Posted on by Zack Albert

NASCAR XFINITY Series champ will run five Sprint Cup races in 2015

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RELATED: Elliott’s 2015 preview | Gordon says final full-time season to be in 2015

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Before Thursday afternoon’s presentation from Hendrick Motorsports, five director’s chairs stood empty on the stage, one earmarked for team owner Rick Hendrick and the rest for his four drivers. One chair rested to the side, awaiting its moment to join the group.

In the same way, Chase Elliott has waited for his seat in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. And now his time is just around the corner.

Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that Elliott, the defending NASCAR XFINITY Series champion, will join the sport’s premier circuit full-time in 2016 after running a partial schedule of five races this season in the No. 25 Chevrolet. In making the step forward, Elliott, 19, will take over the Hendrick-owned No. 24 Chevrolet made famous by four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who announced last week that this will be his last full-time season in NASCAR’s top division.

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Elliott said he was informed of his impending promotion to Sprint Cup by a phone call from Hendrick, shortly after Gordon made his intentions known to his team. As big a shock as news of Gordon’s decision was, Elliott said the piece of the story involving him was an even bigger stunner.

"That’s a phone call I was not expecting that day. That is for sure," Elliott said during the final leg of the annual Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom. "I didn’t know anything about Jeff’s announcement until that morning and to have Mr. Hendrick tell me that he wanted me to be that person to go in and drive that car whenever Jeff got done was just an unbelievable phone call — one that I was not expecting and something that I couldn’t have dreamt happening."

News of Elliott’s plans comes one day before the induction of his father, Bill Elliott, into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The elder Elliott, the 1988 champion and a 44-time winner in NASCAR’s premier series, and his wife, Cindy, have offered support for his son’s racing efforts through the Late Model ranks, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and eventually the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series — a crucial, thoughtful upbringing that weighed heavily into Hendrick’s decision to sign the youngster to his team’s developmental driver program in 2011.

All the while, the younger Elliott’s quick ascent to stock-car fame rejuvenated their small hometown community of Dawsonville, Georgia, which signaled each accomplishment with a shrill blare from siren mounted atop the Dawsonville Pool Room, an area institution and haven of Elliott racing memorabilia. Now the community — including the father best known as "Awesome Bill" — has two reasons to be proud on consecutive days.

RELATED: Gordon says No. 24 team in good hands | See how the No. 24 torch was passed

"No way," Bill Elliott told NASCAR.com when asked if he thought this moment would come this soon in his son’s career. "I mean, you hoped it, you wished it, but for it to actually happen, it’s like, ‘Wake me up. Am I dreaming or what?’ Chase has done a great job, and Mr. Hendrick has just … the man’s done everything he said he would do, and I have never met anybody with the integrity that man has."

While the younger Elliott has an appreciation for this father’s accomplishments, he’s been able to create a new chapter to the family’s racing tradition. Now Elliott inherits another legacy, following a legend who has helped forge stock-car racing’s identity and direction over the course of a decorated 22-year career in the sport’s top series.

Despite both of those rich connections to the racing history, Elliott insists he’ll be his own man as he makes his way to the sport’s top levels. It’s a heady, fresh approach that has commanded Gordon’s respect as he prepares to hand over the wheel of the No. 24.

"He’s light-years ahead of where I was at 19," Gordon said. "I think Bill, being as experienced as he has been in winning races and the championship, and then Cindy and Bill together, I just think they did an amazing job with this young man, the way he handles himself, the things that he thinks about and the things that he says as well as what he does on the track. He’s the total package, and I didn’t have that at 19, I didn’t. I definitely had a lot of growing up to do, and the Cup Series will help you grow up in a hurry. That’s why I’m so excited to watch what he does."

RELATED: Gordon calls Elliott the ‘total package’ | Elliott’s championship timeline

To help Elliott get acclimated to his first taste of NASCAR’s big leagues, the team announced a five-race schedule for 2014. The second-generation driver is slated to make his Sprint Cup debut March 29 at Martinsville Speedway, then compete April 25 at Richmond International Raceway, May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, July 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Sept. 6 at Darlington Raceway.

