Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Author: Tucker White

  • Martin Truex Jr. on the Pole for Kansas

    Martin Truex Jr. on the Pole for Kansas

    Martin Truex Jr. will lead the field to the green flag for tomorrow’s race in America’s heartland.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota scored the pole for the GoBowling.com 400 at Kansas Speedway with a time of 28.284 and a speed of 190.921 mph. It’s his eighth career pole and first of 2016.

    “Thought it was good,” Truex said of his qualifying run. “Feels good to be getting another pole – it’s been a long time. I think I’ve got a XFINITY Series pole here at Kansas back in about ’05, so it’s been a little while here at Kansas and it’s been a few years in the Cup Series altogether. We’ve been really close with our Furniture Row team the past few years. We’ve qualified second a handful of times and been just right there at it. We’ve led the first round. We’ve led the second round. We just haven’t quite figured out how to lead that third round, so today just really proud of everyone at Furniture Row Racing. Bass Pro Shops/ TRACKER Boats Toyota was really good all day long and just can’t say enough about my team and what we have going on right now. Our Toyotas are really fast. Everybody at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) is giving us great engines and just doing all the things it takes to have fast race cars and that’s what it takes to get poles. Excited to be here. Excited for all of our guys and Barney (Visser, team owner) and just everyone in general for all they do and hopefully we’ll be able to finish the deal here tomorrow night.”

    Matt Kenseth will start second in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 28.337 and a speed of 190.564 mph. Denny Hamlin will start third in his No. 11 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 28.361 and a speed of 190.402 mph. Kurt Busch will start fourth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 28.401 and a speed of 190.134 mph.

    “I told them to write down the driver needs to get (Turns) 3 and 4 done better so that our lap times can improve,” Busch said. “I felt like I overdrove Turn 3 and I could feel the engine bog down a little bit off of 4 just because I killed the speed, I killed the momentum of the car. I didn’t quite carry it smoothly through 3 and 4. One and 2 was alright, but all-in-all the Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevy, it feels good to be the top Chevy.”

    Brad Keselowski will round out the top-five starters in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford after posting a time of 28.435 and a speed of 189.907 mph.

    Kyle Busch will start sixth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Ryan Blaney will start seventh in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Ryan Newman will start eighth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    “Well, it was a decent run,” Newman said. “I’m okay with starting eighth. Track position is going to be important during the race. We’ve had a solid day and we have a good Grainger Chevy. I’m happy for my buddy, (Martin Truex, Jr.) even though he’s not the right brand, congrats to him.”

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start ninth in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

    “That’s our goal in qualifying every week now, short track or mile-and-a-half, is to qualify in the top 10,” Stenhouse said. “We’re a little bit better at it at the mile-and-a-half for sure, but we had a little mishap there in the first round. I had to go out twice or I think we could have been a little higher in that final round. We got a little extra run on the tires there that first round, so that was a bummer.

    “We did make some changes right before we switched to qualifying trim that I think made a good direction for our car and it actually ran faster and was a little bit better for us on the long run, so I’m excited to look at that and try to put all the pieces together and make the right adjustments for tomorrow night,” Stenhouse added.

    Trevor Bayne will round out the top-10 starters in his No. 6 RFR Ford.

    Paul Menard will start 11th in his No. 27 RCR Chevrolet. Carl Edwards will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    Forty cars were entered, so no driver was sent home.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/C1611_STARTROW.pdf”]

  • The White Zone: Plate Racing Isn’t Going Away

    The White Zone: Plate Racing Isn’t Going Away

    TALLADEGA, Ala.– “The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to make it clear that restrictor plate racing isn’t going away.

    As usual, yesterday’s GEICO 500 was quite the show of excitement and carnage. We saw cars upside down and a whole gaggle of cars caught up in one wreck, 37 lead changes among 17 different drivers and mayhem coming to the finish line. It was hands down the most competitive race of the season and arguably one of the best races at Talladega. That, however, hasn’t stopped the critics of restrictor plate racing from pointing to the carnage as the argument against it.

    Now plate racing has always come with its detractors. The late David Poole was probably the most hardened critic of restrictor plate racing. Every Monday after a race at Daytona International Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway, he would pen a column in The Charlotte Observer and say on The Morning Drive on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that we should knock down the banking at Daytona and Talladega. The wreck with Carl Edwards at Talladega in 2009 sent him over the edge and led to him suffering a fatal heart attack.

    As of late, I’ve started to notice some more people I work with in the media center, I won’t name any of them, who are starting to turn against plate racing.

    Here’s my take on restrictor plate racing: I love it and I’m not ashamed to say it! Whether you like it or not, Daytona and Talladega are the most competitive races of the season and the numbers back that up. The number of passes is higher than at any other track and the lead changes are higher than at any other track. More than anything, it’s unpredictable and anyone who so much as qualifies can realistically win.

    The carnage is always there, but that’s part of the game. If you go into a race weekend at Daytona or Talladega thinking to yourself that you won’t see big crashes, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

    Racing is a dangerous sport. It’s been a dangerous sport since auto racing was born in France in the early 1900s and remains the most dangerous sport in the world. To quote Brad Keselowski, “racing has always been that balance of daredevils and chess players.”

