Posted on by Staff Report

Duo recalls fond memories about track during ‘The Business of NASCAR’ panel

NASCAR President Mike Helton and team owner Richard Childress were part of a panel to discuss the business in NASCAR, Talladega Superspeedway‘s role in the sport and more.

The summit, called "The Business of NASCAR — Put Your Business in the Fast Lane" was co-hosted by the 2.66-mile track and the Birmingham Business Alliance. Talladega Superspeedway Chairman Grant Lynch, Coca-Cola Refreshments Brenda Staton, PepsiCo, Gatorade and Quaker Brands’ Carrie Walker and America’s First Federal Credit Union’s Phil Boozer joined Helton and Childress as panelists in a discussion moderated by Rick Harrow.

Helton discussed the impact of Talladega on NASCAR, which was something he has great knowledge of given his role as the former president of the track from 1988 to 1993.

"Over the last 45 years Talladega Superspeedway has produced some of the most memorable moments in our sport’s history," Helton said. "Great competition is at the heart of NASCAR, and Talladega constantly showcaes three- and four-wide, side-by-side racing. For me, it’s great coming to Talladega twice a year because I know how important the track is to the state of Alabama and the NASCAR industry worldwide."

The track hosts two Sprint Cup Series weekends a year, one in early May and the other in late October.

"The location of our world-class facility in Talladega, Alabama was handpicked by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., who saw potential for tremendous success in the area," Lynch, who has served as the track’s president or chairman since 1993, said.

The track has spent over $434 million on upgrades over the past decade.

Richard Childress, the owner of the Richard Childress Racing team, shared how much Talladega means to him during the discussion. His first career NASCAR start as a driver came in 1969 at Talladega. He also has had many great moments at the venue as a team owner with nine of Dale Earnhardt’s 10 wins at the track coming as a driver for Childress.

"Talladega Superspeedway has always been special to me since I started my NASCAR career there. I still love driving through the tunnel twice a year because I know what the place is all about. It’s fun for the fans and the competitors, and just a great place to be. My grandsons, Ty and Austin, and I love going out on Talladega Blvd., in the infield to mingle with the fans — something NASCAR was founded on.

"It’s just an amazing destination for everyone."

NASCAR action returns to Talladega from Oct. 17-19. The GEICO 500 will be the sixth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and upon its completion, four drivers will be eliminated from the playoff field.

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Posted on by Staff Report

At home or on the go, keep tabs on Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series action this weekend

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This weekend brings the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series takes the track at Iowa Speedway.

The Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV Sales 301 is on Sunday, July 13, at 1 p.m. ET with coverage on TNT.

The Nationwide Series Sta-Green 200 is on Saturday, July 12, at 3:30 p.m. ET with coverage on ESPN2.

The Camping World Truck Series American Ethanol 200 is on Friday, July 11, at 8:30 p.m. ET with coverage on FOX Sports 1.

For more information on track times, press conferences and GarageCam, you can check out this weekend’s schedule. For TV times see this week’s TV schedule.

We know you may not have the time to watch the race action without any interruptions, so if you’re on the go, here’s how to keep up at New Hampshire and Iowa.

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NASCAR.com’s live Cup leaderboard, Nationwide leaderboard and Truck leaderboard update in real-time and offer constant text updates of lead changes, cautions, strategies, strong runs and everything in between. On the go? Download the NASCAR Mobile app to follow the leaderboards live from your device.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series RaceBuddy is back on NASCAR.com and NASCAR Mobile. Get 10 live high-definition feeds, including views of pit road and battle cams. Plus, ride along with in-car camera feeds for Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series will also be using the RaceBuddy feature with ride along cameras for Ty Dillon, Regan Smith, Chase Elliott, Elliott Sadler, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. 

Lap-by-Lap will keep you caught up even if you can only take a peek here and there. Check in now and then to read back through all the laps you’ve missed, or keep an eye on the feed for real-time race updates.

We’ll also be sending race updates via Twitter through the official @NASCAR and @NASCARStats handles.

Haven’t tried RaceView yet? If you sign up, you’ll get virtualized video of cars on the track from various angles and hear what your favorite team is saying over the radio. Use it as a second screen or as your only screen. Just want to scan the radios? You can have that, too, with RaceView Audio. On a mobile device? Get RaceView Mobile here.

If you want to be more involved in the on-track action, you can manage your own fantasy team on NASCAR.com and follow your team’s performance in NASCAR Fantasy Live. Mobile users can also download NASCAR Connect, a game from OneUp Sports that allows users to play other fans with race predictions, for some off-track competition while drivers battle it out on the track.

Live Press Pass streams will keep the NASCAR action rolling even after the winner rolls in and out of Victory Lane. Catch interviews with the top finishers immediately following the checkered flag for both the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series, and stay tuned to NASCAR.com throughout the week for the latest news.

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Camping World Truck Series points leader craving first victory of 2014

NEWTON, Iowa — Being a short-track racer at heart, there’s a handful of qualities about Iowa Speedway that appeal to Johnny Sauter. Prime among them is the location, just southwest of his neighboring home state of Wisconsin.
 