Kenny Francis, who moved to the role of vehicle technical director for Hendrick in the offseason, will serve as crew chief for Elliott’s five-race slate this season. In 2016, Elliott will work with longtime Hendrick crew chief Alan Gustafson, a 19-time winner in NASCAR’s premier series who has been atop the pit box for Gordon for the last four seasons.

While Gustafson has prepared himself for Gordon’s last full-fledged shot at NASCAR’s top prize, he’s also embracing what the future holds with Elliott in 2016.

"With his age and the maturity, you just see a tremendous amount of potential," Gustafson said. "That’s the thing that I just think about is the opportunity to really do some amazing things."

MORE: See the paint scheme for Elliott’s 2015 Cup car

For Ray Evernham, now a consultant for Hendrick Motorsports‘ competition department, Elliott’s move carries extra meaning on several levels. Gordon’s growth into a championship-winning driver came with Evernham calling the shots as his first crew chief on the No. 24 team in NASCAR’s top series. Evernham later left Hendrick to form his own team, leading the effort to bring Dodge back to NASCAR with Elliott — driving his familiar No. 9 — as his lead driver.

To see all those bonds overlap, ultimately leading to Thursday’s announcement, brought his involvement full circle.

"For me, it’s really a special thing because the two cars that have been special in my life are the 24 and the 9," Evernham told NASCAR.com, "and now rolling those together — the Elliott family, the Gordon family and the Hendrick family — it’s just amazing when you think of the racing heritage there. … He’s surrounded by a lot of people who believe in him that have years of racing experience."

For 2015, Elliott’s Sprint Cup entries will carry No. 25, with NAPA — his XFINITY Series sponsor — as the primary backer. The team said sponsorship for 2016 would be announced at a later date.

When Gordon announced last Thursday that his days as a full-time driver were coming to an end, speculation on a replacement immediately centered on Elliott, who became the youngest champion in the NASCAR XFINITY Series during his rookie year in 2014. Elliott is entering his second season with JR Motorsports, a team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. with Hendrick affiliations.

RELATED: Junior on Elliott’s 2014 success

Both Hendrick and Earnhardt said last season that the timing seemed right for Elliott to advance to the top rung in the NASCAR development ladder with a limited Sprint Cup campaign in 2015 before making the full-time jump. The arrangement announced Thursday allows Elliott to make that move while benefiting from another year of seasoning in the XFINITY Series for JRM.

Despite Elliott’s age, Hendrick said watching his poise and ability to lead his team gave him no hesitation about making that fateful phone call, just one week ago.

"I am amazed at the maturity he has," Hendrick said. "I just can’t believe some of the things that come out of his mouth. When you think he’s going to answer it one way, and he just comes up with something totally personal that’s from inside. He is so comfortable in his skin. He doesn’t feel the pressure of being an Elliott, and he doesn’t feel the pressure of being behind Gordon. He wants to be Chase Elliott, not Bill Elliott, not Jeff Gordon. You don’t have to talk to him very long to figure that out."

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Furniture Row Racing shows support for driver’s girlfriend battling cancer

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MORE: Pearn prepared to be Truex Jr.’s crew chief

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For all the de rigueur optimism that comes with preseason media sessions, Martin Truex Jr. had all the reason to truly say — without cliché — that he was excited.

Truex said Thursday on the Charlotte Media Tour presented by Technocom that longtime girlfriend Sherry Pollex underwent her last rigorous chemotherapy treatment Monday for ovarian cancer. He described her recovery as the next step in "a long journey," and expressed his hope that a return to normalcy wasn’t far away.

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The news was just a small portion of the Furniture Row Racing presentation Thursday in the Charlotte Convention Center, but it was an important one. Truex said that even as he battled through a rocky first year with the Colorado-based team, one in which he finished a career-worst 24th place in the final 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points, standing beside Pollex through her treatment gave him a dose of perspective.

"I was glad last year when it was over because I knew what we had to battle through throughout this winter," Truex said. "Racing’s tough, but when racing is as tough as it was last year, all you can do is continue to work hard and look forward. There were days where it sucked to be at the race track, especially at the end of the season when she was going through her thing, but there was never a time when I didn’t want to be there or didn’t feel I should be there.

