Sprint Cup Series lineup for Talladega

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Staff Report

See the full lineup for the Aaron’s 499

Pos	Car	Driver	Team
1	33	Brian Scott(i)	Shore Lodge Chevrolet
2	27	Paul Menard	Richmond/Menards Chevrolet
3	47	AJ Allmendinger	Bush’s Beans Chevrolet
4	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet
5	3	Austin Dillon #	Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
6	31	Ryan Newman	Caterpillar Chevrolet
7	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Chevrolet
8	4	Kevin Harvick	Jimmy John’s Chevrolet
9	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet
10	99	Carl Edwards	Fastenal Ford
11	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet
12	14	Tony Stewart	Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
13	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford
14	95	Michael McDowell	Jordan Truck Sales Ford
15	43	Aric Almirola	Logan’s Roadhouse/Gwaltney Ford
16	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford
17	7	Michael Annett #	Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet
18	55	Brian Vickers	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
19	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Pretzel Toyota
20	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s/Valspar Reserve Chevrolet
21	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota
22	36	Reed Sorenson	Golden Corral Chevrolet
23	21	Trevor Bayne(i)	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford
24	83	Ryan Truex #	VooDoo BBQ & Grill Toyota
25	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Zest Ford
26	9	Marcos Ambrose	DeWalt Ford
27	15	Clint Bowyer	PEAK Antifreeze/Motor Oil Toyota
28	66	Michael Waltrip	Blue/DEF Toyota
29	42	Kyle Larson #	Target Chevrolet
30	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	National Guard Chevrolet
31	26	Cole Whitt #	Scorpyd Crossbows Toyota
32	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s Chevrolet
33	23	Alex Bowman #	Dr.Pepper Toyota
34	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota
35	16	Greg Biffle	3M Window Film Ford
36	98	Josh Wise	Dogecoin/Reddit.com Ford
37	32	Terry Labonte	C&J Energy Services Ford
38	51	Justin Allgaier #	Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet
39	34	David Ragan	KFC Go Cup Ford
40	38	David Gilliland	Love’s Travel Stop Ford
41	40	Landon Cassill(i)	Hillman Racing Chevrolet
42	5	Kasey Kahne	FrmrsInsrnce/Thankamillionteachers.com Chevrolet
43	78	Martin Truex Jr	Furniture Row Chevrolet

Did Not Qualify: # 77 Dave Blaney; # 87 Joe Nemechek(i); # 35 Eric McClure(i); # 44 JJ Yeley(i).
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

READ MORE:

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView

Posted on May 2, 2014 by

Once an informal ride, event now sweeps through NASCAR

Photo credit: Kevin Kane Photography

In the beginning, they called it the Hey Buddy Tour.

It was about as informal as it sounded — just a bunch of friends in the NASCAR industry looking for an excuse to ride their motorcycles, usually from one event weekend to the next. Kyle Petty and a few others biked from Dover to a test in New Hampshire, stopping in New York City and Maine along the way. They rode to Pocono, where Petty won the race. By that fall, their numbers had swelled to include driver Harry Gant, crew chiefs Waddell Wilson and Robin Pemberton, track promoter Eddie Gossage and others trekking from Rockingham to Phoenix for the penultimate event of the year.

Soon they were planning another ride for the next season, that one from California to North Carolina. Maybe they’d try to raise some money for charity in the process. "We decided we’d do it like a Bike-A-Thon, get people to give us a penny a mile or a nickel a mile or something like that," Petty remembered. "We raised about $35,000, but that’s all we wanted to do. We wanted to do it that one time, just to say that you had ridden cross-country."

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

But it was only beginning. Two decades later, Petty and his band of motorcyclists are still riding across America every year, and still doing it for charity. The 20th annual Kyle Petty Charity Ride begins Saturday in Carlsbad, California, kicking off a week-long trek that concludes seven days later in Daytona Beach, Florida. What started as an informal ride among friends quickly grew into one of the signature charitable events of the NASCAR season, one that since its official inception in 1995 has raised over $14 million and primarily benefits the Victory Junction Gang Camp for chronically ill children in Petty’s hometown of Randleman, North Carolina.

