comes out pretty good in the end.

“When it’s all put together, it’s pretty cool.”

Each appearance is a learning experience, he said, noting, “It takes 10 attempts to do one thing.

“I didn’t get to drive the car, do some of the fun parts. That was a letdown. I wish I did. I’d rather be the stunt driver.”

Fans can visit here to register for a chance to win a 2015 Ford Mustang. Other prizes will be awarded throughout the course of the program as well. The Sweepstakes ends on Dec. 31.

Posted on by Staff Report

Watch celebrities, awards from Daytona International Speedway media center

CLICK HERE: Live media center stream, starting at 3 p.m. ET

The schedule of pre-race media availabilities at Daytona International Speedway:

3 p.m. ET — Squier-Hall Media Award announcement by the NASCAR Hall of Fame

3:30 p.m. ET — Alyssa Milano, creator of the NASCAR line of Touch women’s apparel

3:45 p.m. ET — Sheryl Crow, recording artist and pre-race entertainment

5 p.m. ET — Adam Sandler and Kevin James, stars of "Grown Ups 2" and Coke Zero 400 grand marshals; Shaquille O’Neal, former NBA champion

READ MORE:

READ: Paint Scheme
Preview: Daytona

READ: Power Rankings
Week 17

READ: Driver Reports
looking ahead to Daytona

READ: Complete
Daytona coverage

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Posted on by Staff Report

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Wednesday that Denny Hamlin has torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, but that the driver is not expected to miss any time behind the wheel of the No. 11 Toyota.
 
The Joe Gibbs-owned team indicated that Hamlin, 34, was injured while playing basketball Tuesday night. The team said the torn ACL diagnosis was confirmed after a Wednesday morning evaluation at OrthoCarolina, an orthopedic practice in Charlotte. Hamlin will require offseason surgery to repair the ligament damage, according to the team.
 
JGR said in the release that Hamlin has received medical clearance to complete the 11 races remaining on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, including those in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. Hamlin secured his berth in the 16-driver postseason field by winning in March at Martinsville Speedway.

It isn’t the first such injury for Hamlin, who suffered a torn ACL in his left knee a month before the 2010 season, also while playing basketball. After initially opting to postpone surgery until after the season, Hamlin underwent an operation after the sixth race of the year, a victory for the JGR driver at Martinsville.

 

Hamlin missed four races and a portion of a fifth in 2013 after suffering a broken back in a last-lap crash at Auto Club Speedway. The following March at the California track, Hamlin missed one race when a sliver of metal lodged in his eye, altering his vision.

Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) at Richmond International Raceway represents a homecoming for Hamlin, who claims nearby Chesterfield, Va., as his hometown. He is a two-time winner at the .75-mile short track.

Hamlin is scheduled to address the media at 2:55 p.m. ET Friday at Richmond. The press conference will be streamed live at NASCAR.com/presspass.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Updated standings | Full results from Darlington



Chris Buescher insists he’s not counting points, not with nine races left in the NASCAR XFINITY Series season. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy his perch atop the standings as the calendar turns toward crunch time.

“It’s not over by any means,” Buescher said Saturday after a scrappy fifth-place finish at Darlington Raceway. “There’s a long way to go and we’re going to have to race ’em hard all the way till the end, but I do like where we’re at. We’ve been able to kind of fluctuate a little bit right in this area this year, and that’s a huge testament to this 60 team, to everybody back at Roush Fenway. They’ve been working their tails off to try to get this stuff better, so we’re in a good spot. We want to get Ford back to a championship this year.”

Buescher, 22, converted his last time out with his first top-five finish in four career tries at Darlington, looking old-school with a damp towel around his neck after a sweltering afternoon of survival. The effort helped the Roush Fenway Racing ace pad his lead from 16 to 29 points over new second-place driver Ty Dillon. Chase Elliott slipped a rung to third place in the standings after Darlington, but remains within striking distance, just 35 points off the top.

The next challenge looming for Buescher is Friday night’s Virginia 529 College Savings 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) at Richmond International Raceway, a track where he is 0-for-4 in the top-five column.

“Circling that one as one we need to try to turn around,” Buescher said. “That was a rough one for us earlier this year, but we have a lot of notes. We have a lot of things that’ve worked really well for us at short tracks since then, so we feel pretty comfortable going back. We’ll have to wait and see, but it’ll be a challenge surely. Honestly, I’m just glad we came out of Darlington with a solid day.”

Buescher will need more of the same at the .75-mile Virginia track, where he wrestled an ill-handling car to a 20th-place result in the most recent Richmond race, posting the No. 60 team’s worst finish of the season. Since that April evening, when he lagged three laps behind at the checkered flag, Buescher has righted the ship with two victories, the most recent of which placed him atop the standings.

To keep the team’s streak at No. 1 intact, crew chief Scott Graves said he’s hoping for another workman-like effort this weekend.

“We’ve spent a lot of time since the last Richmond really thinking about what we’re going to do there and coming up with a plan,” Graves said. “So next week, for sure, it’s really big for us.”

