ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — News of Richard Childress Racing‘s crew chief switcheroo for its Nos. 3 and 33 Chevrolet teams in the NASCAR XFINITY Series might’ve seemed like a rash measure back in June. With Ty Dillon sitting second in the driver standings, the swap resembled an overhaul more than a tweak.
Eight races later, the early returns are promising for both RCR outfits, with momentum aligning for Dillon’s championship push heading into Saturday’s Road America 180 Fired up by Johnsonville (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Dillon remains second in the standings with a 19-point deficit heading into the 23rd of 33 races this season, but he also has a streak of four straight top-five finishes built up for the final road course event of 2015.
The Richard Childress-owned team announced its move June 24, moving Nick Harrison over to call the shots for Dillon’s No. 3 operation. Danny Stockman shifted over to RCR’s No. 33, a full-time team but with three part-time drivers — Austin Dillon, Brandon Jones and Paul Menard — sharing the seat.
The younger Dillon said the change has gone smoothly so far, but that the more encouraging byproduct has been the team’s ability to compete for top-five finishes rather than settle for top-10s.
“It’s going really good. We’re all figuring it out and we’ve made sure we’ve had our communication down the last couple weeks,” Ty Dillon said. “Every week, we’ve gotten stronger and stronger and had really good race cars. It makes it easier to finish top-five when you have such good race cars. Nick’s been calling good races and we just have a lot of momentum right now, heading in the right direction. We keep finishing in the top five like we are, we’re going to get some wins and really put the heat on them.”
The move paid some immediate dividends for Austin Dillon, who prevailed at Daytona International Speedway in the team’s first event since the personnel change. The Dillon-Stockman pairing reunited the driver-crew chief combination that netted the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in 2011, then the XFINITY crown two years later.
Menard will participate in his fourth race under Stockman’s watch this weekend, making his first XFINITY start in his home state of Wisconsin since 2010. The Sprint Cup Series regular said he understood the reasons for altering the team dynamic.
“It was more for Ty, honestly,” Menard said. “They called me to see if I was OK with making the switch and I said whatever is better for the company is fine with me. I know we’ll run good with both those guys.”
Ty Dillon has methodically made up ground — or at least held serve — in the weeks following the change. After crashing out at Daytona and slipping to 43 points in arrears, he’s chopped the deficit in half and then some, helping him apply pressure to Roush Fenway Racing‘s Chris Buescher, the points leader since May. It’s resulted in additional spring in the step for Dillon, noticeably so according to Harrison.
“We’ve had a string of top-fives here, so we’ve got some kind of mojo rolling and we’ve been having fun doing it,” Harrison said. “The pressure and intensity level’s getting higher as we creep down toward the end of the year. Having some momentum is definitely showing to be a strength, and you can tell it’s helping everybody’s spirit going into the closing part of the year.
“We’ve had two top-fives at Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen, so coming here, I think confidence is up for not only us but especially Ty. I feel like that’s real important. You can just tell his attitude and charisma is where it needs to be right now and I feel like that’s going to help tremendously.”
The poise may come in handy this weekend on the blazing fast 4.048-mile circuit, where off-course pitfalls and the prospect of fender-bending conflicts await. Dillon has managed to steer clear of the former if not quite the latter in this month’s other two road-course events, gathering top-five finishes at both.
The potential for trouble — mixed in with the uncertainty of possible racing in the rain — hasn’t done much to deter Dillon’s outlook as the final third of the season begins.
“We’re going for it. This is definitely an opportunity,” Dillon said. “We’re not sitting back and trying to let things happen for us. We’re going for it. You never know what can happen with rain and the way a road course races anyway, so we’ve got to be on the attack and try to win this race.”
RELATED: Chase Grid | Chase bubble watch | Chase Fest details
A year ago, it was Kasey Kahne.
Only two races remained before the start of the 2014 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and the Hendrick Motorsports driver was 13th in points. Unfortunately, he was outside the top 16 in the Chase standings.
Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola trailed Kahne in points. But they were among those that had wins. They had invitations to the dance.
At the time, Kahne had managed only two top-five finishes. His average finishing position was 16.8. He hadn’t been to the victory lane since midway through the previous season.
So he and his team went out and won at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It earned Kahne one of the final Chase spots and the No. 5 team a second chance.
It wasn’t quite as easy as it sounds.
Kevin Harvick, as was often the case, was dominant at AMS. Kahne fell a lap down early. The team battled back. He didn’t take the lead for the first time until Lap 303 of the scheduled 325-lap race. Suddenly, he seemed to be on his way to the win. Then cautions appeared, forcing two late restarts. Green, white, checkered late. Kahne’s lead was lost on pit road.
Yet somehow he muscled his way past Matt Kenseth coming to the white flag, holding on for the win and a spot in the Chase.
It’s a similar position for the 35-year-old this year. Two races remain — stops at Darlington Raceway and Richmond International Raceway — before the field is finalized for this year’s 10-race run to determine the Sprint Cup champion.
Kahne is once again winless. He is not alone.
Teammate Jeff Gordon has finished inside the top five only three times this year. The four-time champion is ahead of Clint Bowyer in the playoff picture, with a wider margin back to folks such as Aric Almirola and Greg Biffle.
A year ago Gordon had three wins and a vise-like grip on first place in the points.
Bowyer’s got a pair of top-fives, but much of the attention around the No. 15 team of Michael Waltrip Racing centers on where Bowyer will call home next season.
Paul Menard has a razor-thin lead on Gordon in points, but taking nothing for granted.
Can anyone? Matt Kenseth‘s blown engine at Bristol last week, leaving the Joe Gibbs driver 42nd in the final rundown, didn’t go unnoticed. Things not only can happen, they often do.
With 10 drivers already secure — 11 if you go ahead and give Kyle Busch one of the spots although he’s close enough to the fault line that a misstep could make things interesting — and two races remaining, at least three of this year’s Chase spots will be filled based on the points standings after Richmond.
It could be five, if no new winner emerges in the next two weeks.
Few on the fringes, though, have shown signs of contending for wins.
Almirola? One top five and only three laps led this season.
Biffle? It’s shaping up to be the wrong type of career year for the Roush Fenway Racing driver, with just two top-fives and an average finish of 20th.
Austin Dillon? Kyle Larson? Both have shown potential. Both are winless.
Kahne? Well, who knows?
The question isn’t can it be done. Kahne’s already proven that it’s possible.
The question is who among those can pull it off?
The Joe Gibbs Racing teams of Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, which combined to win six of the last nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, will each lose 15 minutes of practice time next weekend when the series heads to Darlington Raceway.
The two were among 11 teams issued warnings arising from pre-qualifying and pre-race inspection issues at Bristol Motor Speedway, site of the Aug. 22 Irwin Tools Night Race.
Busch’s No. 18 team failed pre-race inspection four times on Saturday. Busch finished eighth in the race.
Kenseth’s No. 20 team was penalized for failing pre-race inspection on its first two attempts, as well as failing to get to inspection at the allotted time. Kenseth finished 42nd after when an engine issue sidelined the 2003 Sprint Cup champion after 110 laps of the 500-lap race.
NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series is not competing this weekend. The Bojangles’ Southern 500 is scheduled for Sept. 6 at Darlington (7 p.m., NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The 15-minute penalties will be enforced when opening practice gets underway on Friday, Sept. 4 at 11 a.m.
Kenseth is currently fourth in the Chase Grid and has a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff locked up. Busch, who missed the first 11 races of the season due to injuries sustained in a crash at Daytona International Speedway in February, is currently second in the Chase Grid, but needs to clinch a top 30 position in the point standings over the final two regular-season races before he officially locks his spot in the Chase up.
