Posted on by Brad Norman

Kes hit the wall with 10 laps to go; made his movie debut in Sharknado trilogy

ROSSBURG, Ohio — Brad Keselowski‘s tweet said it best, of course.

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The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion — and social media maven — had a day that was equally fun, frustrating and ridiculous. His Wednesday at Eldora Speedway, which hosts yearly one of the premier NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events, ended with Keselowski wrecking his No. 29 Ford … after being eaten by a shark.

Driving in the 1-800-CarCash MudSummer Classic at the half-mile dirt track in Ohio, Keselowski added his own flair to a day with plenty of memorable moments. His first foray onto dirt included: some spice at the end of the first 60-lap segment when he was the lone truck not to pit; a breathtaking move that showed why he’s one of the best drivers in the world; a hard crash that ended any shot of a top-10 finish … and his movie debut when "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!" aired on SyFy.

The spot for the Team Penske driver (who was driving in his own Brad Keselowski Racing truck at Eldora), in which he was devoured by a shark that flew out of a tornado, coincidentally came at nearly the exact moment he inherited the lead after not pitting.

"We had nothing to lose," Keselowski said after not taking his truck in for service, then leading the field to green for the second segment (50 laps). "I wanted to try something."

That led to a restart that produced one of the night’s best highlights in a race full of them. Keselowski, starting in the top lane, slipped back to fourth place coming out of Turn 2 before squeezing by Ty Dillon while turning his nose toward the inside of the track, then sliding down below Austin Dillon and clearing leader and eventual winner Christopher Bell to reclaim first position — although Bell would pass Keselowski out of Turn 4.

That driving display brought the appreciative Eldora crowd to its collective feet, but Keselowski would slip down to 17th before the final 40-lap segment to the finish.

He slowly made his way back up through the field, having gotten more accustomed to the clay surface, and was inside the top 10 before a slide job gone wrong sent him hard into the wall. The damage to his right rear was severe, relegating Kes to a 28th-place finish, 10 laps down.

"I came to broaden my view on the sport," Keselowski said of his day on dirt. "I would say from that perspective, mission accomplished."

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In his third career Truck Series start, Christopher Bell goes to Victory Lane

RELATED: Complete race results | Updated series standings | See the best Eldora photos

In one of the most anticipated races of the year, Christopher Bell scored a dramatic win in the third annual 1-800-Car-Cash Mud Summer Classic on the famed Eldora Speedway dirt.

It was the first victory for Bell in just his third career start. Bell’s triumph marked back-to-back victories for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the No. 54 Toyota Tundra at Eldora.
 
"It’s just unbelievable," said Bell in Victory Lane. "I’ve been coming here quite a few times and if you would have told me two years ago that my first win at Eldora was going to be in a truck, I would have told you you’re crazy. This is just fantastic. I’m just thrilled to be here."

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Dirt late model ace Bobby Pierce scored the 21 Means 21 Pole Award earlier in the day, giving MB Motorsports, one of the longest running teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, its first-ever pole. Pierce lost the lead on Lap 1 to John Hunter Nemechek, but took it back on Lap 2.

Pierce maintained control of the race, until a Lap 42 restart when Bell, also a dirt veteran, swiped the lead from Pierce in Turn 1. Bell led through Lap 60.

When Spencer Gallagher spun on Lap 53, NASCAR utilized the yellow flag to serve as the competition caution originally scheduled for Lap 60, allowing teams to come in for tires and fuel. Brad Keselowski elected to stay out during the caution, inheriting the lead alongside Bell for the Lap 61 restart.

Bell quickly slid by Keselowski a lap later and stretched his advantage by 1.5 seconds until a debris caution on Lap 72 brought the field to his bumper.

Through the race’s then-longest green flag stretch, Bell increased his lead on Pierce, but when Chris Fontaine spun on Lap 94, it once again bunched up the field.

On the restart, Pierce attacked Bell and stole the lead on the backstretch and kept it through a yellow for John Wes Townley on Lap 94. Bell slid in front of Pierce two laps after the restart and held the point until the end of segment two for the second competition caution of the night.

Under the yellow, most of the field elected to stay out, setting up for the start of segment three, a 40-lap dash.
 
Showcasing his dirt track skills, Bell checked out from the field with Pierce, Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick chasing. The opportunity to pull away would be denied when the 11th caution flag of the night waved.
 
Chasing his first career win in his truck series debut, Pierce stalking Bell for the lead, made contact with the Turn 4 wall with about 15 laps remaining, causing significant rear-end damage. Even with a battered truck, Pierce stayed on the throttle. The challenge for the lead would be slowed with 11 laps remaining when Timothy Peters went for a solo spin in Turn 2.
 