"It’s crazy," Petty said. "I never thought it would go this far. Never."

When the ride first started, it would benefit children’s hospitals — the caravan would stop at hospitals along the route and leave donations to help families with bills or other expenses. But the mission of the ride changed after Petty’s son Adam was killed in a crash while practicing for a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire in 2000. Three years later, the Victory Junction Gang Camp — a respite for chronically ill children founded by the Petty family in Adam’s memory — became the event’s primary beneficiary, and has been ever since.

The Charity Ride, which raises money through rider’s fees and sponsorships, is the biggest fundraiser the camp has. The relationships Petty built with children’s hospitals during the early years of the ride helped bring kids to the camp once the facility opened. Over the past decade, more than 7,700 children with health issues have attended Victory Junction at no cost to their families, thanks to the Kyle Petty Charity Ride.

"It’s funny how that laid the groundwork, because after Adam’s accident and we started camp, we already had connections with hospitals," Petty said. "They already knew who we were and knew what was going on, so when we called them up and said, ‘Hey, will you send some kids to camp?’ they were more than willing to do that. So it’s funny how life works out. But it helped build camp, it helps maintain camp, the waterpark is from the Kyle Petty Charity Ride, it maintains that. Every year, we send a week’s worth, or a couple of week’s worth, of kids to camp through the ride, and the rest of the money goes to improve camp and continue to grow camp. I don’t think any of us ever envisioned that this would become such a huge part of camp and what it means to camp at this time."

For those who take part, though, the ride is about much more than charity — it’s a rolling community of automotive dealers and banking executives and industrialists and NASCAR industry members, among others, many of them decked out in bandanas and leather chaps. Due to the anniversary, Petty said this year’s event will attract more than 120 riders, the highest number in years. But many are mainstays — former football star Herschel Walker and retired drivers Gant and Geoffrey Bodine are among the regulars, and Petty said there is a core group of about 10 people who have been on every ride.

Among the originals are Dave and Renee Bartels, who own a moving company and helped Petty transport the motorcycles to the starting point in Santa Clara, California, for the inaugural ride in 1995. They decided to tag along for the first leg to Newport Beach, California, with no intention of going beyond that. But then they ended up making the second leg to Las Vegas. Then the third leg to Phoenix. They went all the way to North Carolina, and have been on the ride ever since.

"It’s a real good group of people, a really caring group of people, a really giving group of people," Petty said. "Through 20 years, obviously, we have families that are a part of it that have had kids graduate, that have had family members get married. And we’ve had deaths. We’ve had people who were riders pass away.

"That’s what the ride is. It brings in family — you have fathers and sons and wives and daughters and uncles and brothers who all ride together. But in the end, they meet the people and it becomes that type of community. It’s so funny, because a conversation will go on all week, and it will stop on that Saturday. And people pick it up a year later in the same place the conversation died, and they go from there. It’s like it never missed a beat. It has become a huge family, but it’s really become a part of my family."

The ride has not been without challenges. Petty said he was "just going through the motions" after Adam’s accident, and thought the event would simply fade away, but it didn’t. It was also originally built around off-weekends, which allowed more drivers to take part. But as the off-weekends in the NASCAR schedule dwindled, so did many of the drivers — even Petty himself had to skip days when he was still competing behind the wheel. Matt Kenseth is scheduled to be among those taking part in this year’s event, but the 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will be able to ride only a few days in the middle of the week because of races at Talladega and Kansas on either end.

Over time, though, it became evident that the riders weren’t turning out just to mingle with NASCAR personalities — they were there to ride with one another. As the friendships among those taking part strengthened, the event became more and more entrenched. "Everybody just kept saying, ‘We’re going to do it again.’ We got to 10 years, we got to 15, and here we are," Petty said. "Even with the economy, the way the economy dipped, people kept coming back."

