Posted on by Zack Albert

Driver’s back not healed 100 percent, but Gordon feels just fine in the car

Had it been spoken in more than a mostly joking manner, Jeff Gordon‘s off-the-cuff statement back in January that he’d ride off into stock-car racing retirement if he won his fifth title in NASCAR’s premier series would likely have been the bombshell of the year.

"I wish I was standing here with that issue right now," Gordon said after accepting sixth-place honors at last week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards show in Las Vegas.

After coming oh-so-close to cashing in on that big if, a rejuvenated Gordon said that his heart was never in it to walk away and close the books on his Hall of Fame-worthy career. After enjoying a season with four wins and a championship bid that thrived until the next-to-last race, the 43-year-old veteran is eager to keep the momentum — and a near-record streak — rolling next year in what will be his 23rd season at NASCAR’s top level.

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"I never had any intentions of doing that," Gordon said at mention of the word retirement. "I love this sport, I love being competitive. Yeah, I had that health scare with my back in May but was able to pull it all back together and go on and have a great year and not have to miss that race. I was asked that question and I answered it as honestly as I could, but also I’m having some fun with it, and I’d have liked to have had that issue, like I said.

"Don’t worry, I’ll be back next year. Maybe I’ll say the same joke in January and we’ll see where it goes."

The Hendrick Motorsports driver has a streak of consecutive starts that currently stands at 761. He is expected to tie the all-time record of 788 set by Ricky Rudd next season in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs opener Sept. 20 at Chicagoland Speedway; he’d break the mark the following weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

But the back ailment Gordon referenced threw that ironman streak into peril last spring, when spasms during Coors Light Pole Qualifying caused him to sit out practice on the eve of the Coca-Cola 600, the series’ longest race. Gordon eventually completed all 600 miles. His back, though, still isn’t quite without lingering pain.

"No — 100 percent? That was a long time ago," Gordon said. "But it doesn’t seem to affect me inside the car and that’s the most important thing. It hurts afterward, it hurts during the week, but once I’m inside the car, I’m able to focus on what I need to do."

While Gordon drew a fair amount of teasing because of his age during some of Champion’s Week’s more candid moments, his stature among his peers was unquestioned. During the NASCAR After the Lap tell-all, all 16 Chase qualifiers were asked if they were fans of Gordon as they took their first steps into the sport; nearly every hand went up.

"It was humbling, I’ll be honest," Gordon said. "Maybe even if they were (fans), they might not want to admit it. The fact they were admitting it means a lot to me."

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Sanctioning body, Goodyear team up for sessions throughout the season

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series organizations will be allowed to participate in 13 one-day "open" tests in 2015 as part of a revamped testing policy for the series.

The tests will be part of a 14-track Goodyear tire test schedule, and will be held the day after almost all of the scheduled two-day tire tests by the tire supplier.

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The NASCAR National Series Unified Testing policy, outlined in the 2015 rule book, breaks down the schedule into three types of tests — NASCAR-approved tire manufacturer tire tests, NASCAR tests and Open Team tests.

"I think we’ve got a system here that can breathe and evolve as the industry requires," Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR vice president innovation and racing development, told NASCAR.com. "I think we’ve got enough flexibility to manage this. It’s all in the electronic rule book now so everybody can understand it, the schedules will be there so hopefully we can also communicate very, very well with everybody."

NASCAR announced earlier this year that it was eliminating private team testing beginning with the conclusion of the 2014 racing season. Previously, organizations were provided four open NASCAR tests at tracks that hosted Sprint Cup Series events, and were allowed to test as often as they chose on tracks not hosting NASCAR-sanctioned events.

After meeting with teams in July, Stefanyshyn said the general consensus was that testing was expensive, its value was questionable because of the venues and "it was very time and travel intensive."

"It doesn’t necessarily line up with Goodyear testing and because it’s unlimited it can drive some inequity between big teams and small teams," Stefanyshyn said officials were told.

When NASCAR announced the testing ban, he said, what was lost in the conversation was the fact that the sanctioning body was trying to develop a consolidated testing plan going forward.

When the 2015 rules package was announced in September, "we announced the ban on private testing," he said. "But at the same time we did signal to everybody that we were … in flight on trying to develop a new proposal for testing.