Buescher’s recent results on short tracks offer some encouragement. He prevailed in May at Iowa Speedway, a slightly larger but similar layout, and just last month the Texas native contended for the win at .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway before running out of fuel on the race’s final restart.

The latter performance showed that Graves isn’t afraid to gamble for victories rather than playing it safe. Even then, he remains cognizant about the bigger picture.

“At this point, I’m always thinking about it,” Graves said of his driver’s position in the standings. “Nothing you can do other than just have days like we had today. If we keep doing this part, we’re going to be fine. We’ve just got to prevent the bad things from happening. We do the best we can to keep it from happening and if we keep it up like this, we’ll be just fine.”

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (September 9, 2015) — NASCAR® announced today that the annual NASCAR XFINITY Series™ and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™ Awards will take place Monday, Nov. 23 at the Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood, Florida.

The Diplomat Resort and Spa also will host the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Championship 4 Media Day on Thursday, Nov. 19. At the event, the four remaining eligible drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship will take center stage to preview the series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This is the first year the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Awards will be held at the venue, one of South Florida’s premier beachfront resorts.

“NASCAR and our fans have enjoyed an action-packed year in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,” said NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Steve Phelps. “We look forward to recognizing our sport’s champions and toasting to the season at a first-class venue in the Diplomat Resort and Spa.”

In its inaugural year, the NASCAR XFINITY Series has proven that it is indeed the series “Where Names Are Made.” The current leaderboard is crowded at the top with Chris Buescher , Ty Dillon and Chase Elliott leading the points standings, and a pair of NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduates in Darrell Wallace Jr. and Daniel Suarez engaged in a close battle for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.

The rough-and-tumble racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series promises to produce a battle-tested champion. Contenders include two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton and 19-year-old future stars Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick . If Crafton clinches the 2015 title, he would become only the third driver in NASCAR national series history to win a championship in three consecutive seasons.

The NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Awards will air on NBCSN at 7 p.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 29.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. and CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Sept. 9, 2015) — FS1 with NASCAR Productions will present, as a part of FS1’s NASCAR RACE HUB™, a new documentary short film series entitled Beyond the Wheel to offer an inside look at the sport’s most interesting stories and traditions. The documentaries further NASCAR RACE HUB’s expansion into dynamic storytelling, taking a new approach to explore pivotal moments and provide never-before-seen insights on influential NASCAR legends and fascinating historical characters. Premiering Wednesday evenings during NASCAR RACE HUB, the first film will launch Sept. 23 on FS1 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
The four-part documentary short film series is comprised of the following themes:

•    Chasing Davey follows Robbie Allison, son of former NASCAR star Davey Allison, as he seeks a connection with his late father by participating in the sport Davey loved.

•    The Kiss details the once legendary trophy girls and iconic Victory Lane kiss, and how the tradition has evolved through the decades in response to America’s changing values.

•    The Last American Hero is Junior Johnson, Yes! pays homage to the 1965 landmark Esquire article written by journalist Tom Wolfe that introduced the country to stock car racing, the New South and one of NASCAR’s most infamous outlaw heroes — Junior Johnson.

•    White Knight explores the story of the man many consider to be the winningest race car driver in history, Dick Trickle, who took home victories in an estimated 1,200 races and became NASCAR’s Rookie of the Year at age 48 before tragically ending his life in 2013.

The subsequent three films in the Beyond the Wheel series air on Sept. 30, Oct. 7 and Oct. 21, respectively (6:00 p.m. ET). Each documentary will also be available via FOX Sports GO, the critically acclaimed app that provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content at home or on the go, or on FOXSports.com following its on-air premiere. 

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Granddaughter of Dale Earnhardt Sr. set to host eight-episode season

Season 2 of "NASCAR Hammer Down" is back and better than ever with the addition of Karsyn Elledge as the show’s new host. Elledge, granddaughter of Dale Earnhardt and daughter of Kelley Earnhardt Miller, will undoubtedly bring her expertise and extensive knowledge as a racer herself and member of one of racing’s most storied families.

"NASCAR Hammer Down" is a part of the Nick Sports fall lineup on NickToons. Nick Sports broadcasts sports-specific content for kids who are interested in athletics. Karsyn’s debut comes tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

Along with its new, 14-year-old host, the show is changing up its format. "NASCAR Hammer Down" is being promoted as a magazine show for its sophmore season.

The NASCAR-themed show is set to air alongside NFL RUSH, in a two-hour programming block.

During Elledge’s turn to play host in the two-hour Nick Sports TV block, she will take viewers to the track and back to the studio with interviews, pranks, celebrity guests and lots of fun facts.

Each episode will also include a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) NASCAR-based curriculum. 

NFL RUSH is set for a September 9th premiere date while "NASCAR Hammer Down" is slated to start on Sept. 30, both collectively airing from 9 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET.

Posted on by Holly Cain

NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi had surgery Sunday to repair a broken clavicle – the injury sustained while Ganassi was cycling in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday.

