DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ben Rhodes smiled recounting his time on pit road Friday morning, picking up a cap he mistakenly left in his pit stall during the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge early practice at Daytona International Speedway.
“The next group of cars had already rolled down the track and a team was there and they were speaking a whole other language,’’ the 2021 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion said smiling. “I didn’t know what they were talking about or what was being said. I just got my hat.
“Certainly, there’s an international feel here. And I’m always a fan of getting out of the comfort zone, We run trucks 23 times a year and whenever I can do something different I’m going to jump at the opportunity.’’
That’s certainly the vibe at Daytona this week for the ROAR Before the 24 practice and qualifying sessions on the 3.56-mile road course in preparation for next weekend’s famous Rolex 24 race week.
By the time the ThorSport Racing driver got back to his Ford Motorsports team hauler a few minutes after his extra stop in the pits, there was already a small crowd of autograph seekers waiting, hoping for a signature from Rhodes and his three teammates for the next week – Hailie Deegan, reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion Zane Smith and Cup Series driver Harrison Burton.
It was the only transporter in the garage with eager fans hanging outside hoping for some interaction.
Rhodes and Deegan will drive the No. 41 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4 and Smith and Burton will pilot the No. 42 Ford Mustang GT4 in the 31-car Grand Sport class of the four-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race next Friday afternoon.
In opening practice Friday, Burton and Smith were fifth fastest overall. Rhodes and Deegan were 23rd quickest, opting to make some big changes to their Mustang before the second practice later in the day.
While all these young NASCAR stars concede there is work to be done before next weekend’s race, they were clearly enjoying themselves. And there were absolutely motivated to win the race, despite their relative inexperience competing in this series. And there’s even a little extra incentive with Ford CEO Jim Farley trackside. He’s competing in the VP Challenge event as part of the Rolex race week too.
“I want to win, I’m here to win,’’ the 25-year-old Rhodes said. “But we’ve got to help each other out.’’
Next weekend’s season-opening race will be the first IMSA competition for Smith, 23, who drives the No. 38 Ford F-150 for Front Row Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series. He knows there’s a lot to learn, but he’s enjoying the process.
“They put the offer out a few months ago and when you get an opportunity to race something different it’s always a fun time, especially for anything Ford Performance is involved in,’’ said Smith, who won at the Circuit of The Americas road course in last year’s Truck Series race there.
“It’s been fun so far. The Ford Mustang was way different than anything I’ve ever driven. It does pretty much whatever you want it to do. Once the grip started going away, it felt more like home for us,’’ he added with a grin. “And anytime you have the opportunity to race at Daytona, and on a road course especially, is a good time. “
Burton, 22, will be making his second consecutive Michelin Pilot Challenge start on the Daytona road course. He and fellow Cup Series driver Austin Cindric finished ninth overall last year. Cindric is competing in the LMP2 class of the Rolex 24 next week for NASCAR team owner Rick Ware Racing’s team.
“I felt a lot more comfortable this time than I did last time,’’ said Burton, driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in the Cup Series. “Last time I had no information to go off of. I just kind of showed up and saw what happens. Going from that to this, where I ran a race and have notes to go over makes it a lot easier.
“You show up, you know your marks, you know what you have to do and then it’s just about the car instead of finding the limits of each area. You find what you need to work on with the car, what you need to work on for yourself instead of just painting with a broad brush. You kind of fine-tune a lot quicker.”
Deegan, driver of the No. 13 ThorSpot Racing Ford in 2023, smiled at the suggestion she is the “veteran” of the group. This will be her third start in the Daytona Michelin Pilot Challenge race. She finished 24th last year co-driving with Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
“I feel like I have a little experience in these cars but also this type of racing is so new to me also,’’ Deegan, 21, said. “I feel like I’m still learning a lot, learning constantly. Taking information in, trying to get better and every year the car is a little bit different and you have to feel the changes with that and how you can push the car and how you can’t.
“But it’s fun and I enjoy it and really love this stuff. I feel like you can drive the hell out of these cars and they react pretty good to it.”
This year gives Deegan a good chance to “bond” with Rhodes. She moves to Rhodes’ ThorSport Racing team this year and will drive the No. 13 Ford in the Craftsman Truck Series.
“With any good driver, you have faith in them,’’ Deegan said. “Ben’s very successful in the truck stuff. He knows what he’s doing so I feel like I have a lot of faith in him. Definitely not worried about that.”
The quartet is getting driver advice from veteran sports car champion Joey Hand and by the final practice session later Friday afternoon, Burton and Smith topped the speed chart and the Rhodes and Deegan car was fifth fastest. There are three more practices over the weekend.
“It’s definitely way different than what we’re used to just with the amount of cars and how different they are,’’ Smith noted of his new experience. “I grew up watching the ROLEX races and all of this, so it’s pretty cool to be a part of it this year.
“I never thought this day would come. I never saw it in my future, really, especially when I was just trying to make it in NASCAR. It’s cool how the racing world is really all one at the end of the day.”
Matt Kenseth is among the last of a defining era in NASCAR Cup Series competition. The final champion of the Winston Cup era, Kenseth also stands as the last driver to claim the title in a season-long format.
And while Kenseth accomplished the sport’s pinnacle achievement in 2003, it’s the consistency found by the Cambridge, Wisconsin, native over his illustrious career that propelled him into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Friday as a member of the Class of 2023.
