Matt DiBenedetto searching for historic win, redemption at Road America

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Sean Montgomery

It has been nearly two years since Matt DiBenedetto was last seated in a race car at Road America, the site of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series Jockey Made in America 250 presented by Kwik Trip (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). A lot of things have changed since then, but for DiBenedetto, the focus remains on a race for redemption and a chance to solidify his name among renowned names in NASCAR history.

RELATED: Road America schedule | Learn more about Road America

DiBenedetto’s lone start at the technical, 14-turn Wisconsin track came in 2019 by way of an Xfinity Series seat for Joe Gibbs Racing. In a field packed with skilled road-course drivers like AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindricc, it was DiBenedetto who led almost twice as many laps as anyone else in the 38-driver field. Chasing down race-leader Bell on the final lap, DiBenedetto spun in the final turn and limped home with a 27th-place finish.

“We led a lot of laps but we kinda threw the race away,” DiBenedetto told NASCAR.com. “I wish we could go back and redo that one. We were easily the fastest car on the race track and I made mistakes, we had a blow-up of a pit stop and I didn’t do a good enough job of trying to recover from that many mistakes and yeah, the win slipped away from us. That one still haunts me to this day.”

Now, the driver in his second season with the Wood Brothers Racing is focused on controlling the positives and capitalizing on a new opportunity this weekend.

“It’s still encouraging though that we were really fast,” DiBenedetto said. “[Road America] is a track that I really love and it’s one of my favorite places that we go to. So there are a lot of positives on that side of it and I’m fortunate that I have been there a few times.”

With NASCAR’s premier series heading back to Elkhart Lake for the first time since 1956, DiBenedetto’s in-race experience gives him a slight edge with the No. 21 crew pushing for consecutive playoff berths for the first time under the new format. Entering the weekend, DiBenedetto’s camp sits 60 points behind 14th place in the playoff standings, the current cutline (based on drivers that don’t have wins in the standings).

RELATED: Who’s on the playoff bubble?

“Our number one goal has been to make the playoffs,” DiBenedetto said. “I’ll be honest, we’ve had probably the roughest luck, circumstances, whatever you want to call it in my career this year. It just feels like nothing is lined up, we have not had smooth races and when we do, it’s like, ‘Alright, yeah we have a top 10 run going’ and then we have an electrical issue or something. It’s just been one thing after another.”

Through race 19 out of 36, DiBenedetto remains winless and is on pace for fewer top 10 runs than a season ago when he had a career-best 11 top-10 finishes. In early June, the team made a major change, tasking Jonathan Hassler — a long-time Team Penske engineer — with getting them back on track for a late-season push.

But the changes and adversity haven’t distracted him from one of his biggest personal goals — a historic milestone that would turn the entire season, and perhaps his career, around.

“I really want to get that 100th win for the Wood brothers,” DiBenedetto said. “We have the strength to do that as a team, just need some things to fall a little bit our way.”

Sitting on 99 wins since Ryan Blaney’s 2017 triumph at Pocono Raceway, the milestone victory for DiBenedetto would solidify him among all-time great names for the longest continuously operating team in the series. It would also mark his first career victory in the Cup Series. He nearly achieved the goal a season ago, finishing a heartbreaking runner-up in both races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He also led taking the white-flag lap at Talladega Superspeedway this spring.

RELATED: Betting odds for Road America

In spite of all the pressure as the regular season winds down, DiBenedetto is confident that he and his team are moving in the right direction.

“Like many teams, we have had to work improving our road course program,” DiBenedetto said. “We were a little weak there. But I think we are making some gains and I’m excited to see where we fall at Road America.”

Posted on July 2, 2021July 2, 2021 by Staff Report

Want a chance to win $444 on the Fourth of July?

Busch is celebrating the Fourth of July weekend by giving out $444 every time Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford is driving during a lap with the number “4” in it in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Road America (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). That means, you potentially have 15 shots (Laps 4, 14, 24, 34, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 54) to win some money and a Busch Light Apple cooler. Harvick must complete the lap for there to be a winner for the particular lap.

RELATED: Road America weekend schedule

How do you enter for a shot to win? Follow @BuschBeer on Twitter, turn on your notifications and tweet #BuschLightApple and #Sweepstakes during the laps with a “4” in them for your chance to win!

Coming into Sunday’s race at Road America, Harvick is ninth in the point standings. His 14 top 10s are tied for the most in the series through 19 races. He also has six top fives on the season with a best finish of second at Kansas Speedway. The race at the Wisconsin road course will be Harvick’s first start there across any national series and marks the Cup Series’ first start there since 1956.

Sunday’s race also marks Harvick’s first of the season with Busch Light Apple adorning his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. The Busch Light Apple colors were on his car last year for three races — including two victories at Michigan last August.

Busch Light Apple is a crisp, refreshing, apple-flavored lager with a touch of sweet on the front end and a clear, beer finish on the back end. It is available for a limited time only in 12-, 24- and 30-packs at a store near you.

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Marcus DiNitto

With the NASCAR Cup Series visiting its fourth road course of the 2021 season, Chase Elliott overtakes teammate Kyle Larson as the betting favorite to win Sunday’s event at Road America. The Jockey Made in America 250 presented by Kwik Trip (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the seventh straight race in which one of these two Hendrick drivers has had the shortest price, Elliott has been the chalk for the three road races during this span.

Elliott, though, is out of form. While he’s been far and away the series’ best road course driver in recent seasons, the No. 9 Chevrolet finished 27th, 12th and 39th the last three Cup races. That explains the lengthening of his odds for this weekend’s race in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, from his prices at the two most recent races on road courses.

Elliott is offered at a market consensus 5/2 (+250, or bet $100 to win $250) to take the checkers in Cheeseland, longer odds than his +200 at Sonoma in June and +180 at the Circuit of The Americas in May.

Second on this week’s oddsboard is Larson, who despite some hiccups at the Pocono doubleheader last weekend, continues to look like the best driver in the field. He has three wins (including Sonoma) and four second-place finishes over the last eight points-paying races. This week, Larson can be had for +350 at a variety of sportsbooks around the country.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch are the only two other drivers listed in single-digit odds in early wagering. Truex (market consensus of 6/1 odds) is excellent on road courses, tallying two wins, a 7.91 average finish and 116.1 average rating in the 11 road course races since 2018. Busch (market consensus of 8/1 odds) frequently runs near the front but is wildly inconsistent on these layouts. He has four top 5s but no wins, an 18.82 average finish and a 94.8 rating over that same 11-race span.

As impressive as Truex’s past performances have been, Elliott is a master of the road course domain. Over those 11 races, Elliott has six wins, a 6.91 average finish and a 125.0 rating. While those numbers easily justify a play at 5/2 odds, it’s up to bettors to weigh them against his recent overall struggles.

Crashing the party

Nine of Sunday’s top 10 favorites are either from the Hendrick, Gibbs or Penske garages. The outlier? AJ Allmendinger, ninth on the betting board at 25/1 odds at BetMGM.

While The Dinger hasn’t been a Cup regular since 2018, Kaulig Racing has been putting him in the No. 16 Chevy for select road course races this season – and with solid returns. Allmendinger finished fifth in Austin and seventh on the Daytona Road Course.

In five road course races since 2018, Allmendinger has a top five and three top 10s, plus a respectable 14.40 average finish and 81.8 rating.

So respected is Allmendinger this week that SuperBook USA in Las Vegas matches him against drivers from each of the top three teams in head-to-head props. Here are those lines as of Thursday afternoon:

Joey Logano -140 vs. Allmendinger +120
Denny Hamlin -130 vs. Allmendinger +110
William Byron -110 vs. Allmendinger -110

Also, Allmendinger is the +220 favorite in a group matchup with Ryan Blaney (+280), Kevin Harvick (+300) and Christopher Bell (+300).

At Barstool Sportsbook, he is +650 to finish in the top three, +300 for top five and -106 for top 10.

Thoughts from a pro

From a handicapping perspective, road courses are relatively easy to figure out and therefore tough for bettors to beat. While that may sound counterintuitive, such predictability means the odds are usually sharp, making it more difficult to find an edge.

Zack White gambles professionally and counts NASCAR as one of his sports, but road course races are among those he stays away from.

“Historically, I just haven’t had good results (on road course races),” White said. “I feel like it’s easier for the bookmakers to get it right when they’re hanging the lines. Drivers are either good at road courses or they’re not, or they either have good equipment or they don’t. So it’s easier for them to price. Also, I just need a need a week off every now and then, and it feels like the easiest ones to take.”

For those of us who just have to get some action down, the suggestion is to target drivers with high levels of skill.

“Some tracks I call skill tracks. Anytime you’ve got to do shifting or breaking or turns that are more than just a wide one and two, three and four, like the D-ovals and stuff, the driver’s skill comes into play,” White added. “Some of the other tracks, you could put anybody in Kyle Larson’s car and send them around Atlanta with a gas pedal all the way to the floor, and they’re going to do pretty well.”

Marcus DiNitto is a writer and editor living in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has been covering sports for nearly two-and-a-half decades and sports betting for more than 10 years. His first NASCAR betting experience was in 1995 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where he went 0-for-3 on his matchup picks. Read his articles and follow him on Twitter; do not bet his picks.

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Zach Sturniolo

For the first time since 1956, the NASCAR Cup Series will navigate the twists, turns, inclines and declines of Road America. How fitting the reunion takes place on Sunday, July 4 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The NASCAR Xfinity Series has journeyed to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, since 2010, so teams’ notebooks aren’t totally empty. Break out the brats and cheese curds as we sort through another new venue on the Cup Series circuit.

FAN ATTENDANCE

Road America’s return to the Cup schedule will be held in front of a full throng of fans roaming around America’s National Park of Speed.

For more information on how the facility is protecting fans from COVID-19 and any other questions about navigating the facility, check out the track’s website here.

RULES PACKAGE

As with all road courses on the 2021 Cup calendar, teams will utilize the low-downforce, high-horsepower package this weekend in Wisconsin. With 750 HP under the hood, teams will also have shorter spoilers and splitters to lessen the impact of aerodynamics.

GOODYEAR TIRES

Teams will receive three sets of tires for Saturday’s practice session, one for qualifying and six for Sunday’s race. This week’s tire compound will be the same as utilized at Circuit of the Americas, the most recently raced new road course on the Cup calendar this season.

“Road America is one of several road courses at which we will run the same tire code this season,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “All three national series ran this tire at COTA in May and the Xfinity cars ran it again at Mid-Ohio in June, with it coming back again at Indianapolis in August. It helps teams to have a common tire at different tracks because they can start to build a notebook on that tire and remove that variable from how they approach tracks that are of different lengths, number of turns and balance between straightaways and corners.”

PRACTICE & QUALIFYING

Because Cup cars have yet to traverse the hilly, twisty terrain of Road America, teams will be afforded one practice session on Saturday (12:35 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN) before qualifying Sunday morning (11:05 a.m. ET, CNBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NASCAR HISTORY AT ROAD AMERICA

— Tim Flock won the Cup Series’ lone race on the original course in 1956 driving a Mercury. His average speed was 71.2 mph.

— The track was built in the early 1950s, a project headed by highway designer Clif Tufte, before hosting its first race in 1955, a Sports Car Club of America competition for its Chicago region.

— There will have been 23,702 days between the 1956 Cup race and the 2021 date, the longest gap between races in series history.

— Four past Road America winners from the Xfinity Series will compete in Sunday’s Cup Series event: AJ Allmendinger (2013 winner), Michael McDowell (2016), Christopher Bell (2019) and Austin Cindric (2020).

— Road America will be the third “new” track on the Cup schedule in the last seven weeks.

Source: Racing Insights

ODDS ARE…

If one thing is true, regardless of whether a track is new, Chase Elliott is the man to beat on road courses.

Elliott has won five of the last seven road course races and enters Road America as the favorite at 23-10 odds, courtesy of BetMGM. Kyle Larson, who won the most recent road course race at Sonoma Raceway, enters not far behind at 14-5 odds while Martin Truex Jr. sits at 13-2 odds.

On the surface, Truex would seem like a great bet with wins in three of the last 12 road course races. But use caution with Truex this week: The No. 19 team has finished outside the top 10 in six of the last seven Cup races, the lone exception being a third-place finish at Sonoma.

But if you’re looking for a sleeper, consider Alex Bowman. The winner of last Saturday’s race at Pocono Raceway, Bowman has four straight top 10s on road courses and has never finished worse than 14th on a road course since joining Hendrick Motorsports.

ODDS: See the betting lines for Road America

ROAD AMERICA STORY LINES

— Road America now boasts the longest track distance in the sport at 4.048 miles with a straightaway that’s 4,405 feet long and 36 feet wide.

— After Darlington Raceway in May, Kyle Larson trailed points-leader Denny Hamlin by 144 points. That gap has shrunken to just two points as Hamlin barely maintains his point lead.

— With top 10s in three of his last four races, Kurt Busch has snuck his way back into the Playoffs and sits +3 on the cut line entering this weekend’s race at Road America.

— Kyle Larson has already won four races this year, but he could have as many as nine if not for late-race mistakes that took him out of contention.

— With a win last Sunday at Pocono, Kyle Busch has taken sole ownership of No. 9 in all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins with 59 victories. Next in line? Dale Earnhardt, who won 76 races.

— Nineteen races into the season, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin both remain winless after combining for 16 victories in 2020.

— Kyle Larson maintains the longest top-10 streak of his career with eight in a row, including a ninth-place finish in Pocono 1 despite blowing a left-front tire and impacting the wall in the final turn that cost him a fourth consecutive win.

Source: Racing Insights

FANTASY LIVE

Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts. It’s not too late to join in on the competition.

The 2021 Fantasy Live points leaders are Denny Hamlin (757), Kyle Larson (745) and William Byron (681).

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM

Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.

New for this season, NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement in the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.

Posted on July 1, 2021July 1, 2021 by Chase Wilhelm

The NASCAR Cup Series will hit the track at Road America for the first time since 1956 with Sunday’s Jockey Made in America 250 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), while the Xfinity Series races the Henry 180 on Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

But before all the action, we analyze all the twists and turns of the 14-turn, 4.048-mile Road America course to get you ready for a historic Fourth of July weekend. See the turn-by-turn breakdown below as we ride along with Justin Haley during Xfinity Series action in 2020.

TURN 1: Cars will rocket from the start-finish line downhill to the first turn of the road course, which is a flat right-hand corner. Drivers will be heavy on the brakes to make it through without going into the run-off area.

TURNS 2 & 3: The second turn is less of a corner and more of a little right-hand kink in the track before reaching Turn 3. Cars will gain a bit of speed before decelerating and downshifting for the right-hander.

TURN 4: Like Turn 2, the fourth turn is more of a right-hand kink in the longer straightaway as drivers approach Turn 5.

TURN 5: After gaining a decent amount of speed in Turn 4 through the Moraine Sweep, drivers will be on the brakes and likely downshifting to first gear entering the first left-hand turn on the road course.

TURN 6 & 7: The left-hand sixth turn will come quickly after a short chute up the hill, as drivers will move up to second gear, staying in the same gear through the right-hand Turn 7.

TURN 8: Drivers will hurry up through Hurry Downs to grab third gear out of Turn 7 before downshifting right back to second gear for the left-hand eighth turn, one of the sharpest turns on the course.

TURNS 9 & 10: This is what’s referred to as “The Carousel” portion of the course, which is a long, sweeping right-hand series of corners. Drivers will roll through the turn in second gear and feather the throttle in order to carry speed through it without going over the edge.

TURN 11: Drivers will grab third gear coming out of the Carousel and roll through this slight right-hander — the Kink. It’s not a heavy braking zone, but they will need to be careful when they get back on the throttle.

TURN 12: Drivers will be in fourth gear through Kettle Bottoms and downshift all the way down to second and heavy on the brakes for Canada Corner, the right-hand 12th turn.

TURN 13: Drivers will stay in second gear after Turn 12 and roll through this left-hand corner — the Bill Mitchell Bend — without upshifting going uphill.

TURN 14: The final corner is a right-hander as drivers will roll through it still in second gear before launching back out onto the frontstretch and upshifting up the hill to fourth gear back to the start-finish line.

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Reid Spencer

In compiling a series-best four NASCAR Xfinity victories so far this season, Austin Cindric has won on four distinctly different tracks — the Daytona superspeedway; the flat, one-mile asphalt Phoenix; the high-banked, one-mile concrete at Dover; and the 2.5-mile triangular Pocono, with its three distinct corners.

A surprising absence from Cindric’s resume this year is a road course win — given that road course racing generally is acknowledged as his forte. But the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford hopes to correct that omission in Saturday’s Henry 180 at Road America (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The defending winner of last year’s Xfinity Series race at the 4.048-mile circuit, Cindric also will race in the Cup event there on Sunday.

“It’s just a classic race track,” Cindric says. “There’s no two ways about it. I’m excited for this weekend, mainly because Road America always pulls a great crowd. It’s a great atmosphere.

“It’s Fourth of July weekend, and I feel like there’s a really passionate short-track racing fan base in that part of the country, and that part of the country hasn’t had a Cup race in I don’t know how long. So I’m excited to see the turnout. It should be a really fun weekend.”

Cindric will face stiff competition if he hopes to go back-to-back at Road America. Road course ace AJ Allmendinger and JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier are Xfinity Series regulars who have won at the track.

In addition, NASCAR Cup Series stars Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are competing in the lower series to get additional track time. Busch won his 100th Xfinity Series race June 19 at Nashville Superspeedway, extending his own series record.

“Being able to come to a new track — when everything was announced that we were coming here — I wanted to run there as much as I could,” says Busch, who has never raced at Road America. “We were able to work it out so both myself and Ty (Gibbs) can run here, as well, so I think it’s beneficial for both of us.

“He loves road racing, too. It was kind of a perfect scenario — being able to get in the Xfinity Series and be able to practice in both of those races. I’m hoping it will be a really good weekend for us.”

Gibbs has posted seven top fives in eight starts in a part-time role this year. He won at the Daytona Road Course in his first start in the series and picked up a second victory on the Charlotte oval. Because both Gibbs and Busch are competing in the Xfinity race, Gibbs will drive the No. 81 Toyota instead of the No. 54, which Busch will drive.

Posted on July 1, 2021July 1, 2021 by Sean Montgomery

Over 140 points sat between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson in the regular-season standings after the Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway on May 9. Just 53 days and seven points-paying races later, his enormous lead has dwindled to a microscopic two-point margin over Larson, who may be the most dialed-in driver on the planet right now.

RELATED: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule

Since Darlington, Larson and the entire Hendrick Motorsports camp has been nearly unstoppable. Before Kyle Busch’s superior strategy paid off in race two at Pocono Raceway, Hendrick drivers had won six in a row.

If not for a blown tire on the final lap in the first ‘Tricky Triangle” race, Larson would have won his fourth consecutive outing — five, if you include the non-points event of the NASCAR All-Star Race — and would be leading the series standings. Nonetheless, the No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet driver’s historic run has him hot on Hamlin’s heels with just seven races remaining in the regular season.

Kyle Larson closing the points gap to Denny Hamlin
Darlington Raceway	144
Dover International Speedway	142
Circuit of the Americas	110
Charlotte Motor Speedway	76
Sonoma Raceway	47
Nashville Superspeedway	10
Pocono Raceway 1	8
Pocono Raceway 2	2

Winning a handful of races puts you in a good position initially, but as you get deeper into the playoffs, the margin for error is much slimmer. Not only does the regular-season champion get to add another prestigious award to their trophy case, but they also carry an extra 15 playoff points into the postseason. The 15 playoff points you get for winning the regular-season title can be the difference between reaching the Championship 4 and potentially earning the right to hoist the Bill France Cup or watching another team celebrate a title in Victory Lane.

Last season, just eight points kept Kevin Harvick from advancing to the Championship 4 and proved that every single point matters.

Despite being winless so far, Hamlin’s incredible run of form early has afforded him a cushion. But wins are likely the only thing that will keep him out in front for much longer based on Larson and Hendrick’s current pace. The good news for Hamlin and the rest of the No. 11 crew is that he has at least one win at each of the remaining tracks on the schedule, excluding Road America — the lone premier series race was in 1956 — and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, which is entirely new to the Cup Series.

As for Larson, if you discount the tire mishap in the first race a Pocono, he hasn’t finished a race outside of the top two since Kansas Speedway on May 2 (a race he led 132 laps in). In addition to the long string of excellent finishes, he has also crept closer to the hardware by scoring stage points in 28 of the 30 stages and collecting a series-high 12 stage wins — over twice as many as Hamlin sitting in second with five.

Looking ahead to this Sunday’s Jockey Made in America 250 presented by Kwik Trip at Road America (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM), Larson has the slight edge based on momentum and a seventh-place run in an Xfinity Series start at Road America in 2013. He is also one of the few Cup Series drivers to win at a road course during Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr.’s recent reign of dominance after his win at Sonoma back in June.

But don’t completely write off Hamlin. He has finished three of the last five road-course races in the top 10 and still holds the series’ best average running position at 6.708 and best average finish at 8.526. The No. 11 wheelman has only had one winless season in his entire 16-year full-time premier series career, so the odds are currently in his favor.

Neither driver can afford to make a big mistake at this point in the season. Both drivers and teams will need to be on their best each week with the regular-season trophy and additional points on the line.

Stats provided by Racing Insights

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Adam Fenwick

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Donny Schatz to the stage.

Schatz, a 10-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion, is scheduled to make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut when the series visits Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway for the first time on July 9.

The native of Minot, North Dakota, might be new to NASCAR, but he is far from a rookie at the historic half-mile oval, despite the yellow stripe that will be on the bumper of the No. 17 Ford F-150 fielded by David Gilliland Racing that Schatz will drive at Knoxville.

The 43-year-old Schatz has more experience at Knoxville Raceway than nearly all the other expected entries for the Corn Belt 150 put together. The lone exception is Brian Brown, a four-time Knoxville track champion, who will also make his Camping World Truck Series debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports at Knoxville.

Schatz, who drives for Tony Stewart Racing, is one of the most prolific winners in Knoxville Raceway history. Knoxville Raceway has hosted the Knoxville Nationals, considered the biggest and most prestigious race in all of sprint car racing, since 1961. In the last 15 years, Schatz has won that event an astounding 10 times.

RELATED: Camping World Truck Series schedule | Buy tickets

Included in that stretch are streaks of four-straight wins from 2006 to ’09 and five-straight wins from 2011 to ’15. He earned his most recent Knoxville Nationals victory in 2017. In addition, Schatz has finished second in the Nationals seven times since 2000. He has 27 career victories at Knoxville, which ranks 10th all-time in the 410 sprint car division despite having never raced there on a weekly basis. Brown, meanwhile, has won 53 features at the Sprint Car Capital of the World.

Away from Knoxville, Schatz is just as good. He began racing full-time with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series in 1997, earning rookie-of-the-year honors. He earned his first victory with the series one year later, setting the stage for things to come. Schatz improved year by year and in 2006, he captured his first series championship. He won the World of Outlaws title four-straight seasons from 2006 to ’09 and added additional championships in 2012 and each season from 2014 through ’18.

His 10 World of Outlaws championships rank him second all-time behind 20-time series champion Steve Kinser.

In addition to his exceptional championship record, Schatz has racked up an astounding number of World of Outlaws victories. On June 18, Schatz won his 300th feature with the series at Iowa’s Dubuque Speedway. That ranks him third all-time behind Sammy Swindell (394 victories) and Kinser (690 victories).

Schatz can count some of the most prestigious sprint car races in the country among his triumphs, including the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Pennsylvania’s Lernerville Speedway, the Brad Doty Classic at Ohio’s Attica Raceway Park, the Kings Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, the Williams Grove National Open and the World of Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, North Carolina.

While Schatz may be new to NASCAR, he’s far from a rookie. In fact, he’s likely one of the top contenders to win the Corn Belt 150 when the green flag waves on July 9 at Knoxville Raceway.

Posted on July 1, 2021July 1, 2021 by Staff Report

Meet the NASCAR Fan Council Member of the Month for July 2021!

Name: Matthew
Current City: Richmond, Virginia
Member Since: 2017

GETTING TO KNOW MATTHEW:

Q. How did you first become interested in NASCAR?

“I became interested in NASCAR immediately when I started watching it when I was a month old in April of 2001. I have autism, so the repeating sound of the cars was so mesmerizing to me. I officially became a fan in 2005 when I was 4 years old as a fan of Tony Stewart. I told my mom that she was to be a Dale Jr. fan, and my dad was to be a Jimmie Johnson fan.”

Q. What is your favorite part about NASCAR?

“Due to my autism and other special needs, I just like the mesmerizing and repeating sound of the cars going around in an oval shape. I also enjoy the intense amount of fan access to the drivers and crews.”

Q: What is your favorite NASCAR memory?