And they’re still coming back. Two decades later, what started as the Hey Buddy Tour is still going strong.

"Twenty freaking years," Petty said. "I can’t believe that. I swear, I can’t."

NASCAR.com will have daily updates during the journey from Carlsbad, California to Daytona Beach, Florida.

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Holly Cain

Tabloid speculated driver had $2 million plan in the works

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Even Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a good laugh at a recent tabloid report of an impending "$2 million wedding extravaganza" at Daytona International Speedway that would include 2,000 invited guests and be led "by a procession around the track including racing-themed cars and ending with a checkered flag at the finish line."

Earnhardt, 39, admitted Friday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway that he read "The National Enquirer" story and that the details were certainly news to him. And a source of amusement.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

"So we just skipped the engagement I guess, went right to the wedding," said Earnhardt, who was just named the winner of the first quarter Driver of the Year Award for 2014 by the DOTY Foundation.

The notoriously frugal driver shook his head at the reported cost of his imaginary nuptials to longtime girlfriend Amy Reimann and smiled.

"I definitely would have a hard time writing that check," he added.

According to the article, Earnhardt whispered his marriage intentions in Reimann’s ear in the immediate celebration of his second Daytona 500 victory in February. The story gives robust details of the day — although no date — including a menu of lobster, steak, shrimp, brisket and ribs "washed down with champagne and top-shelf liquor."

The venue, "the luxurious Daytona 500 Club" with additional partying scheduled for the parking lots, also didn’t jibe with anything he had imagined for his big day.

"I would not force everybody to go down to Daytona for my wedding," Earnhardt said. "I probably would just have it right there in the back yard, but whatever is easiest.

"That was funny. I read that and it was a roller coaster of an article. Pretty good."

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Holly Cain

First Sprint Cup group qualifying session on restrictor-plate track will play out on Saturday

MORE: Cain: Talladega qualifying should be a great show
RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

TALLADEGA, Ala. — The only thing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers seem to know for sure about Saturday’s first group qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway is that nothing is for sure.

Expectations are for high drama on the high banks — where just as in the races here, a little luck will be as important as a solid strategy.

"I don’t think anyone knows what to expect, and I think there’s potential for it to be the best qualifying session you’ve seen in a long, long time," said six-time Talladega winner and current Cup points leader Jeff Gordon.

"There’s some risk involved here to get the pole."

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

Typically single-car qualifying at the 2.66-mile track has been more of a tedious necessity to set the starting field. But NASCAR’s new knock-out group qualifying format has been so eagerly anticipated that FOX is airing it live on network television Saturday (coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET).

The procedure allows for all 47 cars entered to be on track together for 25 minutes. After a five-minute break, the fastest 24 cars will move on to the next 10-minute round.

After another five-minute break, the fastest 12 cars from that group then move on to a high-frenzy session to determine the pole winner and first six rows.

The starting strategy is multi-fold and untested at a restrictor-plate track.

Because of the unique nature of the draft here, during the race a car can be running near the back of the field one lap and leading the race two laps later, so starting position matters less here than at a smaller venue.

The problem is that the tight draft-style racing here also inevitably helps produce at least one "Big One" — multicar crash — and driving up through the field puts a driver in a more precarious position. These factors play a big role in contemplating the risk a team is willing to take in qualifying.

"The thing I’m trying to come to grips with is where do I take a large risk?," six-time Cup champ Jimmie Johnson explained Friday. "Trying to qualify well or trying to work my way through the pack to get to the front? And we’re just not sure right now what to expect. We wanted to come here with a plan in place of how we were going to qualify, but our opinion seems to change every 15 minutes."

That risk also seemed to apply to practice on Friday. Daytona 500 outside pole-winner Martin Truex Jr. was fastest in opening practice, followed by Justin Allgaier and defending Aaron’s 499 winner David Ragan. Five cars turned in a lap in excess of 200 mph thanks to the draft.

