Posted on by Holly Cain

Smith carries championship expectations into 2014

Regan Smith couldn’t have looked more surprised when he was announced the winner of the 2013 Most Popular Driver Award in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

An hour later, having had a little time to reflect, Smith told reporters the honor was both humbling and a bit empowering.

"They told a bunch of us that we were in the top five but I didn’t anticipate we’d actually be the one that got it," Smith said backstage at the year-end awards banquet in Miami Beach, Fla., with a nod to his team owner and perennial NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"Obviously a big thank you to all the Regan Smith fans and Junior Nation fans out there. I think the power of Junior Nation has spoken again and I’m very appreciative of that.

"It’s a good nation," he said smiling. "And I think the Regan Smith fan base has grown because of Junior Nation so that’s good. And whatever the future holds, whether it’s here for 10 years or somewhere else, certainly hope I can keep all those fans with me."

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

SEASON IN REVIEW

While it’s no secret the former Sprint Cup Series driver — and 2011 Darlington winner — would one day like to return to the Cup Series, he is spending his time in the JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet reminding people why he is not only a popular driver, but a successful one that deserves that shot at Cup again one day.

First, he has some Nationwide business to attend to, however.

Although he finished third in the final Nationwide Series standings, the hefty 72-point deficit to champion Austin Dillon is misleading of Smith’s season. He led the points standings for 10 consecutive weeks on the heels of a victory at Talladega Superspeedway in the spring, a stretch that was bolstered by another win at Michigan in the summer.

In fact, Smith was the only full-time Nationwide Series driver with multiple wins in 2013 and one of only three Nationwide Series regulars to reach Victory Lane at all.

He led eventual championship runner-up Sam Hornish Jr. by 58 points at one point during that 10-race stretch, which included eight top-10 finishes.

Smith’s confidence also received a big boost with a pair of early top-10 finishes in the Sprint Cup Series driving James Finch’s No. 51 Chevy — highlighted by a seventh-place finish in the Daytona 500 followed later by a sixth-place effort at Talladega the day after he won the Nationwide race there.

For 16 weeks during the middle of the season, Smith was ranked first or second in points. But, then things got away from him and the team.

A 32nd-place finish at Road America followed by a 30th-place showing at Kentucky late in the summer left Smith vulnerable in the standings. He closed out the year with three top-10s in the final eight races capped by a frustrating 29th-place finish at the Homestead-Miami Speedway season finale.

"I think we learned a lot through the middle part of the season. It was tough for us to give up that big points lead as quick as we did," Smith said analyzing the situation. "We didn’t anticipate that happening and I’d say it caught us off-guard.

"I don’t want to say we got desperate but we started doing things a little differently than we had done to get the lead, from a standpoint of our mentality and how we thought about things. I was probably more guilty of that as a driver than anybody. In my years of racing I hadn’t been in a situation in quite some time to be racing for points like that and have a shot at a championship. There were some things I forgot as far as how a championship played out. Unfortunately, no matter how many times somebody tells you this is how it’s going to be, you still have to experience it.

"And that middle part of the season is when a lot of that happened and then again later in the year, we started getting even more desperate when we were 20 points out, and 20 points became 30 points and 30 became 40 and it just kept growing because of small little errors or small mental mistakes. There’s areas we can do better and we will."

Smith said the whole experience gives him confidence for the 2014 Nationwide championship run, even if he is his own harshest critic. He realizes that he is in prime position driving for a team like JR Motorsports, which has title-worthy resources and standards.

And considering the top two championship contenders, Dillon and Hornish, won’t return in 2014, the high expectations land squarely on Smith’s shoulders — something he’s keenly aware of.

"Our goal is to get the championship and we didn’t get it," Smith said, offering a candid assessment. "We did a lot of things that we got an A and A-plus at but overall grade when you look at the end of the year — I’m very much a goal-oriented person, our goal was the championship and we didn’t reach that.

"Was the year a total failure? Absolutely not. We had the wins, had a lot of great runs and learned a lot, but ultimately we didn’t reach the goal we were striving for and that’s going to be the goal again next year."

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Not finishing No. 1 did not diminish these drivers’ track records

The past few weeks have been all about champions, crowning a new one and celebrating current and former ones, all of them remembered in banners fluttering from the ceiling of a banquet hall. The apex of any sport is a championship, and to claim the title in the Sprint Cup Series is to earn the highest reward there is in NASCAR.

But championships alone do not necessarily equal greatness, as the ranks of those enshrined in and nominated for the NASCAR Hall of Fame will surely attest. In the sport’s earlier days, there were drivers who never won a season-long title because such a thing didn’t mean nearly as much in an era where the series competed 50 times per year, and some chased only the big events. In more recent times, there have been plenty of great drivers who never won a championship because of circumstances, or misfortunate, or because they had the bad timing of going up against the likes of Dale Earnhardt or Jimmie Johnson at their peak.

