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2013 Hall of Fame inductee fought off Gordon for Loudon victory

In the summer of 1993, NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace was in the middle of one of his most successful seasons as a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. 

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Wallace would finish the season with 10 wins, 19 top-five finishes and 21 top-10 finishes. The then-36-year-old would also win the first Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Wallace was always a regular in Victory Lane during his driving days with a total of 55 career wins. Despite this impressive statistic, Wallace always came up short at New Hampshire — except for his first trip there. In the 1993 Slick 50 300, he executed a well-deserved victory lap after leading a total of 106 laps.

In a race that spanned for nearly three hours, Wallace fought his way to the front. His first lead lap didn’t come until after the halfway mark at Lap 168. Jeff Gordon and Davey Allison each had their turn up front until the No. 2 Team Penske Pontiac took over for the race’s final 30 laps.  

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RCR reveals paint scheme for Southern 500 race

RELATED: Buy tickets for Darlington | SHOP: Austin Dillon gear

Richard Childress Racing is the latest to reveal a throwback paint scheme look for the upcoming Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

The South Carolina track is promoting a "throwback" theme for the famous Labor Day weekend Bojangles’ Southern 500 (Sept. 6, 7 p.m. ET, NBC) and teams have slowly been revealing paint scheme designs leading up to the event.

RELATED: Elliott’s Darlington paint scheme revealed 

Richard Childress Racing decided to take a look into its paint scheme vault and adorn Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet with a familiar paint scheme from the days of team owner and grandfather of the No. 3 driver, Richard Childress’, racing career for the September race.

Last year Dillon finished in the 11th at Darlington and this year’s September race will mark just his second time racing at the track.

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Pair are currently tied in Sunoco Rookie race as they head to New Hampshire

The NASCAR XFINITY Series has provided a multitude of compelling storylines this season.

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Fans tune in every week to see Chase Elliott attempt to successfully defend his championship, Team Penske battle Joe Gibbs Racing for the owner’s title and Chris Buescher solidify himself as NASCAR’s next ace driver.

One overlooked narrative has been the NASCAR XFINITY Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year race. Darrell Wallace Jr. held the lead through the first 16 races of the season, but was finally caught by Daniel Suárez last weekend at Kentucky Speedway, who drew even with Wallace (188 points each) by producing a fourth-place finish.

The next bout in Wallace and Suárez’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year showdown is Saturday’s Lake Regions 200 (1:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. The two NASCAR Next and Drive for Diversity alumni will attempt to pull away from each other in their first XFINITY Series starts at the track known as “The Magic Mile.”

Despite being new to driving XFINITY cars at New Hampshire, Wallace and Suarez both have bountiful experience there in other series.

In his lone NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at NHMS last season, Wallace started third and finished second. The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing driver made five NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts in the Granite State from 2010-12, earning one pole (2011), three top fives and four top 10s.

"Loudon has always been a good place for me, going back to the K&N days," Wallace said. "It’s just a big Martinsville, and I feel like we get around there pretty well. I’m excited to get on track this weekend."

Suarez enters the race riding a streak of two top 10s in his last three races. Like Wallace, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver has made NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts at NHMS, posting three top 10s, including a runner-up finish in 2013.

"I think this coming weekend has a chance to be a very positive one for the No. 18 ARRIS Toyota Camry team," Suarez said. "New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a track that I like a lot. … I think we’re getting better as a team every week. We’re more competitive and spending more time up front every week, but we still have to keep pushing and learning. We know there’s still more work to be done and we’re looking forward to doing it."


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Roush Fenway, Germain, Front Row and Circle Sports notified by NASCAR

NASCAR handed out written warnings to four Sprint Cup Series teams Thursday for issues in technical inspections last weekend at Kentucky Speedway.

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Teams issued warnings (in order of their rank in Sprint Cup owner standings) were:
 
20) The Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford driven by Greg Biffle
21) The Germain Racing No. 13 Chevrolet driven by Casey Mears
33) The Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford driven by Brett Moffitt
36) The Circle Sport Racing No. 33 Chevrolet driven by Alex Kennedy
 
The four teams received no formal penalties for their multiple trips through the inspection line, but an accumulation of warnings would result in a P1-level penalty, according to the NASCAR deterrence system that was introduced before the 2014 season.
 