Happy with their cars and afraid to chance an accident during practice, 20 cars did not participate in the 55-minute second session — including the three Michael Waltrip Racing cars and Denny Hamlin. Truex and rookie Kyle Larson, who were among those with a 200-mph lap in the first practice, parked their cars for the later session as well.

"We would like to be in the same position as we were (Friday)," Truex said. "At the start of practice we got in front of a line of cars and were able to make a run up there. The difference (Saturday) is that we don’t know what everyone else’s plan is going to be. Everyone will be trying to do what we did in practice and that’s to be in the right position to get the fastest speed.

"And at the same time it’s going to be a risky session. Our No. 1 goal right now is to make sure this Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet races on Sunday. If we feel like we’re in a danger zone, we’ll abort. It really doesn’t matter where you start here."

Truex is also among a small group of small teams that present a wild card within the wild card. Several drivers from larger teams noted that in this case, being a single-car team may be a benefit because you don’t have a teammate you’re forced to depend on, or be accountable to.

"There are a few cars open to who they can draft with and get a tow with and get lucky," Gordon said. "I think (the pole) is going to come from a smaller group. I don’t know if being the lead guy is the fastest place to be."

Elliott Sadler, who will start on the front row for Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 Nationwide Series race said he fully expected a single car team to have a shot at the Sprint Cup pole.

"We saw today, just going out with teammates isn’t enough," Sadler said after qualifying. "I think what you’ll see [in Cup qualifying], in my humble opinion, is a lot of cat and mouse leaving pit road. … You want to be the back group, never the lead group running.

"I think you’re going to see a single car have a good shot at the pole tomorrow."

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Kenseth is among a handful of Cup drivers that got a little practice with this style of qualifying for the season-opening NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona in February. However, the experience apparently didn’t give him any more sense of comfort or wisdom.

"We did the first round at Daytona in Nationwide and it was a little crazy, but the field is obviously better in Cup," Kenseth said. "I don’t know what’s going to happen.

"It should be interesting especially having three rounds. I think obviously the first round is where you’re going to have your fast lap times and that one you’re going to have to probably make more calculations or more aggressive moves or however you want to put it to get that lap once they start thinning this field out and you get down to 12 or even 25 or 24 or whatever it’s going to change a little bit.

"There’s always a potential for a wreck when you put 43 cars out there."

Team Penske’s Joey Logano is convinced it’s more than just potential.

"I think there will be a point that there are gonna be a lot of cars out there," Logano explained. "I think you have to put your lap up very quick because I think after the first five minutes the top 18 cars or so are probably gonna pit, and not be out there. So the less cars that are on the race track, the harder it is to run that fast lap.

"I’ve been working with my teammate Brad [Keselowski], and also [Michael] McDowell some … to kind of figure out what we’ve got to do to put together a good package for us to run a fast lap and have the right strategy, and also stay out of the crash because I think it’s gonna happen.

"I think there will be a wreck within this qualifying session just because the closing rate you’re gonna be catching some of these guys. For guys in the middle of the race track and then you’re going to the bottom, he decided he wants to get out of the way and goes to the bottom, oh, shoot, you’re gonna get in a crash. So you’ve got to be on your toes throughout the whole session. I think as each session goes it’s gonna get a little bit calmer because obviously there are gonna be less cars out there."

The blissful bottom line: "I don’t think anyone knows for sure what’s gonna happen," Logano said grinning.

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView

Posted on May 2, 2014 by

MWR driver teaches Birmingham, Alabama teens about science, engineering

The science of speed.

It’s a concept that NASCAR drivers are more than well-versed in, especially this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, where track speeds routinely top 200 mph.

With the Sprint Cup Series in town for "Aaron’s Dream Weekend" at Talladega, Michael Waltrip Racing’s Brian Vickers — who drives the No. 55 Aarons’s Dream Machine Toyota — visited the A.G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club of Birmingham, Alabama on Thursday to host "The Science of Speed," an event designed to give teenagers an exciting and educational look at how a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education can pave the way to a future in NASCAR. Vickers, crew chief Billy Scott and some of the Michael Waltrip Racing crew members developed an instructive program to give teenagers a hands-on experience, demonstrating how a STEM education is applied in the motorsports industry.