So yes, a title alone cannot be the sole barometer of greatness. The lack of one certainly didn’t hurt Junior Johnson or Fireball Roberts from getting into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. So as Jimmie Johnson’s 2013 celebration ends and everyone turns their eyes toward another title run to come in 2014, here are the top 10 drivers without a championship at NASCAR’s highest level.

10. Geoffrey Bodine

The oldest of the racing Bodine brothers from Chemung, N.Y., Geoffrey was a star in the modified ranks — he won 55 races in one season alone, 1978 — long before he moved south and began his career in NASCAR’s major league. Although many remember Bodine for the fiery Camping World Truck Series crash he survived in 2000, his record on the race track stands on its own. It was Bodine who delivered the first race victory to Rick Hendrick, then owner of a fledgling outfit called All-Star Racing, in 1984 at Martinsville. All told Bodine won 18 times, including the 1986 Daytona 500, and was among the best of his era on road courses. He never won the title — the closest he came was third in 1990, well back of Earnhardt — but he won just about everything else.

9. Tim Richmond

The 1986 season was when Tim Richmond emerged as the NASCAR superstar everyone knew he had the potential to be. A rambunctious playboy with a lion’s mane of hair and an attitude to match, the former open-wheel star won seven times in 1986 and finished third in final points behind Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip. It was only the beginning, everyone surmised. But the following season, Richmond missed the Daytona 500 with what reporters were told was double pneumonia. He came back, won twice more, and was out again. When he died in 1989 at age 34, the rumor of AIDS was confirmed by his death certificate. On the track, his career had been short but spectacular, netting 13 wins in just 185 races. Who knows what he might have accomplished had he lived longer, given that the illness took hold just as he neared the top.

8. Denny Hamlin

If a few things break a little bit differently, Denny Hamlin could very well have a pair of championship rings by now. If his fuel strategy doesn’t backfire in the penultimate race of the 2010 season at Phoenix, if his car’s master switch doesn’t go on the fritz in the fourth-to-last event of the 2012 campaign at Martinsville — well, who knows. If he doesn’t break a bone in his back in a crash early this past season, maybe he contends then, too. Regardless, time and time again Hamlin has shown all the signs of being a champion waiting to happen — except that it hasn’t happened yet, despite 23 race wins and three finishes inside the top five in final points to date. The good news is, his back seems to be responding to treatment, and the 33-year-old would appear to have plenty of time left ahead of him.

7. Fred Lorenzen

There’s a reason they called him Fast Freddy. Fred Lorenzen was first a star on the short tracks in and around his native Chicago — including Soldier Field, which was an auto racing venue long before it was home of the Bears — and then a success at NASCAR’s national level in Holman-Moody equipment that helped deliver all 26 of his career victories, the 1965 Daytona 500 among them. But like many top drivers of his day, Lorenzen didn’t compete in the full NASCAR season, chasing big-money events and other races along the way. His best career points finish was third in 1963, when he competed in just 29 of 55 events. But he won six of those, and notched 21 top-fives, and still finished well ahead of fourth-place Ned Jarrett, who made 24 more starts. Had Lorenzen raced a little more that season, he may have a NASCAR championship to his name.

6. Ricky Rudd

The Ironman is best known for his record for consecutive starts, which still stands at 788. But he was also a fierce competitor who won 23 times, and notched at least one victory a year for 16 consecutive seasons. Although Rudd enjoyed stints with car owners Richard Childress, Bud Moore and Rick Hendrick, he had an independent streak, and for six years carried the dual titles of driver and owner. But it was at the same time big-money sponsors and multi-car teams were becoming the standard, making it tougher for driver/owners to compete. Although Rudd continued to contend for race wins, those later years with his own team saw him take a tumble in the points. He rebounded with Robert Yates and enjoyed two of his best seasons, but his best shot at a title had been 1991, when he finished second in points behind Earnhardt.

5. Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch is on the short list of drivers with the most natural talent in NASCAR, and he shows it almost every race weekend in his ability to flat-out dominate events. Contending for championships, though, is another matter altogether. It’s somewhat shocking to realize that for all his ability, this past season’s fourth-place finish was Rowdy’s best ever at the premier level. More times than not, he’s suffered early failures or accidents in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and wound up back in the pack — which was certainly the case in 2008, his best season, when he won eight times but opened the playoff with three straight weeks of mechanical issues. Then there’s the matter of Busch not having won a Chase race since 2005, when he wasn’t even in the playoff. But he’s only 28 and clearly one of the best in the business, so you’re inclined to think the breakthrough will come with time.

