Posted on by Zack Albert

Johnson: Earnhardt ‘did a fantastic job of intimidating me’

RELATED: Which one was the better driver?

LONG POND, Pa. — Jimmie Johnson‘s quest to match NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt’s Hall of Fame statistics reached another level last weekend. In both cases, the lofty numbers are worthy of stock-car racing elite.

The 39-year-old driver’s bid to equal Earnhardt and NASCAR’s King, Richard Petty, with a seventh premier series championship has been in full swing ever since Johnson claimed title No. 6 in 2013. But after scoring his fourth victory of the season last weekend at Dover International Speedway, Johnson inched closer to Earnhardt on NASCAR’s all-time win list.

Earnhardt recorded 76 victories in his legendary premier-series career, placing him eighth on NASCAR’s registry of winners. Johnson enters Sunday’s Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Pocono Raceway sitting on No. 74. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon is the only active driver with more wins — 92.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

While Johnson didn’t want to get too far ahead of himself in reaching Earnhardt’s mark, he’s clearly given some thought to what it means to be considered in the same company.

"It’s still two away from us, and we certainly hope to have the opportunity to tie him, and then the competitor in me would like to pass that and chase down the next guy," Johnson said Friday at Pocono. "I remember and had the great fortune, like everybody here, to watch Jeff Gordon tie that monumental record. I know how much it meant to Jeff."

Gordon’s ascendance to NASCAR royalty in the 1990s came during a time when Earnhardt reigned, creating a rivalry that grew from playful tweaking and intense competition to mutual admiration and respect. Gordon passed Earnhardt with his 77th Sprint Cup victory in 2007 at Talladega Superspeedway, and fans from the longtime stronghold for "The Intimidator" responded by throwing beer cans on the track.
 
Gordon said Friday that the milestone still means a great deal to him, especially as he enters a period of transition in his last full season as a driver. But he said that Johnson is also cognizant of what the accomplishment might mean as he creeps up the all-time win list.
 
"Having the opportunity to race with Dale and know his greatness, what he meant to the sport, how tough he was as a competitor and how many races he won, it overwhelmed me that I ever got to that mark because to me, when I started in the sport, it just seemed like he was winning everything and had done it for a long, long time," Gordon said.
 
"Jimmie, it’s just a matter of time really for him. This’ll be just one of the many records he continues to break and surpass and putting his name in the record books as one of the all-time greats. Doesn’t seem like that’s going to slow down any time soon, and it’s hard to put it in perspective maybe when you didn’t get much of an opportunity to race against somebody like Dale. I know how much it meant to me to know him as a friend and a competitor, but you know, Jimmie’s got a great sense of the sport and what he’s doing and I know how much it means to him, so I know that something like that will mean a lot to him as well. And I hope he gets the proper respect when that day happens."

Johnson didn’t enter NASCAR’s top series full-time until the 2002 season, one year after Earnhardt’s death in a crash at Daytona International Speedway. Though he never got to test himself against Earnhardt’s hard-nosed racing style, Johnson said he had enough intimidation to go around in his brief interactions with Earnhardt early in his career.

"I unfortunately never had a chance to race against Dale. Definitely there’s a void there in my mind in my career that I didn’t have that opportunity," Johnson said. "I did meet him a couple times and he did a fantastic job of intimidating me and scaring the you-know-what out of me in both of those instances. If it does happen, we’ll of course want to handle it the right way, pay tribute to Dale and what he’s done for our sport — the true badass he was in our sport — and when and if that does happen, it’ll be an honor to be there in that status with him."

Posted on by Zack Albert

SHR team will get last pit stall selection at Pocono

RELATED: Appeal date set for No. 48 team | Penalties come down after Dover

LONG POND, Pa. — Crew chief Rodney Childers indicated Friday at Pocono Raceway that his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 team would not appeal P1 penalties issued Wednesday by NASCAR.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

As a result, the organization will receive the last choice of pit stalls for reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick after Coors Light Pole Qualifying for Sunday’s Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Pocono Raceway.
 
The SHR team was assessed written warnings in consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events — for non-conforming tail pipes at Dover International Speedway last weekend and for multiple trips through the inspection line the previous week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The accumulation of warnings prompted NASCAR to issue a P1-grade punishment this week.
 