RELATED: NASCAR announces 2015 rules package

"At the time when we said … it was banned, I think that might have been lost to a few people. They didn’t hear the ‘we’re trying to work … to come up with a better alternative.’ "

Four teams (unless otherwise specified) will participate in each Goodyear tire test based on their position in the 2015 NASCAR owners’ points standings.

One representative from each of the four will take part, and that team will be the only one allowed to participate from that organization in the open test at that track. The open tests are not mandatory.

The team pairings for the Goodyear tests are broken down into the following three groups:

Stewart-Haas Racing, JTG Daugherty Racing, Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing;

Richard Childress Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates; Roush Fenway Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing;

Hendrick Motorsports, Furniture Row Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, BK Racing.

Most organizations will be involved in five Goodyear tests, although the grouping of Hendrick, Furniture Row, RPM and BK Racing will take part in only four.

The only variations to the policy thus far come at Las Vegas, which will host a Goodyear tire test only (Jan. 19) with individual teams from SHR, JTG, Penske and JGR taking part; and there will be an open team test on Thursday, Feb. 26, at Atlanta Motor Speedway leading into that track’s race weekend activities.

"The … beauty of this is, we were all three (NASCAR, Goodyear and the individual teams) going off independently, doing things," Stefanyshyn said. "Goodyear’s trying to do a tire test, they’re trying to get teams to participate, teams are busy going off testing (elsewhere), so they have difficulty getting the participation they want.

"We try to put a NASCAR test together and we’ve got to get Goodyear and the teams to come and they’re all busy. And then you’ve got the teams that are doing their testing on tracks they’re not going to run on.

"So … we’ve created a schedule for the whole of next year that enables everybody to do their testing but also we can now work together on the things we need to work together on. If I need 10 cars, the cars are there and the tires are there. It gives us more ability to do more work together and it gets rid of a lot of the organizational friction of trying to bring people together."

No tests are scheduled for nine of the 23 tracks hosting Sprint Cup events in 2015.

Here’s a complete look at the 2015 testing schedule:

Date Track Type Teams
Jan. 19 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Goodyear Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR); JTG Daugherty Racing (JTGD); Team Penske (TP); Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR)
Feb. 26 Atlanta Motor Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization
March 10 Charlotte Motor Speedway Goodyear Hendrick Motorsports (HMS); Furniture Row Racing (FRR); Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM); BK Racing (BK)
March 11 Charlotte Motor Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization
April 7 Richmond International Raceway Goodyear SHR, JTGD, TP, JGR
April 8 Richmond International Raceway Team One car/one driver from any organization
April 13-14 Kentucky Speedway Goodyear RCR, CGR, RFR, MWR
April 15 Kentucky Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization
April 27-28 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Goodyear HMS, FRR, RPM, BK
April 29 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization
May 11-12 Dover International Speedway Goodyear SHR, JTGD, TP, JGR
May 13 Dover International Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization
June 9-10 Darlington Raceway Goodyear RCR, CGR, RFR, MWR
June 11 Darlington Raceway Team One car/one driver from any organization
July 13-14 Chicagoland Speedway Goodyear HMS, FRR, RPM, BK
July 15 Chicagoland Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization
July 28-29 Bristol Motor Speedway Goodyear SHR, JTGD, TP, JGR
July 30 Bristol Motor Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization
Aug. 24-25 Homestead-Miami Speedway Goodyear RCR, CGR, RFR, MWR
Aug. 26 Homestead-Miami Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization
Sept. 14-15 Kansas Speedway Goodyear HMS, FRR, RPM, BK
Sept. 16 Kansas Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization
Oct. 12-13 Phoenix International Raceway Goodyear SHR, JTGD, TP, JGR
Oct. 14 Phoenix International Raceway Team One car/one driver from any organization
Oct. 27-28 Auto Club Speedway Goodyear RCR, CGR, RFR, MWR
Oct. 29 Auto Club Speedway Team One car/one driver from any organization

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Earnhardt Miller on who taught her to drive: ‘I know my dad gave me lots of pointers’

When your last name is Earnhardt, it’s highly likely that you might be a racer, have raced, or work in the racing industry.