4. Davey Allison

The son of a NASCAR champion, Davey Allison seemed unquestionably destined for greatness. He was just 32 years old when he notched his 19th career victory, in the spring of 1993 at Richmond. He had narrowly missed out on a title the previous season, finishing third behind Bill Elliott and champion Alan Kulwicki in the closest race ever to that point. But Allison’s greatness was never to be fully realized — on July 13, 1993, he crashed a helicopter he had bought just three weeks earlier, trying to land in the Talladega infield to see the son of driver Neil Bonnett test a car. Accounts from the time say the helicopter was a foot from landing when it shot up into the air and turned over, landing on the pilot’s side. Allison died of a head injury in a Birmingham hospital. To this day, people still mourn not just the loss of a father, son, and husband, but also the promise of a career that was only beginning to blossom when it was tragically cut short.

3. Fireball Roberts

One of the biggest stars of early NASCAR, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts was an ace on the sport’s biggest tracks. He won seven times at Daytona, the cornerstone of a career that produced 33 victories overall. But like many of his era, Roberts didn’t pursue a points championship, instead picking off the races that paid the most. His best overall finish was second in 1950, a short 19-race campaign that marked the second season of NASCAR’s premier division. But the schedule ballooned after that, and Roberts never finished higher than fifth. He was a star nonetheless, not to mention the sport’s biggest career money winner, until he was involved in a fiery crash in 1964 at Charlotte. Burned over 75 percent of his body, Roberts seemed to make early progress before succumbing to pneumonia and blood poisoning. He death at 35 prompted a series of safety changes that transformed the sport.

2. Mark Martin

Blessed with a mixture of longevity and talent, Mark Martin used a physical fitness regime to remain competitive at NASCAR’s highest level well into his 50s. Particularly during his heyday driving for Jack Roush, the man was a force behind the wheel, a major player for wins and championships in an era where the competition at the top was steep. He won 40 races but never a title, enduring five runner-up finishes. The most painful of those was likely 1990, when Martin was penalized 46 points by NASCAR for an illegal carburetor space at Richmond, and lost the championship to Earnhardt by 26 points. Martin had mellowed by 2009, when he won five times and finished an unlikely second to Jimmie Johnson, and later added valuable leadership to Michael Waltrip Racing. When he stepped out of the car after this past season’s finale, it was likely for the last time.

1. Junior Johnson

Goodness, did Junior Johnson do it all. The man has been a moonshiner, a winning driver, a crew chief, an engine builder, a jack man, a maker of excellent pork products, a championship car owner, and now a NASCAR Hall of Famer. But the one thing the "Last American Hero" never did was win a title as a driver at the sport’s top level, even though he claimed 50 races over a 14-year career that ended in 1966. Once again, it was a matter of choosing limited races over a full season. In 1965, for instance, he won 13 times — as many as that season’s champion, Ned Jarrett — but because he started just 36 out of 55 races, he finished 12th in final points. In fact, when it comes to best overall finish, Johnson was never better than sixth.

Of course, none of that dilutes the Junior Johnson legacy. He started as a master of short tracks, then became a master of super speedways, and in between mastered just about everything else. He won the Daytona 500 in 1960, won 132 races and six titles — three each with Cale Yarborough and Waltrip — as an owner, and was part of the Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 2010. Yes, for someone who never won a championship as a driver, ol’ Junior didn’t do too badly after all.

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Posted on by NASCAR Official Release

A minimum of 10 $2,500 scholarships will be awarded to Volusia County students

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In advance of the Taste of the 24 presented by Halifax Health scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, The NASCAR Foundation is proud to announce the launch of a new scholarship program benefitting Volusia County (Fla.) high school seniors who plan to enroll fulltime in a two- or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school in Florida during the 2014-2015 academic school year.

Beginning Friday, Dec. 20 students can access application materials at www.NASCAR.com/Foundation. Only the first 200 submissions will be accepted, and they must be postmarked no later than Feb. 20, 2014. Scholarship recipients will be selected based on factors including academic record, demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities, honors and awards, work experience and financial need. The NASCAR Foundation will announce a minimum of 10 winners, who will each receive a one-time $2,500 scholarship, in May 2014.

This all-new scholarship program is driven by The NASCAR Foundation’s commitment to serving communities in which children live, learn and play. Through its fundraising efforts and events like Taste of the 24, The NASCAR Foundation has contributed more than $17 million in charitable support to initiatives that further this mission.

Held during the 52nd running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Taste of the 24 presented by Halifax Health will raise funds for this scholarship program, thus ensuring all proceeds benefit the Volusia County community.

This year’s event will feature 23 of Central Florida’s finest restaurants showcasing their best menu items. Restaurants include Amber’s Jewel Catering; Backyard Boys Bar-B-Que; Bahama Breeze; Blue Grotto; Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.; Café Heavenly; Chart House; Cornerstone Café; Daytona Taproom; Dimitri’s Bar Deck & Grill; Heavenly Cheesecakes & Chocolates, Inc.; Hidden Treasure Rum Bar & Grille; Joe’s Crab Shack; Lost Lagoon Wings & Grill; Mai Tai Bar; Malcolm’s at LPGA; Outriggers Tiki Bar and Grille; Panheads Pizzeria; Sinatra’s L’Aldila Ristoranté; Sloppy Joe’s Daytona Beach; SoNapa Grille; Stonewood Grill & Tavern; and Sweet Marlays’ Coffee.