P1-grade penalties include receiving the last pick in pit-stall selection, reduced track time in practice and/or qualifying, a demotion in the inspection order and other sanctions.

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As the Eldora event turns three, Reddick talks dirt-track racing

In his first full season of competition in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, 19-year-old Tyler Reddick has spent plenty of time in the upper reaches of the points standings, making early inroads into trying to dethrone two-time defending champ Matt Crafton. For one week this month, the inroads might be covered with dirt.

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Reddick will bring an extensive dirt-track racing background into next Wednesday’s 1-800-Car-Cash Mud Summer Classic (7 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Eldora Speedway, the historic half-mile oval in Western Ohio which plays host to the only NASCAR national series event on dirt. The California native, with several age-related records to his credit in both Late Model and Sprint car competition on dirt, finished 11th last season in his first Eldora truck race.

"It was quite an eye-opening experience," said Reddick, who, at 16 years old, became the youngest driver to start in the prestigious World 100 for Late Models at Eldora in 2012. "It feels almost like a Street Stock with how much lack of grip there is, but we’ve just got a lot more horsepower and a lot less grip. It’s a handful. Really hard to get a hold of the race track, so it makes it really interesting. We’ve been trying to work on our truck to make it better as much as we can for this year, and do some things on the truck that are hopefully going to help on dirt. Hopefully some of my dirt experience can play into that."

NASCAR returned to the dirt with the truck series in 2013, marking the first time in nearly 43 years that the sanctioning body had raced on something other than asphalt or concrete. As the Eldora event turns three, the style of racing is still so foreign to the other 99 percent of the three national series’ schedules that the novelty seems to have faded only by microscopic margins.

With each year, there has been the occasional chatter from contrarians to the school of dirt that the Eldora race should still be run, but as an exhibition event. Reddick, however, said that the dirt-track showcase should remain a factor in the season-long championship equation.

"I think it should count as a points race," Reddick said. "If it was just an exhibition, some of these other teams that are just focusing on what they’re good at, they’ll just stay focused on those things. I think what they tried to do there is just throw another aspect into the game. You don’t want to go to Eldora and run dead last. Every spot counts, so teams have to put time into making their equipment the best on the dirt track as they can. It’s only one race, but it counts, it’s a win and there’s points to be had and lost there.

"It’s the same deal with the road course," Reddick added, noting the series’ annual trip to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next month. "You know, we only run one road course over the course of the year, but teams that don’t put in time to that road-course race or the effort to have the best vehicle possible, at the end of the year, they’ll be looking back at that and saying, well, we should’ve put more effort toward it. I think it’s good to have those races that you’d maybe call different or a wild-card or not, but I enjoy those type of races, especially being a dirt-track racer."

Reddick entered 16 of last year’s 22 races in the Camping World Truck Series, returning to Brad Keselowski Racing’s No. 19 Ford for a full-season campaign this year. He converted right out of the gate with a thrilling victory in the season opener at Daytona, then followed it up with his second truck triumph at Dover in May.

Since the Dover win, Reddick’s fortunes have tailed off slightly with just one top-five finish in the last four races, a stretch that has allowed series leader Crafton to maintain an advantage in the standings. Even though it’s been a bump in the thus-far-paved road, the season-long goals for the BKR driver haven’t changed as Eldora’s dirt beckons.

"Our intentions were at the beginning of this year was to chase for a championship," Reddick said. "Honestly, the last two weeks for us haven’t been nearly what we wanted at all by any means. They’ve been kind of perilous. We’ve been working on it, working hard, trying to make better of a situation that we’ve put ourselves into. I really feel like we’ve bounced back a bit. We’ve had some issues, but surpassing those issues and making your weaknesses your strengths, I feel like we’re doing that. We’re heading back in the right direction, I feel like. We’ve just got to keep at it, and Eldora’s going to be a good race for us."

