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Posted on June 23, 2021June 24, 2021 by Sponsored Content

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Posted on June 23, 2021 by Staff Report

The all-new eNASCAR International iRacing Series makes its debut on Wednesday, June 23 with a race at the virtual Brands Hatch Circuit taking place at 6 p.m. ET on eNASCAR.com/live and NASCAR’s YouTube channel.

The race at virtual Brands Hatch is the first of three iRacing events that will take place on consecutive Wednesdays with Circuit of the Americas (on June 30th) next in line and the Daytona Road Course hosting the final competition (on July 7th).

Each race will utilize the NASCAR Xfinity Series vehicles as drivers battle within the sim for international bragging rights with the winner scoring 40 points, second place scoring 35 points, third place scoring 34 points, fourth place scoring 33 points, fifth place scoring 32 points and each spot down the order scoring one less point than the driver that finishes ahead of them.

The fields will contain a mix of drivers from the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, NASCAR Peak Mexico Series, NASCAR Pinty’s Series and select drivers from NASCAR’s 2021 Drive for Diversity class. The Brands Hatch event will feature 21 drivers with multi-time Whelen Euro Series champion Alon Day among the competitors in the 70-lap event. Check out the full entry list below.

PHOTOS: Meet the 2021 Drive for Diversity Driver Development class

No.	Driver	Current Race Series	Make/Model	Affiliation
2	Abraham Calderon	NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series	Chevrolet Camaro	Mexico
86	Agustin Canapino	Turismo Carretera and Super TC2000	Chevrolet Camaro	Mexico
14	Alex de Alba	NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series	Ford Mustang	Mexico
98	Alon Day	NASCAR Whelen Euro Series	Chevrolet Camaro	Europe
22	Andres Perez de Lara	NASCAR Challenge Mexico Series	Ford Mustang	Mexico
3	Frederic Gabillon	NASCAR Whelen Euro Series	Ford Mustang	Europe
81	Giorgio Maggi	NASCAR Whelen Euro Series	Ford Mustang	Europe
55	Isabella Robusto	NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series	Chevrolet Camaro	Drive for Diversity
19	Jaiden Reyna	US Legend Cars	Chevrolet Camaro	Drive for Diversity
51	Jake Cosio	NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series	Toyota Supra	Mexico
77	Jocelyn Fecteau	NASCAR Pinty’s Series	Chevrolet Camaro	Canada
18	Justin Campbell	US Legend Cars	Chevrolet Camaro	Drive for Diversity
34	Lavar Scott	NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series	Chevrolet Camaro	Drive for Diversity
64	Paul Jouffreau	NASCAR Whelen Euro Series	Ford Mustang	Europe
8	Paul Jourdain	Super Copa	Toyota Supra	Mexico
13	Rajah Caruth	ARCA Menards East & NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series	Chevrolet Camaro	Drive for Diversity
10	Regina Sirvent	NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series	Chevrolet Camaro	Drive for Diversity
88	Ruben Garcia	NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series	Toyota Supra	Mexico
66	Simon Pilate	NASCAR Whelen Euro Series	Chevrolet Camaro	Europe
20	Treyton Lapcevich	NASCAR Pinty’s Series	Chevrolet Camaro	Canada
39	Victor Barrales Jr.	NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series	Ford Mustang	Mexico

Posted on June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 by Staff Report

Kyle Larson has won the Busch Pole Award for Saturday’s Pocono Organics CBD 325 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports Live, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the first NASCAR Cup Series event in a weekend doubleheader for the tour at Pocono Raceway.

Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has started first in three of the last four points-paying Cup Series events. He also opened the NASCAR All-Star Race from the pole position, taking the No. 1 starting spot off a random draw. Larson will be vying for his fourth consecutive Cup Series points win in Saturday’s 325-miler.