Offering Central Florida residents and racing fans a unique dining experience in the corporate suites high atop the backstretch grandstands, attendees will enjoy a variety of menu items along with music and views of non-stop racing.

All-inclusive admission to the Taste of the 24 includes one weekend pass to the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Sprint FANZONE access, Budweiser Party Porch access, free premier parking and a chance to win a Rolex watch. Event tickets are limited and are $95 for adults and $24 for children 12 and younger and can be purchased at www.NASCAR.com/Foundation.

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Posted on by Holly Cain

Strong Chase showing reignites desire for championship No. 5

RELATED: 2013 recaps for every Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup driver

This is the eighth in a series of 2013 Sprint Cup Series driver recaps that will be featured on NASCAR.com

One of the 2013 highlights for Jeff Gordon was getting a chance this summer to spend time and make a web feature series with Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard. At the time, Gordon joked about whether his own season story would have a Hollywood ending.

Boy did it. And it was award worthy, too.

After being added by NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff field as an unprecedented 13th driver following the controversial season finale at Richmond, Gordon and his No. 24 team seized the opportunity the four-time champ insists was legitimately due to them.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

SEASON IN REVIEW

"We may have been a late addition but I knew in my heart we belonged in the Chase and we proved that week after week," Gordon said, accepting his sixth-place trophy during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards banquet.

Not only was Gordon’s sixth-place finish in the championship standings his best since 2009 (third place), it marked the second straight year he won both a Coors Light Pole (Charlotte) and a race (Martinsville) during the high-stakes 10-race Chase.

After Gordon’s emotional and impressive eighth career victory at Martinsville in October, he was ranked as high as third in the standings. But a flat tire on his Chevrolet only 73 laps into the Texas race the next week led to a frustrating 38th-place showing that virtually ended his title hopes.

"The Chase was actually the best part of our season," Gordon said. "It wasn’t easy and the competition was tough, but we had great cars, qualified better and did all the things I think we needed to be doing earlier in the season.

"We like running good in the Chase, and that’s cool, but we need to be solid earlier."

That Gordon was able to make a run for the Chase at all says a lot about the perseverance of his team considering the many early trials and tribulations it had to overcome.

After earning the outside pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500, Gordon led 31 laps but managed only a 20th-place finish in NASCAR’s Super Bowl. It marked the fourth consecutive year he finished 20th or worse, but more significantly to him, it set a tone of playing catch-up.

He posted only three top-15s in the first seven races, and three DNFs in a seven-race swing in the summer put the team further in the hole. On the year, Gordon’s five DNFs tied Ryan Newman as most among Chase contenders — and is more than any other drivers among the top 20.

"We ask ourselves every year … even if you are the champion, you ask — How do you improve for next year?" Gordon said. "I feel like for us we just didn’t get a good start to the season. We started behind at Daytona and were playing catch-up the whole time.

"For us, it’s about getting into a rhythm a little earlier and maintaining improvement for the whole season. We have to focus on being in the championship earlier instead of going to Richmond and stressing out just trying to get in."

In the end, Gordon says he enters 2014 more optimistic and encouraged. He added win number 88 to his career total — a mark bettered only by Hall of Famers Richard Petty (200 wins) and David Pearson (105 wins).

As he proudly watched his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and friend Jimmie Johnson accept his sixth championship trophy in the last eight years, Gordon said he left the awards ceremony more determined than ever.

Far from being ready to retire, the 42-year-old Gordon knows only that there are races to win and championships to decide.

"It’s bittersweet because you’re proud to be a part of Hendrick Motorsports and Rick (Hendrick) is more than just a boss and friend to me," Gordon said. "And Jimmie, I’ve known for so long and love seeing him have success.

"But at the same time we want to win. When you’re not at the head table, it’s highly motivating. You see the accolades, you see the awards, you want to be experiencing that."

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Posted on by Nascar

New addition had first NASCAR experience at Richmond, became hooked

Madison Martin, a 23-year-old from Cumberland, Md., is the newest addition to the Miss Sprint Cup lineup.

Martin will join Kim Coon and Brooke Werner as representatives for Sprint, entitlement sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, for the 2014 season.

"The biggest part is bringing NASCAR to the fans," Martin said of her new job. "Giving them that cool, personal experience that I had at my first race. If I can make somebody’s day by talking to them … about the sport I love, that’s an amazing opportunity.

"Meeting with fans, with drivers, doing stories, it all just pairs together a lot of the things that I love and enjoy doing."

From left to right, the Miss Sprint Cup lineup includes Kim Coon, Madison Martin and Brooke Werner.

Martin, a graduate of Frostburg State University where she majored in Mass Communications, previously worked for WSOC-TV in Charlotte. She also served as an intern for Fox News Channel and was a student reporter at Richmond International Raceway.

