Author: SM Staff

  • There’s Only So Many Races at Martinsville in a Lifetime

    There’s Only So Many Races at Martinsville in a Lifetime

    My Dad loved sports, and he always told me, “Don’t ever miss an opportunity to go to a WVU football game or a race at Martinsville.” I’ve followed that advice for over 60 years.

    In fact, even though I didn’t get to see the Cup race live, I was at the track on Saturday. After 24 laps, it began to lightly rain. After one lap around the track where the trucks were running, I could see that it was turning to snow. Being from the mountains of West Virginia, I could smell there was going to be a good one. I headed back to my home base to the north, Roanoke, Virginia.

    I never left there for the weekend. I monitored my fellow journalists’ Twitter posts all Saturday night in hopes that it wasn’t that bad. The pictures I saw justified my initial prediction. It was going to be a bad snow event. At that time, I knew there wouldn’t be racing on Sunday, and after looking at pictures of the parking lots (all grass which made the snow and mud impossible to navigate), I headed home to West Virginia, where amazingly it did not snow.

    Dad also always said that you only got a few opportunities in a lifetime to go to Martinsville. I went, saw 29 laps including caution laps, and headed away from dreaded snow. My first trip to Martinsville was in 1964. Fred Lorenzen won in that magnificent Holman-Moody No. 28 Ford. I was hooked for life. I missed a lot during my high school and college days but started a string of being there for 78 consecutive Cup races and the only Busch Series race run in my time. If you don’t mind, I’m going to count last weekend because I was there at least for a while. I watched at home on the big screen, mainly because one of the great parts of being an elected official is having to be there on meeting day.

    What I saw was really amazing, even on a 55-inch television. Clint Bowyer, who had not won in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for 190 races, won going away. And I missed it. I probably could not repeat any of our three or four conversations verbatim, but it was like talking to your next-door neighbor. He’s genuine and one of the characters NASCAR needs now. He’s not corporate like many drivers who spew sponsor’s names at the drop of a hat. In the middle of one conversation, it developed into a sports talk about Oklahoma basketball and the Big 12. He’s just a guy who is approachable and a personable one at that. His win was good for NASCAR.

    Bowyer is a beneficiary of the great Ford and Stewart-Haas resurgence. The team founded by Gene Haas and Tony Stewart has dominated the series. Fords have won four of the first six races, three of them by Kevin Harvick and Bowyer’s win at Martinsville. Team Penske is always a threat for top-five finishes so far in their Fords while Chevrolet’s new Camaro has been less than competitive. Toyota has produced great finishes from 2017 champ Martin Truex Jr, and Kyle Busch. We will know more about this at Texas after the Easter off week. As of now, it’s a blue oval world, but it could change in an instant just like the weather at Martinsville last weekend.

  • Driver Ego: The Key to Building a Successful Racing Series

    Driver Ego: The Key to Building a Successful Racing Series

    The Stephen Cox Blog is Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance

    The easiest way to increase car count in short track racing and amateur road racing is to keep your drivers happy. Really happy. Fortunately, there is a very effective and affordable way to do that.

    It was four o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, August 29, 2004. It was blazing hot at the Hallett Motor Racing Circuit just outside of Tulsa. Although we missed the setup and were posting slower-than-usual lap times, we won the GT-2 qualifying race after the leader retired with a broken supercharger belt.

    I climbed out of the race car drenched in sweat, knowing that I’d won a race I didn’t deserve. The track owner, the late Mike Stephens, was setting up victory lane and preparing to hand out trophies to the day’s winners. I stopped by to chat with him just before the main event and jokingly asked which trophy was mine. Mike laughed and then responded with some of the most truthful words ever uttered in motorsports.

    Stephen, I’m not in the racing business. I’m in the ego gratification business. I promise we’ll take care of you.”  

    World Racing League championship ring

    The racing driver in me doesn’t like to hear that, but it’s true. Drivers want to participate in events that reward their ego. They’re interested in events that leave behind detailed records so that future generations can see and recognize their efforts.

    Records matter. Even the small ones. Heat race wins, track records, qualifying race wins, entry lists… these things are important to many racing drivers. They want to know that the series keeps careful records that will be made widely available and preserved long after their careers are over.

    Some may call this nothing more than childish ego. Your drivers and teams will consider it an honest, justifiable pride in years of hard work. But ultimately, what we think doesn’t really matter because human nature remains the same.

    The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is now re-writing their record book to include drivers who won A-main races during multi-day events. Previously, drivers who had won feature races on anything other than the final night of the event weren’t credited with official wins. Now they are. This brings a host of new, officially recognized winners into the record books. It makes a lot of drivers and teams very happy, and it didn’t cost the World of Outlaws a cent.

    World Racing League president Joey Todd offers a championship ring to the winners of the U. S. Endurance Championship at the Circuit of the Americas every December. Almost every racing driver I’ve ever met would trade all the trophies and accolades he’d ever earned for just one championship ring.

    It’s also a smart public relations move because a ring is worn regularly and continues to advertise for the series for decades to come. Championship rings hold a special mystique. Nobody gets a ring for participation. Few people will ask about a trophy after it disappears into a closet, but everyone wants to know, “Hey, how did you get that ring?”

    Midvale Speedway has begun posting the names of their track record holders on the front page of their website. It gives drivers something to shoot for. It shows that the series is interested in promoting their own teams and recognizing achievement at their track. It’s a great move that costs the track nothing.