The lineup for Sunday’s Cup Series’ Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports Live, MRN, SiriusXM) will be determined after the finishing order from Saturday’s event is official. The top 20 finishers from Saturday’s Cup race will be inverted for Sunday’s start, and Sunday’s starters from 21st place on back will grid in order of their Saturday finish.

Harrison Burton won the pole for Sunday’s Pocono Green 225 (noon ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports Live, MRN, SiriusXM) in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and Todd Gilliland is on the pole for Saturday’s CRC Brakleen 150 (noon ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford.

As NASCAR adapted to COVID-19 protocols last season, practice and qualifying were eliminated at a majority of national-series events to limit at-track time, exposure and to cut race weekend costs. To determine starting lineups, competition officials used grouped draws, added inversions for weekend doubleheaders, and eventually adopted a performance-metrics formula. That metrics format remains in place this season, drawing on performance from both individual races and season-long results.

NASCAR’s metrics formula for 2021 weighs:

25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
35 percent: Team owner points ranking
15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race

See the full lineup for Saturday’s Cup Series race below.

Start pos.	Driver	Car #	Team
1	Kyle Larson	5	Hendrick Motorsports
2	William Byron	24	Hendrick Motorsports
3	Kevin Harvick	4	Stewart-Haas Racing
4	Joey Logano	22	Team Penske
5	Kyle Busch	18	Joe Gibbs Racing
6	Ross Chastain	42	Chip Ganassi Racing
7	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	47	JTG Daugherty Racing
8	Kurt Busch	1	Chip Ganassi Racing
9	Christopher Bell	20	Joe Gibbs Racing
10	Denny Hamlin	11	Joe Gibbs Racing
11	Aric Almirola	10	Stewart-Haas Racing
12	Austin Dillon	3	Richard Childress Racing
13	Alex Bowman	48	Hendrick Motorsports
14	Daniel Suarez	99	Trackhouse Racing Team
15	Martin Truex Jr.	19	Joe Gibbs Racing
16	Tyler Reddick	8	Richard Childress Racing
17	Michael McDowell	34	Front Row Motorsports
18	Brad Keselowski	2	Team Penske
19	Ryan Newman	6	Roush Fenway Racing
20	Bubba Wallace	23	23XI Racing
21	Matt DiBenedetto	21	Wood Brothers Racing
22	Erik Jones	43	Richard Petty Motorsports
23	Corey LaJoie	7	Spire Motorsports
24	Anthony Alfredo	38	Front Row Motorsports
25	Chris Buescher	17	Roush Fenway Racing
26	Cole Custer	41	Stewart-Haas Racing
27	Ryan Blaney	12	Team Penske
28	Chase Briscoe	14	Stewart-Haas Racing
29	Chase Elliott	9	Hendrick Motorsports
30	Garrett Smithley	53	Rick Ware Racing
31	Ryan Preece	37	JTG Daugherty Racing
32	BJ McLeod	78	Live Fast Motorsports
33	Josh Bilicki	52	Rick Ware Racing
34	Justin Haley	77	Spire Motorsports
35	Cody Ware	51	Petty Ware Racing
36	James Davison	15	Rick Ware Racing
37	Quin Houff	00	StarCom Racing
38	Timmy Hill	66	Motorsports Business Management

Practice and qualifying are tentatively scheduled for eight Cup Series races this year. Aric Almirola was the most recent Busch Pole Award winner through qualifying, taking his third career Cup Series pole for last weekend’s event at Nashville Superspeedway.

The next race with time trials scheduled is the July 4 event at Road America, which will host the Cup Series for the first time since 1956.

Posted on June 22, 2021June 22, 2021 by Marcus DiNitto

Viewers of NBCSN’s coverage of the Ally 400, the network’s first NASCAR broadcast of 2021, saw betting elements interspersed during the pre-race show and the race itself, as TV and league executives look to strike a balance between offering gamblers the content they seek while not turning off fans uninterested in betting.