The group taught students about the technology of the No. 55 Toyota and how Vickers applies STEM while racing at blinding speeds around the track, as well as the science and engineering aspects of the sport, from tire pressure and tread depth to building a shock and the technology that keeps drivers safe at the track.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

"Science, technology engineering and math were really the core focus, but it was really all around just encouraging to continue education," said Vickers, currently in his first full-time Sprint Cup season with MWR. "It’s so hard for kids to understand this sometimes, how important a good education is to the rest of their life. I think, for my part, just to explain what I do, what I like, I’m very blessed to have this ferocious curiosity to continue to learn and I’ve always had that. It’s just helped me in my career; it’s helped me in my life in so many ways."

The program was designed with an emphasis on encouraging continued education in these areas, focusing on showing how they could eventually lead to a career in motorsports. But there was plenty to take away from the event, even if the participants had other interests in mind.

Brian Vickers (left), driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine in the Sprint Cup Series, and his crew chief Billy Scott spoke with teens at the A.G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club in Birmingham, Alabama on Thursday. (Photos courtesy of Michael Waltrip Racing)

"All the kids, I was really impressed, they all had their passions, which obviously you want to encourage," Vickers said. "Some of them want to go to art school, some to design school, some wanted to do engineering. Some of them were really into racing and like ‘Wow, this is so amazing, I’ve always found racing so fascinating. I’d love to pursue my engineering degree and get into motorsports. How can I start?’

"I think the more that kids hear it from someone besides their parents, you know they tend to get to that age where anything their parents say is wrong, so it’s good to hear it from someone else and hear it from people they see on TV and engineers making cars go fast. Fast cars are always kind of sexy, right? For them to spend time with all of the guys on the team and the mechanics and the engineers and stuff, I think it was good and I hope we made a difference in all of them, but even if we made a difference in one of them it was worth every minute.

Vickers will look to take some of that speed he shared with the teenagers of Birmingham and apply it 45 minutes east at the 2.66-mile Talladega. It’s a track where he’s had plenty of success in the past — picking up the first Cup Series win of his career in 2006 back when he was driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet — but hasn’t raced at in a Cup ride since his last full-time season, three years and one car generation ago.

"Anytime you haven’t been to a track in that long, you want to get your feet wet and get settled in, but I think if I hadn’t been in the sport so long I’d be more concerned about it. I’ve been in NASCAR now, including the Nationwide Series, for 12 years on and off. Taking time off and being away from some race tracks we’re going to is not good, but I think if you’ve done something for over a decade it’s not devastating either. We should be able to get back in the saddle pretty quick this weekend.

If Vickers is able to scrape together a successful weekend at Talladega, it’ll continue an unprecedented start to 2014 that already sees him 10th in points, with a top-five finish at Texas Motor Speedway and another two top-10s (Bristol, Fontana).

It’s a continuation of a successful 2013 campaign that saw him pick up his third career win at New Hampshire driving part-time for MWR. He’s even led more laps than teammate Clint Bowyer thus far this season, and feels he and his No. 55 team are close to picking up a win soon and notching a provisional Chase spot.

Friday’s early practice didn’t go extraordinarily well for the 55 team, seeing Vickers place 23rd on the charts with a best speed of 197.990 mph, but that’s something he isn’t worried about.

"We haven’t always unloaded with a fast car; some weekends we’ve been way off when we unload. But Billy and the guys have just done a phenomenal job just taking a car that we weren’t happy with on Friday and by the end of the race, we’re one of the fastest cars, if not the fastest car on the race track the last two runs of the race.

