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Former race engineer for No. 31 team starts immediately

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Jamie McMurray will have a new crew chief for the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. 



Matt McCall will take the reins of the No. 1 Chevrolet team from Keith Rodden for Chip Ganassi Racing effective immediately. McCall joins the team from Richard Childress Racing, where he served as the race engineer for the No. 31 team of Ryan Newman, which finished as the runner-up in the Sprint Cup championship.

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McCall has experience competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as a driver. He also served as a crew chief for one race in 2013 for Jeff Burton at Indianapolis.



The Denver, North Carolina, native graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a major in mechanical engineering.



"I am very excited to join the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team," McCall said in a team release. "This organization is one that everyone in the garage has taken notice of in 2014 and I am just looking forward to the opportunity to make them even better. We have a group of very talented people building and driving the race cars here and I can’t wait to get started." 



There was no immediate word on Rodden’s future with Chip Ganassi Racing.



In 2014, McMurray finished with the most top-fives (seven) since 2010 and the most top-10s (13) since 2004. In addition to winning the 2014 Sprint All-Star Race, McMurray and Rodden really seemed to find their stride in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. While McMurray did not qualify for the 10-race playoff, he racked up four top-five finishes in that 10-race stretch.


"I am really looking forward to 2015 and beginning to work with Matt," McMurray said in a team release. "As a team, I think we will carry a lot of momentum into Daytona and the hiring of Matt will continue to move the program forward."



McMurray, who has competed in the sport’s premier series full time for 12 years, has seven wins — including the 2010 Daytona 500.

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Crew chief regrets not being good enough to win Martinsville, Phoenix

In the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jeff Gordon started on the Coors Light pole, led 161 of 267 laps and had the best car, according to crew chief Alan Gustafson. So why did the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet finish 10th instead of going to Victory Lane?

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"That’s on me," Gustafson said Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "It was a mistake that I made."

During the 11th caution at Lap 249, Gordon stayed out with Denny Hamlin while other lead-lap cars came to pit road.

"I tried to keep the track position, and I felt like that was going to be the highest percentage decision," Gustafson said. "It ended up not being (the case) so that put us behind unfortunately."

After relinquishing the lead to Hamlin at Lap 253 and the 12th caution flew at Lap 256, "Jeff felt like there the last time that we weren’t in a very good position to succeed so we made a decision to come pit," Gustafson said. "So really the first stop when we and Denny and a few other cars stayed out, that was the one that really hurt us.

"I think we had the best car and really the team deserved to win the race so it was a bad decision on my part and I’m going to learn from it and just try to improve moving forward."

In his fourth season with Gordon and his 10th season as a crew chief at Hendrick, Gustafson’s No. 24 team led the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in top-10 finishes and joined Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Austin Dillon as the only cars to run all 36 points races without a DNF.

Gordon’s four wins were his most in a season since 2007, when he finished second in the points. His win total, top-five finishes (14), top-10s (23) and poles (3) were the most in his four seasons with the 39-year-old crew chief. And Gustafson had his best year since his runner-up points performance in 2009 with Mark Martin.

"As much as we’re on top of the points and as well as we ran — statistically all of the categories that we dominated — it makes you feel good," Gustafson said. "Winning my first Brickyard 400, that was the race and still is the race of all races to me and being able to win at Indianapolis and put my name and this team’s name and Jeff’s name in the record books for the fifth time for him was really special. That’s something that I’m always going to remember and a lot of the triumphs."

But, in addition to his mistake at Homestead-Miami, Gustafson said he regrets not qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

"I’m still not at peace with what happened in that final segment," Gustafson said. "I don’t think that we got by any stretch of the imagination what we deserved.

"If I would say one thing about our Chase that I could go back and do over, it would have been to win either Martinsville and/or Phoenix, and we were second at both places. Texas, in my opinion, we had won and some circumstances out of our control kind of crept in there, but that’s the biggest thing."

Gustafson acknowledged that Ryan Newman and the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing team advanced through the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup without wins, "but I would not want to say to myself I’m going to follow the path the 31 took because I think if you replay that 50 times over the circumstances don’t come out your way the majority of the time," Gustafson said.

" … the thing that I would have done different is just be good enough to win. When you can win, you can transfer, and that’s ultimately what Kevin did. I think we were actually tied for points right after Phoenix but he won the race and he was able to transfer and win the championship so I think that’s the key."

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Primary sponsor to continue as key partner for team

Team Penske has reached a multiyear extension with Discount Tire, which will remain a primary sponsor for the team in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and serve as an associate sponsor for both the Nos. 2 and 22 Ford Fusions in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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"We are happy to be extending our relationship with Team Penske into 2015 and beyond," said Michael Zuieback, president of Discount Tire. "They’ve been a loyal ambassador of the Discount Tire brand since we began our relationship with them in 2010."

In 2014, Team Penske earned its second consecutive Nationwide Series Owners’ Championship with Discount Tire on board. In 2013, the No. 22 team compiled 12 Nationwide Series wins with four different drivers: Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and AJ Allmendinger. In 2010, it won the Nationwide Series championship with Keselowski.

"The on-track success that we have shared with Discount Tire has been remarkable over the last few years," team owner Roger Penske said. "Discount Tire has been an important part of our championship runs as a key sponsor of the No. 22 team in 2014 as well as our other title-winning seasons in 2010 and 2013."

The 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series season will begin on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Daytona International Speedway.

