Denny Hamlin sets qualifying record

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

Strong return from injury continues for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver

Related: Lineup | Practice recap | Hamlin press conference

CONCORD, N.C. — For Denny Hamlin, Thursday night’s qualifying session at Charlotte Motor Speedway felt like a victory — and it came from pushing his car to the absolute limit.

Hamlin, who missed four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season because of a compression fracture to his first lumbar vertebra, took advantage of a lightning-fast car and a late draw to win the pole for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 in record time.

One of eight drivers to beat the previous track record, Hamlin covered the 1.5-mile distance in 27.604 seconds (195.624 mph) to knock Kurt Busch (195.221 mph) off the provisional pole. Matt Kenseth (195.094 mph) qualified third, followed by Mark Martin (194.595 mph) and Clint Bowyer (194.503 mph), as Toyota drivers claimed four of the top five spots.

The Coors Light pole award was Hamlin’s first at Charlotte, his second of the season and the 14^th of his career. Hamlin converted three of his previous 13 poles into victories, and a win is what Hamlin feels he needs to show he’s back in top form after the injury.

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"Getting the big trophy on Sunday is the validation that you’re truly back," Hamlin said. "For me, it’s going to take wins and a lot of really good consistency throughout these summer months to put ourselves in a position to have a chance at a championship.

"That’s what we’re here for. Even these small victories, though, give me that confidence that I’m still capable — able to do the job at 100 percent like I should be. Any kind of confidence booster for me, it’s always a plus on Sunday."

Kasey Kahne qualified sixth, followed by Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 11^th and series leader Jimmie Johnson 12^th.

Kurt Busch knew he missed his marks slightly in Turns 3 and 4 — and ultimately paid the price.

"I just didn’t quite hit my mark exactly right in 3 and 4, and I knew that we might get beat by somebody," he said. "I was just hoping I’d get a gift, but Denny Hamlin laid it down, and it was incredible to watch. His car hugged the line in 3 and 4, exactly like you’d watch cars back in the day, like when Jeff Gordon in the ‘90s would hunt that white line.

"It was awesome. You knew that was going to be a fast lap. I didn’t do my job, but my (Furniture Row) team is doing an incredible job — fast cars week in and week out."

Kyle Busch was first to break the record qualifying run of 193.708 mph that Greg Biffle posted last October. He toured the 1.5-mile track in 27.842 seconds (193.952 mph) to land his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the provisional pole.

But Kyle didn’t have to be a prophet to know that drivers who followed him in cooler conditions would surpass him — and the first to do so was his brother. Biffle supplanted Kyle from the second spot, and Martin followed shortly thereafter, knocking him back to fourth.

That order held until Hamlin, the 40^th driver to make a run, became the sixth driver to beat the previous record.

Reminded that his pole earlier this season came at Fontana, Calif., Hamlin quipped, "How’d that turn out?"

Fontana, after all, was the place where Hamlin suffered his compression fracture in a last-lap crash with Joey Logano.

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

Program offers professional development opportunities to students nationwide

"Fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment makes us stronger as an organization."

—Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR vice president of public affairs and multicultural development

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 23, 2013) — With eventual landing spots ranging from NASCAR to E! News, the NASCAR Diversity Internship Program has offered diverse students an opportunity to work in one of the largest professional sports industries in the United States. This year, 19 diverse college students will have the opportunity to complete a 10-week, paid summer internship through the NASCAR Diversity Internship Program (NDIP). The program has placed the new crop of students in varying positions and organizations throughout the NASCAR industry with the hopes of finding the next wave of industry leaders.

“Fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment makes us stronger as an organization,” said Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR vice president of public affairs and multicultural development. “For over a decade, the NDIP has created opportunities for multicultural college students to take on substantive projects in our industry to help prepare them up for long-term success after completing college.”

Founded in 2000, the NDIP provides comprehensive involvement in the NASCAR ecosystem by offering internships with teams, tracks, broadcast partners and marketing partners. In addition to the NASCAR, GRAND-AM and American Le Mans Series offices in Daytona Beach, Fla., Charlotte, N.C., Braselton, Ga., and New York, the 2013 interns are working at NASCAR’s partner companies such as Rev Racing, Daytona International Speedway, Taylor Strategy and Octagon.

NDIP has served as a valuable employment pool for NASCAR partners as well as other companies and industries by providing students hands-on experiences across various disciplines, including marketing, engineering, communications, licensing, diversity and public affairs. This year’s class includes five returning students who have demonstrated exceptional skills and dedication across NASCAR in previous years.

The 2013 class began their NASCAR experience with an orientation session during the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., before departing for their various assignments for the summer.