Warnings may be issued to teams for a variety of minor infractions. For every fourth warning issued to a team, whether during a championship (points) or non-championship (non-points) event, the loss of pit stall selection will be enforced.
Others teams receiving warnings at Bristol for failing pre-qualifying inspection twice were: No. 22 (Joey Logano/Team Penske), No. 24 (Jeff Gordon/Hendrick Motorsports), No. 7 (Alex Bowman/Tommy Baldwin Racing), No. 30 (Travis Kvapil/TMG) and the No. 98 (Timmy Hill/Premium Motorsports)
Also penalized for being late to inspection were the following teams: No. 40 (Landon Cassill/Hillman Racing), No. 83 (Matt DiBenedetto/BK Racing, No. 15 (Clint Bowyer/Michael Waltrip Racing) and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin/Joe Gibbs Racing).
Photo credit — Chase Elliott‘s Instagram @chaseelliott9
RELATED: Series standings
At only 19 years old, Chase Elliott already has a NASCAR XFINITY Series championship, is currently contending for a second one and has a pretty sweet job lined up next year taking over the iconic No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for retiring four-time Sprint Cup Series champ Jeff Gordon.
Not only has Elliott’s racing career taken off, he has too — literally — having just earned his private pilot license on July 23. And the view from above is something he’s wanted his whole life.
It seems Elliott got more than the racing gene from his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, as he has inherited the flying bug from his dad, an accomplished and avid aviator.
“He’s been flying a long time so I’ve always been around it since I was little,” Elliott said of his father. “I’ve watched him fly for years and years and been fortunate enough to have access to his planes and sit up front and watch him fly them so I’ve always definitely interested in it.
“It’s one of those things where the more you do it, the more you become interested in it. And the more you get into it, the more intriguing it becomes. I learn something new every time I fly.
“It’s definitely tough to (master all the necessary lessons). A lot of things come along with it. But flying is a privilege and something you can’t take lightly ever.”
A lot of the same traits — discipline, smarts and dedication — Elliott put into his burgeoning racing career he used to earn the pilot license.
He actually started taking lessons while still in high school but it was such a busy time between school, racing and flying lessons that Elliott put off finishing his license until a few months ago with the support of his dad.
“It’s something you work hard for to achieve,” Bill Elliott said. “I see so many people who have gone through a lot of the flying part and the learning curve but never went on and got their pilot licenses and they always regretted it. I told Chase, ‘You need to go on and get this done.’
“I’m glad he did. That’s something he’ll carry with him regardless of where racing takes him.”
The Elliotts join an impressive list of NASCAR drivers who have secured private pilot licenses including Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and retired drivers Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Cale Yarborough and Ricky Rudd. Ryan Newman‘s wife Krissie flies helicopters.
Similarly, Elliott figures having the ability to pilot an airplane can be as much a practicality as it is a luxury. His father helped secure him a Cessna 182 single-engine, four-seater to use and Elliott is eager to start flying to races closer than home. Last week, he flew to Bristol. He has also posted a photo of himself practicing grass landings on Instagram.
“Absolutely, it’s a major convenience if you need to go somewhere, you can turn a four-hour drive into an hour-and-a-half flight,” Elliott said. “Time is valuable for anybody and any chance to make up time like that is great.”
Elliott wasn’t sure if he would fly himself to this weekend’s XFINITY Series race at Road America, but he is looking forward to the stand-alone road race regardless.
It’s the third road course race in the last four weeks for the series and Elliott is one of the series regulars who embraces the opportunity to turn right.
He is on a six-race run of top-10 finishes in his No. 9 NAPA Chevy and currently trails championship leader Chris Buescher by 23 points in the standings. He has finishes of seventh (Watkins Glen) and fifth (Mid-Ohio) in the two road races this year and finished fourth at Road America last season.