A five-lap sprint to the finish set up for the winner of the 1-800-Car-Cash Mud Summer Classic with Bell and Pierce up front on the restart.

Bell would accelerate hard, while a slow restart for Pierce put him in the clutches of Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick. Pierce escaped them and set his sights on Bell.
 
When Korbin Forrister spun with two laps to go, the drama meter pegged even more, setting up for a green-white-checkered finish.
 
On the final restart of the night, Bell refused to give up the race lead and withstood an attempted pass by Pierce on the last lap to earn the win.
 
"I’ll tell you that’s pretty awesome that Bobby and I could come here and run 1-2," added Bell. "I never heard of him until I was at a sprint car race last year and he was running his late model. It’s pretty cool that a couple of dirt guys could run 1-2 at a dirt race track."
 
Tyler Reddick finished third ahead of Erik Jones and Daniel Hemric. Inaugural Eldora winner Austin Dillon was sixth followed by Nemechek, Cameron Hayley, Matt Crafton and Ty Dillon.
 
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to action on Aug. 1 at Pocono Raceway for the running of the Pocono Mountains 150 (1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

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See where all 32 trucks will pit (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1)

RELATED: Starting lineup for the Mud Summer Classic

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The 21 Means 21 Pole Award winner Bobby Pierce, in his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start, will pit his No. 63 in the 24th stall as he seeks to win the 1-800-Car-Cash Mud Summer Classic at Eldora Speedway (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

Kyle Busch Motorsports trucks Erik Jones, Matt Tifft and Christopher Bell will occupy the first three stalls followed by ThorSport Racing’s three trucks Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter and Cameron Hayley.

Then the Brad Keselowski Racing trucks of Tyler Reddick and Keselowski will be in the seventh and eighth stalls.

The winner of the inaugural Mud Summer Classic, Austin Dillon, will put his No. 31 in the 15th stall.

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See the results for all five qualifying races and last-chance race

RELATED: Pierce wins pole in first career Truck race | Qualifying results

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Qualifying Race 1 Results (top five transfer to main event)
1. No. 63 Bobby Pierce
2. No. 02 Tyler Young
3. No. 29 Brad Keselowski
4. No. 08 Korbin Forrister
5. No. 45 Chris Fontaine
6. No. 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb
7. No. 74 Stewart Hayward

Qualifying Race 2 Results (top five transfer to main event)
1. No. 8 John Hunter Nemechek
2. No. 98 Johnny Sauter
3. No. 88 Matt Crafton
4. No. 14 Daniel Hemric
5. No. 51 Matt Tifft
6. No. 11 Ben Kennedy
7. No. 94 Wendell Chavous

Qualifying Race 3 Results (top five transfer to main event)
1. No. 52 Ken Schrader
2. No. 17 Timothy Peters
3. No. 6 Norm Benning
4. No. 23 Spencer Gallagher
5. No. 07 Ray Black Jr.
6. No. 1 Travis Kvapil
7. No. 80 Madeline Crane

Qualifying Race 4 Results (top five transfer to main event)
1. No. 54 Christopher Bell
2. No. 13 Cameron Hayley
3. No. 15 Chad Boat
4. No. 4 Erik Jones
5. No. 00 Cole Custer
6. No. 35 Cody Erickson
7. No. 03 Jake Griffin

Qualifying Race 5 Results (top five transfer to main event)
1. No. 19 Tyler Reddick
2. No. 31 Austin Dillon
3. No. 33 Ty Dillon
4. No. 05 John Wes Townley
5. No. 82 Sean Corr
6. No. 50 Jody Knowles

Last Chance Qualifier Results (top two transfer to main event)
1. No. 35 Cody Erickson
2. No. 11 Ben Kennedy
3. No. 1 Travis Kvapil
4. No. 03 Jake Griffin
5. No. 50 Jody Knowles
6. No. 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb
7. No. 74 Stewart Hayward
8. No. 94 Wendell Chavous
9. No. 80 Madeline Crane

Posted on by Staff Report

See the lineup as the qualifying races are completed

RELATED: Qualifying race results

For the 1-800-CarCash Mud Summer Classic (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM), five qualifying races will determine the bulk of the starting lineup. The Last Chance Qualifying Race determines two spots for he feature race, while four spots are determined by owner points and possibly a fifth, if the last spot is not filled by an eligible champion.