"Honestly, there were times last year when I felt like when Thursday came around and it was time to go to the race track, I really enjoyed that. I needed that getaway; I needed to get to the race track and take out some frustration and get with the guys and be a part of the team, even though it wasn’t going good. At times, it was still therapeutic for me just to be there and be doing my thing and getting in the zone and trying to forget about everything else that was going on."

Pollex announced Aug. 13 her diagnosis with ovarian cancer, two days before she underwent surgery to battle the disease. Though Truex said he found a sort of refuge in competing, he skipped that Friday of practice and qualifying at Michigan International Speedway to be with Pollex through the procedure.

Truex called the outpouring of support "special — there’s no other way to say it," and thanked the tight-knit community of drivers, teams and fans for the thoughts and prayers throughout the extended fight. But the support also came from even closer to home, with his car owner, Barney Visser.

"When Sherry got diagnosed, he called me and said, ‘You don’t have to race. You can take off the next 10 races and the car will be there for you next year,’" Truex said. "That’s the kind of guy he is, and to have somebody like that stand behind you and say, ‘Hey, we’re here for you and we’ll do whatever it takes,’ it means the world to me, and I’m going to do my best this year to make that up to him."

Finding redemption on the track will involve making strides past a season that produced just one top-five and one lap led in the entire 36-race schedule for the No. 78 Chevrolet. The team intends to combat that in part through the promotion of lead engineer Cole Pearn to the role of crew chief, but also in getting Truex more acclimated in his second Furniture Row season.

But racing aside, Truex said he’s found more to focus on through his journey with Pollex.

"She’s really inspired me to be a better person to see the things she’s been through, to appreciate things more," Truex said. "We all get inspired by people at some point, but when you see somebody go through that and it’s the person you love more than anything in the world, it takes it to a new level. For me, it’s been a crazy, wild ride, but I don’t think I would change it for anything."

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Bruce: Having Elliott take over the No. 24 car from Gordon is fitting

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RELATED: Full coverage of Gordon’s final full-time season | Elliott to drive No. 24 car in 2016

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR’s present and its future collided on stage at the Charlotte Convention Center Thursday with Jeff Gordon and Chase Elliott among the five Hendrick Motorsports drivers closing out this week’s Charlotte Motors Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom.

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A week ago, Gordon announced his plans to run one more full season in NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup Series.

With four championships and 92 career wins, the desire to perform at the highest level is still there, but Gordon often said he’d step down before time took its toll, and he’s proven to be a man of his word once again.

Thursday, Gordon’s successor was introduced as Hendrick Motorsports officials announced that Elliott would make five Sprint Cup starts this season before taking over Gordon’s familiar No. 24 Chevrolet in ’16.

Elliott, 19, won NASCAR’s XFINITY Series title this past year. He also graduated high school.

It’s fitting. Gordon’s premier series debut came in a race won by Elliott’s father, 1988 series champion Bill Elliott, in 1992.

The elder Elliott is headed for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, one of five inductees to be honored Friday evening. The son will be there. No doubt Gordon will be as well.

Along with his five Cup starts this season, Elliott will also attempt to defend his ’14 title with JR Motorsports. The organization has become a successful proving ground for talent between the JRM and Hendrick organizations.

RELATED: Gordon calls Elliott the ‘total package’ | No. 24 torch passed at Hendrick team meeting

"I knew Jeff at some point would retire," Hendrick said Thursday, "but I had no idea Chase would mature as fast and be as good as quick.

"The thing that I really didn’t know about him was could he handle success? When you’re 18, 19 years old, can you handle success? Does it go to your head? Do you get smarter than everybody else?"

Elliott, he said, has proven to be "rock solid."

Former car owner James Finch had told Hendrick to keep an eye on Elliott nearly five years ago, and Hendrick watched as the youngster progressed from one series to the next.

The team owner has a remarkable record of identifying talent and pairing a driver with the right combination of personnel to form a winning combination on the track. Rarely have his hunches failed to pay off.

"I’ve got a horseshoe on that one, I’ll tell you," he said, probably only half joking. Unearthing talent is, after all, often a combination of both timing and luck.

He found Gordon at Atlanta Motor Speedway, enamored with the youngster’s car control during a second-tier event.

More than two decades later, he was paying Gordon, 43, the highest of compliments as the two prepare to team up for a final season.

