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NASCAR national series veteran crashes at New Jersey track

Related: Reaction | Timeline | Video tribute | Passion for dirt racing | Career stats

The NASCAR community was left stunned Wednesday night by the news that driver Jason Leffler had been killed in an accident during a sprint-car race in New Jersey.

Leffler, 37, died in a crash at Bridgeport Speedway, a five-eighths mile high-banked dirt track in Swedesboro, N.J. He was pronounced dead shortly after 9 p.m. Eastern time, according to the Associated Press.

A native of Long Beach, Calif., Leffler has been a fixture at NASCAR’s national level since 1999. The two-time winner on the NASCAR Nationwide Series leaves behind a young son, Charlie.

“NASCAR extends its thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to the family of Jason Leffler who passed away earlier this evening,” NASCAR said in statement. “For more than a decade, Jason was a fierce competitor in our sport and he will be missed.”

According to local news reports from the area, Leffler had to be extricated from his vehicle and was taken by ambulance to a local trauma center, where he later died from his injuries. Bridgeport Speedway immediately suspended racing for the rest of the night after the accident occurred.

"We are very saddened at the passing of Jason Leffler,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway Chief Operating Officer J. Douglas Boles said in a statement. “He was one of the most versatile race drivers in America, showing his talent by competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during his career.

“He also displayed the skills that would help him reach the top levels of the sport by winning four USAC national series titles while winning on tracks throughout the Midwest,” Boles continued. “Jason was a terrific guy who always had time for everyone. Our deepest sympathies are extended to his entire family, team and fans."

“I’m completely devastated to hear about Jason Leffler. It doesn’t seem real. Pray for his family tonight,” Nationwide Series driver Trevor Bayne wrote on Twitter, echoing the sentiments of many who knew the well-liked former U.S. Auto Club champion.

“Sitting here in disbelief,” veteran NASCAR driver Elliott Sadler wrote on Twitter. “All I can think about is Charlie. Prayers to his little boy.”

State police were investigating the accident along with track officials, and preliminary information indicated that a mechanical failure on the car led to a loss of control.

Leffler made his first NASCAR start this season in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway, where he finished 43rd. Although he competed at NASCAR’s top level for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Chip Ganassi, his best years came on the Nationwide tour, where he finished inside the top 10 in points five times. He won Nationwide races for owners Gene Haas and Todd Braun, and also won a Camping World Truck Series event in 2003 for Jim Smith.

But Leffler’s roots were in the USAC ranks, where he won three midget titles to go along with a silver crown championship. He returned to those roots this season, competing most of the year in a winged sprint car.

"Such sad news tonight," Nationwide rookie Kyle Larson, himself a former sprint-car driver, wrote on Twitter. "Leffler was a great person and even better dad. I am glad I got to know him. Rest in peace."

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Driver going for record fourth consecutive pole in NASCAR Nationwide Series

For Austin Dillon, it all begins with where he starts — whether that’s his performance this season in NASCAR Nationwide Series races, or his transition to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit next year.

The Richard Childress Racing driver is coming off a runner-up performance Sunday at Iowa Speedway in which he led 207 laps before being passed late in the event by winner Trevor Bayne. As usual, the effort for Dillon began with qualifying, where he claimed a third consecutive pole position that improved his series-best starting position to 4.2.

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"I feel like getting in the car I can go out there and hold it wide open for a lap or be in the gas for the longest."

— Austin Dillon

Three straight poles place Dillon in a six-way tie for the Nationwide record, along with Bayne, Sam Ard, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip. Although the overall NASCAR national-series mark may still be a ways off — that one belongs to Mike Skinner, who scored eight straight on the Camping World Truck Series in 1995 — Dillon still has a chance to take ownership of the Nationwide record this weekend at Michigan International Speedway, where he won a pole last year.

“We’re going to a track where I’m very capable of setting the car on the pole,” Dillon said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters. His previous three poles have come at Charlotte, Dover, and Iowa, showing off flat-out speed that’s been one of Dillon’s strengths since his days racing on dirt.

“I feel like qualifying has always been something, it just comes to me naturally from dirt racing,” he said. “I’ve sat on a lot of poles in dirt cars. One of my favorite things to look back on is, I set the pole for the World 100, one of the toughest dirt races out there, at Eldora. And qualifying has just been something that, I feel like getting in the car I can go out there and hold it wide open for a lap or be in the gas for the longest …. That’s been pretty simple for me, but right now it’s just making sure that we can do that throughout a run, and be fast over a long period of time.”

None of Dillon’s poles have yet translated into victories — his runner-up result at Iowa was his best in a season that sees him fourth in points, 46 behind leader Regan Smith. But that early-race track position is still important, particularly in Nationwide events that are typically shorter, and often feature an assortment of moonlighting Sprint Cup drivers mixed in.