"I’m a Midwest guy so I love the atmosphere," Sauter said Thursday during opening-day inspections at the .875-mile track. "When you come here, it’s just like being back home. With it racing the way it does and me liking the surroundings, I think that just bodes well for us. We’ve been very, very consistent here — six top-fives in seven starts, but no wins, but that’s something I’d like to change."
 
Sauter will get his chance Friday night when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series runs the American Ethanol 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1), the ninth of 22 races for the circuit this season. The 36-year-old veteran will take the green flag as the truck tour’s points leader, thanks to his status as the only driver with five consecutive top-10 finishes heading into the event.

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Even with his team parked in the No. 1 garage stall afforded to the standings leader, Sauter still sees room for improvement, even as his ThorSport Racing team continues to scratch out top-10s.
 
"We’ve actually kind of struggled a lot of places until the race, where we’ve been able to just ultimately work on it all day and get ourselves in position toward the end of the race to come away with a decent finish," Sauter said. "We’ve just been lacking initial speed and we find a way to get it. We’ve just got to find a way to unload faster. …
 
"We’ve been pretty solid every week, but to reach up there and win a race, a lot of things have to go right and we just haven’t had things bounce our way yet."
 
Crew chief Dennis Connor worked with Sauter for half of last season and was reunited with him after spending the first two races of 2014 atop the pit box for ThorSport teammate Jeb Burton. The communication has picked up where it left off, but Connor is devoted to weeding the gremlins out of the No. 98 team.
 
"That’s kind of how our year has gone so far," Connor said. "We’ve focused on finishing races and not doing anything foolish and making the best out of the situation we’re dealt on that particular day. We’re working on all these things to get better and logically, the more you do something, the better you get at it."
 
Sauter’s rate of success has been near constant since joining the truck series full-time in 2009. Since then, he’s made a formidable pairing with teammate Matt Crafton, the defending series champion, winning at least one race in each of his five full seasons with the Duke and Rhonda Thorson-owned operation, based in Sandusky, Ohio.

Long-running driver-owner combinations are hard to come by in most forms of motorsports, but ThorSport boasts two — Sauter’s long-term commitment and Crafton’s participation for 13 of the last 14 seasons.
 
"(It’s) not only just the support they’ve given us, but the truck series itself," Sauter said, taking the dedication theme a step further. "Duke and Rhonda have been here for 19 years and it’s a huge commitment on their part. … They’ve obviously been very loyal to me, and that means something. It’s something you don’t see every day. That’s cool — it makes you want to go out there and dig a little harder. I couldn’t be happier to have this opportunity."
 
Sauter also counts himself as fortunate in the sponsorship department with Nextant Aerospace and Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff sharing the backing of the No. 98 Toyota. The livery of the latter, a tobacco-free smokeless brand, will be on his truck this weekend.
 
Sauter not only endorses but uses the product, which has come into sharper focus as Major League Baseball players have made public campaigns to kick the habit or find tobacco-free alternatives in the weeks since June 16, when oral cancer claimed the life of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.
 
"Obviously, it’s a good alternative to tobacco. To me, that’s what it’s all about," Sauter said. "Obviously we all know the horror stories from people we know or people we see or talk to or see on TV. It’s good to be able to have an alternative that gives you the same effect."

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Posted on by Nascar

Bruce: Some of the best drivers in NASCAR history have won shortened races

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Pardon Aric Almirola for stinking up Sunday’s rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, but don’t expect an apology from the Richard Petty Motorsports driver. 

All the kid did was race his way to the front with rain on the way and manage to stay there until it arrived.

Which is pretty much the same way it’s been done for 60-plus years. Get to the front and be there when it ends. Rain or shine.

Almirola’s win doesn’t sit well with some folks, who claim rain-shortened wins aren’t wins at all.

Let’s see, he was leading when the race was stopped. He made it to Victory Lane. He got the trophy. 

That’s pretty much a win in my book.

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Petty, the man they’ve been calling The King for decades, won 200 races and more than one of those was cut short due to rain.

You want to know who else has won rain-shortened races in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series?

Six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson. Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon. Three-time series champion Tony Stewart. Matt Kenseth. Kurt Busch. 

Just to drop a few names you might recognize. 

Think any of them didn’t deserve those victories? 

Kenseth is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500. He isn’t known as the driver who won one Daytona 500 and a rain-shortened one as well. 

The "depleted field" complaint is almost as laughable as the "rain-shortened" one.

How soon we forget. 

I guess Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t deserve his win in this year’s Daytona 500, where an early crash collected 13 cars. Or the 10-car crash less than 20 laps later. Or the two others that followed, sweeping up six or more cars in each.

Sorry, Junior, you beat a less-than-competitive field. 

How about Stewart’s 2012 win at Daytona in the Coke Zero 400, after late incidents involving 19 and 14 cars whittled down the field of contenders inside the final 10 laps.

