MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The Ford Fusion used for competition in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series is expected to have a slightly different look for 2016, with changes to the front and sides of the car.
Officials with the Detroit-based automaker have not announced any changes, but at least one driver has acknowledged that the modifications are forthcoming.
During an open test Thursday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola noted that his team was “trying to really focus on what we need for our balance for this 2016 package, and it’s not really a great gauge for us because this (car) is still the 2015 Ford Fusion.
“We actually have a new nose and some new sides coming for next year with a new 2016 Ford Fusion,” he said. “(I’m) pretty excited about that. I’ve heard early reports of some good things. I’m excited about getting that on the race track next season.”
Asked about possible changes for ’16, Dave Pericak, Director of Ford Performance said last month, “Our current car has a strong relationship to the street car and if we were to make any changes going forward, it would certainly be in the spirit of the collaboration that has been ongoing between all the OEMs to make sure that the next generation car is an even closer tie to the street car.”
It would be the second change to the front of the Fusion since NASCAR and the automakers — Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota — unveiled the new Generation 6 entries before the 2013 season.
A year after the ’13 Fusion’s debut, Ford requested and was granted a slight change to the inset area below the car’s grille. Concerns about debris collecting on the front of the car, potentially creating overheating issues, led officials to alter the area so that it became more flush with the car’s bumper.
That change did not have a major effect on the car’s aerodynamic numbers, according to officials.
Ford teams have won seven of this season’s 32 Sprint Cup points races, fewer than both Chevrolet (12) and Toyota (13). But one of its drivers, Joey Logano of Team Penske, leads the series in victories with six and has won the last three races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
The new Ford pieces have been tested in the wind tunnel as required by the sanctioning body, and are making their way through the approval process.
To better maintain similar aerodynamic numbers among the various manufacturers, NASCAR controls the greenhouse area (from the base of the windshield to the rear of the decklid) for all models used in competition. Everything below the greenhouse is built to more closely resemble that particular manufacturer’s production version of a particular model.
Manufacturers make design changes to their race cars when changes are being made to the production versions. Toyota officials made changes to the front of the Camry before the start of the ’15 season so that it more closely resembled those made to the street version of the car.
There have been no changes for the Chevrolet SS since that model debuted in ’13.
“Our SS will be our play here for the near future,” Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president, performance vehicles and motorsports for Chevrolet, said in September during a press conference with representatives of the three OEMs. “If we make a change in the showroom that necessitates a change for the track, we’ll certainly go through that process again with NASCAR and our counterparts here.”
Ed Laukes, vice president of marketing, performance and guest experience for Toyota Motor Sales USA, said the three groups “agreed as we came out with the next (generation) vehicle that we would try to do the best that we could to simulate as well as we could the production vehicle.
“As we roll out next generation vehicles, I think every one of us will make modifications and they’ll come out. But the competition teams within each one of the OEMs are working together to make sure that that box stays tight as far as the performance of those vehicles.
“So we’ll see slight modifications as we change models, but nothing dramatic.”
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series competes today at Martinsville Speedway, and for the second consecutive race driver Austin Theriault won’t be in the starting lineup.
“I’d like to be back behind the wheel as soon as possible,” Theriault, 21, said Oct. 27. “But in order to do that, certain things have to happen.”
The Brad Keselowski Racing driver sustained a 10 percent compression fracture of the lower back in a vicious crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Oct. 3 while competing in the Rhino Linings 350.
Theriault’s No. 29 Ford struck the wall nose-first in approximately the same spot hit by Erik Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing) during an XFINITY Series race earlier this year at the 1.5-mile track. Jones was not injured as a result of his crash.
The area of the wall where Theriault and Jones hit was not protected by SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier, although track officials have since announced additional protection will be in place in time for the 2016 racing season.
“When you sustain a hit like that and you get hurt, there are short-term and long-term goals,” Theriault said. “Trying to sort of mesh them together, you know that sometimes you might give up a little bit of the long term for the short term, or vice versa.
“For me, it’s going to be about still working with the doctors on them clearing me to race but when that happens … I may not feel 100 percent but I want to feel good enough to know I’m not sacrificing performance or putting myself in a position to get injured more, if something else were to happen.”