    Every racing series and local track should have a master record book that is digitally distributed at no charge to the racing media, permanently posted on the series website and sent to every online racing database after each season. It should include every team and driver possible, and every record imaginable.

    It costs nothing to include short track heat race wins, track records and class champions in your record book, but your teams and drivers will take notice. They will appreciate the recognition.

    For better or worse, I really believe that Mike Stephens was right. We’re not in the racing business. We’re in the ego gratification business.

    Stephen Cox

    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Driver, FIA EPCS sports cars and Super Cup Stock Car Series

    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

  • Matt DiBenedetto Overwhelmed by Social Media Support

    Matt DiBenedetto Overwhelmed by Social Media Support

    If you’ve followed Twitter the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed the incredible support for the Go Fas Racing driver, Matt DiBenedetto.

    Entering his fourth full-time season in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series, DiBenedetto has raced for low budget teams making their way through the top level of the stock car series. While the No. 32 Ford Fusion holds a charter and is guaranteed to run in every race, the team found themselves in a difficult position with no sponsor to cover the weekend expenses at Phoenix.

    After hard work researching sponsorship opportunities, DiBenedetto posted a video on Twitter the week of the race at ISM Speedway.

    The news spread like wildfire.

    Drivers Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, and retired driver and NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip, personally pitched in $5,000 each. DiBenedetto’s appeal spread across various social media platforms and eventually led to a single-race sponsorship from multiple fans and companies for Sunday’s race at ISM Raceway.

    The gamble that paid off for the Go Fas Racing Ford resulted in the Zynga Poker online game securing a primary sponsorship for the weekend. Additionally, secondary and associate sponsorships included Enlisted Nine Fight Company, Pit Stops for Hope, and Waltrip Brothers Charity Championship.

    DiBenedetto shared how they received additional funding to allow them to do more than they’ve been able to during a regular race weekend.

    “Last weekend, we tried to save a set of tires for the race instead of using them in practice,” he said. “So now that we’re sponsored, maybe if we need to use an extra set in practice, we can afford to do that where otherwise we might need to conserve. Now we can afford better parts and pieces.”

    One example of this at Auto Club Speedway was the ability to hire an extra crew member and have team lunches over the following few weeks, something that higher teams can take for granted and as a result, the Go Fas Racing crew got to enjoy meals together over the weekend without having to worry about finances.

    DiBenedetto clarified later in the week Friday there was no danger of the team not showing for this weekend’s race activities but that it needed more financial input to move forward.

    As the team visited California for the following weekend’s race, the Auto Club 400, I took some time to sit with DiBenedetto outside his hauler and ask him about his whole experience before the start of the race.

    Matt DiBenedetto shared a few moments with me before the Auto Club 400. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.
    Matt DiBenedetto shared a few moments with me before the Auto Club 400. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.

    Justin Schuoler: Last weekend, you got some very unique sponsorship opportunities to jump on board with Go Fas Racing for Phoenix [ISM Raceway]. How long were you aware that the Phoenix race had no sponsor?

    Matt DiBenedetto: All the way since the beginning of the season and we were working on it from the start of the season trying to sell it, and that was one that we just didn’t have any luck selling. We had quite a few gaps to fill throughout the year, and that just happened to be one of them.

    JS: Roughly how many people reached out to you about sponsorship opportunities once you posted that on social media? Twitter kinda blew up when you put that video up on Twitter. You felt half bad, but it seemed like that was an opportunity you took advantage of and a lot of people jumped on that.

    MD: Yeah, so probably with the drivers retweeting me, you know, [Kevin] Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Darrell Waltrip, and spreading the word, it probably got us well over 100 inquiries from different people. Ryan [Elllis] and I had to filter through to see what was potential and not, and it was a lot. We’re still behind actually now.

    JS: That’s a good problem to have then!

    MD: Exactly.

    JS: Who was the first to reach out to you within the NASCAR community about your situation?

    MD: Denny [Hamlin]. He retweeted it and said he wanted to help out. He was the first one, and he is kinda responsible for starting the trends. Obviously, I have to thank all of them immensely for what they did, but yeah, Denny started it. And through Denny starting it, somebody he follows retweeted it, and then someone that follows them was the one that saw the message, Zynga Poker, and that got us the primary sponsor for last weekend. Denny was ultimately responsible for helping us a ton, and all of them for spreading the word and making it a big story.

    JS: Besides finances, what all is involved with getting a sponsor to jump on board with a race team?

    MD: You got to put the right partnerships together that makes sense for both ends. It’s gotta be beneficial for the sponsors, so that deal, in particular, is a good example. Zynga Poker reached out to us, said they were interested. We can give a lot of bang for the buck because we’re a smaller funded team. I’m lucky to have a really good, dedicated following, and I’m in the media a lot and things like that. We just try to be creative and out of the box. Their deal was pretty straightforward, so for Zynga Poker, we just wanted to get them as much exposure as possible. They’re a big company, they have many, many millions of downloads, so we just got them on board and through social media and the media stuff, it was a cool story and it gave them a lot of exposure, which is great, and gave us exposure too, so it worked out for both parties.

    JS: Now on the flip side, have you ever had the opportunity to be on the other side of the situation with a fellow competitor?

    MD: You know, I’ve tried to help some of my friends that race back at Hickory Motor Speedway, local levels, things like that, trying to put them together with some connections with some [Camping World] Truck Series owners or some people who may want to sponsor them. You know, it’s late models so it’s not quite as much money. See, it’s my fourth year in the [Monster Energy] Cup Series, so I’m still one of the newer guys, I guess, and still trying to build my resume and my career, and get to the top. But yeah, I’ve been able to be in a position to help some of those guys at a smaller level.

