NASCAR addresses short-track swing, 2016 schedule

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Staff Report

O’Donnell discusses potential for three consecutive short-track races

As NASCAR prepares for its third short-track race in four weeks at Richmond International Raceway (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, FOX), NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell talked with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about whether NASCAR would ever run the three races consecutively, similar to the NASCAR Goes West swing.

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"The difference when you look out west is you’ve got a little bit more space in between with Vegas, Phoenix and California," O’Donnell said. "When you look at Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond, all really in a pretty small area, all have great capacity crowds and great interest.

"It’s something we look at, but we’re pretty happy right now where we’re at. We’ll see how these two work back to back and talk to the tracks. This was a new schedule for us so it’s still in the early stages, but we’ll talk to the tracks as we get through the first half of the season and see what they may want to look at for 2016."

Speaking of next season’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series slate, O’Donnell noted the work began last year in setting the 2016 schedule. As the sanctioning body continues to receive feedback, the next few weeks will help determine the plan for next year’s race dates.

"Each year, we try and map out, if we can, what we’d like to see three and five years out potentially, so we’re in the beginning phases of having that discussion with the tracks," O’Donnell said. "The good news is a lot of folks so far — we’re only eight races in — but they like what they’ve seen from a track perspective so we’ll continue on.

"Usually around the next two weeks, we sit down with the tracks and have those discussions ultimately with the third quarter of the year wanting to get the schedules out."

For now, NASCAR’s sights are set on Richmond, which has seen a recent streak of different drivers heading to Victory Lane, and it will host the second Sprint Cup start for Chase Elliott, the reigning XFINITY Series champion.

"The fans have been pretty vocal, liking this short-track action back to back," O’Donnell said. "We’ve seen six different winners in the past six races at Richmond. Obviously a great place, a great action track.

"Chase Elliott is making his second career (Sprint Cup) start. The XFINITY Series continues to show some young talent with Daniel Suarez finishing second this past weekend. Richmond tends to put on some great racing each and every night so we’re looking forward to some more great short-track action."

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Posted on April 20, 2015 by Staff Report

See what’s coming this week to NASCAR.com

Here’s what you’ll see on NASCAR.com this week:

MONDAY: Kurt Busch pitted late and wrecked late. He’ll discuss the late-race strategy that didn’t pay off. Other content includes Bristol entry lists for the Cup and XFINITY races; plus @nascarcasm tries the Carbon-Footprint Calculator.

TUESDAY: Will Kevin Harvick‘s finish outside the top 35 at Bristol be enough to knock him from the top of Power Rankings? Jimmie Johnson also relives his eventful night at Bristol that resulted in a second-place finish, and the best sounds from the scanner should provide a unique look at the Bristol race.

WEDNESDAY: Check out which paint schemes will be on display at Richmond International Raceway. We’ll have a feature on Kyle Larson, off a strong run at Bristol, and Rico Abreu, the Chili Bowl winner turned K&N Pro Series driver. Plus, @nascarcasm will dream up what Matt Kenseth‘s Facebook page might have looked like after winning the Food City 500.

THURSDAY: Last year’s Brad Keselowski–Matt Kenseth feud reached a boiling point at Charlotte, but it actually began at Richmond — site of this week’s race. We’ll take you back to that incident. Also check out a gallery of April’s best #TBT posts, plus a retrospective of Kasey Kahne‘s first career Cup win, which came 10 years ago at Richmond.

FRIDAY: Get all the on-track action slated for Richmond — including the XFINITY Series race — throughout the day and evening.

Also coming this week: Goldberg was at Bristol, which led us to wonder which professional wrestler NASCAR’s top drivers match up to … Tech Talk will hit on everything you need to know from a competition perspective … @nascarcasm creates his own Power Rankings, based off driver anagrams.

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Staff Report

Brad Keselowski to run scheme in next month’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race

BUY: Get Cheers to 25 Years throwback die-casts

In March, Team Penske and longtime partner MillerCoors announced plans to celebrate 25 years together in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with promotions and special paint schemes throughout 2015.

The team and Miller Lite gave fans the chance to select Keselowski’s paint scheme for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (May 16, 7 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1). On Cheersto25Years.NASCAR.com, fans chose from three iterations of the "Blue Deuce," which is now known as the "Blanco Deuce" with the body and number colors inverted on the current ride.

With 43 percent of the vote, the winner was "The Original" Miller Lite Blue Deuce, which made its debut with Team Penske on the No. 2 entry back in 1997 with driver Rusty Wallace. That season, the Blue Deuce went to Victory Lane at Richmond International Raceway.

In second place with 37 percent was the "Gold" car. For the 2007 Daytona Shootout and NASCAR All-Star Race, Miller Lite unveiled this special gold color paint scheme to celebrate Miller Lite’s fourth gold award in the American-Style Light lager category at the World Beer Cup.

The "Classic Pour" scheme earned the remaining 20 percent. From 2010-2012, there were plenty of trips to Victory Lane to celebrate in different variations of this paint scheme, including a 2010 sweep of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 as well as Miller Lite and Team Penske‘s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in 2012.

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