Hendrick Motorsports‘ No. 48 team for driver Jimmie Johnson received a similar P1 penalty May 26 for multiple warnings. The team indicated it would appeal before last weekend’s race at Dover. That appeal is scheduled to be heard Tuesday at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Crew chief will continue successful pairing with Kevin Harvick

RELATED: Childers on whether No. 4 team will appeal P1

LONG POND, Pa. — Rodney Childers will turn 39 years old Sunday, but he received an early gift this week with a multiyear contract extension with Stewart-Haas Racing.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

The deal will keep Childers paired with reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick on the No. 4 Chevrolet team for the indefinite future. Stewart-Haas didn’t disclose the terms of the contract in announcing the deal Friday; asked how long the extension will keep him in the SHR fold, Childers simply smiled and said: "It’s a long time."
 
"I said this last year, but Kevin’s the last guy I’m ever going to crew chief for, so signing something for a long time doesn’t scare me," Childers said Friday morning in the Pocono Raceway garage. "I think there’s always going to come a time in somebody’s life when they decide not to crew chief, and I feel like Stewart-Haas would do whatever they wanted to do if I got to that point to help me move into a different role or something like that.
 
"To be there and have that security and all that stuff is a good feeling for sure."
 
Childers said he had another extension in place on his current contract that would have kept him with Stewart-Haas Racing through the end of 2016, but said that the two sides agreed to start from scratch on a new deal. He said he and the team negotiated for "a couple of weeks" on the all-new contract and that talks went smoothly.
 
Childers moved over from Michael Waltrip Racing to join SHR as Harvick’s crew chief ahead of the 2014 season, a pairing that quickly gained traction and propelled the No. 4 team to the first Sprint Cup championship for both driver and crew chief. That momentum has continued this season with two victories, an impressive 9-for-13 clip in top-five finishes, and a hefty 44-point lead in the standings heading into Sunday’s Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Pocono.
 
With Childers poised to join Harvick among the ranks of 39-year-olds in a matter of days, plus the crew chief’s proclamation that he’ll end his career with Harvick, the question of when that time might come is a natural one.
 
"It’s hard to say. Everybody kind of has a cycle, but we’ve definitely got something together that I think works and we’re both comfortable with each other," Childers said. "We have fun and we’ve got a great race team behind us. To ever want something different, I don’t know what you would ever do. After the last year and a half, what are you ever going to do that would make you feel the way you do right now? There’s really nothing. Anything from here is going to be downhill, so we’ve just got to try to keep doing what we’re doing."

Posted on by Kathy Sheldon

Pocono has become a strong spot for No. 11 driver

Denny Hamlin got his first pole in just his sixth career Cup race, but the second pole was even better, as it came packaged with a trip to Victory Lane.

In 2006, the eventual Sunoco Rookie of the Year started out as an all-or-nothing qualifier, with eight top-10 starting positions but three 30th-or-worse qualifying efforts through the first 13 races of his rookie season.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

At Pocono, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Chevrolet found plenty of qualifying speed, putting Hamlin on the pole for the Pocono 500 on June 11. And that’s where Hamlin finished, too. But it wasn’t one of those green-to-checkered dominating performances.

Hamlin took off at the start, maybe even faster in race trim than qualifying trim, putting a 6-second lead on the field and leading 49 of the the 50 laps. But he had a tire go down and spun. Hamlin saved the spin, but the deflated tire did some damage to the rear fender. However, the Virginia native rebounded in a big way.

Hamlin wound up leading 83 of the race’s 200 laps and made his first trip to Cup Series Victory Lane at the Long Pond, Pennsylvania track where he would repeat as pole and race winner six races later.


That second trip to Pocono was a little less exciting for Hamlin as it was one of those pure domination events. He cruised to the win, leading 151 or 200 laps. In that outing it was teammate Tony Stewart who made headlines when he gave Clint Bowyer’s No. 07 more than a little bump, causing it to careen into Carl Edwards’ No. 99.

Hamlin enters the Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 race with four wins, nine top fives and 12 top 10s in 18 starts. He looks good to make a run at his fifth victory there after a weekend at Dover that saw him take the pole and top the speed charts in the final two practices before a wreck-marred 21st-place finish. 