    JS: Awesome, well what would you say is the biggest thing you’ve learned from the entire experience from Phoenix?

    MD: Just how close the whole NASCAR community is. That’s the biggest thing I took away, and it was pretty breathtaking.

    Matt DiBenedetto races at Auto Club Speedway. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.
    Matt DiBenedetto races at Auto Club Speedway. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.

    JS: So your best career start here at Auto Club Speedway was 33rd back when you were with BK Racing, but today you got a little luck on your side with everyone failing pre-qualifying inspection. You’re starting 18th, so how does that feel?

    MD: Yeah, that’s much better. I’ve had a really good race car in the past here a couple years ago. We were really fast in the race, but we never really had great qualifying efforts here, just couldn’t seem to get our stuff right. This time, we ended first practice in 22nd with everybody out on track, so our car had good speed for qualifying, and then obviously some people had some trouble getting through tech and that helped us even more. So starting 18th, it starts your day off a lot easier by knowing you have good track position so you’re not trying to run away from the leaders.

    JS: One last question, do you have your camo socks ready for today?

    MD: I don’t, actually! I had so much bad luck two years for a streak of races, like eight or 10 races in a row where we had horrible luck and every bit of it was out of my control, little weird things happening like running over debris that caused us some DNF’s. So I threw all my superstitions out the window, I got so frustrated.

    About Zynga Poker: Zynga Poker offers a variety of options to play virtual and video poker. You can play on Facebook, or download the app from the Apple app store, Google Play store, Windows store, or Windows Phone store . If you like playing with friends, then head over to Facebook after you download, authenticate with your Facebook credentials, and enjoy the same smooth, authentic experience. The game feeds over 130 million hands of poker each day across all of their users. They also offer strategy tutorials to help buff your game to the next level.

    About Matt DiBenedetto: Matt has received praises from many competitors, including retired Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. who called him “one of the most underrated drivers in the series.” He has raced in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series for four years with three career top-10 finishes, including a best career finish at Bristol in 2016 with a sixth-place result. He also has three career victories in the K&N Pro Series East. His average start and finish in the Cup series have steadily improved throughout his career. He was born and raised in California and lives in Hickory, North Carolina with his wife and childhood friend, Taylor.

  • Young Race Car Drivers to Watch

    Young Race Car Drivers to Watch

    Car racing was developed as a sport almost as soon as the first automobiles rolled off the assembly line. At first, car racing drivers engaged in their hobby as a pastime but as the years passed, many of these racers became professionals who raced for a living.

    The great race car events bring upwards of a quarter million fans who come to the race courses to watch the drivers compete and see the souped up cars. Millions more, including those who engage in virtual competition through free games online, watch on the screen either as part of an afternoon of relaxing TV viewing or as a participatory bettor.

    Racing aficionados enjoy watching the old favorites but they may also want to watch some of the newest up-and-coming drivers on the scene.

    Chase Elliot

    Chase (William Clyde) Elliott II is the son of racer Bill Elliott. He competes full-time as a stock car racer (races on oval tracks that measure between 0.25 to 2.66 miles). His preferred car is a Chevrolet Camero ZL1.

    Elliot has been racing all his life and started competing in the big stock car races in his teens. In his racing career’s third season he won the Miller Lite, the Blizzard Series and the Gulf Coast championship which earned him the Georgia Asphalt Pro Late Model Series Rookie of the Year award. Elliot is the first driver to win all four of the USA’s largest short-track races including the Snowball Derby, the World Crown 300, the Winchester 400 and the All American 400.

    Elliot competed in nine NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event in January 2013 and won a career NASCAR pole position with a lap speed of 125.183 mph. This made him the youngest polel-sitter in the Truck Series history.

    Elliot starting driving the No. 24 car in the Xfinity series as he moved up to the Spring Cup Series om 2016. There he was sponsored by NAPA, 3M, Kelley Blue Book, Mountain Dew and SunEnergy. He  was named the Rookie of the Year award and won the pole with a speed of 196.314 mph. He is the youngest pole-sitter in 500 history, winning that accolade at age 20.

    This year Hendrick Motorsports announced that Elliott will be driving No. 24 which is the number that his father drove during most of his racing career.

    Lando Norris

    Lando Norris is an eighteen-year-old British driver who has already won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award. As part of the prize Norris won a year McLaren’s sim driver which can provide him invaluable experience in working within a top F1 team. McLaren boss Zak Brown has already identified  Norris as a future world champion.

    Norris has already won two Formula Renault 2.0 championships including the 2015 MSA Formula championship and the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup in 2016.

    He drove in the M2 Competition as part of the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand in 2016 and achieved six wins throughout the season. In competition in the New Zealand Grand Prix Norris won the championship on his first attempt. He also competed in the final round of the Macau Grand Prix, where he finished 11th, and in the European Formula 3 Championship.

    Norris moved to the European F3 in 2017 where he teamed up with the legendary Carlin squad.

    Daniel Ticktum

    Daniel Ticktum has been winning competitions around Europe, including in Formula and Championship races.

    Ticktum began his career in karting at age eight where he was noticed for his agility and speed on the track. He’s been competing on the International scene since 2012 after having won the British FKS Championship, the British Open Championship, the National ABkC Super One Championship and the British Grand Prix Championship. Only one other driver in history has achieved such a record win.

