Peters wins Truck Series pole at Talladega

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Staff Report

Timothy Peters scored the Keystone Light Pole Award for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series fred’s 250 presented by Coca-Cola at Talladega Superspeedway (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM).

Peters used a fast lap of 178.304 mph in the final round of qualifying to score his first pole of the 2015 and the seventh pole of his career. The veteran is also the defending race winner at Talladega.

Joining Peters on the front row will be John Wes Townley (178.065 mph), who earlier this month won the Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The second row will be comprised of Erik Jones (177.485 mph) and Daniel Hemric (177.343 mph), with Ben Kennedy (177.291 mph) and Matt Tifft (176.428 mph) making up the third row.

The fred’s 250 is the 19th race of the Truck Series season. Jones enters the race with a four-point advantage on two-time defending series champion Matt Crafton and a 16-point lead on Tyler Reddick.

Andy Seuss and Ryan Ellis did not qualify for the 32-truck field.

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Reid Spencer

TALLADEGA, Ala. – In a knockout qualifying session dominated by Hendrick Motorsports on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, the outgoing king of restrictor-plate time trials—Jeff Gordon—won the pole position for Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500, the final race in the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

Gordon toured the 2.66-mile oval in 49.234 seconds (194.500 mph) to earn his fourth Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his fifth at Talladega and the 81st of his career. Gordon has claimed the top starting spot for all three 2015 restrictor-plate races for which the pole was contested—the Daytona 500 and both Talladega events.

Rain forced cancellation of time trials for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in July.

Gordon beat out Hendrick teammate and non-Chaser Kasey Kahne (193.638 mph) for the top spot on the grid for the race that will determine which eight drivers advance to the Chase’s Eliminator Round.

Jimmie Johnson, who was knocked out of the Chase in the first round, qualified third at 193.584 mph, immediately ahead of two drivers who likely must win on Sunday to keep their title hopes alive—Mat Kenseth (193.580 mph, 12th in the Chase standings) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (193.162 mph, 11th in the standings).

Kenseth was the only non-Hendrick driver to crack the top five.

“These guys work extremely hard,” Gordon said of his team’s effort. “I know everybody does for these restrictor-plate tracks. To be able to get the results like that, and they have been doing it all year long on these tracks. …

“That is just a complete credit to all the details that come from the top down. (Crew chief) Alan (Gustafson), he really does a phenomenal job at every track, but especially these tracks with these cars. Hendrick engines, Hendrick chassis, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports—1, 2, 3 and 5 that is an awesome day for Hendrick Motorsports.”

Trevor Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 winner, qualified sixth, followed by reigning series champion Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart. Of that group, Harvick, Hamlin and Keselowski are vying for spots in the next round of the Chase. Logano has already locked up his spot in the next round.

Even before the final round started, the session featured its share of bizarre circumstances. The first-round time of Chase driver Martin Truex Jr. was disallowed after Truex drove below the yellow line in the tri-oval on his qualifying lap.

NASCAR had stipulated to the Sprint Cup teams before time trials that driving below the yellow line was no longer allowed. Accordingly, Truex will start from the rear of the field in Sunday’s race.

“Well the last couple of times we’ve been here, we’ve run on the apron through the tri-oval,” Truex said. “Apparently there was a memo sent out, and I never got it. I don’t really know what to say.”

During the first session, Clint Bowyer mistakenly threw his No. 15 Toyota into reverse and backed into the No. 51 Chevrolet of Justin Allgaier, the driver Bowyer will replace next year during his one-year stint at HScott Motorsports, Bowyer’s short-term home before he moves to Stewart-Haas Racing fulltime in 2017.

With the nose of his Chevy caved in, Allgaier qualified 39th, but the team plans to repair and use the primary car for Sunday.

WATCH: Bowyer ‘Obviously it was in reverse’

All four Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets were flagged during pre-qualifying inspections for radiator inlet duct panels that didn’t conform to NASCAR specifications. The teams spent more than two hours correcting the issue, but Harvick and Stewart still managed to make the top 12, earning the seventh and 12th starting spots, respectively.

The remaining Chase drivers qualified as follows: Kurt Busch, 14th; Carl Edwards, 15th; Kyle Busch, 16th; and Ryan Newman, 18th.

Jeb Burton and Michael Annett failed to make the 43-car field.

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Reid Spencer

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Timothy Peters finished Saturday’s fred’s 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway exactly where he started—at the front of the pack—despite an extraordinary ebb and flow between the opening green flag and the checkers.