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In addition to Elliott, Smith will also have new crew chief in 2015

DORAL, Fla. — JR Motorsports just completed its most successful season, with drivers Chase Elliott and Regan Smith finishing 1-2 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

But changes are ahead for the 10-year-old organization founded by Sprint Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., and capably run by Kelley Earnhardt Miller, co-owner of the team as well as the vice president and business manager of the organization.

Ryan Pemberton, who as served in the dual role of competition director and crew chief for the No. 7 Chevrolet team fielded for Smith, will return to the singular role of competition director. Greg Ives, who guided Elliott and the No. 9 team to the championship, is moving to Hendrick Motorsports to replace Steve Letarte atop the pit box for Earnhardt in the Sprint Cup Series.

Ives will be replaced by Ernie Cope, a veteran crew chief that has overseen the third team, the No. 5, at JRM that has featured several drivers, including Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne and 2014 Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick, behind the wheel.

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That leaves a need for a crew chief for Smith as well someone for the No. 5 entry (which will be the No. 88 entry next season in the XFINITY Series), something Earnhardt said has been addressed and will be announced likely as soon as week’s end.

"Ryan has been the competition director (at JRM) for years," Earnhardt said Monday evening. "He sort of did me a (favor) last year by dropping down and filling a hole for us when Greg moved over to Chase.

"This is something we’ve been working on for several months. He’s going back to competition director (only) role. I think he’s got a lot of strengths to be able to fill the role a little better without having to be a crew chief at the same time. It’s been a distraction for him. I need him in the competition director’s role and that’s where he wants to be.

"We’re bringing in someone for the No. 5; we’ve moved Ernie over to the No. 9, and going to bring a new guy for the No. 7 (of Smith)."

Elliott, the talented 18-year-old from Dawsonville, Georgia, captured the series championship as well as Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, accomplishments for which he was recognized here Monday evening during the annual Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series awards ceremony. He was also named the series’ most popular driver.

The son of 1988 NASCAR premier series champion Bill Elliott, the younger Elliott won three times, scoring his first series win at Texas Motor Speedway in April and following that up with a win a week later at Darlington Raceway. He also won at Chicago and ended the season with 16 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes.

Smith, third in points in 2013, won the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and also finished the season with 26 top-10 results for a career-best points finish.

"To ask (Pemberton) to do two jobs is a lot to ask of anybody at this level," said Smith. "We’re going to make some adjustments there and carry on into 2015."

Otherwise, he said, his No. 7 group should have few changes in personnel for ’15.

"You know some people move during the offseason and decide they want to do some different things or something like that," Smith said, "but what I know as of right now it should look very similar."

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Find out where all 43 cars finished and why

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1. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing.
Not only did Harvick take home his first Sprint Cup Series champion, but he also did so in epic fashion by picking up his fifth victory of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, fighting an ill-handling race car throughout the race. "You’re making it looser with the last three changes," Harvick told crew chief Rodney Childers late in the race. Whatever the last adjustment was must’ve worked, because the No. 4 wound up in Victory Lane holding a pair of trophies. For more in-car audio, sign up for RaceView.

2. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing.
Ryan Newman showed he belonged in the Championship 4, racing his heart out from a 21st-place starting position to pick up his best finish of the year, nearly earning his first Sprint Cup Series title in the process. He and crew chief Luke Lambert got some words of encouragement from the boss late in the race when he advised, "It will come to you. Keep diggin’. Doing great." This team has a lot about which to be proud.

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3. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske.
He wasn’t racing for the title, but Keselowski was determined not to just ride this one out. The 2012 champ managed to come back from an early-race malaise in which he fell off the lead lap, getting back on via a wave around and notching his noteworthy 17th top-five of the season.

4. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing.
Ryan Newman deserved all the RCR attention on Sunday, but Menard’s race can’t be overlooked. He started from the rear (unapproved adjustments), slapped the wall on Lap 188 and still matched his second-best finish of the season.

5. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
McMurray was one of several high-profile drivers to have trouble keeping his race car off the wall during this event, smacking it on Lap 177. It wasn’t enough to derail the veteran, however, as he picked up his seventh top-five of the season.

6. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing.
Kenseth got sideways in front of championship contender Joey Logano and nearly derailed the No. 22. Thankfully he didn’t, and Kenseth showed his veteran savvy by straightening out both his No. 20 in the moment and his race in general for a sixth-place finish.

7. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hamlin struggled on restarts all day. ("These guys are pounding me on restarts.") And in the end they wound up being his downfall, ending his championship hopes. At least he had Michael Jordan there to support him.

8. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing.
At Homestead, everyone knows the speed is found up high by the wall. That wasn’t working for Clint Bowyer, as he explained mid-race, "I cannot (expletive) run high for some reason. Won’t turn and then it’s loose off." Must’ve figured it out eventually, because he picked up his first top-10 since Martinsville. For more in-car audio, sign up for RaceView.

9. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports.
It was weird to see Jimmie Johnson not racing for a title at Homestead, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t still in a championship mindset, routinely running up near the front even after scraping the wall. After the race, crew chief Chad Knaus was asked to come to the NASCAR hauler because of an unapproved adjustment mid-race.

10. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports.
For awhile, it looked as if Gordon was about to win the race from the pole — which he admitted would have stung, knowing he missed the championship round by one point — but instead he finished 10th despite leading a race-high 161 laps. The four-time champ will be back in 2015, looking for title No. 5 five, but he could be running out of chances.

11. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing.
Busch had a really awful vibration early in the race, having to hold his shifter in gear while driving as a result of transmission issues. He recovered slightly to finish 11th, but it probably wasn’t the race he was looking for after starting second.

12. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports.
Somehow, Kahne’s 12th-place finish at Miami was his second best of the Chase, with his best — a 10th-place — coming at Charlotte. Bigger things are expected out of the No. 5 car.

13. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
Larson wrapped up Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors with his 13th-place finish at Miami and, in typical Larson fashion, wasn’t happy that he didn’t finish higher. Big things are coming for this young driver in 2015.

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports.
Earnhardt was off the pace on Lap 97, pitting with a right rear flat rire. Said crew chief Steve Letarte, in his last race before moving to the broadcast booth, "Good job getting it back to us. Right rear had a big cut in it." He managed to get back into the top-five by the end of the race but got shuffled back in the late restarts for a 14th-place result. For more in-car audio, sign up for RaceView.

15. Justin Allgaier, No. 51 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports
Sunday’s season finale continued a strong finish to the season for the rookie, who finished inside the top 20 for half of the Chase’s 10 races.

16. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske.
Logano’s 16th-place finish — and his dashed championship hopes — fell in the hands of his pit crew, not himself. On Lap 227, the team dropped a lugnut, and on Lap 250 it dropped … wait for it … his car. It fell off the jack, costing him precious seconds on pit road and a shot at his first title.

17. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Chevrolet, Furniture Row Racing.
Truex brushed the wall early, incurring damage on the side of his Chevy and never quite recovered. It was a forgettable season for the veteran, who finished in the top 10 just five times, compared to 15 last season.

18. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing.
While an 18th-place finish isn’t revolutionary, it’s a solid enough finish for Patrick to continue to build momentum. She’s improved her average finish in each of her Sprint Cup seasons, from 28.3 in a part-time role in 2012 to 26.1 as a full-time rookie last year and 23.7 this year.

19. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports.
Almirola finished 19th on the day and 16th in his first Chase. His Florida homecoming could’ve been so much more for the driver, but his season still included one major highlight: winning the July Daytona race to have him racing in the postseason.

20. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing.
Mears finished the season with just four laps led, in 26th place in the standings. He did, however, lead the series in punches taken from the fist of Marcos Ambrose.

21. Michael McDowell, No. 95 Ford, Leavine Family Racing.
McDowell ran only 19 races this season — after running 33 last year — but Miami was one of his best. The 21st-place finish ranked high on his achievments for 2014, with his seventh place in July at Daytona coming as the high point.

22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had parts confiscated from his ride on Friday before qualifying, but it’s unlikely any enhancements they would’ve given his No. 17 would’ve proved substantial. In a down year across the board for Roush, Stenhouse was at the bottom, with only two more top-10s (five) than his rookie season a year ago.

23. Brian Vickers, No. 55 Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing.
Sunday’s race capped a somewhat disappointing season for Vickers, who had just one more top-five and three more top-10 finishes than he finished with a year ago — in more than double the races.

24. Reed Sorenson, No. 36 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing
Sorenson finished his first full-time season since 2009 with no top-10s and only seven laps led. But hey, he finished the most laps in his career since 2008. So that’s plenty of track time, at least.

25. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing.
He may have finished behind Kyle Larson in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings, but there were plenty of positives in Dillon’s first Cup campaign. The season-opening pole win at Daytona was a landmark event for the No. 3, and his pair of top-10s at the track should carry over as he builds himself into a legitimate restrictor-plate racer.

26. Cole Whitt, No. 26 Toyota, BK Racing.
Whitt matched his car number with his 26th-place finish, but his racing down the stretch will focus on a pair of top-20 finishes at Talladega and Martinsville in back-to-back weeks at two extremely different tracks.

27. Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports.
Ambrose’s final Cup start didn’t go as planned, as he started from the rear with unapproved adjustments and it culminated with a flat tire on Lap 194 that brought out the caution after he hit the wall.

28. Brian Scott, No. 33 Chevrolet, Circle Sport Racing.
Scott also started from the rear after an engine change, which certainly didn’t help his cause any, but neither did the flat left rear he succumbed to late in the race when he needed to pit for four tires.

29. Landon Cassill, No. 40 Chevrolet, Hillman Racing.
While 29th is certainly no way to finish out a year, Cassill still managed his first career top-five — in a Chase race, no less — which resulted in a fan getting a tattoo to commemorate the occasion. All in all, a good season.

30. David Ragan, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports.
A 30th-place run wrapped up what was actually a pretty good end-of-season run for this group, which included his lone top-10 this year at Martinsville.

31. David Gilliland, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports.
For the third time in the past four seasons, Gilliland ends the year ranked exactly 30th in the final driver standings.

32. Josh Wise, No. 98 Chevrolet, Phil Parsons Racing.
Wise finished on the lead lap for just the second time in the 10-race Chase. It was also his best finish on a 1.5-mile track since June 28 at Kentucky Speedway, where he finished 29th.

33. Alex Bowman, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing.
Bowman scraped the wall on Lap 116, giving the young driver a flat tire. Sunday wasn’t a great race for the 21-year-old, but he has a bright future ahead.

34. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing.
Edwards crunched his bumper and had right side damage after smacking the wall on Lap 116, sending the long-time RFR driver on his way to Joe Gibbs Racing with a whimper. Jeff Burton summed it up best, tweeting "Hard to watch the 99 ending on a bad race. Will be strange with no 99 next year."

35. Michael Annett, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing.
Annett had a tough race, spending most of the race laps down, even dead last at one point. He did recover, though, for a 35th-place finish.

36. Brett Moffitt, No. 66 Toyota, Jay Robinson Racing.
Sunday was not the way the young driver wanted to finish his season. He incurred engine issues on Lap 58, bringing out the caution, then bringing it out again shortly after he came back out on the track when he got into the wall on Lap 86.

37. J.J. Yeley, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing.
Yeley competed in exactly half of the 36 Sprint Cup races held in 2014. He and Blake Koch wrecked on Lap 254, leading to Yeley’s finish, which was right around his average for the season — 36.2.

38. Blake Koch, No. 32 Ford, Go FAS Racing.
Koch’s biggest moment in the race unfortunately (for him) came when he was essentially dismissed from the track. He played a role in two late incidents and was parked for "disobeying a directive from the (race control) tower."

39. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing.
Busch was in fifth place when he broke a left axel coming out of his pit stall. He came back out from the garage on Lap 143, but it was far too late to contend, ending a tough season for the JGR driver.

40. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Cheverolet, JTG Daugherty Racing.
Sunday was a really rough race for the one-time Chaser, blowing a tire on Lap 156 that sent him into the wall and crashing again on Lap 236 after picking up the wave around to get him on the lead lap.

41. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing.
Like his teammate Edwards, Biffle limped to the finish of the 2014 season. A former Miami winner, Biffle hit the wall after a right front tire went down on Lap 162.

42. Trevor Bayne, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing
Bayne’s tenure with Wood Brothers ends with a whimper, as a piece of debris cut a brakeline on Lap 207. Hey, they’ll always have the 2011 Daytona 500. Now it’s on to Roush Fenway.

43. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing.
Sunday wasn’t the finale Stewart was hoping for after perhaps the roughest season of his career. He told his team on Lap 104: "It turns better and we got it better back to the gas, but we still need more." They didn’t get more, with the No. 14 retiring before the end of the race with myriad issues, ending his streak of seasons with a win at 15. For more in-car audio, sign up for RaceView.

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Recap how the four drivers did at Homestead-Miami Speedway

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Larson, Elliott and Kennedy take NASCAR national series rookie honors

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 17, 2014) — For the first time since the NASCAR Next initiative was created in 2011, three of its alumni captured the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Awards in NASCAR’s national series. Kyle Larson took home the honor in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Chase Elliott added the accolade to his resume in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Ben Kennedy earned the recognition competing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

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"The 2014 Sunoco Rookie of the Year class is a testament to the massive effort put towards developing our next generation of stars through the NASCAR Next initiative," said Jill Gregory, NASCAR senior vice president of Industry Services. "We congratulate all three honorees and look forward to watching them accomplish great things in the future."

The winner of last season’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award, Larson, 22, is only the sixth driver to also claim the honor in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He defeated runner-up Austin Dillon by 89 points behind eight top-five and 17 top-10 finishes. A graduate of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity (D4D) program, Larson placed second in three races and won a Coors Light Pole Award. He pilots the No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Elliott — 18 years, 11 months and 18 days — became the youngest and first rookie champion in NASCAR national series history when he captured the NASCAR Nationwide Series title. The No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet driver won three races and ended his season on a streak of 14 top-10 finishes. A native of Dawsonville, Georgia, Elliott will return to the series next season to defend his title. He finished 47 points ahead of second-place Ty Dillon in the final NNS Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award standings.

Kennedy, 22, was the highest rookie finisher in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series-best eight races. Kennedy tied Tyler Reddick atop the rookie standings, winning the tiebreaker thanks to a final championship points position of ninth. Kennedy drove his No. 31 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado to a career-best third-place finish at Martinsville in March.

"Sunoco has been a proud supporter of NASCAR’s rising stars through the Sunoco Rookie of the Year program for the past decade," said Cynthia Archer, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Sunoco. "This year’s award winners represent the youthful exuberance and competitive drive that define this award and we couldn’t be more excited to see what the future holds as their careers advance."

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See how celebrity NASCAR fans stacked up in their fantasy league

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Actress Alyssa Milano capped off her NASCAR fantasy celebrity league title with the high score of 356.5 points for the final week of the 2014 Sprint Cup Series season. Milano had the race winner of the Ford EcoBoost 400 and Sprint Cup championship winner Kevin Harvick in her lineup as well as Denny Hamlin (finished seventh) and Jeff Gordon (who led the most laps and finished 10th). Milano finished the season with 8,497.5 points to win the league by a whopping 1,495.5 points.

Singer Drew Ryniewicz capped off her strong surge in the latter third of the season by notching second place in the overall standings and for the week. Ryniewicz also had Harvick and Gordon in her lineup. Former NFL player Dhani Jones secured third place for the season thanks to the trio of Harvick, Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who finished ninth.

Gordon and Harvick were popular plays this week with the four-time champion appearing in five lineups, while Harvick was in six lineups.