    Ticktum competed in international competitions while still in high school. He finished in both the WSK Masters Series and the WSK Euro Series as the highest placed rookie. H received the KFJ Andrea Margutti Trophy – an award that was previously won by F1 stars such as Robert Kubica, Giancarlo Fisichella and Danill Kvyat. He also served as the Vice Champion of the WSK Masters, In BRDC Formula 4 Championship, during his first test with Lanan Racing, he broke the lap record at the Brands Indy circuit.

    Throughout 2015 and 2016 Ticktum continued to soar, competing in the final round of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in Hockenheim and in the Macau Grand Prix.  2017 finished with a bang, bringing Ticktum into the Red Bull Junior Team to race in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with Arden International. He also won at Hungaroring and is now looking at a full schedule for 2018.

    Richard Verschoor

    Richard Verschoor is one of the youngest new racing stars. He was born and raised in Holland where he had an early racing career in karting.

    From karting Verschoor moved to racing single-seaters and joined the SMP F4 Championship in 2016. In Sochi he won the opening race and then enjoyed a series of ten consecutive wins, taking the championship title with three races to spare. He claimed his second title in dominant form in the Koiranen GP’s series F4 Spanish Championship.

    Verschoor stepped up to Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 in 2017. He is now racing with the Josef Kaufmann Racing team where he hopes to emulate their win of the last two Eurocup driver titles.

  • Martin Truex Jr. Shines Under the California Sun, Wins Auto Club 400

    Martin Truex Jr. Shines Under the California Sun, Wins Auto Club 400

    Martin Truex Jr. breaks Kevin Harvick’s win streak in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series and takes the checkered flag for the Auto Club 400.

    Truex started on the pole, swept both stages and had lapped up to 10th place by the conclusion of the event. This is the third time Truex has swept all stages in a race and is the only driver to do so under NASCAR’s current stage format (Vegas and Chicago in 2017, and now California).

    “Winning just feels good!” With a big grin on his face, Truex addressed the media during his press conference. “To get our first California win is unbelievable. I feel like we’ve been getting better here the last couple years, just haven’t been able to put it all together. For us to get our first win of the season today, it’s definitely special. To get it here, finish off the West Coast swing with a win, feels great.”

    Team owner Barney Visser, who suffered a heart attack on November 6, said he was feeling great and it was nice to be back at the track. Cole Pearn, crew chief for the No. 78 Toyota Camry, shared his thoughts after seeing the incident with Kevin Harvick, explaining how his focus was still locked in on his team’s performance.

    “In this sport, you can only do what you can do to yourself,” Pearn declared confidently. “You’re focused on your own program. You know those guys are really good. Obviously, they’ve been really successful so far this year. Whether they were in the race or not, I don’t think we would have played anything any different. You just got to do the best you can for yourself. That’s the only chance you have.”

    Kevin Harvick was attempting four wins in a row, a feat that had not been accomplished since 2007 with Jimmie Johnson. While he still had one of the most dominant cars of the weekend, an early race incident with Kyle Larson caused his No. 4 Ford Fusion to crash into the outside wall.

    On pit road after the race, you could sense some frustration from Kevin Harvick, who finished 35th overall, but he admitted it was his fault.

    “I went down to side draft and he was coming up, and we touched and it just knocked (the car) to the right and just spun out,” Harvick explained after finishing nine laps down. “I don’t know that’s (Kyle Larson’s) fault, I think that’s my fault for coming down the race track right there and trying to side draft. Then as we touched right there, it just came back up the race track, just trying to get a little too much right there knowing the stage end was coming. Just my fault back there.”

    Defending race winner and recent inductee for the track’s Walk of Fame, Kyle Larson finished second after a late race charge through the field. Larson enjoyed racing Harvick in the first stage, but a slip by Harvick caused the two to collide and virtually end Harvick’s day early.

    “I respect Kevin a lot, and I think he respects me a lot too,” Larson said as he shared his thoughts on the incident. “I was pretty amped up on the radio there right after just because I felt like at the time maybe he let his frustration build and kind of just ran into me down the backstretch and wrecked himself. I thought he would be mad at me or something like that, which I knew I didn’t do anything wrong at the time.

    “A couple minutes later, they let me know he was taking the blame for it on the radio, which was nice. I was able to chill out some.”

    Kyle Busch gets his third consecutive top-three finish with a third-place result, with Brad Keselowski finishing fourth.

    “I’m not really sure why I’m here. I finished fourth,” Keselowski said smiling. “We kind of got the most we had out of it today. We had some decent short run speed that could run and keep those guys honest. But after about five laps, we were just kind of holding on, running it out, trying to hope for a late race yellow or something to have something for them.

    “All in all, a decent weekend. We unloaded really not very good at all, looked like it was going to be a really long weekend. Made some good improvements through practice and qualifying and all those things, got to where we were good enough to run there back half of the top-five. Just have a solid day, and that’s what today was.”

    Joey Logano, who won yesterday’s NASCAR Xfinity race, rounded out the top-five with a fifth-place finish.

    “I was in front of (Truex) for about five laps and I was like, ‘Hey,’ but it was short-lived,” Logano shared with his brief experience leading the field before being overtaken by Truex. “Overall, it was a good weekend. We got a top-five here and a win yesterday is great.”

    Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon were the only other cars on the lead lap and rounded out the top-10.