“I don’t really know what I’m doing there,” Kenseth told NASCAR.com Thursday. “You look around and see all the people that have got in before me and how many people are eligible to be put in and I got put in before those people, and so it’s quite overwhelming. So it’s obviously a big honor. It wasn’t something I thought about a lot. Wasn’t really something I thought would really happen, so I’m gonna try to enjoy here as much as I can.”
Kenseth’s humility downplays the significance of his career statistics, which prove Hall-worthy: 39 Cup wins highlighted by two Daytona 500 triumphs, a 47.4% top-10 rate (331 in 697 starts), and 14 victorious seasons split driving for Hall-of-Fame car owners Jack Roush and Joe Gibbs.
But it wasn’t just what Kenseth accomplished on the track that sealed his fate to join the sport’s legends in enshrinement. It’s the relationships he crafted with the men and women who worked on his cars.
Brent Wentz was a mechanic and second spotter for the No. 17 Ford that Kenseth drove from 2008-12. Wentz has worked for a myriad of drivers over a NASCAR career spanning three decades. Kenseth forever tops his list.
Matt Kenseth and crew pose in Victory Lane after getting Jack Roush’s 300th victory by winning the Daytona 500 in 2012. (Todd Warshaw | Getty Images)
“When you work in racing, you want to establish a connection with your driver (and) team,” Wentz said via text. “That makes your job overall better when there is that respect within the team. No one wants to go to work and just be a number.”
That was a mindset Wentz carried to Team Penske, where he worked in the Xfinity Series as a car chief, constantly conscious of encouraging a team atmosphere.
“Matt was that way – practical jokes, talking about football, racing, etc.” Wentz said. “To this day, we have a group chat with a handful of the 17 team members on it. So that should show how close that group was. We won some big races and been through the good (and) bad of the sport together. It’s great to still have that bond (and) communication.”
Establishing those bonds was second nature for Kenseth, who grew up a short-track racer up north.
“Without all the people that work on the cars, build the parts for the cars, without any of them, obviously you’re not gonna compete,” Kenseth said. “So those are the important people. It’s a people sport, much like other sports are, and without having quality people building your cars, working on your cars, pit crewing your cars, you’re not gonna succeed.”
Along with Wentz, Kenseth earned significant praise from another Hall of Famer, Mark Martin, who played an integral role in getting Kenseth to Roush Racing (now known as RFK Racing).
“His path and what he did reminded me a lot of myself and my path,” Martin said. “How he really first popped up on my radar was winning races in Wisconsin. … I know how hard it is to win there, and Matt was winning, not with one car, not with one team with one great crew chief. He was winning it in multiple different cars with multiple different guys around him.
“That told me that Matt was the one that was making that happen, and that hits home with a lot of guys like Rusty Wallace and myself, who did those same things with our own hands, did our own tires, did our own chassis setups, worked on the cars, put together cars, built cars, and those kind of things.”
Kenseth was meticulous about the details, no matter how old he got and no matter what stage of his career he approached. “If your car was faster than everybody else’s,” he said, “it made your job as a driver a lot easier.”
He loved building his own shocks throughout the week, occasionally utilizing them during practice where “sometimes the stuff was terrible. Sometimes it worked pretty well.
“That was kind of one of my favorite things back in the day was just looking at my cars and trying to figure out how to make them faster than the other guy’s car,” Kenseth said. “I think that still holds true today. I think the cars are closer than ever to being the same right now. But when we moved up to Cup or Busch or whatever I was racing in, I always felt like it was super important just to be as engaged you could possibly be, work with the guys as much as you could and try to be another voice and try to give as much input as you can come up with ideas and try to make this stuff faster.”
That effort was always appreciated and reciprocated by the crewmen who worked on Kenseth’s cars.
“When people ask me, ‘Who was your favorite driver to work with, it’s pretty simple: Matt Kenseth is the answer,” Wentz said. “The era of true racers that built (and) maintained and grew up racing their local tracks is slowly going away and so are the drivers that did that. Matt always strived for perfection and we knew that we had to give 110% into anything we did on that 17 team because we knew he was doing the same on (and) off the track.”
Kenseth’s first break on NASCAR’s national circuits came with Robbie Reiser, who owned and crew chiefed the No. 17 car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, then known as the Busch Series. The two had a long-established relationship from their families competing against each other in Wisconsin.
The duo found immediate success and collected numerous wins together, moving to Roush’s Cup program together in 2000. But it was Kenseth’s continued devotion to Reiser’s Xfinity team that left the most meaningful impact on Reiser.
“We didn’t have much, and I was scrambling to put everything together and make it the best I could for what he wanted to do,” Reiser said Friday at the Hall of Fame. “And, you know, we didn’t even have money to pay him. I mean, when he first started, he basically drove for nothing. I didn’t have money to pay and make the thing work. And he was always behind us. I mean, he could have went and drove for a lot of different people at any time he wanted. And we never had a contract. I mean, we had a handshake. We had a handshake, this is what we’re going to do.
“And we had a dream, and we were going to make that dream happen. And through all of this, I mean, he had all opportunities to go do a lot of different things, but he always kept us involved, and he always believed in what we were doing. And that’s why I want to sit here tonight, and I want to take that same handshake and say congratulations to the Hall of Fame.”
When Bill Brodrick, a longtime public relations rep for Union Oil, wanted to further promote the company’s sponsorship of NASCAR’s annual pit-crew competition, he had an idea.