Week 35: With a score of 399 points, actress Alyssa Milano took home the top honors for the week as she had three of the top four finishers in the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 in her lineup. As a result, Milano extended her overall lead to 1,465 points. Singer Drew Ryniewicz increased her hold on second place in the season standings. The top six finishers for the week all had Harvick in their lineups and the championship contender didn’t disappoint as he won his third straight and fourth in five Sprint Cup Series races at the 1-mile track.

Week 34: Former NFL player Dhani Jones continued a late push to try and get to second place in the overall standings by topping the weekly leaderboard with 338.5 points as he had the first- and second-place drivers from the AAA Texas 500, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, in his lineup. Actress Alyssa Milano placed seventh for the week, but continued to hold a commanding overall lead of 1,457 points.

Week 33: Actress Alyssa Milano topped the NASCAR fantasy celebrity league with a total of 332.5 points for the week thanks to having three drivers in the top 10 at Martinsville. Her overall lead moved up to 1,461 points. Second place in the overall standings changed hands as singer Drew Ryniewicz retook the spot from Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Tyler Clary. Three players had race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. in their lineups.

Week 32: Former NFL player Dhani Jones topped the weekly leaderboard for the NASCAR fantasy celebrity league with a 240.5 point effort. Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Tyler Clary finished second for the week and moved up to second place in the overall standings thanks to having Talladega race winner Brad Keselowski in his lineup. Actress Alyssa Milano finished third for the week and maintains her lead in the overall standings. She holds a 1,340-point lead.

Week 31: Singer Drew Ryniewicz continued her late season push as she topped the weekly leaderboard with 313 points and increased her hold on second place to 72 points over Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Tyler Clary. The top four finishers for the week all head Charlotte race winner Kevin Harvick in their lineups. Actress Alyssa Milano continued to lead the overall standings with a 1,302 point lead.

Week 30: Actress Alyssa Milano and singer Drew Ryniewicz finish 1-2 for the second straight week. Milano had 299.5 points for the week thanks to having Kansas race winner Joey Logano in her lineup. Ryniewicz’s strong showing pushed her to second place in the overall standings ahead of Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Tyler Clary. Milano’s overall lead is increased to 1,408.5 points.

Week 29: Actress Alyssa Milano rebounded from a seventh-place performance the week before to top the weekly leaderboard with 376 points thanks to having two top-three finishers in her lineup. Singer Drew Ryniewicz finished second thanks to have Dover winner Jeff Gordon in her lineup. Olympic swimmer Tyler Clary finished third for the week but increased his hold on second place in the overall standings. Milano’s overall lead was upped to 1.160.5 points.

Week 28: Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Tyler Clary continued his late season surge, topping the weekly leaderboard with 262.5 points to move into second place in the overall standings. Actress Alyssa Milano saw her overall lead take a small hit down to 1,110 points following a seventh-place result for the week.

Week 27: Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Tyler Clary led the way with a 269-point effort thanks to having Chicagoland race winner Brad Keselowski in his lineup as well as Kevin Harvick, who led the most laps in the MyAFibStory.com 400. Clary is now just 17 points behind former NFL player Dhani Jones for second place in the overall standings. Actress Alyssa Milano finished in seventh place for the week but her overall lead grew to 1,128.5 points.

Week 26: For the second straight week, actress Alyssa Milano led the way in the NASCAR fantasy celebrity league. Milano scored a whopping 410.5 points and boosted her overall lead to 1,117 points.

 Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Tyler Clary also topped the 400-point mark for the week and moved up to third place in the overall standings.

Week 25: 

Alyssa Milano topped the league with a high score of 332 points, while improving her overall lead to 819 points. No participants had Atlanta race-winner Kasey Kahne in their lineups.

Week 24: Olympic gold medalist Tyler Clary took top honors for the week with three top-11 finishers at Bristol. Vanilla Ice was the only player to have race-winner Joey Logano on his roster, while Alyssa Milano increased her overall lead to 734 points.

Week 23: Alyssa Milano posts the high score from the Pure Michigan 400 thanks to have race winner Jeff Gordon in her lineup as well as third-place finisher Joey Logano. Her lead is now 728 points over former NFL player Dhani Jones.

Week 22: Singer Drew Ryniewicz had the high honors for the week thanks to having both the Watkins Glen winner, AJ Allmendinger, and runner-up, Marcos Ambrose, in her lineup. Actress Alyssa Milano continued to build on her sizable overall lead, which is now up to 682 points.

Week 21: Actress Alyssa Milano did not have Pocono winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. in her lineup but she did have three drivers that finished in the top six as she led the way for the week with 267.5 points and upped her overall led to 675 points.

Week 20: Actress Alyssa Milano tops the week with a 196.5 point effort thanks to being one of three players with race winner Jeff Gordon in the lineup. Milano also continued to build on her big lead in the overall standings.

Week 19: Actor Allen Covert and country stars Florida Georgia Line led the way for the week with 203 points. Actress Alyssa Milano finished in third for the week with 201 points and upped her overall lead to 513 points.

Week 18: Scoring was down in a big way with no player totaling more than 77 points and two players scoring in the negative. Country stars Florida Georgia Line led the way for the week, while Alyssa Milano extended her overall lead to over 400 points.

Week 17: Alyssa Milano leads the weekly scoring for the fourth time in six weeks and the actress built her overall lead up to 384.5 points thanks to having race winner Brad Keselowski in her lineup. Former NFL player Dhani Jones reclaimed second place.

Week 16: Points were tough to come by for the Sonoma race as no player topped 114.5 points. Alyssa Milano continued to lead the overall standings.

Week 15: Actress Alyssa Milano earned top honors for the week with 304 points and built on her overall lead. UFC star Johny Hendricks reclaimed second place from former NFL player Dhani Jones.

Week 14: Scoring was down for the Pocono 400 with no one topping 200 points. Former NFL player Dhani Jones led the way with 193.5 points to edge out actor Michael Rooker for the week’s top honors, while also moving up to second place. Alyssa Milano maintained her overall lead.

Week 13: Six players scored 300 points or more led by Alyssa Milano’s whopping total of 399 points, which set a new weekly season-high for the league. The top six all had Dover race winner Jimmie Johnson in the lineup.

Week 12: Alyssa Milano led the way as one of three players to score over 300 points for the week to extend her overall lead. Second place changed hands once again as UFC fighter Johny Hendricks moved past actor Michael Rooker.

Week 11: Actor Michael Rooker moved to second place in the overall standings after posting the high score for the week (254.5 points). Alyssa Milano maintained her overall lead.

Week 10: Country singers Florida Georgia Line had the top showing for the second week in a row with 205 points. Talladega’s unpredictability was costly, with four league members scoring under 100 points. Milano scored a season-low 54 points, but kept the overall lead.

Week nine: Florida Georgia Line brought home its first winning week in the fantasy league as Alyssa Milano extended her overall lead. Dhani Jones moved up to take second place.

Week eight: Drew Ryniewicz sets a new season-high in points with 385 for the week. Alyssa Milano maintains her lead, but UFC star Johny Hendricks takes over second place.

Week seven: For the second consecutive week Allen Covert leads the 10-player league with a 273-point effort. Alyssa Milano’s overall lead grows to 84.5 points.

Week six: Allen Covert posts a league-best 372.5 points for the week and was one of four players to score over 300 points in the week. Alyssa Milano’s lead slips to just 11 points.

Week five: Michael Rooker had a group-best 268.5 points for the week, but Alyssa Milano maintained her overall lead.

Week four: Alyssa Milano topped the board with a league-high 229.5 points to extend her points lead.

Week three: Dhani Jones finished first this week with 195 points, but Alyssa Milano kept her overall points lead.

Week two: Alyssa Milano has a stellar week, riding Kevin Harvick‘s Phoenix victory to a 349.5-point effort. She took the overall lead as well.

Week one: Johny Hendricks posted a group-best 209.5 points in the opening week to take the lead in the series standings.

Read the bios of this year’s celebrity league competitors:

Alyssa Milano (commissioner)
Actress, Philanthropist and Entrepreneur Alyssa Milano has spent almost her entire life in the public eye. A famous child actor, she has continued to work throughout her adulthood in both television and film. She currently stars in Lifetime’s "Project Runway All Stars" as well as the ABC series, "Mistresses." She has been lauded for her philanthropic efforts throughout her career, most notably for her involvement with UNICEF. Recently, Alyssa created the comic book ‘Hacktivist,’ which tackles online activism and information-sharing as a means to political freedom. Alyssa created Touch by Alyssa Milano, which is the premier, high-end fashion brand for the female sports fan. The brand represents a breakthrough in fashion and function. Touch is the only brand that holds licenses for all four major sports leagues, Colleges and NASCAR. As commissioner of the 2014 Celebrity league, Alyssa will look to keep these teams in line.

Tyler Clary
Tyler Clary is an American competition swimmer and Olympic gold-medalist. He began swimming when he was 8 years old and began winning at all levels shortly thereafter. After a silver medal in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2007 Pan American Games and a third-place finish at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Clary accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Michigan, where he was a three-time national champion, before turning pro in 2010. In the 2012 Olympics in London, Clary won gold in the 200-meter backstroke. Tyler is a long-time motorsports enthusiast and is an early favorite to win the celebrity league.

Allen Covert
Allen Covert is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Adam Sandler through his company, Happy Madison Productions. The two have been friends since college and have developed a professional partnership that has led to highly successful careers for both. Covert has served as a performer, writer, and/or producer in fan favorites Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy and Grandma’s Boy. Covert may hold the record for last-place finishes in the Happy Madison fantasy football league, but he’s not letting that hold him back. He maintains his confidence in being better at putting together a fantasy NASCAR team and says he has the speeding tickets to prove it.

Johny Hendricks
UFC welterweight Johny "Bigg Rigg" Hendricks began his career in 2007 with the goal of becoming the World Champion. And he did just that by winning the UFC welterweight title at UFC 171 on March 15. Hendricks was a four-time D1 All-American and two-time D1 National Champion wrestler at Oklahoma State University. Since joining the professional ranks, he has a record of 15 wins and only two losses with eight wins coming by TKO and one by submission. The southpaw spent some time at Texas Motor Speedway last year and counts several drivers as friends. How can you not love a guy who lists his preferred technique as "punching people in the face?"

Dhani Jones
Dhani Jones is a former linebacker who played 11 seasons in the National Football League. He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, earning All-Big Ten honors for three straight seasons before being selected by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. Jones stayed in New York for four seasons before moving to the division rival Philadelphia Eagles and finishing his career with the Cincinnati Bengals. During his playing days, Jones hosted the Travel Channel series "Dhani Tackles the Globe" and the VH1 show "Ton of Cash." Dhani is currently the host of Playbook360 on SPIKE TV & Nissan GT Academy on SPIKE TV. Dhani posted nearly 900 tackles in his NFL career, but never won a championship. That may give him the motivation he needs to take home this title.

Kal Penn
Kal Penn is an actor, producer, and civil servant, known for his role portraying Dr. Lawrence Kutner on the television program House, as well as the hilarious Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar film series. In 2009, Penn served the Obama administration as an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement, a post he would serve twice over the next two years before returning to acting full-time. After a significant arc on the hit CBS show How I Met Your Mother, Penn recently boarded the CBS drama Battle Creek, from Vince Gilligan and David Shore. During the 2013 NASCAR season, Penn took over the @NASCAR Twitter account for an eventful evening from Richmond International Raceway.

Michael Rooker
Actor Michael Rooker was born in 1955 in Jasper, Ala. He caught the acting bug while attending college, and began appearing in local stage productions. He’s spent much of his professional career playing brutes, villains and psychopaths with memorable roles in films such as JFK and Tombstone. Rooker was cast as Merle Dixon in AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead, a role that earned him a large and loyal fan base all over the world. To NASCAR fans, however, Rooker will always be known as Rowdy Burns, his character from the 1990 hit movie "Days of Thunder."

Vanilla Ice
The iconic Robert Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice) exploded on the Rap/Pop music scene in 1990. He has the fastest selling record of all time, topping the Billboard charts with the No. 1 single "Ice Ice Baby." His worldwide record sales total over 160 million — and still selling. Vanilla Ice won two MTV Awards, two American music Awards, a People’s Choice Award, and was nominated for a Grammy. Recently, he’s had a lead role in the movies appearing with Adam Sandler in "That’s My Boy," two DIY Network shows, ‘The Vanilla Ice Project’ and ‘Vanilla Ice Goes Amish,’ which is the highest rated show on DIY Network. He’s had great success in real estate with mentoring courses in real estate investments as well as live seminars around the USA. He recently won an award for "Most Outstanding Citizen" of Wellington, Palm Beach 2014 for his charitable work for children. Also a competitive motocross racer, Ice hopes to lap the field this season with his NASCAR picks.

Florida/Georgia Line
Comprised of Tyler Hubbard (Monroe, Georgia) and Brian Kelley (Ormond Beach, Florida), FGL has exploded since releasing four consecutive, multi-week #1 smashes in the US and Canada with the GOLD-certified “Stay,” the PLATINUM-certified hits “Get Your Shine On” and "Round Here," and 6X PLATINUM “Cruise.” Breaking the record for longest #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart, “Cruise” has sold over 6.8 million downloads in the US alone and is the best-selling digital Country single of all time according to SoundScan. The award-winning duo’s current single “This Is How We Roll” featuring Luke Bryan is quickly climbing the country radio charts and is from the deluxe version of their chart-topping, PLATINUM-certified debut album HERE’S TO THE GOOD TIMES (Republic Nashville).

FGL has racked up four nominations – Vocal Duo of the Year, Album of the Year (HERE’S TO THE GOOD TIMES), Single of the Year (“Cruise”) and Vocal Event of the Year (“Cruise” Remix featuring Nelly) – for the ACM Awards, airing April 6 at 8:00P Eastern on CBS. Earlier in the weekend (April 4), FGL will join labelmates at the ACM Party for a Cause Festival for "Outnumber Hunger Live!" to raise awareness for the 1 in 6 Americans who struggle with hunger.

Drew Ryniewicz
Drew Ryniewicz, simply known as “Drew” is a fan favorite from season one’s "X-Factor," when she almost won the competition at just 14 years old. Her soulful renditions of Must’ve Been Love, Flashdance (Oh What A Feeling) and her audition with Justin Bieber’s Baby won over tens of millions of fans, who more than once had her at the top of the voting charts. Now at age 17, she is being courted by major record labels who have been captivated by her recent original pop/indie compositions, which feature her angelic voice and soul. Now, she’s ready to show off her NASCAR skills and grab the Fantasy Live title in 2014!

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Posted on by Staff Report

‘Worthy champion’s’ run epitomized the essence of new format

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NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France had a bold vision to create a new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format, making winning more important and adding eliminations to the sport’s 10-race playoffs. In Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, France and his leadership team saw the vision come to fruition in Kevin Harvick‘s frantic final laps for his first premier series title.

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After nine races that included two segments with walk-off winners in Brad Keselowski at Talladega Superspeedway and Harvick at Phoenix International Raceway, France predicted the same would be true in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"…as Kevin Harvick said last week, he thought he had to win the race to get it done," France said on Friday. "That would probably be what you’d be expecting on Sunday."

France was right as Harvick won a second consecutive elimination race and third in the Chase, and he characterized the clutch performance in World Series terms on Monday.

"It might have been a grand slam in the ninth inning," France said on "The Morning Drive" on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

"It was amazing. The amount of excitement and drama watching — even for longtime fans like myself — that gets you on the edge of your seat. Who’s going to win this thing? That’s the beauty of the format. As we go down the road, that’s going to be the case.

"If you go back through the Chase, there were plenty of big moments where teams stepped up to move on: Keselowski and what he had to do at Talladega as an example. The teams like that environment. I know it’s stressful for them, but at the end of the day, they get excited about elevating themselves."

While fans, like the sport’s chairman, thought the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion would have to win the final race to take the title, the drivers themselves believed they would have to win, which ratcheted up the intensity.