Team owner Brad Keselowski‘s organization fields two Ford entries in the series. Tyler Reddick, driver of the No. 19, is second in points heading into today’s Kroger 200. The No. 29 entry has featured six drivers — Brad and Brian Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Alex Tagliani. Joey Logano and Theriault.
Theriault had made the bulk of the starts, eight, before his injury. Brian Keselowski stepped in for Theriault at Talladega last week while Austin Cindric is behind the wheel this weekend at Martinsville.
Keselowski said Theriault’s HANS device broke as a result of the impact and “his helmet took a major impact.”
“The steering wheel came up in his face and broke part of his helmet,” Keselowski said. “The transmission and bell housing came into the cockpit. These are major issues that we just got really lucky on. Anything else goes a little bit further and he’s not standing here. That’s what happens when you hit a wall that doesn’t have SAFER barrier at a very atrocious angle.”
Keselowski said much has been learned in the wake of his driver’s accident.
“We learned that we know a lot less about safety than we thought we did. And that’s very scary,” he said.
The organization recently took part in a crash test at the University of Nebraska, a test Keselowski said that “ironically was scheduled months before Austin’s crash.”
Theriault is on the entry list for next week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, however such entries are typically filed weeks in advance, if not longer. A spokesman for the team said Friday at Martinsville that there was no indication that Theriault had been cleared to return to competition, although such clearance could possibly be granted in time for him to return for the TMS event.
“Until the doctor (clears me), it’s very much a week to week thing,” Theriault said. “I could find a doctor today that would say ‘It’s going to take this long’ and I could find a doctor that would say ‘you can race in two weeks.’ “
Theriault says he remembers “everything” about his crash, which occurred when Reddick’s entry got loose and came down across the track in front of his teammate. Contact sent Theriault’s truck to the right and into the outside wall.
“Like a lot of things, the correlation between actual time and perceived time are different,” he said. “It seemed like when I was headed toward the wall that took longer than it actually did.
“And when I was out of the truck, everything seemed to take longer. That was the biggest thing I noticed. I knew right after I hit the wall that something wasn’t right. You’re not sure what, but something doesn’t feel right.
“The pain is there to tell you that something isn’t right; it’s also there to tell you that you’re still there. It’s a blessing and a curse.”
RELATED: Race Center | Sunday’s schedule
RELATED: Full qualifying results
Cole Custer earned his third, and first for the 2015 season, 21 Means 21 Pole of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career at Martinsville Speedway after topping the qualifying leaderboard with a fastest lap of 96.959 mph.
Joining Custer’s No. 00 on the front row is the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Toyota of Cameron Hayley (96.504 mph).
The No. 8 of John Hunter Nemechek will start on the second row after qualifying third as he brought his Chevrolet around the .526-mile track at a fastest lap of 96.224 mph.
The No. 19 of Tyler Reddick (96.141 mph) and the No. 14 of Daniel Hemric (96.024 mph) rounded out the top five.
The green flag for the Kroger 200 (200 laps, 105.2 miles) is set for 1:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, Sirius XM).
RELATED: Logano leads opening practice at Martinsville
Practice 3 recap | Practice 3 results
Jimmie Johnson led the final Sprint Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, topping the leaderboard with a speed of 97.108 mph.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver completed his fastest lap on his fourth go-around of “The Paperclip” track out of 67 laps. Johnson has eight wins at Martinsville, tying with Jeff Gordon for the most victories among active Cup drivers at the Virginia short track.
Kevin Harvick was second to “Six-Time” with a high speed of 96.721 mph in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.
Brad Keselowski (96.721 mph), Paul Menard (96.711 mph) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (96.538 mph) rounded out the top-five fastest.
Defending race winner Earnhardt Jr. was fastest in Saturday’s opening session.
Polesitter Joey Logano was seventh-fastest in the closing session at 96.504 mph. Logano was the fastest in Friday’s opening practice. The Team Penske driver is going for his fourth consecutive win, along with a ticket to the Championship 4 Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Kyle Busch was the slowest of the eight-driver Chase field, ranking 26th-fastest (95.854 mph).
Denny Hamlin, Martinsville spring race winner, was ninth-fastest (96.386 mph).
The Sprint Cup Series returns to the track on Sunday for the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at 1:15 p.m. ET (NBCSN/Live Extra, MRN, SiriusXM).
Practice 2 recap | Practice 2 results
After qualifying 22nd on Friday, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 picked up some speed for Saturday’s first practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The Hendrick Motorsports driver topped the leaderboard in his Chevrolet SS with a fast lap of 96.998 mph.
