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Two years removed from last competition, crews await next shot at spotlight

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It’s the week of the Sprint All-Star Race, hosted once again by the folks at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and for those of you keeping count, that’s 27 in a row and 28 of 29.

The race that "could be moved around to other facilities" hasn’t, at least not since 1986 in Atlanta.

But that’s OK. With the majority of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series teams housed nearby, allowing CMS to continue to host the non-points event works. It works from a scheduling standpoint and it works from a location standpoint.

So what’s wrong with the All-Star weekend?

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For the second consecutive year, there will be no pit crew competition leading up to Saturday night’s main event.

An eight-year run at Time Warner Cable Arena ended in 2012 when Sprint, which has sponsored the event, decided to move its dollars to Daytona in February for what is now known as the Sprint Unlimited.

Perhaps sponsoring the annual pit crew competition as well as the actual All-Star Race was a bit of overkill for the series’ sponsor. That’s understandable.

But for the event to go away entirely due to a lack of sponsorship does a great disservice to those who often spend their entire careers toiling away in the background.

The Sprint Pit Crew Challenge certainly wasn’t the first program to recognize the efforts of those that go over the wall each week. For more than three decades, a similar program was held at Rockingham (North Carolina) Speedway. That particular program went away when the track’s fall event was removed from the race schedule.

Those on the pit crews do their various jobs time after time, knowing their efforts will likely go unnoticed. But that’s OK, too. Great pit stop? No problem, now let’s get back to the race leader.

Except for those occasions when there is a problem, of course. Then it’s "what happened to those guys? Here, let’s take a look."

The race winner is interviewed after the race. The crew chief gets interviewed after the race. And in most cases, the team owner is interviewed after the race.

But the members of the winning pit crew? After a few brief photos in the winner’s circle, they likely can be found packing up equipment and heading off to the airport, out of sight and out of mind.

It’s the nature of the sport, and everyone accepts that.

That’s what made the pit crew competition, regardless of where it was held, special. It might have taken place only once a season, but it was a time that the crews could be recognized and applauded for their efforts, often in front of friends and family, while going head-to-head with their fellow crew members.

Sure, they do it every week, but so too do the drivers. This is All-Star week. No points, no pressure. It was competitive, yes, but it was also a lot of fun for those involved.

After Sprint shifted its sponsorship dollars away from the Pit Crew Competition, NASCAR officials said they hoped to secure funding for the program. A year later, they’re still searching.

There were rumors of a new group undertaking the program, and moving it to ZMax Dragway, which is located outside the speedway. Unfortunately, that project failed to get off the ground.

Throughout the course of a season, there are various opportunities for different groups to be recognized for their efforts, from those that build the engines to those that driver the transporters.

The pit crew competition was the perfect opportunity to recognize a special group of individuals that too often go unnoticed.

The shame of it is that they apparently weren’t special enough.

Here’s hoping that changes by the time the 2015 All-Star Race rolls around.

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Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR.com’s leaderboards will not be available for NNS Coors Light Qualifying

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With so much on-track action at both Charlotte Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway this weekend, NASCAR.com is unable to support access to the Nationwide Series leaderboard for Friday’s practice and Saturday’s qualifying. But NASCAR.com will still provide coverage of those events with live updates from our reporter at the track. You can find those updates here.

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Plus, NASCAR.com will provide access to the live leaderboards during the Nationwide Series final practice on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET — and for the race, the Get to Know Newton 250 presented by Sherwin-Williams on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET (TV coverage on ESPN). Saturday brings Nationwide Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying at 7:10 p.m. ET, with updates from NASCAR.com here. 

You can also follow @NASCAR_NNS on Twitter as they keep fans informed of on-track action and NASCAR.com content. 

Fans can check out the Nationwide Series’ new looks at Iowa Speedway in this week’s Paint Scheme Preview and get information on tickets, track details, event results and more in the Race Center for the Get to Know Newton 250 presented by Sherwin-Williams.

For a complete breakdown of this weekend’s events, visit the full weekend schedule.

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Posted on by Staff Report

2014 “Dash 4 Cash” Schedule:

  •        Daytona International Speedway (July 4) – “Dash 4 Cash” Qualifier

  •        New Hampshire Motor Speedway (July 12) – “Dash 4 Cash” Race No. 1

  •        Chicagoland Speedway (July 19) – “Dash 4 Cash” Race No. 2

  •        Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 26) –  “Dash 4 Cash” Race No. 3

  •        Iowa Speedway (August 2) – “Dash 4 Cash” Race No. 4

 

Eligible Drivers:

  •        The top four highest-finishing NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers to receive championship driver points at Daytona will qualify for the first “Dash 4 Cash” event at New Hampshire.  

  •        The highest-finisher of the qualified drivers at New Hampshire will win the “Dash 4 Cash” award and automatically qualify for the next event at Chicagoland.  The three highest-finishing drivers to receive championship driver points also will qualify for the next event at Chicagoland.