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Bruce: New Hampshire has a long history of varied winners

RELATED: Driver reports for New Hampshire

MANCHESTER, N.H. — It was a streak interrupted, and another begun.

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Blame, or credit, Joey Logano.

The Team Penske driver’s first win in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series in 2009 kept alive the streak of what would eventually become 13 different winners in victory lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

It’s the most for any track, a mark shared with Texas Motor Speedway.

Career win No. 1 for Logano came on a rainy day in Loudon in ’09 – the race was shortened from 301 laps to 273 due to a late afternoon storm.

He was 19 at the time, driving the No. 20 for Joe Gibbs Racing and suddenly the series’ youngest winner.

Five years later, last September in fact, Logano, now driving for Team Penske, returned to the winner’s circle at the 1.058-mile track.

Career win No. 7 halted the streak at 13. And re-set it at 11.

Two of the winners on the current list won’t be around to contend for the title in Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR). Mark Martin’s retired and Brian Vickers remains on indefinite leave due to health issues.

The remaining drivers on the list have the credentials to contend and the talent to scuttle the streak — Logano, teammate Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth have already won at least once this year. Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne have, obviously, won here before.

But the lineup of those not among the recent NHMS winners is equally impressive. It includes defending series champion Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards. Each has won this year.

Toss in Jamie McMurray, seventh in points and having a solid season.

Jeff Gordon? He’s only won here three times, his average finishing position (11.4) is top-five material and the four-time series champ sports the best driver rating among active drivers at NHMS (107.3).

Overlook another youngster, Kyle Larson, at your own risk. The Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver made his first two starts at New Hampshire last season, but his finishes were third and second. Also worth noting — in 2012, Larson won the K&N Pro Series East race at NHMS.

Ask the drivers, and most will tell you track position is crucial because passing often proves to be difficult. Much like Martinsville in design with slightly banked corners, New Hampshire features straighaways twice as long.

Driver Ryan Newman described it as "just two dragstrips and a hairpin turn."

Winners have come from a variety of starting spots — from the front row to as deep as 38th.

Johnson describes races there as "scrappy," and part of that might be due to their length. One of the series’ shorter races, the 301-mile event offers limited opportunities to pit and make adjustments.

The names of winning drivers might be varied, but it’s been something of a streaky track for the automakers. Chevrolet drivers won six in a row during the most recent run before Toyota drivers won three straight. Ford teams took both races last year.

Those with Chase plans already booked — and the list continues to grow — could spend the weekend tinkering in hopes of having the right setup in place when the series returns later this year.

For others, it’s one more opportunity to join that club.

And those opportunities are dwindling.


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‘Real Work Real Play’ Sweepstakes with Gas Monkey Garage, NASCAR rewards a tool user

Davidson, N.C., July 15, 2015 — Ingersoll Rand, the Official Power Tools of NASCAR and a preferred tool provider for Gas Monkey Garage, has announced the "Real Work Real Play" sweepstakes to reward automotive fans who "get it done" with a weekend of fun. Ingersoll Rand is working with NASCAR® and celebrity automotive expert Richard Rawlings from Gas Monkey Garage to provide one lucky winner a one-of-a-kind trip to Dallas, Texas, to experience a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ race and a backstage tour of the Gas Monkey Garage.

The sweepstakes will reward one person and a guest with an all-expense paid trip for two to Dallas, Texas, Nov. 6-9, 2015 to attend a NASCAR race, enjoy VIP access to special events, a chance to meet Richard Rawlings and more. People can enter to win at www.NASCAR.com or www.realworkrealplay.com from July 15, 2015 to Sept.15, 2015. Individuals must be 21 years old to enter. View the full contest rules here.

"Whether you love racing or you love cars, this weekend in our hometown of Dallas is going to be epic," said Richard Rawlings, co-founder of Gas Monkey Garage. "Ingersoll Rand puts high-performance tools in the hands of real people and now they will put one car lover in the middle of the action."

One person and a guest will win an all-expense paid trip to Dallas, Texas, that includes the following:

• A tour of the Gas Monkey Garage by a member of the Gas Monkey crew.