"I think what’s working is this ‘never give up’ attitude of the Aaron’s Dream Machine team. They’ve just done such a good job. We’ve had some really fast cars this year, we’ve had some bad luck, blown some tires a couple times, got caught up in The Big One at Daytona, but no one ever gave up. Even when we’ve had bad races and blown tires or gotten in wrecks, the team got the car fixed and salvaged a decent finish. I’m really proud of where we are as a company and as a team. We’re not a dynasty yet; we’ve got a long way to go but we’re on the right trajectory and I’m proud of it."

READ MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Staff Report

Signed bill would allow Daytona Rising to provide added benefit to community

(Above, left to right) Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III, Florida Governor Rick Scott, International Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa France Kennedy and ISC Chairman Jim France tour Daytona Rising on April 3.

The Florida Legislature approved House Bill 7095 on Friday, establishing a process for sports franchises to apply for state sales tax refunds based on the amount of sales tax generated by a facility. The governing body recommended that the bill be signed by Florida Governor Rick Scott.

Under the bill, Daytona International Speedway is eligible to apply for refunds to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Home of "The Great American Race" — the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 — the approximately 500-acre motorsports complex holds eight major weekends of racing activity a year. It also hosts civic and social gatherings, car shows, photo shoots, production vehicle testing and police motorcycle training.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

"Today’s decision by the Florida Legislature makes evident that the State recognizes the tremendous value that Daytona Rising has and continues to deliver to our area," International Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa France Kennedy said. "If signed, the legislation will set the framework to potentially provide additional capital for the project, allowing us to build upon the already massive economic benefits being generated in the region — from thousands of new jobs to millions of dollars in new tax revenues."

Daytona Rising, a $400 million redevelopment project of an American icon, is expected to create 6,300 jobs, $300 million in labor income and more than $80 million in tax revenue. The project is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona and Daytona 500.

"We are proud of our efforts with Daytona Rising, and are especially grateful to all our local community supporters who rallied on our behalf to help keep these dollars in our community and region," Kennedy said. "We’re also grateful to the leaders in Tallahassee for their willingness to create a means by which to partner with us to build a better economic future together."

Five expanded and redesigned entrances, known as "injectors," will transport fans to three concourse levels via a series of escalators and elevators. On each level along the nearly one-mile frontstretch, spacious social areas, known as "neighborhoods," will allow fans to connect with each other in person or digitally through social media.

"The Florida Legislature sent a clear message in favor of prudent economic growth today by setting up an equitable process for sports stadium projects to compete for funds that generate a return for our communities," Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III said. "We are thankful for their support, foresight and leadership, and look forward to the next step in the legislative process as the bill moves to the Governor’s office for signing.

Following the redevelopment, the World Center of Racing will have approximately 101,000 permanent, wider seats, twice as many restrooms and three times as many concession stands. Also, it will feature over 60 luxury suites with trackside views and a revamped hospitality experience for corporate guests.

"Daytona Rising is an unprecedented $400 million project that has already yielded significant economic benefits," Chitwood said. "If the bill is signed, Daytona Rising will stand as the model for a true private-public partnership with far-reaching advantages for Florida."

READ MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Staff Report

Joe Gibbs Racing trio takes top three spots in the lineup for Aaron’s 312

MORE: Results | Race Center | How to Follow Races

Sam Hornish Jr. won the Coors Light Pole Award for the NASCAR Nationwide Series‘ Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Hornish, who is making his first Nationwide Series start of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing, posted his sixth career Coors Light Pole in the Nationwide Series.

Hornish topped the final round of qualifying with a lap of 186.783 mph. Hornish will be joined on the front row by his JGR teammate Elliott Sadler. In fact, JGR took the top three spots in the lineup for the Aaron’s 312 — Darrell Wallace Jr. will start third.

Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Reed will start fourth, while Richard Petty Motorsports’ Dakoda Armstrong rounds out the top five.

Brian Scott made some contact with the outside wall about halfway through the final session and will start 10th. All three Richard Childress Racing cars will start in the top 11.

The second round of qualifying was a bit of a waiting game as cars stayed on pit road for nearly the first five minutes of the round. David Ragan, Trevor Bayne and Kyle Larson were among the notable drivers not to advance to the final round of qualifying.