Chin up, Tony. Maybe next time you win, it’ll be against a more successful group of drivers.

That’s to say nothing of the multicar incidents that have unfolded at Talladega Superspeedway, the only other Sprint Cup Series track where restrictor plates are required and pile-ups are the norm.

Guess we need to take another look at those results, too, and adjust the record book accordingly. 

Maybe it bothers some folks that Almirola won his first Sprint Cup race in an event that was cut short by rain and against a field trimmed by accidents. Maybe it bothers them that he had never won before Sunday. 

One person it didn’t bother was Almirola. 

He had the team over for a victory celebration Sunday night after returning from not-so-sunny Daytona Beach. 

"When it was all said and done and the only ones left were me and my wife, the kids were asleep, and I had the Coke Zero 400 trophy on my kitchen table — that’s all I care about," Almirola said. "Nobody can take that away from me. For the rest of my life, I’ll be a Sprint Cup winner. I’ll be able to tell my kids that I won a Sprint Cup race. I’ll have that trophy forever." 

Come rain or shine.

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Posted on by Brad Norman

Can another first-time winner cause Chase chaos?

Editor’s note: Driver Reports includes the 16 drivers currently in the Chase field, ranked in order of the current points standings.

1. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet 

Standing: Gordon leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with 651 points.
Current Chase seed: 7
Past five races: 12th at Daytona, 6th at Kentucky, 2nd at Sonoma, 6th at Michigan, 8th at Pocono.
Season stats: 1 win, 6 top-fives, 13 top-10s.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Gordon’s average finish is 9.0 and his average running position is 7.4 over the past nine years. In 38 career starts at New Hampshire, he has three wins, 16 top-five, 22 top-10s and four poles.
Quick hit: Gordon’s lead atop the Sprint Cup Series standings should be safe for another week. He hasn’t finished outside the top 20 at New Hampshire since 2005, and his average running position during that same span is first in the series.

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Earnhardt Jr. is second in the standings with 624 points.
Current Chase seed: 2
Past five races: 14th at Daytona, 5th at Kentucky, 3rd at Sonoma, 7th at Michigan, 1st at Pocono.
Season stats: 2 wins, 9 top-fives, 12 top-10s.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Earnhardt Jr.’s average finish is 13.8 and his average running position is 11.7 over the past nine years. In 29 career starts at New Hampshire, he has seven top-fives and 12 top-10s.
Quick hit: It’s a little puzzling that Junior does not have a win here, because this is statistically one of his best tracks. A look at the numbers reveals a driver who is more consistent than dynamic, though. His average running position is fifth in the series, but he has trouble closing it out — he’s never finished second at this track, and of his seven top-fives, only one is third-place finish.

3. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Johnson is third in the standings with 596 points.
Current Chase seed: 1
Past five races: 42nd at Daytona, 10th at Kentucky, 6th at Sonoma, 1st at Michigan, 6th at Pocono.
Season stats: 3 wins, 6 top-fives, 12 top-10s, 1 pole.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Johnson’s average finish is 9.6 and his average running position is 9.7 over the past nine years. In 24 career starts at New Hampshire, he has three wins, nine top-five and 17 top-10s.
Quick hit: Johnson has been exceptional at New Hampshire since 2007, with only two blips during that stretch. The numbers: 14 races, one win, seven top-fives and 12 top-10s. His average finish last year was 5.0 in two races, so a top-five run is practically the expectation at this point.

4. Brad Keselowski (No. 2)

Team Penske, Ford 

Standing: Keselowski is fourth in the standings with 586 points.
Current Chase seed: 3
Past five races: 18th at Daytona, 1st at Kentucky, 22nd at Sonoma, 3rd at Michigan, 2nd at Pocono.
Season stats: 2 wins, 8 top-fives, 9 top-10s, 3 poles.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Keselowski’s average finish is 12.6 and his average running position is 14.8 over the past nine years. In nine career starts at New Hampshire, he has three top-fives, five top-10s and two poles.
Quick hit: This has become one of the best tracks for the No. 2 team, which has a worst finish of 11th over the past five races at the 1.058-mile venue. It’s even more impressive when you consider Keselowski has not qualified well over the same stretch, where his average start is 14.8 (and that includes one pole). Given Team Penske’s 2014 dominance during qualifying, expect both a good start and finish to the weekend.

5. Matt Kenseth (No. 20)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Kenseth is fifth in the standings with 580 points.
Current Chase seed: 12
Past five races: 20th at Daytona, 4th at Kentucky, 42nd at Sonoma, 14th at Michigan, 25th at Pocono.
Season stats: 6 top-fives, 11 top-10s, 1 pole.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Kenseth’s average finish is 14.4 and his average running position is 16.0 over the past nine years. In 28 career starts at New Hampshire, he has one win, six top-fives and14 top-10s.
Quick hit: New Hampshire is a track where Toyota as a manufacturer can get back on … well, track. It’s been a down year so far, as Toyota ranks third in the manufacturer standings and has two wins in 18 races — at this point last year, it had seven. Kenseth is the most recent winner at the 1.058-mile track and performed almost flawlessly last year, his first with Joe Gibbs Racing.