"My mom took me to my first race (at Richmond) and I got pulled up on the Miss Sprint Cup stage by Monica (former Miss Sprint Cup Monica Palumbo Hancock)," Martin said. "That was actually my introduction into Miss Sprint Cup and my introduction into NASCAR. And I ended up becoming a huge fan after that experience."

Expect to see Martin in demand when there’s a charity golf tournament tied into the Cup schedule — she was captain of her high school golf team and was ranked as one of the nation’s top 100 female golfers.

"I started golfing when I was 13 and kind of became obsessed with it," she said. "I got super into it and worked really hard. I was captain of the boys’ team — we didn’t have a girls’ team — but I ended up being the No. 1 player, going to state and going to a national tournament. It was just an amazing experience."

More than just a presence in Victory Lane, the role of Miss Sprint Cup involves plenty of travel (Coon logged nearly 45,000 miles in 2013, Werner nearly 36,000), and long hours at the track as well as off site. In addition to Victory Lane duties, the representatives spend hours at The Sprint Unlimited Experience meeting with fans, hosting driver appearances and taking part in various fan-related events. They also can be found in the garage throughout the weekend, interacting with fans and officials and generating content for social media.

"There’s so much that’s good about the job," said Werner, who joined the team in 2013. "Meeting race fans every weekend … fans that come back race after race that kind of become like your family. There are fans you’ll see in Sonoma and then you’ll see them in New Hampshire. The fans are definitely the best part.

"Sprint gives us opportunities to do so many awesome things. We had a chance to tour the Walter Reed Memorial Hospital. … You see these warriors who have put so much on the line for us just kind of light up by seeing their favorite driver walk in the room. And we got to be there to see all of that, so that was really special."

Coon said she knew NASCAR fans were passionate, but working as a Miss Sprint Cup has given her a much better understanding of their support.

"You have fans that come to 20 races a year; you have fans from all over the world — Australia, Japan, Germany," she said. "And you have fans that have saved up and maybe this is their one vacation for the next few years.

"I’m very blessed. It’s not very glamorous — there are glamorous parts but it’s a lot of hard work and a lot of responsibility. It takes a lot of dedication."

Martin, who will join Coon and Werner at Daytona in February as the Sprint Unlimited non-points race kicks off the 2014 season, said she’s had initial discussions about what to expect in the coming year.

She knows the "shuffle" — how best to make sure she’s seen behind the driver in the Victory Lane shot — and she’s been warned about the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team, who Werner said "likes to douse you in Gatorade and make you all rainbow colored."

"But not really anything scary," Martin said, laughing. "I think it’s an honor to have this job and it really is a dream job. We’re on the road a lot … you have to be thankful for that. Not everybody gets to have that experience.

Madison Martin previously was a student reporter for Richmond International Raceway, where her love of NASCAR developed.

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Richmond scandal mars an otherwise solid season for 34-year-old

This is the seventh in a series of 2013 Sprint Cup Series driver recaps that will be featured on NASCAR.com

Six days. That’s all it took for Clint Bowyer‘s 2013 season to go from promising to infamous, and literally spin out of control.

On one Sunday night at Atlanta, there was Bowyer poised to take the lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings from Jimmie Johnson, until the engine in his No. 15 car let go. And on the following Saturday night at Richmond, there was Bowyer deluged in controversy after a suspicious spin of his vehicle helped ignite one of the largest controversies in recent NASCAR history.

In the end, it was the latter that was remembered more than the former. Bowyer spent the final weeks of the 2013 season keeping a low profile for his role in a race manipulation scandal that led NASCAR to levy against Michael Waltrip Racing perhaps its most severe fine, one which had the effect of knocking Bowyer’s now former MWR teammate Martin Truex Jr. out of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and later led the sponsor of the team’s No. 56 car to pull out.

Bowyer wasn’t alone — MWR driver Brian Vickers and his spotter Ty Norris were also sanctioned by NASCAR for a suspicious late pit stop that also played a role in the drama. But in terms of the public outcry, the usually amicable and gregarious Bowyer bore the brunt of it, forcing one of the sport’s most colorful characters to withdraw into a metaphorical shell until the worst of the storm passed.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

SEASON IN REVIEW

"Anytime you have anything bad happen, I don’t care (what), if your name is tied to anything bad, you’re bummed out. Everybody who knows me knows that I love this sport, knows that I appreciate not only the sport, but everybody in it. I enjoy going to the race track, I enjoy believe it or not, talking to (the media). I don’t know why in the hell that is. But I do. I have fun with all aspect of this sport," Bowyer said.

"I enjoy driver intros, that’s our chance to kind of bag on each other a little bit and have some fun and then go out and try to kick each others’ teeth in. But nonetheless, I enjoy this sport. I knew the magnitude of that situation, and respected my part in it, and you’ve got to pay your dues when you have something like that happen. It doesn’t matter what it is. If you’re tied to anything negative for yourself, your race team, or your sport, you’ve got to respect that situation and give it some time."