The team said the surgery was successful and Ganassi is expected to be in Richmond, Virginia, this weekend for the final race to set the 16-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff field at Richmond International Raceway.

Ganassi sent out the following message on social media: “Ok ok. I fell off my bicycle Saturday. Thank you Dr Jim Bradley for putting me back together!”

Ganassi driver Jamie McMurray is currently the top-ranked driver without a win and sits 12th in the Chase Grid. Should he qualify for the Chase and he just needs to start the event at Richmond to do that, he would be the first Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates post-season entry since Juan Pablo Montoya made the Chase in 2009.

The team’s other driver, Kyle Larson, is ranked 19th but could earn an automatic Chase berth with a win in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM)

Posted on by Holly Cain

A Harvard graduate and third-year medical student at the University of Miami, Patrick Staropoli knows a little something about tough classes and challenging lessons.

But the 25-year-old figures he has just aced what’s been at times a hard-knock course in big-time racing with the announcement Tuesday he’s landed a two-race sponsorship deal with AutoNation to compete in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series East races at Richmond International Raceway this week and again at Dover International Speedway in October – his first taste of NASCAR competition in more than a year.

“I’m thrilled to be back,” said Staropoli, whose No. 99 AutoNation Cure Bowl Toyota will be fielded by the Bill McAnally Racing team. “It’s been a fight to try to get back in the K&N car. Definitely when you’re working your way up the ranks in NASCAR it’s all about timing and getting opportunity. I had an amazing opportunity and it’s not only the fight to get in, but to stay in once you get to that level so I’ve been learning over the last year how important staying power is.”

“With my medical background, AutoNation thought I’d be a good fit to promote this [Cure Bowl]. I feel very lucky and it’s a cool role to have. I know people who have breast cancer and I’ve been exposed to people [while working] on the medical side as well. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a spokesperson and use the racing to broadcast what we need to do for awareness. My seeing this from all these different sides is very unique and I’m fortunate to be in a position to do this.”

Staropoli’s Toyota will be completely “pinked out” for both K&N races and an appearance at the Dec. 19 AutoNation Cure Bowl college football game in Orlando, Florida — a unique fundraising effort directing net proceeds to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

 

The company has been a longtime supporter of cancer research and the search for cures, contributing more than $2 million while previously working with IndyCar driver Ryan Hunter-Reay and his foundation. This is the first time that AutoNation has directed its resources to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and has committed $1 million to the organization.

Staropoli’s unique background as a medical student along with his success in spite of sporadic and limited opportunity in a race car was the perfect prescription for AutoNation as well.

The AutoNation Cure Bowl that Staropoli is promoting is part of a large, national initiative called, “Drive Pink.” The company will be placing “Drive Pink” license plate frames on all the cars it sells and match customer donations to the BCRF up to $10 on service calls and $100 on car sales as part of its $1 million commitment.

Having a presence in NASCAR just made sense.

“Patrick is this young guy who wants to be a doctor and is a car racer, so talk about someone who is perfect,” said AutoNation’s Chief Marketing Officer Marc Cannon.

“He is smart, charming, dedicated and wants to make a difference in life.

“I don’t know how many people are willing to say, ‘I’ll do everything pink, you name it’ But he did.

“He is going to be a great spokesman for racing and for breast cancer research.”

Thursday’s UNOH 100 K&N Pro Series East race marks the first NASCAR competition for Staropoli since a K&N Pro Series West race in May of 2014 at Iowa Speedway, where he won the pole and finished third. Staropoli picked up his first win in his previous start, that March at Irwindale Speedway in California.

Staropoli, who got his first big break by winning a national talent search, the PEAK Stock Car Dream Challenge, has three top-five finishes in four career K&N Pro Series West Series starts and two top-10s in three K&N Pro Series East Series starts.

Just last weekend, he won the pole position and finished second in a late model race in St. Petersburg, Florida.

While juggling his medical studies and pursuit of a race funding, Staropoli passed his medical board exam in June and is in the middle of clinical rotations including time in cardiology, internal medicine and ophthalmology. He scheduled a break in his schooling to be able to compete in these two K&N races, then returns to pick up a rotation in gynecology.

Staropoli is a little more than a year away from becoming NASCAR’s only driver with an MD following his name. And he is committed to both pursuits, which makes this AutoNation Cure Bowl sponsorship a textbook opportunity. And one, Staropoli hopes to parlay into more.

“I had to keep things in perspective the whole time [I was out of the drivers seat] knowing if the right opportunity did line up again, I could go out and be successful,” Staropoli said. “I think that was the biggest lesson I learned: I can get to this level and perform and get to Victory Lane. Just having that confidence that being in right place with the right people that I could succeed that’s what drives you when you’re out of the seat.

“I’ve been back in school since January so juggling school and the racing stuff pretty much for nine months. Every second I get, whether its when I’m done with rounds at the hospital or off work, I’ve been trying to do everything I can to put a deal together.

“It’s a huge relief to see all that work come together and I cannot wait to get on track.”