Next was the No. 78 Chevrolet of Martin Truex Jr., the fastest during this session among the remaining eight Chase contenders (96.879 mph).
Rounding out the top three was Ryan Newman, who circled the .526-mile track at 96.874 mph in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Polesitter Joey Logano showed speed again today, snagging the fourth spot with a high speed of 96.755 mph in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin landed in the fifth position after posting a quick speed of 96.731 mph.
Tony Stewart, who finished eighth, left the session with significant damage to his No. 14 after making contact with the wall. Stewart will start the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 in a backup car. Kasey Kahne, who wrecked in qualifying on Friday, will also start in a backup.
RELATED: Play Fantasy Live now
It’s getting down to crunch time in NASCAR Fantasy Live, with only four races remaining this season.
What to do for Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway? So glad you asked. Make sure to set your lineup, using the information below to guide your picks. All stats listed — place differential, fastest laps run and laps led — are used in Fantasy Live scoring and are specific to the .526-mile track. We’re also offering some sleeper picks and value plays.
Good luck this weekend!
Laps led, since 2005
1. Jimmie Johnson, 2,575
2. Jeff Gordon, 1,890
3. Denny Hamlin, 1,312
Fastest laps run, since 2005
1. Jeff Gordon, 1,131
2. Jimmie Johnson, 1,041
3. Denny Hamlin, 687
Place differential, 2014 fall race
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr., +22
2. David Ragan, +19
3. Cole Whitt, +18
Place differential, 2015 spring race
1. Trevor Bayne, +18
2. Clint Bowyer, +17
t-3. Cole Whitt, +15
t-3. David Ragan, +15
Sleeper picks
Martin Truex Jr.: Truex remains one of the only Eliminator 8 drivers with reasonable price value at Martinsville. He led 23 laps and posted a sixth-place finish there earlier this year. Truex has also posted the sixth most Average Fantasy Points (47.8) over the last three weeks.
Kasey Kahne: Outside of his crash at Charlotte, Kahne has been racing exceedingly well as of late for his asking price. He’s set to be a solid sleeper at Martinsville, although one reason for concern is Kahne starting from the rear in a backup car after a qualifying wreck.
Value picks
Tony Stewart: ‘Smoke’ is an intriguing option as a value play. In his last three Martinsville Chase starts, Stewart has a win and two top-five finishes. However, a wreck in practice forced him to a backup car, and he’ll need to start from the rear.
Austin Dillon: Dillon may be this week’s bargain. He owns a +2.3 place differential and an average finish of 22.7 in three career Martinsville races. He could be a steal for owners playing a high-dollar lineup.
Members of the NASCAR.com editorial team make their predictions for the first race of the Eliminator Round in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Martinsville Speedway (Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500, 1:15 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra, MRN, SiriusXM).
Zack Albert
Denny Hamlin: Expect the No. 11 to prevail in his home state for Hamlin’s sixth grandfather clock, denying the remaining Chasers an automatic berth in the Homestead championship finale.
Kenny Bruce
Jimmie Johnson: Johnson shares win record (eight) for active drivers at Martinsville with teammate Jeff Gordon. Bad fast in practice. No Chase pressure. In other words, everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Brad Norman
Joey Logano: Because why not? He’s starting from the pole and has won three consecutive races. Make it four.
George Winkler
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have more history on their side, but Junior will use the disappointment from last weekend as motivation to get his second grandfather clock (first for crew chief Greg Ives).
Kathy Sheldon
Jeff Gordon: The intensity is there, and so is the confidence at Martinsville, where he has eight career wins and a runner-up finish in this race last year. The four-time champion is serious about chasing down title number five.
Jessica Ruffin
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Having just missed the next round of the Chase with a runner-up result at Talladega Sunday, Junior heads to Martinsville with something to prove — and a fast race car, to boot. He’s also the reigning race winner and calls the paperclip oval one of his favorite tracks on the circuit.
Taylor Starer
Jeff Gordon: Martinsville’s fall race is what Gordon has been waiting for. The four-time Sprint Cup champ doesn’t plan on ending his lengthy career with a winless season or without scoring one more win at a track where he’s had eight victories.
