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Sport to honor fallen service members with windshield tribute at Coca-Cola 600

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 18, 2015) — When NASCAR® drivers start their engines for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, fans will see familiar names like "Harvick," "Kenseth" and "Almirola" replaced on car windshields with "SGT Mracek," "HM3 Layton" and "CPT Argel" — United States Armed Forces members who have fallen in service to their country.

All 43 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers will participate in "600 Miles of Remembrance" on Memorial Day Weekend to honor military service members and their families, and commemorate the launch of NASCAR: An American Salute™, the industry’s collective expression of reverence, respect and gratitude for those who have served and continue to defend our nation today.

Fans can follow stories around the seven-week platform and share their personal expressions of thanks to the military using #NASCARSalutes on social media.

"The NASCAR community rallying to honor the U.S. Armed Forces, past and present, has long been part of our sport’s heritage," said Brent Dewar, Chief Operating Officer, NASCAR. "As part of NASCAR: An American Salute, 600 Miles of Remembrance represents a special moment in time as we pay tribute to service members who have sacrificed dearly for our freedom."

Many of the service members whose names will be displayed on the race cars were chosen by the teams, and some have unique connections to the fallen. Private Dean Van Dyke, who was killed in the Vietnam War, was a relative of No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing driver Greg Biffle. Army First Lieutenant Daniel Hyde, killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom, served alongside Chris Clayton, tire changer on the No. 83 BK Racing team.

Many of the families of the service members being recognized will be in attendance on Sunday, and will be introduced alongside the drivers during driver introductions. In addition, Charlotte Motor Speedway will host more than 6,000 active military members at the Coca-Cola 600 in honor of Memorial Day.

NASCAR: An American Salute will feature various on- and off-track activities from tracks, teams and partners that show appreciation and support for the troops, and will culminate Independence Day Weekend with the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

This weekend, NASCAR together with Honor and Remember, Inc., will display specially prepared Honor and Remember flags representing those who have died in service to our country from each of the 50 United States throughout the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Throughout the campaign, NASCAR will host military families at each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race as part of NASCAR Troops to the Track™ Presented by Bank of America.

Toyota will also honor the names of fallen service members on its pace cars for the Coca-Cola 600 as part of 600 Miles of Remembrance. Later in the program, both Chevrolet and Ford will feature patriotic branding on the pace cars for races at Pocono and Michigan, respectively.   

Many NASCAR Official Partners have mobilized to support NASCAR: An American Salute with military-themed activations, including:

• For the sixth straight year, Goodyear is rallying NASCAR fans to support members of the U.S. Armed Forces through its "Goodyear Gives Back" charitable program benefiting the Support Our Troops® organization. To kick off the program, Goodyear will once again transform its NASCAR race tires by replacing the "Eagle" sidewall design with "Support Our Troops" messaging on all tires used during Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This effort coincides with the May 21 launch of Goodyear’s charity auction at www.Goodyear.com/GivesBack, which features autographed NASCAR memorabilia, VIP race experiences and rides on the Goodyear Blimp.

• Bank of America is the presenting partner of NASCAR Troops to the Track — a season-long program that honors members of the military and their families for their services, and treats them to a NASCAR race experience. This program is an extension of Bank of America’s long-standing commitment to the military, focused on helping veterans and service members’ transition to civilian life.

• NASCAR, Coca-Cola, Mars Chocolate North America, and 3M have collaborated to engage shoppers in over 180 military commissaries. On Tuesday, May 19, there will be all-day activation at Fort Bragg Commissary South featuring an appearance by Coca-Cola Racing Family Member Joey Logano, who will be giving away tickets to the Coca-Cola 600. From May 18 to July 8, commissary shoppers can enter the 2015 Champion’s Week Sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week by texting "NASCARSALUTE" to 313131 or by visiting www.championsweek2015.com.

• M&M’s will introduce a national letter-writing campaign, in partnership with Operation Gratitude, encouraging fans to send messages of thanks and appreciation to military members. The notes will be included in more than 100,000 Operation Gratitude Care Packages which will be assembled and shipped to Troops deployed in harm’s way and to New Recruits upon their graduation from Boot Camp.

• During Daytona International Speedway’s Coke Zero 400, all active duty military, veterans and their families can enjoy the Troops Welcome Center Presented by M&M’s. The center, which will be located in the midway, will be fully equipped with food and beverages, allowing service members to take a break and meet NASCAR drivers throughout the weekend.