"I want to thank Jeff publicly for all that he’s done for me personally, for NASCAR, for Hendrick Motorsports," Hendrick said. "We all owe him so much.

"He has been like a member of my family. I can’t put into words what the guy means to me."

Much will be expected of Elliott due to his father’s success and the seat he’s scheduled to fill.

But there is no hesitation in Hendrick’s voice when he says Elliott will be a good fit for his organization as well as for the sport.

From a competitive standpoint, he said he expects the transition to go smoothly.

The Sprint Cup stars that often drop down a series to compete don’t intimidate him and "he races them clean," Hendrick said. "He’s not trying to prove anything.

"The biggest endorsement is when a Kyle Busch or Kevin Harvick or Clint Bowyer comes up to me and says, ‘hey, that kid is the real deal. I’ve raced around a lot of young people and I’d rather race against him than half the veterans out here.’

"When you have guys like that endorse him for no reason, you know he’s respected on the track."

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Richard Childress Racing driver finished second in 2014’s final standings

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — His team "stepped up" in 2014 and Ryan Newman said Thursday that he sees no reason the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 team can’t continue to not only improve, but challenge for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

"There was a point right around May when we got caught looking in the wrong direction and just were behind," Newman said during the fourth and final day of this year’s Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom.

"They did an awesome job of continually stepping up, bringing better and more competitive pieces to the race track. Everyone at RCR stepped up. … It was an awesome thing to be a part of."

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While he did not win a race in ’14, thus ending a four-year run of making the trip to Victory Lane once each season, consistency throughout the bulk of the year helped Newman qualify for the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and he was one of only four drivers to advance into the final, championship-determining round at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Although he came up just short of the title, eventually finishing second to Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, the effort further convinced the 37-year-old that the move to RCR prior to the ’14 season had been the right one.

And the team, led by crew chief Luke Lambert, should only get better.

"No reason for it not to," said Newman. "Even though there were no (wins) in the win column, we achieved some amazing things for a first-year organization … no reason we can’t keep that incline going."

The potential for success, he said, was there from the beginning, "but I didn’t think it would explode the way it did.

"I think we all saw gunpowder laying on the floor, but we didn’t know who was going to light it, when it was going to light and how much of it was going to go off. I think every bit of it went off, and then some."

Changes to the rules package for 2015, the use of new technology to officiate pit road and a lack of testing have raised questions about how the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season will play out.

That being the case, Lambert said RCR, as well as teams across the board, will be relying heavily on the in-house tools and technology at their disposal to get a base for the new year.

"From what we’re seeing, the speeds aren’t going to be dramatically different," he said. "We’re expecting to see really good racing, but that’s what we’ll have to wait until Atlanta (where the rules package will first come into play) to see."

Having less horsepower and downforce won’t exactly be new, Newman said, but instead will be "a return to where we were a few years ago."

The difference now, he said, will come from the static ride height rule that was put into play in ’14.

"Now I think the cars will be more competitive in dirty air whereas they weren’t then," Newman said. "They had less downforce but they had (higher) static heights so whenever you got them in dirty air, they wanted to come up and disconnect themselves from the race track. Every comment was ‘the car is out of the race track, all four tires aren’t working for me.’ I think as we get back to that level of downforce with the static ride height and the amount of underbody downforce, the racing will be … better.

"Goodyear still has to provide the ultimate tire for every situation. And that’s not easy because those situations can change. …That is a huge task for them, but that’s the ultimate answer.

"I’ve always said the tires are the only thing that touches the race track from my car, so it has to be the connecting device to make the racing as great as it can possibly be."

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Organization to utilize Team Penske alliance in 2015

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Leavine Family Racing team owner Bob Leavine recalls when he signed his driver Michael McDowell with a fondness that stems from respect on and off the track.

"We interviewed four drivers and I had seen Michael in the garage,” Levine said during Charlotte Media Tour on Wednesday. “The time he took with fans was in line with our family values, the way he treated people.

“A good driver, and he wasn’t driving the best cars in the world. I knew that we didn’t have many, but what we were putting on the track was good. So I just thought that it would be a good fit from what we were trying to accomplish."

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Fast forward a year and the small family-owned Sprint Cup Series team is headed in a direction that both the driver and team are excited about.