Maggie MacKenzie
Carl Edwards: With the recent Joe Gibbs Racing difficulties, Edwards is the team’s biggest hope to snag the 2015 championship. He may not have a win at Martinsville, but the driver of the No. 19 Toyota has finished outside the top 10 only once thus far in the Chase.
RJ Kraft
Denny Hamlin: Yes, Hamlin is out of the Chase, but that doesn’t mean he can’t go out and get another win. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has one of the best cars this weekend as he eyes a sweep of the Martinsville races for the second time in his career.
Pat DeCola
Jeff Gordon: A winless final season just doesn’t seem to fit the four-time champion’s style. With more career victories at “The Paperclip” (eight) than any other track on his resume, you can book Gordon’s trip to Victory Lane this weekend — along with his spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead.
John Hunter Nemechek and Cameron Hayley were each pleased with their top-three efforts Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. With each other? Not so much.
As far as post-race confrontations go in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the face-to-face meeting between the NASCAR Next products on pit road was fairly mild, short though not so sweet. Nemechek came away with a runner-up finish behind winner Matt Crafton, and Hayley enjoyed a career-best third place in the Kroger 200, but there were indications that their late-race contact could have implications later in the season.
“The racing got really rough out there. John Hunter’s got it coming to him here later in Phoenix,” Hayley said after emerging from his ThorSport Racing No. 13 Toyota. “There’s no reason why he should just drive into someone that hard, but I guess it’s short-track racing and just great run for us.”
Nemechek bulled past Hayley on a restart with two laps to go, nudging to the inside groove in Turn 3 just before the white flag unfurled. Nemechek said he received Hayley’s warning loud and clear in their brief post-race talk, but indicated that watching a replay would help him understand the contact.
“It’s part of racing. It’s good, hard racing and good, hard battling,” said Nemechek, who added that he was being pushed from behind during the two-lap dash to the end. “Earlier in the race, he moved me, so he had one coming back to him.”
Aside from the abbreviated dust-up, there were plenty of shared positives. Hayley started second alongside pole-sitter Cole Custer, and Nemechek started third. Both spent the duration of the day in the top five, within sight of early leader Custer and late-race dominator Crafton.
For Nemechek, it marked his fourth top-five finish in his last five races, including his breakthrough win in Chicagoland. For Hayley, his third straight top-10 in his rookie campaign kept him sixth in the series standings.
“It just seemed like the one truck in front of us was just a little bit faster when it counted, and we’d be faster over those long runs, and we just could never quite get there, but I couldn’t be happier to run top-three all weekend,” Hayley said. “It’s something I’ve only dreamed about, so I’m really proud of this team.”
Said Nemechek: “Everyone was hitting each other, moving each other. It’s great to come home second, and I can’t thank all my guys enough.”
RELATED: Sunday’s lineup | NASCAR.com’s staff picks for Martinsville
Race day info
What: 67th annual Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500.
Where: Martinsville Speedway, .526-mile oval in Martinsville, Virginia. | Learn more about the track
Green flag time: 1:15 p.m. ET (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Forecast: Cloudy, high of 64 degrees, 60 percent chance of rain, according to the National Weather Service
National anthem: N.C. State Marching Band, “The Power Sound of the South”
Grand marshals: Richard Petty, seven-time NASCAR premier-series champion; Tom Harman, Circle K Southeast director of marketing.
Distance: 500 laps, 263 miles.
Pit road speed: 30 mph. Caution car speed: 35 mph.
On the front row
1. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford (98.548 mph)
2. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet (98.487 mph)
RELATED: See the full lineup
Fastest in practice
First practice: Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford (98.826 mph) | Results
Second practice: Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (96.998 mph) | Results
Final practice: Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (97.108 mph) | Results
Key story lines
1. Four consecutive wins a rarity within Logano’s reach | Read more
2. Plenty of incentive for Gordon, seeking ninth clock in Martinsville finale | Read more
3. Martinsville adds SAFER barrier, making tight track even cozier | Read more
4. Ford to debut new-look NASCAR Fusion in 2016 | Read more
Former winners in the field
Jeff Gordon (8), Jimmie Johnson (8), Denny Hamlin (5), Tony Stewart (3), Kurt Busch (2), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1), Kevin Harvick (1), Ryan Newman (1).
He said it
“I think about that one hot dog that I ate in an attempt to go faster in the spring. It didn’t work.” — Carl Edwards