While the scandal continues to have long-lasting impacts — MWR had to contract to a two-car operation after sponsor NAPA pulled out — Bowyer can at least occasionally joke about it now, as he did in his Champion’s Week speech in Las Vegas. His year was OK, he said, "until it took a spin for the worse. And let me tell you, it was really bad."

And it certainly eclipsed what the No. 15 team did on the track. Although Bowyer went winless this past season for the first time since 2009, he tied a career-high with 10 top-five finishes, and was consistent enough to linger second or third in the standings for 13 straight weeks. He was at his best on the eve of the Chase, and was in position to assume the lead when Johnson was involved in an accident at Atlanta.

It would have been short-lived — the points were reset for the Chase the following week — but Bowyer was disappointed nonetheless after his engine failed, denying him the chance to seize the top spot. Even so, it’s events like that surge into Richmond that he holds on to, even when everyone else is focusing on what came after.

"Looking back, it’s easy to look at one particular thing in a season. But for me, the season’s long, man," he said. "We did a good job of managing the year, managing points and where we needed to be as far as that aspect goes. It’s so important to hit that Chase at full stride, and unfortunately we didn’t do that this year. But nonetheless, I still feel like I’m with a crew chief and with an organization and a manufacturer that’s going to get that done."

Although Bowyer finished fifth at Homestead to claim seventh in the final point standings, the Chase for the No. 15 team was an almost impossible situation given the maelstrom surrounding them. Now the focus turns to next season, and toward that end it will be a different MWR team that rolls into Speedweeks — one without NAPA or Truex, and Jeff Burton in a third car used primarily for research and development. The scandal may have defined his 2013 season, but Bowyer doesn’t believe it will hamper his efforts to contend in 2014.

"I don’t, because we didn’t have to pull back on the tools it takes to build fast race cars — the engineering and simulation and all the things we all know are the keys to success," he said. "We didn’t lose those assets. We lost a lot of assets, there’s no question. … but I guess when it comes down to speed and being able to contend for wins and hopefully still contend for a championship, I still feel like we have those assets intact."

MORE:

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‘3’ in Sprint Cup

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Posted on by

Johnson wins sixth championship, Gen-6 cars debut with speed, style

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Jimmie Johnson took a giant step toward joining NASCAR’s pantheon of legends. And he did it in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Gen-6 race car, which made its debut in record-setting fashion.

To say the least, 2013 was a very big year.

Johnson, whose run of five consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships ended in 2011, regained his winning form. His "six pack" of titles is one fewer than the seven championships won by NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt – a record the 38-year-old El Cajon, Calif., competitor will stalk in 2014.

Johnson won his second Daytona 500 and became the first competitor since 1982 to post a season sweep at Daytona International Raceway.

The Gen-6 car, a collaborative and far-reaching initiative undertaken by NASCAR, Toyota, Chevrolet Division of General Motors and Ford Motor Company to put the "stock" back in stock car, provided close, competitive racing. The season saw 19 track qualifying records broken; a record number (127,306) of Green Flag Passes; and the lowest Margin of Victory (1.267 seconds) since 2005. Twenty races ended with a margin of victory of less than one second, up from 17 in 2012.

Seventeen different drivers – including five who had gone winless the previous season – went to Victory Lane, two fewer than the series’ modern era record.

Top Driver

Jimmie Johnson: With four victories, Johnson led the points standings after all but three of the regular season’s 26 races. The Hendrick Motorsports driver, however, started the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup as the No. 2 seed behind Matt Kenseth. Victories at Dover International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway enabled Johnson to keep pace with and then pass his rival. The only driver to qualify in all 10 years of the Chase era, Johnson posted an average finish of 5.0 in the 2013 Chase to edge Kenseth by 19 points. Johnson’s championships have come in three different generations of NASCAR Sprint Cup cars.

Matt Kenseth (Honorable Mention): Many felt 2013 would be a learning year as Kenseth transitioned from driving a Ford for Roush Fenway Racing to piloting a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth and crew chief Jason Ratcliff, however, jelled from the first Daytona 500 practice, in which Kenseth led 86 laps before his No. 20 Toyota succumbed to engine failure. He won a career-best seven times, including the first two races of the Chase. Kenseth led the Chase after six of its first eight races before handling issues and a 23rd-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway effectively doomed his hopes for a second NASCAR Sprint Cup title.  

Comeback Driver of the Year

Kurt Busch: Two seasons after his release from Penske Racing, Kurt Busch’s career has risen from the ashes thanks to a gritty performance behind the wheel of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet. Busch didn’t win, but he did just about everything but. He wheeled the Denver, Colo.-based organization into the Chase, the first time a single-car team has qualified for NASCAR’s postseason. Busch finished 10th in the final standings with a solid log of 11 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes. The performance earned Busch a spot in a fourth Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet for 2014.