6. Joey Logano (No. 22)

Team Penske, Ford 

Standing: Logano is sixth in the standings with 546 points.
Current Chase seed: 4
Past five races: 17th at Daytona, 9th at Kentucky, 16th at Sonoma, 9th at Michigan, 40th at Pocono.
Season stats: 2 wins, 6 top-fives, 9 top-10s, 1 pole.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Logano’s average finish is 17.5 and his average running position is 21.7 over the past nine years. In 11 career starts at New Hampshire, he has one win, two top-fives and four top-10s.
Quick hit: This is one of just five tracks on tour in which Logano has a win, but he’s long said that he doesn’t hold New Hampshire in special regard despite it producing his first career Cup victory in 2009. Logano kind of has a point, as he has more finishes outside the top 30 (three) than inside the top five (two). An interesting note: in the past five races here, Logano has three finishes of 14th.

7. Carl Edwards (No. 99)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Standing: Edwards is seventh in the standings with 543 points.
Current Chase seed: 5
Past five races: 37th at Daytona, 17th at Kentucky, 1st at Sonoma, 23rd at Michigan, 41st at Pocono.
Season stats: 2 wins, 4 top-fives, 8 top-10s.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Edwards’ average finish is 13.5 and his average running position is 14.4 over the past nine years. In 19 career starts at New Hampshire, he has two top-fives and five top-10s.
Quick hit: Edwards turned a corner last year at Loudon, notching two top-10s in the season’s two races, something he had never done before. He’s a sleeper pick to win this weekend and extend Ford’s winning streak to four in a row. It would be the first time that happened in the same season for Ford since 2001.

8. Ryan Newman (No. 31)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Newman is eighth in the standings with 534 points.
Current Chase seed: 13
Past five races: 24th at Daytona, 3rd at Kentucky, 11th at Sonoma, 15th at Michigan, 7th at Pocono.
Season stats: 1 top-five, 6 top-10s.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Newman’s average finish is 15.6 and his average running position is 13.0 over the past nine years. In 24 career starts at New Hampshire, he has three wins, six top-fives, 15 top-10s and seven poles.
Quick hit: Newman’s last win at Loudon was the summer race in 2011, and he hasn’t recorded a top-five in the five races since. He won the pole in last year’s fall race, but could only produce a 16th-place finish. If he gets back into the groove at the 1.058-mile track, though, he’d be the first Richard Childress Racing driver to win here since 2010.

9. Kyle Busch (No. 18)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Busch is ninth in the standings with 524 points.
Current Chase seed: 8
Past five races: 28th at Daytona, 2nd at Kentucky, 25th at Sonoma, 41st at Michigan, 12th at Pocono.
Season stats: 1 win, 4 top-fives, 7 top-10s, 1 pole.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Busch’s average finish is 15.1 and his average running position is 14.0 over the past nine years. In 18 career starts at New Hampshire, he has one win, six top-fives, eight top-10s and one pole.
Quick hit: Twelve different drivers have won the past 12 races at New Hampshire, and Busch has to be the favorite to keep that streak going — his lone win here came in 2006. He finished second in both races last year, and the Joe Gibbs Racing program at Loudon is perhaps the best in the business.

10. Paul Menard (No. 27)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Menard is 10th in the standings with 516 points.
Current Chase seed: 14
Past five races: 16th at Daytona, 15th at Kentucky, 5th at Sonoma, 4th at Michigan, 26th at Pocono.
Season stats: 3 top-fives, 9 top-10s.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Menard’s average finish is 24.6 and his average running position is 24.4 over the past nine years. In 14 career starts at New Hampshire, his best finish is 12th in 2012.
Quick hit: Having a first-time 2014 winner at Daytona should give the No. 27 team pause. Menard has worked his way to 10th place in the standings, and he needs all the breathing room he can get if someone duplicates that feat on Sunday. Not only does Menard have zero top-10s at New Hampshire, he’s finished outside the top 20 in 10 of his 14 career starts.

11. Kevin Harvick (No. 4)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Harvick is 11th in the standings with 514 points.
Current Chase seed: 6
Past five races: 39th at Daytona, 7th at Kentucky, 20th at Sonoma, 2nd at Michigan, 14th at Pocono.
Season stats: 2 wins, 5 top-fives, 8 top-10s, 3 poles.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Harvick’s average finish is 13.4 and his average running position is 13.0 over the past nine years. In 26 career starts at New Hampshire, he has one win, five top-fives, 13 top-10s and one pole.
Quick hit: Harvick’s numbers at New Hampshire aren’t the best, but consider this: The 1.058-mile track is, in many ways, comparable to the 1-mile oval at Phoenix, where Harvick was dominant earlier this year. Sure, it’s a little flatter in Loudon, but the No. 4 will have plenty of speed.