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It’s also possible that you started driving at a relatively young age. At least that’s the case for Kelley Earnhardt Miller, daughter of seven-time NASCAR premier series champion Dale Earnhardt. Along with her brother, current NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Sprint Cup team owner Rick Hendrick, she is co-owner of JR Motorsports, an organization that fields three full-time teams in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Earnhardt Miller traveled with the group’s No. 9 team this week to Columbus, Ohio where, along with driver Chase Elliott, it was recognized for winning the 2014 series championship.

At one point in a question-and-answer session with Nationwide Insurance employees, she was asked who taught her to drive and how young she was when she first got behind the wheel.

"I know my dad gave me lots of pointers just because that’s just the way he was," she said of the legendary racer and NASCAR Hall of Fame member. "He told us how to do everything.

"This isn’t a good insurance topic, but I was actually on the streets, on the road, before I was 16."

Her reasoning was sound, if not exactly going by the letter of the law. And it brought laughs from those in the audience.

"It was, I don’t know, more legal back then," she said. "… We’ve always driven since we were kids, and I had a little Volkswagen on the farm, driving it around when I was 12 or 13. Every now and then I’d drive on the main road."

Of course, Earnhardt Miller wasn’t the only guest who confessed to being behind the wheel well before they were lawfully licensed. Elliott, who celebrated his 19th birthday in November, also admitted to being behind the wheel at an early age, although he wasn’t exactly handling the driving duties by himself.

"I remember riding down the road and sitting in my dad’s lap (behind the wheel), as far back as I can remember," he said of trips with his father, NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bill Elliott. "I don’t know how old I was, though."

Earnhardt Miller said the Nationwide relationship has been an enjoyable one for her family – the company won’t return as series sponsor in 2015, but will sponsor Earnhardt Jr. on the Sprint Cup level and maintain its sponsorship of the series’ race at Mid-Ohio.

"It’s pretty special to us," she said.

"I’ve told this story a lot. First it was 30 years ago, now it’s 35. I remember when I was 16 and going to get my driver’s license. It was four o’clock … and we didn’t have our insurance paperwork together. So they wouldn’t give me my license. I was very disappointed.

"Our (Nationwide Insurance) agent was in Kannapolis so they met us halfway (and) got us everything that we needed. That really set in for me. Nationwide was on my side right then. I’ll never forget that.

"It is really just natural, authentic. It’s a product everybody needs and a product we believe in and can share."

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Organization will run three trucks next season

Kyle Busch Motorsports will shuffle its crew chiefs ahead of the 2015 Camping World Truck Series season, the organization announced on Thursday.

Veteran crew chief Jerry Baxter, who was teamed with Darrell Wallace Jr. for five wins over the past two seasons, will serve as the crew chief for the No. 51 truck. That truck has won back-to-back owner’s championships in the series and will be driven by team owner Kyle Busch, Matt Tifft and Daniel Suarez in 2015.

RELATED: KBM sets 2015 lineup

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"Jerry came to KBM with a history of success working with young drivers, and Darrell thrived under his tutelage the last two seasons," Busch said in a team release. "Now, he’ll get the chance to mentor Daniel (Suarez) and Matt (Tifft) — two more young guys with a lot of potential — and with Eric’s (Phillips) departure, he and Rudy will take on some added responsibility on the competition side."

Phillips moved up to the XFINITY Series and will serve as a crew chief for the No. 18 entry to be driven by Suarez.

RELATED: JGR sets crew chief lineup for 2015

Shannon Rursch, who spent the past season as a crew chief for Turner Scott Motorsports in both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, will be the crew chief for the No. 54 entry to be driven by Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Justin Boston.

"I’m really honored to be joining KBM — an organization that has a proven track record of being able to win races and championships," Rursch said in a team release. "I’m looking forward to the opportunity to come in and learn what has made them so successful and hopefully bring a few things to the table. I don’t see any reason why Justin can’t go out and win some races and be a leading contender for the Rookie of the Year Award with the equipment we have in place and the resources available to us from Toyota."

As previously announced, Ryan "Rudy" Fugle will be the pit boss for Erik Jones‘ first full-time campaign in the series. The two teamed together for Jones’ first national series win in 2013 at Phoenix. Jones will drive the No. 4 Toyota Tundra.

Last season, Jones, Wallace Jr. and Busch combined for 14 wins, the most ever by an organization in a single season of Camping World Truck Series competition.

The 2015 season will kick off on Feb. 20 at Daytona International Speedway.