  •        These rules carry into the remaining events at Indianapolis and Iowa.

Nationwide Insurance also will award additional bonus money ($600,000) to an eligible driver if he/she can win the three previous “Dash 4 Cash” awards and wins the race outright in the final “Dash 4 Cash” event at Iowa (potential $1,000,000 payout). 

Posted on by Brad Norman

Who can stop ‘Six-Time’ from making it a three-peat?

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Editor’s note: The following drivers are ranked according to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. Driver Reports includes the top 16 in the points standings and drivers currently in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field.

1. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet 

Standing: Gordon leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with 394 points.
Past five races: 1st at Kansas, 39th at Talladega, 2nd at Richmond, 7th at Darlington, 2nd at Texas.
Season stats: 1 win, 5 top-fives, 8 top-10s.
Event history: Gordon’s average finish is 12.4 and his average running position is 8.8 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has three wins, six top-fives and nine top-10s in the event.
Quick hit: While Gordon hasn’t logged a top-10 in the Sprint All-Star Race since 2006, he ought to be considered among the favorites this year. The series points leader for five consecutive weeks, Gordon is coming off a win at a 1.5-mile track and has a runner-up showing at another mile-and-a-half (Texas) already this year.

2. Matt Kenseth (No. 20)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Kenseth is second in the standings with 379 points.
Past five races: 10th at Kansas, 37th at Talladega, 5th at Richmond, 4th at Darlington, 7th at Texas.
Season stats: 3 top-fives, 8 top-10s, 1 pole.
Event history: Kenseth’s average finish is 6.7 and his average running position is 8.7 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has one win, five top-fives, 10 top-10s and two poles in the event.
Quick hit: Kenseth’s All-Star Race consistency is among the best in the sport. He’s one of just three drivers with both an average running position and average finish of less than 10.0, and he has seven consecutive top-10s. This could be the race to jumpstart a No. 20 team that has been consistent, but not spectacular.

3. Kyle Busch (No. 18)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Busch is third in the standings with 373 points.
Past five races: 15th at Kansas, 12th at Talladega, 3rd at Richmond, 6th at Darlington, 3rd at Texas.
Season stats: 1 win, 3 top-fives, 5 top-10s, 1 pole.
Event history: Busch’s average finish is 11.3 and his average running position is 6.5 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has three top-fives, four top-10s and three poles in the event.
Quick hit: Busch seems due for his first All-Star win. He’s finished second, fourth and third over the past three years. Last year’s third-place run came after a dominant showing that enabled him to start first in the final segment. With an average running position that ranks first in the series in the loop data era, expect another race of Busch running up front.

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Earnhardt Jr. is fourth in the standings with 368 points.
Past five races: 5th at Kansas, 26th at Talladega, 7th at Richmond, 2nd at Darlington, 43rd at Texas.
Season stats: 1 win, 6 top-fives, 7 top-10s.
Event history: Earnhardt Jr.’s average finish is 9.3 and his average running position is 11.0 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has one win, four top-fives and 11 top-10s in the event.
Quick hit: The hometown driver is a crowd favorite every time he comes to Charlotte Motor Speedway, and nothing would delight the North Carolina crowd more than seeing Junior win the event 14 years after conquering it as a rookie. Junior’s recent success means the driver doesn’t have to compete in the Sprint Showdown for the second consecutive year, and he’s perhaps in a better position to challenge for a win than any time in the past five-plus years.

5. Carl Edwards (No. 99)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Standing: Edwards is fifth in the standings with 367 points.
Past five races: 6th at Kansas, 30th at Talladega, 9th at Richmond, 13th at Darlington, 14th at Texas.
Season stats: 1 win, 2 top-fives, 6 top-10s.
Event history: Edwards’ average finish is 11.1 and his average running position is 10.4 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has one win, three top-fives, five top-10s and one pole in the event.
Quick hit: Edwards’ performance in the All-Star Race mimics his season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The driver won the 2011 All-Star Race and nearly won the Cup title that year — and his disappointing 2012 follow-up season came with a 23rd-place finish in the non-points event. So wherever Edwards finishes, it could tell the story of how the rest of his season plays out.

6. Joey Logano (No. 22)

Team Penske, Ford 

Standing: Logano is sixth in the standings with 346 points.
Past five races: 4th at Kansas, 32nd at Talladega, 1st at Richmond, 35th at Darlington, 1st at Texas.
Season stats: 2 wins, 6 top-fives, 6 top-10s, 1 pole.
Event history: Logano’s average finish is 4.3 and his average running position is 8.4 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has two top-fives and three top-10s in the event.
Quick hit: Want another favorite? Consider that Logano and Team Penske are hands-down the most dominant team on 1.5-mile tracks so far this year. Then add that in three All-Star Race appearances, Logano has finished eighth, third and second. He’s among the drivers who rises to the occasion under the lights and may be the biggest threat to Jimmie Johnson’s three-peat.

7. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Johnson is seventh in the standings with 340 points.
Past five races: 9th at Kansas, 23rd at Talladega, 32nd at Richmond, 3rd at Darlington, 25th at Texas.
Season stats: 3 top-fives, 6 top-10s.
Event history: Johnson’s average finish is 5.7 and his average running position is 6.9 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has four wins, eight top-fives and eight top-10s and one pole in the event.
Quick hit: No one has ever won three consecutive All-Star Races, but Jimmie Johnson, who won this race in 2012 and 2013, has done things in NASCAR no one else has. With history at hand Saturday night, expect the No. 48 team to perform as it always does under pressure — with purpose.

8. Ryan Newman (No. 31)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Newman is eighth in the standings with 332 points.
Past five races: 11th at Kansas, 18th at Talladega, 8th at Richmond, 10th at Darlington, 16th at Texas.
Season stats: 4 top-10s.
Event history: Newman’s average finish is 10.3 and his average running position is 9.5 over the past nine years. He has one win, three top-fives, seven top-10s and one pole in the event.
Quick hit: Newman has driven in 12 consecutive All-Star Races, a testament to his longevity. He is one of 10 former All-Star Race winners in the field, but it’s not likely Newman will be the seventh driver to win at least two All-Star Races — he hasn’t finished better than 10th since 2008.

9. Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford

Standing: Biffle is ninth in the standings with 328 points.
Past five races: 16th at Kansas, 2nd at Talladega, 15th at Richmond, 5th at Darlington, 6th at Texas.
Season stats: 2 top-fives, 4 top-10s.
Event history: Biffle’s average finish is 12.9 and his average running position is 10.5 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has two top-fives and three top-10s in the event.
Quick hit: Biffle has finished outside the top 10 in two consecutive events — 22nd in 2012 and 15th last year. If he pulls the upset and wins Saturday night, he would give team owner Jack Roush his fifth win in the event and become the fourth different driver to win the All-Star Race for Roush Fenway Racing.

10. Brian Vickers (No. 55)

Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Vickers is 10th in the standings with 327 points.
Past five races: 14th at Kansas, 4th at Talladega, 12th at Richmond, 26th at Darlington, 4th at Texas.
Season stats: 2 top-fives, 4 top-10s.
Event history: Vickers’ average finish is 8.0 and his average running position is 11.1 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has one top-five and one top-10 in the event.
Quick hit: Vickers has three All-Star Race starts to his credit. He qualified for this year’s event based on his win last year as a part-time driver for Michael Waltrip Racing, a victory that he’s parlayed into a full-time opportunity and a strong start to this season.

11. Brad Keselowski (No. 2)

Team Penske, Ford 

Standing: Keselowski is 11th in the standings with 326 points.
Past five races: 13th at Kansas, 38th at Talladega, 4th at Richmond, 17th at Darlington, 15th at Texas.
Season stats: 1 win, 4 top-fives, 4 top-10s, 1 pole.
Event history: Keselowski’s average finish is 13.2 and his average running position is 15.3 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has one top-five and two top-10s in the event.
Quick hit: Keselowski logged just two laps last year before exiting the race with a busted transmission. That last-place finish bloats his averages a bit — he was runner-up in the event in 2012, and his average finish not counting last year’s debacle is 11.0. Given his strength on 1.5-mile tracks, count the 2012 series champion as a dark horse to win.

12. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Hamlin is 12th in the standings with 318 points.
Past five races: 18th at Kansas, 1st at Talladega, 22nd at Richmond, 19th at Darlington, 13th at Texas.
Season stats: 1 win, 2 top-fives, 3 top-10s, 1 pole.
Event history: Hamlin’s average finish is 11.6 and his average running position is 10.2 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has two top-fives and four top-10s in the event.
Quick hit: Hamlin finished sixth last season while in the midst of a slump, and he has four top-10s in the past five All-Star Races. The Joe Gibbs Racing program’s perplexing struggles on intermediate tracks, though, seems to indicate Hamlin won’t be near the front when the white flag falls.

13. Kyle Larson (No. 42)

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Chevrolet  

Standing: Larson is 13th in the standings with 318 points.
Past five races: 12th at Kansas, 9th at Talladega, 16th at Richmond, 8th at Darlington, 5th at Texas.
Season stats: 2 top-fives, 5 top-10s.
Event history: Larson has zero All-Star Races appearances.
Quick hit: Kyle Larson has two ways of making the big show Saturday night — win the Sprint Fan Vote, or finish in the top two of the Sprint Showdown — and it feels like he’ll be racing Saturday one way or the other. Given his success this year, he may be the favorite in Friday night’s primary.