• In honor of the military, Miss Sprint Cup will wear NASCAR: An American Salute fire suits at the Coca-Cola 600 and Coke Zero 400.

This Sunday, NASCAR drivers will discuss 600 Miles of Remembrance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90) during a special military tribute show airing at 1 p.m. ET. The Dialed In Salute to the Troops special, hosted by Claire B. Lang, will feature interviews with several drivers as well as service men and service women from different branches of the military.   

During the Coca Cola 600 pre-race broadcast (5:30 p.m. ET, FOX), FOX Sports will recognize all service members who have lost their lives in the past year by displaying their names and branch of service on a graphic scroll. This will be FOX’s fifth year in a row dedicating the pre-race show to service members that have fallen in the line of duty.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Coca-Cola 600 will be broadcast live from Charlotte Motor Speedway at 6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM Radio. Additional live coverage can be found on NASCAR.com.

To learn more about NASCAR: An American Salute, visit www.NASCAR.com/Salute.

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Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 crew chief addresses potential skirt violation

RELATED: NASCAR investigates possible infraction by No. 48 team

Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Chad Knaus explained his crew’s actions in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race that led NASCAR officials to review a potential infraction for allegedly altering body panels on the No. 48 Chevrolet of driver Jimmie Johnson.

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On FOX Sports 1’s "NASCAR Race Hub", Knaus analyzed a video of Johnson hitting the wall with his right rear during the first segment of Saturday night’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and then described how the No. 48 team reacted.

"Right here you can see Jimmie gets into the wall a little bit, and what it did, it pushed the right-side skirt in a little bit," Knaus said. "When we came down for the first pit stop on the first segment, my guys went out there. They were repairing the car.

"There was work on the left side that we had to do from contact with the 22 (Joey Logano). The skirt was pushed in, and the guys pulled it out a little bit. And NASCAR saw that and they didn’t like it.

"So we’ll be talking to them about it. I don’t know what’s going to come of it right now, but I don’t think it was too big of a deal personally."

Winner of a record four all-star races, Knaus said "it wasn’t a good race for us," and he noted that "Jimmie was really loose at the beginning of the race.

"(He) got sideways, got into the wall a little bit, incurred some damage at that point."

A NASCAR spokesperson said after post-race inspection that the potential violation involved allegedly modifying a side skirt late in the 110-lap race, a practice that NASCAR vowed to police in 2015 after it became rampant last season.

NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Monday that the sanctioning body would apply its penalty policy even though the event did not pay championship points.

"Still evaluating that like we do and if we make a decision to react, that would be on Tuesday, but there’s a lot on the line for the All-Star Race," O’Donnell said. "It’s not a points race, but certainly we know how much it means to win that race, so hopefully we don’t have to make a call on this, but we would maintain the rule book throughout the race."

The Team Penske No. 2 team of Brad Keselowski was penalized for a similar infraction earlier this season, just before Coors Light Pole Qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. NASCAR levied a P2-level penalty under the NASCAR deterrence system, placing crew chief Paul Wolfe on probation through the end of the year.

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McCall, crew chief for the No. 1 of Jamie McMurray, victorious on Sunday

Photo credit: Southern National Motorsports Park

What is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief to do on his day off? Go racing, himself, of course.

Matt McCall, the crew chief for the No. 1 team of Jamie McMurray for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, did just that. And not only did he race respectably, he took the checkered flag and went to Victory Lane.

McCall won the Jerry Moody Memorial at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina, just one day after serving as the pit boss for McMurray in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

McCall previously was a championship driver for Moody, and his victory Sunday was his first in a Late Model since a win last July at Southern National.

After winning the race, McCall gave the trophy, which had pictures of the Moody family and a pig on top, to Moody’s 20-year-old daughter Haley, who also competed in the race herself.

McCall in is his first season as McMurray’s crew chief and has made seven NASCAR national series starts in his career (five in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and two in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series).

McCall’s wife, Meredith, tweeted news about the victory, which was promptly retweeted by McMurray. No. 1 team member Ashley Parlett, a former driver herself, also joined in on the congratulations.

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NASCAR executive weighs in on busy racing weekend

NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that competition officials were working to increase side-by-side racing and passing near the front of the pack after a NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race that heavily favored leading cars.
 
O’Donnell said that the process goes on every day at the sanctioning body’s Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, as NASCAR moves closer to making a final decision on the rules package for its premier Sprint Cup Series in 2016.