• VIP treatment at the Ingersoll Rand Power Tools Party at the Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill where the winner will meet Richard Rawlings and enjoy live music, food and drinks.

• Two tickets and VIP access to a NASCAR race including food and drinks in a private chalet and seats at turn four of the grandstand.

• A three-night stay at the trendy NYLO hotel’s Irving/Las Colinas location and round-trip airfare to Dallas, Texas.

"Hard work has its rewards, and we want to give a hard-working individual the trip of a lifetime," said Brian Welborn, global channel marketing leader for Ingersoll Rand Power Tools. "Ingersoll Rand continues to celebrate people who use real tools for real work with this once-in-a-lifetime experience with Gas Monkey Garage and NASCAR."

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NASCAR.com’s Kathy Sheldon and George Winkler discuss developments

RELATED: Dillon on wreck at Daytona: ‘You feel like Superman’

A pair of frightening wrecks the past two weekends, one involving Austin Dillon at Daytona and the other shaking up Ben Kennedy at Kentucky, have kept safety at the forefront of NASCAR discussions this season.

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While safety — of both fans and drivers — always is a priority for the sanctioning body, it has been of particular concern this season after Kyle Busch suffered a broken leg and foot in the season-opening NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona. And it has been a subject of much debate among drivers, officials, fans and analysts.

RELATED: Safety improvements at Daytona

Is the current course working? Kathy Sheldon and George Winkler discuss the issue for NASCAR.com this week. Post your own thoughts in the comments section below.

Sheldon: One would naturally think that speed is Job No. 1 for NASCAR, but really safety has been a primary concern for years. The sanctioning body has worked hard with tracks to identify problem areas such as the unprotected area where Kyle Busch wrecked in February. The Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier technology has been a huge success. And NASCAR has been quick to respond to all race-day safety issues, not just those affecting drivers. Catch fences have been improved to shield fans, and speedy action was taken after a pit road fire at Richmond to ensure fire retardant gear protects crew members effectively. Let’s not forget the HANS device, which was made mandatory following the horrific wreck that took Dale Earnhardt’s life in 2001. NASCAR is quick to address problems and is working effectively to ensure the safety of competitors and fans. The current method of assess, study and implement works quite well.

Winkler: Kathy, those are great examples of how NASCAR has reacted to situations with safety improvements that have made the sport better. But what tends to happen after these flashpoint moments like the Austin Dillon wreck at Daytona is there will be a segment of the population that perceives NASCAR isn’t doing enough to get ahead of the curve. However, as anyone who has ever stepped foot in the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, can attest, the sanctioning body is continuing to look at potential areas of improvement even before incidents happen. Just this year NASCAR added a seventh safety belt to the driver’s seat, and now the belts connect to the seat instead of the car, providing a snugger fit. That seventh belt allows more head clearance for the driver if the car were to flip over like it did in the Dillon wreck. So sometimes it’s just a matter of getting the word out so people are aware of the improvements. Sorry for the plug, but we have an entire area of our site devoted to such information called Inside Track.

Sheldon: George, I agree that often the flashpoints tend to overshadow a lot of the work going on. The fact is, when safety measures are working, it’s what you don’t see that proves the improvement. Before the latest seat belt changes, we saw composite materials come in for seats. Now it’s common for drivers to tweet photos of their seats being "poured" — they are shaped individually for drivers and made of material much stronger than the old aluminum versions. And those seats are installed meticulously. Austin Dillon‘s team member Tommy Wallace talked to NASCAR’s partner NBC about safety after Dillon’s frightening wreck at Daytona, and his takeaway was everything worked: The only piece of equipment that broke loose in Dillon’s tumble down the frontstretch was the radio. It’s Wallace’s job to ensure Dillon’s seat is installed securely, and he explained that more than three dozen bolts inside the cockpit keep the seat leg braces steering column, seat belt mounts and other equipment in place during rough wrecks. Those pieces all worked at Daytona, holding Dillon safely in his belts and inside the roll cage, even after coming to rest upside-down.