McDowell, 29, is expected to run a minimum of 20 Sprint Cup Series races in 2015, trumping last year’s number. Last season, he qualified for all but three Cup events that he attempted, nabbing notable finishes at Daytona (seventh) and Bristol (18th), a victory that McDowell said he would have celebrated by popping champagne at his hauler if any had been available.

“The thing about that (Bristol) race for us is we ran where we finished most of the day,” McDowell said with a smile. “For a small Sprint Cup team to be in the teens and the low 20s, that’s a great day for us.

“For us, to run where we’ve run all night and to finish it off was definitely a confidence builder and momentum for us.”

The No. 95 driver appears to be sticking with the big boys for now, despite his strong finishes in the few races run with XFINITY Series in 2014.

“I love running in the XFINITY Series. I’ve had a lot of great runs in the last few years,” McDowell said. “… I hope that I’ll have a few opportunities again to run some races, but there’s nothing permanent on the schedule right now. But having a part-time schedule in the Sprint Cup Series gives me a little bit of flexibility.

“Now with a tighter alliance with Team Penske and a tighter alliance with Ford, it’s eliminated some of the opportunities with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota and those things.”

This season marks the second season of the organization’s technical alliance with Team Penske, a partnership that Leavine thinks will aid the 14-person team on improving from last season.

“It’s just a different mindset,” Leavine said. “… Roger (Penske) wasn’t willing to accept anything less than perfect. And that’s contagious."

The fever seems to have spread to the organization’s shop in Concord, North Carolina, as Leavine describes the team’s readiness to improve and be even more competitive next season.

And that’s just what McDowell plans to do.

“We want to be in the mix and we want to be in the conversation and we feel like at the end of the year last year, we were getting to that point,” McDowell said. “But we’d just like to be able to do that more consistently. And that’s the focus this year.

"You can’t always hit home runs, but if we could hit doubles every game and eventually we’re going to get a few home runs in there and that’s really what we’re focused on.”

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NASCAR on NBC crew go in-depth on Gordon’s choice to step away

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MORE: NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France statement on Gordon | Gordon hub page
RELATED: Drivers react to Gordon’s announcement | Fans share favorite Gordon memories

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — 2015 marks the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season at the start of a 10-year relationship between NASCAR and NBC Sports. It also marks Jeff Gordon‘s final one.

The NASCAR on NBC broadcasting team of Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Rick Allen touched on Gordon’s recent announcement that this would be his last full-time Cup season on Tuesday during Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom, each with their own spin on it, as a driver, crew chief and broadcaster.

The trio gets into why Gordon would have made this decision to leave NASCAR at the top of his game, what he’s been missing out on in his personal life and how they think he’ll fare in 2015.

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Jeff Burton, 21-time Sprint Cup Series winner

"The starting age is starting sooner. When a guy can start sooner, that means they’re probably going to retire sooner. You love what you’re doing, but it’s a really stressful way to make a living. What I came to believe was the season was perpetual; it never stopped. Everybody looks at it where there’s a 2014 and 2015 schedule — and there are, for points — but from a lifestyle standpoint and a commitment standpoint, it’s from January to January. It doesn’t stop. So when you do that for 20 years, it’s hard to bring that same level of intensity that you did on year 20 as you did on year one. I think that’s why you see drivers retiring.

"To be quite honest, this generation of drivers has been really fortunate to be able, financially, to retire. In the sixties, that didn’t happen. The fact that we’re starting younger, the fact that, financially, it’s better in the sport than it’s ever been. The fact that it is very intense. It’s hard on your family, it is a commitment not only for the drivers that the crew chiefs and everybody involved, it’s a commitment for the families, too. When you don’t get to see your kid graduate, when you don’t get to see your daughter leave to go to the prom and all those kinds of things start happening later in life as you have children, they start to mean more. So all of those things start to factor in.

"It is a great thing when a guy like Jeff Gordon can retire when he’s at the top of the game. He was a real serious contender for the championship (in 2014) and to be able to say ‘Hey, this is my last year,’ I think that’s a great thing, it’s wonderful that he can do it, but there’s a lot of factors that go into that."