“In a shorter race like the Nationwide Series races, you don’t have the opportunity to make many adjustments to your car,” he said. “So starting up front, and also having the No. 1 pit stall, is huge. Getting that early pick for a clean pit stall in and out makes your day a lot easier when you don’t have to deal with multiple cars around you when you come down pit road.”

Those things may prove even more important next year, when the 23-year-old Dillon is expected to move up to RCR’s Sprint Cup program. This weekend he’s also running the Sprint Cup race at Michigan, in a No. 33 car that will have Shane Wilson as crew chief. It will be the fifth premier-series start this season for Dillon, who has made three of those in James Finch’s No. 51 car, all of it with an eye toward gaining experience and knowledge for next year.

“Experience is huge, and running the Truck Series and the Nationwide Series, you don’t ever get that horsepower that you get when you get in those Cup cars,” said Dillon, the 2011 Truck Series champion, and a two-time winner on the Nationwide tour. The purpose of that experience is to give him something to build on when he moves into the premier series as a rookie in 2014.

“I think most of all in these races we have this year, (the goal) is to run all the laps. It’s very important to gain experience throughout a full run,” Dillon said. “You go through lots of changes in a Cup race where you have many pit stops and changes, so the cars change a lot more over a long run. Just keeping up with those and making sure we don’t get out early in these Cup races, where we can’t use that experience to help us for next year. That’s really big, to finish these races and get that experience so you have a little bit of a notebook going into next year.”

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Wins over the weekend by Bayne, Burton and others exemplify why future is bright

Related video: Alan Cavanna’s 1-on-1 with Jeb Burton

The drivers once known as the “young guns” of NASCAR aren’t very young anymore. Ryan Newman has two little children, while Jimmie Johnson has a second daughter on the way, not to mention five titles and a beard with a few slight flecks of gray. Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray are all family men, and Kurt Busch is rebuilding his career rather than starting it. Each of them is heading toward the big 4-0 at the speed of a qualifying lap at Atlanta.


They were basically still kids when they took the national division by storm at the turn of the last decade, but the memories remain fresh: the days to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s premier-series debut ticked down in a “Countdown to E-Day,” Newman running an “ABC” schedule — a little ARCA, a little of the then-Busch Series, a little Cup — for Penske, Edwards wowing people with his backflips, McMurray notching a stunning first victory in a relief role, everyone wondering who this Johnson guy was. They came in one after another, and over a period of four years completely changed the face of the sport.

"I want to win a couple of more races, because I want to be in the Cup Series in a couple of years."

—Jeb Burton

These were the direct successors to Jeff Gordon, his race victories and championships enough to convince team owners that yes, young drivers could indeed compete in top-tier equipment — a concept that stood in stark contrast to previous generations, where young drivers had to prove themselves in junk before they went anywhere. Good cars were too expensive to be entrusted to rookies apt leave them a heap of crushed metal, or so the thinking went. Now, that belief is as outdated as hand-operated leaderboards or manual timing and scoring.


Gordon cracked open the door, and sent teams all scrambling to find the next Jeff Gordon, which in turn allowed Johnson and his contemporaries to kick that barrier down for good. Youth was once the exception — at one time NASCAR’s premier series was the domain of drivers like Dale Jarrett and Bill Elliott, who only hit their competitive stride as they reached middle age. Now, it’s the rule. And it’s going to stay that way, given the next generation already nipping at the heels of their elders, eager for their chance to break through.


Never was that more evident than this past weekend, when not even Johnson’s dominant effort at Pocono Raceway could overshadow another youth movement cresting in the distance. Chase Elliott, the 17-year-old son of Awesome Bill, bested the likes of Frank Kimmel to win an ARCA race at Pocono. Trevor Bayne prevailed in a late-race duel with Austin Dillon in a Nationwide Series event at Iowa. And Jeb Burton, the 20-year-old son of former Daytona 500 winner Ward, earned his first victory at NASCAR’s national level by claiming the Camping World Truck Series event at Texas.


They’re far from alone. Ryan Blaney, now 19, last year became the youngest winner in Truck Series history. Kyle Larson, 20, is a threat every weekend on the Nationwide tour. Darrell Wallace Jr., 19, is knocking on the door of a first national-series victory.

Alex Bowman, 20, and Parker Kligerman, 22, impress week after week. Ty Dillon is a title contender at 21. The K&N Pro Series features steady up-and-comers like 18-year-old Dylan Kwasniewski and Brandon Gdovic and Ben Kennedy, both 21. The reigning Trucks champ, James Buescher, seems downright grizzled at 23.