Brodrick was already a larger-than-life figure as Victory Lane’s ringmaster, orchestrating the weekly “hat dance” of sponsor photos after each race win. His omnipresence and distinctive reddish mane made him stand out as “The Hat Man,” a term he later trademarked. But Brodrick also wanted extra oomph behind Unocal’s pit-stop contest, and as the sport began another stage of growth in the mid-1980s, he sought to amplify the competition’s stars of the hour.
Broderick’s idea materialized in the form of a photo shoot with veteran Dozier Mobley behind the lens, a theme-heavy campaign that emphasized the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 team’s rough edges, and a tagline that ended up sticking.
“Brodrick has this scheme in his head, how he wanted it to look and everything. We took several photos, and only one ended up being the final one,” says Kirk Shelmerdine, then the crew chief for the No. 3 Chevrolet and its driver, Dale Earnhardt. “But there’s some scrapyard there near the airbase at Dover, and he had a little smoke machine and everything else to do it.
“He wanted to get a little momentum going on that facet of the team. It was cool because we were already on the map, but it kind of made it more public.”
Rising from the artificial smoke at that Delaware scrap heap in their Wrangler gear was the newly christened “Junk Yard Dogs” — from left, fueler and enforcer Danny “Chocolate” Myers with a massive chain draped on his shoulders; Shelmerdine, who doubled as the front-tire changer; Will Lind, the rear-tire changer and tire specialist; David Smith, the team’s top lieutenant on chassis and engine detail, leaning on the jack he wielded in his over-the-wall duties; and Cecil Gordon, the longtime independent driver who became RCR’s shop foreman, his arm resting on the trusty No. 3 pit sign.
— Wrangler3Goodwrench (@wrangler3chevy) June 16, 2017
The ragtag setting and the crew’s tough-guy expressions said, “don’t mess with us.” But the theme also underscored the blue-collar work ethic and the edge that made the RCR crew the champions of the pit-stop competition for an unprecedented four consecutive years.
“The reason it was like that, the Junk Yard Dogs, we were pretty scrappy back in the day,” Myers says now. “We kind of did our own deal, right? We weren’t very polished. We had a good time at the race track, and we had a good time when we were away from the race track, right? I guess the only set of rules that we had was when that garage area opens, no matter what you did the night before, when they open that gate to that garage area, you better be the first ones through that gate. And that is a true fact.”
Shelmerdine, the driven leader of that No. 3 crew, will follow the path of Earnhardt and Childress into the NASCAR Hall of Fame during Friday night’s induction ceremony (8 p.m. ET, Peacock, MRN), where he’ll join Matt Kenseth and Hershel McGriff as the Class of 2023’s honorees. His four Cup Series championships top the list of his Hall credentials, but Shelmerdine will also be celebrated as the architect of a workhorse crew that bridged the time between the Wood Brothers’ early pit-stop choreography in the 1960s to the revolutionary teamwork of the No. 24 Rainbow Warriors group in the ’90s.
Their success also spanned two different eras of nicknames. The “Junk Yard Dogs” theme overlapped with Wrangler’s “One Tough Customer” branding that synced so well with Earnhardt’s persona. When GM Goodwrench entered as the No. 3 team’s primary sponsor with a sinister black paint scheme for 1988, Earnhardt grew into his “Intimidator” image, and the advertising redubbed the pit crew as the “Flying Aces” as part of their new look.
“If you’re going to get a nickname,” says Lind, “I guess that wasn’t a bad one.”
Forming a bond
Before the Junk Yard Dogs crew found a home with Richard Childress, the core of the group first met in pairs. Myers was a south-sider in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Smith grew up in the community of Rural Hall just north of town. The two were regular companions at the weekly races at Bowman Gray Stadium and formed a natural bond with Childress, who set up shop just south of the Twin Cities in Welcome.
NASCAR Images & Archives | Getty Images
Shelmerdine and Lind were the outsiders, geography-wise. Shelmerdine was a Pennsylvania transplant who opted against enrollment at Penn State at the 11th hour to head south and stake out a career in racing at just 18. Lind moved northbound from his native Lakeland, Florida, looking for the same opportunity. They met each other in the middle, at the race shop of veteran driver James Hylton.
“When I first started there with Hylton, I pretty much didn’t know anything about race cars,” Shelmerdine said. “I couldn’t believe they were letting me touch it. It was a pretty steep curve from there on.”
Says Lind: “You’re very limited on what you could do, but that is how everybody had to learn back then. You basically were a go-fer to start with until you proved that you could actually touch the car.”
When Childress put the pairs together, the personalities made for an intriguing blend — both in their at-track roles and their choice of extracurriculars when on the road. Lind and Myers made sure nightlife was a part of their travel, but Smith was a by-the-book teetotaler.
“Chocolate and I were unfortunately more alike,” Lind says. “We were like a match and gas, and so we ran hard, and Richard did, too. Kirk would kind of hang out, but he was like a one-beer guy and didn’t stay up late. And David was very religious. David had seen hard times and cleaned his life up. It’s very, very true, man. I’ve told this so many times over the years. Kirk was from Pennsylvania, David was from Rural Hall, Chocolate was from Winston, but I was from Florida, and we kind of just had very, very different personalities that got along.
“I’m a firm believer that chemistry can’t be created. I don’t think it’s driven by the coach I think it’s more about the people. For some reason, that chemistry just happens, and so we were actually pretty good for whatever reason there was.”