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Starting lineup as the qualifying races are run (check back after each qualifying race as this will be updated):


1-Bobby Pierce (No. 63)
2-John Hunter Nemechek (No. 8)
3-Ken Schrader (No. 52)
4-Christopher Bell (No. 54)
5-Tyler Reddick (No. 19)
6-Tyler Young (No. 02)
7-Johnny Sauter (No. 98)
8-Timothy Peters (No. 17)
9-Cameron Hayley (No. 13)
10-Austin Dillon (No. 31)
11-Brad Keselowski (No. 29)
12-Matt Crafton (No. 88)
13-Norm Benning (No. 6)
14-Chad Boat (No. 15)
15-Ty Dillon (No. 33)
16-Korbin Forrister (No. 08)
17-Daniel Hemric (No. 14)
18-Spencer Gallagher (No. 23)
19-Erik Jones (No. 4)
20-John Wes Townley (No. 05)
21-Chris Fontaine (No. 45)
22-Matt Tifft (No. 51)
23-Ray Black Jr. (No. 07)
24-Cole Custer (No. 00)
25-Sean Corr (No. 82)

26-Cody Erickson (No. 35)
27-Ben Kennedy (No. 11)

28-Travis Kvapil (No. 1)
29-Jennifer Jo Cobb (No. 10)
30-Jody Knowles (No. 50)
31-Stewart Hayward (No. 74)
32-Wendell Chavous (No. 94)

The two trucks to miss the field are: Jake Griffin (No. 03) and Madeline Crane (No. 80).

Posted on by Staff Report

The 18-year-old will be making his first Truck start in tonight’s event

RELATED: Qualifying race lineups | Qualifying results

After recording top-five speeds in both practices today, newcomer Bobby Pierce earned his first career 21 Means 21 Pole Award on Wednesday, using a high speed of 86.889 mph to bring his No. 63 MB Motorsports Chevrolet owned by Mike Mittler to the top of the leaderboard. It also was Mittler’s first pole.

Pierce, an 18-year-old dirt Late Model driver, will be making his first Camping World Truck Series start in tonight’s 1-800-CarCash Mud Summer Classic (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1). His qualifying effort tonight made him the fifth driver in Truck Series history to win the pole in his first start. He joins former series champions Ron Hornaday Jr. (Phoenix, 1995) and Bobby Hamilton (Martinsville, 1996) as well as Kerry Earnhardt (Daytona, 2005) and Alex Tagliani (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, 2014).

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After sustaining damage in the second practice, Johnny Sauter rebounded, posting the second-fastest speed (84.818 mph) on the leaderboard in his No. 98 ride. Ray Black Jr. was third on the leaderboard, his No. 07 Truck recording a high speed of 84.567 mph. Cameron Hayley (84.380 mph) and John Wes Townley (84.309 mph) rounded out the top five.

The top five from this evening’s single truck qualifying willl start on the pole for each of the five qualifying races, which will determine the rest of the field for tonight’s 1-800-CarCash Mud Summer Classic (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM). Beyond the pole, the random draw will decide the order of the qualifying races.

RELATED: Learn more about Eldora race format

Sprint Cup Series Brad Keselowski will be making his dirt track debut in tonight’s Mud Summer Classic. After a brush with the wall, Keselowski’s No. 29 BK Racing Truck picked up the 21st-fastest spot on the leaderboard.

Former Sprint Cup Series driver Ken Schrader — who was the first pole winner for the annual Eldora race — ranked 18th on the leaderboard in his own No. 52 Toyota.

Wednesday’s opening qualifying session provided the drivers with plenty of challenges associated with dirt track racing. JR Motorsports’ Cole Custer took a hard hit to the wall in his first qualifying run, damaging his No. 00 Chevrolet and giving him a flat tire. The incident left him with a 34th qualifying spot. Ty Dillon‘s No. 33 GMS Racing truck made contact with the wall on his first qualiyfing run, giving him a 20th qualifying position for tonight’s five-race event.

Madeline Crane’s No. 80 truck — which took on damage in the second practice — also hit the wall in Turn 1 early in the qualifying session, which qualified her 33rd. Matt Tifft — who qualified 27th — spun out in his second lap, but didn’t make contact.

The Camping World Truck Series is back on track for the first qualiyfing race at 7 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 2).

Posted on by Staff Report

Dirt-track background pays off for 19-year-old in chaotic session

RELATED: Practice 1 results | Final practice results

Tyler Reddick claimed the top spot in final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice Wednesday at Eldora Speedway in a spin-filled final prep for the only NASCAR national series race on dirt.