12. Clint Bowyer (No. 15)

Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota

Standing: Bowyer is 12th in the standings with 509 points.
Current Chase seed: 15
Past five races: 9th at Daytona, 23rd at Kentucky, 10th at Sonoma, 10th at Michigan, 11th at Pocono.
Season stats: 2 top-fives, 7 top-10s.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Bowyer’s average finish is 15.1 and his average running position is 12.4 over the past nine years. In 16 career starts at New Hampshire, he has two wins, four top-fives, six top-10s and one pole.
Quick hit: New Hampshire is one of three tracks on the circuit where Bowyer has won twice. Those wins have come while starting first in 2007 and second in 2010, so keep an eye on the No. 15 on Friday during qualifying as much as Sunday during the race.

13. Austin Dillon (No. 3)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet  

Standing: Dillon is 13th in the standings with 494 points.
Current Chase seed: 16
Past five races: 5th at Daytona, 16th at Kentucky, 17th at Sonoma, 30th at Michigan, 17th at Pocono.
Season stats: 1 top-five, 2 top-10s, 1 pole.
Track history: Dillon does not have a Sprint Cup Series start at New Hampshire. In three Nationwide Series starts, he has two top-fives and two top-10s.
Quick hit: Dillon was the biggest gainer in the standings following Daytona (up five spots), and he’s the last driver currently in the Chase field. That’s an accomplishment, although he’s just four points ahead of Greg Biffle, so there remains no room for error. The No. 3 has never won at Loudon, and Dillon spent two days testing there earlier this month.

14. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Hamlin is 14th in the standings with 493 points.
Current Chase seed: 9
Past five races: 6th at Daytona, 42nd at Kentucky, 26th at Sonoma, 29th at Michigan, 4th at Pocono.
Season stats: 1 win, 4 top-fives, 6 top-10s, 2 poles.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Hamlin’s average finish is 9.0 and his average running position is 10.8 over the past nine years. In 16 career starts at New Hampshire, he has two wins, seven top-fives and 10 top-10s.
Quick hit: Hamlin’s success at New Hampshire has come with brief periods of malaise mixed in. So considering he finished 21st and 12th last season, the trend would be for Hamlin to return to form at one of his better tracks.

21. Aric Almirola (No. 43)

Richard Petty Motorsports, Ford

Standing: Almirola is 21st in the standings with 452 points.
Current Chase seed: 10
Past five races: 1st at Daytona, 39th at Kentucky, 23rd at Sonoma, 31st at Michigan, 22nd at Pocono.
Season stats: 1 win, 2 top-fives, 4 top-10s.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Almirola’s average finish is 21.0 and his average running position is 24.6 over the past nine years. In seven career starts at New Hampshire, he has one top-five and one top-10.
Quick hit: Almirola’s history at New Hampshire is, well, bad. The upside though is that he’s qualified well the past three races and started a career-best 13th in last year’s Chase event. His fifth-place run in this race last year was the best of his career.

26. Kurt Busch (No. 41)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet

Standing: Busch is 26th in the standings with 412 points.
Current Chase seed: 11
Past five races: 3rd at Daytona, 12th at Kentucky, 12th at Sonoma, 13th at Michigan, 3rd at Pocono.
Season stats: 1 win, 4 top-fives, 4 top-10s.
Track history: At New Hampshire, Busch’s average finish is 16.5 and his average running position is 13.7 over the past nine years. In 26 career starts at New Hampshire, he has three wins, seven top-fives and 11 top-10s.
Quick hit: Busch’s last seven appearances at Loudon have resulted in just one top-10. He’s only cracked the top 20 once in the past five races, but his win at flat Martinsville earlier this year means that his No. 41 car will probably be good Sunday.

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‘Rowdy’ shares his favorite movie, hobbies and more

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Q: Favorite movie?
 
A: "Days of Thunder." Anything with Adam Sandler is always good; Will Ferrell is always good.
 
Q: Favorite actor?
 
A: Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell and Tom Cruise.
 
Q: Favorite actress?
 
A: Sandra Bullock.

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Q: Who would play you in a movie?
 
A: I guess I would say Adam Sandler would play me in a movie. I think we kind of look alike. I think we have the same personality and we like to have fun, do things our own way, kinda crazy sometimes, say things that are on our mind that isn’t necessarily in the script. So I’ll go with Adam Sandler.
 
Q: Favorite bands or musicians?
 
A: I love listening to Linkin Park and The Killers. Journey is always fun. Katy Perry is fun. Metallica, Nirvana, Guns and Roses, Godsmack, Black Eyed Peas, Akon. I’ve got 3 Doors Down, Van Halen, Tom Petty and a bunch of different stuff that I always enjoy listening to.
 
Q: Favorite TV shows?
 
A: Favorite TV shows would be "Breaking Bad," "The Walking Dead," "The Following," "American Horror Story" and "Last Man Standing."
 
Q: Favorite websites?
 