Smith died in 2016 after battling cancer, but his legacy of innovation endures. Shelmerdine says Smith was instrumental in developing the hydraulics of the lighter-weight aluminum jack, fine-tuning the tool to lift the car in just one pump. “David was probably the best jackman ever,” Shelmerdine says. “It’s kind of like the center on the basketball team, you know. The whole pit stop pivots around when the car gets up and down.”
April 7, 1991- David Smith, Kirk Shelmerdine, Dale Earnhardt, and Will Lind prior to the TranSouth 500 at Darlington. The Goodwrench Chevrolet would finish 32nd after an engine failure. Earnhardt completed 332 laps. #NASCARpic.twitter.com/jZx5GVcWbX
Gordon’s inclusion in the Junk Yard photo came by happenstance, Myers says. The former journeyman racer was more of a race-shop presence, but also managed the handful of “weekend warrior” auxiliary crew members that were part of the team’s at-track personnel rotation. Gordon died in 2012.
“He probably taught me as much about the sport as anybody I’ve worked with,” Lind said. “You’re around him every day and he was quick to guide you away from heading down the wrong road, and he was just a just a good teacher and a good man. Hell of a good friend.”
At the helm was Shelmerdine, who helped all those personalities mesh and who led by quiet, purposeful example. His role as crew chief was one of oversight, but his hands-on nature came out in his versatility. Shelmerdine’s skill as a chassis specialist helped provide Earnhardt with race-winning setups, but the willingness to do multiple jobs to make the team click was a shared attribute among the group.
“Nobody expected us to do the things that we did, so everybody kind of pulled together,” Myers says. “And Kirk was the leader, he made the decisions, but I think it was respect for everybody is the reason that, man, it was successful. I never thought about it that way until just now, but you know, we went to work, carved out a plan, and nobody ever questioned that we did what we needed to do. …
“What made everything work was nobody wanted to let anybody else down. No matter what you needed to do, nobody ever said ‘that’s not my job.’ Nobody ever said, ‘I don’t get paid for this.’ We all did anything and everything. We had specific jobs that we did, right, but we all looked after each other. We all worked for the common cause.”
Says Shelmerdine: “We had just kind of been through it all together. … It really was a good match. Just everybody got along. Of course, everybody loved Dale and Richard and it was bigger than all of us. A kind of a snowball had gotten rolling there, and we were all sort of dedicated to doing what we had to do to keep it rolling.”
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Over the wall in competition
The Unocal 76 World Pit Crew Competition was an annual exhibition at Rockingham Speedway that began in 1967. Not surprisingly, the Wood Brothers were among the event’s earliest champions, but when the competition format switched from two-tire stops to changing all four in 1985, RCR’s No. 3 crew began its four-year run.
That stretch came just before Ray Evernham and his Rainbow Warriors made the evolutionary approach of molding pit crews into professional sports teams. When the Childress crew began to dominate, pit-stop drills back at the shop weren’t a regular part of the preparations.
“Our practice was every weekend at the race track, and we were pretty daggone successful with that,” Myers says. “I think it was all desire and dedication, determination. One of the things that I’ll say on the radio a lot is, it didn’t really matter when it didn’t really matter. We had so many things back then that, it was just different. If we didn’t practice, it didn’t really hurt us because nobody else practiced either.”
Says Shelmerdine: “We just had it down really good. We were that fast, and a lot of it sometimes, you slow down to go faster. A lot of it is just not taking unnecessary steps.”
Of course, back then a crew chief wouldn’t be swinging around the nose of the car, air hose in hand, to change tires. Shelmerdine made that process a part of his regular routine for years, all in the last era of when cars navigated pit road without a speed-limit rule.
NASCAR Images & Archives | Getty Images
“For a crew chief to be watching the race, calling the race, and then call a pit stop and get down off the box and go perform the pit stop?” Myers says with a sustained laugh. “That would be unheard of (today).”
The competition itself measured the elapsed time for the car tripping a timing light on its way to the pit stall, then the time for teams to change all four tires and add gas. That total included time penalties for loose lug nuts, errant tires and leftover fuel.
Shelmerdine recalls the No. 3 team lowering its record-setting time in each of its four consecutive victories. In 1987, when another crew introduced a new technique, the rest of the teams picked up on it; RCR’s group adapted quickest to the switch — without the benefit of practicing it beforehand.
Earnhardt — who won his third Cup Series title that season — joined in pushing the car to Victory Lane. “It was kind of funny because he got as big a kick out of us winning as we did,” Lind says.
A sign touting the pit-crew championship has sat alongside the Junk Yard Dogs photo at RCR for years, illustrating how those showcase wins were a point of pride for both driver and crew. Lind has won several championship rings during his time in the sport, but said he counts his pit-crew title ring among his most cherished.
The team’s success under that spotlight translated to a swagger, something that Earnhardt always seemed to have in stock.
“You’d walk through that garage area knowing that you were the pit-crew champions, you’d have your chest poked out a little bit,” Myers said. “To win that thing was really big.”
NASCAR Images & Archives | Getty Images
From the Junk Yard to the Hall
Kirk Shelmerdine admits that he lost track of the timing of Hall of Fame Voting Day last year. Day-to-day domestic tasks were on his list, and the gravity of the moment didn’t kick in until later.
“I was doing stuff around the house and then the phone started blowing up,” Shelmerdine recalled. “Holy smokes, here we go.”
Months after the news of his teammate’s enshrinement broke, Will Lind started making notes, mainly to document the team’s accomplishments. Since retiring from RCR in 2017, Lind’s slower-paced days now are kept occupied with leisurely car restoration and watching his grandchildren’s rec-sports games. His notes are an effort to preserve the firsthand memories from the crew’s busier times on the NASCAR circuit.