Now clearly, there are no guarantees in auto racing, a sport that lacks a true scouting system, and where progression to a large degree hinges on sponsorship, timing, and good fortune. There are plenty of very good drivers who never made it and others who did but didn’t last. One Truck Series victory, or one promising year on the Nationwide circuit, does not a career make. But the current groundswell of young drivers is impressive simply because of its volume, and that depth heightens the likelihood that some will indeed emerge as the stars so many of them seem to have the potential to be.


So, in short: the kids are coming, and they’re coming fast, and attention, Johnson and company — they want your jobs.


“I want to win a couple of more races, because I want to be in the Cup Series in a couple of years,” Burton said Tuesday, in a south Virginia drawl not too unlike that of his father. “That’s the pressure. I win races, I’ll be in the Cup Series one day. That’s just where it’s at. I know I can do good. I just want to win races.”


Surely, he’s not alone there. For young drivers trying to stand out in a crowded field, there’s pressure from the very beginning. Burton knows as much firsthand — a year ago, he watched the Texas race from his couch, because he didn’t have the sponsorship to be on the track. Now he does, and he’s wasting no time, last Friday night’s victory adding to a superb rookie season that’s also seen him earn three poles and stand second to veteran Matt Crafton in the points. No wonder the feeling he had when he crossed under the checkered flag was relief rather than exultation.


“Just the hard work, the pressure to get it off your back,” said Burton, who drives for Turner Scott Motorsports. “That first win, no matter what you’re racing, is hard to get. Because you’re thinking a whole lot about it, and I put a lot of pressure on myself, because I know I can drive a race car pretty good.”


Clearly so can the younger Elliott, who in addition to his ARCA victory has recorded top-five finishes in two of his three Truck Series starts this season. In the media center after his third-place run in the Sprint Cup Series event at Pocono, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a point to congratulate the Hendrick Motorsports development driver for winning the day before. “He’s got a great future,” Earnhardt said.


When Bill Elliott was 17, he was racing with his brothers at local tracks like Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga., and was still three years away from his first NASCAR national-series start. “The kids today have so much more experience than when I came along at 17, 18, 19 years old,” said the 1988 NASCAR champion. “I mean, most of these kids have been racing already for 10 years by that point in time. And they just have a lot more experience. Chase has got so many late model races under his belt.”


Many of them do, further perfecting the template set forth by their predecessors, who jumped into go-karts or onto motorbikes as little tykes and completely altered the concept of driver development. They’re racing, younger and younger. They’re winning, younger and younger. They’re ready to move up, younger and younger. Burton enjoyed the biggest break of his career only days ago, and he’s already moved beyond it, ready for the next step.


“Last week is already over. It’s about next week now,” he said. “If I win five more Truck races this year, I’m not happy. I want to go next year and win five more. It never gets old. I think that’s why Jimmie is so good. He wants it.”


No doubt, so does Jeb Burton. Give the new kids credit — they certainly know how to learn from the best. Which one day, they may use to try and unseat them.

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Two legends of their respective sports met at Pocono Raceway

It took former Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown and seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Richard Petty all of five minutes to begin talking like old friends.

Brown helicoptered to Pocono Raceway last Sunday with Andy Murstein, co-owner of Richard Petty Motorsports. Murstein and Brown are part of the ownership group of the Long Island Lizards of the Major League Lacrosse.

Brown’s second trip to a NASCAR race gave the NFL Hall of Famer a chance to spend time with the King, a meeting he relished. Together they talked to reporters behind the hauler of the No. 43 RPM Ford.

"I recognize a legend like this," Brown said, nodding at Petty, "and we have such a great way of communicating, the two of us — and we only met five minutes ago. But it’s wonderful to be out here and be a part of this culture and show my respect for the culture. It’s a great culture.

"We have such a great way of (speaking), the two of us — and we only met five minutes ago."

— Jim Brown on Richard Petty

"I did Daytona about five or six years ago, and that was the first experience that I had. It was mind-blowing. If you’ve never really followed the culture in a certain way, you never realize how dominant it is and how many people enjoy it. The tailgating, I guess you guys invented that, and football tried to keep up."

Petty’s longtime allegiance to the Washington Redskins didn’t inhibit the burgeoning friendship between the two legends, but Petty acknowledged it did create some friction in his own household years ago.

"I was a Redskins fan, but my wife thought he (Brown) was the greatest thing since popcorn, and we had a lot of arguments over that deal," Petty said. "I was not a Browns fan. I was a Redskins fan. And I don’t think she was a Browns fan — she was his fan."

"Give her my best," Brown quipped.

Though Brown has followed NASCAR racing, the bruising running back said he has never had a desire to drive a car at race speeds. 