A: Websites I check would be NASCAR.com, Speed51.com, RacingWest.com, Jayski.com, ESPN.com, Yahoo.com and that’s about it.
 
Q: Favorite foods?
 
A: On the West Coast, it would be In-N-Out Burger. Wienerschnitzel is also good. Mac and cheese is good, but I also eat anything Samantha makes. Samantha’s a great cook.
 
Q: Favorite drinks?
 
A: Jalapeno margarita and Monster Energy.
 
Q: Favorite place on Earth?
 
A: Cabo. I enjoy going there
 
Q: Favorite hobbies?
 
A: My hobbies or escapes are sand dunes and just riding sand cars and four wheelers and stuff like that. …Working out and going on vacation are other escapes.
 
Q: Do you have a guilty pleasure?
 
A: Ice cream.
 
Q: Favorite athletes?
 
A: Peyton Manning. I think he’s super good at what he does. Evan Longoria, the baseball player for the Tampa Bay Rays. I don’t know, I’m a fan of all athletes really. I think a lot of them have great attributes and do good things on and off the field. I believe it’s fun to watch other athletes participate whether it’s racing or not racing.
 
Q: What sports do you enjoy watching and following?
 
A: Of the non-motorsports I like football, basketball and golf. Motorsports I like to watch are super late model racing, off-road racing and GRC.
 
Q: Something you always say?
 
A: "You’re an idiot!"
 
Q: Sports you would never do?
 
A: I think sports I would never do are skateboarding stuff, snowboarding, half-pipe, just because it’s — I don’t know — I don’t seem to have very good balance or coordination with my legs and feet. Seems awkward sometimes when I try to do those things.
 
Q: Would you go big-wave surfing?
 
A: I’d like to work my way up to big-wave surfing. I surfed a little bit long board and did O.K. But as far as really trying to figure out how to surf, again that leg coordination thing comes in and I don’t know if I could do that.
 
Q: Would you do a back flip into a foam pit on a motocross bike? 
 
A: I would try that. I think that would be fun. I think Travis Pastrana could help me out with that one.
 
Q: Would you stay up all night square dancing?
 
A: I’m not so sure that I could stay up all night square dancing, no, but I have stayed up all night with Samantha dancing at night clubs, having some fun during Super Bowl weekend.

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Examining Kurt Busch’s ‘0-for’ in points events on restrictor plate tracks

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As dark clouds threatened and what would prove the final laps began to unfold Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, the end loomed for one of the strangest winless skids in NASCAR — and one that had nothing to do with the No. 43 car of Richard Petty Motorsports.

No, this one involved Kurt Busch, who led more laps in the rain-shortened event than any other driver, and once again was in the thick of it toward the end of a Sprint Cup Series restrictor-plate race — but once again watched someone else celebrate in Victory Lane. Aric Almirola may have seized the lead with seven laps remaining to deliver the storied No. 43 car its first triumph since 1999, but that drought wasn’t nearly as mystifying as another which continued Sunday, when one of NASCAR’s best restrictor-plate racers somehow remained winless in points-paying plate events.

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The No. 43 car’s slump, though painful to watch at times, was somewhat understandable — the Petty organization fell steeply into disrepair, merged with another team that was mismanaged to the brink of bankruptcy under a former owner, and even now continues to fight an uphill battle against the larger traditional powers in the sport. Meanwhile there’s Busch, a former champion who famously pushed former teammate Ryan Newman to victory in the 2008 Daytona 500, who after settling for third Sunday is now a staggering 0-for-55 on plate tracks.

With Jimmie Johnson’s goose egg at Michigan finally cracked, it might be the sport’s most unexplainable active drought. Sunday dropped Busch to 0-for-28 at Daytona, to go with an 0-for-27 mark at Talladega Superspeedway. This from a guy who’s won a Nationwide Series race, a Sprint Unlimited exhibition, and a Daytona 500 qualifier all on the high banks of NASCAR’s most famous track, who won an IROC race at Talladega, who paired with Regan Smith to form one of the most potent duos in the tandem-racing era, who was always a factor at Daytona in his Penske days, who has finished third four times at Talladega — and still hasn’t broken through.

"It’s been tough over the years," Busch said at Daytona. "Fifteen years into it, I’ve won IROC races and won a (Sprint Unlimited), won a qualifying race. Even Nationwide, I’ve won a Nationwide race here, but haven’t broke through for a points-paying Cup win yet. I’ve got to go to the videotape. I’ve got to go back and study more. When I’m the leader, I have to advance my game. I have to be better at blocking and strategically managing the race as a leader. I’ve been really good at seconds and thirds, top-fives, just got to break through for that win, and I believe I need to do more work to get better at it."