Reddick, who possesses a rich dirt-track pedigree, drove the Brad Keselowski Racing No. 19 Ford to a best lap of 89.264 mph in the 85-minute session. He enters the third annual 1-800-Car-Cash Mud Summer Classic (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) in second place in the series standings, just 20 points behind two-time series champion Matt Crafton.

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NASCAR XFINITY Series regular Ty Dillon was second-fastest in the GMS Racing No. 33 Chevrolet at 88.924 mph. Timothy Peters landed the third-fastest lap at 86.248 mph on the half-mile track in the Red Horse Racing No. 17 Toyota.

Illinois dirt-track hotshot Bobby Pierce, 18, was fourth-fastest in the MB Motorsports No. 63 Chevrolet with Christopher Bell in the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 54 Toyota capping the top five.

Speeds were slightly slower than the first practice session, topped by 19-year-old Erik Jones in the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 4 Toyota, but the amount of incidents rose sharply with several spins and some isolated instances of contact. The dirt cushion inched up closer to the outside wall, but a significant dip also developed at the exit of Turn 2, causing trucks to become unsettled as they traveled across the bump.

The trucks of Johnny Sauter, John Hunter Nemechek and Cole Custer sustained the most damage. Sauter and Nemechek both backed into the outside retaining wall after separate spins, and Custer’s No. 00 truck crunched into the back of the slowing truck of teenage newcomer Madeline Crane.

Other drivers involved in solo spins without damage (in chronological order): Matt Tifft, Ty Dillon, Chad Boat, Custer, Brad Keselowski, Jennifer Jo Cobb (twice), Jody Knowles, John Wes Townley, Christopher Bell, Jake Griffin, Nemechek and Pierce.

Former Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski managed the 16th-fastest lap among the 34 drivers to participate in final practice. Fellow Sprint Cup regular Austin Dillon, winner of the truck series’ inaugural dirt-track event in 2013, was seventh-fastest.

Crafton registered the ninth-fastest lap in the ThorSport No. 88 Toyota. Ken Schrader, the first pole winner for the annual Eldora event, was 19th-fastest in preparation for his first NASCAR national series start of the season.

Keystone Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. ET. Qualifying heats are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET with the 150-lap main event set for a 9 p.m. ET go.

Jones fastest in opening Eldora practice

Erik Jones topped the charts in Wednesday’s opening practice for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at muddy Eldora Speedway.

Jones drove the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 4 Toyota to a mud-slinging lap of 89.454 mph around the historic half-mile dirt track. The 19-year-old driver was fastest in qualifying last season in his Eldora Speedway debut.

Jones’ lap edged second-fastest Austin Dillon, who turned a 89.299-mph lap in the NTS Motorsports No. 31 Chevrolet in preparation for Wednesday’s third annual 1-800-Car-Cash Mud Summer Classic (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM). Dillon holds the distinction as the inaugural winner in 2013 of the truck tour’s only race on dirt.

Bobby Pierce — an 18-year-old dirt Late Model driver from Illinois, prepping for his first Camping World Truck Series start — was third-fastest in the MB Motorsports No. 63 Chevrolet owned by Mike Mittler. Christopher Bell was fourth-fastest in another Kyle Busch Motorsports Tundra with two-time defending series champion Matt Crafton completing the top five in the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Toyota.

Dillon wasn’t the only Sprint Cup regular making his mark in the opening 55-minute session. Brad Keselowski, making his first Eldora start in the truck series, brushed the wall late but was 24th-fastest in the No. 29 Ford from his own race shop.

Ty Dillon, an XFINITY Series regular and part-time Sprint Cup entrant, was seventh-fastest in the GMS Racing No. 33 Chevrolet.

Ken Schrader, a longtime Sprint Cup driver now racing recreationally, was 22nd-fastest in his own No. 52 Toyota. The 60-year-old Schrader won the inaugural Keystone Light Pole Award at Eldora in 2013.

Teams furiously fought for grip in the early going as the ground-pounding trucks began to work in the damp dirt surface. The track’s characteristics, though, created plenty of tacky mud on windshields and inside the trucks’ wheel wells, caking the inside of the fenders.

Ben Kennedy had the hardest contact of the 55-minute session, slamming the right side of his Red Horse Racing No. 11 Toyota in the Turn 4 wall. Korbin Forrister continued after a pair of spins, and Pierce also looped his truck without any damage.