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"We actually do that every day," O’Donnell said. "We’re focused on the racing, so when you look at particularly that race, we look at that as one of all of our events. We’re a third of the way through the season. Lot of really great dialogue going on with the drivers, with the owners, with the race tracks, looking at how does the racing compare really over the last three to five years what, if any, of the levers can we look at as we look to the ’16 package. So those discussions take place every day and we’ll continue to do that today and heading into the season.
 
"But still a third of the way through, too early to make an overall decision but certainly a lot of dialogue going on."
 
Saturday night, Denny Hamlin claimed the $1 million All-Star prize after his Joe Gibbs Racing crew won the race off pit road before the final 10-lap segment. Once out in clean, non-turbulent air, Hamlin set sail to lead the rest of the way, taking the checkered flag by .923 seconds at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Hamlin holds off Harvick to win Sprint All-Star Race
 
The outcome was different than that of Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at the intermediate-sized track. Eventual winner Kasey Kahne edged rookie Erik Jones in a captivating green-white-checkered finish after the two drivers raced side-by-side for virtually the entire two-lap shootout. O’Donnell said it was difficult to compare the two divisions, but he liked what he saw.
 
"I think the ability to maintain that side-by-side racing is what we want to see," O’Donnell said. "There’s a lot of variables with trucks, with aero, the distance of the races, who’s in the field, that sort of thing. But certainly thought it was a tremendous race Friday night and of course, ultimately we’d like to see that throughout all of our divisions each and every race."
 
This weekend’s racing for all three national series brought some official rulings, both post-race and mid-race. In the truck series’ event, Kahne’s winning JR Motorsports No. 00 Chevrolet was deemed too low on both sides in the front and too high on one side in the rear after a post-race inspection.

RELATED: Kahne wins Truck Series race, but fails post-race inspection
 
Kahne started at the rear of the field after the team made an unapproved shock change before the race. Competition officials are expected to rule on the issue Tuesday, but O’Donnell said all factors will be considered before the final decision.
 
"Every car or truck will have to pass pre-race inspection, so that’s something that there’s a balance there at the end of the race to make sure certain components aren’t being manipulated, and that’s our job to look at, but there’s also cases where some pieces legitimately break," O’Donnell said. "These vehicles are out there running high 190s to 200 miles per hour, lots of contact especially when you talk truck racing. That’s something that we take into consideration when we’re evaluating all the vehicles post-race."
 
Also in Saturday night’s All-Star Race, a NASCAR spokesperson said that a crew member for the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 team of driver Jimmie Johnson was under review for potentially altering a body panel late in the 110-lap invitational event. The practice of teams flaring out the side skirts ahead of the rear wheels was outlawed in the offseason.

RELATED: Possible infraction for 48 team
 
O’Donnell said that even though the event did not pay championship points, the high stakes would be reflected in how the NASCAR Rule Book is upheld for All-Star violations.
 
"Still evaluating that like we do and if we make a decision to react, that would be on Tuesday, but there’s a lot on the line for the All-Star Race," O’Donnell said. "It’s not a points race, but certainly we know how much it means to win that race, so hopefully we don’t have to make a call on this, but we would maintain the rule book throughout the race."
 
Sunday in the NASCAR XFINITY Series 3M 250, driver Brendan Poole was parked by NASCAR officials after retaliating in reaction to early race contact with J.J. Yeley at Iowa Speedway. O’Donnell said the immediate decision of race officials was necessary.
 
"In this case when something happens on track, it’s our policy to warn both drivers that we’re going to be specifically looking at contact between those two," O’Donnell said. "In this case, we saw something that we believed was a move to really take someone out and we had to react. Not something we like doing, but we’ve got to react in that case and we did in Iowa."

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See what’s coming this week to NASCAR.com

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

MONDAY: Kevin Harvick couldn’t quite catch Denny Hamlin in Saturday’s All-Star Race. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver says he was not frustrated by finishing second, and looks ahead to the Coca-Cola 600. … @nascarcasm recaps the race in photos, as only he can, and Weekend in GIFs will allow you to relive the action in a fun way.

TUESDAY: Power Rankings presented by John Deere got another shakeup this week — yes, there’s a new No. 1. Who do you think it is? Plus, check out Denny Hamlin‘s imaginary Facebook page created by @nascarcasm. Senior writer Holly Cain features "Catwalk for a Cause," the annual charity event Martin Truex Jr. and girlfriend Sherry Pollex held last week.