“My favorite NASCAR memory was meeting my idol Tony Stewart for the first time at a local Home Depot. I can remember that I just had surgery on my legs, and they gave me a chair to sit in to wait for Tony. Instead of going to the table to sign autographs, he came right to me first, kneeled down at eye-level with me, and talked with me for a bit. He signed two items when he was supposed to sign one. The best part was I had my little Tony Stewart fire suit Halloween costume on, my Tony Stewart Home Depot hat, and my sunglasses on to look like Tony! It was an awesome experience!’

Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?

Current Driver: “William Byron.”

Past Driver: “Tony Stewart.”

Up and Coming Driver: “Noah Gragson.”

Team: “Hendrick Motorsports.”

Track: “Richmond Raceway.”

Q. What do you like to do in your free time?

“Do my schoolwork with Liberty Online, participate in my Boy Scout Troop Committee (since I’m an Eagle Scout), and play sports with River City Buddy Ball, a sports league for people ages 5-30 with special needs like me.”

FROM ALL OF US AT NASCAR, WE THANK MATTHEW FOR HIS CONTINUED SUPPORT AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM HIM IN 2021!

Look for Matthew on the Official NASCAR Fan Council page on NASCAR.COM.

Posted on June 30, 2021June 30, 2021 by Staff Report

When Justin Marks announced the formation of the Trackhouse Racing Team in October of 2020, he promised to be a disruptive and courageous new force in NASCAR. That vision continued on Wednesday with the announcement that the Trackhouse Entertainment Group and Trackhouse Racing will expand its NASCAR Cup Series team by acquiring Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR operation.

Marks, along with Trackhouse team president Ty Norris and Chip Ganassi Racing CEO Chip Ganassi, revealed the move at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on a live stream on NASCAR.com. Trackhouse Racing will acquire all NASCAR equipment and the two charters from CGR, and the changes will go into effect after the 2021 Cup Series season.

“This process took several weeks and I want to thank Chip for being so open and candid with me every step of the journey,” Marks said. “Chip has built an iconic motorsports empire and the Ganassi brand is globally recognized as a winner in the auto racing industry.”

Trackhouse Racing currently has one Cup Series team with 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Daniel Suarez as the driver of the No. 99 Chevrolet. It was revealed Wednesday that Suarez will continue with Trackhouse in 2022 with a second driver to be named later. The Monterrey, Mexico, native has three top-10 finishes this season and is ranked 18th in the driver standings. His most recent top 10 was a seventh-place run in NASCAR’s return to Nashville Superspeedway.

“This is a huge deal,” Suarez said in an appearance on FS1’s NASCAR Race Hub, where he also revealed he did not know about Trackhouse’s deal with Ganassi until yesterday. “It’s crazy how fast Trackhouse Racing is growing.” He also indicated that he expects to play some part in helping the team select his future teammate.

Suarez gave Trackhouse its first top-five finish at the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt race as NASCAR utilized the surface at the famed short track. This came on the heels of Trackhouse’s debut in the Daytona 500 and after a busy offseason that included the naming of entertainment superstar Pitbull as a co-owner of the team.

Bringing on Pitbull (Armando Perez) was a sign that the team wanted to do things differently and that it wanted to appeal to a broader NASCAR audience. The organization stated that Marks and Pitbull intended to collaborate with Trackhouse’s philanthropic efforts, which include NASCAR-themed STEM education initiatives within inner-city charter schools.

Chip Ganassi Racing has two drivers in the Cup Series in 2021, 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch in the No. 1 Chevrolet and rookie Ross Chastain in the No. 42 Chevrolet. Busch ranks 14th in points and is three points to the good on the playoff cutline. Chastain ranks 22nd in points.

“My NASCAR team was not for sale,” Ganassi said. “Justin simply came to me with a great offer and an even better vision. As everyone knows, I care deeply for my employees so selling to someone like Justin, who is part of the CGR family, made the reality of selling much easier.”

CGR also has teams in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, IndyCar and Extreme E, and those teams will continue to operate out of Ganassi’s Indianapolis location. The NASCAR operation was established in 1989 by Felix Sabates under the name SABCO Racing. In 2001, Ganassi purchased a majority stake in the team to form Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

In 2009, Ganassi partnered with Teresa Earnhardt to form Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, and that was the team name until 2014 when the Earnhardt name was dropped.

Marks said the new team will operate out of Ganassi’s current race shop in 2022.