"Let me tell you, I love sports, but I don’t think I’m going to try that," Brown said. "It seems like a little rough for me… Getting behind the wheel, that’s not my thing." 

"I didn’t want to go out and play football either, not with those guys," Petty interjected.

With the recent focus on concussions in the NFL, and legal action on the part of former players, Brown has gained an appreciation for the safety enhancements of NASCAR racing and hopes that the NFL can follow suit.

"In the National Football League, we’re way behind, and I think NASCAR — out of the fact that you can really get hurt — stepped up their safety concepts, so I think most of the drivers would feel that they’ve done pretty much everything that can be done without taking away from the sport," Brown said. "We have a ways to go, because this is the first time that we’ve really ever taken the safety situation seriously, because of the lawsuits. 

"And when we come out of this, I think we will have a much safer game, and we won’t take away from the impact of the game. So we’re a little behind NASCAR, and if we pay attention to the fact that someone realized that something had to be done that would make it safer, the same thing has to happen in football. Two different sports, but if you’re conscientious about it, and you want to make sure it’s as safe as you can make it, then you can do that."

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Alfalla gets the best of Ottinger at Pocono to score his first win of the season

It took eight races and a lucky break, but Ray Alfalla is finally back in the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship victory lane. Alfalla survived the early carnage and took advantage of a huge mistake by Nick Ottinger with 11 laps to go en route to his win at Pocono Raceway.

It looked as if Ottinger had sealed-up the win when he passed Alfalla with 20 laps remaining, but Alfalla tried his best to keep the pressure on. With 11 laps to go, Ottinger pushed it a little too hard and slid into the wall on the exit of Turn Three, allowing Alfalla to retake the lead. Ottinger quickly tried to close back in, but a yellow flag would trap him in second position and set up a three-lap shootout.

"Nick and I had a great battle at the end, which I really enjoyed."

— Ray Alfalla

On the restart, Alfalla got a great jump on Ottinger but third place driver Robert Hall got an even better start than Alfalla and drove it hard down into Turn One on the outside of the race leader. Hall almost cleared Alfalla on the outside, but the two made slight contact entering the corner. The contact was enough to send Hall spinning and the rest of the field scrambling to miss him. Not everyone was so lucky and it resulted in a spectacular crash that saw Brian Schoenburg, who was second in the points coming into Pocono, fly over the Turn One wall and out of the race track.

The yellow flag flew with Alfalla in the lead, just in front of Ottinger and the race would not be restarted. Polesitter Carson McClelland hung around the front all race long and ended up third. Brandon Kettelle finished fourth ahead of Joey Brown and Steve Sheehan.

Alfalla was thrilled to be back in victory lane. “I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the race, but the car ended up being pretty awesome,” he said. “Nick and I had a great battle at the end, which I really enjoyed.”

He also expressed remorse for his part in the contact with Hall. “I hate that Robert and I made contact on the final restart, as I wasn’t trying to do anything out of the ordinary into the turn,” explained Alfalla.

Ottinger, while obviously disappointed he let what would have been his fourth win of the season slip through his grasp, kept a positive outlook. “Had a good points night, I’m semi-disappointed with the outcome because of how I just gave it away,” he said. “It was shaping out to be a good finish and I know myself and Ray would have put on a great show.”

The first third of the online race was marred by crashes that resulted in more than a dozen cars receiving heavy damage. There were six cautions before Lap 35, most caused by overaggressive driving on restarts. Drivers who had the best pit strategy and stayed out front were the ones in best position to avoid the mess and come away with a good finish.

After the sixth caution, the next 55 laps went green. Hall led the first part of the run, but was passed after the conclusion of green flag pit stops as Alfalla came out of the pits with a two second gap back to Ottinger due to pitting a few laps earlier. However, Ottinger made the most of his slightly fresher tires and faster car, allowing him to close-in quickly on the two time champion to set up the duel for the win.

With both Schoenburg and Marcus Lindsey having poor results, the points standings have been shaken up once again. Tyler Hudson still leads the standings despite an 11th-place finish and now enjoys a 23 point cushion over Ottinger. Second through fifth in the standings is incredibly tight. Third-placed Alfalla is just two points behind Ottinger and a single point ahead of Schoenburg, who slipped to fourth after a rough race. Marcus Lindsey rounds out the top five, just two points back of Schoenburg. The top five are well clear of sixth on back, with a 32-point gap separating fifth and the sixth-placed Peter Bennett.

After the carnage at Pocono, the NiSWC shifts back to a mile and a half track with Kentucky Speedway playing host to Week Nine of the season. Kentucky marks the end of the first half of the season and it is safe to say the top five in the standings still have a great shot at a title.