Posted on by Zack Albert

XFINTIY Series rookies hope to continue success at Lilly Diabetes 250

Racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time might be daunting enough, even for two NASCAR XFINITY Series rookies awash in midseason momentum. But when Daniel Suarez and Darrell Wallace Jr. touch down at the fabled Brickyard, the sense of the unknown will hinge on another sizable variable.

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Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM) will be the first for a new rules package for the XFINITY Series, which will emulate the high-drag aero setup that Sprint Cup cars will also use for the first time this season. But beyond the tweaked rules that await Suarez and Wallace is also the adjustment to racing at a historic 2.5-mile track with a layout like no other circuit on the NASCAR calendar.

"I’m really excited to get to Indy, another one of those places where I haven’t been to, so it’s going to be a pretty big challenge," Wallace said Monday during a whirlwind tour through New York City with Suarez and defending XFINITY champ Chase Elliott. "We have to not really focus on those first couple of runs on the car, it’s more a focus on me of hitting the right marks and make sure I’m getting all out of the car that I can. You have to be on it but I’m excited to get to another big track for us.

"We’re on a pretty good roll right now with three top-10s in the last four races, so we’ve just got to keep pressing forward."

MORE: Bubba, Chase and Suarez take a selfie in New York City

Wallace’s streak of success in his first year in Roush Fenway Racing‘s No. 6 Ford has some competition with Suarez’s recent tear. The Mexican-born driver of Joe Gibbs Racing‘s No. 18 Toyota has two straight top-five results on the XFINITY side heading to Indy and hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 all season in his partial schedule (seven starts thus far) in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The last time Suarez visited Indianapolis, he said he was 14 or 15 years old and still getting his motorsports career off the ground in go-karts. Now 23, he has designs on absorbing as many lessons as possible to keep his own rookie roll going.

"It was a long time ago and now we’re coming back for the big race track with a big chance to get experience," Suarez said. "I’m excited about that and looking forward to this weekend, most of all to learn as much as possible on Friday. And after that, hopefully everything will be pretty good."

Suarez said he planned on doing his homework before Saturday’s 250-miler, watching race film as part of his customary preparation. Wallace said he’s already leaned on friends and fellow competitors Elliott and Ryan Blaney, each of whom have starts at the 2.5-mile speedway under their belts.

Standard prep work aside, both say they expect the high-drag rules package to add a new wrinkle to the build-up to Saturday’s race. Both Wallace and Suarez said they approved of NASCAR potentially implementing track-specific packages based on the type of racing they saw with a lower-downforce setup for Sprint Cup cars two weekends ago at Kentucky Speedway.

But how will the Brickyard package race? Wallace said teams and drivers won’t know for certain until cars hit the track for Friday’s pair of practices.

"Hopefully we’re ready for it and on top of our game," Wallace said. "They’re trying to produce more racing, and I’m a fan of that. Just going to see how much different the cars are going to drive and how much different the speeds are getting into the corner. Talking with Chase and Ryan, they’re talking about how it’s almost wide-open there in some corners at Indy. So I don’t know if we will be wide-open in (Turns) 2 and 4 or what, but that new package and that bigger spoiler will definitely reduce horsepower, so we’ll just have to see how it goes."

Posted on by Nascar

NASCAR writes up New Hampshire pre-qualifying and pre-race penalties

Five teams, including those of drivers Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing), Clint Bowyer (No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing) and Paul Menard (No. 27 Richard Childress Racing), received written warnings from NASCAR for an excessive number of trips through the inspection line at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this past weekend.

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Such written warnings are handed down for failure to pass either pre-qualifying or pre-race inspection twice during an event and thus requiring a third trip through the inspection line.
 
The No. 21 of Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing) and No. 32 of Eddie MacDonald (Go Green Racing) also received written warnings.
 
The teams of drivers JJ Yeley (No. 23 BK Racing), Reed Sorenson (No. 62 Premium Motorsports) and Timmy Hill (No. 98 Premium Motorsports) failed inspection three times, and will be required to serve a 15-minute loss of practice penalty this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
 
The written warnings are a part of NASCAR’s 2015 Deterrence Policy, which categorizes infractions (Level 1 through Level 6) and the applicable penalties.
 
Should a team receive two warnings during the same event or during two consecutive events, P1 penalties may include last choice in the pit selection process, a deduction in track time for practice or qualifying, a delay in the order of inspection or selection for post-race inspection.
 
The penalty may be increased to the P2 level if a team or team member receives six or more warnings during a six-month period (from the time of the first warning).
 
P2 level penalty options may include the loss of 10 championship driver and owner points and/or a fine not less than $10,000 and not more than $25,000. P2 level infractions also carry the potential for suspensions and probation.