“I thought last year was a good learning experience,” Elliott said. “I was really pleased with Watkins Glen. I’m still learning on my end, but thought we had good cars this year and that’s a big step in right direction.”
For Elliott, that direction is up.
No one would blame Cameron Hayley for getting homesick.
The 19-year-old NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver resides in Sandusky, Ohio where his ThorSport Racing team is based — 1,891.3 miles away from his hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Most of the tracks he races at are even farther away.
Distance has not stopped Hayley from chasing his NASCAR dream. Although it’s located on the opposite side of Canada, Hayley will have a homecoming of sorts when he performs in front of his fellow countrymen in Sunday’s Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (1:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1) — the NCWTS’ only road course race of the season.
“Not only is this a track I’ve been to before, it’s also in my home country,” said Hayley, who ranks sixth in the NCWTS standings on the strength of three top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 14 starts this season. “I just hope that I will have a good run for all of my Canadian fans.”
An alumnus of the NASCAR Next initiative highlighting the sport’s top up-and-coming drivers, Hayley is still searching for his first NASCAR national series win. If he takes the checkered flag on Sunday, he would be the first Canadian to win a NASCAR national series race since Ron Fellows visited Victory Lane in Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2008.
Racing in his first full-time NCWTS season, Hayley has gained momentum lately, logging six top-10 finishes in his last eight starts, including a career-best fourth-place showing at Pocono. He made his series debut at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last season, finishing 11th and believes his prior experience there will help him on Sunday.
“We’ve done really well at tracks that I’ve been to in the past this year, already,” Hayley said. “I’ve been to Sonoma a couple times and that place was really difficult. You look at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and think, ‘it can’t be as difficult as Sonoma,’ but it’s a very fast race track, and fast race tracks are not forgiving. It takes a lot of finesse and a lot of guts to go out there and get it done. We are bringing a really good truck, so I think this will be another good race for us to go out and get a solid top five, if not a win.”
RELATED: Updated standings
Chris Buescher gambled at Bristol and almost came up big. The key word in the previous sentence: ‘Almost.’
The 22-year-old Roush Fenway Racing driver took the lead at the .533-mile track after electing not to pit on Lap 192 of 300. Buescher paced the field for the next 106 laps, but a fuel pick-up issue on the penultimate go-around of the race ended any hopes of triumph. Buescher was relegated to 11th, while Ty Dillon finished third, cutting Buescher’s NASCAR XFINITY Series points lead to 19.
If Buescher didn’t go for the win, he wouldn’t have lost as many points to Dillon.
“We had the speed, but it wasn’t meant to be,” Buescher said. “I’m glad we took the chance. I wouldn’t change it if we could do it over again, but unfortunately it knocked us right out of a top-10 and out of a win.”
RELATED: Buescher: ‘I’m glad we took the chance’
Buescher and Dillon will continue to battle for the points lead in Saturday’s Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin (3 p.m. on NBCSN) — the third and final XFINITY Series road course race of the season. The two drivers are the only competitors who finished in the top five of the previous two road course races.
A natural on road courses, Buescher won at Mid-Ohio last year in addition to his two top fives while turning left and right this year. He placed 18th in his lone start at Road America last season.
“Road America is a very difficult and unique road course,” Buescher said. “I love road racing and look forward to the challenge.”
Dillon finished 19th in his first-ever series start at Road America last year. He enters Saturday’s race riding a streak of four top-five finishes.
“Our team is looking at the big picture and sometimes we have to take a step back and realize that this is a long season; to take it little by little,” Dillon said. “This past weekend in Bristol was a perfect example — we struggled the first part of practice but (Crew Chief) Nick (Harrison), (Race Engineer) Danny (Efland) and the team just took a step back and reevaluated. We have a championship to win here and it won’t be easy.
“We have 11 races to go and we’re not going to let up.”