Ottinger and Alfalla look ready to square-off for another victory but do not forget Brown, who has shown speed all season at the 1.5 mile tracks. Hudson, despite being the series points leader, is still looking for his first NiSWC victory and is one to keep an eye on as well. Check out the action under the lights at Kentucky in two weeks’ time on iRacingLive and MRN.com!




            Average Lap Time Laps Completed Cautions Caution Laps Lead Changes            
            1:14.655 200 8 29 11            
Fin Pos Driver Start Pos Car # Status Interval
Laps Led
Average Lap Time
Fastest Lap Time Fast Lap #
Laps Comp
Pts
Status
1 Ray Alfalla 9 2 0 0 49 01:14.8 54.089 11 100 48 Running
2 Nick Ottinger 8 5 0 -0.195 9 01:14.7 53.993 71 100 43 Running
3 Carson McClelland 1 24 0 -0.72 10 01:14.3 53.948 2 100 42 Running
4 Brandon Kettelle 24 80 0 -59.15 0 01:15.2 54.147 69 100 40 Running
5 Joey Brown 13 12 0 -1.438 0 01:14.7 54.129 11 100 39 Running
6 Steve Sheehan 21 6 0 -1.864 0 01:14.7 54.118 71 100 38 Running
7 Paul Kusheba 5 32 0 -2.341 0 01:14.7 54.046 2 100 37 Running
8 Byron Daley 6 93 0 -2.704 0 01:14.7 54.057 68 100 36 Running
9 Dustin Montgomery 16 8 0 -3.401 0 01:14.7 54.176 39 100 35 Running
10 Chad J Laughton 26 26 0 -4.305 0 01:14.7 54.238 71 100 34 Running
11 Tyler D Hudson 14 1 0 -4.893 0 01:13.9 54.09 2 100 33 Running
12 Jason Karlavige 32 60 0 -5.774 0 01:14.7 54.082 71 100 32 Running
13 Chad Coleman 31 28 0 -6.369 0 01:14.2 54.456 70 100 31 Running
14 Jake Stergios 25 41 0 -6.824 3 01:14.4 54.013 68 100 31 Running
15 Derek Crone 19 7 0 -7.211 0 01:14.7 54.359 39 100 29 Running
16 Matt Bussa 22 34 0 -7.803 1 01:14.7 54.395 73 100 29 Running
17 Brandon Schmidt 33 3 0 -8.713 0 01:14.7 54.514 69 100 27 Running
18 Brad Davies 41 11 0 -9.023 0 01:14.7 54.39 40 100 26 Running
19 Alex Warren 27 82 0 -36.221 0 01:14.2 54.289 71 100 25 Running
20 Landon Harrison 39 89 0 -37.113 0 01:15.0 54.167 72 100 24 Running
21 Michael J Johnson 35 39 0 -37.548 0 01:14.6 54.279 71 100 23 Running
22 Bryan Blackford 42 33 0 -38.18 0 01:13.4 54.477 69 100 22 Running
23 Marcus Lindsey 2 1 0 -38.816 0 01:15.1 53.882 2 100 21 Running
24 Josh Berry 43 91 0 -3.976 0 01:14.7 54.201 72 100 20 Running
25 Cyril Nousbaum 11 99 0 -1 L 0 01:14.5 54.429 4 99 19 Running
26 Rob Ackley 37 22 0 -1 L 0 01:15.6 55.066 2 99 18 Running
27 Peter Bennett 3 69 0 -1 L 0 01:15.2 54.006 2 99 17 Running
28 Brian Schoenburg 23 55 0 -2 L 0 01:13.5 54.092 11 98 16 Running
29 Robert Hall 15 30 32 -3 L 28 01:14.2 54.059 39 97 16 Disconnected
30 Joshua Laughton 4 40 0 -4 L 0 01:15.7 53.998 2 96 14 Running
31 Danny Hansen 36 20 0 -7 L 0 01:17.8 54.636 2 93 13 Running
32 Casey Malone 30 92 32 -19 L 0 01:08.9 54.674 2 81 12 Disconnected
33 Landon Huffman 29 75 32 -32 L 0 01:15.2 54.701 62 68 11 Disconnected
34 Michael Conti 10 5 32 -33 L 0 01:17.2 54.028 3 67 10 Disconnected
35 Kevin King 18 29 32 -38 L 0 01:18.1 54.376 4 62 9 Disconnected
36 Jon Adams 38 84 32 -51 L 0 01:27.0 54.709 2 49 8 Disconnected
37 John Gorlinsky 34 21 32 -57 L 0 01:32.4 54.3 3 43 7 Disconnected
38 Adam Gilliland 17 81 0 -59 L 0 01:29.9 54.604 4 41 6 Running
39 Thomas Lewandowski 28 16 32 -73 L 0 01:33.5 54.735 3 27 5 Disconnected
40 Carson Downs 40 97 0 -78 L 0 01:29.4 54.763 5 22 4 Running
41 Cody Byus 7 27 32 -79 L 0 01:29.2 54.351 3 21 3 Disconnected
42 Richard Dusett 12 96 32 -79 L 0 01:29.2 54.275 2 21 2 Disconnected
43 Patrick Baldwin 20 52 0 -87 L 0 01:13.3 54.484 5 13 1 Running
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Penalties come on the heels of events occuring at Texas Motor Speedway

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Penalties have been issued to the No. 29 team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as a result of violations following the June 7 event at Texas Motor Speedway.

The No. 29 truck was found to have violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20-B of the rule book) and 20B-12.8.1A (The roof failed to meet the minimum height requirement during post-race inspection) of the 2013 rule book.

As a result of this violation, crew chief Doug Randolph has been fined $5,000. The team has also been docked six championship driver (Ryan Blaney) and six championship truck owner (Brad Keselowski) points.

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Duo will have chance to race each other in three straight events at Kentucky

NASCAR fans are in for a treat when the summer tour heads to Kentucky later this month, as hard-nosed wheelmen and Kentucky Speedway‘s only two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winners, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, will race head-to-head three times during the track’s June 27-29 tripleheader weekend. They will compete for the checkered flags in the Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts, NASCAR Nationwide Series Feed The Children 300 and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 225.

"Having two of our most successful drivers square off for all three of our races certainly ratchets up the intensity for our weekend. Both Kyle and Brad won’t be satisfied unless they win them all," said Kentucky Speedway general manager Mark Simendinger.

Both drivers will race a full Kentucky NASCAR tripleheader for the second time in their career. Busch completed the feat in 2011 and Keselowski in 2012.

Having two drivers compete in a tripleheader is a somewhat rare feat. The first occurrence was in 1996 at Richmond, when both Mark Martin and Kenny Wallace did the triple. It has happened just 26 times since then, most recently last year at Kentucky with Keselowski and Scott Riggs. The last time Busch and Keselowski did it the same weekend, Busch swept all three in 2010 at Bristol.

"I want to run all three races and win them."

— Brad Keselowski

Busch’s sterling record at the track features four victories in four different series. He nailed down the track’s inaugural NSCS Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts crown along with a NCWTS UNOH 225 victory in 2011. He reeled in a 300-mile NNS victory in 2004 and made his track debut with a 206-mile ARCA Racing Series victory in 2003 as an emerging 18-year-old talent.

Overall, the 28-year-old has collected a combined six top-five and nine top-10 finishes while leading 762 of the 2,086 Kentucky Speedway laps he’s raced through 11 career starts in four series.

"I remember going there for the first time back in 2003. It was my second ever ARCA race and first time on a 1.5-mile oval,” said Busch. “It was a big deal. It was a fast racetrack and I ended up winning that weekend. I had to do some maneuvering around Frank Kimmel, it wasn’t easy.

"Going there in Nationwide and being fast every time when Sprint Cup didn’t have a date there yet just got my feet wet for the opportunity when Sprint Cup did go there. When we went with the Cup car, we were fast right when we unloaded.”

Keselowski, the reigning Sprint Cup champion, will defend his 2012 Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts title. He claimed a 2011 Feed The Children 300 victory and earned his NCWTS track-best second-place finish in last season’s UNOH 225.

"I want to run all three races and win them. Kentucky is one of my best race tracks. What I like out of a race car and how I want it to drive really fits this racetrack. It’s rough, it’s bumpy and it’s actually a little bit more predictable because of that. The groove is predictable, the way it takes rubber is predictable and the ability to run side-by-side here is as good, if not better, than any other mile and a half," said Keselowski.

Both drivers will benefit from valuable additional track time throughout the three-day stretch, which will bolster their chances of being the first to capture three Kentucky Speedway race titles in three days.

"The biggest thing you get to work on, and enjoy, is essentially the extra track time figuring out if you need to get through the bumps better or if you need to get your guys to give you a better setup to get through the bumps. I have three chances and three crew chiefs that have different mindsets. By the time I get to Saturday, I have a feel for what I need to win the Cup race," Busch said.

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Vital stats for the Quicken Loans 400

Related: Complete Michigan coverage

Track: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., 2.0 miles, asphalt surface, 18-degree banking in all turns. Banking in frontstretch is 5 degrees and 2 degrees in the backstretch. Frontstretch is 3,600 feet, backstretch is 2,242 feet.

