Paint Scheme Preview: Pocono, Iowa

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Staff Report

Check out the new looks hitting the track this weekend

All three national series will be active this week, with the Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series on track at Pocono Raceway, while the Nationwide Series heads west to Iowa Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson will attempt to defend his June victory at Pocono and will do so in his Disney’s "Planes"-inspired paint scheme, while Travis Pastrana hopes that his X Games trim brings him the same kind of success on the race track that he’s enjoyed in all of his alternative sports endeavors.

See this week’s schemes below, and check back as we continue to update this page.

Tony Stewart will drive the No. 14 GoDaddy Chevrolet.

SHOP: Tony Stewart die-casts

Clint Bowyer will drive the No. 15 Toyota Let’s Go Places Toyota

SHOP: Clint Bowyer die-casts

Kyle Busch will drive the No. 18 Peanut Butter M&M’s Toyota.

SHOP: Kyle Busch die-casts

Jeff Burton will drive the No. 31 FXI GutterClear 365 Chevrolet.

SHOP: Jeff Burton die-casts

Aric Almirola will drive the No. 43 GoBowling.com Ford.

SHOP: Aric Almirola die-casts

Jimmie Johnson will drive the No. 48 Lowe’s Planes Chevrolet.

SHOP: Jimmie Johnson die-casts
WATCH: See the No. 48 Lowe’s Planes Chevrolet lift off

Kurt Busch will drive the No. 78 Denver Mattress Chevrolet.

SHOP: Kurt Busch die-casts

NATIONWIDE SERIES PAINT SCHEMES

Trevor Bayne will drive the No. 6 Fastenal Ford.

SHOP: Trevor Bayne die-casts

Michael Annett will drive the No. 43 Northland Ford.

Travis Pastrana will drive the No. 60 X Games Ford.

SHOP: Travis Pastrana die-casts
WATCH: Travis Pastrana on ESPN SportsCenter, discussing X Games paint scheme

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES PAINT SCHEMES

Joey Coulter will drive the No. 18 FOX Sports 1 Toyota.

Ross Chastain will drive the No. 19 Watermelon Ford.

READ MORE:

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READ: Junior grieves
uncle’s death

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WATCH: Newman
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Posted on July 31, 2013 by Zack Albert

No. 22 team running out of mulligans in Chase pursuit

Maybe it was just a social media ripple, nothing more, but the number sure stood out.

Tuesday afternoon’s announcement that Penske Racing would field three Ford Mustangs in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Watkins Glen on Aug. 10 included the news nugget that Joey Logano’s entry would carry No. 48, the car number synonymous with current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader and five-time series champ Jimmie Johnson.

No pressure, right?

“I don’t think there’s any back story behind that one, but I thought it was kind of funny,” Logano said Wednesday in a NASCAR Cam video teleconference. “I was like, man, (crew chief) Todd (Gordon) is going to call the race for us, and I said, ‘Well, I’m just going to call him Chad (Knaus), and you can call me Jimmie.’ I think if I don’t win in the 48 car, we’ve got an issue.”

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The more pressing issue for Logano is trying to right the ship in time to clinch a berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason. Just six races, starting with this Sunday’s GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway (1 p.m. ET, ESPN), remain before the field of 12 title-eligible drivers is locked.

Logano currently sits 18th in the standings, 35 points behind Jeff Gordon, who holds the 10th and final automatic qualifying spot. He’ll either need to mount a steady charge into the top 10 or collect at least one victory to be in the conversation for one of the two available Wild Card berths. Although time is tight for the 23-year-old driver, Logano says he’s not yet in panic mode with his Chase possibilities.

“We’re right on edge of not being able to do that now,” Logano said, regarding his chances of sealing a Chase spot through the top 10 in standings. “In my eyes and in Todd’s eyes, we can make it in points. We’re not to the point that we’re going to take a big gamble and go for a win, and if it doesn’t work out, we’re going to finish 25th. We can’t quite do that yet, but we’re really, really close. We’re one bad race away from we need to win or finish 25th. We’re not there yet, but we’re one race from it, I think.”

What Logano needs more than anything is to turn the yo-yo effect of his season in the right direction. Over his last 10 races, Logano went from 19th place in Sprint Cup standings after Darlington in May all the way to 10th after taking fourth place at Kentucky, capping a substantial run of five top-10 finishes in six races.

Since then, he’s tailed off dramatically. Back-to-back 40th-place finishes at Daytona and New Hampshire cost Logano eight positions in the standings, and though his eighth-place effort at Indianapolis helped stem the free-fall, Logano still has major ground to gain in order to make the Chase for the first time in his fifth year of Sprint Cup competition.

“The goal is to stay even keel. Easier said than done, though,” said Logano, in his first season with the Penske organization. “You know, obviously, yes, when you’re moving up through the points, it’s obviously when it’s the easiest. You get a lot of confidence. You get a lot of momentum, and everyone’s attitudes are great. You have two bad finishes, yes, it’s going to ‑‑ it hurts. It takes some wind out of your sail, for sure. But you have to find the silver lining, wherever it is, and look forward. The more you dwell on the stuff, it just hurts the team.”

The lining to Logano’s cloud might be that the he views the next half-dozen races as favorable venues for him to make a move. That includes Sunday’s race at Pocono, where Logano notched his second career Sprint Cup win in June 2012 from the pole position.

From Pocono, the schedule goes to Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol and Atlanta before culminating at Richmond, site of the last race of the regular season. Staying true to his optimism, Logano sees the upcoming slate of tracks as an opportunity, not a hurdle.

“There’s a few that stand out,” Logano said. “I think Pocono this weekend is one that stands out. I think you look at Bristol; we had a really fast car there in the spring that’s capable of winning. That one stands out. Watkins Glen actually stands out to me as a race we can win. The next few races coming up, I feel really good about. I feel like we can win at. So I don’t see any bad tracks coming up for me right now that I’m worried about.”

READ MORE:

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from Indianapolis

READ: Junior grieves
uncle’s death

READ: Gordon among
top 10 in standings

WATCH: Newman
in Victory Lane

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Zack Albert

Childress driver heads to Iowa eager to keep momentum going

Brian Scott drove last weekend like a man intent on not having his 2013 highlight reel lead off with getting kicked below the belt.

Now he has a brand-new highlight, one that doesn’t involve the post-race altercation with Nelson Piquet Jr. on pit road at Richmond in April. Instead, it’s one that could lead to bigger things in his pursuit of NASCAR Nationwide Series title contention.

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Scott, in his first full season driving the No. 2 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, enjoyed his career-best finish of second place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last Saturday, a performance he hopes will rekindle the hot start he enjoyed over the season’s first three months. Even though the personal best did wonders for his season-long outlook, in the moments after the checkered flag, the near-miss with his first victory — at a historic venue to boot — was tough to stomach.

“It’s always a terrible feeling when you’re leading with five laps to go and you don’t win the race,” Scott said. “I think any race car driver will tell you that. They always feel like if they could go back, they could do something different to make sure their team got to Victory Lane — especially here and being so new with the Nationwide Series at Indianapolis, a place with so much history.

“Man, it’s great to have a second-place finish, but it’s also very … I don’t want to say frustrating. It’s frustrating to be so close and not be the one who’s kissing the bricks and you have to sit there and watch the other team celebrate, when as a driver, you want more than anything for it to be your team that’s enjoying the emotion and the moment.”

Scott seemed to emerge from nowhere on a final restart to challenge eventual winner Kyle Busch for the victory, but in reality, his car at Indy showed speed from the outset. He was second-fastest in both practice sessions before the 250-mile race.

So it shouldn’t have been a huge surprise that Scott made a late bid on the final restart, slipping past Busch’s battle with Joey Logano to the lead in the 95th of 100 laps. Busch’s dominant car eventually reeled in Scott’s Chevy to lead the final three laps, leaving Scott to settle for a runner-up finish.

Scott remained eighth in the Nationwide points, but his margin from the top of the standings shrank considerably. He enters Saturday night’s U.S. Cellular 250 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2) at Iowa Speedway with a 46-point gap, down from the 65 points he trailed by before Indianapolis.

“I think that this will be a good step to really get our season back on track where we started the year off,” Scott said Saturday at the Brickyard. “Really our season, we’ve had fast race cars. Unfortunately, we’ve been our own worst enemies and shot ourselves in the foot and been the reason that we’ve had worse finishes that we were capable of running a lot of times. Today, it couldn’t have been any more opposite.”

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WATCH: Newman
in Victory Lane

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Staff Report

Catch Sprint Cup Series driver Joey Logano chatting live on NASCAR Cam

Joey Logano Press Pass

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from Indianapolis

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uncle’s death

READ: Gordon among
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WATCH: Newman
in Victory Lane

Posted on July 30, 2013 by

No. 2 team sees strategy falter, Chase chances diminish

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Indianapolis Motor Speedway means everything to a Penske driver, and this was certainly not how a Penske driver wanted an event at the Brickyard to end. Not debriefing outside the hauler as a race car that had finished 21st was loaded up, while another driver — a former Penske one, at that — celebrated in a Victory Lane as hallowed as any in motorsports.

And yet that’s where Brad Keselowski found himself late Sunday afternoon after an uneven day that encapsulated an uneven season, and still lacking any guarantee that he’ll qualify to defend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship he won last year. Keselowski was one of several drivers who played the fuel-strategy game at Indy, and he found himself leading with 11 laps remaining — when he had to pit for fuel, dropping him back in the field and clearing the way for Ryan Newman to charge to victory.

“That was definitely not the day we wanted. It was an up-and-down day, and the way the cycles ended it was down on the finish. I don’t think that was indicative of how we ran. That has been the story of the year,” Keselowski said.

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“We were probably a fifth- to 10th-place car, which isn’t where we want to be, and we know we have work to do to make our stuff faster. But we weren’t a 21st-place car, it is just the way things worked out. It has been one of those years where when we have a car that is fast enough to contend and win races it turns into a strategy race, and when we don’t have a car fast enough and we play strategy, it turns into a race like today where it was about speed. We haven’t been able to catch it the right way. In reality we would like to be fast everywhere, but that hasn’t been the case for us. That is what we need to work on.”

The time in which they have to do that is growing short. Six races remain until the 12 drivers who will vie for this year’s Sprint Cup title are determined, and Keselowski still lacks a victory to enhance his position in the Wild Card standings. Sunday the reigning champion dropped four places to 13th in points, six behind 10th-place Jeff Gordon. Newman’s victory also added another driver between Keselowski and a potential Wild Card berth, for which Tony Stewart and Martin Truex Jr. retain the edge because of race wins and higher point standings.

Keselowski finished inside the top five in each of the season’s first four races, but hasn’t been able to maintain any kind of consistency since. A fourth-place result two weekends ago at New Hampshire is the lone bright spot in a stretch that’s seen him finish 21st or worse in four of his last five starts. Is Keselowski concerned about potentially becoming only the second reigning champion to miss the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, joining Stewart in 2006?

“If you don’t have concerns, then your heart isn’t in it,” he said. “You should be concerned from Daytona on. When you have success you lessen those concerns, and we have had some success this year, but we haven’t had the wins and consistency to remove all of those concerns. I am not going to say that I feel 100 percent about a lot of things, but I can say that I believe in the people I am around, and we are going to get this right. It is just a matter of when.”

Even so, Sunday was his season in microcosm — a fast car, intervening circumstances and a final result less than what he and crew chief Paul Wolfe had envisioned. And it had to be especially frustrating at Indianapolis, where car owner Roger Penske has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 15 times, and where Keselowski delivered the Captain’s first NASCAR victory at the Brickyard in the track’s inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series event last season.

That win was so meaningful to the organization, that a photo of Keselowski kissing the yard of bricks start/finish line is displayed the at Penske shop. There was no such encore this weekend, which was capped by a roller-coaster Sunday that became another chapter in a roller-coaster season. And for Keselowski, no one is yet sure how the ride will end.

“It is part of racing,” he said. “I think in this sport if the rules are being enforced the way they are supposed to be enforced, you should go through a roller coaster. Certain cars should have advantages and disadvantages throughout the year. I felt we were really strong at the beginning of the year, and not so strong now. I think we will be really strong at the end of the year. For us, that challenge is we know we need to make the Chase first, and then we will ride that roller coaster the other way if we get there.”

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Posted on July 30, 2013 by

Top five remains same; Stewart, Gordon surge; Keselowski tumbles

1. Jimmie Johnson

Outlook: Johnson didn’t get his record-tying fifth Brickyard victory, but with his second-place finish, it certainly didn’t look like he was missing any sort of “edge” that he was supposedly looking to regain with the Gen-6 car.
Standings: 1st, 740 points

2. Matt Kenseth

Outlook: At this level, barring an accident or malfunction, most drivers can take a great car and get a great finish. And then there are drivers like Matt Kenseth.
Standings: 6th, 615 points

3. Clint Bowyer

Outlook: With his top-20 finish at Indy, Bowyer came nowhere close to earning his first victory of 2013, but he might not even need to. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver so consistently finishes in the top five, he’s still in excellent position. Besides, at this point last year he only had one victory, so he’s barely off his runner-up pace.
Standings: 2nd, 665 points

4. Kevin Harvick

Outlook: With Indianapolis being one of his better tracks, Harvick missed an opportunity to close in on Bowyer and Carl Edwards in the standings, especially with Bowyer’s mediocre finish. Neither driver is spectacular at Pocono, so he could make up some ground there, however.
Standings: 4th, 648 points

5. Carl Edwards

Outlook: Chances are, Edwards probably won’t remember the glory of his 13th-place finish at Indy, but trust me. He won’t forget about this any time soon.
Standings: 3rd, 655 points

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Outlook: Give some credit to Earnhardt. The guy drove his tail off Sunday under some pretty tough circumstances.
Standings: 5th, 616 points

7. Kyle Busch

Outlook: Busch’s two wins in three weeks feel like a distant memory. Probably because it’s been 13 races since he’s hit Victory Lane. Well, the Sprint Cup version, anyway.
Standings: 7th, 610 points

8. Kasey Kahne

Outlook: It was an overall ‘great’ weekend for Kahne. He finished third at Indy and he has a sponsor secured for at least 10 races per season through 2016. See what I did there?
Standings: 9th, 564 points

9. Tony Stewart

Outlook: After the crazy busy week that he had, Stewart could have struggled at Indy, despite it being one of his better tracks. Smoke extended his good times through Sunday, though, vaulting himself back into the top 10 in points and Power Rankings with a top-five finish.
Standings: 11th, 558 points

10. Jeff Gordon

Outlook: Ryan Newman’s victory certainly makes the Chase picture for drivers like Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch a little cloudier, but at least out of the three, Gordon was able to position himself into the top 10 with a strong showing at Indy, just like he needed to do.
Standings: 10th, 559 points

11. Greg Biffle

Outlook: Yikes. Sorry, Greg Biffle, but a flop at one of your best tracks earned you a nod as this week’s biggest fantasy bust. He doesn’t exactly set the world on fire at Pocono, but he does have a win there so a rebound is possible.
Standings: 8th, 565 points

12. Martin Truex Jr.

Outlook: Truex’s 11th-place finish at Indy dropped him a spot in the standings, but don’t be mistaken. He’s in excellent shape to make the Chase, despite currently holding onto the very last spot. Plus, he does awesome stuff with Ryan Seacrest.
Standings: 12th, 554 points

13. Kurt Busch

Outlook: Sure, Busch can dream about jumping in an IndyCar all he wants, but he should really focus on his current endeavors. You know, the ones that include trying to sneak into the Chase with six races before the cutoff.
Standings: 14th, 546 points

14. Brad Keselowski

Outlook: After an excellent New Hampshire race, things finally looked like they were about to turn the corner for Keselowski. And then they didn’t. Now, he’s got plenty of work to do with just a handful of races left. The champ may not get a chance to defend his title in the Chase, but hey. He’s got a killer "SportsCenter" commercial.
Standings: 13th, 553 points

15. Ryan Newman

Outlook: What a day for the Indiana native, winning his first Brickyard 400. The fact that the victory only brought him up to 16th in the standings is telling of his season, though. It’s going to take some effort for him to keep this up, but maybe it’ll get the ball rolling.
Standings: 16th, 534 points

16. Joey Logano

Outlook: Don’t close the book on Logano just yet. He brought at least his “B+” game to Indy, which resulted in a much-needed top-10 finish and could add another win to his Pocono resume this weekend.
Standings: 18th, 524 points

17. Jamie McMurray

Outlook: Currently in 15th place, McMurray has had a decent season, but with just one top-five through 20 races, it’s hard to picture him breaking through at this point and getting over the hump into serious Chase contention.
Standings: 15th, 537 points

18. Aric Almirola

Outlook: (See McMurray, Jamie).

The only difference is that Almirola actually hovered around the top 10 for a good chunk of the season before significantly dropping off once the summer hit. There was a glimmer of hope with his top-five at New Hampshire, but it’s pretty clear Almirola already hit his ceiling.
Standings: 17th, 529 points

19. Denny Hamlin

Outlook: Let’s just say for a minute that Hamlin never got injured and didn’t miss those four races. Let’s also say he averaged 35 points per race over that span. That would put him at 528 total points, in 18th-place behind Aric Almirola. He’s shown flashes of his old self at times, but if he remains adamant that the injury is no longer bothering him, he may have to start answering questions as to why he’s been so mediocre if it isn’t.
Standings: 25th, 388 points

20. Juan Pablo Montoya

Outlook: It was just about a foregone conclusion that the former Indy 500 winner Montoya, who always seems to do well at the Brickyard, would keep his success at the track going after he practiced so well. He didn’t disappoint, earning his fourth top-10 finish of the year, but it’ll take a win (probably at Watkins Glen) and a few top-fives to put his name back toward the ranks of contenders.
Standings: 23rd, 460 points

In the rearview

Note: These rankings have been determined by a poll that included writers Kenny Bruce, Holly Cain, David Caraviello and Zack Albert, and video host Alan Cavanna.

READ MORE:

READ: Full coverage
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uncle’s death

READ: Gordon among
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WATCH: Newman
in Victory Lane

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Staff Report

All three national series on the track this weekend

Check out below for the latest news, videos to recap the Pocono, Iowa weekend.

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Sprint Cup Series

GoBowling.com 400, Pocono Raceway, 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, ESPN | ENTRY LIST | WEEKEND SCHEDULE | LINEUP | RESULTS

Featured Story

Kahne squeaks past Gordon

Kasey Kahne passes Jeff Gordon with two laps to go to win at Pocono. Read about what was a dramatic finish that had major Chase implications. | Read the full story

More news:

— Johnson rallies despite tire problems
— Gordon continues to move up standings
— Junior not satisfied with fifth place
— Standings Shuffle: Minor moves as Chase looms
— Video highlights from Pocono
— Johnson speeds to Coors Light Pole; Ky. Busch chimes in
— Newman has support, but no job offers yet
— For drivers like Stewart, 38 races not enough
— Stenhouse slaps wall in practice
— Video: Hot Lap — Take a trip around the Triangle
— Wild Card Watch: Tight turns ahead
— By the Numbers: Pocono
— Paint Scheme Preview: Pocono, Iowa
— Power Rankings: Veterans surge as Chase looms
— Driver Reports: Through turbulence, Junior shines

Nationwide Series

U.S. Cellular 250 presented by Enlist Weed Control System, Iowa Speedway, 8 p.m. ET, Saturday, ESPN | ENTRY LIST | WEEKEND SCHEDULE | LINEUP | RESULTS

Featured Story

Keselowski wins three in a row

Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski was the lone driver to attempt racing in both the Nationwide Series race in Iowa and the Cup race in Pocono. The first part of his double-booked weekend ended with a trip to Victory Lane. | Read the full story

More news:
— Travis Pastrana reacts to disappointing finish
— Gifford nabs top-10 finish in Nationwide debut
— Herring wins first career Coors Light Pole
— At Iowa, it’s all about recovering
— Gifford comfortable, confident for debut
— Nationwide Series qualifying order
— Blog: Kenny Wallace revs up Iowa fans
— Scott still wants a win
— Dillon takes the points lead

Camping World Truck Series

Pocono Mountains 125, Pocono Raceway, 1 p.m. ET, Saturday, SPEED | ENTRY LIST | WEEKEND SCHEDULE | LINEUP | RESULTS

Featured Story

Blaney wins wild one

Ryan Blaney wins the Pocono Mountains 125 after a wild finish that featured two wrecks in the last four laps. Find out how Blaney, 19, got his second career Truck victory. | Read the story

More news:
— Video: Watch Final Laps at Pocono
— Video: Bodine slide | Sauter, Dillon contact
— Committed crewman has run all 450 Truck races
— Paludo paces lone practice at Pocono
— New ride for Bodine at Pocono
— Coulter to drive the No. 18 Fox Sports 1 Toyota

MORE:

WATCH: Final Laps:
Kahne edges Gordon

WATCH: Victory Lane:
Kahne celebrates

WATCH: Johnson hits
wall at Pocono

WATCH: Danica involved in
four-car wreck

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Zack Albert

Ahead of his Nationwide debut on Saturday, Drive for Diversity grad Ryan Gifford touched on his relationships with Austin, Ty Dillon

There are worse people to be in close company with than Austin and Ty Dillon, both winners on NASCAR’s national stage. Ryan Gifford knows this quite well.

Last week, Gifford was soaking in the scene on the frontstretch dirt of Eldora Speedway after Austin’s historic Camping World Truck Series victory on the tacky Ohio clay. This weekend, Gifford will be enjoying a landmark start of his own, making his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut with Richard Childress Racing in Saturday night’s U.S. Cellular 250 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

“For me, I’m looking forward to it probably more than anything I’ve looked forward to in years,” Gifford said Tuesday during a NASCAR Cam teleconference. “I’m really, really excited. I’m confident that I think I can get a good run. Just waiting on it to get here. It’s kind of like the last day of school — it doesn’t get here soon enough.”

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Gifford, 24, currently ranks fourth in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East standings in his fourth season with the Max Siegel-owned Rev Racing team. But the Tennessee native works just as closely with the Dillon brothers’ dirt late model operation, both in the driver’s seat and back at the race shop in Welcome, N.C.

A race-driving instructor pointed Gifford in the direction of Mike Dillon, Austin and Ty’s father, and longtime team owner Richard Childress six years ago. Gifford’s been connected with the team ever since.

Austin Dillon, 23, is in the midst of his second full season on the Nationwide Tour, two years removed from his truck series championship campaign in 2011. Ty Dillon, 21, is also a sophomore, already with two wins to his credit in just a season and a half of Camping World Truck Series competition. Working so closely with two friends and contemporaries has given Gifford a wealth of experience to tap into as he climbs the stock-car ladder.

“They’re definitely full of energy,” Gifford said. “It’s always cool to be able to hang out with them, see them go through the start of their career, how it all works. For me, I’ve got to learn a lot from them. They definitely do a lot to try and help me out. Every now and then they let me get in the dirt cars and things like that.

“It’s been a fun journey throughout my career to be able to see them go, and go through their career. It’s taught me a lot. Hopefully I can apply a lot of those things as things maybe get going for me.”

Being so hands-on with two of NASCAR’s rising stars has also given him a pair of driving styles to emulate. Though he leans more toward Austin than Ty in the driving department, he’s also tried to forge his own identity behind the wheel.

“Austin and Ty both are really, really good drivers,” said Gifford, a member of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity initiative. “I try to learn as much as I can from both of them. They’re almost like complete opposites. But a guy right in the middle would be about perfect. They’re both guys that I try and learn a lot from. That’s one of the things that I do a lot, is watch their races, just try and pick out things that they do that make them better than other guys. It seems to help me.”

Gifford’s path to a national series debut has been a steady progression rather than a meteoric rise. He admits as much, calling his four-season run in K&N competition a “long road” to this weekend’s opportunity at Iowa.

Patience paid off for Gifford in April at Richmond International Raceway, where he finally snared his first K&N victory in 44 starts, helping erase the sour memories of near-misses and on-track heartache.

“That definitely helped my confidence a lot. Made me feel like I can do it, I can go out there and win on a regular basis,” said Gifford, who will pull a K&N/Nationwide doubleheader at Iowa. “You’re in position to win a lot of times, and things go wrong. You’re like, ‘Man, am I ever going to be able to get this done?’ To go out there and get my first win was big. It helped the momentum of our team so much and morale.”

Saturday night, Gifford will be flying the banner for RCR at Iowa, making him the eighth driver this season to pilot the No. 33 Chevrolet. He joins — in order of appearance —Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Ty Dillon, Dakoda Armstrong, Max Papis, Paul Menard and Matt Crafton among the varied group with a turn behind the wheel.

With solid equipment under him, Gifford says he knows he has a chance to be competitive. But the goals for his maiden voyage in a Nationwide car may be more modest.

“Well, my goal is definitely a win, but realistically if I can go out there and finish all the laps is my first goal,” Gifford said. “Then from there, if you do that, you stay on the lead lap, you should end up somewhere between the top five, top 10, something like that. … It’s one of those things where it will be getting me comfortable, getting me up to speed. From there we’ll just have to see how it goes.”

READ MORE:

READ: Full coverage
from Indianapolis

READ: Junior grieves
uncle’s death

READ: Gordon among
top 10 in standings

WATCH: Newman
in Victory Lane

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Staff Report

Former GM exec named organization’s executive VP and GM

The most successful race team of NASCAR’s modern era has created a new position to oversee its racing operations — and promoted a familiar name to fill it.

Doug Duchardt, the longtime General Motors executive who joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2005, was named Tuesday as the organization’s executive vice president and general manager. The new role puts the 49-year-old Duchardt in charge of all Hendrick’s racing activities — a spectrum that includes teams, engines, car construction, research and development, pit crews and engineering.

“Doug has led by example from his first day with us,” team owner Rick Hendrick said in a statement. “We’re in a competitive and ever-changing industry, and he brings a global view that will be critical to our long-term success. Doug shares the organization’s values, understands the importance of relationships and has helped promote a culture of teamwork and communication. We know those are things he will lean on and grow in the years to come.”

A native of Morton, Ill., Duchardt joined Hendrick as vice president of development. In that position, he directed engine, vehicle engineering, chassis and body operation. In addition to overseeing competition, his new role will also include managing technical relationships such as engine leases and chassis purchases, as well as serving as primary liaison between Hendrick and NASCAR’s competition group.

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Hendrick is the most successful race team in modern NASCAR history, having won 214 races and 10 championships in the Sprint Cup Series since being founded as All-Star Racing in 1984. Ken Howes, Hendrick’s vice president of competition, will remain in that role and report to Duchardt, who in turn will report to Hendrick and company president Marshall Carlson. Duchardt, Howes and Carlson formed the team’s management core after president John Hendrick was among 10 people killed in the crash of a company plane en route to Martinsville Speedway in late 2004.

Hendrick has since grown into an organization comprised of several hundred employees based on a sprawling campus north of Charlotte. In addition to its own four-car race operations with drivers Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne, it also builds its own engines in-house, and supplies engines and chassis to other teams such as Stewart-Haas Racing.

“I think with that scope, I think it makes it a little easier to manage with one focal point,” Duchardt said by telephone. “A little over eight years ago, Marshall and Ken Howes and I were put together to manage the company … in a difficult transition after Martinsville. And we worked very closely together through the years in doing that. This allows Marshall to free up and go manage the business side of our company. And Ken and I have had and will continue to have a very close relationship in managing the competition side of the company.”

Duchardt said he was told of the move about three weeks ago, while Hendrick employees were informed Tuesday in one of the company’s quarterly meetings. “I think it’s just the natural evolution of our leadership,” Duchardt said. He will also be the conduit to Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR’s vice president for innovation and racing design, who will take on an increased role as the sanctioning body modernizes its competition department. Duchardt oversaw Hendrick’s development of the past two versions of Sprint Cup car, including the Generation-6 implemented this year.

“There were some times when NASCAR personnel would talk to me about something, and I wasn’t totally familiar with it because it was in Ken’s area, or vice versa,” Duchardt said. “… So when there’s a meeting called on the next step on cars or engines, it allows one person from our company to go represent us.”

Duchardt is a fixture at the race track who has been on board for 84 race wins and five championships at Hendrick, helping the team owner to delegate day-to-day responsibilities in the area of competition.

“The way the sport’s evolved, Rick has an interest in some of the development items we’re working on. I think it’s his interest because he loves cars, and loves to hear about new engine items or new specifications coming together, or new ideas as to how we’re improving our cars,” Duchardt said. “But from a day-to-day standpoint, he has empowered Ken and myself to manage that. He’s not in the middle of that at all, other than a very keen interest if we aren’t performing well.”

Addressing Indy

Duchardt added that crew chief Steve Letarte “has addressed” the loose wheel that forced Earnhardt to make an unscheduled pit stop in the opening laps Sunday at Indianapolis. He also said the No. 88 car did not suffer from an engine issue late in the event, as the driver hypothesized when he struggled to hold on to sixth place at the end.

“The engine is fine,” Duchardt said. “We’re looking through some car things right now to try and understand what Dale was feeling. We think what he was feeling was real, and we have to look through our car situation. But the engine was fine. We took it out and re-ran it, and it was every bit as good if not a little better than what it was.”

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