“I think the fact that even while we were doing it, I don’t think we realized that we were pretty good at it, you know what I mean?” Lind says. “Again, it sounds vain, but at the time, we were one of the few teams to win it back to back. I felt like I was almost in a coma while I was racing, because so many things went past in my life that I don’t even hardly remember. And we were all the same way; it wasn’t just me. I mean, we were all so focused on that deal.”
Those stories and remembrances from that era should be some of the highlights of induction night, when many of the RCR team are expected to gather and catch up with their former crew chief. Myers, whose gift of gab has a regular audience these days on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, has those stories in spades.
“We were winning races, we were winning championships, and when you went somewhere, people knew who you were and you wanted to kind of represent yourself and the company and the sponsor,” Myers says. “We were sponsored by Wrangler, so having a new pair of blue jeans, that wasn’t anything special. We were expected to do that and to really do well for the sponsor. But Shelmerdine, I don’t know if he ever wore new blue jeans. We would go somewhere and he would have the worst pair of blue jeans with holes in them sometimes. He was not the flamboyant guy. He was not the ‘look at me’ guy. He was not the guy that was polished when it came to the TV cameras. He was just Kirk. He said what he was thinking, he was not politically correct and it did not bother him to go out to eat with executives, when they were all suit and tie and he was blue jeans and a flannel shirt. That did not bother him at all. He was not self-conscious about it. I think the best way to say about Kirk, he was comfortable in his own skin.”
Comfortable, his former teammates recall, but also a reluctant star on one of the era’s top teams. “Misunderstood” was how Danny Lawrence, longtime engine builder and current RCR managing director of team alliances and Xfinity operations, described Shelmerdine, noting how his low-profile excellence was almost underestimated at the time.
“Kirk never went after that,” Lind says. “He never did interviews. Another thing that was probably as opposite about him and today’s crew chief is he was not all about being on TV and promoting himself, and he wasn’t even much about jumping up and down and hooting and hollering when we won the race. He was just a very low-key emotion kind of guy.
“So to see him in Hall of Fame, that makes you start looking at it. I knew I was lucky to be a part of something like that, after the fact. But to see that it’s finally getting rewarded and just to have been a small part of it is pretty satisfying.”
The spotlight he never really sought out will firmly be on Shelmerdine and his fellow inductees in Charlotte’s Crown Ballroom on Friday evening. Those suits and ties that he mingled with so effortlessly in the Wrangler days will be there, but expect a bit of Junk Yard Dog chic amid the more formal niceties.
“I think it’s a big deal, and I think it may be a bigger deal when it happens,” Myers says. “Whether it’s just him being nonchalant, not uptight or not worrying about it … it wouldn’t surprise me if he had on blue jeans or a flannel shirt, to be honest with you.”
Noah Gragson and Ty Gibbs have both been granted rookie status ahead of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, NASCAR announced Thursday.
Gragson, driver of the No. 42 LEGACY Motor Club Chevrolet, made 18 Cup Series starts last year, the majority of which came for Kaulig Racing in its No. 16 Chevrolet. Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, made 15 starts for 23XI Racing as Kurt Busch recovered from a concussion.
The duo will battle each other for 2023 Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors after heated battles the past two years in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Gibbs triumphed on Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway, taking home the 2022 Xfinity championship with his seventh win of the season and 11th of his career.
Gragson was victorious eight times last season and finished runner-up to Gibbs in the championship race by 0.397 seconds in his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. In total, Gragson has collected 13 Xfinity wins and two Craftsman Truck Series victories.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Sammy Smith and Parker Retzlaff will sport rookie stripes contending for the division’s Rookie of the Year honors. Smith, driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, made nine starts for JGR last season with a career-best finish of third. Retzlaff will pilot the No. 31 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet in 2023 after making five starts for RSS Racing and four for Our Motorsports in 2022.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will have a hefty dose of rookie contenders in 2023. GMS Racing teammates Rajah Caruth and Daniel Dye will battle Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez, Bill McAnally Racing’s Jake Garcia, and Bret Holmes Racing owner/driver Bret Holmes for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title.
CONCORD, N.C. – RFK Racing has announced that Castrol®, a partner of the team since 2019, has again expanded its partnership with the championship organization as part of a multi-year renewal. The iconic brand will continue to serve as the team’s official oil partner, while expanding its presence on Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford Mustang. Castrol will also be featured as a primary partner on both RFK entries during the 2023 season, highlighting the Castrol Edge brand.
“We’re thrilled to continue our relationship with Castrol, as they have been an invaluable partner for our organization in every aspect of our business,” said Steve Newmark, President of RFK Racing. “Their leading, best-in-class lubricants and technology have helped to improve our performance on the track, leading us back to victory lane this season, along with many other strong runs.
“Off the track, our collaboration around sustainability continues to generate feedback across our sport and beyond. As a team we are dedicated to maintaining our carbon-neutral efforts, and take pride in being the first team in our discipline to do so. Castrol has been the driving force behind that program and we’re looking forward to benefitting from their guidance and expertise in 2023 and beyond.”
Castrol’s 2023 debut comes at Auto Club Speedway (Feb. 26), where the NASCAR Cup Series is set to run the current 2-mile layout for the final time. The Fontana track will see a complete overhaul following that race weekend and feature a short track upon return in future seasons.