Kyle Busch (Honorable Mention): After a lost year in which he failed to qualify for the Chase, Kyle Busch roared back in 2013 to make his strongest bid yet for a premier series championship. He won four times during the regular season and finished second to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kenseth in the opening two races of the Chase. A 34th-place finish at Kansas Speedway ended Busch’s title hopes but his fourth-place overall ranking is the Las Vegas native’s best since becoming a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup competitor in 2005. Busch posted 22 top-10 finishes and won three poles – each a season best.

Top Team

Hendrick Motorsports: Rick Hendrick again qualified all four of his drivers – Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne – for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Johnson produced the organization’s 11th NASCAR Sprint Cup championship and won six times. Kahne won twice. Gordon extended his reign as the series’ active win leader with his 88th career victory in October’s Chase race at Martinsville Speedway. Earnhardt failed to find Victory Lane but his 10 top-five finishes were a season best in a Hendrick Chevrolet, which matched his top output of 2004.

Joe Gibbs Racing (Honorable Mention): Coach Gibbs’ three drivers – Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin – gave JGR the most victories among team owners in 2013. Their combined total of 12, led by Kenseth’s seven victories, represented a .333 winning percentage over the season’s 36 races. Kenseth entered the Chase with the No. 1 seed. Kenseth and Busch ranked one-two through the first two races of the postseason before finishing second and fourth, respectively, in final points. It marked the first time since 1999 that two JGR drivers ranked among the top five overall.

Top Breakthrough Performance

Joey Logano: In his first season with Penske Racing, Logano upstaged his new teammate, reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski. Logano qualified for his first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, while Keselowski became just the second champion during the Chase era to fall short of postseason qualification. The Connecticut native won for the first time in the No. 22 Ford in August at Michigan International Speedway. He posted season bests in overall finish (eighth), top fives (11) and top 10s (19) and laps led (323).

Brian Vickers (Honorable Mention): Once tabbed a "can’t miss" prospect after winning a NASCAR Nationwide Series championship at age 20 and a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup races, Vickers’ career had been stymied by illness. Vickers latched onto a part-time job with Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012 and finished three of eight races among the top five. This year saw Vickers take the team’s No. 55 Toyota to Victory Lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – confirming his status as the car’s full-time driver in 2014.

Top Races

Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, May 4 – Often a back-and-forth affair, this May’s race at Talladega Superspeedway lived up to the track’s reputation. It also provided the surprise winner of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season – David Ragan. Ragan, who had previously won at Daytona International Speedway driving for Roush Fenway Racing in 2011, was pushed to victory by his current Front Row Motorsports teammate David Gilliland. It was Front Row’s first victory in NASCAR’s premier series.

Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway, March 24 (Honorable Mention) – Kyle Busch was the benefactor of all-or-nothing beating and banging on the final lap between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin during March’s race at Auto Club Speedway. As Logano and Hamlin traded paint for the win – a battle that caused both to wreck – Busch came on the outside to steal the victory. The Gen-6 race car produced 41 green flag passes for the lead during this one, tying the track record at the Southern California two-miler.

IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, August 24 (Honorable Mention) – Bristol’s annual night race is a spectacle – the perfect stage for late-race drama. During the 2013 edition, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne battled side-by-side in the closing laps. The edge-of-your seat action led to the fourth-closest margin of victory of the season, with Kenseth narrowly beating Kahne to the line.

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Posted on by Staff Report

Scott, 36, was lead engineer on No. 55 team for past two seasons

RELATED: 2014 Sprint Cup Series driver tracker

Billy Scott has been named crew chief for driver Brian Vickers and the No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota team fielded by Michael Waltrip Racing, according to a team news release.

Scott, 36, served as lead engineer for the team for the past two seasons.

"Billy was the unanimous selection by everyone here at MWR including the crew, drivers and ownership," team co-owner Michael Waltrip said. "We feel like engineering is one of our strongest assets and with that type of talent in house, it was easy to promote from within.

"Billy has earned this opportunity because he has helped develop and refine the engineering tools that we use every day to make our cars faster."

Scott worked in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as a mechanic before returning to college to obtain an engineering degree. After graduating in 2005 he was employed at Robert Yates Racing and began as an engineer at MWR in ’08.

"I’m honored, but I also know this is a big responsibility," Scott said. "We have very high expectations for … 2014. Brian has been incredible to work with and is a winner, so we can’t wait to get 2014 started."

Rodney Childers served as the team’s crew chief for the bulk of 2013 before leaving to join Stewart-Haas Racing. Scott Miller, MWR’s executive vice president of competition, served as interim crew chief following Childers’ departure.

Vickers made 17 starts for the team in 2013, earning his third career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win with a victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July. He also competed full time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for Joe Gibbs Racing before having to miss the last month-plus of the season after a blood clot was discovered in his right leg.