The first round of qualifying saw plenty of drafting. Pit road was a little chaotic early on as teams were trying to get organized in a pack for drafting. An initial pack of five TriStar Motorsports went out together with two other cars at the start of the first session but came back in before completing a lap.

Tanner Berryhill spun out after some contact from Larson, who tried to squeeze between Berryhill and Regan Smith. Berryhill suffered the most damage as he hit Derrike Cope and then smacked the wall. Berryhill’s car was towed away during the subsequent stoppage. Larson also suffered a little damage to his car.

The JR Motorsports trio of Chase Elliott, Smith and Kasey Kahne all did not advance past the first round of qualifying. The organization has won four of the series’ first eight races this season, and Elliott and Smith are 1-2 in points. Kahne will start 32nd, Smith will start 33rd and Elliott will start 37th on Saturday.

Rookie Dylan Kwasniewski of Turner Scott Motorsports was another notable driver who did advance to the second round of qualifying.

Chad Boat and Cope did not qualify for the race.

The Talladega qualifying session was the first full group qualifying session of three rounds at a restrictor-plate track in any NASCAR national series. In February, Nationwide Series qualifying at Daytona lasted one round before bad weather forced it to come to an early end.

The Aaron’s 312 will be on ESPN at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. Television coverage of the race will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET.

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Staff Report

Five drivers cross 200-mph barrier in frantic first session

MORE: Practice 1 results | Final practice results
RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

Martin Truex Jr. and Trevor Bayne claimed the top of the leaderboard Friday afternoon in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practices at Talladega Superspeedway.

Truex, driving the No. 78 Chevrolet for Furniture Row Racing, clocked a fast lap of 200.721 mph in preparation for Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 (1 p.m. ET, FOX). The 33-year-old driver — 27th in Sprint Cup points and still seeking his first top-five finish of the season — showed speed earlier in the year at similar Daytona International Speedway, qualifying second for the season-opening Daytona 500.

Bayne, the Daytona 500 winner in 2011, went to the top of the board in final practice at 199.015 mph in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Speeds were slightly slower and the participation drastically lighter in the final 55-minute session — all 47 entrants turned laps in the opening practice; just 27 participated in final practice, opting to save their equipment for the rest of the weekend.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

Rookie Justin Allgaier was second-fastest in the first practice at 200.666 mph with David Ragan, the defending race winner, third-best at 200.599. Marcos Ambrose and rookie Kyle Larson completed the top five drivers, who were the only ones to break the 200-mph mark in either practice.

Drivers were aggressive from the get-go in the opening session, fanning out three- and four-wide on the 2.66-mile track — the biggest oval circuit in NASCAR. At the front of the pack was Truex, who was among a handful of drivers to rise over 200 mph once the track went green.

Ambrose, fined three days ago for a post-race scuffle last weekend with Casey Mears at Richmond, brought out the only stoppage of either session with a blown right-front tire 15 minutes into first practice. He stopped at the exit of pit road, where his Richard Petty Motorsports crew changed the tire before the No. 9 Ford headed back to the garage.

"It was definitely odd," said Ambrose, who said had just let off the throttle in trying to simulate a green-flag pit stop as he exited Turn 4. His RPM crew began preparing a backup car for duty.

Carl Edwards was second-fastest in the opening session for Roush Fenway Racing. Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch completed the top five in final practice.

Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series is scheduled for Saturday at 1:10 p.m. ET, broadcast on FOX. It will mark the series’ first use of the new knockout-style, group qualifying format on a superspeedway where engine horsepower is restricted.

READ MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Nascar

Nationwide Insurance increases its involvement in the Sprint Cup Series

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. will carry sponsorship for select NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races from Nationwide Insurance beginning in 2015, the three-year deal announced by Hendrick Motorsports and Nationwide officials.