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Paisley kicked off pre-race coverage on “Countdown to Green,” betting odds ran across the ticker on the bottom of the screen, along with Sunday’s lineup, Cup Series standings, and factoids about drivers and Nashville Superspeedway. From pit road toward the end of the show, after the odds were displayed on screen, Jac Collinsworth asked Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty for their picks. Jarrett offered Kyle Busch as value play at 10/1 odds, while Petty, asked by Collinsworth for a long shot, took a flyer on Tyler Reddick at 35/1.

The right side of the ticker served as promotional real estate for NBC, as teasers for the NBC Sports Predictor app (including a free-to-enter NASCAR pick ‘em game with a $100,000 jackpot) and NBC Sports Edge (which provides fantasy and gaming analysis across a number of sports, including NASCAR) ran concurrent with promos for the U.S. Open, Stanley Cup Playoffs and Olympics.

During the race, as Stage 2 came to a close, lead announcer Rick Allen reminded Fantasy Live players that this was their last chance to activate drivers in their garage. Then, on Lap 194, odds to win the race were displayed on the left side of the screen, underneath the leaderboard.

All of this betting content was branded by PointsBet, which signed on last year as NBC’s official sports betting partner.

As legal gambling expands, so too does the integration of odds and betting analysis within broadcasts. Networks and properties are mindful that not everyone cares for this content and that it is even annoying to some viewers.

‘One of the things we’re cognizant of is not all of our fans want to see betting content as they’re watching a race,” said Joe Solosky, managing director of sports betting at NASCAR. “We don’t want to oversaturate and draw fans away from the sport because we’re putting too much betting content out there, and I think FOX and NBC are doing a good job of towing that line.”

Ed Williams, director of content, sports betting and gaming at NBC Sports Edge (formerly Rotoworld), agrees and expects betting content to be gradually woven into race broadcasts as the season progresses.

“We’ll slowly ramp up, depending on how those integrations go and feedback we get,” said Williams. “We (the NBC Sports Edge team) are in conversations (with the broadcast side) about how we can add to the broadcast.”

Here are some of the additions fans can expect to see the rest of this year and in the seasons to come:

Coming soon: As soon this week from Pocono, NASCAR viewers may see a short betting-themed clip during the pre-race show, a concept NBC plans to borrow from its golf coverage.

“We went to some of the folks on the NASCAR side, and funny enough, they were thinking of coming to us anyways,’ Williams said. “So we’re aiming to put together probably a 60-second clip, nothing too intense, hitting on best bets, some of the dark horses, that kind of thing.”

The segment will be hosted by Steve Letarte and Dan Beaver, who already host a weekly digital video on NBC Sports Edge.

“This will be in addition to that, and they’ll tailor this one to what broadcast is looking for,” added Williams.

Live betting: There’s a belief within NASCAR circles that in-race wagering is key to driving betting interest in the sport. It’s natural, therefore, to expose viewers to live odds and in-race betting options.

“From my point of view, there are opportunities there, and that’s another one of those things where we’re kind of just getting started,” Williams said. “I think that it is ultimately where you can expand to, and as more people get used to betting in general, live betting will become more prevalent. That’s going to start to happen across all the sports.

“As betting becomes a more common part of the broadcast, it seems to make sense that is a direction we will likely be headed.”

Second screens. With leagues and networks concerned about turning off viewers who are not interested in betting, some of this content will likely migrate to alternate platforms. This past April, ESPN2 provided a peek into the second-screen experience, as it aired a betting-themed broadcast of Nets vs. 76ers to accompany the main broadcast on ESPN.

NASCAR bettors may soon have options to tune into second or third screens, too, Solosky said. These options could feature a live-betting slant and are likely to appeal to more seasoned bettors, more so than fans just dipping their toes in the wagering waters.

“If your goal is to try and educate fans on betting, which is one of our goals at NASCAR, you’re not going to start with more complex markets (such as live betting). So I think what NBC and PointsBet did, in terms of just having the odds to win the race, is a good move. If (a viewer) opts into a second screen that’s more focused on betting, then you can integrate more of the complex or in-race markets.”