14. Austin Dillon (No. 3)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet  

Standing: Dillon is 14th in the standings with 306 points.
Past five races: 19th at Kansas, 15th at Talladega, 27th at Richmond, 11th at Darlington, 21st at Texas.
Season stats: 1 top-10, 1 pole.
Event history: Dillon has zero All-Star Races appearances.
Quick hit: Would it really be shocking to have two Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders make the Sprint All-Star Race? Don’t be surprised if that happens, with Dillon joining fellow freshman Kyle Larson as a favorite in Friday night’s Sprint Showdown.

15. Kevin Harvick (No. 4)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Harvick is 15th in the standings with 302 points.
Past five races: 2nd at Kansas, 7th at Talladega, 11th at Richmond, 1st at Darlington, 42nd at Texas.
Season stats: 2 wins, 3 top-fives, 5 top-10s, 2 poles.
Event history: Harvick’s average finish is 8.8 and his average running position is 11.2 over the past nine Sprint All-Star Races. He has one win, two top-fives and seven top-10s in the event.
Quick hit: With two wins this season and one of the top crew chiefs in the garage, Harvick could very well get his second career All-Star victory — and oversized winner’s check. Should that happen, it’d be the first All-Star win for Tony Stewart as a team owner, as well.

16. Kasey Kahne (No. 5)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Kahne is 16th in the standings with 294 points.
Past five races: 3rd at Kansas, 8th at Talladega, 14th at Richmond, 37th at Darlington, 11th at Texas.
Season stats: 1 top-five, 4 top-10s.
Event history: Kahne’s average finish is 12.0 and his average running position is 10.9 over the past nine All-Star Races. He has one win, two top-fives, four top-10s and a pole in the event.
Quick hit: Kahne’s coming off his best finish of the year just in time for his best track. While his success at Charlotte hasn’t transferred into overwhelming All-Star success, Kahne does have a win in the event and two consecutive top-10s.

28. Kurt Busch (No. 41)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet

Standing: Busch is 28th in the standings with 211 points.
Past five races: 29th at Kansas, 33rd at Talladega, 23rd at Richmond, 31st at Darlington, 39th at Texas.
Season stats: 1 win, 2 top-fives, 2 top-10s.
Event history: Busch’s average finish is 10.9 and his average running position is 8.7 over the past nine years. He has one win, five top-fives, seven top-10s and a pole in the event.
Quick hit: Busch nearly stole the show in last year’s race while driving for the one-car Furniture Row Racing team. You’d think he’d be in contention to top last year’s fifth-place showing with a more competitive car, but it’s been a tough year for ‘The Outlaw.’ He hasn’t logged a top-20 in nine of 11 races this season, and has five finishes of 30 or worse — something which suggests a systemic problem more than just a slump.

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Six-time series champion has strong history, track record at Charlotte

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Before he was the six-time NASCAR champion, he was the guy who wrecked at Watkins Glen. No one realized that more than Jimmie Johnson, who upon returning to the New York road course one year after he walked away from a frightening, out-of-control crash there in 2000, found someone selling blocks of the foam wall he had hit for $5 a chunk. Johnson bought two. Later he procured the race car, and had it restored.

"My 2000 year wasn’t all that stellar," he said with a laugh. "The real highlight in the year, the point in time I was recognized, was in that car stuffed into the foam."

How things change. While that 2000 crash continues to live on in video clips — and indeed, it’s still amazing to watch Johnson climb out, jump up on the roof, and hold both arms aloft in hey-I’m-alive triumph — the Hendrick Motorsports driver has since become known for much, much more. And perhaps the cornerstone of Johnson’s legacy sits at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he enjoyed a string of victories that preceded his championship runs, and where domination at one race track foretold dominance on a grander scale.

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Now, Johnson’s streak of invincibility at Charlotte — where he won four straight points races, and five out of six between 2003 and 2005 — seems almost as long ago as his crash at Watkins Glen. The track surface was repaved, the Sprint Cup Series car changed, and in the time since he’s managed just one more victory in a points event, that in the fall of 2009. And yet, he’ll always be associated with Charlotte, and his victories in the past two Sprint All-Star Races serve as a reminder that the confidence still exists there, even if the audacious win totals do not.

"Honestly, I’d say most tracks I carry that same expectation, swagger, whatever it is. We’ve been able to win at so many tracks, have been very successful for a long period of time, we’ve set the bar very high for ourselves," Johnson said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters.

"Charlotte has been so good to us. Even though our dominance was awhile ago, we’ve been able to win the All‑Star a few times since. We’ve definitely been in the money and have had a shot to win. I’m carrying good confidence in there."

Understandably so. Last year, Johnson became only the second driver — joining Davey Allison, in 1991-92 — to win back-to-back times in the All-Star exhibition, claiming an unprecedented fourth title in the process. Another victory Saturday night would make him the first to win three straight in the race. And then next weekend comes the Coca-Cola 600, where a victory would break a tie with Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison to make the six-time champion the all-time winner at a track founded in 1960.