RELATED: NBC Sports ‘thrilled’ to be part of NASCAR coverage

Steve Letarte, 15-time Sprint Cup Series-winning crew chief

"The sport is difficult. The Cup garage is one of the most competitive places I’ve ever seen. For a driver or crew chief, you have to bring your A-game week in and week out, 36 races over the course of the year. Jeff’s point was accurate — the season never ends. We might not race for a few weeks or a few months but there’s so much work that has to be done over those few months that really you never get a chance to step away and I wouldn’t give back a single year of my career as a crew chief, I loved every race, every minute of it. But just like Jeff said, I missed my little girl’s first communion.

"There’s a lot of things you have to sacrifice and basically you have to get to a point where you look in a mirror and decide ‘Am I as good as I can be? Does my team deserve better? Am I bringing all the effort I can bring?’ and I felt like I did that last year but at some point, I felt like I would be the hold up to my race team. Dale Jr. was committed, the guys on the team were committed. They make the same sacrifices and if you can’t bring the same intensity as you brought last year or the year before then you really have to look in the mirror and make another decision.

"I mean, to be quite frank, who knew what possibilities were out there for me, but the NBC team is great and I’m glad to be on it and it really gives me an opportunity to still cover a sport that I love at what seems to be a cut back schedule compared to being a crew chief but my second family is still in the NASCAR garage and I still get to see them for a big chunk of the year."

RELATED: NBC, Offerman ‘park and wreck’ way into NASCAR

Rick Allen, NBC Sports commentator and lead race announcer

"I’m actually already trying to write the script for when Jeff Gordon wins the championship at Homestead in his final race in the Sprint Cup Series. There are some incredible storylines coming into the 2015 season that we get to cover. The excitement level, I think, is growing continuously and I can’t wait to be a part of that."

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Veteran ready for return to Sprint Cup Series, working with Almirola

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With its first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup appearance behind it, a new, decorated driver in tow and the dust settling on a massive race shop relocation, it’s obvious that Richard Petty Motorsports is in the midst of a progressive transformation.

The team, which saw Aric Almirola pick up his first career premier series victory last July at Daytona International Speedway to vault the No. 43 Ford into the sport’s playoffs, recently moved its headquarters to an 80,000 square foot building in Mooresville, North Carolina, completely redesigning how it proceeds with day-to-day operations to really hammer the focus on a "one-team approach" — with a two-car race shop and 35 new employees.

Gone are the separate offices and garages of old. Crew chiefs, car chiefs and engineers now all interact openly with each other at their desks, while shop employees work side-by-side, knowing a set of shared goals is in place for the 2015 season.

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It’s a new way of doing things that runs all the way up to the drivers themselves, Almirola and the incoming former Indianapolis 500 winner, Sam Hornish Jr.

"I think Sam brings a lot of versatility," said team owner and seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty. "Marcos (Ambrose) was super on road courses and stuff, but he never got the hang of being ready. He could have good races and bad races and good times in the races, but I think Sam will be much more consistent with it.

"In our testing, (Hornish and Almirola) both felt the same thing in the car. Whether they’d change the air pressure or they’d change the springs and both of them feel the same thing. With Marcos, he was one way and Aric was the other way and so it was hard to compare them. Now we’ve got two cars that we can sit down and say, ‘OK, you try this and I’ll try that and if it works, we’ll put it on the other car.’ That should be an advantage for all of us."

Hornish Jr., the 2013 XFINITY Series runner-up, has three full-time Sprint Cup Series seasons and 131 starts under his belt and will replace Ambrose in the No. 9 car. He comes to RPM after racing part-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2014 in an effort to position himself for a competitive Sprint Cup ride in 2015 — which appears to be exactly what he’s done.

It was announced Wednesday during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom that, despite having sold sponsorship for just 10 of the schedule’s 36 races thus far, Hornish will be running a full slate, starting with the season opening Daytona 500. With less than a month to go before the Great American Race, the lack of sponsorship is daunting but offers a view into what the King and Co. think of Hornish’s talent behind the wheel. Performance on the track comes first, sponsorship later.

For an organization and owner that have long been at the helm of motorsports innovation, the investments that RPM is making to grow and build for the future is clear. Its current focus is on testing new ideas and implementing them into the cars, something that they haven’t necessarily beem able to do in recent years.