Time/TV: Quicken Loans 400, 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, June 16. TV: TNT (coverage starts  at noon ET), Radio: MRN

Trailblazers: The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan was held June 15, 1969 — won by Cale Yarborough at a speed of 139.254 mph. Cale Yarborough leads the series with 21 top-five finishes and Mark Martin leads the series in top-10 finishes at Michigan with 31.

0.085 seconds was the margin of victory in Jeff Gordon’s win over Ricky Rudd in the June 10, 2001, race, the closest MOV at Michigan since the advent of electronic scoring.

2 Michigan Sprint Cup races have resulted in a green-white-checkered finish. They came in the fall races of 2011 and 2012.

3 drivers have posted their first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Coors Light Pole Award at Michigan International Speedway: Jeff Burton (8/18/1996), J.J. Yeley (6/17/2007) and Marcos Ambrose (6/17/2012).       

4 of the 87 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Michigan International Speedway have been shortened due to weather conditions; the most recent was the event on 6/18/2006. 

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6 drivers have won consecutive Coors Light poles at Michigan. David Pearson holds the record for most consecutive poles at Michigan with five, from fall 1976 through 1978.

8 different manufacturers have won in the NSCS at Michigan, led by Ford with 32 victories; followed by Chevrolet with 20.

8.235 is the average finishing position of Carl Edwards at Michigan to lead all active drivers. Matt Kenseth (9.556) is the only other active driver with an average finish in the top 10.

9.227 is the average starting position at Michigan for Jimmie Johnson to lead all active drivers.

12 Sprint Cup Series wins at Michigan for Roush Fenway Racing, the most of any team.

16 of the 87 (18.3%) NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Michigan have been won from the Coors Light pole; the most recent was Brian Vickers in 2009.

19 starts at Michigan for Kevin Harvick before he won in the fall of 2010, the longest span of any of the 16 active NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winners.

23 was the age of Jeff Gordon when he became the youngest Michigan pole winner at 23 years, 10 months and 14 days on August 18, 1995.

24 was the age of Kurt Busch when he became the youngest Michigan winner at 24 years, 10 months and 11 days on June 15, 2003.

32 was the starting position of Mark Martin in the 2009 spring race, the deepest in the field a race winner has ever started.

34 different NSCS drivers have won at Michigan International Speedway, led by David Pearson with nine wins. Bill Elliott leads all active drivers with seven; followed by Mark Martin with five.

43 drivers have Coors Light poles at Michigan, led by David Pearson with 10. Bill Elliott leads all active drivers with six; followed by Jeff Gordon with five.

52 was the age of Harry Gant when he became the oldest Michigan winner at 52 years, 7 months and 6 days on August 16, 1992.

53 was the age of Mark Martin when he became the oldest Michigan pole winner at 53 years, 7 months, and 10 days on August 19, 2012.

55 starts without visiting Victory Lane for Terry Labonte, the most among active drivers.

61 starts for Bill Elliott at Michigan to lead the series. Terry Labonte leads all active drivers with 55 starts; followed by Mark Martin with 54.

160.135 mph was the speed of Donnie Allison’s pole-winning car in the inaugural Coors Light pole at Michigan in 1969.

266 drivers have competed in more than one NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.

363 drivers have competed in at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway; 266 in more than one.

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Positive signs at Pocono inspires hope for No. 39 team

Ryan Newman may have used a bit of pit strategy this past weekend to earn his first top-five finish since the Daytona 500, but the Stewart-Haas Racing driver believes his No. 39 car still had enough to compete with runaway winner Jimmie Johnson — if only he hadn’t had to worry about saving fuel in the process.

“We played it safe there for a while,” Newman said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. “And when Jimmie chased me down, he chased me down because I was letting him chase me down. I’m not saying he wouldn’t have passed me, but I let him dictate the pace after he got by me instead of me dictating the pace in front of him and running hard. So I think that we were the most competitive that we’ve been in quite a while, at least on the 39 side at an intermediate race track.”

"I feel I’m fully capable as a driver, and we just are working on honing in on the package that we need."

—Ryan Newman

The fifth-place result was Newman’s best since he finished in the same position in the season opener, 13 events earlier. It also continues a promising trend on bigger race tracks for the No. 39 car, which has now placed inside the top 10 at Pocono, Charlotte, Darlington, Texas and Fontana. It means this Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series event could be ready-made for Newman, and not just because his vehicle’s primary sponsor is also backing the race.

Newman has won twice at 2-mile Michigan International Speedway, where he’s also finished inside the top 10 in three of his last four starts. Now he hopes to continue SHR’s momentum by carrying the speed he showed at Pocono — and the knowledge he gleaned during a test at the same facility — over to Michigan, as well as some other large tracks that loom ahead for a driver who maintains hopes of making the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

“Just keeping the ball rolling,” he said. “I think that there’s some things that we learned at our Pocono test that we can absolutely carry over from the Pocono race into Indianapolis going back to Pocono, and as well, I think at places like Michigan that are smooth and have similar asphalt and are really fast as well. So hopefully the things that we’ve learned will help carry us for the most part through some of those things. It’s all about having a fast race car, especially when you go into a big weekend like we have.”