Posted on by

Money raised through innovative partnership benefits paralyzed veterans

BROOKLYN, Mich. (May 29, 2015) — Michigan International Speedway is proud to announce a partnership with Great Clips and Paralyzed Veterans of America to sponsor the June 13 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at the track, the Great Clips 250 Benefiting Paralyzed Veterans of America. 

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

This innovative partnership continues beyond race weekend. From July 1 through August 8, Great Clips patrons throughout Michigan, Northern Ohio and Northern Indiana will receive a $2 coupon toward a haircut with every $4 donated to Paralyzed Veterans of America. Patrons receive $1 voucher for a haircut with every $2 donation to Paralyzed Veterans of America.

While Great Clips has had a presence in NASCAR for years, this marks the first time the organization has sponsored a race at NASCAR’s fastest track. As title sponsor, Great Clips will market its brand through television, radio, print and social mediums on a nationwide scale, all while benefiting paralyzed veterans.

"It’s special to work with two organizations who tirelessly support our nation’s precious veterans," speedway President Roger Curtis said.

"We’re thrilled to help promote Great Clips and the work Paralyzed Veterans of America does by welcoming them by introducing them to the most brand loyal and giving fans in all of sports."

Paralyzed Veterans of America is the only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated solely for the benefit and representation of veterans with spinal cord injury or disease. For nearly 70 years, Paralyzed veterans of America has ensured veterans receive the benefits earned through their service to our nation, monitored their care in VA spinal cord injury units and funded research and education in the search for a cure and improved care for individuals with paralysis.

As a partner for life, Paralyzed Veterans also develops training and career services, works to ensure accessibility in public buildings and spaces, provides health and rehabilitation opportunities through sports and recreation, and advocates for veterans and all people with disabilities. With more than 70 offices and 34 chapters, Paralyzed Veterans serves veterans, their families, and their caregivers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

"We are excited to expand our involvement in motorsports as the beneficiary of the Great Clips 250," Paralyzed Veterans National President Al Kovach, Jr. said. "Paralyzed Veterans has a rich history in Motorsports and partnering with Great Clips allows us to continue sharing our mission with so many loyal race fans, donors and veterans. We offer a special thanks to Great Clips Racing and Michigan International Speedway for supporting our ongoing fight for disabled veterans and their families."

"Great Clips is proud to contribute our time, talents and resources to a variety of great causes including this partnership with Michigan International Speedway for the Great Clips 250 benefiting Paralyzed Veterans of America," Great Clips Senior Manager of Marketing Strategy and Analysis Dave Randall. "We look forward to an exciting weekend of racing. It’s gonna be great!"

Great Clips, Inc. was established in 1982 in Minneapolis. Today, Great Clips has more than 3,700 salons throughout the United States and Canada, making it the world’s largest salon brand. Great Clips salons employ nearly 35,000 stylists who receive ongoing training to learn the Great Clips system and advanced technical skills. Make Great Clips your choice for value-priced, high-quality haircare for men, women and children. No appointments are needed, and salons are open nights and weekends. And it’s more convenient than ever with Great Clips’ Online Check-In and Clip Notes®. To check in online, visit GreatClips.com or download the app for Android and iPhone. For more information about Great Clips, Inc. or to find a location near you, visit GreatClips.com.

Nestled in the lush Irish Hills of Southeastern Michigan, Michigan International Speedway is the Great Escape, a venerable NASCAR national park where fans can get away and enjoy the very best in racing and camaraderie. It’s the love of racing and the thrill of a great time for race fans and drivers alike.

Tickets are on sale at http://www.MISpeedway.com or by phone at 800-354-1010.

Posted on by

Comparing Earnhardt Jr.’s eight years with each organization

Vote: Who will win at Pocono?
Stats advance: Dale Jr. attempts to join Allison, Richmond with three in a row at Pocono

Editor’s note: Last week, Mike Davis, brand director for Dale Earnhardt Jr., tweeted that the driver was in his eighth year at Hendrick Motorsports after spending eight years at Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Here’s a look at how the eight years with the No. 8 and No. 88 compare through the first 13 races of 2007 and 2015.

Posted on by

Driver of No. 51 encouraged by career-best finish in series

In just six NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, Drive 4 Diversity graduate Daniel Suarez is getting the hang of it, and it shows after the Mexican-born driver finished second — Suarez’s best finish in the series — in the Lucas Oil 200 at Dover International Speedway on Friday. 