Plate racing has a reputation for being capricious, even downright random, and indeed the 26 drivers involved Sunday in the biggest "Big One" anyone has seen in a long time would tend to agree with that sentiment. From a few rows deep in the pack, it certainly does seem as if your fate is not your own. Up at the front, though, things are very different. Up at the front, restrictor-plate racing is a 200 mph chess game, and any wrong move can send a driver from the lead to 26th place. Just ask Matt Kenseth, as good as anyone in the dark art of place racing these days, who dominated at Talladega last spring but went high when the winning move on the final lap came busting up the middle, and a driver who had led 142 laps wound up with an eighth-place finish and plenty of second-guessing on his mind.

So it is with Busch, who despite all his accomplishments in NASCAR and other forms of motorsports — remember that Indianapolis 500? — understands that closing the deal in a plate event demands a driver be more tactician than racer.

In the lead and with the checkered flag nearing, all that infamous unpredictability is replaced by a heavy emphasis on strategy, and not the type determined by a crew chief sitting atop the box. Every move made behind the wheel becomes critical. Drivers very much control their own fates. The catch is, they only know what works by being up front.

"You can’t learn by dragging around in the back waiting for wrecks to happen," said the 2004 champion of NASCAR’s top series. "You learn by leading and getting shuffled out of the lead, and then trying a different approach to stay in the lead, and to be able to make your car as wide as you can at certain spots, and to make others have to rethink their strategy. The chess game definitely comes into play more so when you’re the leader than anything else."

Just like grand masters, the better plate racers hone their craft through study. Almirola used some accumulated knowledge to take the lead Sunday, knowing his car could side-draft past Busch from the high line off a restart. But he also relied on homework — the RPM driver said he’s watched the likes of Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., and emulated how they manipulate lanes to prevent others from ganging up on them. "I just did that," he said of his approach in the final laps before the skies opened. "It’s kind of like Cole Trickle, where he says, ‘I’ve watched on ESPN.’ That’s kind of what I’ve done."

And like his fictional inspiration from the NASCAR-themed film "Days of Thunder," Almirola now also has a premier-series victory at Daytona. Meanwhile Busch still waits, despite a litany of strong runs on plate tracks and a reputation as one of the best pure drivers in the game. Talladega in the fall looms as his final chance this season, and the 56th attempt for his career. Sooner or later, it would seem, his number is bound to come up and this unlikeliest of droughts will end. After all, restrictor-plate races are supposed to be random, right?

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Cain: New format gives spark to suddenly strong Richard Petty Motorsports

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You could understand if in the midst of celebrating his first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at his home track Daytona International Speedway on the historic 30th anniversary of his team owner Richard Petty’s 200th and final win, Florida native Aric Almirola felt as if all the stars aligned and all was right in his world.

Even better, all will continue being right in his world.

Almirola’s maiden trip to Victory Lane also comes with a likely ticket to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup — another first for him, and a swift kick in the pants for the sport’s perennial "contenders" who still shockingly haven’t secured their postseason berth with only eight races remaining to set the 16-driver Chase field.

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The victory not only gives Almirola some awesome hardware for the living room mantle, it changes the way his team approaches the rest of the season and it also changes the look of the postseason.

Three days ago Almirola didn’t have a Sprint Cup win to his name. Today he can expect to race against the likes of six-time champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time champ Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch for a championship.

It’s something that more typical front-runners such as Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart surprisingly can’t claim quite yet.

It’s exactly the kind of opportunity and drama NASCAR’s new win-and-you’re-in Chase format hoped to provide, and has provided with this outcome Sunday.

A dose of underdog among the champs and favorites is good for the fans, good for the teams and good for the sport financially.

"Everybody asks what’s your thoughts on the new Chase format, and I’ve said from the very beginning that I thought that it’s a really good thing because it gives four more teams an opportunity to go race for a championship," Almirola said Sunday. "It gives four more teams’ sponsors more exposure, and now we’re going to be a part of that. Our sponsors, U.S. Air Force and Smithfield Foods and all the brands that they have and STP and GoBowling.com, all those people put in a lot of money to sponsor our race car, and so now to have the opportunity not only to take them to Victory Lane, but to be able to go and race for a championship and get that added exposure … everybody knows that if you’re not in the Chase during those 10 weeks, you don’t even get talked about unless you’re winning a race.

"It is really cool to be able to give back to those people because they were the ones that took a chance on me, took a chance on our race team, and put up a lot of money to take a chance on us being successful."

He added with as smile, "We were just talking in Victory Lane, we’ve been fretting over the fact that, man, if we wouldn’t have wrecked here and if we wouldn’t have wrecked here and if we wouldn’t have wrecked here and we wouldn’t have had this happen, we’d probably be like 11th or 12th in points. 

"Well, you can’t go back and you can’t fix that, but this fixes everything."

And changes a lot.

In fact, with Watkins Glen road course looming on the schedule — Aug. 10 — Almirola’s Richard Petty Motorsports team suddenly feels as if it could have both cars in the postseason mix. Almirola’s teammate Marcos Ambrose has won that race two of the past three years and sat on the pole there last year.

Instead of all the usual mega-team participants such as Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Joe Gibbs Racing monopolizing the championship talk, a smaller, lower-funded team like RPM is now at least in the mix.