The Michigan race is backed by Quicken Loans, a Detroit company that is also a major sponsor on Newman’s car. Toward that end, Newman said there’s no additional pressure — take care of things on the track, he added, and everything else falls into place.

Like Pocono, Michigan was resurfaced prior to last season, and now offers a fast, smooth surface. SHR teams also use engines made by Hendrick Motorsports, which finished first and third last weekend with Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., respectively.

In fact, cars powered by Hendrick engines took four of the top five spots at Pocono, given that Newman and fourth-place Tony Stewart cracked the top five together for the first time this season. That’s a contrast to the plight of teams powered by Toyota Racing Development, which has throttled back on horsepower in an effort to improve reliability, and for the first time this year failed to place a car inside the top five. Michigan is yet another track where the engine is critical — so does that means the success in the honeymoon haven will translate to the Irish Hills?

“I think a percentage of it does. … You look at the Toyota guys, and they are having to pull the pin on a couple of their performance situations and knock back a little bit of their performance at a track that you have to have engine horsepower … I think that plays into our hand a little bit,” said Newman, 18th in points and currently driving on a one-year deal with SHR.

“Michigan, because of the repave, I think is more similar than ever to Pocono, especially like Turn 1 because of the banking and the speed that you carry down into Turn 1 at Pocono. You’re not going to be using the brakes near as much as Michigan, if at all. Without a doubt, it’s as close as it’s ever been. And the way our organization is structured, we are able to focus more on the car side of things, and as long as Hendrick is providing the good power like they are, it plays into our favor.”

It all helps build momentum, which Newman believes is a real thing that affects the attitudes of the driver and the team — particularly going back a track where he’s won before.

“When you come off of a good weekend, you have some backbone to your notebook to understand that we know what we are doing with the race car,” he said. “We know what we are doing strategy‑wise, and we know what we’re doing with the tire pressures and everything else to make it make sense so that you can have good finishes; and that I think is the momentum more from an emotional and mental state than it is anything else.”

So no, maybe Newman wasn’t able to try and chase down Johnson late in last Sunday’s race. But he did text the five-time champion afterward to tell him congratulations, and say how good it felt to run up front with him again.

“That’s just truly how I feel,” he said. “I feel I’m fully capable as a driver, and we just are working on honing in on the package that we need.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Driver’s streak of consecutive starts will hit 703 with Michigan race in Phoenix Racing car

Phoenix Racing General Manager Steve Barkdoll confirmed that Bobby Labonte will be in the team’s No. 51 Chevrolet this week at Michigan — extending Labonte’s consecutive start streak to 703.

And it won’t be the first time for the pairing.

Labonte drove 14 races for Phoenix Racing in 2010 — making his 600th start in the summer Daytona race that year — after his deal with TRG Racing ended midseason.

“We helped keep his streak going back then and he helped us because were able to get some sponsors with him driving for us,’’ Barkdoll said Tuesday, noting that so far the team had signed Labonte for just the Michigan race and that former world champion Jacques Villenueve would be in the car for the road course race at Sonoma in two weeks.

“Everything can change but we wanted to help keep Bobby’s streak going,’’ Barkdoll said.

Labonte has 14 previous starts for Phoenix Racing, and he expressed his gratitude to the team via a statement on Tuesday.
 
"James has always been one of the first to reach out to offer help in a situation like this," said Labonte. "I enjoy racing with Nick Harrison, Steve Barkdoll and the entire group of guys. I’m looking forward to this weekend."

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“A few years back you didn’t have the opportunity like this, but now there are lots of talented drivers that can do one-offs and things like that.’’

The JTG/Daugherty Racing team — where Labonte has been for the past three seasons — announced during the weekend it would put A.J. Allmendinger in Labonte’s No. 47 Toyota at Michigan hoping to get additional driver feedback on why the one-car team has struggled.

Labonte is expected to be back in the No. 47 at Sonoma and JTG co-owner Brad Daugherty insisted over the weekend that “Bobby’s our guy.”

"I enjoy racing for Tad (Geschickter), Jodi (Geschickter) and Brad," Labonte said in Tuesday’s statement. "They have given me a great opportunity to help this team grow. It’s where my focus has been since racing with the team in 2011. I want to see this team get better and will do what I need to do to make that happen.

"We just completed our first test at Kentucky, which was valuable time spent on the track, that should assist in improving our team performance starting this weekend and going forward."