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SHR does commercial shoot; see Dale Jr. on track

RELATED: Scenes from Day 1 of testing

Newly minted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick was on hand Wednesday for Day 2 of the Goodyear Tire test at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Harvick wasn’t laying down rubber, but instead filming a Mobil 1 video with other SHR drivers, according to the following tweet from Stewart-Haas Racing. Click on the link within the SHR tweet to see a cool shot of the fellas getting ready for their video shoot.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Sam Hornish Jr. and Paul Menard were testing for the past two days with new-look teams for Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing, respectively. Here’s a look at some of the action.

Sticking with the concept of new-look teams, here’s a shot that looks like it’s from the JGR shop, where Kyle Busch is getting a seat-fitting and starting the process of working with new crew chief Adam Stevens, who replaced Dave Rogers in recent wholesale changes at JGR. For more on those changes, read this story.

"Conditions are really cool. There’s not a lot of rubber on the racetrack. We’re basically in the lower downforce 2016 trim," Edwards said of the conditions and setup for this week’s test. "The biggest thing this test is helping me out with is to get used to this car, the new seat, (crew chief) Darian (Grubb) and the guys and how they do things here. It’s been very good for me from that perspective."

Earnhardt said the test is a good chance to establish a winning chemistry with his new crew chief, Greg Ives, but also to keep his driving acumen sharp during the off season.

"We’re definitely going to take advantage of every little bit of track time we can get because the testing rules are a little tighter this year," Earnhardt said. "It’s good for me and Greg to get to work together – to get a little rapport going – so when we take off and go to Atlanta, Vegas and Phoenix, we’re communicating really well.

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NASCAR Chairman and CEO says sport will build on momentum

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said Tuesday that Kevin Harvick‘s reaction to the new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format spoke to the "elevation of competition" that he was looking for when NASCAR rolled out its "win and advance" plan for 2014.

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On SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, France recounted a story from Champion’s Week that he first told at the NMPA Myers Brothers Luncheon last Thursday.

"When I saw Kevin in Las Vegas on Tuesday, he pulled me aside, and it was neat," France remembered. "He said, ‘Look, I wasn’t a big fan of the Chase format when you first announced it, and you first told me about it. But I’ve got to tell you, when we got into it and the moments, it gave me and my team (a chance) to reach down and dig up talent and effort that we never thought possible, that was pretty neat to be able to have those moments.’

"Wow, that’s everything! That’s what our fans love most. These are the best drivers in the world, best teams in the world. Give them moments where they can shine and they will."

France reiterated that a winless champion taking the Chase title would have been fine because all of the drivers and teams in the Chase raised "their game to a new level."

"It wouldn’t have bothered us at all if Ryan Newman would have closed the deal — and he almost did by the way — and won," France said. "He would have earned the championship in our view without question.

"Because any time you try to go back in auto racing and say, ‘Well, it’s whoever won the most races. Well, it’s whoever had the best finishing order’ or any of that stuff, you never get the real accurate view. The real accurate view is did you bring it when it mattered? Were you the best on that given day? That’s how every other sport is measured."

According to France, any changes to the format would be "nothing anybody would notice for ’15, but if we can make an already great thing better, we will always look into that.

"… We’re very content that we have the right positioning of elevating the drivers to have moments as I just described and then also balancing this whole thing in auto racing which is very difficult to balance. Which is, how do you balance winning and consistency? They don’t necessarily always go together. And how do you have any kind of a championship run that represents that? We’ve done the best job that we think we can do to balance that."

The competitive fire that burned during the Chase will stoke the sport’s fire until 2015 Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway.

"Momentum out of any sport at the end of the year, a dramatic playoffs, a really interesting ending is always something you build on," France said. "… The level of competition actually went up. If you were at or watching any of the last 10 races frankly, but certainly the last few, it was unmistakable the effort, the level of competition with the elite teams."

The NASCAR Chairman and CEO said the sport plans to take advantage of that momentum in the 74 days leading up to the Great American Race.

"We’re always trying to keep our drivers engaged with our fans as best we can, and they want that," France said. "They thrive on that too, so it’s not a very hard sell at all. So we’ll be working on things that give the Daytona 500 its rightful energy into the New Year with our drivers and teams."