Peters was out front when NASCAR called the sixth caution of the race on the first lap of the only attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag finish, after contact between the trucks of John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher sent both crashing hard into the outside wall.

The victory was Peters’ first of the season, his second straight at Talladega and the ninth of his career.

Brandon Jones , who led the field to the last restart on Lap 97, finished second after Gallagher, his GMS Racing teammate, pushed Peters to the lead. Mason Mingus ran third, a career-best, and Erik Jones finished fourth and extended his series lead to 18 points over second place Tyler Reddick , who came home fifth on Saturday.

Jones picked the inside for the final restart, even though he could have started in front of Gallagher. Peters wasn’t particularly surprised that Jones picked the preferred lane, rather than choosing the spot in front of his teammate.

“I kind of thought that maybe he would take the outside,” Peters said, “but we’d already gotten the radio from the tower that this was going to be the one and only attempt (at the green-white-checkered). At that point, teammates are good for 95 laps.

“Coming to the checkered, you’re on your own, and he kind of knew it was every man for himself. I appreciate the push that Spencer gave to me. I’m glad he’s OK after that wreck on the back … The push that Spencer gave me was a little delayed, but it was enough to get us both in front of the 33 (Jones).”

Throughout the afternoon, storylines materialized and disappeared as quickly as the smoke from the “Big One”—the almost inevitable multicar wreck that finally occurred on Lap 92 of a scheduled 94 and skewed both the finishing order and the series standings.

Brian Keselowski , making his first series start in a Ford owned by his brother, Brad Keselowski , threatened to win the race—until he ran out of fuel before the last restart.

“They (Keselowski’s team) said right from the get-go to save fuel, and I was,” said Keselowski, who finished 17th after leading 10 laps. But you can only do so much when you’re leading.

“You’ve got to go, so I didn’t save any when I was out front. I guess I should have, but that’s a little bit of inexperience in the Truck Series probably showing up. We’ll learn better next time.”

Two-time defending series champion Matt Crafton was shuffled to the rear of the field when debris struck to the grille of his No. 88 Toyota, but that was the least of his troubles. Crafton was a victim of the Lap 92 10-truck wreck ignited by contact between the Tundras of Johnny Sauter and Matt Tifft .

Crafton finished 24th and fell to third in the standings, 23 points behind Erik Jones.

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Reid Spencer

After he runs his final restrictor-plate race on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, Jeff Gordon may be ready to reflect on his history at the track.

Until then, however, Gordon’s focus is confined to the CampingWorld.com 500, the race that will determine which eight drivers will advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and which four won’t.

“This place has been really good to me and also really bad,” said Gordon, who was 10th fastest in Friday’s final practice. “I’m coming in with a positive attitude – excited at how fast our race car is and how good our team is. It’s a great opportunity we have in front of us. So I’m not thinking about it from a historic standpoint or even letting it sink in that it’s my final race here. We have too much of a job at hand here. Our focus is on this round, continuing in the Chase and moving on.

“I really believe that if we can make it through this round, we have three great tracks coming up that we can move on all the way to Homestead and do something we didn’t do last year and possibly something I’ve never done before, and that’s win a Sprint Cup championship (all four of Gordon’s titles came under the Winston Cup banner).”

Gordon then fired a warning shot his competitors in the Chase would be well-advised to heed.

“I know that we’re not running the way that some others are,” Gordon said. “But if we get through this one, I’m telling you, there are four tracks (Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead) where we can surprise some people. That’s all that’s on my mind.”

Posted on October 23, 2015 by

TALLADEGA, Ala. — He’s Talladega’s favorite son, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. has everything in place to have a magical weekend — a successful Talladega history, unwavering support from the locals and a car that has proven success at plate tracks.

That last item might be the most important.

Junior’s No. 88 Chevrolet — sporting a “cursed” Diet Mountain Dew scheme, as he joked on Twitter earlier is this week — is actually the same chassis that’s been to Victory Lane three times this year. It won the first Daytona Duel in February, at Talladega in May and again at Daytona in July.

At a place such as the massive 2.66-mile oval, the largest in NASCAR, having confidence in what’s under him is more important to Earnhardt Jr. than anything else.

“We’ve won here this year and we’ve ran good and won at Daytona over the last several years,” Earnhardt said Friday. “So when we come to all the plate tracks we feel confident we can do well, and we feel confident in the car. The confidence that you have in the car is really where it all stems from. When you don’t believe in the car, you make (worse) decisions.”