Posted on June 22, 2021 by Staff Report

NASCAR officials issued penalties Tuesday to the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team for a lug-nut infraction discovered after Sunday’s Cup Series event at Nashville Superspeedway.

RELATED: Pocono weekend schedule

Martin Truex Jr. drove the No. 19 to a 22nd-place finish in Sunday’s Ally 400, the Cup Series’ first event at the 1.33-mile Tennessee track. But his car was found with one unsecured lug nut in a post-race check, a violation of Section 10.9.10.4 (Tires and Wheels) in the NASCAR Rule Book. No. 19 crew chief James Small was fined $10,000.

No further penalties were announced for the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team of defending Cup Series champion Chase Elliott. Five of the car’s 20 lug nuts were found unsecured in post-race inspection, and Elliott and the team were disqualified, dropping them to last place in the 39-car field.

In the Xfinity Series, the race-winning Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota was also found with a single lug unsecured after Saturday’s Tennessee Lottery 250. Crew chief Chris Gayle was fined $5,000 for the safety violation. Kyle Busch drove the No. 54 to the 100th victory of his Xfinity Series career.

No Tuesday penalties stemmed from last weekend’s race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Nashville.

Posted on June 22, 2021June 22, 2021 by Press Release

NASCAR’s Kyle Busch became the first driver in NASCAR Xfinity Series history to reach 100 wins with his victory in last Saturday’s race at Nashville Superspeedway, adding to his legacy as the most decorated driver in the Xfinity Series.

To celebrate Busch’s 100 wins, Comcast donated 100 laptops and a year of free Internet Essentials to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee, which is also a Comcast Lift Zone.

“Increasing access to the Internet and reaching more youth to help them succeed in today’s digital world is a focus for our future growth,” said Eric Higgs, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee. “This gift will go a long way with our efforts to help the youth in our communities, and in our ability to prepare them for their great futures. We are grateful for this generous investment from Comcast.”

Busch won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race in 2004 at Richmond Raceway, and has since garnered the title of 2009 Xfinity Series Champion, as well as the 2015 and 2019 NASCAR Cup Series championships. Busch’s 100 wins makes him 51 wins ahead of the next closest driver, Mark Martin.

“We’re excited and proud to celebrate Kyle’s historic 100th win by making a positive impact in the Nashville community,” said Matt Lederer, Vice President of Brand Partnerships & Amplification at Comcast. “Kyle is the most successful driver in the history of the NASCAR Xfinity Series and 100 wins is a true accomplishment.”

Since September 2020, Comcast has been rolling out Lift Zones as part of its ongoing effort to provide free WiFi to more than 1,000 community centers across America by the end of this year. These safe spaces will help ensure thousands of low-income students can remain online to continue to participate in distance learning and do their homework, even if their schools are closed. The Lift Zones initiative complements Comcast’s Internet Essentials program, which, since 2011, has connected a cumulative total of more than 10 million people in need to the Internet at home. By also providing community centers with free WiFi service, more students, seniors, veterans, and others have access to the Internet for education, participating in digital skills training, applying for jobs, and staying in touch with friends and family who have been forced to socially distance due to the pandemic. For more information, visit www.internetessentials.com.

Posted on June 21, 2021June 21, 2021 by Chase Wilhelm

LEBANON, Tenn. — For the most part, Stewart-Haas Racing raced to the beat of a different tune on Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway.

After uncharacteristic struggles throughout the majority of the 2021 season, Aric Almirola changed course by scoring the Busch Pole for the Ally 400. The No. 10 Ford driver was able to parlay that into a fourth-place finish at the 1.33-mile track, his first top five and second top 10 of the year.

MORE: Full Nashville results | Photos from race weekend

After coming off a 2020 season that produced career bests of six top-five and 18 top-10 results, Almirola said it just felt good to be in the conversation up front.

“It’s been such a tough year and it’s easy to get down on yourself and just not have a lot of confidence,” Almirola said after Sunday’s race. “Confidence is something that comes with results. You can’t fake it. So, it’s been nice to have two good weeks now. It certainly makes everybody have a little pep in their step and things are going in the right direction.”

Kevin Harvick was the next-highest-finishing SHR car in fifth place. Harvick is having the best season out of the SHR drivers so far with five top fives and 12 top 10s, but it will take more consistent results to approach his 2020 season-ending mark of 20 top fives and 27 top 10s.

Almirola was able to get past his teammate for position on the final lap when the No. 4 Ford of Harvick ran out of fuel coming to the checkered flag. Harvick also received damage earlier in the race, which hindered the performance of the car in the later stages.

“Before our damage, I think we had the second-best car at the end,” Harvick said. “Got a little bit of damage on the right side, got a little bit tight and then ran out of gas there off of Turn 4. All in all, it was a solid day.”

It wasn’t a major statement run by any stretch, but Harvick at least took solace in the fact that they ran better. But can they make Victory Lane a realistic expectation moving forward?

“I don’t know,” Harvick said. “I don’t think anyone can beat the 5 (team of race winner Kyle Larson) right now.”

The other two drivers in the SHR stable, Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe, were unable to achieve much improvement. Despite running in the top 12 for a portion of the 300-lap event, Custer finished 30th after tire woes, while Briscoe brought out the final caution of the race on Lap 227 when the No. 14 Ford retired after hitting the wall due to a brake failure.

The Ford Performance camp still has much ground to gain to better position themselves for a playoff run with nine races remaining in the regular season. While Hendrick Motorsports has made it look easy up front, Almirola noted just how tough it has been on the No. 10 team to work for better results.

“When you run bad, it’s 10 times as much work because you’re going down every single avenue trying to figure out what’s going to make speed in the race cars,” Almirola said. “When you have fast race cars, it’s easy. You just massage on it and polish it and keep going to the race track with what you know is fast. We’ve been working so hard and proud of everybody back at the shop.”

Posted on June 21, 2021June 21, 2021 by Zack Albert

Kyle Larson specifically and Hendrick Motorsports overall added to their victory haul in the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, padding their recent win streaks at Nashville Superspeedway. Dominance is often cyclical in motorsports, and the advantage is now evident in team owner Rick Hendrick’s four-car fleet.

NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller addressed that competitive edge a day after Larson’s Nashville rout in the Ally 400, making one of his regular Monday morning appearances on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. With Larson notching his third consecutive victory in points races and Hendrick tallying its fifth straight points win, Miller was asked if the inspection process becomes any more rigorous for a team on such a roll.

“It does, both externally and internally,” Miller told SiriusXM. “We certainly want to make sure we’re not missing something in our process, so not that we don’t look hard at every single car that comes through there, but when you start to have a dominant team, definitely the lens gets focused a little bit more on the microscope. You think back to a year ago, or even two years ago, I mean we had a run there where nobody could come close to JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and they finished with all cars in the top five many, many times. Same kind of thing, right?

“I don’t know what it is in racing, but it seems to go in cycles with these teams, but really to answer your question: Yes, certainly we look hard at all the cars, but when you start to have a team being very dominant, certainly it’s just natural to make sure that you aren’t missing anything there.”

While Larson’s winning No. 5 Chevrolet cleared Sunday’s post-race inspection without issue, some of the post-race scrutiny on Hendrick’s four-car effort focused on the No. 9 Chevy of defending series champion Chase Elliott. The No. 9 entry was found with five unsecured lug nuts in a post-race check, leading to a disqualification that demoted Elliott from an apparent 13th-place result to last in the 39-car finishing order.

Miller indicated that no further penalties were forthcoming and that the ruling was clear-cut. The NASCAR Rule Book outlines the penalty structure in Section 12.5.2.7.4 (“Minimum Safety Penalty Options”), stating that discovery of three or more unsecured lug nuts in a post-race check will result in disqualification.

“It was a DQ, and it’s spelled out well in the rule book. There were five lug nuts on the car loose, and that’s a safety infraction,” Miller said. “How that happened is always a debate, but it’s really in the rule book to make sure that all the lug nuts get hit on pit road, because we did a couple of years ago go through a rash of people purposely not hitting all the lug nuts, which was very, very unsafe. So the rule’s in there for that, and they just had too many lug nuts loose at the end of the race. Unfortunate situation for everyone, but very, very clear and very well spelled out.”

Posted on June 20, 2021June 21, 2021 by Staff Report

The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driven by Chase Elliott was disqualified Sunday for having five loose lug nuts in post-race inspection at Nashville Superspeedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Elliott had driven the car to a 13th-place finish in the Ally 400, NASCAR’s first Cup Series race at the 1.33-mile track in Tennessee. As a result of the penalty, Elliott’s car was scored in last place. Elliott also lost the Stage 1 win, which went to Kurt Busch in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet instead.

Elliott’s teammate, Kyle Larson, won the race for his third consecutive victory while Hendrick teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman finished in third place and 14th place, respectively. Bowman moved up from 15th place as a result of Elliott’s penalty.

“It’s unfortunate. The lug nuts on the No. 9 were loose at the end of the race,” said Chad Knaus, vice president of competition for Hendrick Motorsports. “At the end of the race Chase had a vibration. There were quite a few tire issues through the course of the day so they were hopeful that it was just a cord or something in the tire that was creating the vibration so they chose to run the race out.”

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Martin Truex Jr. was also found to have one loose lug nut in post-race inspection, which usually results in a fine for the crew chief.

Multiple loose lug nuts like for Elliott usually result in a fine and a crew chief suspension when the penalty report comes out later in the week.

Posted on June 20, 2021June 20, 2021 by Chase Wilhelm

LEBANON, Tenn. — Ross Chastain had his doubts, but a late-race pit strategy call turned into a career-best finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Chastain’s crew chief, Phil Surgen, made the call to stay out following a caution on Lap 218 of the 300-lap race at the 1.33-mile track and Chastain quickly lost the lead to eventual race winner Kyle Larson after the restart with 78 laps remaining. But the key caution came later in the race, the yellow flag flying for the final time on Lap 227 when Chase Briscoe clipped the wall after a brake failure.

Surgen rolled the dice and made the split decision to bring the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet in for service, giving up a top-five position on the race track.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

That’s also where Chastain had his doubts, but he also didn’t realize they could make it on fuel through the end of the race while others were cutting it close.

“It was humbling,” Chastain said after the race. “They know better than I do. They also knew we could make it to the end. I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. We would have had to pit under green there, even if we stayed in the top four or five. They know what they’re doing. I am sorry that I doubted them.”

The end game worked out well for Chastain, rocketing up to a second-place finish in the final 68 green-flag circuits with fresh tires and plenty of gasoline.

It was a lesson learned for Chastain.

“Heat of the moment in the car,” Chastain said. “It’s really hot, I’m sweaty and tired and I’m like, man, we’re running third and we’re gonna give this up. I need to just drive.”

The result also served as Chastain’s second top five of his Cup Series career, following a fourth-place finish at Circuit of The Americas in May. The reaction from the 42 crew was a special moment for Chastain, as well.

“Positive like the guys got goosebumps driving up through the field,” Chastain said. “I get out of the car and they were like, ‘man, we haven’t had that in a long time.’ I hadn’t, either.”

As Larson and Hendrick Motorsports continue to tally top-five results, Chastain was able to pass William Byron in the closing laps to seal his career-best performance in NASCAR’s premier series.

For Chastain, the finish wasn’t a fluke, but more of a sign of things to come.

“That’s where we belong — second place,” Chastain said. “It’s just going to build confidence and all. It’s like we’re doing the right things.”