These days, that’s not the guarantee it once seemed — Johnson hasn’t won the 600 since 2005, the final season of his dominant stretch at Charlotte. "I think more people have figured it out," he said of the track, specifically mentioning Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne. "The surface was so rough and abrasive, we hit on some stuff that just worked. I don’t know if you can find that dominance today, especially with the asphalt like it is. So I think there’s a larger group of guys racing for the win now than when I had that dominant streak."

Of course, any victory right now would be a momentum boost for Johnson, who is still searching for his first trip to Victory Lane this season. If that trend continues beyond the Coca-Cola 600 — being a non-points race, the All-Star event wouldn’t count — it would mark the deepest Johnson has ever gone into a season without a victory. In 2003, he went winless for the opening 11 races before claiming a 600 title that launched his untouchable streak at Charlotte.

Johnson is winless so far this season despite sitting seventh in Sprint Cup points and being in contention almost every week. He led 24 laps last Saturday night at Kansas before pitting late for fuel and finishing ninth. The new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format puts a premium on individual race victories, since those are what now qualify drivers for the playoff.

"I think some or many forget that, yes, we do have a lot of trophies and I’m very proud of them, but there have been plenty of slow starts, plenty of dry spells or stretches through a given season. But one thing that’s always constant about the 48 is, we’re going to work our guts out to figure it out. That’s what we’re in the middle of doing now. It isn’t fun, that’s for sure. It isn’t a fun experience to work so hard and not get the reward that you want. But that’s life. I love to work and I know my team does, so we’ll just keep plugging away," Johnson said.

"If we all had an easy button, I’m sure we’d push it multiple times a day just to make things better. But it builds character. In 13 years being the driver of the 48 car, we’ve had lots of ups and downs. I think it’s safe to say we’ve probably had more ups than downs with all the success we’ve had on the team. I take that into consideration, as well. We’re going to work right now. We’re trying to be a better race team. That’s all."

In that regard, the driver attempting to build a record-tying seventh championship campaign probably differs little from the one trying to build his career all those years ago in Watkins Glen. Even if the guy selling chunks of a primitive soft wall out of the back of his truck — with a sign that promoted it as foam from the Jimmie Johnson crash, no less — didn’t recognize the customer who had been the source of his business.  "I don’t know if he did," Johnson said. "I believe I would remember that."

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Previous history links two drivers together

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Kurt Busch will have Parker Kligerman on standby for the next two weekends at Charlotte Motor Speedway as the 2004 champion of NASCAR’s top series aims to become just the fourth driver to compete in both the Coca-Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500 on the same day.

Kligerman will be Busch’s standby driver for both Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race and next week’s Coca-Cola 600, Stewart-Haas Racing announced Wednesday. Kligerman will turn his first laps in the No. 41 car on Friday, when Busch will miss All-Star Race practice because of a conflict with practice in Indianapolis.

Kligerman competed for Swan Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series until that team was broken up last month. A former teammate to Busch’s at Team Penske — Kligerman competed in a handful of NASCAR Nationwide Series events for Penske while Busch was driving Sprint Cup cars for the organization — the 23-year-old has a career-best finish of 18th at NASCAR’s top level. He also has one national series victory, in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Talladega in 2012.

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"Parker and I were teammates a few years ago when we were together at Penske, and his feedback was always really good," Busch said in a statement. "Plus, we’re built about the same, and that’s really important as we don’t want to have to adjust seats or pedal positions inside the race car. I’m confident in Parker’s abilities and know that my Haas Automation Chevrolet is in good hands."

Busch’s attempt at the Memorial Day weekend double is the first by any driver in 10 years. In addition to the conflict Friday during All-Star Race practice, Kligerman could also be pressed into duty Saturday, when Indianapolis 500 qualifying ends only 70 minutes before All-Star qualifying is set to begin.

The Indianapolis 500 is scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m. ET on May 25, with the Coca-Cola 600 set to get underway at 6 p.m. ET. The Indianapolis 500 should be completed at approximately 3:30 p.m., allowing Busch roughly two and a half hours to get from Indianapolis to Charlotte by airplane before the green flag waves for the Coca-Cola 600, the longest race on the Sprint Cup schedule.

In the event Busch does not make it back to Charlotte on time, Kligerman will start the Coca-Cola 600. Upon Busch’s arrival, Kligerman will yield the seat of the No. 41 car to Busch, who will finish the race.

"I’m grateful for the opportunity and want to thank everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing for entrusting me with the Haas Automation Chevy," Kligerman said in a statement. "For these next two weeks, my sole focus is to help the No. 41 team compete at a high level, no matter how big or small my role might be."

Busch has something of a cushion thanks to his March 30 victory at Martinsville, which likely assures him a berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He will become the fourth driver to attempt the double, after John Andretti, Robby Gordon, and Tony Stewart — the latter being his team co-owner, and the only driver to complete all 1,100 miles in the undertaking. Busch was second-fastest in Indy 500 practice Tuesday before the session was cut short by rain.