WEDNESDAY: Check out which paint schemes will be on display at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600. Plus, learn more about the history of CMS in our track photo gallery. And stay plugged in to NASCAR.com throughout the day as the Hall of Fame Class of 2016 is selected.

THURSDAY: Cars are on track at Charlotte, and we’ll have live leaderboards for you to follow. In honor of Throwback Thursday, we’ll look back at Dale Earnhardt’s first ever premier series win — which came 40 years ago, at Charlotte. Brad Norman and George Winkler debate whether the annual 600-mile event needs to be shortened.

FRIDAY: Coming out of the All-Star break, NASCAR.com presents some of its superlatives from the season so far.

Also coming this week: Senior writer Kenny Bruce reports following his visit to the HScott Motorsports shop in Spartanburg, South Carolina … the High Heel Dash (yes, you read that correctly) is Thursday, and we’re previewing the event — and who’s in it — on Tuesday … High 5 (Wednesday) gives you some of the best NASCAR-related content from throughout the week, while Friday’s Driver Reports clues you in on who has the best chance to win at Charlotte.

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XFINITY Series rookie visits Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Joliet

Photo credit: Don McClelland

As a Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, Daniel Suarez says he’s been doing his homework as best he can, oftentimes having to learn new and unfamiliar race tracks on the fly.
 
Monday morning, on the heels of a strong race but disappointing finish the previous day at Iowa Speedway, Suarez did his own schooling one state over, visiting Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Joliet, Illinois, to talk about the importance of technology and mathematics. The assembly also came with a surprise perk — 1,000 race tickets, enough to send the whole school’s enrollment plus family members to the series’ race June 20 at nearby Chicagoland Speedway (9:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

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"It was pretty fun and makes me think a lot because the last group of kids we had, it was from 10 to 11 years old and it made me think that when I was that age, I was about to start in racing," said Suarez, who ranks 10th in the XFINITY standings. "It was really cool. All those kids were super-excited about all of us. Now they have tickets to go, without a question. I’m excited about that and looking forward to seeing all these kids again next month."
 
Suarez’s own role as a student has meant plenty of adjustment in his first full XFINITY season driving the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota, visiting new circuits and adapting to the pace of longer races than the NASCAR K&N Pro Series that sparked his development.
 
Yet when he returns to the Land of Lincoln, it will mark the 23-year-old driver’s second race on the 1.5-mile track, a facility he lauded for its multiple grooves and high-speed layout. Suarez finished 15th last fall in a one-off event for RAB Racing at Chicagoland in just his second career XFINITY start, but it’s an experience he hopes to build upon when the series returns for Father’s Day weekend.
 
"For sure, it’s different because at least you know what to expect," said Suarez, who is also running a part-time schedule for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this season. "In those races where I’ve never been before in the past, you’re learning about everything — about the racing line, everything. I know that when I do my homework to watch video and get information about the race, everything is still difficult.
 
"It’s still a process. But for all these races where I’ve been in the past, I feel like my confidence and my knowledge about the race track is a little better."
 
His learning process thus far has been on an accelerated upturn, especially on the series’ short tracks, where he’s logged his best finishes of the season — second at Bristol and sixth at Richmond. That streak ended Sunday at Iowa Speedway, where he led a career-high 48 laps early on before sliding back somewhat in the late going. His chances for a top-five finish, though, slipped away when his car sputtered out of fuel with just two laps left in regulation.
 
"It was just a difficult day in many ways," Suarez said. "Looks like we had a pretty strong car in the beginning of the race, but the race track changed a lot and the line changed a lot as well. We improved the car some, never quite like at the beginning, and then we ran out of luck and ran out fuel. That pretty much ended our day, but at the end of the day, I felt like we had a top-five car. I feel like we ran most of the day in the top 10, top five, and that’s a good thing, but definitely we have to keep working, keep learning about our mistakes and be better for next week."
 
Next week comes quick for Suarez and the rest of the XFINITY regulars with Saturday’s Hisense 300 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the backyard of NASCAR’s business hub. His studies for this weekend haven’t started just yet, but it’s by no means due to procrastination.
 
"Not yet, actually. We are here today in Chicago and just finished yesterday in Iowa, so my homework is going to start tomorrow," Suarez said. "But I feel good about Charlotte. I’ve never been on the race track in a race, but I had a test in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the beginning of the year, so I know a little bit about the track. It’s straightforward, it’s fast, it’s very narrow, but I feel like we’re going to have a pretty good car one more time and we’re going to try to be competitive."