    As for the race, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch primarily led laps in the first stage, with Jamie McMurray leading one lap during the green flag pit cycle. Joey Logano was the first to dive onto pit road, which ended up being a smart move. When he entered pit road, he was roughly seven seconds behind the leader. After the field cycled through their pit stops, the No. 22 Ford was less than two seconds behind the leader.

    After pit stops, the major turn of events that caught many off guard took place during the second half of Stage 1. Kevin Harvick, who started in the 10th position, had battled his way into the top-five. While battling Kyle Larson for the third position, Larson drove the exit of Turn 2 aggressively and started to side draft the No. 4 car. This caused Harvick to get slightly loose, and on the backstretch, Harvick turned into Larson and bounced off his car into the outside wall. Harvick slid all the way across the track, and narrowly missed the inside wall. The heavy contact seemed to knock the toe slightly with the right front tire, but the team was able to repair the damage and Harvick did continue in the race.

    Quite a few analysts stated at the time that it seemed Harvick was showing some displeasure at how Larson was racing him so early. Jeff Gordon, a broadcast analyst for FOX Sports, shared during the television, “Harvick seems to not let many people into his head, but it looks like that changed today.”

    In the closing laps of the first stage, Ryan Blaney who had driven up to the eighth position got loose coming out of Turn 4 and made mild contact with the outside wall. His team addressed this during their pit stop when the stage concluded, as Truex was over Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. When the field pitted, Logano won the battle off pit road and took the green flag on the restart.

    Logano, Truex and Kyle Busch led laps in the second stage. Larson was the first to pit during a green flag pit cycle. He was outside the top-five, but gained well over four seconds and was up to second after the field finished their pit stops.

    With 11 laps to go in the second stage, Trevor Bayne and Ryan Newman were racing at the exit of Turn 4. Bayne attempted to pass on the outside, but Newman wasn’t able to get him enough room in time and pinched Bayne into the outside wall. A couple of laps later, that exact incident caused Bayne’s fender to cut down into the tire and blow a right front tire. His No. 6 Ford Fusion smacked the outside wall while racing through Turns 3 and 4, suffering substantial damage when he visited pit road and he was not able to continue in the race.

    “That’s the hardest hit I’ve ever had in my life,” Bayne shared after he was evaluated and released from the infield medical care center.

    Paul Menard also visited pit road during the same time and seemed to begin having some engine issues, but continued in the race event.

    Stage 2 concluded with Truex winning back to back stages with Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones in the top-five. Kyle Busch won the battle off pit road, but Larson felt a mishap with one of the wheels on the car, and came in a second time for additional service and restarted at the end of the lead lap.

    In the final stage, a few laps after the initial restart, David Ragan slid up in the exit of Turn 4 and scraped the outside wall. A lap and a half later, the No. 38 car blew a right front tire and hit the outside wall in Turn 1, almost collecting the No. 00 car of Jeffrey Earnhardt. At this point, the leaders came to pit road and fans saw a few various strategies. William Byron’s team took only right side tires and left pit road ahead of those who took four tires. Kasey Kahne, who was announced as the new Lefty’s Kid’s Club president earlier this weekend, inherited the race lead by electing to stay out. However, none of the front two drivers was a match for Kyle Busch as he got right around the two and took the lead throughout the opening laps of the restart.

    Just passed 50 laps to go, Matt DiBenedetto scrapped the wall through Turns 1 and 2 with minimal damage. He brought the car down to pit road from the 31st position and was able to return to race competition. He started in a career-best 18th spot at this track and had a fortunate and unique turn of events at ISM Raceway with a new one-race sponsor, Zynga Poker.

    Green flag pit stops started with 41 laps to go. Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and William Byron, who took two tires on his previous stop, were some of the first drivers to come down pit road. Kyle Busch, who led most of the final stage, was recently passed by Martin Truex Jr. when the two came to pit road for service, bumper to bumper. Kyle’s team was able to service his car quicker, and he inherited the lead at the exit of pit road. However with 32 laps to go, the No. 18 car got loose in lap traffic on the exit of Turn 2, so Truex took advantage of the situation and drove by for the race lead and never looked back, winning by a margin of 11.685 seconds, the largest of the year.

    The NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series conclude their West Coast Swing and now heads back east to Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, March 25. To watch the race in person, visit the website for tickets to the STP 500.

  • Joey Logano Goes for a California Cruise in the Roseanne 300

    Joey Logano Goes for a California Cruise in the Roseanne 300

    Joey Logano led 139 of 150 laps in a dominating win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the Roseanne 300 at Auto Club Speedway. This is Logano’s 29th career victory in the Xfinity series, and third at Auto Club Speedway. He has never finished outside the top-10 and will start sixth for tomorrow’s NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series race.

    “Anytime you have new tires and everyone else doesn’t, it’s fun. It’s when you have the old tires and everyone else has got the new tires, that’s not fun,” Logano laughed when asked about the late race pit cycles.

    “I felt sure that we had a car quick enough. The worry more than anything was a crash happening in front of us.”

    Logano was only one of two Cup drivers starting this race, with Austin Dillon who finished fourth. It was asked during the press conference about carrying over any notes or on-track experience into tomorrow’s race.

    “You know there are some things that you can learn from this race, and you only come out here once a year. The cars are very different, Cup cars and Xfinity cars. There were a couple things to carry over, you know, running against the wall, which will help you for the first couple of laps. You have an advantage for the first five laps. You know where the track is a little better. The cars that were fast earlier in practice today are gonna be very fast tomorrow, and I don’t think the advantage you get from running this race is so large that you’re going to smoke everyone tomorrow because you had more laps, but it does allow you to feel more comfortable and feel the race track sooner.”