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Time at Charlotte could revive ‘The Outlaw’s’ season

RELATED: Backup driver for Kurt Busch named
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Race day itself may still be more than a week away, but the double has begun in earnest for Kurt Busch. This past Sunday brought the official opening of practices for the Indianapolis 500, Friday kicks off NASCAR’s All-Star Race festivities at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and airplanes are ready and waiting to shuttle the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion back and forth between the two venues and two very different types of cars.

This is all in preparation for next Sunday, of course, when Busch will become just the fourth driver to take on the Coca-Cola 600 and the Indy 500 in the same day, and the first to try it in a decade. Those who have witnessed previous attempts know that the endeavor injects some serious juice into what is already one of America’s biggest race days — who can forget the sight of a helicopter dropping off Robby Gordon in the infield grass, or Tony Stewart finishing sixth in the first event and then third in the second to set a standard that probably still doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves.

Stewart remains the only driver to complete all 1,100 miles in the undertaking, a benchmark his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Busch has to measure himself against. Replicating that feat — remember, Stewart was an IndyCar champion before he switched to stock cars — is a lot to ask of a driver whose open-wheel experience is essentially limited to the past few weeks. But regardless, it’s going to be fun to watch unfold. It’s going to raise awareness for Busch’s off-track project, veterans and active military members suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. And it’s certainly going to allow one of the more naturally talented drivers in the NASCAR garage area to challenge himself.

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And yet, the Indy-Charlotte twin bill isn’t the only key "double" Busch has looming ahead of him. This entire endeavor is made a little easier by Busch’s victory earlier this season at Martinsville, which — barring a continued glut of winners that pushes the total over 16 for the regular season — should secure his place in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. That cushion gives him some leeway in the event of an unforeseen schedule conflict, given that his NASCAR playoff berth seems virtually assured. Good thing, too — because the five races since his victory have been a brutal stretch which have sent Busch spiraling to 28th in points.

How bad has it been? Consider that this past Saturday night at Kansas — where he spun, cut a tire, and finished four laps down in 29th — still netted Busch his second-best finish since he won at the paper clip-shaped short track. The high-water mark in between was 23rd at Richmond, the low point 39th at Texas. While a lot of this can hardly be pinned on the driver — Busch battled handling issues at Kansas, was taken out at Darlington, got caught in the big one at Talladega — the results are the same, and suddenly he’s 48 points out of 30th, the cutoff for Chase qualification whether he has a victory or not.

That’s still a healthy margin under this point system, and it’s hard to believe he’d fall that far. Of course, it’s also hard to believe he’s trailing teammate Danica Patrick in the standings at this point in the season. "We need to do better," Busch said after Kansas, a weekend that opened with his best qualifying position of the year, "and hopefully we will do better moving forward."

Toward that end, the next two weekends present an opportunity. Although he didn’t win either race, Busch was the class of both May events last year at Charlotte Motor Speedway, at the time with a single-car Furniture Row Racing team that makes do with less than his SHR organization has now. Busch led the Sprint All-Star Race until the caution before the final segment, when a slow pit stop knocked him back to fifth and allowed Jimmie Johnson to get out front and win. A week later, Busch led the Coca-Cola 600 with 74 laps remaining before he suffered a dead battery under a red flag that forced him to the back of the field, and ultimately to settle for third.

Those two weekends in Charlotte were what convinced everyone that Busch and his No. 78 team were for real, a promise he delivered on by carrying a single-car organization into the Chase for the first time. Now two weekends in Charlotte loom again, and though so much attention is placed on his Memorial Day weekend effort, these nine days on the 1.5-mile track offer a real chance for him to build some momentum with his No. 41 team. It’s the double within the double, and in the bigger picture — because racing stock cars and pursing NASCAR championships are what Busch is all about — it might prove more important. When he’s dropped off in the Charlotte infield by helicopter May 25, the Indy 500 will be behind him. The job of getting his Sprint Cup team back in title-contending shape will still lie ahead.

Now, that’s not to cast dispersions on his Indy-Charlotte effort, which his team co-owner Stewart can certainly appreciate, and his teammate Patrick will surely be watching with a keen eye. That undertaking, though, will ultimately be contained to a single day. Given that so many teams use the All-Star Race as something of a test session for the 600 — often driving the cars they’ll use as backups a week later — one event can build upon another, a reason why certain drivers (like Busch last season) often shine on both Charlotte weekends rather than just one. Given the number of 1.5-mile tracks remaining on the schedule — not to mention the Chase — a secure foothold now may very well aid in a climb later on.

To be fair, it’s been hard to evaluate Busch’s cars in recent weeks, given that he’s had so much go wrong. He ran in the top 10 before the crash at Talladega and was seventh before being taken out at Darlington, so perhaps his points position paints an unfairly dire picture of his current situation. The handling issues he battled at Kansas and Texas, though, were very real. Regardless, it’s hard to believe a champion driver like Busch — behind the wheel of what’s essentially Hendrick Motorsports equipment, no less — can be satisfied with where he is now. He has the chance to start turning it around thanks to an upcoming double, one that has nothing to do with Indianapolis.