"They certainly thought they had to win," France said. "At one point, we had the top three — with eight or nine laps to go — were the Chase guys with the exception of Logano who had the problem in the pits. We’ve never had that kind of thing possible, and the teams are the real stars of the show with how they’ve elevated their performance."

The star of Sunday night’s show was the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team, with crew chief Rodney Childers calling for four tires while the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team had Denny Hamlin stay out and the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing team bolted on two tires for Ryan Newman. And Harvick did his part, climbing from seventh place with 12 laps to go. He turned two of the eight fastest laps run during the entire race in the final eight circuits, including Lap 260 when he took the lead for good from Hamlin and the next-to-last lap of the season.

"It’s amazing when you think about what Kevin Harvick did," France said. "He had to win in Phoenix a week ago, and winning, anybody will tell you, in NASCAR is very hard to do once in a while. But when you’ve got to do it back-to-back and then he came from behind in the last five races, making a pretty gutsy call with four tires and so on, that’s as good as it gets. That’s a pretty worthy champion in Kevin Harvick."

The idea of a winner-take-all final race and eliminations in the Chase became a reality during last offseason at NASCAR’s annual management team meetings. Nearly 70 years after his grandfather held NASCAR’s organizational meeting in Daytona Beach, Florida, France described the groundbreaking discussions that took place in Orlando, down the road from company headquarters. Whether the change was the right thing to do wasn’t the issue. The concern was timing.

"It wasn’t a question of would this be something great for the sport," France said. "It was when do we think we want to do this.

"Naturally, there are (questions): Is it too dramatic? Auto racing doesn’t have anything like this. Is it fair to take it down to one race? And what we always got back to was under any format, it usually does come down to one race. It almost always does. Was this fair? Would it bring out the best in our teams? And would it be exciting for our fans and make racing better? You’ve got a check on all those boxes and off we went."

NASCAR leaders will meet again this offseason to review the format, but France doesn’t expect the same results as last year’s landmark sessions.

"If we make any changes, they won’t even be noticeable," France said. "We’re very pleased with the format, and I hear a lot of people (say) ‘Don’t do anything.’ Well, we don’t want to do anything so that’s easy for us to get.

"We’re not behind the curtains all the time, trying to figure out every inch of things. Naturally, it needs to happen, and it is."

Just as NASCAR analyzes the first year of the Chase format, so too will the teams. France expects "there will be new strategies that come in and make it even a little bit more unpredictable."

As NASCAR Chairman and CEO and as a fan, France looks forward to more surprises heart-stopping moments like Sunday night’s finish.

"No one wants to look ahead after such an exciting weekend and conclusion to this season, but as we get into 2015 and beyond, the memories we’re going to make, and the drivers most importantly (will get) a chance to shine on a bigger stage, doing things they never dreamed possible. That’s a cool thing in big-time sports that we all get to be part of for a long time."

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Best of Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series honored

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DORAL, Fla. — NASCAR’s first year celebrating its Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series awards banquet at the Trump National Doral Miami feted one of the sport’s newest champions and a repeat victor Monday night. But before the festivities came into full swing, it included a warm-up by the resort’s namesake.

The day after the thrilling conclusion to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Chase Elliott and Matt Crafton — stock-car racing’s other national series champions — took center stage Monday as the toast of the glitzy Donald J. Trump Ballroom. But before their speeches and moments of remembrance, "The Donald" himself gave the industry a warm welcome.

"I didn’t watch a minute of the NFL yesterday," Trump said about Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "I watched NASCAR. You’re much more brave."

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Participants in both series donned their formal best Monday evening, celebrating the accolades of two seasons of racing that began in February at Daytona. Those assembled at the 62 tables cheered the contributions of departing entitlement sponsor Nationwide and longtime broadcast partner ESPN, but also paid tribute to two deserving champions.

Elliott’s first full season in a NASCAR national series was welcomed with a championship in what will become the NASCAR XFINITY Series next year. But it also came with a surprise honor in the form of the series’ most popular driver award. His father, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Bill Elliott, was a 16-time winner of the NMPA Most Popular Driver Award in NASCAR’s premier series.

"This is really cool," Elliott said after accepting the award. "I got to do this in the K&N Series. To know you have the support of a lot of great fans across the United States when you do as much racing as we have this season, it’s been really, really cool to see that at home and on the road, as far away as California. Just thanks to everybody who made it possible."

Crafton’s return to the head table came by virtue of his second straight title, a historic first for the Camping World Truck Series. Last season his heart-tugging acceptance speech took several emotional turns; this year, a quip beforehand about his 1 1/2-year-old daughter, Elladee, helped him channel his inner comic.

"She’s been around two years and I’ve won two truck series championships," Crafton said. "Why’d I wait so long to have kids?"

Ryan Blaney, the truck series’ runner-up this year, brought home the most popular driver award in the Camping World Truck Series but waved off making an acceptance speech.

"That was cool. Maybe they were all Canadians," Blaney said, making reference to winning over the crowd with his stirring victory Labor Day weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. "So I’ve got that going for me."

The Team Penske No. 22 Ford (Nationwide) and Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Toyota (trucks) were honored for their team owner championships in their respective series. Sprint Cup regular Kyle Busch (Nationwide) also claimed top honors in the year-end Keystone Light and Coors Light Pole Awards, leading both series in the number of poles this season.

Busch was also lauded with the Mobil 1 Driver of the Year in the truck series. Kyle Larson won the award in the Nationwide Series.

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