"I’ve been around Billy the last two seasons and he’s demonstrated a strong knowledge of what makes these cars go fast," Vickers said. "I have a lot of faith in Billy. This is one of the strongest teams I’ve had and that’s a great feeling heading into a new season."

MWR will field two full-time teams for the upcoming season — the No. 55 Toyota of Vickers as well as the No. 15 for Clint Bowyer. A third entry, which will carry the No. 66, will be run in select events with Waltrip and veteran Jeff Burton sharing the driving duties.

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Posted on by Staff Report

Townley finished 11th in points last season and had seven top-10 finishes

John Wes Townley will move to Wauters Motorsports for 2014 where he will drive the team’s No. 5 Toyota entry in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Zaxby’s will provide sponsorship.

“I’m looking forward to working with a well-respected truck owner like Richie Wauters,” Townley said in a statement announcing the move. “He builds some of the best trucks in NASCAR. I know together we will post some top-fives and, hopefully, a few wins this season.”

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Townley, 23, finished 11th in points in the Truck Series this past season while competing for Red Horse Racing. His best results came at Chicago and Homestead where he finished sixth. 

“We are excited to have John Wes and Zaxby’s join us in 2014,” Wauters said. “He has made significant gains in his NASCAR career and we feel this is the right fit for him this season. 

“We expect to have John Wes in the top-five in points and, hopefully, bring home some wins for Zaxby’s.” 

Joe Gibbs Racing Engines will provide engines for the organization.

Tim George Jr. made 10 starts for the Wauters team in 2013 while Jason Bowles drove for the group at Eldora Speedway.

Townley has 50 career Truck Series starts and 45 starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Sauter’s strong start to 2013 was bookended by a solid late rally into the top five in points

This is the third in a series of 2013 Camping World Truck Series driver recaps that will be featured on NASCAR.com.

Johnny Sauter’s fifth full season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series took such an undulating path that even by late September, he rated his own chances as slim for a place of honor at the year-end awards ceremonies.

A midstream crew chief change, a clutch victory and a string of solid finishes late in the season changed all that.

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SEASON IN REVIEW

"It wasn’t very long ago we were in Las Vegas and they had me in the media room there and they were asking me all these questions about being at the banquet," Sauter said after giving his speech for a fourth-place result in the season standings. "They were saying ‘well, it’s for the banquet’ and I said, ‘well, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m not going to be there.’ We got on a roll there."

Sauter got off to the best start imaginable, winning the season opener at Daytona International Speedway and following that with a victory in the series’ next race at Martinsville Speedway. Top-five finishes in the first four races had him perched atop the standings, but Sauter fell to second place after his No. 98 ThorSport Racing team was hit with a 25-point penalty and a four-race suspension for crew chief Joe Shear Jr. for an unapproved fuel cell at Kansas Speedway in April. 

The infraction handed the series lead to ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton, who never relinquished the No. 1 spot on the way to his first series championship. But for Sauter, a chain of crashes (at Charlotte, Pocono and Eldora) pushed his ranking to the edges of the top 10 during the summer months. 

"When you only have 22 races and you go through a stretch where you have a couple of bad races, it’s very, very hard to make that up," Sauter said. "The key is consistency and obviously we saw that this year with what Crafton did." 

After Sauter’s tangle with Ty Dillon at Pocono, the No. 98 team dipped to ninth in the truck series standings, prompting ThorSport to make a change at crew chief by adding veteran wrench Dennis Connor to the mix. It didn’t happen overnight, but Sauter steadily began inching back up the chart, logging seven top-10 finishes over the final 11 races of the season.

That sustaining span was highlighted by a stirring victory in a wreck-filled contest at Talladega Superspeedway, where Sauter expertly avoided the carnage to seal a sweep of the season’s two restrictor-plate races. 

"Superspeedway racing, in my opinion, is a lot of luck, but I do think that this year I prepared more than I ever have for it," Sauter said of his approach to two of NASCAR’s fastest tracks this year. "I watched a lot of video footage from years past. We don’t qualify well when we go to those places, so it’s always a mystery. … I think it’s a big part of luck. I think preparation,obviously all the guys at ThorSport preparing for superspeedway racing makes things a lot easier for me. You just try to go out there and try to be smart all day long. Everything has to go right to win races, but at superspeedways especially." 

The team’s strong start to 2013, bookended by a solid late rally into the top five in points, bodes well for Sauter’s next season. Even more promising, the 35-year-old driver signed a multiyear contract extension just ahead of the season finale in November, securing his future with Duke and Rhonda Thorson’s Ohio-based operation. 

Three victories in 2013 marked a career-best in the win column for a single season. Sauter says the emphasis going forward will be eliminating rough patches in the results column.

"I need to perform every week and not have any bad luck," Sauter said. "Hopefully we’re the ones sitting at the championship table next year."

MORE:

READ: Dillon to drive
‘3’ in Sprint Cup

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WATCH: Top three
moments for the ‘3’

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