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

From wheeling winning cars in the K&N Pro Series East and NASCAR Toyota Series, Suarez has balanced driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the XFINITY Series and piloting the No. 19 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota in the Camping World Truck Series with grace. 

"The whole 2015 so far has been a big difference from my 2014 — what I was racing in in Mexico and some K&N races — definitely a big step, a big, big difference," Suarez said after his second-place finish at Dover. "Racing with Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports it’s just a great opportunity and I’m very lucky because to have fast race cars every weekend is just great. I feel like we have a shot every single weekend, I feel like I’m learning a lot every single weekend … Kyle has been on our side a lot helping us as well. Everyone in Joe Gibbs Racing. I just feel like we’re getting closer and closer (to a win)."

But with Dover being such a physically demanding track and the KBM driver having never raced there before in a truck, Suarez was able to lean on team owner Kyle Busch — a 42-time Truck Series winner — for track knowledge and advice. 

"Most of the race tracks that we’ve been to this year, I’ve never been to before," Suarez said. "… It’s just a little bit difficult to get onto the race track when you have no idea what’s going on, what to expect with a new race car, with a new race track … Kyle (Busch) has been very helpful to me, to give me advice, what to expect, how I need to be to be strong in the race, not just in practice."

While Busch’s guidance has been helpful, Suarez discusses how his confidence has grown in just the first few months of the 2015 season.

"I’ve been very surprised how competitive we’ve been in the last couple months in both series. To be honest, I feel different from February to right now. I feel much different. I have more confidence. I know a little bit more. … And on both sides we are competitive. Hopefully, we can get a little more luck soon and maybe finish in Victory Lane."

In six Truck starts, Suarez has only finished outside the top 10 once (15th at Talladega). The No. 51 Toyota driver will take the track next on Saturday, Aug. 1 for the Pocono Mountains 150 at Pocono Raceway.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

American Pharoah goes for the Triple Crown; NASCAR’s ‘King’ is unbeatable

The saying goes that records are meant to be broken. 

On Saturday, American Pharoah will look to complete the Triple Crown with a win in the 147th Belmont Stakes.

Twenty-three horses, including California Chrome last year, have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes — but not the last leg.

While the Triple Crown is obtainable, it is also pretty rare. Eleven horses have accomplished it, with Affirmed being the last to do so 37 years ago in 1978.

The degree of difficulty is high but not impossible. However, there are several records in sports, including NASCAR, that have little to no chance of being broken.


In baseball, Cal Ripken Jr.’s legendary consecutive games played streak stands at 2,632. The Hall of Famer for the Baltimore Orioles broke Lou Gehrig’s 56-year-old record of 2,130 in 1995 and he then extended it even further. With the wear and tear of a 162-game season, it’s rare to see players play in every game in a season, let alone do it for the 17 seasons needed to break the mark.



Baseball has another record that won’t be broken: the all-time wins mark for a pitcher, held by Cy Young at 511. Young, for whom the annual Cy Young Award for the best pitchers is named, pitched for 22 years and in some seasons made as many as 49 starts. That number is unheard of in today’s game. That is only part of the reason this record is unbreakable. The other? The closest pitcher on the list is Walter Johnson at 417. The most recently active pitcher in the top 10, Greg Maddux, sits seventh at 355.



In the NFL, Emmitt Smith holds the all-time mark for rushing yards at 18,355 yards after breaking Walter Payton’s record in 2002. Why is this one so hard to break? The trend of the NFL is as a quarterback-driven passing league. Plus, more and more teams are relying on two running backs to carry the load, meaning the workhorse backs of years past are few and far between. Steven Jackson has the most rushing yards among active players (11,388), but he is 31 years old and unsigned with training camps a little less than two months away.



In the NBA, Wilt Chamberlain holds the single-game scoring record at 100 points in a 1962 game. That same season, he averaged 50.4 points per game. Kobe Bryant has come the closest to the single-game mark with an 81-point night in 2006, but no one has really come close to the single-season average mark. Chamberlain owns the top four marks in NBA history, then Michael Jordan is fifth on the list with his 37.1 average from the 1986-87 season. Averaging 30 points or more is considered a great season, and scoring 50 in a game is rare (only happened eight times in the 2014-15 season) let alone averaging 50 points in a season.