The success here doesn’t hurt, either — Junior is tied with Jeff Gordon among all active drivers with six wins at Talladega. His dad, “The Intimidator”, is the all-time winner here with 10, and this weekend is the 15-year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s 76th and final career win.

Earnhardt Jr. recounted some of that 2000 race with alarming accuracy Friday, noting that the pressure also gets ratcheted up — Chase or no Chase — at Talladega because of the Earnhardt legacy of excellence here.

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, of course, only adds to that. Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) is a postseason elimination race, and Earnhardt Jr. almost certainly must win it to advance to the eight-driver Eliminator Round.

“There’s no denying the intensity and pressure it puts on drivers like myself to be in a cutoff situation where you’re eliminated if things don’t go perfectly on Sunday,” Earnhardt said. “But I think it’s what the fans enjoy. If I’m a fan, I like it.”

The Hendrick Motorsports driver finds himself in this position after a pair of finishes outside the top 20 earlier in the round. He finished 28th at Charlotte, the opening race of the 12-driver Contender Round, following an incident with Carl Edwards and several ensuing trips into the wall.

A 21st-place finish last week at Kansas deepened his hole and put Earnhardt Jr. 31 points behind eighth-place Martin Truex Jr., who is in the cutoff spot.

Sunday is not mathematically a must-win scenario to advance in the postseason, but it’s close.

Here’s an example. If Junior finishes second Sunday and leads at least one lap, but not the most laps in the race, he would earn 43 points. In order for him to advance in the postseason, Kevin Harvick (fifth in the standings), Jeff Gordon (sixth) and Brad Keselowski (seventh) would all have to finish 34th or worse; Truex Jr. would have to finish 33rd or worse; and Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman, ninth and 10th in the standings, respectively, would have to finish outside the top 25.

So, yeah, winning makes everything simpler. And winning at Talladega is something the Earnhardts do better than anybody else.

“We’re trying to do as good a job as we can, and when the race starts we want to run up front and try to stay toward the lead,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I think I need to be in the lead with 30 or 20 (laps) to go to have a really, really good shot at it.

“Hopefully it’s exciting, but I’d love to lead the last 30 straight.”

Posted on October 23, 2015 by

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Matt Kenseth initially shrugged off a handful of questions about last week’s incident with Joey Logano during his media availability at Talladega Superspeedway, but the Joe Gibbs Racing driver eventually warmed up — and fired a few shots.

“I wouldn’t do anything different because I didn’t do anything wrong,” said Kenseth, who almost certainly must win Sunday’s race to advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. “I did everything I was supposed to do.

“I did everything I could do to win the race. He drove himself into the wall twice.”

Kenseth was leading last week’s race at Kansas Speedway late, battling Logano. Kenseth attempted to hold off Logano over the final laps, Logano attempted to pass Kenseth — somewhere during that battle, Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota went for a spin after making contact with Logano’s No. 22 Ford.

Logano, who won the race, said Kenseth had previously blocked him, so he didn’t lift the next time the two got close.

Kenseth, who finished 14th, said Logano spun him intentionally and without justification.

“Someday he might mature a little bit,” Kenseth said of the Team Penske driver. “But first of all, he should have stopped running his mouth, A, and No. 2, he’s lying when he said he didn’t do it on purpose. He lifted the tires off the ground, and he’s too good a race car driver to do that by accident.”

Logano didn’t back down from his stance either, according to FOX Sports.

“I’ve had time to look at it, and truly I stay true to how I feel,” Logano told FOX Sports. “I don’t think either one of us is sorry about how it happened. We were both racing hard. He was doing what he had to do. I don’t blame him. I don’t look bad at him for blocking. If I was in his shoes I’d probably do the same thing. If he was in my shoes, he’d probably do the same thing as well.”

NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France called Logano’s move “quintessential NASCAR” earlier this week — a statement Kenseth would not address when asked.

“I don’t know what that word means,” Kenseth quipped. “I wasn’t very good in high school … once I learn what that means I can probably answer that better.”

Posted on October 23, 2015 by

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Brad Keselowski knows exactly how Matt Kenseth is feeling.

The No. 2 Team Penske driver needed a win last season at Talladega to advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Kenseth is in the same situation this year entering Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, Sirius XM).

“I think you’re looking at this weekend and there are certainly gonna be some people that race scared and racing scared, to me, means sometimes you race not to win, but to not lose as far as the points are concerned,” Keselowski said Friday at Talladega.