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Two-time 2015 race winner: ‘I feel like we’re competitive every week’

CONCORD, N.C. – Kevin Harvick didn’t win Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the Stewart-Haas Racing driver wasn’t leading at the end of any segment.
 
But that doesn’t mean the defending Sprint Cup Series champion doesn’t like his chances heading into next weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 (May 24, 6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) at Charlotte.

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Given his ability to thread his way through traffic throughout the 110-lap non-points event, it’s no wonder.
 
Harvick, already twice a winner this season and once again the series points leader, finished second in Saturday’s race, his No. 4 Chevrolet able to work its way around everyone save for the Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin.
 
"I kind of put us in a hole in qualifying," Harvick said. "We were able to get through traffic; they made some really good changes throughout the night to get the car where it really needed to be.
 
"I was able to move around the race track and find a groove that worked for me."
 
Harvick started at the back of the 20-car field, but wasted no time advancing. He was inside the top 10 by the end of the first segment and challenging for the lead by the end of the second.
 
Solid work by the team, led by crew chief Rodney Childers, allowed Harvick to maintain his position on pit road and unlike a few other key players, the team ended the night penalty-free.
 
"I feel like we’re competitive every week," he said. "Tonight … we were able to make it up into the top 10. Then they made some great adjustments on the car and we were able to drive through the top five cars and pass them.
 
"That’s an accomplishment … where we’re at with the cars, how you have to race them, the things that are happening. If you can pass, that’s a huge advantage, something I feel like they did a really good job with our car in making it drivable."
 
Harvick is a two-time winner of the 600 (2011, ’13), the series’ longest event, and won the fall race, the Bank of America 500, last year as well.
 
Six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports) has won three of the four points races held on intermediate (1.5-mile) tracks this year. Harvick has finished second to Johnson in all three – and he won the fourth, at Las Vegas.
 
The team’s 1.5-mile program obviously remains as strong as it was a year ago, if not better.
 
Passing was at a premium during the All-Star event, but Harvick managed to do his share.
 
"You got to have your car right," he said. "The restarts are really tough because everybody’s got so much throttle, you’re so close to sliding the nose.
 
"If you move up too far, the back will come out from underneath you because everybody’s got so much throttle on the car, so it makes it tough to pass until you get to 10, 12 laps into the run."

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Elliott leads 114 laps, couldn’t hold off Buescher on old tires

RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings

NEWTON, Iowa — Chris Buescher and all but one driver battling at the front of the pack yearned for one last caution.
 
The lone exception?
 
Chase Elliott, who, fully fueled, had powered to a commanding lead and near-certain win in Sunday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series 3M 250 at Iowa Speedway.
 

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Two laps remained. Elliott’s trip to Victory Lane loomed. Then, it happened.
 
Jamie Dick, running mid-pack, hit the wall and spun, drawing a caution flag.
 
Buescher — his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford packed with fuel and four fresh tires — smiled, charging hard and low on the restart to cap a temper-tinged and thrill-filled race with a green-white-checkered triumph at the 7/8-mile short track.
 
“When that happened, I knew we had an awesome shot at it,” said Buescher, who raced to the series standings lead by eight points over Ty Dillon, who finished 14th.
 
Buescher had on-track help — namely from Roush Fenway teammate, Darrell Wallace Jr., who provided a strong nudge as the race went green.
 
Maybe more than a nudge.
 
“(He) gave us a heck of a shot on the restart,” said Buescher, who relegated Elliott to second while notching his first win of the season and Roush Fenway’s fifth in 11 XFINITY Series races at Iowa. “It was a hard hit. That was almost a crash. It was exactly what we needed to get going and get to the inside and be able to pull this win off.”
 
Elliott took the runner-up finish in stride. He led 114 laps. His car ran fast all day long. The late-race pit strategy — partly because of minor right-side damage, he pitted on lap 177 while other leaders stayed out — nearly paid off.
 
“That’s racing some days,” said Elliott, who — like Buescher — enjoys a series-leading five top-five finishes this season. “You make a decision — and I think it was a good one. We had some right-side damage and it was good to come in and make sure that was OK rather than to face the opposite of that, cutting down a tire and have a day like we did in Talladega. So I think it was the right move.”
 
Erik Jones climbed from 35th to take third. Brian Scott and Ryan Blaney completed the top five.
 
Jones started near the rear of the field because Drew Herring qualified the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota on the pole while Jones remained in Charlotte.
 