Winkler: That’s amazing, all the work that goes into some of the things we take for granted when we’re watching the race. But with all the safety improvements that have evolved over the years, we’d be mistaken if we didn’t think more could be done. And NASCAR admits as much. As NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said last week on SiriusXM Radio, in regards to the Dillon crash, you never want to see the car get in the air or into the catch fence. And he followed up by saying NASCAR would be working on it. That’s good, that the sanctioning body isn’t resting on its laurels and trying to say everything is fine. There’s always room for improvement, and as we’ve seen in other sports, too, nobody is immune to safety issues that crop up from time to time. The leagues that continue to work through these issues, and refuse to bury their heads in the sand, will be the ones that thrive.

Sheldon: The roof flap technology that helps keep cars on the ground is now 11 years old, and I agree more needs to be explored on that front. Keeping fans safe always must be a priority. It will be interesting to see how things like new see-through composite materials can be adapted for spectator safety. Some people have suggested Plexiglass at the tracks recently. Any hockey fan can attest, Plexiglass has its own issues. But the fourth generation of Gorilla Glass that soon will protect our smartphones, along with similar products, may spur bigger-scale uses. Part of NASCAR’s mission is staying at the forefront of technology. You can bet the sanctioning body will keep working to find better solutions, from design to materials, in every facet of the sport, including car interiors, rules packages, catch fences and barrier technology. Everyone in the industry got some scares this year, but the sky is not falling. Work is always underway to improve safety.

Winkler: No, the sky is not falling and thankfully nobody was seriously hurt in either of the crashes we recently witnessed. But it’s important that voices continue to be heard, from fans, drivers, teams, tracks, and even from people like us, journalists. There can never be too many voices when it comes to safety. So the next time somebody like Kyle Busch chimes in and gives an opinion that "there’s no sense in grass" at any of the tracks, don’t look at it as him stirring the pot, but rather as him feeling comfortable enough to speak his mind in a sport that is receptive to change. That’s the beauty of times like these, seeing people come together for the greater good. Now, if what you say comes true about the Gorilla Glass, you can bet I’ll race you down the steps to be the first to pound on the glass when my favorite driver whizzes past. Kathy, you better bring your running shoes for that.

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Eleventh-place finish provides learning experience for driver

SPARTA, Ky. — John Hunter Nemechek had every right to enter Thursday’s UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway with wide eyes and sweaty palms.

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Not only was he making his first start at a 1.5-mile track — his 18th birthday on June 11 allowing him to run on any track length — he was also hopping into the No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet with no practice time due to inclement weather. Tack on the potential hazard of seeping rainwater on the track (fondly known as weepers) and the possibility of a bumpy ride due to the rough surface of Kentucky, and it’s enough to make the most experienced driver’s heart rate quicken.
 
And while he appeared weary post-race, leaning against his No. 8 truck while sitting on the asphalt surface, Nemechek had a simple answer regarding if he had felt nervous with no practice time before the drop of the green: "Not at all."
 
The young driver’s performance seemed to reflect his attitude. After rolling off the grid 13th, Nemechek quickly dipped into the top bracket, running with drivers like Ryan Blaney for the top spot and even leading a lap around the asphalt oval. He finished the 225-mile event 11th.
 
"It felt good," Nemechek said. "It showed what we can do as a team and how fast our truck really is."
 
A fast truck in tow, the No. 8 team also received assistance on pit road from a group of men who know how to win at the highest level: the No. 48 crew of Jimmie Johnson. The crew pitted Nemechek’s No. 8 in Thursday’s Truck race and will pit Johnson’s Sprint Cup entry on Saturday as part of their regular duties.
 
With a strong showing in his first test on a 1.5-mile track — NASCAR’s bread-and-butter — Nemechek showed the industry he could contend in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Nonetheless, the No. 8 wheelman looks ahead to the remainder of the season, citing areas of improvement in the upcoming races for his team.
 
"It was fun, we had a really good truck. Just took four tires there at the end and we should have taken two or none," Nemechek said, referring to the late-race four-tire call that caused him to drop several positions on pit road. "We hauled the mail on no tires there in the middle of the race, so definitely some learning to do, but I feel like I learned a lot tonight, feel like I adapted pretty quick and can’t thank my guys enough for a great truck."