"We have had a relationship with them for a very long time; it’s been successful on both sides," Earnhardt Jr. said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. "… We were obviously looking for a good fit and looking for something that would work out well. I can’t imagine a better scenario and I think Nationwide is very excited to get going and start working together in the Cup series."

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

Diet Mountain Dew and the National Guard currently sponsor the Hendrick Motorsports driver. HMS officials have been looking for funding to fill out the remaining open slots on the No. 88 Chevrolet. Time Warner Cable, along with Hendrickcars.com, provided sponsorship for five races on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry last season.

"I think it says a lot about the direction Nationwide wanted to go after their involvement in the sport for some time, that they wanted to move forward and do something new with their objectives," Earnhardt Jr. said. "… I think the Nationwide Series currently is very healthy due to what Nationwide has been able to accomplish in the series."

According to HMS, the agreement calls for Nationwide to serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 88 team for 12 Sprint Cup races in 2015, and 13 races in ‘16 and ‘17.

The company will serve as an associate sponsor in the remaining events each season as well.

Nationwide, based in Columbus, Ohio, is in the final year of a seven-year agreement as entitlement series sponsor for NASCAR and currently has endorsement deals with Earnhardt Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Danica Patrick.

"Dale Jr.’s personal brand, to me, is characterized by authenticity and sincerity," Matt Jauchius, Chief Marketing Officer for Nationwide Insurance, said in a telephone interview with NASCAR.com Friday. "And those are really two things of the things at Nationwide that we feel represents our company. So we feel very comfortable and really emotionally connected to Dale in our brands and what we stand for.

"Now we have a new relationship with (team owner) Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports. I can’t say enough about what a first-class organization that is, what a great businessman and good partner Rick Hendrick already is.

"Across every aspect you could imagine, it just seemed like a perfect match for us."

Jauchius said the move to Cup sponsorship was part of the evolution of the company’s involvement in the sport, and likened it to drivers, owners and others that move up through the ranks in the sport.

"We thought that journey made sense for us too," he said. "Here we are six or seven years later, we feel — and I say this with some pride in my team — we feel like we’ve established ourselves as a highly credible and respectable sponsor to NASCAR that fans … know we really care about the sport."

Jauchius said the company would continue its relationship with Patrick, and was hopeful something could be worked out to continue the relationship with Stenhouse Jr.

"She does television commercials, digital advertising, personal appearances, that will continue exactly as you’ve always seen it," he said.

"As for Ricky, his specific contract is up this year. We will not be doing anything on the 17 car next year. … Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is a fantastic young driver. He is a two-time Nationwide series champ. We are actually in discussions with him right now about do we continue some sort of formal relationship next year. We are hopeful and positive that that can occur."

Jauchius also said Nationwide would continue its sponsorship relationship with the series’ event at Mid-Ohio, and would be open to increasing its involvement with Earnhardt Jr. should the opportunity present itself.

"We have deep commitment to that race and obviously to Nationwide Children’s hospital," he said of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 road course event. " So our plan is to continue sponsorship of that race for the foreseeable future. …

"There is nothing written down … but we are very passionate and supportive of this relationship with HMS and with Dale. I would not be surprised if in the future it expanded.

"We really respect the National Guard and Diet Mt. Dew … we respect the sponsors right to make their decisions for their brands, but if races open up we’ll take a look at it."

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Staff Report

Each week an expert will answer a tech question on GarageCam presented by Mobil 1

RELATED: Mobil 1 Technology Center

Each week the host of NASCAR.com’s GarageCam presented by Mobil 1 will take an automotive technology question and get it answered by the experts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage.

This week, host Matthew Dillner asks Cliff Daniels, engineer for the No. 14 team of Tony Stewart, what drag means at a track like Talladega Superspeedway.

Watch the video above to hear the answer, and be sure to tune in to GarageCam presented by Mobil 1 next week at Kansas and see another question answered.

Sprint Cup Series GarageCam, presented by Mobil 1: 11:30 a.m. ET, Friday, May 9. (Watch here)

READ MORE: