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Panel of experts examines hot topics in the world of NASCAR

Editor’s Note: Track Smack is a weekly feature that will showcase a panel of NASCAR.com experts providing their analysis from the previous week, while also looking ahead. In this edition, NASCAR.com’s Holly Cain, Kenny Bruce and Alan Cavanna examine NASCAR Hall of Fame criteria, what a successful Memorial Day weekend double looks like for Kurt Busch and whether NASCAR still needs a 600-miler on its schedule.

1. With a nod to NASCAR Hall of Fame voting week and the difficult decisions and varying criteria, where do drivers such as Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race winner Jamie McMurray stack up in the big scheme of things? He’s now won a Sprint All-Star Race, the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, but not a Sprint Cup championship. Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman are in similar situations.

Alan Cavanna:  I think they end up being Hall-of-Famers for a few reasons … Racing is all about winning, especially in big moments. Daytona and the Brickyard are two of the sport’s crown jewels, and winning both during a career is a rare accomplishment that should be celebrated. Fans remember those wins more than others. 

Kenny Bruce: Jamie’s got seven "points" wins. Granted, they came in some of the sport’s biggest events (Daytona, Indy) but when looking at Hall of Fame numbers and only numbers, I can’t say they stack up with someone such as Harvick (25 wins) or Newman (17 wins). Impressive, yes. Hall worthy? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Holly Cain: It’s interesting because most feel Mark Martin is a sure Hall of Famer, but yet he doesn’t have a Cup title or a Daytona 500 or Brickyard 400 trophy. Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace didn’t win the Daytona 500.

Sounds like volume of wins maybe speaks louder to the voters than where you win or the size of your trophy. 

Bruce: As a Hall of Fame voter (had to throw that in there), I know having a Daytona 500 victory carries a certain amount of weight. Looking at choices, the first thing that comes to mind is number of titles won; then number of races won; then which races. A victory in the 500 is a factor when making comparisons, but not the only factor.

Wallace won a title and a slew of races. Martin was extremely successful and not just in Cup. Plus, he came extremely close to winning the title on a number of occasions. 

Cavanna: Kenny, eventually you and are your esteemed colleagues are going to run out of champions to induct. When that happens, seeing a D500 and B400 win on someone’s resume will get more and more important. 

 

2. This is a big weekend in racing. And for the first time in a decade we have a driver, Kurt Busch, attempting to compete in NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 this Sunday evening and the Indy 500 earlier on the same day. What does Busch need to do to have his feat considered a success?

Cain: I was a little surprised to see it’s been 10 years since someone tried this (Robby Gordon), and that of the four NASCAR drivers to give it a shot recently, only Tony Stewart completed all 1,100 miles (in 2001) of the two races. But I think a top-10 in both races for Kurt would be tremendous! Tony had a third at Charlotte and a sixth at Indy. 

Cavanna: I think he needs to be running at the end of the 500. To me, it doesn’t matter what he does in the 600. He’s a Cup champion and proven winner. We know he’s one of NASCAR’s best drivers. But finishing the Indy 500 in his first attempt in an Indy car would be an outstanding feat in my mind. 

Cain: Kurt has really been fast at Indy and he’s won the Coke 600 before. It actually ruined Chip Ganassi’s shot at a "team double" (in 2010) — Dario Franchitti won at Indy and Kurt edged Jamie Mac at Charlotte to give Penske that win. Seems like Memorial Day weekend always brings out the best in Ganassi and Penske teams. 

Bruce: First of all, I think what Kurt has done so far in preparation for the Indy 500 qualifies the effort as a success, although I’m sure he’s hoping for more than that. He needs a good run in the 500 for it to be memorable; no one recalls those who fell out early. If he were running better on the Cup side, a decent finish would round out the day. But given his recent Cup results, I think he needs much more. Top 10 or better would be my guess. 

Cain: There have been years at Indy where running at the end would almost get you a top-10. 

Bruce: Good point. There’s something to be said for survival.

Cavanna: Exactly, Holly. That’s why I think just being around at the end would be a huge success for Kurt. That alone would gain him a newfound respect in the racing world.

Cain: He has been very impressive at Indy and, like you said, Alan, really doesn’t have to prove anything on the Cup side. However, the whole point of doing two races in one day is to make a statement and I think the difference between just "racing them" and really competing is important. He’s with premier teams in both events. I actually have high expectations. 

 

3. Speaking of the Coca-Cola 600, does NASCAR still need a 600-mile race on its schedule? 

Cain: I understand the history and tradition of the 600 miles and that it makes this race different. But I would argue there are already too many 500-mile races, so I wouldn’t object to changing this one. Although I realize I may be in the minority. 

Cavanna: NASCAR doesn’t NEED a 600-mile race. But it does need traditions. And the tradition, for decades now, is to run 600 miles on Memorial Day weekend. For that reason alone … you keep it.

Cain: Valid point, Alan, and that pretty much sums it up. However, that’s a long and late night. I’m curious what the drivers and fans really think. 

Bruce: Every year we hear some complaints about the 600 being outdated and unnecessary. But the fact that it’s the only 600-mile race on the schedule, has tremendous history behind it and pushes teams to their ultimate limits makes it worth keeping it around. We see 500 milers, 400 milers, etc. every other weekend. This is different. It’s about those extra pit stops, it’s about driver endurance. The cars may be bulletproof today, but the drivers are another matter. 

Cain: Wow, Kenny. Good stuff. And I agree with the nod to traditions … however, seems to me like there’s been some change to tradition on the schedule in recent years. 

Bruce: I enjoy variety. There are fans that enjoy road courses on the schedule and fans that would rather see those races go away as well. But it adds to the skill sets required by teams to be competitive each and every weekend. 

Cavanna: If anything, why not reduce the number of 500-mile races on intermediate tracks? That makes going 600 miles even more daunting of a task. Perhaps the "extra 100 miles" has lost its luster a bit. 

Cain: I like that idea, Alan. And I know I can’t be alone. 

Bruce: If the cars are going faster, why does it still take so long to run the same distance? I’ve never been able to figure that one out. Seems like from a time standpoint, it would take less. 

Cavanna: No one said there would be math, Kenny. Ask Ryan Newman.

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Patrick: ‘Being P1 in the second group, I’m a little disappointed I’m not on the pole’

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CONCORD, N.C. — Danica Patrick used to hate qualifying.

"This is the part of the weekend where in the old days I would have said I hated," she said. "Literally, I’ve used those words a million times. I hate qualifying. But really had to tell myself over time to stop saying that, because nothing good’s going to happen if you keep thinking bad things."

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Maybe the change of mindset has had an effect. Patrick led the second session of group qualifying Thursday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and ended up with a fourth-place starting position for the Coca-Cola 600 — which proved to be the best ever by a female driver on an unrestricted track in NASCAR’s premier series.

The previous mark had been shared by Patrick and Janet Guthrie, the latter of whom started ninth at Bristol and Talladega in 1977, before the era of restrictor plates. Patrick qualified ninth in the most recent Sprint Cup Series event two weeks ago at Kansas. The starting spot was the second-best of Patrick’s career following her historic pole in the 2013 Daytona 500, where she became the first woman ever to lead NASCAR’s top series to the green flag.

Patrick was sixth-fastest in the first of Thursday’s three rounds, and led the second with a speed of 194.595 mph. Her run in the five-minute final segment put her second behind Kasey Kahne, and she was ultimately bumped down to fourth by Brad Keselowski and Coors Light Pole Award winner Jimmie Johnson, the latter of whom vaulted to the top of the scoring pylon with a lap of 194.911 mph.

"It just feels so good to have good qualifying. I have to say, though, I’m a little disappointed. Being P1 in the second group, I’m a little disappointed I’m not on the pole. Not sure I could have done a (lap of 27.705 seconds) anyway. I was really tight through 3 and 4 on my lap. I guess I’m a little more surprised that I’m fourth," Patrick said.

"I really thought we — well, we did have a shot at the pole. Wish we could have done that. It would have put me in the (Sprint Unlimited) at the beginning of (next) year, right? That’s always what you want to do is get to those special races. Great day, great starting spot for the Coke 600. A big departure from last year when we had to do an engine change and start at the back. Let’s hope we can do more of what we did at Kansas."

Kansas was where Patrick turned in a career-best seventh-place finish, bettering even her eighth-place run in the 2013 Daytona 500. And Thursday’s qualifying session continued a solid stretch on pole days for Patrick, who notched her third consecutive top-10 starting position, and fourth of the year. She started 10th at Martinsville, seventh at Talladega, and ninth at Kansas.

Patrick’s qualifying run also came six days after she was unable to make the Sprint All-Star Race — she finished 10th in the Sprint Showdown qualifying race, and then watched the fan vote go surprisingly to Josh Wise.

"Anytime you can have track time at a track you’re going to race at, it’s good for learning, it’s good for repetition, it’s good for learning about your car," she said. "So we would have loved to have been in the All-Star weekend, but it wasn’t meant to be. But we’re doing OK here, and we’ve got another practice before the race."

That comes Saturday, when Patrick said her No. 10 team will focus on longer runs and setup strategies for Sunday’s event, the longest on NASCAR’s premier circuit. She’s never finished better than 20th at Charlotte — but she had also never qualified in the top five on an unrestricted track until Thursday night.

"Everybody brings their best stuff for the Coke 600," she said, "so we’ve got a better car, and I’m sure Hendrick gave all their best engines, and we’re ready to rock for Sunday."

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NASCAR drivers plan to root Busch on Sunday as he represents stock car racers

CONCORD, N.C. — It took Kurt Busch nearly half an hour Thursday to sign in at the NASCAR transporter, a routine duty drivers must fulfill each week before getting on the track. The delay wasn’t due solely to fans asking the Stewart-Haas Racing driver for autographs — it was because Busch was stopped repeatedly by other drivers and crew chiefs, who all wanted to talk to him about the same thing.

The double.

"It’s just so exciting to talk about it," Busch said Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "It’s just hard to put it all into words."

And now, it’s almost here. The road to the first Memorial Day weekend double in a decade ends this with a flurry of practices in both Charlotte and Indianapolis leading up to the 1,100-mile odyssey itself. Thursday, Busch was in his No. 41 machine for practice and qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600. Friday brings Carburetion Day, the last shakedown of his open-wheel car in Indy. Saturday, he’ll be back in Charlotte for final practice in his Sprint Cup Series vehicle. Sunday, it’s a green flag at the Brickyard shortly after noon local time, and then a 90-minute commute to Concord for the 6 p.m. capper in NASCAR’s longest race.

It’s a breathless final push toward an undertaking no driver has attempted since Robby Gordon’s last effort in 2004, and only two others — John Andretti and Tony Stewart — have tried previously. But none of those endeavors featured a born-and-bred stock-car driver branching out into the opposite discipline. None of them featured almost hourly updates on social media. And none of them has galvanized the NASCAR community quite like this one, thanks in large part to speed in the open-wheel car that has a few wondering if Busch can do something that’s never been done.

"I really do believe Kurt has an opportunity to pull that off," Clint Bowyer said, referring to the Indy 500. "That would be something that would make all of us in this sport pretty proud."

No driver has ever won either half of the double — in fact, Stewart in 2001 remains the only driver to complete every lap. But there’s something about this effort by Busch that’s captured the attention of the Sprint Cup garage area, given that the driver at the center of it all is a NASCAR champion who swept the May races at Charlotte in 2010, and got up to speed extremely quickly in his open-wheel entry. Over a few weeks Busch went from virtually zero experience in an IndyCar to a very competitive 230 mph, and even used his crash in practice Monday to accelerate his learning curve.

"I’m glad that I experienced it," he said. "I might sound stupid by staying that I’m glad I wrecked at 220 mph, but if I didn’t put myself in that position I would have done that on Sunday possibly 50 laps into the race. That is how you have to advance through life, is to learn from your mistakes."

Those in the open-wheel community have taken notice. "He is talented and incredibly brave," former Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever Jr., now a television analyst, said of Busch. "If he digests this last hit he had — it took me a long time to digest — if he can go through that, he’s in that leading group at the end of the race, I would consider him a possible top-three finisher, if he gets through all the problems during the race. But he’s been incredible. I’m very impressed."

Another believer is Juan Pablo Montoya, the two-time winner in NASCAR’s top series and former Indy 500 champion who returned to open-wheel racing this year. Montoya said Busch’s crash Monday happened after the driver overcorrected, likely because his natural instincts from driving the heavier stock car led him to put too much wheel into the vehicle. But after a month being around Indy, Montoya said it’s clear Busch is growing more comfortable. The two drivers both will start the 500 in the fourth row.

"I think the cool thing is, Kurt doesn’t know what to expect, and he’s in a good place," Montoya said during a recent visit to Charlotte. "If he does the smart thing, that is get in line, get comfortable, and build to it, he’ll do a really good job."

Other drivers in the NASCAR garage will certainly be rooting for him, and will be following the first half of his double with interest. "I think it’s awesome. Can’t wait to get up on Sunday morning and turn on the Indy 500 and watch Kurt’s day," said Sprint All-Star Race winner Jamie McMurray. The question is whether that curiosity will lure more NASCAR drivers to try it, particularly since several — Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne among them — have expressed an interest in one day attempting the 500.

"My desire to compete in the Indianapolis 500 has not diminished one bit. But I made a deal with my wife. So, a deal’s a deal," Johnson said Thursday. Even though the undertaking necessitated back-and-forth airplane trips last weekend as well as this one — not to mention the hiring of Parker Kligerman as a standby driver — Busch fully vouches for the experience.

"I’m a racer. Tony Stewart is a racer, Robby Gordon is a racer, and John Andretti is a racer. This is a true test of what your commitment level is on being a racer," Busch said. "There are so many practices back and forth, the travel, the logistics — the fun meter is pegged right now. I’m having a blast doing it. You just have to know it comes with a lot of hard work. I encourage others to try it out."

Jeff Burton, a 21-time winner at NASCAR’s top level who now competes part-time while working as an analyst for NBC Sports, said there’s always been keen interest among many Sprint Cup drivers in the Indy 500, to the point where they’ve asked officials to turn on the end of the race before the driver’s meeting prior to the Coca-Cola 600. But when it comes to the double, Burton believes it has to be a perfect situation with owners and sponsors all on board. Busch has that with Stewart as the co-owner of his No. 41 car, as well as a race victory that enhances his Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup hopes. But not every driver does.

"I just don’t know how it can’t take a little bit away. If he was in the situation where he hadn’t won a race and he didn’t look like he was good in the points as far as being able to get in the Chase, I would think he would be under a fair amount of criticism for taking away from his Cup program. It’s got to be a unique situation where the car owner is 100 percent for it, he understands that it is going to be a distraction. There’s no way it’s not a distraction," Burton said.

"I just think it takes so much time away from the Cup thing. To do it right, it takes commitment. I just don’t know how many people are going to raise their hand and want to do it, because there’s just no way it can’t be a distraction from your Cup program."

In Busch’s case, that remains to be seen. He finished 11th in the All-Star event, getting knocked out of the top five before the final 10-lap dash due to his average finish over the first four segments. After he completes his run at the Brickyard on Sunday and touches down in the Charlotte infield in a helicopter, all eyes will turn to his effort in NASCAR’s longest race. Prior to that, though, the same drivers who will ultimately be competing against him will be cheering Busch’s attempt in a double unlike anything the sport has ever seen.

"I can’t wait to watch and pull for him," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "He’s representing our sport, and whether he knows it or not, he’s got a lot of people, drivers and crew, and just about everybody in the infield is going to be pulling for him to do well. He’s representing all of us."

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Dale Jr. talks collection of wrecked stock cars, desire to win Coca-Cola 600

CONCORD, N.C. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a vision: That one day, decades or centuries from now, more advanced humans will wander through the woods outside Mooresville, North Carolina, and stumble across a graveyard of wrecked stock cars — dozens upon dozens of them, comprising an automotive Stonehenge replete with its own mysteries and secrets.

"Just like that Western town I built," Earnhardt said, referring to Whisky River, another curiosity on his spread north of Charlotte, "it will be there hopefully long after I’m gone, and somebody will walk back there and go, ‘What in the hell is this doing here? And who put it here?’ And then my name will come up, and they’ll remember me."

Chances are they’ll remember Earnhardt anyway, since he owns two Daytona 500 titles and seems capable of much more given the performance he’s shown this season. But beyond a Sprint Cup Series championship, there’s something else looming out there for NASCAR’s most popular driver — a points victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a track he’s visited since he was a kid, and which Sunday once again hosts the Coca-Cola 600. Earnhardt’s only victories at Charlotte came in the 2000 All-Star exhibition and the qualifier for the Sprint All-Star Race in 2012, the Sprint Showdown, leaving him winless in points events at what’s essentially his home track.

That’s a glaring omission for a driver whose earliest memories of a Cup event include watching qualifying for the 600 in 1983 from the press box. Once the condominiums went up in Turn 1 and 2, he watched many Charlotte races from the balcony of the unit his family owned. Later on as a teenager, he’d watch along with family members and cousin Tony Eury Jr. from the hill overlooking the final turn of the track’s infield road course. Earnhardt’s father won five times at Charlotte, including a 1993 Coca-Cola 600 that ranks among the best ever editions of the Memorial Day weekend classic.

No wonder, then, Earnhardt calls the 600 "definitely a race I’d love to win." And no wonder he’s irritated by his relative lack of success here — his average finish is 19th, and best chance to claim the 600 came in 2011, when he led off the final corner but ran out of fuel and settled for seventh.

"It’s frustrating that I haven’t won a race here aside form the All-Star event," Earnhardt said. "We’ve had some good cars, but nowhere near good enough."

Perhaps a Superman paint scheme, which is appearing on Earnhardt’s No. 88 car this weekend, will help. Asked during his Thursday afternoon media session which superpower he’d prefer, Earnhardt was quick with an answer — superhuman strength. "You could impress your friends and show off for the ladies," he said. Maybe he’d go to a junkyard and "toss some cars around or something. Because that would be harmless, right?"

It would certainly help in his effort to add more crashed cars to his graveyard, which this week brought two new arrivals in the vehicles Justin Allgaier and David Gilliland wrecked at Kansas two weeks ago. Earnhardt has been collecting wrecked race cars for a long time, back to when his JR Motorsports race team was competing in late models. They spent so much money building cars, he said, that rather than scrap the wrecked ones, he started stashing them in the woods around his property. Maybe half the cars out there, Earnhardt estimated, are connected to his company.

They used them for target practice, or as trail markers, and over time the collection grew. Brad Keselowski contributed a car his father owned, which Dennis Setzer crashed in a Nationwide race at Talladega. There’s one of Keselowski’s old trucks, the front end buried in a creek. "It’s real funny-looking sticking out like that," Earnhardt said. He started calling around, asking other teams for notable cars. He has the car Juan Pablo Montoya was driving when he struck the jet dryer at Daytona, although Chip Ganassi donated it with the caveat that photos not be taken. He has the Jimmie Johnson car penalized for its C-posts at Daytona, which was wrecked early in that race.

To get the Allgaier car from Kansas, he just called his buddy Steve Addington, the crew chief and competition director for owner Harry Scott Jr.’s team. "I know Harry Scott pretty well," Earnhardt said, "so I figured if they were going to throw it away, I could at least have it."

He’s not sure exactly how many cars are out there, given that he has stray sides and noses scattered around the property, not to mention oddities like hoods hanging from trees. "The hard part is, people want to know if there’s tours or if they can come look at it," Earnhardt said. "So I feel kind of bad, because it’s on my property."

Fans can see photos of many of the graveyard cars on Earnhardt’s Twitter feed, given that he’s posted pictures of several recent additions since joining the social network in the wake of his most recent Daytona 500 victory in February. Earnhardt will certainly accumulate more of them in the near future, though he hopes his Superman-themed Coca-Cola 600 car isn’t one of them. He’d prefer to fly that thing straight to Victory Lane.

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1960 champion known for consistency, short-track dominance

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rex White doesn’t have all the trophies he accumulated over the course of his career as a NASCAR driver. Some he gave away to friends and fans. Others were kept in a shed and ruined by moisture. But Wednesday, the sport’s 1960 champion received an honor which will remain with him forever.

White was elected as part of the 2015 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, which will be formally enshrined Jan. 30. The short-track specialist won 28 times over a nine-year career in what is now called the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, beating a young Richard Petty for the championship in 1960 and finishing as runner-up to Ned Jarrett the following season.

Driver  % of votes Year inductedd
David Pearson 94 2011
Bill Elliott 87 2015
Cale Yarborough 85 2012
Dale Inman 78 2012
Tim Flock 76 2014

"I kind of thought I’d go in, that eventually I would get in this Hall of Fame," said White, a North Carolina native who today lives in Fayetteville, Georgia. "Pretty good stats, if that means anything. I was pretty confident I’d get in. If they overlooked me and didn’t put me in, I think that would be kind of an injustice, if I didn’t get in at all. A NASCAR champion should be in the Hall of Fame."

White was one of three former champions elected Wednesday, along with Bill Elliott and Joe Weatherly, in a class that also includes drivers Fred Lorenzen and Wendell Scott. White appeared on 43 percent of the votes cast by a selection panel comprised primarily of NASCAR executives, track operators, media members and former competitors. But he was unsure if he’d have enough support given that eligibility requirements were recently changed to allow the nomination of more modern competitors such as Elliott and Terry Labonte.

"I didn’t feel like I would beat the guys who were nominated this year," White said. "I was hoping, but anyway — made it."

White, now 84, was a force on short tracks in a car he co-owned with Louis Clements and raced out of Spartanburg, South Carolina. He won five races in 1959, six during his championship season, and seven the next year. His best victory total came in 1962, when he won eight times and finished fifth in final points. Famous for his consistency, White finished in the top five in his nearly half of his 233 career starts, and outside the top 10 only 30 percent of the time.

"A lot of people deserve credit for getting me where I’m at," he said. "If it wasn’t for free help in those days, I couldn’t have raced. People didn’t get paid anything. They even bought their own pit passes to come and work."

For big races, White said he’d have five or six people helping him out. That lack of manpower didn’t show on the race track — White’s 28 career victories are good enough for 22nd all-time among premier series competitors. His biggest win might have been his last one, the 1962 Dixie 400 at what is now known as Atlanta Motor Speedway, one of just two career triumphs he recorded on tracks longer than a mile in length.

"It’s kind of like a ladder," White said of his career. "… I feel like I’m almost about to the top of the ladder."

When he slips into his blue Hall of Fame blazer in January, he certainly will be.

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Defending Sprint Cup Series champion was part of Hall voting panel

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CONCORD, N.C.— For six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, voting for members of the sixth NASCAR Hall of Fame class was both eye-opening and gratifying.
 
For the first time this year, the reigning champion of the Sprint Cup Series was included in the voting panel that selects the five new inductees. Once he experienced the five-hour session in which the merits of the 20 nominees were discussed and debated, Johnson was eager to share the experience.

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"That was a huge honor and an amazing day to be a part of," Johnson said. "To sit in a room with so many people that care for our sport and know about our sport and then discuss what took place in eras of time when I certainly wasn’t around…  it was a very awesome and unique experience and something I think that is a huge honor and in years to come.
 
"It’s only going to help drivers in the garage area understand the history of our sport and grow closer and more attached to the people that built this sport. And in a big way, I wish that the garage area could sit in on that discussion and see the respect that the peers and the people on the voting panel have for our industry and for the people involved.
 
"It wasn’t an easy process to work down to five. All 20 on that list were very deserving to be in the Hall of Fame."
 
Drivers Bill Elliott, Wendell Scott, Fred Lorenzen, Rex White and Joe Weatherly were elected to the Hall. Predictably, Johnson voted for his boss, team owner Rick Hendrick.
 
"I spoke to (Hendrick) on the drive up today, just catching up with him, and I’m not sure he feels he should be in there yet," Johnson said. "He’s a competitor out there, and he appreciates the phone calls he received yesterday and the concern from others, but I don’t think he feels like it’s time to be in there yet, although I voted for him.
 
"I just am so impressed with his stats and what he has done, but I still think there are many more to come."
 
HOMAGE TO A PIONEER
 
Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcos Ambrose likewise is well aware of those who have preceded him, and it was no surprise he issued a statement earlier this week on learning of the death of fellow Australian racer Jack Brabham.
 
Ambrose’s father Ross Ambrose, co-founder of British race car manufacturer Van Diemen International Ltd., knew Brabham personally.
 
"My father knew the family a little bit," Ambrose said. "I know David Brabham, and I guess the next generation of Brabhams, and now there’s a third generation of racers coming through, with David and Geoff’s sons coming through doing very, very well in their own racing careers. They are Australia’s version of the Petty family.
 
"The great thing about Jack Brabham was, not only was he a fantastic race car driver, but he built his own cars. He was the engineer, he was the mechanic, and he was the driver. To think of what he was able to achieve from very humble beginnings… He took himself to Europe and started his own company, building his own race cars for himself…
 
"Jack is certainly a big figurehead in Australian racing and paved the way for guys like me to go to Europe and have a go. He was a great man. I’ve met him a few times and was sorry to see him go, but he left a great legacy for Australian racing–no doubt."

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‘Six-Time’ will line up next to Brad Keselowski for the Coca-Cola 600

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CONCORD, N.C. — The top spot on the grid is a comfortable place for Jimmie Johnson, who won the pole position for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 with a speed of 194.911 mph in the final round of knockout qualifying Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
 
Johnson is the last driver to win NASCAR’s longest race from the pole, a feat he accomplished in 2004. In fact, Johnson is the only driver to win from the pole at Charlotte in this century, having also taken the checkered flag from the top starting position in the fall race of 2009.
 
When Johnson wins a Coors Light pole award, history indicates he’ll probably be fast in race trim as well. So chances are, the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will be a serious threat to end an uncharacteristically long 13-race winless streak dating to last season.

"It was a really strong lap," Johnson acknowledged. "I’m very pleased with it. Happy to get this Lowe’s Chevrolet on the pole for this big race coming up Sunday afternoon. We knew we had a great race car today, so it was nice to get out there and work our way through the three segments here and get it done.
 
"On the first run we missed it a little bit, but (crew chief) Chad (Knaus) knew exactly how to dial me in for the second one. We got a lot closer and, for the third segment, laid down a good lap."
 
Thursday’s pole was Johnson’s first of the season and the 33rd of his career. Brad Keselowski qualified second at 194.567 mph, followed by Kasey Kahne (193.618 mph) and Danica Patrick (193.334 mph).
 
For Keselowski, the front row start is his seventh in 12 races this year, with six of those coming from the second position on the grid. Keselowski’s only pole came at Phoenix, in the second race of the season.
 
Patrick paced the second round, a 10-minute session, at 194.595 mph, the fastest qualifying lap ever run by a female driver at a 1.5-mile intermediate speedway.
 
"We have a lot to be proud of," Patrick said. "I mean, let’s face it, this is the part of the weekend that I dreaded every time. I had to train myself to not say ‘I hate qualifying.’
 
"We were (sixth) in a round (the 25-minute first round), we were first in a round, and we were fourth in a round. A lot to be proud of at Stewart-Haas and for the GoDaddy car, and it’s going to give us a great starting spot for Sunday."
 
Kevin Harvick had perhaps the fastest car but didn’t have the chance to prove it in the final five-minute round. When the clock ran out in the session, Harvick was approaching the start/finish line, but because he failed to start his lap before time expired, he didn’t post a lap that counted in the session.
 
Accordingly, Harvick, one of the favorites to win the 600, will start 11th. Matt Kenseth, who likewise failed to take the green in Round 3, starts 12th.

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Crum restricted to tracks of 1.25 miles or less, plus road courses

NASCAR handed down sanctions Thursday to driver Jake Crum for rough driving in last weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, restricting his competition eligibility to tracks of 1.25 miles or less, plus road courses.
 
Crum and driver Ryan Ellis tangled in the early stages of last Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200, both spinning in Turn 2 to cause the second of the race’s nine caution periods. Three cautions and 57 laps later, the two crashed again, with Crum appearing to turn left to hook Ellis’ truck in retaliation on the backstretch.

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The latter incident drew the attention of NASCAR officials, leading them to restrict Crum, 22, with the same eligibility limitations placed on drivers 18 years and younger.
 
"This is consistent with what we’ve done in the past for a situation like this," a NASCAR spokesperson said in a statement. "We have several options available — we can issue a penalty at that time, we can even suspend a driver. We believe this reaction is the best method to let the driver know that this type of behavior on a fast 1.5-mile race track is not acceptable."
 
After the crash, Ellis dismounted and gave Crum an exasperated look as the field circled past under the yellow flag. Dale Earnhardt Jr. weighed in on the contact through Twitter.

 
Last Saturday at Iowa Speedway, Ellis — who eventually finished 40th in the Nationwide Series‘ Get to Know Newton 250 — showed the bruises of his heavy hit with the outside retaining wall and said he had spoken with Crum after a handful of missed calls.
 
"He had gotten into the wall earlier, and he said it affected his truck," Ellis told NASCAR.com. "He said it had gotten really darty. He meant to side-draft off me. There are no hard feelings."
 
Crum, who has competed in 14 events in his Camping World Truck Series career, was making his first start of the season in the John Corr-owned No. 82 Chevrolet.

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Online community again rallies to fund No. 98 ride

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One week after sending Josh Wise into the Sprint All-Star Race by virtue of winning the Sprint Fan Vote, the Dogecoin and Reddit communities have rallied again. The online group has sold more than 5,000 T-shirts depicting its trademark Shiba Inu breed dog (see the tweet below), and the proceeds are going to sponsor Wise’s No. 98 Ford at Talladega Superspeedway this fall in the Geico 500.

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Fans of the cryptocurrency banded together earlier this year to sponsor Wise for the spring Talladega race. The driver showed his thanks by participating in an AMA — Ask Me Anything — on Reddit, a social networking site, and in the process endeared himself to a group of fans with plenty of Internet pull.

"I can’t begin to explain how awesome this partnership with Dogecoin and Reddit has been for our team at Phil Parsons Racing," Wise said in a team release. "Like I said before, we’re just a small team. When we were initially approached with this idea, we never expected it to get as big as it has become. We’ve been able to accomplish some pretty amazing things with the help of the Dogecoin and Reddit communities. It means so much to us to have all that support. We’re working as hard as we can, to do the best job that we possibly can, each and every week." 

Wise finished 15th in the All-Star Race, completing every lap and finishing ahead of drivers such as Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. An underdog — perhaps UnderDoge is a more appropriate term — throughout his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, Wise has a career-best finish of 19th in 79 races, a result he earned at Talladega in 2010.

He nearly matched that showing with a 20th-place run at the 2.66-mile track this spring, with his black-and-gold Dogecoin scheme.

"We’re really excited to expand our partnership with Dogecoin and Reddit," team owner Phil Parsons said. "With all of the support we received for the All-Star Race and the number of people asking about apparel, it made sense to have T-shirts produced and turn it into an opportunity to fund a second race."

Parsons also credited Reddit user and NASCAR fan Denis Pavel, who noticed a plain black car at Bristol. Pavel, according to Parsons, said he thought Wise "raced the wheels off the car." That led to the 16-year-old leading the charge to find Wise a sponsor.

"The relationship has opened some great opportunities and has helped get Phil Parsons Racing’s name out," Parsons said.

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At home or on the go, keep tabs on the Cup and Nationwide races this weekend

This weekend brings the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series to Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 is Sunday, May 25, at 6 p.m. ET with coverage on FOX.

The Nationwide Series History 300 is Saturday, May 24, at 2:45 p.m. ET with coverage on ABC. 

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

We know you may not have the time to watch the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series action without any interruptions, so if you’re on the go, here’s how to keep up at Charlotte.

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

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

For an interactive experience, join crew chief Brad Parrott for in-race analysis as he chats with readers about the Coca-Cola 600.

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

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

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

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

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