With the tools and space that the new shop allows it to explore and take advantage of, combined with two drivers that are very much on the same page to start the season — something that Petty alluded to not being the case with Almirola and Ambrose — it should give RPM the flexibility to continue its growth from last season to expand its goals and increase performance in the coming years.

"Aric came to all three of the tests and we got the opportunity to jump back and forth out of the car to see what each of us liked as far as driving goes and I feel like that’s one of the main benefits right now," said Hornish, who led the eighth-most XFINITY Series laps in 2014 despite running just eight of the schedule’s 33 races.

"It seems like we both want similar things out of the race car. … When we get to the race track, hopefully we’ll be able to cover twice as much ground as far as finding what’s going to be a direction to head and make our cars better each weekend."

Hornish’s last full-time Cup season was in 2010 — in a Dodge, no less — so there’s certainly going to be some adjusting to do in the early going, especially considering he hasn’t competed full-time at all since 2013. He knows there’s going to be bumps in the road, but he’s willing to put in the work necessary to make his mark on this avenue of motorsports before the 35-year-old starts to think about wrapping up his racing career.

"Going back to the Cup Series full-time, it’s a lot different than when I did it last time. I feel like we’ve got a lot of things to look forward to," Hornish said.

"I want to be a part of building something. … I feel like the best thing that I can do in the situation that I’m in right now is to try to be a good leader and keep people excited about what’s going on and to move the program forward because I know that I’m not going to be racing forever. If I can get to the point where I leave it better than when I found it, I feel like that’s my main goal."

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Looking back at the 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee’s career

MORE: NASCAR Hall of Fame profile of Rex White | NASCAR Hall of Fame by class

(Note: This release is part of a series in advance of the 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Jan. 30, broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network, Motor Racing Network Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Bill Elliott, Fred Lorenzen, Wendell Scott, Joe Weatherly and Rex White are the five 2015 inductees.)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.– Over the years, NASCAR premier series champions have come in all shapes and sizes – tall, short, muscular and lean. The single constant? It’s impossible to judge a book by its cover.

Based upon first impressions, Rex White – at 5 feet 4 inches, weighing just 135 pounds and with his right leg withered by childhood polio – might have seemed the unlikeliest championship contender of all.

White, however, was tough as nails fearing neither competitor nor track conditions. He won the 1960 premier series title and posted 28 victories over five seasons, finishing among the top five in nearly half of his 233 starts.

"He looked more like a jockey than a race car driver," fellow competitor Buddy Baker told the Gaston Gazette, "but he lived large once they started the race. On short tracks, he was very aggressive. He didn’t mind going in the turn with (NASCAR Hall of Famer and three-time premier series champion) Lee Petty and saying, ‘I’m inside and if you come down we’re not going to agree on stuff.’

"He raced hard."

NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, the 1983 premier series champion, said, "I admired Rex as a race driver because he was a little guy. I started out small. Seeing him winning encouraged me to chase my dream."

What might have been a handicap to many only served as motivation to White, born Aug. 17, 1929 in Taylorsville, N.C.

"Most of the lessons I have learned (from childhood illness) have stayed with me all my life," said White in his autobiography "Gold Thunder," written with Dr. Anne B. Jones. "The biggest one was how to conquer fear."

White learned to drive at age six, driving a neighbor’s truck in surrounding fields. Two years later he was working on his family’s Ford Model T. “I was unaware the car on which I labored represented hope to people around me (and) frustration to those trying to stop illegal moonshine," said White. "I saw automobiles as transportation, not the symbol of an upcoming billion-dollar sport."

White dropped out of school, moving to the Washington D.C., area where he found employment as a cook and, after marriage, a service station job. A poster advertising stock car races took White to Lanham (Maryland) Speedway where he caught on as an unpaid crew member for 1952 NASCAR Modified champion Frankie Schneider.

A year later, White returned to the track with a 1937 Ford purchased for $600 lettered "X." He won his heat race, the semi-main and the feature. "I’d never won a trophy at anything," said White.

White made his premier series debut in 1956 on Daytona’s beach/road course. In 1958, he teamed with crew chief Louis Clements in an "off the books" program by GM’s Chevrolet Division. They won twice in 1958 and five times the following year. The 1959 season also saw the debut of White’s iconic No. 4 gold and white Chevrolet.