    JR Motorsports finish second and third with Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler, respectively. Elliott extends his point lead to four points over teammate Tyler Reddick.

    “We worked really hard today,” Allgaier joyfully stated after feeling a successful weekend. “Yesterday in practice, we had a really strong Hellman’s Chevrolet and unfortunately when the race started, not that it was bad by any means, but some of the balance things that we felt like we were good with practice, today with the conditions being a little different, we needed to work on it a little. Jason (Burdett) made a great call there to pit towards the end, put tires on and catch the 22 off sequence, which we were kinda hoping it would take a little longer to get up front to battle him.

    “The 22 was the class of the field today, I think they had everybody. Our west coast swing has been great, two seconds and a third. We’ve been chopping away at it. I wish we had a win, but all in all, whenever you get up to the front like that, it’s a good day.”

    Despite hitting the wall, Daniel Hemric fought throughout the day and finished in the fifth position.

    “I’m proud of our effort, not just today but over the past three or four weeks,” Hemric shared during a post-race conference session. “We kinda raced around the fifth to ninth place all day, and the racing to get by there is more intense. It seems like whenever you try to side draft somebody or someone side drafts you, here come three more with runs. Just proud to get to our best running position of the day there, and maintain and come home with the top five. And I hit the wall!”

    Most of the first stage was eventless until Matt Mills in the No. 15 spun in Turn 2. There weren’t enough laps to clean up the incident to go back green, so the end of the first stage finished under yellow.

    During the second stage, the No. 42 Chevrolet of John Hunter Nemechek blew his right front tire on the frontstretch in the closing laps. He didn’t collide with the wall, but the rubber caused substantial damage to the sheet metal. He would finish three laps down in the 29th position after starting in a hopeful third position.

    Christopher Bell, who started on the pole, took FOX’s Helmet Cam for a wild ride over the weekend, being involved in two separate incidents during the final stage. The first was a spin coming out of Turn 4 and sliding through the front stretch grass. Only a few laps later, Michael Annett pinched him coming out of Turn 4 as they ground against the outside wall along the front stretch.

    A few late-race cautions built some unique strategies into the closing laps of the race. Dylan Lupton, who went to a backup car after crashing in qualifying earlier in the day, lost a motor, which ended a long day for his No. 28 team. A few laps later, another caution was put out for debris found in Turn 2. At this time, Logano was one of only a few takers to come to pit road for fresh tires. He restarted in 16th, charged to the front, and took the lead within five laps. However, the final caution came out with around 10 laps remaining for more debris on the front stretch. At this time, almost everyone came to pit road, shuffling all the strategies, except for Ryan Sieg who inherited the lead for the final restart. Sieg was no competition against the fresh tires, as the field charged past him on the opening lap, allowing Logano to cruise to his third career win at the 2-mile oval.

    Positions 6-10 were Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick (highest finishing rookie), Matt Tifft, Ryan Preece and Ross Chastain. Kaz Grala crashed coming to the checkered flag and finished in the 14th position, but was checked and released from the infield care center shortly after the press conference was completed.

    Ironically, Logano is a big fan of the television show Roseanne.

    “I feel like I watched Roseanne a long time ago on like Nic at Nite,” Logano shared, as Brian Wilson, Logano’s crew chief, added, “He was watching the re-runs. I was watching the originals.”

    Joey continued talking about the trophy and winning the race.

    “You know, I was kinda hoping when we pulled in here and I saw the Roseanne 300 banner over the walkway, I was thinking of what the trophy was going to look like, so I hoped it would be a big picture of her face. It’s still cool.”

    Elliott Sadler leads the series points over teammates Tyler Reddick and Justin Allgaier. The NASCAR Xfinity Series races next in Texas on Saturday, April 7, and tickets can be purchased through the speedway website.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Xfinity-Auto-Club-Speedway-Unofficial-Results-3-17-18.pdf” title=”Xfinity Auto Club Speedway Unofficial Results 3-17-18″]

  • Confidence Is High for Aric Almirola

    Confidence Is High for Aric Almirola

    Aric Almirola is off to the strongest start of his career, as he sits 10th in points and is currently in position for the Playoffs.

    After leaving Richard Petty Motorsports last year, it was announced in November of 2017 that Aric Almirola would replace Danica Patrick in the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. After the opening 10 races of the season, Almirola finds himself in the top 10 in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup driver points standings and is currently in position to qualify for the Playoffs. In perspective, the No. 10 team’s previous best result in points was 24th in both 2014 and 2015. This year, they have two top-10 finishes and were one turn away from winning the iconic season opener Daytona 500. The team has finished no worse than 13th, which came at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    Almirola placed a third fastest time during a final run at the end of the first practice at Auto Club Speedway and securing a 1-2-3 result for Stewart-Haas Racing alongside teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer, respectively. Regardless of the recent rains, all the Cup teams are experiencing high speeds and fast times.

    “It’s crazy how gripped up these cars are and how fast we’re going at this race track,” he said when I asked him about the grip from the recent rains and no other series racing here lately. “Usually, you think about coming to Auto Club Speedway and you think about slipping and sliding around, but here in qualifying trim it is insane how fast we’re going.”