RELATED: Darlington’s throwback paint schemes
Some people might call it sky blue or even Carolina blue, but in racing it’s Petty Blue, and with Day-Glo Red and white it creates the iconic No. 43 paint scheme that will dress up Aric Almirola‘s No. 43 STP Ford for the Sept. 6 Bojangles’ Southern 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Almirola’s throwback paint scheme honors Richard Petty’s 1972 Plymouth Roadrunner, the first time The King’s car featured sponsor STP with the Petty Blue and Day-Glo Red on the quarter panels.
“STP has been a proud partner of Richard Petty for nearly 44 years now, and all of that started with this 1972 paint scheme,” said Jamie Kistner, vice president of marketing for STP. “To be able to bring that first year back to the track through this paint scheme and with Aric Almirola has been a lot of fun and has brought back some great memories of STP’s storied history in NASCAR for our fans. Darlington Raceway is hosting a great throwback event that’s produced a lot of excitement and we’re honored to be a part of it.”
STP Racing announced the throwback paint scheme on Twitter with a video honoring the No. 43’s history and showing the painting of the Darlington car.
Petty, a seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, raced with the STP logo on the hood of his No. 43 car for 21 years. The King has 200 career wins, and 60 of them came with STP aboard.
“It will be neat to see the car that started our partnership with STP 43 years ago back on track at Darlington,” said Petty. “It will be fun to see all the throwback schemes racing at Darlington and on Labor Day Weekend. It just feels right to have the Southern 500 back to Labor Day Weekend and is fitting that we celebrate tradition there with throwback paint schemes.”
Several members of the 1972 championship-winning team will be with Richard Petty Motorsports at Darlington: crew chief Dale Inman, as well as crew members Richie Barsz, fabricator; Tex Powell, mechanic and jackman; Les Barsz, mechanic and transporter driver; Billy Biscoe, mechanic and gas man; Jimmy “Zoomer” Kovalchik, fabricator and tire carrier; and Barry Dodson, painter.
MORE: Hall of Fame driver Labonte to be grand marshal for race
Two Earnhardts will be competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the first time in over a decade as Jeffrey Earnhardt will pilot the No. 32 Ford for Go Green Racing at Richmond International Raceway for the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Sept. 12 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The start at Richmond will be the 26-year-old’s first in the sport’s premier series. He has made 66 starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (including six starts this season) as well as 10 career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
The announcement was first made on NBCSN’s “NASCAR America.”
“I’m really excited to get this opportunity and thrilled that CorvetteParts.net is sponsoring my debut in Sprint Cup,” Earnhardt said in a team release. “The Keens have been very good to me and having their company be part of an important day in my career is pretty cool. I appreciate everyone at Go Green Racing for making this happen and look forward to doing my best to make it a good debut.”
Jeffrey and his uncle Dale Earnhardt Jr. have never raced against one another in the Sprint Cup Series. They have, however, raced against each other a handful of times in the XFINITY Series. Jeffrey made one start for the Dale Jr.-owned JR Motorsports in 2013 in the XFINITY Series at Richmond.
Jeffrey’s father, Kerry Earnhardt, has seven career Sprint Cup starts and drove one full XFINITY Series season in 2002 for owner Armando Fitz in the No. 12 Chevrolet. He had 72 XFINITY Series starts over 10 years. Kerry Earnhardt also drove full time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2006, finishing the season 22nd in the standings.
MORE: Buy tickets for Darlington | SHOP: Darlington gear
Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Terry Labonte will serve as grand marshal for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
Labonte is a sentimental favorite for the honor, as he is the series’ last driver to win the Southern 500 when it was held on Labor Day weekend — Aug. 31, 2003. It was the Class of 2016 Hall of Fame driver’s final victory in Sprint Cup.
“Darlington is where I won my first race and my last, and I’m honored to serve as grand marshal for the first time at the Bojangles’ Southern 500,” Labonte said in a press release Thursday. “I love the Labor Day tradition, and Darlington always brings back special memories for me. I look forward to being part of such a historic weekend for NASCAR.”