The 1960 season was the first in which White ran a full schedule, going to the post only after he and Clement built a car for a competitor, the sale of which netted $2,000 for their own Chevrolet.

White won six times finishing 35 of 40 races among the top 10. White’s ninth-place finish at Birmingham, Alabama on Aug. 3 was his worst performance in the year’s final 15 races. The championship was a runaway, White beating NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty by nearly 4,000 points.

"The thing about Rex is he thinks," said Clements in a 1960 interview with Sports Illustrated. "When he’s out on the track, he’s planning and figuring out which cars he has to race to stay ahead."

Car owner and engine builder Smokey Yunick, quoted in the same article, said, "Rex is not a cautious driver but he know when to use caution."

White didn’t disagree. "I couldn’t run quite as fast as some of those other guys," he said. "So long as I was smart and kept running; if any of those other guys had trouble, I had a chance."

White nearly defended his title in 1961 winning seven times but finished second to NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett. He added two more top-10 championship finishes before retiring at the conclusion of the 1964 season. Between 1959 and the 1963 seasons, White won more races than any other driver. He won 36 premier series poles – at least one in eight consecutive seasons – and finished second in NASCAR’s Short Track late model championship in 1959.

In retirement, White has owned an automobile dealership and for 25 years a trucking company, both in the Atlanta area where at age 85 he continues to reside. Named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998, White holds membership in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame and the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.

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Young driver to pilot No. 4 Chevrolet for JD Motorsports

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Ross Chastain has inked a deal to drive for JD Motorsports with Gary Keller and pilot the team’s No. 4 Chevrolet in the NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2015, the team announced.

Chastain will have sponsorship from Watermelon.org for his car.

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The 22-year-old Alva, Florida native ran seven races last season in what was then-called the NASCAR Nationwide Series. His best finish came with a 10th-place result at Kentucky Speedway in September. Last season also marked Chastain’s debut in the series.

In addition, Chastain has driven in 44 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events over the course of four seasons. In those races, he has five top-fives, 12 top-10s and two Keystone Light Pole Awards.

"Ross has an amazing level of experience for a young driver," team owner Johnny Davis said in a team release. "He brings a lot to our team. We’re looking forward to seeing how far we can go this year with his input and the support of Watermelon.org and the National Watermelon Association. It’s going to be a big year."

For his part, Chastain is excited for the season to get started.

"It’s great to be involved with Watermelon.org, and we want to take them along for a great ride this year," Chastain said in a team release. "I’m looking forward to working with Johnny and his guys and making a mark this year in XFINITY."

Chastain joins Landon Cassill and Harrison Rhodes in the JD Motorsports stable of XFINITY Series drivers. Rhodes announced on Twitter two weeks ago that he was joining JD Motorsports.

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Toy State partners with No. 7, starting with the Great American Race

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Toy State will be the primary sponsor on Tommy Baldwin Racing‘s No. 7 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car for the first five races of the season, beginning with the Daytona 500 (Feb. 22, 1 p.m. ET, FOX).

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The company announced its plans on Tuesday and said it will announce a driver in the next few weeks.

Acquiring radio-controlled toy company Nikko in 2014, Toy State will reintroduce Nikko-branded R/C vehicles to the U.S. market this year under the Toy State umbrella. Nikko has been a global leader in R/C toys since 1958.

"Toy State has been a leader in the toy car business for 30 years, and they are everything the TBR team looks for in a partner — innovative, competitive and willing to challenge the status quo," Tommy Baldwin Jr., president of Tommy Baldwin Racing, said. "We’re excited to have them as the No. 7 car’s primary sponsor."

In 2014, Baldwin fielded Michael Annett and Reed Sorenson in the No. 7 and No. 36 Chevrolets respectively full time. Annett joined HScott Motorsports earlier this week with sponsor Pilot Flying J. Dave Blaney, Mike Bliss and Bobby Labonte also ran TBR cars last year.

In six seasons and 321 races, Tommy Baldwin Racing has a top five and two top-10 finishes with Blaney scoring a third-place result for the team at Talladega in October 2011.