 This season, the league’s scoring leader, Anthony Davis, averaged 31.5 points per game.

NASCAR has several marks that are going to prove impossible to reach. "The King" set several of them.

Richard Petty has the most wins in the sport’s premier series with 200 victories. The next closest is the retired David Pearson at 105 followed by Jeff Gordon at 92, who is in his final full-time season. With Sunday’s win at Dover, Jimmie Johnson has 74 wins but at 39 years old, it is fair to wonder how many more years the six-time champion will compete in the Sprint Cup Series.



Petty also holds the mark for most wins in a season with 27 in the 1967 campaign. Granted, he did it in a season where he ran 48 events, meaning he won over half of the events in which he competed. But these days, it’s rare to see a driver even get to double-digit wins in a season. Johnson was the last to do so in 2007 with 10 wins, before that Jeff Gordon accomplished it in 1996, 1997 and 1998. 



Bill Elliott holds the fastest qualifying speed in premier series history at 212.809 mph, set at Talladega in April of 1987. That mark was set pre-restrictor plates, which have been used at Talladega and Daytona since 1988. Restrictor plates limit the output of the motor and slow both the acceleration and the overall top speed. The highest speed in the 28 years since was a 206.558 mph mark set by Jeff Gordon last August at Michigan. 



The records mentioned above only begin to scratch the surface but you get the idea. Some records are simply too difficult to be broken. We will see if American Pharoah can prove to be an exception on Saturday afternoon.

Posted on by Staff Report

Spencer Gallagher, Johnny Sauter topped the opening session

Practice 2: Full results

Bringing his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Truck onto the track for the first time today, Matt Crafton wasted no time finding speed, his 178.566 mph lap around Texas Motor Speedway sending him to the top of the leaderboard during Thursday’s final practice for the WinStar World Casino 400 (Friday, 9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

With conditions closer to that of Friday’s race, BK Racing‘s Tyler Reddick showed even more speed in this practice, wheeling his No. 19 machine at 178.566 mph around the 1.5-mile oval.

Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Daniel Suarez found his groove during the night’s final session, rounding the Lone Star State track at 177.971 mph for the third spot on the leaderboard. Second-fastest in opening practice, ThorSport Racing’s Johnny Sauter was fourth (177.049 mph) in the final session, followed by Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Erik Jones (176.852 mph).

After leading the opening practice, GMS Racing’s Spencer Gallagher dropped to eighth on the leaderboard in the final session, recording a high speed of 176.523 mph.

The Camping World Truck Series is back on track at Texas for Keystone Light Qualifying at 6:15 p.m. ET with coverage on FOX Sports 1.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

Practice 1: Full opening practice results

Propelling his No. 23 GMS Racing ride at 178.406 mpgh, Spencer Gallagher soared to the top of the leaderboard Thursday during opening Camping World Truck Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway.

Next up was ThorSport Racing veteran Johnny Sauter, who posted a high speed of 177.456 mph in his No. 98 Toyota Tundra.

BK Racing‘s Tyler Reddick — who won the series’ event at Dover last weekend — was third with a high speed of 177.387 mph, while Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Erik Jones (177.340 mph) and ThorSport Racing’s Cameron Hayley (177.288 mph) rounded out the top five.

Reigning series champion Matt Crafton did not make a run during the opening session. Only 24 of the 30 trucks listed on the entry list made a run during opening practice.

Posted on by Staff Report

Actor and former California Governor will pilot 2016 Toyota Mirai

Leading the field to green for the Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 28 will be actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

The actor, whose new film "Terminator Genisys" comes out July 1, will be piloting a 2016 Toyota Mirai while leading the 43-car field at the road course. 

The Toyota Mirai is a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle that emits only water from its exhaust. This is not only Schwarzenegger’s first time as a official pace car driver, but it will be the first hydrogen fuel vehicle used as a pace car at Sonoma. 

"I can’t wait to drive the pace car at Sonoma," Schwarzenegger said in a press release. "It will be an honor to lead these fantastic athletes and champions around the raceway, and on top of it, I get to drive a car that is both powerful and green."

During the former governor’s time in office, Schwarzenegger established California’s Hydrogen Highway — the nation’s first network for hydrogen fueling stations.

Tune into the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday, June 28 at 3 p.m. ET with TV coverage on FOX Sports 1.