    One concern about Almirola visiting the 2-mile oval was the familiar yet rough and bouncy backstretch. Last year, Almirola was involved in a fiery crash with Joey Logano and Danica Patrick. Entering Turn 1, Logano had a brake rotor snap in half, which pulled his car into Patrick’s and the two crashed into the outside wall. With oil on the track behind them, Almirola could not turn in time to avoid the collision. His impact into Logano’s car was heavy enough to pick the rear wheels up off the ground. Medical personnel had to lift Almirola through the roof after cutting it open and took him to a local hospital. After evaluations, Aric had broken his back, and the violent wreck caused the driver to miss roughly eight weeks of Monster Energy Cup Series competition.

    Despite the history of his back injury, Aric was relieved the surface caused no issues with his back and that he’s never felt better.

    “Surprisingly well,” Alrimola said with a hint of relief. “The very first test that I did on the seven-post shaker rig after I broke my back to make sure that my back felt OK enough to get back in the race car was we ran the track mapped file from Auto Club Speedway because it’s the roughest race track that we go to. So six weeks after I broke my back, I went to Ford’s seven-post shaker rig and sat in my race car on that shaker rig with the car running a mock lap around this race track and I remember thinking to myself, ‘Holy cow, is it really that rough?’ And then we showed up back here and the answer is yes, it really is that rough. But my back feels great.

    “Thank you for asking. I feel like I am better than 100 percent. I feel like I’m more physically fit and in better shape than I was pre-accident just because after my accident, I had to be really diligent with my rehab and my physical therapy just to be able to hurry up the process to be able to get back in the car, so I feel like right now I’m probably in the best shape of my life.”

    Despite the successful practice session this morning, Almirola has yet to finish in the top-10 at Fontana. His previous best finish was 11th three years ago but has only finished in the top-20 two other times (14th and 19th). However, this isn’t stumbling his confidence level at all.

    “Every race car driver at this level has been really good at everything they did before they got here or else they wouldn’t have gotten here,” Almirola stated. “It is gonna take a while to build my confidence back up and get to where I need to be to. I’ve historically not run well at Vegas. I’ve historically not run well at Atlanta. Phoenix has been an OK track for me, but to go to those race tracks and produce the results that we have had me really excited about the race tracks coming down the pipe that I feel like are race tracks that I’ve excelled at even with the slightly underfunded team and not the best race cars.

    “I’ve still been able to run well and produce results at those race tracks, so I’m excited to see what we can accomplish when we get to those kinds of race tracks.”

    The No. 10 Stewart-Hass Racing team missed qualifying, despite finishing third in first practice on Friday, and will start 27th for Sunday’s race. The NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series waves the green flag for the Auto Club 400 on Sunday, March 18 at 12:30 p.m. local time.

  • Christopher Bell Starts in Front for Roseanne 300

    Christopher Bell Starts in Front for Roseanne 300

    Although Joey Logano was fastest in the first round, Christopher Bell starts on pole for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Roseanne 300 at Auto Club Speedway. This is Bell’s third pole in the last four races.

    “Qualifying’s about speed, and this No. 20 team has had speed,” Bell said. “When we unloaded yesterday, we were really good. I was just little bit loose, and anytime we’d tighten it up and make it more comfortable for me to drive, we’d slow down. We learned something there, and I’m going to have to man up and drive this thing in the race.”

    Bell (181.059 mph) was the only driver in the 181 mph bracket. Joey Logano (180.923 mph) will start second, as the two drivers were the only ones to break into a 39 second lap time. John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer and Daniel Hemric round out the top five positions. Christopher Bell was fastest in first practice, but was only able to clock a 40.299 second lap time, roughly half a second slower than his qualifying time.

    Qualifying was split into two rounds. During the first round, all 40 teams made an attempt but Dylan Lupton spun and crashed into the wall right after he took the green flag for his lap. While drivers have been splitting the seam in the corners to gain maximum grip, Lupton couldn’t get into the right position entering the corner, which resulted in the car stepping out from underneath him. He spun in Turn 1 and crashed in Turn 2, settling into the infield grass. The team had to pull out a backup car and will only have three hours to prepare the backup car.

    Cole Custer held the top spot in the first round, but was also the last car to qualify with cloud cover. The remainder of the first round and all of the second round of qualifying had clear skies with sun all around the track.

    Justin Allgaier, Ryan Reed, Ryan Preece, Brandon Jones, Ryan Truex, Elliott Sadler and Kaz Grala finished out the qualifying results for positions 6-12 from the second round. All three manufacturers are represented across the top three starting positions (only one Dodge qualified, Timmy Hill, and will start in the 35th position). NASCAR’s top three touring series are also represented with the top three starters: Christopher Bell on pole running the NASCAR Xfinity Series primarily, Joey Logano starting second from the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series, and John Hunter Nemechek who runs primarily in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will start in the third position.

    The green flag for the Roseanne 300 will wave later today at 2:18 p.m. local time.

  • Martin Truex Jr. Wins Pole for the 2018 Auto Club 400

    Martin Truex Jr. Wins Pole for the 2018 Auto Club 400

    Martin Truex Jr. took the top spot in the final round of qualifying Friday to win back to back poles in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series, his first at Auto Club Speedway. Toyota Racing Development will share the front row with the efforts of Kyle Busch.

    Truex becomes the first driver to claim the pole with NASCAR’s new Cup level pole award sponsor, Anheuser-Busch.

    “It’s definitely cool to win that award and know the history behind it,” Truex said during his press conference. “Racing in the Busch North series, and my first big pole award was by Busch. It feels good to have that ‘throwback’ feel, and excited to get the first one when they came back with them partnering again with NASCAR and sponsoring the sport again, it’s exciting.”

    Truex and his team seemed to feel confident after the first practice earlier in the day when he posted the seventh fastest time. They opted to stay on a single set of tires throughout practice, and after Harvick’s rare mistake in Turn 2, the door opened for Truex to jump after the top spot.

    Kyle Busch came home with a runner-up to the pole and will start alongside Truex on the front row.

    “The TRD (Toyota Racing Development) guys down in Costa Mesa always put this one on the calendar. Proud of the effort to have two of us on the front row, and Erik [Jones] there in fourth. Overall, a good day for us with our Interstate Batteries Camry.”

    Kyle Larson was right on the rear bumper of Kevin Harvick across the first two qualifying rounds and had new competition in the final round. His No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro will start in the third position alongside a third TRD car of Erik Jones and Austin Dillon, rounding out the top five starting spots.

    “Decent qualifying run,” Larson said, who was earlier inducted into the Auto Club Speedway Walk of Fame. “We would have liked to have been on the pole but got a little tighter each run. That is kind of what ended up hurting us a little bit and lost some speed off Turn 2.”

    Kevin Harvick set the track record in the first round and was on his way to sweeping all three rounds of qualifying, but a mistake coming out of Turn 2 hurt his overall speed and time. He will start in the 10th position in his No. 4 Stewart Haas Ford Fusion behind Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney and Ryan Newman, respectively. The rest of the running order from the final round of qualifying included Brad Keselowski (11th) and Chris Buescher (12th).

    Only 24 cars made an attempt at qualifying in the first round, so all drivers advanced into the second round. This gifted a few drivers with a much higher than average start for Sunday’s race, including Chris Buescher (12th), Trevor Bayne (13th) and Matt DiBenedetto (18th).

    The notable team that did not make a qualifying effort was the entire camp at Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff Andrews, Vice President of Competition for the team, told FOX Sports about their struggle saying that all their cars had issues with the rear end of the car passing inspection.

    “No, they were all similar, in the same area of the car,” Jeff shared. “We’ve got to go back, we have to talk obviously, internally, and talk with NASCAR. We felt like we were making changes, obviously in the area affected and just we were not seeing the results when we went back through.”

    Other key drivers that missed the first round of qualifying were Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola, who were second and third fastest in the first practice, respectively. While Kyle Busch said it was a better question for the crew chiefs, Truex had his take on the substantial increase of failed inspections from 13 teams during qualifying.

    “I don’t really know what happened today or what guys were fighting,” Truex shared. “I think the biggest issue with the LIS is measuring the rear hub. You go across there four times, you get four different numbers, so I think for the crew chiefs, it’s a tough situation to be in. Nobody goes into tech expecting to fail or trying to fail, and sometimes you just get caught off guard.”

    The NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series will wave the green flag on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. local time for the Auto Club 400.

  • Kasey Kahne Joins Lefty’s Kids Club

    Kasey Kahne Joins Lefty’s Kids Club

    Today, Kasey Kahne was introduced as the new Auto Club Speedway Kid’s Club president.

    Lefty’s Kids Club is a children’s group dedicated to various activities across Auto Club Speedway to help them experience everything a race day weekend has to offer. This year, Kasey Kahne was introduced as the new president of the kid’s club.

    “It’s good to be here in California and get to race at this race track. It’s always a track that I’ve really enjoyed over the years,” Kahne mentioned during his press conference earlier today. “The first practice [today] didn’t go very well for us, but we have a lot of time to hopefully get better as the weekend goes here.”

    When asked about the new position with the kid’s club, Kahne was looking forward to the opportunities and shared some of the work he’s already done with the children.

    “I’ve seen Lefty before, but I met him a little bit two weeks ago when I was out here and we did a deal close to the track with some kids and actually got to learn how to play the guitar. It was a great band and they’re coming as well. To be part of this, see the kids here and the 135,000 people it touches this year is really neat and unbelievable. It’s great to see that and to see kids being into racing and also into education in general.”

    During the press conference, some of the kids were invited to ask Kahne some questions. One child asked where his passion for auto racing originated.

    “Mine started at a young age. I was little the first time I went to a dirt track, which was the kind of racing I started in. My dad worked on dirt cars and we had a local dirt track a couple of miles from our house, so I would see him working on them and I would go to the race track and sit in the grandstands with my mom and watch. My passion started growing at that point in time. I think the competition and just seeing everybody racing for first and things like that really got me intrigued.

    “Then I also had some friends at the race track, so it started building when I was four or five years old and I started racing when I was 14. I talked my parents into it, and I started when I was 14 and have raced ever since. It started by watching and trying to learn, and also by watching TV. I used to watch NASCAR and IndyCar and Sprint Cars on TV back then also.”

    Some of the media also took time to ask Kahne about his new relationship with Levine Family Racing, after being released from Hendrick Motorsports at the end of last season.

    “We’re definitely learning as a team. We all have to keep learning if we want to get better and hopefully soon we’ll start making those strides. But at this point, we still have a good ways to go before it’s anywhere near where any of us want it to be.”

    This weekend, Kahne will be hosting a Driver’s Story Time on Sunday, March 18 at 9:15 a.m. at the Lefty’s Fun Zone for all fans with race tickets. To purchase tickets and race weekend packages, visit the Auto Club Speedway website to view more information.