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Former series champ to run all Daytona, Talladega events

Bobby Labonte, the 2000 champion of NASCAR’s premier series, has signed to drive for Go FAS Racing in all four superspeedway events next season, the team announced Wednesday.

Labonte, 50, will drive the No. 32 Ford in both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, including the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 22. Labonte will inherit the wheel from his brother, Terry, a two-time series champion who retired from racing after a partial schedule with Go FAS last year.

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The team, formed by a merger of co-owners Frank Stoddard and Archie St. Hilaire before the 2014 season, said it will continue to use Roush Yates engines. The team also announced that Texas-based C&J Energy Services will return as a primary sponsor for the fifth straight season.

"I’m excited for the opportunity to go racing next season with Go FAS Racing and C&J," Bobby Labonte said in a release provided by the team. "The people at C&J are good friends of our family, and like me, have a passion for the sport. I want to thank them and Frankie for allowing me the opportunity to take over where my brother left off."

Labonte, who first raced in NASCAR’s top series in 1991, has 21 victories in 721 career starts. All of his victories and his lone series title came driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, his team from 1995-2005. He also claimed a championship in 1991 in what will become the NASCAR XFINITY Series next season.

Labonte ran most of the 2013 season, but competed in just three races last year for three different car owners. His best finish was 15th place in the Daytona 500, wheeling the No. 52 Chevrolet for Harry Scott Jr.

GoFAS ran a similar schedule last season for Terry Labonte, who competed in both Daytona and Talladega races. His best effort was 11th place in the midsummer Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. The elder Labonte also qualified ninth and finished 33rd for GoFAS in the final race of his career.

"We had an outstanding finish in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona last July with Terry, and we look forward to continuing those strong results with Bobby," Stoddard said. "We have a busy offseason to get ready for 2015, but everyone is excited about what the season holds for us."

Go FAS participated in a full schedule last season with a variety of drivers, led by Travis Kvapil‘s 16 races. Kyle Fowler, Joey Gase, Timmy Hill, Blake Koch, Terry Labonte, Eddie McDonald, Boris Said and JJ Yeley also drove the No. 32 Ford in 2014.

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Nationwide honors No. 9 JR Motorsports team on Champ’s Day

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nationwide Insurance officials rolled out the red carpet — OK, make that the blue carpet — Tuesday as the departing series sponsor welcomed 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Chase Elliott and the No. 9 JR Motorsports team to its headquarters.

Elliott, 18, became the youngest series champion while also earning Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors this past season. He and members of his team spent the day in Columbus visiting the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, participating in a Nationwide Insurance "Marketing U" panel discussion and signing autographs, with tours of Nationwide Arena (home of the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL franchise) and Woody Hayes Athletic Complex (at The Ohio State University) taking place as well.

The team capped off the day with a return trip to the arena to take in the Blue Jackets’ game against the Philadelphia Flyers — which the Blue Jackets won in a shootout.

That the celebration honored his entire team, Elliott said, was important.

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"I really think, at least as far as my guys — I don’t know about anybody else’s — I know my guys have made me look a lot better than I really am this season," he said. "Take it or leave it, that’s the truth. I respect them and all that they do.

"I know how much work and effort goes into these cars in trying to improve and make them better each week. All that … plays a role, every little bit counts and those guys know that. Especially the guys that travel on the road and work during the week. They don’t get a day off from February through November. People don’t realize that. I have all the respect in the world for them."

Nationwide Insurance has supported the Children’s Hospital for more than 50 years. According to officials, it is the third largest ("and second busiest," Elliott is told) pediatric hospital in the country. The hospital treats approximately 1.1 million patients annually, and its patients come from all 50 states as well as 33 countries.

This past season, the NASCAR Nationwide Series returned to Mid-Ohio for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200. Proceeds from the event benefited the hospital, and 10 "Patient Champions" were featured on various cars in the event.

Tuesday, those Patient Champions were treated to a visit from Elliott and the team, posed for photographs and were presented gifts, which included sheet metal from the cars representing each child.

The panel discussion at Nationwide Insurance’s corporate headquarters, which took place inside the Jeffers Auditorium, touched on a number of subjects, from Elliott’s success at such a young age to the value of teamwork.

Jim McCoy, director of strategic sponsorships for Nationwide Insurance, noted the company’s impending departure, but also stressed that it would remain involved in the NASCAR realm — as a primary sponsor for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as well as title sponsor of the Mid-Ohio event.

