Posted on by Zack Albert

No. 4 Chevy takes the fastest lap by .001 seconds

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Rookie Jeb Burton, poised to make just his seventh start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, led the speed charts Friday morning in the series’ only practice session at Martinsville Speedway.

Burton, a second-generation driver from nearby Halifax, Va., turned a fast lap of 96.244 mph in preparation for Saturday’s Kroger 250, the second race of the year for the truck tour.

Johnny Sauter, a former Martinsville winner, was second-fastest at 96.239 mph, just one-thousandth of a second off Burton’s time. Ron Hornaday Jr. was third-fastest at 96.010 mph with Brendan Gaughan fourth-fastest at 95.728.

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Burton topped the list of five Rookie of the Year candidates at the historic .526-mile track. Darrell Wallace Jr. was fifth and German Quiroga Jr. eighth on the practice report. Brennan Newberry, the pole-sitter in the season opener at Daytona, was 15th-fastest with Ryan Blaney 21st.

Two drivers making their first truck series start — Chase Elliott, 17, and Erik Jones, 16 — will be taking advantage of the series’ new rule permitting drivers under 18 on tracks of 1.017 miles (Rockingham Speedway) or shorter. Elliott was 12th-fastest on the practice chart with Jones 14th-fastest.

Kevin Harvick, a three-time Martinsville trucks winner who prevailed from the pole position in this race last season, was 26th in the practice session.

Unseasonable frozen precipitation overnight and an early morning drizzle forced an adjustment to the morning schedule. The 60-minute and 80-minute sessions with a half-hour break in between were combined into a single two-hour practice. Truck qualifying is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.

The damp conditions marked the race-weekend debut of the NASCAR Air Titan track dryer. Officials deployed a smaller version of the new system on a trial basis in conjunction with conventional jet dryers.

 

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Posted on by Nascar

Hamlin’s fill-in has been forced to sit and watch due to past health issues

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Brian Vickers has a very good idea of what Denny Hamlin is going through these days.

Vickers will fill in for the injured Joe Gibbs Racing driver for four of the five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races Hamlin is expected to miss due to an L1 vertebra compression fracture suffered in a last-lap crash at Auto Club Speedway. Vickers’ first start with the No. 11 team is scheduled for next week at Texas Motor Speedway.

Vickers missed 25 races in 2010 after he was diagnosed with blood clots. He has since returned to competition, racing full time with JGR in the Nationwide Series and splitting seat time with Mark Martin and co-team owner Michael Waltrip on the Cup side for Michael Waltrip Racing.

"The first time I saw my car go around the race track, I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to get back in it."

— Brian Vickers

“You grow up and you watch a lot of races that you’re not in, but not ones that you’re supposed to be in when your car is going around the race track,” Vickers said Friday at Martinsville Speedway. “… I think the best thing for him right now is knowing that he’s going to get back in the car.”

That wasn’t the case for Vickers, who also underwent heart surgery as part of his initial treatment.

“The first time I saw my car go around the race track, I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to get back in it,” Vickers said. “So I’m sure his emotions are going to be a little different than mine. They would probably be different anyway even if the situations were the exact same.

“It’s a better question for Denny, but I’ve told him that it’s not going to be easy and he’s not going to like it, but at least you know it’s temporary and we’ll see you back soon.”

Vickers wasn’t expected to be called upon in a relief role — JGR officials initially announced that Martin would fill in for Hamlin during his recovery. Less than a day later, both MWR and JGR groups announced that Martin would serve as a substitute for Hamlin at Martinsville, while Vickers would handle the remaining races.

Either way, Vickers said he saw it as a no-lose situation. So much so that he told officials with both teams that once they had determined a solution, he would be happy with the outcome.

“They are two phenomenal organizations — the opportunity to drive for Aaron’s in the 55 at MWR, the opportunity to drive for FedEx in the 11 at JGR — how could I go wrong?” Vickers said. “I wasn’t going to stress about it.”

It will be an opportunity to improve his chances for a full-time Cup ride in 2014, but Vickers, 29, noted that the circumstances really aren’t any different from what goes on within most organizations each week.

“I think your performance on the race track every week has a bearing on what happens the following year,” he said. “I think that’s the situation for every driver on the race track. Your performance week to week, year to year, always has a bearing on your future possibilities as an athlete.” 

“Do I think that my performance in the 11 is going to have a bearing? Of course it will.”

Martin, slated to be idle this weekend until getting the call to step into the No. 11 Toyota, said the challenge presented by stepping into another car, with another team, “is something that motivates me to make sure I’m engaged 100 percent. 

"I’ve seen that car on the race track, followed it on the race track with Denny behind the wheel and tried to figure out and mimic how he was doing what he was doing, especially at Richmond,” Martin said. “And here as well.

“Denny is a master at being able to make the rear tires last and get good speed at the same time, so it’s a challenge for me. … It has me up on my toes paying attention and trying to get in sync with a whole group of people … but that’s a good thing.”



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Posted on by Nascar

Scott is the only African-American driver to win in the Sprint Cup Series

Read more: NASCAR honors Scott

Darrell Wallace Jr. wasn’t familiar with the story of Wendell Scott when he began to pursue his driving career in NASCAR.
 
Today, as the Virginia Department of Historic Resources unveils a new state historical marker in Scott’s hometown of Danville, Va., the 19-year-old Wallace has a much better understanding of Scott’s accomplishments.
 
Scott, who died in 1990, is currently the only African-American driver to win at NASCAR’s Cup level. In 1963, the independent Scott captured a 200-lap race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla.
 
In a career that spanned 13 seasons, Scott made 495 starts. From 1966 through 1969, he finished 10th or higher in the season-long points battle, cobbling together enough parts and pieces to compete against teams with many more  resources.
 
Wallace, who is also African-American, worked his way through NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity program to eventually land a ride with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series. He’ll be making his second start in the series this weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, nearly three years after scoring his first career win in the K&N East Series at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway.
 
“I met his son, Wendell Jr., in either 2008 or ’09 at Franklin County (Va.) Speedway when we were racing there,” Wallace said. “He was just there as a spectator that night, but I remember he came down and talked to us.”

— 2010 Drive for Diversity class with Sybil Scott.

With Revolution Racing in 2010, Wallace said, he got a chance to meet again with Scott Jr., as well as Sybil Scott, Wendell’s daughter.
 
“And that’s when I got to know the whole story, really started learning about it,” he said. “It was cool; and then they did the movie deal on him. It was a neat, neat deal.”
 
“Wendell Scott: A Race Story,” a collaborative effort between NASCAR Media Group and ESPN, aired in 2011.
 
Scott was one of 25 nominees considered for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier this year.
 
“I think it’s incredible that Wendell Scott is still being recognized to this day,” Wallace said. “His legacy is still being carried on by friends, family and even drivers like myself.
 
“It’s a huge honor to be one of the few drivers in the sport helping continue what he started.”
 
In addition to the unveiling of the historic marker, April 5 has also been declared Wendell O. Scott Day by Danville Mayor Sherman Saunders.

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