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2014 Sunoco Rookie of the Year honored by comparisons to Jeff Gordon

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Fresh off of his Rolex 24 at Daytona win, 2014 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Kyle Larson appeared on Thursday at the Charlotte Media Tour presented by Technocom to discuss his gains from his rookie season and what’s prepared him to make the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field.

In 2014, while fans and media were buzzing about the return of the No. 3 to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and how then-rookie Austin Dillon would pilot the legendary car, the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing driver might have been overlooked as a top contender.

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Week after week, Larson proved his capability of racing against NASCAR’s elite, finishing second to veteran drivers like Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.

During the team press conference, CGR co-owner Felix Sabates made a bold statement about Larson and teammate Jamie McMurray‘s Chase chances in 2015.

"I’ve never guaranteed anybody anything in racing," Sabates said. "But I’m going to guarantee both of these drivers will be in the Chase."

While Sabates’ statement puts great expectations on the young driver, Larson is looking forward to competing for a shot at the title, especially in a historical season for influential driver Jeff Gordon, who Larson is often compared to.

"It’s going to be really cool to be on the track this year knowing it’s (Gordon’s) last full season," Larson said. "And come Homestead once the checkered flag falls if I’m not the champion I hope he is."

Larson made it clear that he appreciates the opportunity to hopefully carry similarities of the four-time champ into his two-car team.

"I was a newborn when Jeff got in the 24," Larson said jokingly. "But a lot of people have told me that the 24 then, was the 42 now. They weren’t the biggest team in NASCAR and Jeff kind of took that and made it into what it is.

"The 24 is just legendary. It’s kind of like the 3 with Dale Earnhardt. Everyone knows the Rainbow 24 Dupont Chevrolet. It’s just a very recognizable car and driver. It’s a legendary team."

Though he never saw Victory Lane in 2014, in 36 races Larson notched eight top-five and 17 top-10 finishes. The 22-year-old California native surpassed Gordon’s and Richard Petty’s top-10s as a rookie and tied Dale Earnhardt’s total.

RELATED: See how Larson’s rookie year stacked up

"I got a lot of experience last year, running up front at the end of the year," Larson said. "Our team is a lot better. I’m smarter as a driver.

"I need to figure out how to get to the lead. It seems like I find the line that goes really fast and get to the leader and the leader moves up in front of me and then I can’t pass him. I just need to get to the lead."

Larson and CGR teammate McMurray had no issues holding the lead in the Rolex 24 at Daytona a week ago when after 24 hours, 740 laps and 2,634.4 miles, the tiring race came down to a seven-minute, 30-second sprint to the checkered flag that saw the No. 02 CGR Ford EcoBoost-powered Riley DP squeeze out a 1.333-second victory over the defending Rolex 24 champion No. 5 Action Express Chevrolet Corvette DP.

"It helped my confidence because I thought I was the worst driver (at the Rolex 24) in 2014 and I was really, really happy with how I did this year," Larson said. "I ran the fastest lap of our car during the race, where last year I was at least a second off the pace. I was happy with how it went and proud of myself."

Not only did Larson’s success boost morale within himself, but McMurray explained how it also generated motivation within the entire team.

"That experience, the 10 days that you’re together, there’s memories that last forever in there and friendships that are built in a short amount of time," McMurray said. "But to win it, that is something that we’re never going to forget, and it’s really cool that Kyle and I get to come back here a week later today and talk about it. It’s really special."

And although Larson will not be the driver to fill Gordon’s shoes, as it was announced Thursday that NASCAR XFINITY Series champion Chase Elliott will drive the No. 24 in 2016, the No. 42 driver looks forward to being friendly rivals with the up-and-comer as both drivers are often identified as the "next big thing."

MORE: Elliott to drive No. 24 car full-time in Sprint Cup Series starting in 2016

"Me and Chase are friends and he’s really, really good," Larson said. "I hope we have a rivalry in a competitive way because that means we’re both up front competing for wins.

"NASCAR is in a great spot right now with a lot of young drivers coming up and I think more rides will open up for guys to get into the Cup Series so it’s pretty neat and I feel like I made it at the perfect time. I’m happy for myself and all the other young drivers getting an opportunity these days."

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Hendrick Motorsports drivers discuss newest teammate

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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. — Jeff Gordon had been watching Chase Elliott for years.

Some say the young driver from Dawsonville, Georgia, reminded them of a young Gordon. Equipped with raw talent at a young age and a drive to succeed – not to mention an incredible pedigree – Elliott seemed like the next big star.

And for Gordon, he checked all the boxes.

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"When I’m looking for talented drivers – the ones that I’m thinking are championship-caliber," Gordon said at Charlotte Media Tour presented by Technocom on Thursday. "You’re looking for ones that improve throughout the race, handle a certain situation calmly or improve throughout the season. And he has all those qualities and then he gets out and says all the right things."

Team owner Rick Hendrick’s announcement of young Elliott’s move to the No. 24 car in 2016 was met with awe from the racing world and excited reactions from his newest teammates: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne.

Like Gordon, Earnhardt — Elliott’s XFINITY car owner at JR Motorsports — had been watching the budding star for years and anticipated the No. 9 driver’s move to Hendrick Motorsports for awhile.

"I think Chase is going to have a long career and to have a little part in that is something I can hang my hat on years down the road," said Earnhardt, who watched Elliott seize the XFINITY championship during his rookie season in the series. "I know Rick picked him out of a crowd and said ‘That guy is the guy’ at a very young age."

RELATED: Can Elliott defend XFINITY title? | Elliott’s championship timeline

The announcement also came as no surprise to Johnson.

"It just felt right," Johnson said. "It seemed right. I had a feeling it was coming, knew it was coming and it makes perfect sense.

"You can’t put anyone in the 24 for a lot of reasons and to have somebody with a father that accomplished so much, somebody that really understands and respects the sport.”

The six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion reflected on watching Gordon in his younger days and admiring him as a driver. Later on, he would come to respect him as a close friend and teammate. But while he recognizes that his longtime colleague is irreplaceable, Johnson looks to a new era with Elliott.

“Chase is a great fit to go in the car and the best thing is he knows he’s not trying to fill Jeff’s shoes," Johnson said. "He’s going to go out there and be Chase Elliott and just continue on in the history of the 24."

WATCH: Gordon says No. 24 car in good hands | Elliott not looking to ‘fill somebody’s shoes’

For Elliott’s soon-to-be shop-mate Kahne, Elliott is exactly what Hendrick has been searching for with his next driver.

"He’s everything that Mr. H likes," Kahne said. "So I feel like he’s a perfect fit to get in that 24 and do what Chase Elliott does. It’s going to be pretty neat to see him in the car."

Elliott’s task in 2016 is both daunting and thrilling for the young star. And Gordon can’t wait to watch his familiar vehicle piloting around NASCAR’s tracks from the unfamiliar sidelines.

"He’s the total package," Gordon said. "And it’s very exciting to see him be the driver that’s going to be driving the 24 car in the future."

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Driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet on second season: ‘We need to be in the Chase’

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Around this time last year, Austin Dillon‘s blood pressure was rising.

The then-defending NASCAR XFINITY Series champion was a few short weeks away from beginning his rookie season in the Sprint Cup Series — the big leagues — but even more cold-sweat-inducing was the car number that would be adorned on the side of his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet: NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt’s legendary No. 3.

With his second season upon him and his rookie stripe removed, Dillon exuded an aura of confidence, put-togetherness and relaxation on Thursday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom — at least for now.

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"There’s a lot of pressure any time you move to a new series," said Dillon, who immediately backed off the naysayers by winning the Coors Light Pole Award ahead of the 2014 Daytona 500. "Having the 3, there’s so many fans behind it and it was a great year to go through. Nothing crazy happened. This year, I think we’ve got to start getting crazy. We’ve got to start making things happen.

"When I say that, we need to be in the Chase; we need to be part of the chaos at the end of the year. I want to put more pressure on (myself) and you can more focus on the competition side of things. … People know how we approached that first year; I think we did it right. Now it’s time to make fire and go fast."

A big part of how Dillon and returning crew chief Gil Martin are trying to improve is in preparation, not only physically — which he’s determined to stay on top of — but also mentally.

"Mentally, it’s having more days at the shop. … Knowing what we’re going to do when we go through practices so we can be more organized with practices," Dillon said. "We were able to really scramble at certain points through the year and make our cars good when we struggled in practice. I think preparation this year, we want to be ready for those changes. We don’t want to be behind where we have to make a long shot or a Hail Mary at something. … I think that’s one thing that I’ve really told Gil and my guys. I want them to stay on me to stay focused and push me."

Dillon mentioned that a number of sponsorship appearances and NASCAR events having to do with the famous car number pulled him away from the health-conscious steps he took last offseason to get ready for his rookie year. He and his team have taken this into consideration, working diligently to keep Dillon and the No. 3 team on a more even-keeled schedule throughout November.

It should allow Dillon to maintain his consistency — his average finish of 17.5 ranked 15th in the series among full-time drivers, ahead of Chase drivers Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, AJ Allmendinger and Aric Almirola — the same consistency that projected Ryan Newman to the Championship 4, 50 yards shy of a title. That consistency also came in the form of completing 10,488 of 10,541 laps (99.5 percent), the second-most in the series.

The 24-year-old is also scheduled to run 20 XFINITY Series races in 2015, which he believes will help him figure out the ins-and-outs of his Cup ride. The new technical packages for Sprint Cup cars in 2015 is much more closely aligned with NASCAR’s second series than in years past.

There’s a lot for Dillon to build on for 2015 and a Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berth is not out of the question. With the initial attention around the No. 3 car’s return now mostly a thing of the past, it should allow the RCR driver to stay steady throughout the year and keep his head down.

"The good thing is, we had a decent year last year, but when you can find places to improve, and you know where those are, you should be able to take those and make them better," Dillon said. "I think that’s what I’ve been able to do the last couple of years when we go from say, rookie year in Trucks or (XFINITY), then second year and you win a championship."

"I’m not saying we’re going to go out there and win a championship, but that’s our goal. I think we can, and what Ryan and Luke (Lambert, No. 31 crew chief) were able to do, I think me and Gil want to accomplish that — have a shot at the end of the year."

MORE: Newman eager to build on last season’s gains

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WIX to serve as primary sponsor in two national series; Grainger teams with Newman

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Richard Childress Racing announced on Thursday that WIX Filters will continue its partnership and be a primary sponsor for the No. 31 Chevrolet of Ryan Newman in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and for the No. 62 Chevrolet of Brendan Gaughan in the XFINITY Series.

RCR also announced a multi-year partnership with Grainger, which will serve as a primary sponsor for Newman in select races, beginning June 7 at Pocono Raceway. The company will also be featured as an associate sponsor for races in which it’s not the primary.

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Newman will run the WIX paint scheme starting on April 19 at Bristol Motor Speedway. As part of the deal, WIX will continue to provide technical support for RCR and ECR engines.

"WIX Filters has been a valued partner of mine during the last five seasons," Newman said in a team release. "I appreciate everything WIX stands for, including reliability and innovation."

Grainger joined RCR with sponsorship of Austin Dillon‘s No. 33 XFINITY Series car at Texas Motor Speedway last November and associate sponsorship on the No. 31 Sprint Cup car for the last three races of 2014.

"Grainger’s slogan, ‘For the ones who get it done,’ holds true for what this partnership and RCR stand for," Richard Childress, CEO and Chairman of Richard Childress Racing, said in a team release. "We’re proud to have this association with Grainger and look forward to interacting with their customers and employees. We plan to use our Sprint Cup program and RCR campus to showcase the innovative solutions that Grainger provides to its customers."

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Advanced manufacturing solutions provider to be associate on No. 78

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Visser Precision, LLC, owned by Furniture Row Racing team owner Barney Visser, will join the No. 78 NASCAR Chevrolet, driven by Martin Truex Jr., as an associate sponsor for the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

The team announced the news during its stop on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom.

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The advanced manufacturing solutions provider, utilizing special alloys and proprietary manufacturing methods, is headquartered in a state-of-the-art facility in Denver, Colorado, which also serves as the team’s home base. The business grew out of the race team, and its president, Ryan Coniam, is a former race engineer and crew chief in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

"This is an exciting move for not only our teammates at Visser Precision but also for our growing list of domestic and international clients," Coniam said in a team release. "Visser Precision with its advanced technologies shares many of the same attributes that you will find in the high-tech, competitive world of NASCAR. There is definitely some DNA between the two businesses, and we are thrilled to be included with Furniture Row Racing."

Joe Garone, general manager of Furniture Row Racing, said the Visser Precision name will be positioned on the roof of the No. 78 Chevrolet.

"We welcome Visser Precision as our new associate sponsor," Garone said. "Visser Precision has a success story that is quite remarkable for such a young company. We are proud to be a partner on the car and in the race shop to help tackle the challenges of NASCAR’s competitive sport."

Truex said he was impressed by the facility on a recent visit, saying there were "pieces and parts that we really can’t talk about" for military use. He explained how his new associate sponsor personally helped him.

"I build remote-controlled boats," Truex said. "That’s one of my hobbies. They actually built me a part. It’s probably worth like $14,000, but it’s really only worth $100 to anybody else."

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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.”