RELATED: Darlington’s throwback paint schemes
Labonte will give the command to drivers to start their engines accompanied by Bojangles’ CEO Clifton Rutledge. Bojangles’ has had the naming rights to the Southern 500 since 2012 and extended the partnership through 2019.
“Darlington Raceway has such a rich history in NASCAR and the State of South Carolina, and it is truly a privilege for Bojangles’ to have our brand aligned with such a memorable event,” Rutledge said. “The Bojangles’ Southern 500 is returning to Labor Day weekend where it belongs and that is a big deal to everyone, including all of us at Bojangles’. For me, being a part of giving the command to start engines with a NASCAR legend like Terry Labonte is a huge thrill.”
Labonte’s two wins at Darlington in 1980 and 2003 were landmarks in a career marked by 22 wins, 182 top-five finishes and 27 poles in 890 starts from 1978 to 2014. His 361 top-10 finishes ranks 10th all time.
Known as both the “Iceman” and the sport’s “Iron Man,” he will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Jan. 22, 2016 along with Jerry Cook, Bobby Isaac, O. Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner.
In 1998, Labonte was named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers, a perfect fit to participate in Darlington’s throwback celebration that features remembrances of numerous NASCAR legends.
MORE: Cale Yarborough throwback scheme | Bowyer’s Baker tribute car
Labonte won his first championship in 1984 driving the No. 44 Piedmont Airlines Chevrolet owned by Billy Hagan with Hall of Fame crew chief Dale Inman. Labonte’s second series championship came in 1996 driving the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Eldredge’s Pre-Race Concert Will Take Place On Sunday, Sept. 20
Joliet, Ill. — Country music sensation and Illinois Native, Brett Eldredge, as the pre-race concert act for the myAFibRisk.com 400 — the first race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup on Sunday, Sept. 20.
Eldredge hails from Paris, Ill., approximately 180 miles south of Chicago, and released his new single, “Lose My Mind,” last Tuesday. The CMA New Artist of the Year plans to release his sophomore album later this year. His debut album, Bring You Back, yielded the No. 1 hits “Don’t Ya,” “Beat of the Music,” and “Mean to Me.”
The 29-year-old Eldredge was a student at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst before moving to Nashville to chase his dreams.
“Over the past several years we’ve had an opportunity to host some of the premier performers within the country music industry, and we’re looking forward to Brett Eldredge continuing that tradition,” said Scott Paddock, president of Chicagoland Speedway. “Including an artist of Brett’s caliber as part of our weekend festivities is an exciting addition for our track, NASCAR and particularly our fans, and the fact that he’s from our own backyard makes it even more special as we kick off the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.”
Special packages are available for Eldredge’s biggest fans, including a $99 ticket upgrade which guarantees a place in the front row for Brett’s concert and also includes a Fan Zone Pit Pass (grandstand ticket not included). The Fan Zone Pit Pass is required to enter the infield for the concert.
For $75, fans can purchase a grandstand ticket and Fan Zone Pit Pass, which puts them in close proximity to the concert and provides access to driver introductions, a red carpet walk and the Infield Fan Zone. All fans with grandstand tickets will have the ability to view the concert from their grandstand seat.
Tickets can be purchased online at ChicagolandSpeedway.com, by calling 888-629-RACE, through the Chicagoland Speedway mobile app, or by visiting the Chicagoland Speedway Administrative office Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, Sept. 18-20, will begin with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series American Ethanol e15 225 under the lights on Friday night. On Saturday, Sept. 19, the NASCAR XFINITY Series will hit the track with the Furious 7 300 as the precursor to Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series showdown, the first race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. In addition to the racing action, fans can enjoy live musical entertainment, Champions Park, tailgating and more. Tickets start at just $25 with kids tickets (12 and under) $25 OFF, and parking is always free at Chicagoland Speedway.