Castrol will also appear on Keselowski’s machine in the final race of the West Coast swing at Phoenix (March 12). The No. 6 will carry the colors at the spring Talladega race (April 23) where Keselowski leads all active drivers with six wins at the famed Alabama track. Other summer primaries include the Darlington Throwback race (May 14), and a return trip to Atlanta Motor Speedway (July 9).
The lubricant brand will close the year with three primary races in the NASCAR Playoffs on the No. 6 at Bristol (Sept. 16), the Charlotte ROVAL (Oct. 8) and the NASCAR Championship at Phoenix (Nov. 5).
Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Ford will carry the iconic Castrol colors in three races in 2023, first at Richmond Raceway (April 2) – a track where he finished third at in 2022. He will also carry the Castrol banner at Michigan (Aug. 6) and the Indianapolis Road Course (Aug. 13).
Buescher enters his eighth full season of Cup Series competition in 2023, and comes off the best season of his career with 10 top-10 finishes and a memorable win in the Bristol Night Race. Keselowski embarks on his 14th full season in the NCS in 2023 and second as co-owner and driver at RFK.
Before he hits the NASCAR Cup Series circuit one more time in 2023, Kevin Harvick appeared on the season premiere of the “Stacking Pennies” podcast hosted by Corey LaJoie and Ryan Flores. The 2014 Cup Series champion delved into a number of topics from his early racing days to transitioning his focus to family once his NASCAR career closes at Phoenix Raceway in November.
The initial point Harvick made on the podcast was that 2023 will be his official endpoint competing in NASCAR.
“At the end of the year, I’m done Cup racing,” Harvick said. “What that legacy is when we get to the end of 2023, that’s what it is. I’m fortunate to have been able to accomplish a lot of things in the sport. I feel really comfortable with where I’m at as far as what I’ve been able to do and there’s other things that I want to do.”
Harvick’s main focus after racing will be geared toward building up his son Keelan’s racing career and guiding him as he climbs the ranks. Harvick said he wanted his son to travel not only to gain some cultural knowledge but to learn how to handle a finish when he doesn’t win.
With helping Keelan, Harvick said he leaned in on the good and bad experiences of being coached by his father and knowing which buttons to push.
“It got to a point with my dad where I didn’t speak to him for 10-15 years so it was a big wedge but there were a lot of things that were right as far as handling things and pushing past barriers,” Harvick said. “I’m pretty strict with Keelan as far as being responsible for the things he does and sometimes it’s a little too far but I think we’ve found a pretty good balance. How do you know you are pushing your kid too far unless you push him too far? You don’t know how it’s going to affect him unless you get right up to that edge.”
Twenty-one-time Cup Series winner Jeff Burton also provided Harvick with some coaching tips, telling the soon-to-be full-time dad to “coach through the coach,” according to Harvick.
At just the age of 25, Harvick had to promptly take over the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt. Though Harvick had already run a full season with RCR in the Xfinity Series and a few preseason test sessions in the No. 3, he said there were challenges trying to build chemistry with the team.
“Having to race that car with those guys, they weren’t a bad group of guys but they were built for Earnhardt,” Harvick said. “They were his age. They were his mentality and all the guys that I had in the Xfinity Series weren’t a part of it.”
Despite being vaulted into the Cup Series earlier than planned, Harvick said scoring his first win and having one of the toughest press conferences as early as he did eliminated some of the hardest tasks that came with competing at the Cup level.
Running races in both the Xfinity and Cup Series in 2002 led to Harvick’s tempers boiling over when certain weekends didn’t go his way. LaJoie referenced Harvick’s infamous Victory Lane takeover at Bristol Motor Speedway after Harvick was spun by that race’s winner Greg Biffle. Flores noted the Richmond post-race run-in with Ricky Rudd and jumping up on the hood of Rudd’s Wood Brothers Racing Ford.
Harvick explained what his plan was with his young crew, which was all-in with Harvick leading the way.
“When you’re running bad, sometimes you put on a show,” he said. “In this sport, you have to keep yourself relevant. We wanted to cause as much chaos as we could.”
However, when asked about the Texas incident with Brad Keselowski and Jeff Gordon in 2014 — when Harvick gave Keselowski a shove toward Gordon, sparking a melee — Harvick didn’t reflect too fondly on that night.
“I don’t know what I was thinking there,” he said. “For me, my mind was ‘we didn’t win tonight, we need chaos.’ I went back into that showman thing and we wanted these guys to be the story since we didn’t win tonight. Well, it worked. I feel dumb for that but in the end, we made it to Homestead. We needed the story to go elsewhere other than us and being out of contention.”
Harvick said he took all the lessons from his time at RCR and matured alongside crew chief Rodney Childers which led to a fruitful tenure at Stewart-Haas Racing, including a series championship, and why now is the right time for him to step away.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 18, 2023) – NASCAR on Wednesday announced that Elton Sawyer has been named its Senior Vice President of Competition, replacing Scott Miller, who will assume the newly formed role of Competition Strategist within the NASCAR Competition team after a more than 40-year career in motorsports.
NASCAR also announced the promotions of several individuals to key positions within its Competition leadership team. John Probst has been promoted to NASCAR Chief Racing Development Officer; Dr. Eric Jacuzzi has been promoted to NASCAR Vice President, Vehicle Performance; Dr. John Patalak has been promoted to NASCAR Vice President, Safety Engineering; and Brandon Thomas has been promoted to NASCAR Vice President, Vehicle Design.
