Posted on by

Will Darlington bring an eighth different winner to start the season?

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

Given how much race victories mean under this revised Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format, perhaps a simple sticker over the driver’s side window opening isn’t quite enough to commemorate the occasion. Perhaps this select yet expanding winner’s club deserves something a bit more exclusive, like a secret lounge accessible only by a secret handshake, a place where members wear special blazers and sip cognac and laugh about all those poor suckers who haven’t won — yet.

That last word being the most operative, of course, because winners are coming at us from all directions, like cars on a green-white-checkered restart at Fontana. Joey Logano‘s victory in Texas made it seven different winners in as many different weeks to start the season, a trend that looms especially large given how paramount race victories are in qualifying for this revamped Chase. We’re barely into April, and already we’re down to just nine of those theoretical grid spots remaining available. Since the points leader also qualifies if he doesn’t have a race victory — and Jeff Gordon indeed fits that description at the moment — half of those 16 playoff spots appear effectively spoken for.

As much as anything, this winner’s streak has come to define the early stages of the 2014 season, which to this point speaks well of a Chase format a lot of folks were skeptical of when it was first unveiled. Every Sprint Cup Series weekend is dominated by the same series of questions — how many winners do we have, who could win this week, and how high can we go before somebody makes a repeat trip to Victory Lane? Nothing, it seems, puts more of a focus on winning more than the unknowns surrounding who might win that particular week. It’s all about who’s in that secret club sipping cognac, and who’s still banging on the door trying to get in.

Eventually, of course, somebody is going to repeat. We’re not going to have 26 different winners, as much fun as it would be to watch such a scenario unfold. And yet, there’s every indication that this current streak could linger on a little while longer before it comes to an end. Saturday night brings Darlington Raceway and one of the longest and most arduous events on the calendar, and of the first seven winners this season, only one — Kyle Busch — has previously tamed the Lady in Black.

Now, that’s not to say any of the other winners to date are incapable of prevailing on Harold Brasington’s egg-shaped wonder — Kurt Busch famously lost there by an eyelash to Ricky Craven in 2003 — but clearly, the opportunity is there for someone else to add a sticker above the window opening of his race car.

Matt Kenseth won at Darlington last season with a substitute crew chief, one of a league-best seven victories the championship runner-up notched a year ago, and he’s still zero-for-2014. Gordon leads all active drivers with seven wins at Darlington, and thus far he’s displaying a degree of consistency reminiscent of his blockbuster 2007 campaign, but as of yet has no victories to show for it.

Then there’s a certain six-time series champion named Jimmie Johnson who delivered the 200th victory for Hendrick Motorsports at Darlington in 2012, and still carries the head-scratchingest of goose eggs in the victory column this season. Denny Hamlin won at Darlington in 2010, and Greg Biffle notched back-to-back victories in 2005 and 2006, and both drivers are still searching.

How good are the odds that one of those guys will break through again this season? Consider that only six current full-time Sprint Cup drivers — Kenseth, Johnson, Hamlin, Gordon, Biffle and Kyle Busch — have race wins at Darlington, a nod to both the track’s difficulty as well as the youth movement taking place at the sport’s top level.

And as previously mentioned, only one of those guys has won already this season, certainly increasing the odds of another member being indoctrinated into the winner’s club this Saturday night. After that? Well, as we certainly saw last September, any kind of havoc is capable of unfolding at Richmond. And then there’s Talladega, a roulette wheel that’s 2.66 miles in circumference. It’s completely reasonable to think that NASCAR could carry a streak of 10 different winners in 10 races into Kansas — the kind of intermediate track where no one is going to bet against the Penske boys, given what Brad Keselowski and Logano have shown on 1.5-milers so far this season.

And even when one driver finally does roll into Victory Lane for the second time this season, who’s to say the fun will stop there? If anything, the pool of potential winners seems as deep as it’s been in some time — not only are there traditional powers like Johnson and Tony Stewart waiting to break through, but the likes of Brian Vickers and Paul Menard have been lurking week after week, rookies Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon have certainly shown potential, and Marcos Ambrose is making the most of a contract year. Go down the list, and there are probably 25 or 26 drivers who could legitimately win given the right conditions — and how many weeks are there in the regular season again?

OK, OK, enough pipe dreams. Everyone is waiting to see how this new Chase format plays out when the serious money is on the table, and we begin kicking drivers out of the party rather than welcoming them in. But for the time being, this win-to-get-in stuff has created quite the roller coaster ride. Having covered the 2001 season when there were 19 different winners, and the 2003 campaign when nine different guys won the first nine events, yours truly can unquestionably attest that those years didn’t feel nearly as unpredictable as this one, simply because all those race wins really didn’t translate beyond Victory Lane.

Now, they do. The application of that winner’s sticker is a tangible validation that the driver will carry beyond one fleeting moment in the sun. If there was one real issue with previous versions of the Chase, it was that the week-to-week victories — which, to be honest, are ultimately what drivers strive for and spectators pay to see — were constantly overshadowed by jockeying for playoff position. Now, one is fundamentally a part of the other. The system requires it. The grind of a NASCAR season demands that any celebration be a relatively brief one, but those smaller triumphs on Saturday nights or Sunday afternoons have become the building blocks of a much larger one in South Florida.

So enjoy those race victories. Show that secret winner’s handshake, have a seat in that secret winner’s lounge, swirl that winner’s cognac and maybe take a puff of a winner’s cigar. You’ve earned it. But with so many other strong candidates for membership, just don’t expect your club to remain very exclusive for very long.

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView
Posted on by Holly Cain

Dale Jr., Bill Elliott touch on how significant Chase’s win is to both of them

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live

FORT WORTH, Texas – Less than 48 hours after winning his first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway — having schooled the likes of Sprint Cup Series regulars Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth — 18-year-old Chase Elliott was back in school himself, his first period high school class in Georgia.

His breakthrough victory Saturday night in only his sixth start, however, proves Elliott is steadily mastering the learning curve in racing, too. And he’s fortunate to be surrounded by two very special teachers in his father, 1988 Cup champ and current NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Bill Elliott, and his team owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., a two-time Daytona 500 winner who also knows a bit about being the son of a racing legend.

After Elliott pulled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet into Victory Lane, his beaming father leaned in the window to share the moment.

"I just said, ‘Man you’ve done a heckuva job,’ " Bill Elliott recounted, still grinning ear-to-ear.

As Elliott hoisted his trophy, glad-handed sponsors and posed for photo after photo against a pyrotechnic background of fireworks and shooting flames, his mentors made a point to stand out of the spotlight. Bill Elliott and Earnhardt were happily content to be spectators watching the 18-year-old learn the victory routine that he will surely be repeating over the years.

A couple of times Elliott even had to shout over and cajole his father to join him for a photograph. It was hard to decide who wore the bigger smile.

"Now I know what people feel like when they’re watching a race, because when you’re racing in the car, you don’t think through things," said Bill Elliott, who confessed to being so nervous he watched the race from the JR Motorsports team transporter.

"You’re concentrating so much on your line, the race track, traffic all the stuff going on.

"The funny thing about it, though, all the times I watched Chase and as he continued on in go-karts, Legends cars, … when he stepped into a late model car it’s like the light switch turned on.

"It took him a little bit to figure out what he wanted. But to turn around and watch him and see all that experience he’s done, it’s paid off tonight."

It was the second time (including Elliott’s 2013 Camping World Truck Series win) that father and son had been together in a primetime NASCAR Victory Lane since Bill Elliott’s 2003 Sprint Cup Series win in Rockingham, N.C., when Chase was just 7 years old.

Even then, Bill Elliott said he realized his son was interested in cars, but he said he consciously tried to take the pressure off any large footsteps to follow.

"I remember one guy that was working on the go-kart with him came up and said, ‘He’s not running the right lane, he’s not doing this and he’s not doing that,’ and I told him, ‘Stop, he’s only 9 years old,’ " Elliott recalled.

"I told him, ‘Let him have fun. Don’t worry about that.’

"I always told Chase go at it and have fun. If you don’t want to do it, go do something else. You won’t hurt my feelings. That’s the philosophy he’s tried to use his whole career. And as he went on that helped him understand.

"Just given the opportunity, I knew the kid could do it."

Despite the pedigree and talent, doors didn’t just swing open for the younger Elliott.

He has had some growing pains, including an early taste of controversy when he collected his first NASCAR national series win in the Camping World Truck Series after last-lap contact with Ty Dillon.

Even five months ago, Elliott was unsure if he’d have a full-time NASCAR job this year. But NAPA came on board six weeks before the season started and Earnhardt was able to field a Nationwide Series car — the No. 9 in homage to Bill Elliott — for the highly touted rookie already in the Hendrick Motorsports driver development lineage.

Even that unintentionally tough lesson of uncertainty was something Bill Elliott considers helpful in the big picture. Enduring and prevailing in the tough times, he figures, will help his son enjoy and appreciate nights like Saturday even more.

"The hardest thing about this sport is whatever happens tonight, it’s over," Bill Elliott said. "There’s going to be ups and downs and you have to experience it, but I do hope I taught him enough over the last number of years with all the ups and downs we’ve been through in the late models and all the racing we’ve done, that it’s a part of the sport.

"I think that all builds character. You’re going to have tough races, controversial races, but it’s no different than any other driver has had to go through at one point or another.

"I gave him an example. I was leading a race in 1990 (at Atlanta) and on my last pit stop my right rear tire guy (Mike Rich) gets killed (in a pit road incident with Ricky Rudd).

"I lived with that all winter long. That was the hardest winter of my life. That puts things in perspective. Just to lose a race or wreck a car … having one of your friends get killed on pit road, that’s hard. But it’s about being able to put things in perspective.

"This is a roller coaster sport. And you look at it and there will be ups and downs … this will give him good confidence and put him where he needs to be. … This has come a lot faster than I ever dreamed to be where he’s at right now."

As he spoke Bill Elliott was constantly looking over at his shoulder, genuinely seeming to enjoy the moment as much as his son and exchanging backslaps and smiling head-shakes with Earnhardt.

At one point Saturday night, while Elliott was trading out sponsor’s caps for a series of photographs Earnhardt offered to hold onto his driver’s cowboy hat — a gift the track traditionally gives all its winners. As he looked at the hat — Earnhardt probably remembered that Texas Motor Speedway was the first Victory Lane he ever celebrated in, too — winning his first Nationwide Series race there in 1998 and his first Sprint Cup race there as well in 2000.

As Earnhardt held the hat, he reminded the team’s public relations representative to get a Sharpie and write down the date and place of this win on the inside brim.

He knew how special this night will forever be, explaining to reporters a little later, "I just wish that I could tell Chase how to enjoy the win."

"He’s enjoying it and he’s happy, but you’ll turn around one day and think, you don’t realize how precious that moment was and you’ll think, ‘I wish I would have soaked it all up.’ " Earnhardt said.

"Just like winning the Daytona 500 (for me) in 2004 versus 2014. That was two different people. I knew this year when we won it, you gotta soak it up because you don’t know when it it will happen again.

"He’s got a lot of races that he will have an opportunity to win in the future and he’s going to have a ton of time to celebrate and enjoy himself.

"Enjoy this moment and relive it as much as you can because the rest will be fun, but they won’t be like this one."

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView
Posted on by Jason Lofing

King (left) heads to victory as Alfalla spins.

In a race at Texas Motor Speedway that saw crashes and tempers take half the field out of contention, Kevin King kept his nose clean just long enough to score his first win of the 2014 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series Powered by iRacing. King, who had a fifteenth place car by his own admission, made a late gamble on pit road, then took advantage of contact between Ray Alfalla and Chad Laughton to squeeze by into the lead just as the caution flew to end the online race. Michael Conti finished second while Laughton settled for third after his run-in with Alfalla. Trey Eidson led late before fading to fourth and Adam Gilliland rounded-out the top five.

With six laps to go, King was sitting in third just a couple car lengths off Alfalla and Laughton, who were nose-to-tail for the lead. With laps winding down, Laughton decided to go for it and made contact with Alfalla in Turn Three. The contact sent Alfalla’s car up the track, enabling Laughton to take the lead and King to close the gap.

Alfalla regrouped, got a run off Turn Four and closed right to Laughton’s bumper entering Turn One.  As the two dove off into the corner Alfalla tapped Laughton in the left rear, sending Laughton into a slow spin.   Trying to avoid further contact, Alfalla checked-up . . . only to be hit from behind by the closely-following King.  The contact cleared the way for King to take the lead with Conti right behind even as Gilliland hit Alfalla, spinning the two time champion around.  The resulting caution likely saved King as the front end of his car was seriously damaged from the contact with Alfalla.

After running mid-pack much of the race, King used a two tire pit stop under caution with 26 laps remaining to vault from nineteenth to ninth for the ensuing restart. At first, the two tire call looked like a bad one as King was quickly kicked to the outside line on the restart and began dropping back. However, on the very next lap Byron Daley and Brandon Hauck got together on the backstretch, sparking a massive crash that took out more than a dozen cars. King’s position on the high side allowed him to keep his foot in the throttle and drive past the mayhem before the wrecked cars came back up the track.

Ten cautions slowed the field for 39 laps, quite a few for a 1.5 mile track. The carnage started early as the first yellow flew on Lap Four when Kwame Adjei got turned around coming off Turn Two. A pair of yellows also involved defending series champion Tyler Hudson and Nick Ottinger, winner at Auto Club Speedway a fortnight ago.  The first occurred on Lap 72 when Hudson attempted to pass Ottingerdown the backstretch. Ottinger decided to throw a block, Hudson took exception and Ottinger wound-up in the outside wall with damage to the rear end of his race car.

The two were not finished with one another.  They renewed acquaintances on Lap 139 shortly after taking the wave-around when they were caught a lap down in the pits following a caution for Joshua Laughton’s crash. Hudson, who was back on the lead lap, took exception to Ottinger, who was lapped, racing him hard.   Once again contact sent Ottinger for a spin, triggering the caution which saw King make his two tire pit call.

With all the crashes, the series point standings saw a bit of a shakeup. Daytona winner Kenny Humpe still leads the standings over Brandon Kettelle, but several other drivers have closed the gap after both Humpe and Kettelle were involved in crashes and finished outside the top 25 at Texas. The race was especially heartbreaking for Humpe who had one of the strongest cars in the field and led 55 laps before crashing late in the race. Humpe now leads Kettelle by only ten points with King sitting after his win third, 15 back of the lead. Jake Stergios moved up to fourth after an eighth place run, one point back of King while Chad Laughton bookends the top five, two points behind Stergios. The biggest loser in the points this week was Danny Hansen, who fell to seventh after an early crash.

With the chaos of Texas in their rear view mirrors, the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series heads to Richmond International Raceway, a track with a reputation for its fair share of cautions and mad drivers by the night’s end. With the turmoil at Texas likely still fresh in many drivers’ minds, Richmond may see more tempers boiling over. Combine that with a tight points battle, and a crash or poor finish for Humpe or Kettelle could open the door for a new face to top the standings. Who will survive 200 grueling laps of sim-racing at Richmond?

Find out in two weeks when the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series Powered by iRacing.com returns to action on iRacing Live on Tuesday, April 22 at 9 PM EDT (01:00 GMT).

Posted on by Staff Report

Two-time Michigan winner likes Chase-clinching chances at track

RELATED: Speeds soar above 215 mph at Michigan test

On Wednesday at a Goodyear Tire test at Michigan International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said the Brooklyn, Mich., facility would be a good place for him to clinch a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with a second win.

Before February’s Daytona 500 win made him a virtual lock to make NASCAR’s new 16-driver playoff, Earnhardt Jr.’s most recent two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories came at Michigan.

"This is a great opportunity for us, I think, because we do so well here," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I think two wins definitely will assure you an opportunity to race in the (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) championship.

"We’re seeing so many different winners each week that I don’t know if one win guarantees you a spot. Definitely makes it a lot easier, but we may have 14-20 different winners this year. You just don’t know."

Under NASCAR’s new Chase format, race winners in the first 26 races who maintain a top-30 points position should earn one of 16 berths. But with seven winners in the season’s first seven races, drivers may need a second victory to make the postseason.

The last time there were seven different winners in the first seven races was 2003, and the record for different winners to start the season is 10, in 2000. After 26 races in those years, there were 16 and 13 winners respectively.

"We’ve still got great speed, still feel good about being able to run well here," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We just did have some bad luck last year."

While leading the Pure Michigan 400 at the track last June, Earnhardt Jr. blew an engine and finished 37th. In August, he led 20 laps before a tire problem sent him into the wall. He finished 36th.

"This is one of our better tracks, and our fans will probably say the same," Earnhardt Jr. said. "Having the success here over the last four or five years has given us a lot of confidence when we come here, and I think that’s why Goodyear brings us to test.

"I enjoy racing here. It’s a fun track. The asphalt is really aging well and it’s just going to keep getting better and better over the next couple of years."

Earnhardt Jr. was asked how quickly new driver-team combinations can come together and become title contenders. He cited the success of a Michigan native and noted a separate fellow winner in 2014 who could contend for his first Sprint Cup title this year.

"It just depends on the people," Earnhardt Jr. said. "It can happen right away. Brad Keselowski and his team, they got together quite quickly and were able to win within the first couple of years.

"Some teams stay together for several years and don’t really get it done. Like (Kevin) Harvick. He had been with RCR for a long time and got close, got close. Was always in the top five in points but never really could get to that next level. And he may do it in the next year or two with Rodney Childers and the information and chassis and motors from Hendrick that they’ve getting."

Earnhardt Jr., who will turn 40 in October, also talked about his future in the sport.

"The age thing is pretty crazy because it just flies by," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I think I got 10 more years at least to hang around and keep driving, and hopefully I’m that fortunate."

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView
Posted on by Staff Report

Earnhardt Jr., Biffle, Bowyer help Goodyear wrap two-day session

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

Five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams heated up the speed charts Wednesday at Michigan International Speedway, pushing 217 mph and beyond for top speeds in the last of two days for Goodyear tire testing at the 2-mile track.

Reports of gaudy numbers, unofficial because they were not recorded during a race weekend, flew on Twitter shortly after the test began. Five drivers — Trevor Bayne, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Ryan Newman — were on hand for the two-day test.

Earnhardt, a relative Twitter newcomer, was among the first to send out a photo through social media with his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet posting a top speed of 215.2 mph.

"This is one of our better tracks, and our fans will probably say the same," Earnhardt Jr. said in a track release. "Having the success here over the last four or five years has given us a lot of confidence when we come here, and I think that’s why Goodyear brings us to test.

"I enjoy racing here. It’s a fun track. The asphalt is really aging well and it’s just going to keep getting better and better over the next couple of years."

Two of Junior’s 20 career Cup wins have come at Michigan.

From there, Bowyer tweeted out a best speed of 217 mph, a speed that track officials confirmed through their Twitter account. Later, Greg Biffle told ESPN reporter Shannon Spake that he had topped the 220 mph mark on the straightaways.

"That’s white-of-your-eyes-fast," Bowyer said.

Joey Logano set the track qualifying record last August at 203.949 mph in winning the Coors Light Pole Award for the Pure Michigan 400, posting the fastest qualifying lap in NASCAR history at a track other than Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Since the Michigan track was repaved (over a span from fall 2011 to spring 2012), the pole speed has topped 200 mph in three of its four races.

The track will next play host to NASCAR’s premier series June 15 for the Quicken Loans 400.

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView
Posted on by Staff Report

MWR’s No. 55 to pay tribute to 2013 BCS national champions

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

Brian Vickers‘ car will sport a college football-themed look this summer at Daytona International Speedway, carrying a Florida State BCS national championship commemorative paint scheme in the Coke Zero 400.

Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 55 Toyota and Vickers’ driver uniform will be awash in the school’s traditional garnet and gold colors for the July 5 race, carrying a special championship logo on the hood. The car will be officially unveiled, accompanied by a video message from Vickers, at the Seminoles’ April 12 spring football intrasquad scrimmage.

"Everyone in America knows about Florida State’s tradition of success, especially in athletics," Vickers said in a team release. "Aaron’s and I really want to continue that tradition at Daytona in July and give Seminole fans a chance to see their car and colors celebrate in Victory Lane. I’m excited to be representing my home state on the car for Daytona. We’re hoping it will give us a ‘home field’ advantage we need."

It’s not the first time MWR has honored college champions with new-look cars. Vickers drove a Louisville-themed car last season at Kentucky Speedway to honor that school’s NCAA basketball championship in 2013. The previous year, team owner Michael Waltrip drove a No. 55 entry in blue and white to honor the University of Kentucky’s basketball title that season.

The Waltrip team has also paid tribute to Alabama and Auburn football national championships at Talladega Superspeedway four times since 2009.

Florida State defeated Auburn 34-31 on Jan. 6 to complete a perfect 14-0 season.

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView
Posted on by Nascar

Crew chief remains confident despite recent run of misfortune

RELATED: Johnson’s run of misfortune continues | Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Seven NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races won by seven different drivers. And six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson is not among the winners.

Crew chief Chad Knaus isn’t overly concerned. He has seen this movie before.

"I think we’re doing pretty good," Knaus said Wednesday morning following a speaking engagement with the Hood Hargett Breakfast Club held at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. "I think we had a car capable of winning (at Texas). We obviously had a car capable of winning Martinsville — we just came up a little bit short.

"Fontana, we had a car capable of winning there. Bristol, I think we had a car capable of winning there. So short a couple of tire failures and weird things, I think we’d be OK."
 
Johnson is seventh in points as he and his team prepare to head to Darlington Raceway for this weekend’s Bojangle’s Southern 500. After opening the season with finishes of sixth or better in the first three races, Johnson finished 19th or worse in three of the next four. In spite of the finishes, he led 44 laps at Bristol and 104 at Auto Club Speedway — where a tire issue cost him the lead with less than 10 laps remaining.
 
At Texas, a large piece of metal punched a hole in the front of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet and damaged the windshield. Johnson struck the debris after teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. clipped the grass just off the racing surface on the frontstretch, then shot across the track and made hard contact with the wall.
 
Johnson’s crew made repairs, but a cut tire eventually put him two laps down. Unable to get back on the lead lap, he finished 25th.
 
"We’ve seen debris get scattered about, but man that was a pretty big piece of metal," Knaus said of the Lap 13 incident. "It really wasn’t the windshield that created debris for us. That was a bad thing, but the windshield actually did exactly what it was supposed to do — it deflected whatever the debris was and we moved on.
 
"Our biggest problem was the big hole we had in the nose (of the car). Whatever put the hole in the nose was lodged inside the car. While Jimmie was running around out there, it fell out and that’s what cut the right rear tire. That’s why we lost two laps. Otherwise I think we would have been OK."
 
Johnson, whose 66 career wins is No. 2 among active drivers, is a three-time winner at Darlington. He finished fourth in the race a year ago. Knaus said he is looking forward to returning to the track, often called the most difficult on the schedule.
 
Cup teams will have one day to do all of their on-track preparation — with two practices scheduled for Friday before qualifying at 6:05 p.m. ET.
 
"I like Darlington. It’s a tough track, it really is," he said. "The schedule is even more difficult the way they’ve got it laid out, but I’m looking forward to it.
 
"It’s a very difficult race track, a very intense race track. Five hundred miles around that race track is extremely difficult. You don’t have an opportunity to relax and catch your breath. So it’s very taxing on the driver, but from the team’s standpoint, it’s pretty difficult, too."

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView
Posted on by

See what tough drivers make the list and what they did to get them there

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

No question the track is a cranky old thing, to the point where so much about Darlington Raceway seems equal parts myth and reality. But it’s all quite genuine, those black marks on the otherwise red and white walls emblematic of a reputation that’s endured for half a century. Times change and drivers change, but the challenge presented by this most original of NASCAR layouts remains eternal.

We certainly witnessed that a year ago, in the most unforgiving race of the 2013 Sprint Cup season — one in which long green flag runs on that egg-shaped surface allowed only the strong to survive, and previewed the championship showdown between Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. Despite double-file restarts, wave arounds, free passes and all those other mechanisms designed to level the playing field, Darlington remains plenty capable of tilting it on its head.

That’s why Harold Brasington’s quirky track continues to stand out, because it continues to present one of the sport’s preeminent challenges. They call it too tough to tame, and it certainly can be. But Darlington isn’t the only thing in NASCAR to have developed something of a reputation due to its irascible nature.

There are plenty of competitors at NASCAR’s highest levels who have proven a handful in their own right, drivers who have been as tough to tame as that ribbon of asphalt in South Carolina cotton country.

You know who they are. Some of them have left stripes of the metaphorical variety on car owners or other competitors. Some of them have flaunted rules, others moved from team to team like a nomad, leaving burned bridges in their wake. There are some drivers who have proven every bit as unbridled as the track that on Saturday night will host NASCAR’s premier series for the 111th time, and here are the top 10.

10. Dale Earnhardt

Tame the Intimidator? Please. The notion in and of itself is laughable given that on the final weekend we ever saw him race, Dale Earnhardt put the bumper to Eddie Cheever Jr. in an IROC race to once again show that side of him that made the seven-time champion so loved and loathed all at once. Let’s be fair — Earnhardt was as dependable as bedrock for Richard Childress Racing, steered clear of off-track trouble, and provided just the kind of racing icon the sport needed in its formative years. But he wasn’t shy about voicing his opinion to NASCAR, and he raced by his own code. That wasn’t some kid rattling Terry Labonte’s cage in 1999 — it was a 48-year-old man. That was Earnhardt.

9. Kevin Harvick

Like his predecessor, Kevin Harvick was a rock for Richard Childress, bringing a large degree of stability to a team in a very difficult time. But it wasn’t always easy, and that’s putting it mildly. There were several times when it seemed Harvick and RCR were finished with one another, and somehow they patched things up again. Even after Harvick was parked for rough driving in one Camping World Truck Series race, or forced to apologize after berating Childress’ grandson in another. A headstrong driver and a headstrong owner made for a sometimes combustible combination. But as rough as it sometimes got, they kept it together for 13 seasons, because nothing was as bad as 2001.

8. Tony Stewart

These days, the three-time champion is a team co-owner who can close sponsorship deals on the strength of his name and reputation. But there were times when Tony Stewart tussled with other drivers and media members and even NASCAR, and was a complete handful who regularly tested the patience of former car owner Joe Gibbs. Age and responsibility have tempered Smoke somewhat, but this is still a guy who remains unapologetic about living and racing on his terms — as we witnessed last year with his insistence on competing in sprint-car events. It certainly helps that away form the track, the guy is a complete teddy bear. But in the garage area? Even now, don’t get in the dude’s way.

7. Jack Ingram

During the course of a career that would ultimately earn him a place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, you simply did not mess with Jack Ingram on a short track. The tireless and dogged Ingram won two championships in what is now the Nationwide Series and three more titles its precursor, but he might have added a sixth crown had he not been suspended two races by NASCAR for ramming another driver in a race in Asheville, N.C., in 1986. Even on the night he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall, he ranted on reporters whom he believed gave drivers like Dick Trickle and Mark Martin more credit. If that was a taste of what it was like to run afoul of the Iron Man, you certainly didn’t want to experience it on the track.

6. Kurt Busch

The 2004 champ seems to have found a degree of peace these days, thanks to his association with car owner Gene Haas and work with the Armed Forces Foundation. But early on, Busch could be incorrigible with the best of them, particularly over the radio when his car wasn’t performing well. He had some epic run-ins with reporters, including one in 2011 that led to a fine from NASCAR and preceded his split with Penske. Another a year later earned him a suspension. Although a cleaner racer than he gets credit for, he’s never backed down from other drivers, as his feud with Jimmy Spencer would attest. Busch has shown a great deal of humility during his climb back to the sport’s elite, although his history still lingers in the minds of many.

5. Jimmy Spencer

You can’t have one side of one of the more infamous driver feuds in recent history without having the other, right? Often chomping on his omnipresent cigar, Jimmy Spencer gave off an air that some found ingratiating and others saw as arrogant. His nickname, "Mr. Excitement," stemmed from the fact that he wasn’t shy about putting the fender to someone, a characteristic that made him even more polarizing. Although Spencer enjoyed a long stretch with Travis Carter, he bounced around early in his career, and later on lost a ride with Morgan-McClure following a run-in with police. Through it all, Spencer was always candid and quotable, which made him a natural for a second career in television — even if he always did it his way.

4. Darrell Waltrip

These days he is one of the sport’s foremost ambassadors, a three-time champion and Hall of Fame member who has become NASCAR’s best-known analyst on television. Back in the day, though, Darrell Waltrip could redefine the concept of stubborn. In his younger years he took plenty of flak from veterans who didn’t think he showed enough respect to the more seasoned drivers on the circuit. He left one team over a contract dispute, said he was "getting off an old nag and onto a thoroughbred" after moving on to another. His brash comments made him a favorite of reporters but made enemies in the garage, one reason Cale Yarborough labeled him "Jaws." You think ‘ol D.W. is controversial how? You have no idea.

3. Curtis Turner

For all their flaws, some of these rascals are downright lovable. Such is the case with Curtis Turner, whose antics off the race track were more sensational than his exploits between the guardrails. He made fortunes, squandered them, and then made them again. He could be wanted by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Highway Patrol at the same time. He once plowed into Fred Lorenzen at Darlington, destroying his own car, because he was unhappy with how his rival had raced him. He was once banned by NASCAR for trying to form a union. "I don’t really think I’d be happy if I wasn’t in some sort of trouble," he said in the biography "Full Throttle" written by Robert Edelstein. He never had difficulty finding it.

2. Jacques Villeneuve

He may have started only 20 national-series events in NASCAR, but Jacques Villeneuve certainly left a mark. The former Formula One champion and Indianapolis 500 winner wasn’t shy about trading paint — or taking someone out. His Sprint Cup debut at Talladega in 2007 drew howls of protest from regular drivers in the midst of title contention. His full-time hopes were permanently derailed the next year when he triggered a crash in a Daytona qualifying race. And then there was Road America in 2012, when he took out Danica Patrick on the final lap of a Nationwide race. In open-wheel racing, Villeneuve’s record is impeccable — all of which makes his wrecking-ball stock-car exploits so disappointing.

1. Robby Gordon

The off-road star won three premier-series events — one on an oval — over the course of his NASCAR career. But Gordon was also a handful, clashing with owners, officials, and other drivers on a regular basis. His 2003 win at Sonoma came after he passed Harvick — his teammate at the time — under yellow. "A cheap move," Harvick called it. Gordon burned through plenty of car owners before hanging out his own shingle. And then there was his infamous tantrum in a Nationwide event at Montreal, where he punted Marcos Ambrose, refused to serve a penalty, and was disqualified even though he crossed the line first. That didn’t stop him from doing a victory burnout, though. Robby Gordon was one of a kind. Thankfully.

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView
Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

See where and when to tune in for shows, on-track activity

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

Tuesday, April 8
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub re-air, FOX Sports 2
 
Wednesday, April 9                                                         
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Now, ESPN2
Noon, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network

6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub re-air, FOX Sports 2

Thursday, April 10
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Now, ESPN2
Noon, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub re-air, FOX Sports 2
 
Friday, April 11                                                 
2 a.m., NASCAR Now, ESPN2
3 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race at Texas re-air, FOX Sports 1
11 a.m., FOX Sports 1 on 1: Jimmie Johnson re-air, FOX Sports 1   
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice, FOX Sports 1
1 p.m., NASCAR Live, FOX Sports 1
2 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Final Practice,FOX Sports 1
4 p.m., NASCAR Nationwide Qualifying, FOX Sports 2
6 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying, FOX Sports 1
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Nationwide Countdown, ESPN2
8 p.m., NASCAR Nationwide Race at Darlington, ESPN2
 
Saturday, April 12
3 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice re-air, FOX Sports 1
3:30 a.m., NASCAR Nationwide Race at Darlington re-air, ESPN2
4:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying re-air, FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FOX Sports 2
6 p.m., TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Race at Long Beach, FOX Sports 1
6 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Pre-Race Show, FOX
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Darlington, FOX
8 p.m., TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Post-Race Show, FOX Sports 1
8 p.m., How It’s Made: NASCAR Engines, Science Channel
11 p.m., How It’s Made: NASCAR Engines, Science Channel
              
Sunday, April 13
2 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Darlington, FOX Deportes
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FOX Sports 1
4 a.m., NASCAR Nationwide Race at Darlington re-air, ESPN Deportes

Monday, April 14
3 a.m., How It’s Made: NASCAR Engines, Science Channel

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView
Posted on by Holly Cain

With wins for Keselowski and Logano, Team Penske can concentrate on Chase

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

FORT WORTH, Texas – With the depth of competition and height of talent in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, it’s really not too surprising that there have been seven different winners in the first seven races.


That Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin are not among the victors is a little perplexing, however. These are the drivers who have won the most in recent seasons, yet they are still looking for a win in the season when it means most.


And while there is a pervasive feeling of when, not if, for this marquee crew of serial winners, it’s interesting to see what already hoisting a trophy can mean strategically-speaking.

Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski, whose teammate Joey Logano won Monday at Texas Motor Speedway, didn’t mince words about the immediate and long-term impact of already having both Penske drivers essentially Chase qualified only two months into the schedule.


"It’s huge, absolutely huge," said Keselowski, who won at Las Vegas and trailed only Logano in laps led at Texas.


He smiled after the race Monday and suggested maybe his late race speeding penalty off pit road heading to a green-white-checkered final restart was a result of the his and/or the team’s change in mentality — the luxury of having secured an early season win.


"It’s all about stacking up wins now and that’s what we’re reaching for," Keselowski said, adding with a laugh. "Maybe we reached a little too aggressively today, but that’s the benefit of being in the position we’re in."

But he agreed that in the bigger picture having both drivers with victories fundamentally and enviably changes the way they go about business.


"This allows us to dedicate our approach to [season finale] Homestead and the Chase races," Keselowski explained. "We’re very fortunate we haven’t burned any of our team tests yet and now that we have both cars in the Chase we can just burn through those on Chase tracks so that’s a pretty healthy advantage.


"It puts us in a really great position."


The two-car Penske operation is the only team "all-in" in terms of likely spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason.


The only other team with multiple winners in 2014 isn’t Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing or Roush-Fenway Racing, as many might have guessed. 
It’s Stewart-Haas Racing, who despite all the extra challenges of adding a fourth team and having three new driver/crew chief pairings this year, has already gotten wins from both its newcomers, Kevin Harvick (Phoenix) and Kurt Busch (Martinsville.).


But with two cars in and two to go, SHR doesn’t have the same ability for a full shift in direction as Team Penske. It’s focus after winning twice is sharing that information to get at least one of their other two teams in the Chase – a goal team owner-driver Tony Stewart said this preseason he fully expected to meet.


For the winners so far, getting a victory isn’t just a feeling of joy and celebration but of relief and re-focus. The whole game has changed with the new elimination-style postseason format debuting this year.


Logano conceded Monday that his team had been a bit worried about how, when and where to use their team tests if he remained in the winless column for much longer.


"We were concerned enough to talk about it Saturday after practice for a while," Logano said. "It was definitely a concern, trying to plan out how we’re going to use these tests. Now that we’re in the Chase we can use these tests a little differently than what we were thinking.


"It’s big. The way you strategize to build the racecars, what you need to do for when it comes Chase time, it allows you to go the right direction and be able to really focus on later in the season at this point.


"I’m not saying we’re not going to work hard to win races later in the year.  Like [crew chief] Todd [Gordon] said, we need to run well and win some more races because you want to go into the Chase with momentum. As far as updating specs, stuff like that, we can start to focus on Chase stuff."


As the 23-year old Logano spoke he glanced over at his veteran crew chief Gordon, who is tasked with balancing strategy and tempering emotion – mindful that there are still 19 races to set the 16-driver Chase field.


"You can’t be stupid about it," Gordon said smiling briefly. "But it does open up your box to be a little bit more aggressive on how you call a race. You can be a little bit more aggressive on how you tune a race. It allows you to be a little more explorative.


"But we can’t get too far out of that box of what’s been successful for us. It allows us to be a little more aggressive and maybe try a few things. You don’t want to throw everything away and be reckless with it, but it does allow you to be a little more aggressive."

MORE:

READ: Latest
NASCAR news

WATCH: Latest
NASCAR video

PLAY: NASCAR
Fantasy Live

FOLLOW LIVE: Get
RaceView