By the Lap 60 competition caution, Jones had raced into the top 10, but couldn’t find enough speed in the ensuing laps to advance past third.
 
“We worked ourselves into a good position,” Jones said. “A long day coming from the back.”
 
Buescher — who raced outside the top 10 in both XFINITY Series Iowa races last season — merely needed to come from the second row.
 
He’d reluctantly accepted the waning laps would mostly entail driving in “points mode,” as Dillon had pitted late after running in the top eight most of the day.
 
“I hate points racing,” Buescher said. “I despise it. When that caution came out — watched it happen right in front of me — it was like, ‘All right, this is it. This is what we need. We need to come in and get some tires and get back rolling here.’”
 
That he did, right to the top, for now, at least.
 
“This is big,” Buescher said.
 
Black Flag: The race was marred by a temper-stoked wreck. Brennan Poole — who felt rival J.J. Yeley had struck him intentionally early in the race — spun Yeley out on lap 153. Yeley’s car sustained damage, but he was unharmed. Poole drew the black flag and told the Motorsports Racing Network, “it happens.” Yeley said the early-race encounter was unintentional and described his mood as “very furious.”
 
“Hopefully NASCAR gets ahold of him before I do,” Yeley added.

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Two on-track incidents see Poole get parked, called to hauler at Iowa

NEWTON, Iowa — One of the most famous quotes from the iconic baseball movie "The Sandlot" goes as follows: "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die."
 
If NASCAR XFINITY Series rookie Brennan Poole had been in the film, perhaps it might’ve gone a little something like this: "Heroes get remembered … as the driver who you need to pay back once you get back out on the track."
 
The HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi driver was black-flagged and parked in the garage for retaliation from an earlier incident with J.J. Yeley – who he later expressed his adoration for — in the 3M 250 at Iowa Speedway.

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"(Yeley’s) kind of a hero to me … Hate that it happened between me and JJ," Poole said in the garage area after he’d been taken off the track. "He’s a guy I looked up to a lot when I was racing quarter-midgets. … Just tough racing. Just a little bummed it happened between me and him. Just unfortunate. I really felt like we had a shot at it; we’ll never know now."
 
A few minutes later, Poole expanded on his comments and appeared to indicate that the second incident on Lap 151 — which put Yeley’s No. 28 into the wall, crunching the hood and ending the veteran driver’s day – was more than just rough racing.
 
It was retaliation.
 
"He just deliberately crashed me like five laps into the race when there’s 245 laps left. There’s no sense in that," Poole said before heading to the NASCAR hauler to speak with officials. "It costs us a lot of money to be out here. DC Solar is putting everything on the line to build a brand. I’m trying to make myself known in this sport so I can stay here and then one of my heroes just deliberately crashed me five laps into the race. Just doesn’t make sense.
 
"I feel like it’s pretty common sense to know that you’ve got 245 to go, like, ‘What are you doing?’ So we fixed the car, I got back to him and we just got into it. Just part of racing. Hate it happened between me and JJ but it’s just how it goes sometimes."
 
In these situations, the drivers involved rarely see it in the same light, and Sunday was no different.
 
Yeley was firm in saying that early on when the initial contact happened in the early stages of the race, his Toyota Camry just got loose off of Turn 2 and he "tried to tuck it behind him and just barely clipped him. Obviously nothing intentional. I’m not just going to wreck somebody on Lap 15. It’s just a stupid thing to do.
 
"Obviously he was upset and instead of just talking to us like a man after the race, he came back out there and took a good finish away from a guy with a small team," said Yeley, who finished 34th. "We don’t have a lot of cars and obviously he’s got no issue unloading another bullet for next week. Very furious. Hopefully NASCAR gets a hold of him before I do."

A NASCAR spokesperson said after the race Sunday that there would be no penalty to Poole for his actions Sunday.
 
In what was a very aggressive race overall, the Yeley/Poole incident still felt especially odd and out of place. The duo each said positive and negative things about each other.
 
"I don’t know (if that’s just racing). I’ve raced him pretty clean throughout the year," Yeley added. "I even congratulated him at Texas because we raced all night long together and had no issues. I thought he did a fantastic job. It’s racing, but sometimes you understand that stuff happens. And again, when it’s Lap 15 and we’re back in 20th, you have to understand that it’s nothing intentional. It’s very disappointing. I haven’t been in that situation in a very long time where someone wants to come get you.
 
"For a guy like that, as a rookie, to go out there and do that thing kind of … it sucks.

"The shoe will be on the other foot before too long."