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Posted on by NASCAR Official Release

O’Donnell provides technology update at Front End of Innovation conference

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 14, 2014) — In yet another nod to the priority NASCAR has placed on innovation, NASCAR Executive Vice President of Racing Operations Steve O’Donnell spoke Wednesday in Boston at the Front End of Innovation, a cross-industry conference bringing together industry executives, practitioners, academics and experts in innovation, product development and research and development.

Joining leaders and innovators from best-in-class companies such as Walt Disney, Procter and Gamble, MasterCard, IBM and Microsoft, O’Donnell presented a case study on the Air Titan 2.0 drying technology, as well as provided an update on NASCAR’s technology-driven pit road officiating system.

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O’Donnell touched on these and other initiatives spearheaded by NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France and borne out of the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C., including safety and competition enhancements, as well as fan engagement and event experience.

"Innovation helps drive NASCAR, and it is central to the sport’s evolution," said O’Donnell, who last year spoke at both the Harvard Business School’s Cyberposium and the World Innovation Convention in Cannes, France. "There are several examples of it improving the sport, none more recent — and impressive — than Air Titan 2.0. The next wave of NASCAR innovation is the pit road officiating technology, which will increase the overall quality of in-race officiating."

Beginning in 2015, NASCAR will implement its automated pit road officiating technology — becoming the first sport to use technology to officiate each of its events. This technology will be used on every lap, in every race, O’Donnell announced. Testing of this technology is currently under way.

This innovative pit road technology will employ numerous video cameras, which will be mounted to inspect and gather data — in real time — from all areas of pit road. Following O’Donnell’s overview of the new system, he discussed future incarnations, including the use of the collected data to improve the fan experience while in the stands at-track or watching at home on television.

Following a February 2013 unveil of Air Titan, NASCAR introduced Air Titan 2.0 in March, signaling a major step forward in NASCAR’s innovation cycle. The new system, which is a self-contained unit, delivers 2.6 times more air volume at a speed of 568 mph, while raising the air temperature by 70 degrees over ambient. With the combination of water removal and accelerated evaporation, the ultimate goal is to reduce track-drying time by 80 percent.

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Posted on by Holly Cain

Nationwide rookie aims to rebound on familiar turf at Iowa Speedway

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Underneath the hip sunglasses and his trademark "ROCKSTAR Energy Drink" flat bill hat, Dylan Kwasniewski exudes all the youthful optimism and good vibes you’d expect of an 18-year-old living his racing dreams.

The ROCKSTAR brand sponsorship couldn’t be more appropriate for the photogenic, super-engaging Las Vegas native. But Kwasniewski is the first to tell you, it’s been a hard knocks opening act.

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After stunning the field to win the pole position in his very first NASCAR Nationwide Series start at Daytona International Speedway in February, Kwasniewski’s No. 31 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet has sometimes looked more like a pinball during the eight races since.

You can’t say he hasn’t pushed it to the limit — brushing the wall in qualifying to get that fast lap or making bold moves mid-race to add to his eighth-place effort at Daytona. But even when Kwasniewski has positioned himself for a good finish, he’s been caught up in someone else’s bad drama.

So here’s where the youthful optimism comes in.

"It’s a learning process this season," Kwasniewski concedes. "It’s frustrating not getting the finishes I want and know we can get out of the team. I’ve put myself in some bad spots and then had some bad luck as well.

"But you have to look forward, there’s a long season ahead. We are a fraction into it and a lot more room to make up ground."

"Hopefully, knock on wood, we’ve gotten the bad luck out of there."

He’s hoping a slight change in scenery — car and track — may help with that. For this week’s Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway, Kwasniewski will drive the team’s No. 42 Chevrolet normally driven by Sprint Cup rookie Kyle Larson.

And while the number will be different, Kwasniewski is looking forward to a familiar venue.

He figures he’s turned more laps at the 7/8-mile Iowa oval than any other track the series visits – thanks to five NASCAR K&N Pro Series starts there highlighted by two victories (West Series in 2012 and East Series in 2013).

The comfort of knowing a track can’t be overstated, according to his veteran crew chief Pat Tryson, who wants people to remember that Kwasniewski’s raw talent can’t always triumph completely new – and ultra-competitive — situations.

Kwasniewski’s nine NNS starts in 2014 are the only NASCAR national series races he’s ever competed in.

"I think everyone knew it wasn’t going to be easy," said Tryson, who has worked with Sprint Cup drivers such as Mark Martin and Ricky Rudd.

"Dylan simply doesn’t have that many stock car races. Most of these tracks we go to, it’s the first time he’s ever seen them. So this season, it’s been about keeping him level-headed.

"He’s doing better than what we thought he would do just based off his level of experience. The second half of the year will be a lot better, that’s when he’ll start seeing the results from suffering some the first part.

"It’s been a really big learning curve, but he’s done a good job."

Like Kwasniewski, Tryson expects Iowa to be a bright beacon on the schedule.

"It’s a lot better scenario for him," Tryson said. "He’s been there before, you don’t have the Cup drivers there, I expect him — based on how we ran at Richmond — that he’d be one of the guys to beat at Iowa. There’s not as much pressure when the Cup drivers aren’t there and the short tracks seem to be more what he’s used to than the bigger tracks."

Counting his eighth-place finish at Daytona, Kwasniewski has five top-15 showings. But back-to-back crashes in the last two races — at Richmond, Va. and Talladega, Ala. — derailed promising runs and dropped Kwasniewski to 13th in points entering Sunday’s Get to Know Newton 250 at Iowa.

All respectable numbers, but it doesn’t help your ego when a rookie — 18-year old JR Motorsports driver Chase Elliott — is leading the Nationwide championship standings and has a pair of wins already.

"I’m sure it’s hard on him, He may not admit it, but you see a guy 18 or 19 winning races and ‘I’m not,’ but they come from two different experience levels. He’s going to be fine, though. I think the second half of the year, you’re going to see a big difference.

"People don’t realize Chase goes testing in Cup cars and Ty (Dillon) tests Cup cars and we only tested one time with Dylan, so it’s really an unfair comparison because he doesn’t have the laps all these places.

"I mean he’d never even made pit stops before this year really. Every part of it has been a learning curve. And we’re making some adjustments as we go, getting the cars better and becoming more and more competitive. JR Motorsports is a little ahead of us, so we’ve got to get to point we’re competing for wins and top-fives."

A two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series champion (the first to win East and West titles), the NASCAR garage has already taken note of his potential.

Chip Ganassi Racing signed him to a driver development deal in March where he joins a stock car lineup including current Sprint Cup Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader Kyle Larson and veteran Jamie McMurray, who has won both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400.

One lesson Kwasnieswki has already learned is that often perspective is as important as a fast car.

"At the beginning of the year, I wanted to go out there with a bang, start on a good note, race with these guys right off the bat and do really well," Kwasniewski said "I’ve been used to that the last two years. But I have to throw that out the window.

"I want to be the best out there on the track, every driver does. But even within the rookie class, I’m at a different ballgame.

"I just have to be the best I can, and do everything I can off track to get the team prepared. I can’t get caught up in the finishes I’ve been having, just keep focusing forward."

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BK Racing driver has best finish of 22nd in first Cup campaign

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CONCORD, N.C. – Alex Bowman doesn’t expect to contend for wins. He only hopes to improve.
 
Measuring gains made on the track can be tricky when the driver is a rookie and the team is still building its foundation.
 
"Take the bad luck away and let us finish where we were running when we broke … and we’re 29th or 30th in points," Bowman, 21, said Tuesday during a Sunoco Rookie of the Year press conference at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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While those numbers aren’t eye-catching, they’re not unusual for a driver in Bowman’s situation. Every trip out onto the track is a learning experience for the native son of Tucson, Arizona. One of seven Sprint Cup Series rookies in this year’s class, Bowman is 34th in points.
 
His No. 23 BK Racing team, headed up by crew chief Dave Winston, is one of three fielded by the organization. Teammates are Ryan Truex and late addition Cole Whitt, who made the move to BK when Swan Racing ceased operations earlier this year.
 
"A lot of ups and downs," sums up Bowman’s first 11 Cup races races, which include a career-best finish of 22nd at Fontana this season. "We really struggled with our mile-and-a-half program earlier in the year. I feel like we got it a lot better at Kansas (last week), then I sped on pit road and ruined our day," he said.
 
"If we can get these rookie mistakes out of the way and finish where we run, I feel like we’ll have a lot better days."
 
A bad pit stop cost the team track position at Auto Club Speedway, crashes at Martinsville and Talladega spoiled those efforts "and we had a solid run going at Bristol and had the battery fall out of the race car," he said.
 
"We’re doing everything ourselves – building our own cars, building our own motors. We have a lot of support from TRD (Toyota Racing Development), but when you’re building your own motors, it makes it hard to go to a place like Kansas where you’re running wide open all day.
 
"The short tracks, you can get the car driving right and go from there. That’s what we did at Bristol – started 33rd and were moving up and the battery fell out. That’s part of it, but places like that we go to twice a year, so I’m looking forward to going back."
 
A former ARCA race winner, Bowman is one of 23 drivers that will be attempting to qualify for Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race at CMS by advancing from Friday night’s Sprint Showdown. The winner and runner-up from the 40-lap qualifier will earn berths in Saturday’s race, as well as one driver selected via fan vote.
 
"We’re getting better," he said. "My crew chief, Dave, is a rookie too, so we’re both making our own mistakes. But we’re learning from them."

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