"We’ve made a lot of incredible relationships," McCoy told the group. "First and foremost with JR Motorsports, we’ve worked with them the last six years and they’ve been such a big part of the Nationwide Series.

"To have them finish with the championship was a great way to cap that relationship. It was … important for us to finish strong, go out with class and style the way that we approached all seven years (of our association).

"We couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out, not only with Mid-Ohio, but having a young champion represent our last year."

During the Blue Jackets’ game, Elliott was interviewed between periods by the team’s radio host while co-owner Kelley Earnhardt Miller and husband L.W. Miller (director of motorsports at JRM) participated in a game of "Name That Tune" shown on the arena’s video screens. And team members were on the ice during a break to help with an ice go-kart challenge race.

Elliott, who will return to defend his series title with the team in 2015, said afterward that being able to spend time with his team and take part in the Nationwide visit was special.

"I’ve had fun with it," he said. "You know I spent a lot of time watching these races on TV, sitting home on the couch, more than I have being a part of them. From watching it on TV to being a part of it firsthand, I can really tell you how much Nationwide puts into this. I hate to see them go. I think the sponsor that follows definitely has big shoes to fill.

"Just to see their involvement and how much they care this season and the effort they put into everything is far more than I’ve ever seen before from a sponsor for a series. It’s been very cool to see."

Posted on by Staff Report

Will carry General Mills, Kroger sponsorship for 2015 race

Ty Dillon announced Tuesday morning that he’ll make his Daytona 500 debut in 2015, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet for Circle Sport Racing.

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Dillon, who competes full-time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for Richard Childress Racing, will carry sponsorship from Cheerios and Kroger. General Mills, which continued a six-year partnership with RCR, also backs brother Austin Dillon‘s Sprint Cup entries through its cereal brands.

"The Daytona 500 is a major step in Ty’s career and it’s terrific to have General Mills as a big part of this monumental race,” said team owner Richard Childress, Dillon’s grandfather. "General Mills has such a great history in NASCAR and we are proud to feature the Cheerios colors on Ty’s race car for the Daytona 500 and the millions of NASCAR fans who will be watching. We hope to bring Cheerios a victory."

Dillon, 22, ran the first two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races of his career last season in the No. 33. He registered a best finish of 25th in his Labor Day weekend debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway for Circle Sport, a Childress-affiliated team owned by Joe Falk.

Dillon is a three-time winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and a one-time winner in the Nationwide Series, which will gain entitlement sponsorship from XFINITY starting in 2015. Dillon wound up fifth in the season-long Nationwide standings last year with his breakthrough victory coming at historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.


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Team Penske sponsor, Discount Tire, and NASCAR’s official tire Goodyear take part

RELATED: Photo gallery from Ryan Blaney‘s visit to the White House

NASCAR, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the country’s tire makers and retailers announced Tuesday at the White House an awareness program regarding tire safety, maintenance and energy efficiency.

Driver Ryan Blaney was among the dignitaries from the stock-car racing community in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday in support of the partnership. Blaney’s Team Penske No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang, which won the NASCAR Nationwide Series owners’ championship, was part of the announcement along with the Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry.

A "Drive for Safety" initiative, scheduled for a rollout during the 2015 NASCAR season, was among the actions the DOT announced Tuesday. The goal for the partnership is to help reduce the approximately 11,000 tire-related crashes that occur in the United States each year and reduce the amount of fuel consumption and pollution through proper tire inflation, balance, alignment and rotation.

NASCAR and the DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have worked for more than 10 years to promote traffic safety, including seat-belt use and tire maintenance. The two organizations entered a five-year memorandum of understanding in June 2013 at Sonoma Raceway.

During Tire Safety Awareness Month, Dec. 9, 2014 to Jan. 9, 2015, NASCAR’s official tire, Goodyear, is committing to tire care education on its website as well as offering free inflation pressure services at its more than 600 company-owned retail stories. It will also make tire care information available to new car buyers and to customers who purchase new tires at Goodyear dealer and retail locations.

Before heading to the White House, Blaney visited the Capitol.

About the afternoon, Blaney replied to a tweet from Will McEvoy, a character on HBO’s "The Newsroom," which will end its three-year run Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.

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