“Elton Sawyer has shown incredible versatility throughout his four-plus decades in motorsports,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer. “Following his lengthy driving career, Elton held key leadership positions for several race teams and here at NASCAR for the last eight seasons. He will excel in this role, and we look forward to watching him continue to grow the Competition team during this crucial era in our sport’s history.
“We are thrilled that Scott Miller has chosen to remain a key part of the NASCAR Competition team. When he joined NASCAR in 2016, Scott lent immediate credibility to the position. A trusted voice in the garage, Scott used his decades of experience to lead our Competition team to new heights during a time that saw a new race format, a new playoff format and a new race car. The mark he leaves on the organization is significant.
“John Probst’s leadership and tireless devotion in the development of the Next Gen car over the last three years has been extraordinary. This project was among the most challenging and important endeavors in NASCAR history, and leaders like Probst, Dr. Eric Jacuzzi, Dr. John Patalak, Brandon Thomas and many others worked incredibly hard to not only put this car on the race track, but to make it a success for our industry and our fans.”
Sawyer joined NASCAR in February of 2015 as managing director of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Most recently, he held the role of NASCAR vice president, technical inspection and officiating, a role he assumed in 2016. In that capacity, Sawyer oversaw race event management, transportation and NASCAR official training and development.
In his new role, Sawyer will oversee all aspects of on-track competition, inspection, rule development and officiating, focusing specifically on NASCAR’s three national series – the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
“I have been a proud member of this extraordinary team for eight years, and I look forward to continuing to help grow the outstanding competition we’ve seen over the last several seasons,” Sawyer said. “NASCAR racing has been my life for decades. I have a deep passion for the sport, and am honored to be in a position to help shepherd the Competition team during these exciting times.”
Sawyer began his racing career competing at Langley Speedway in his home state of Virginia. He debuted on the NASCAR national series scene in 1983, racing in what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Prior to joining NASCAR, Sawyer served as Director of Team Operations for IMSA’s Action Express Racing. He has also previously held competition roles at Red Bull Racing and Evernham Motorsports.
Miller has decided to step down from his post after seven seasons leading NASCAR’s at-track competition team, an era that included transformative growth and some of the strongest competition in the sport’s history.
“After more than 40 years around race cars week after week, it’s time to step back and look at the next chapter of my life in motorsports,” Miller said. “I’m thankful to the France Family and everyone at NASCAR for the opportunity they gave me seven years ago, and I appreciate the chance to stay in the fold to help however and wherever I can. We have a strong team at NASCAR, and I’m excited to remain a part of it.”
Joining NASCAR in December of 2015, Miller will remain with the sanctioning body as its Competition Strategist. In this capacity, Miller’s focus will center on several ‘big picture’ special projects such as the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway and the Chicago Street Course race, as well as long-lead planning around NASCAR Competition strategy.
Probst, who most recently held the title of Senior Vice President of Racing Innovation, oversaw the development and evolution of the Next Gen race car, a groundbreaking innovation that produced several on-track competition superlatives – including a record-tying 19 different race winners during its debut season. Probst joined NASCAR in 2016, providing senior oversight of an engineering group that develops and incorporates new technology into all aspects of NASCAR competition. Prior to NASCAR, Probst spent 10 years as the Technical Director for both Chip Ganassi Racing (2011-16) and Red Bull Racing (2006-11). Probst began his career as an engineer for Ford Motor Company in 1994.
Jacuzzi, who manages aerodynamic engineering for NASCAR, joined the sanctioning body after working as a computational aerodynamicist for Corvid Technologies and was assigned to Richard Childress Racing. Since joining NASCAR in 2014, Jacuzzi has led the team tasked to design the aerodynamic elements of the race vehicles for all three national series – including the Next Gen car – as well as the Garage 56 car scheduled to run in the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Patalak, who has worked at the NASCAR R&D Center since 2005, oversees NASCAR’s safety team, researching, developing and approving driver and vehicle safety systems. In this role, Patalak also investigates all crashes and driver protection issues. Prior to NASCAR he worked for an engineering consulting firm specializing in vehicle crashworthiness and occupant protection.
Thomas joined NASCAR in 2019 following time as a crew chief and engineer with Richard Childress Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Petty Enterprises, Red Bull Racing and Hall of Fame Racing. Brought to NASCAR to help shepherd the Next Gen project, Thomas led the day-to-day management of the Next Gen car since the beginning of the development cycle in 2019.
Kaulig Racing announced Wednesday that Chandler Smith will attempt to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in next month’s Daytona 500.
Smith is set to drive the No. 13 Chevrolet for the Matt Kaulig-owned team in a bid to qualify for the “Great American Race” on Feb. 19 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM). Smith indicated that the “Great American Race” is part of a five-race deal for Smith, who will carry sponsorship from Quick Tie Products in his efforts.
Smith was announced last October as part of Kaulig Racing’s full-time driver lineup for the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2023. The 20-year-old Georgia native will drive the No. 16 Chevy as a replacement for AJ Allmendinger, who returns to the Cup Series full-time this season as a teammate to Justin Haley.
If Smith makes the 40-car starting lineup for the 500 through pole qualifying (Feb. 15) or the Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races (Feb. 16), he would give Kaulig Racing a three-car effort in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The field of “open” cars without charters and guaranteed Daytona 500 starting spots is growing, with seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson, Travis Pastrana, Austin Hill and Truck Series champ Zane Smith among those competing for four starting berths.