"We’ve got a test scheduled for Watkins Glen right now with both Aric and Marcos, so obviously Marcos will be one of the favorites there, so we’re looking forward to getting there and testing and seeing if we can have both the 9 and the 43 in the Chase," RPM Competition Director Sammy Johns said. "That would be so awesome."

During the winner’s news conference Sunday, Johns credited much of the team’s success Sunday and potential for more ahead to its backers increasing the testing budget.

"They came to me and said what do we need to do to be better," Johns said. "We’ve tested more this year than we’ve ever tested as an organization, and Richard," Johns said to Petty who was on the speaker phone, "I’m going to be hitting you up for some more."

Petty laughed and replied, "If you keep doing this, you’ll get it, OK?"

And while the room erupted in laughter, the truth is, it’s a happy-but-sober situation. Almirola’s win should equal the first playoff berth for the team since Kahne’s 10th-place championship finish in 2009.

"Our mindset when the season started was it was all about wins, and then we started to gain some points and then we had to start paying attention to points," explained Almirola’s crew chief Trent Owens. "I’m sure we’re not (one) of the figured ones that’s going to win a race. … I think if we continue to focus on just gaining as much points as we can, our best thing to do is try to build momentum going into the Chase and try to have a hot hand going in because that’s really what it’s about, no different than your basketball tournaments and stuff. 

"Whoever gets the hot hand going in gets it all the way to the end, and that’s what we’ve got to do."

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Driver of No. 3 notches first top-10 since season-opening Daytona 500

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Austin Dillon‘s finish in the famed No. 3 Chevrolet at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday didn’t get the attention, headlines and hoopla his front-row start at Daytona did in February.

But the Daytona 500 pole winner’s fifth-place run in the rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 this weekend was a career best, vaulting him forward in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings and tightening the Sunoco Rookie of the Year competition.

"It’s huge for us getting a top-10, a top-five; it definitely can change the rookie race," Dillon said. "We’ve got some momentum now. We’ve got the last four races, I think, in the rookie race. … Our cars have been really fast all year, and we’re getting better each week. I feel like we’re gaining a little bit, and I’m excited about that."

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After dramatically putting the iconic No. 3 on the pole for the Daytona 500 — the first time the number has been used in Sprint Cup competition since 2001 — Dillon answered with a ninth-place finish. The impressive start had some figuring the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series champ would be a shoe-in for top rookie honors. But the 24-year old has instead experienced a learning curve more typical of first-year drivers in NASCAR’s toughest series.

In fact, Sunday’s effort was his first top-10 since the Daytona 500. But that, combined with so much of his competition getting tangled in an afternoon of massive pile-ups, helped Dillon emerge from his season low 18th-place in the Sprint Cup standings to 13th entering Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He now leads fellow rookie Kyle Larson (17th) in the overall standings, but still unofficially trails the Chip Ganassi Racing driver 200-185 in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contest.

"Each week you learn a little bit here and there and what it takes to compete at this level,” said Dillon, who drives for his grandfather’s Richard Childress Racing team. "It takes a full weekend from the start of the weekend when you unload off the trailer, and learning that is just ‑‑ it’s the hardest level of racing in the world in my opinion, because I’ve never done anything past this. 

"But for us, just progressing each and every week and being smart throughout runs and trying to make our cars better throughout a race instead of maintaining, that’s one tough spot. You’ve got to be able to gain through a race and you can’t just maintain, where in a Nationwide race or a truck race it’s shorter and you can get your car decent in track position and you can kind of maintain that way."

Sunday will mark Dillon’s Sprint Cup debut on the notoriously tough New Hampshire miler, but he had two third-place finishes in three Nationwide races there and is optimistic after a solid team test at the track last week.

He is hopeful his uptrend and a recent slide by Larson — three straight finishes of 28th or worse — will reignite this rookie competition. Even Dillon had to laugh and shake his head after the race Sunday, figuring that any other season, a 13th-place in the standings would have made him the front-runner for the rookie title. But the 21-year old Larson has had seven top-10s (including a runner-up finish at Auto Club Speedway) to Dillon’s two.

"Kyle has had a great season and I’m kind of putting our season against his because we’re racing for the rookie of the year,” Dillon said. "That was our main goal going into this year. Any other year it would be a great season, but the way they’ve run we’ve put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

"You know, we’re hanging in there.  Just want to find some more speed at these mile‑and‑a‑halves, get more consistent.  Kentucky was a good race for us, just didn’t make a good adjustment at the end. Experience will come with that, I hope, and like I said, I feel like our cars are getting better and we’ve been really harping on that as a group at RCR to make our cars better, and I think we’re starting to show.

"We jumped from 18th to 13th in points,” Dillon added with a smile. "There’s less positions now, but just got to stay consistent. We had a test at New Hampshire this past week. I felt like it was a good test for us, and we go on and try and keep these runs going for us as a rookie, and I think it’ll close up the rookie points now, too. We’ve gained a lot the last couple weeks, and this will definitely help."

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