The 2013 NDIP class includes the following students from universities around the nation:

Organization	Intern Name	University	Hometown
NASCAR Industry Services	Rachel Almario	Clayton State University	McDonough, Ga.
NASCAR HR	Cameron Joe	Davidson College	Charlotte, N.C.
NASCAR MG Engineering	Cameron McCarty*	North Carolina State University	Jackson, Miss.
NASCAR R&D	Brian Lee*	Purdue University	Tysons Corner, Va.
NASCAR Diversity	Antoinette Diaz	University of West Georgia	Carrollton, Ga.
NASCAR Racing Operations	Paige Sanchez	Embry-Riddle	Houston, Texas
NASCAR Foundation	Lauren Houston	University of North Carolina	Fayetteville, N.C.
NASCAR B&C Marketing	Marco Sanchez	Georgia State University	Norcross, Ga.
NASCAR Digital Media	Melia Sigmon	High Point University	Denver, N.C.
NASCAR Broadcasting	Victoria Garcia	Southeastern University	Miami, Fla.
NASCAR IMC	Kelsey Nelson	University of Maryland	Germantown, Md.
NASCAR IMC	Sunghwan Kim	Syracuse University	Louisville, Ky.
NASCAR Team Properties	Lorena Robles	Full Sail University	San Juan, P.R.
NASCAR Public Affairs	Robert Harbour*	Florida State University	Pensacola, Fla.
Taylor Strategy	Edgar Veliz	University of Houston	Houston, Texas
Octagon	Jusan Hamilton*	Ithaca College	Ithaca, N.Y.
ALMS (Georgia)	Dontavius Allen	Georgia State University	Griffin, Ga.
DIS	Evanna Howell	Winston-Salem State University	Malden, Mass.
Rev Racing	Pedro Mojica*	University of Texas – San Antonio	Killeen, Texas

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Posted on May 23, 2013 by

With momentum on his side, Kenseth looks to make an impact at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. — With three victories to his credit so far this season, Matt Kenseth has to be considered a serious threat in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kenseth got the first of his 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories in the 2000 edition of the 600. No wonder he considers it his favorite race.

"The 600 has always been unique," Kenseth said Thursday at Charlotte. "We had our first win here, so maybe that’s part of it. This is the track that I made my first Nationwide start at, and I have more miles here at this track than any other on the circuit."

To Kenseth, part of the cachet of NASCAR’s longest race is the difficulty in keeping up with changing track conditions.

"The track goes through huge changes," Kenseth said. "Typically, it’s very different in the beginning of the race when the sun is still out. It’s usually hot and slick, and then, at the end of the race, after four hours of racing or four-and-a-half hours of racing, the track is as fast as it’s ever going to be, and everybody picks up a second — and it’s on.

"It’s like you wait four hours to run a trophy dash. It’s just a fun event. A lot goes on, you have to pay attention for a long time and really keep up with the adjustments — just one I look forward to and look forward to the challenge."

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Best of both worlds

In the aftermath of the flap over Bruton Smith contemplating a move of the fall Charlotte race to Las Vegas, Jeff Gordon supports a second date at LVMS — but not at Charlotte’s expense.

"I can’t imagine not racing here three times a year, or certainly two points races," Gordon said Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which currently hosts the Coca-Cola 600 and non-points Sprint All-Star Race in May and the Bank of America 500 in October. "I love racing here. It’s nice to be home, and this is such a special race track."

So what would his reaction be to Charlotte losing a date?

"I would hate to see that," Gordon said. "But at the same time, I think Las Vegas makes great sense from a marketing standpoint. When we look at the sport and where we’re at and how to grow it and get those seats filled, you would certainly think that a race in Las Vegas in October would do pretty well. I think Las Vegas deserves to have two races, (but) I would not want to see us take away a race from here."

If not Charlotte, what might Gordon propose as an alternative?

"Without putting any names out there, there are some other tracks that could maybe give up one," Gordon said with a laugh.

Cross training

With Kurt Busch turning laps in an IndyCar and AJ Allmendinger competing in both Sprint Cup racing and the Indianapolis 500 this year, Antron Brown is the latest driver to provide evidence that the need for speed isn’t confined to a single form of motorsports.

Brown, the reigning NHRA Top Fuel champion, will test a stock car at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., on Tuesday. Brown’s first experience in a K&N Pro Series Toyota is the product of a partnership between Rev Racing and Toyota.

Brown is the first African-American driver to win a major auto racing championship in the United States.

"He’s a great ambassador for the motorsports world, and his commitment to diversity is something that makes this partnership really work," said Max Siegel, CEO of Rev Racing, which fields cars for participants in NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program.

Brown is interested to see if he can make left turns on an oval as successfully as he runs a straight line in NHRA competition.

"My deal is that I’m very competitive in whatever I do, and I just want to compete," Brown said Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "When I go out there, I just want to learn the right way. I know I’ve positioned myself with the right organization to do that with Rev Racing through Toyota.

"We’re going to take it one step at a time, and I just want to take steps to learn everything and actually develop my driving ability to drive ovals. I know I can go straight, but now I have to put a left-hand turn in there, and we’ll see where it goes from there."

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