Smith made three Xfinity Series starts for Sam Hunt Racing last season ahead of his rookie Xfinity campaign. He’ll team up with returning drivers Daniel Hemric and part-timer Landon Cassill in Kaulig’s Xfinity lineup for 2023.
Smith scored five victories in the Craftsman Truck Series during the last two seasons, reaching the Championship 4 round of the playoffs in 2022. He wound up third in the overall standings last year, finishing behind series champ and race winner Zane Smith and runner-up Ben Rhodes.
Three NASCAR legends will be inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame Friday evening at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina. Among the remarkable list of nominees for the 2023 class, drivers Matt Kenseth and Hershel McGriff will be enshrined alongside crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine.
Here is everything you need to know about the drivers and 2023 ceremony, including broadcast and ticket information:
NEW INDUCTEES
• Matt Kenseth: Kenseth spent over 20 seasons racing in the Cup Series, highlighted by his 2003 championship. The 2000 Rookie of the Year amassed 39 wins, including two in the Daytona 500, en route to a highly successful premier series career. Kenseth also raced in the Xfinity Series, collecting 29 victories and ranking eighth on the all-time chart. | More on Kenseth
• Hershel McGriff: McGriff burst onto the premier series scene at age 22 and wrapped up his career with four wins in 87 starts. He also shined in the Pro Series West, now known as the ARCA Menards Series West, tallying over 30 wins in his career. McGriff was also named to the “NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers” list released in 1998. | More on McGriff
• Kirk Shelmerdine: Shelmerdine spent 1977-1992 as a crew chief in the premier series, first reaching the sport’s pinnacle at just 25 years old. Throughout that time, he captured four championships (1986, 1987, 1990 and 1991) with Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt. Before retiring from atop the pit box to pursue a career as a driver, Shelmerdine racked up 46 wins and 15 pole awards. | More on Shelmerdine
Note: Former NASCAR President and current Vice Chairman Mike Helton will also be honored as the 2023 recipient of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR. | More on Helton
Thursday, Jan. 19 • 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Class of 2023 Induction: Insider Experience inside the High Octane Theater
Friday, Jan. 20 • 4:30 p.m., Red Carpet arrivals begin inside the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Great Hall
• 4:40 p.m., Red Carpet live stream on NASCAR’s digital and social platforms • 6 p.m., NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction dinner (invite only) • 8 p.m., NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Saturday, Jan. 21 • 11 a.m. to 11:30 am., Class of 2023 Storytelling inside the High Octane Theater • 11:30 a.m. to noon, Class of 2023 Membership Plaque Presentation inside the High Octane Theater
Tickets are currently on sale for friends and fans to attend Friday evening’s induction ceremony. The NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony will air live on Peacock at 8 p.m. ET and will simultaneously be broadcast on the Motor Racing Network (MRN). Prior to the show, NASCAR.com and NASCAR’s YouTube platform will host a Red Carpet live stream. For more information on Peacock’s streaming service, click here. For more information on MRN and Friday evening’s radio broadcast, click here.
LOS ANGELES(Jan. 17, 2023) – A NASCAR first will occur on Sunday, Feb. 5. The sanctioning body announced today that the top-three finishers in the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum will be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.
The medal ceremony will take place on a podium in Victory Lane, which is located beneath the Olympic cauldron at the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s senior vice president for racing development and strategy, will present the medals to cap this historic event.
“These will be tremendous prizes for our drivers who are competing inside a venue that’s hosted two Olympic Games and is preparing for a third,” Kennedy said. “Not only do the medals honor the rich tradition of this stadium, but they also provide a special element unique to NASCAR’s 75th anniversary.”
Jostens will produce these exquisite medals, along with the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum Trophy that’s presented to the winner of the season-opening exhibition. Each custom-crafted keepsake features the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum logo beautifully embossed on one side. The other side features the Coliseum’s centennial mark and the NASCAR 75th Anniversary logo.
The race winner’s medal weighs 4.7 ounces and is covered in 24-karat plated gold. It will certainly gleam beneath the Coliseum lights and iconic flame that towers above the temporary, quarter-mile asphalt track.
NASCAR announced earlier this month that 27 cars will compete in the 150-lap Clash main event. Up to 40 NASCAR Cup Series drivers will attempt to qualify for that main event via four heat races and two last-chance qualifiers that will determine the final field of 27.
Practice and qualifying for the 2023 Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum will begin at 3 p.m. PT on Saturday, Feb. 4. Heat races will begin at 2 p.m. PT on Sunday, Feb. 5, followed by a performance from hip-hop legends Cypress Hill. And then shortly after 5 p.m. PT, the green flag will drop on the main event, which will feature a special mid-race performance by Wiz Khalifa. It’s one of the many anticipated events taking place this year as a part of the venue’s centennial anniversary celebration – “Coliseum Forever.”
Tickets for the 2023 Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum begin at $65, and kids 12-and-under are $10. Fans who want to take their race-day experience to the next level can upgrade to the Ally Pre-Race Party, which includes brunch, a drink ticket for Busch & Coca-Cola products, exclusive entertainment, a pre-race track walk and a special appearance from driver Alex Bowman. Fans are encouraged to get their tickets now while supplies last by visiting www.nascarclash.com.
College students can experience the Busch Light Clash from The Coca-Cola Torch Party Porch for just $40. This standing-room-only general admission section, located on the Coliseum’s peristyle steps, provides college students with up-close access to all of the musical entertainment, driver introductions and racing action. College students can take advantage of this exclusive offer by visiting www.nascarclash.com/student.