Keselowski didn’t have the luxury of racing for points last season, just as Kenseth doesn’t this weekend. That urgency and win-or-be-eliminated mentality plays a huge part in strategy.

It’s a delicate balance, racing hard to win while avoiding the “Big Ones” that characterize the 2.66-mile Alabama track, particularly on the final laps. But sometimes that urgency to win supersedes anything else — even if that means creating chaos through the rest of the field.

“The only real reference that I have from personal experience is last fall, and I certainly made riskier and bolder moves than I would have made otherwise, because at this point the penalty for a bad day is really nothing,” Keselowski said. “The teams take more chances and there are more teams taking chances.”

The Chase element at Talladega this weekend causes chivalry to fade and “driver code” to fall to the wayside, as drivers like Kenseth — and likely Dale Earnhardt Jr. — will fight for their championship hopes come Sunday afternoon.

“It’s all about being in the right place and being positioned properly and not making just the right moves for yourself, but yet (anticipating) the moves that the rest of the cars make, too,” Kenseth said. “Certainly being a race in the Chase everybody’s kind of on a different agenda or some people are locked in and are just going to help their teammates – there’s all kinds of different scenarios.”

Keselowski’s situation differs this season as he sits seventh of 12 drivers, which gives him the option to play the points game. But whether or not he’ll race up front the entire time or hang toward the back and charge to the front remains to be seen.

Fellow Chase driver Jeff Gordon — who is tied with Earnhardt Jr. for the most wins among active drivers at Talladega with six — has certainly worked every angle of the superspeedway, trying to find that perfect formula.

“I’ve tried every approach known possible, to hang out in the back (and) be really conservative, to be up front (and) be really aggressive,” Gordon said. “It’s a balance. You have to take each moment and experience and try and make the most of it.”

Track position dictates much of a driver’s initial strategy and is an element that Gordon believes is crucial, especially at superspeedway tracks.

“If you have a car that qualifies up front — like the last time we were here — try to maintain that track position, you have to be a little bit more aggressive,” Gordon said. “I watched Dale Jr. do an excellent job (in May) and there were a few other guys as well. They protect that position when they’re up front impressively.

“So, there’s a fine line that can get you in trouble as well. But I can tell you, it’s been a lot harder when you get shuffled back here to work your way up to the front than it used to be. People are smarter, cars are more equal, the drafting/aerodynamics are just different than they used to be and it’s hard to make that work if you get behind. I’m hoping we qualify up front.”

But even with the most pristine plan in place, Keselowski ultimately likens game-planning for Sunday’s race to Mike Tyson’s famous quote: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

Quite simply, drivers can’t plan anything at Talladega.

“Everybody has a plan here, or an approach, until they drop the green and then it usually doesn’t work,” Keselowski said. “We’ve had some really good approaches here in the past that have worked, but we’ll just have to see. I’m not really all that interested in sharing what my plan is now, but hopefully it’ll play out.”

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Staff Report

SCHEDULE: Qualifying on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. ET (NBCSN)
RELATED: Superspeedway qualifying explained

#	Car	Driver	Team
1	33	Travis Kvapil (i)	Chevrolet
2	32	Bobby Labonte	C&J Energy Services Ford
3	62	Timmy Hill (i)	Royal Teak Collection Ford
4	23	Jeb Burton #	Overture Toyota
5	7	Alex Bowman	Golden Corral Chevrolet
6	26	J.J. Yeley(i)	Adirondack Tree Surgeons Toyota
7	35	Cole Whitt	Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters Ford
8	95	Michael McDowell	K-Love Radio Ford
9	9	Sam Hornish Jr.	Jacob Companies Ford
10	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Chevrolet
11	98	Michael Waltrip	Maxwell House Toyota
12	83	Matt DiBenedetto #	Dustless Blasting Toyota
13	3	Austin Dillon	WeatherTech Chevrolet
14	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevrolet
15	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet
16	46	Michael Annett	PJ Fresh Chevrolet
17	40	Landon Cassill (i)	Carsforsale.com Chevrolet
18	43	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford
19	34	Josh Wise	Dockside Logistics Ford
20	1	Jamie McMurray	Cessna Pink Chevrolet
21	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Zest Ford
22	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet
23	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet
24	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Halloween Toyota
25	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford
26	21	Ryan Blaney (i)	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford
27	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford
28	4	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet
29	24	Jeff Gordon	3M Chevrolet
30	19	Carl Edwards	Subway Toyota
31	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Freight Toyota
32	42	Kyle Larson	Target Plaid Chevrolet
33	20	Matt Kenseth	DeWalt Toyota
34	38	David Gilliland	Love’s Travel Stops Ford
35	14	Tony Stewart	Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet
36	27	Paul Menard	Tarkett/Menards Chevrolet
37	55	David Ragan	Aaron’s Online Dream Machine Toyota
38	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet
39	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Ford
40	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger/Bush’s Beans Chevrolet
41	5	Kasey Kahne	Time Warner Cable Chevrolet
42	15	Clint Bowyer	5-hour Energy Toyota
43	51	Justin Allgaier	Auto Owners Insurance Chevrolet
44	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Chevrolet
45	16	Greg Biffle	Cheez-It Ford

* Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Staff Report

Practice 2 recap | Practice 2 results

Jennifer Jo Cobb led the final Camping World Truck Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday, putting up a high speed of 182.965 mph on Lap 9 out of 11.

This is Cobb’s fifth start at the famous 2.5-mile superspeedway and she is without a pole in her Truck Series career.

Coming up short to Cobb was Austin Hill at 182.954 mph.

Terry Jones, (182.954 mph), Bobby Gerhart (182.926 mph) and past Talladega winner Johnny Sauter (182.762 mph) round out the top-five fastest on the leaderboard.

Timothy Peters is the defending race winner at the track and was 11th-fastest in the closing practice. The Red Horse Racing driver was third-fastest in the first session.

Eighteen-year-old John Hunter Nemechek led the series’ opening session on Friday, but did not come out for the second session.

There was one caution brought out in the final minutes of practice for fluid on the track.

The Camping World Truck Series returns to the track tomorrow for Keystone Light Pole Qualifying at 10:30 a.m. ET (FS1). The fred’s 250 presented by Coca-Cola begins Saturday at 1 p.m. ET (FOX).

Practice 1 recap | Practice 1 results

John Hunter Nemechek led the opening Camping World Truck Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday, notching a top speed of 191.608 mph on his 15th lap out of 21 total.

This is the 18-year-old driver’s first start at the Alabama track.

John Wes Townley came up short to Nemechek, and was second-fastest at 191.604 mph.

Defending race winner Timothy Peters was third-fastest at 191.528 mph.

Truck Series points leader Erik Jones (190.189 mph) and Ben Kennedy (188.947 mph) round out the top-five fastest on the leaderboard.

One caution came out during the 55-minute practice for debris on the track.

Aside from Peters, the only other past Talladega winner in the field is Johnny Sauter who was seventh-fastest (188.907 mph) in the opening session.

The Camping World Truck Series returns to the track today at 3 p.m. ET for final practice before Saturday’s Keystone Light Pole Qualifying at 10:30 a.m. ET (FOX Sports 1). The series’ fred’s 250 presented by Coca-Cola begins Saturday at 1 p.m. ET (FOX).

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Staff Report

Lesa France Kennedy, the chief executive officer of International Speedway Corporation and a member of the NASCAR board of directors, has helped shape the vision of NASCAR — both its present and its future.

France Kennedy was profiled in The New York Times, which covers influential women in leadership positions for its “Women in Business” series. She revealed plenty about herself, her beliefs and even her management style.

It’s an intriguing look into the mind of one of NASCAR’s visionaries, whose mottos — “You’re always looking to do new things” — are prevalent now more than ever.

Look no further than Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway serving as an elimination event in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, or to the Daytona Rising project — a massive $400 million undertaking that will reimagine the race-day experience at the “World Center of Racing.”

Watch clips in the video provided by the The New York Times, and below are some additional excerpts from the story:

• “You’re always looking to do new things with the business, and think about what people really want. … The pace of change in the world of motorsports is so fast and furious that you have to make sure you’re headed in the right direction and at the right speed.”

• “I had always been part of the ‘solve-it team,’ and when you become CEO, people often come to you with the problem already solved. If you’re used to being in the middle of things, it takes time to step back a little bit and let them work it out.”

• “First impressions are so important in terms of fitting in on the team. The moment you walk in the door, you’re being observed.”

• “I found the best way to get invited (to key meetings) was to add value and find out what their challenges and their struggles were.”

• “Our business moves so fast, you have to be willing to jump in and do whatever job needs to be done. If we have a rainout, you may be out in the rain giving people information. The people in our building know that, and they all are a part of it. They understand that culture.”