    We’ve seen other forms of racing continue to race at tracks that don’t fit any current safety standards. One of Formula 1’s crown jewel races is held every Memorial Day Sunday on the streets of Monte Carlo and it doesn’t come close to meeting the safety standards of modern F1. Speaking of Memorial Day, IndyCar continues to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway despite the fact that these cars are racing at speeds that couldn’t have been imagined in the early days of the Brickyard. Just last year, we saw heart-stopping wrecks in the days leading up to the Indianapolis 500 because of the emphasis on higher speeds.

    Despite all the dangers of Monaco and Indianapolis, these racing series still race at these historic venues for one reason; they’re the cathedrals that embody the greatness of their respective sports.

    This was the reason that Daytona and Talladega were built in the first place. They were built to be the cathedrals that embody what is so damn great about NASCAR.

    The bottom line is that unless fans can settle for Daytona and Talladega becoming drawn out and uncompetitive like Indianapolis, which is exactly what would happen without the plates, plate racing isn’t going away.

    My plane is about to take off, so I must get going. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. It takes about 142.18 licks to reach the center of a Tootsie pop.

     

  • Dillon Gives Stewart a Top-10

    Dillon Gives Stewart a Top-10

    TALLADEGA, Ala.– While Tony Stewart was the driver of record for starting the race, relief driver Ty Dillon drove the car to a top-10 finish at Talladega.

    After switching out with Stewart under the first caution of the race, the relief driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing survived carnage to finish sixth in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. It gave Stewart his first top-10 since the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway in October of 2014.

    In what was unofficially his first Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega, Dillon described it as “just wild and crazy.”

    “We had a really strong car,” Dillon said. “Fighting from behind, it’s hard to get it up front. I felt like if we could lead a pack at any point, we would have put ourselves up front. Early one, once I first got in the car, we drove right up to into the Top 10 really quick and we had some air on the nose and was able to go. The team built an awesome race car. I just kind of got mired back. I made some mistakes being my first time here racing. But we were able to dodge crashes and survive here, which is the big thing. We made some good moves at the end to get us into to the top six or seven.”

    The decision for Stewart to get out of his car after starting the race at Talladega was done at the request of his doctors. Even still, the ever competitive “Smoke” wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect.

    “It sucks, to be honest,” Stewart said. “I know why we got to do it, but it sucks. It still sucks that you have to do it but if I hadn’t broke my back at the end of January, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

    Stewart suffered a burst fracture of his L1 vertebrae in a dune buggy crash in the desert on January 31. The injury forced him to miss the first eight races of his retirement season. He returned last week to an 18th-place finish at Richmond International Raceway.

    He added that this would be the “last time we have to do it and I am back in next week.”

    Stewart leaves Talladega 38th in points 71 back of current 30th-place driver Matt DiBenedetto.

  • Brad Keselowski Endures Carnage to Win at Talladega

    Brad Keselowski Endures Carnage to Win at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala.– As the field wrecked behind, Brad Keselowski was up front when it mattered and scored the victory at the Alabama roulette wheel.

    The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford led 46 laps, the most of anyone, and survived a host of wrecks on his way to winning the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

    “I didn’t have a great frame to see what happened to everyone else,” Keselowski said. “The guys at Team Penske gave me a great Miller Lite Ford and this Fusion was hauling it. One of the best tickets to stay out of the wrecks at Talladega is if you can stay up front, and you’ve got a great shot of not getting wrecked. But this No. 2. Daytona didn’t go the way we wanted it to go. We thought we were gonna be better than that, but we just didn’t show the speed in the 500 and the guys went to work and they brought me a really strong car here for Talladega. I’m so proud of everybody at Team Penske. To be back in Victory Lane with two wins this year, and we feel like we can get a lot more. We’re growing as a team. We made a lot of changes at Team Penske and this feels really good, really good.”

    The victory was the 19th of his Sprint Cup Series career, second of 2016 and fourth at Talladega.

    Kyle Busch led 12 laps on his way home second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He described what others were doing at the end of the race as “some moves that you made that were just lucky and just trying to get through some of the holes that were there and that were forming and guys bumping and banging each other, pushing all around and everything and trying to get the most out of what we had with our Skittles Camry,” Busch said. “You know, second’s not bad. I think the quota of three cars on their lids today is a little high, but it’s racing.”

    Austin Dillon rounded out the podium in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    “My car was actually probably dragging; the No. 1 (Jamie McMurray) could stick to my back bumper and he gave me a heck of a push all the way through (Turns) 3 and 4 and when he did that, I knew we were going to have a shot at it,” Dillon said. “But as soon as I pulled out, it was kind of a parachute but I had to make a shot at it. I wanted to have a shot at the win. If I would have pushed the No. 18 (Kyle Busch), he might have beaten the No. 2, I don’t know. But hat’s off to these guys. They fought so hard. We pitted 15 times, they said. That’s amazing. The car was killed, and to come home with a third place finish we’ve got to thank the good Lord above.”

    Jamie McMurray finished fourth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    “I was really fortunate,” McMurray said. “I was only caught up in one of the wrecks. And I don’t know exactly what happened in the other two. Honestly, I don’t even know what happened in mine. I was so lucky that I got hit in the back and I spun to the bottom, but it didn’t tear-up the front-end. It didn’t tear the splitter up. And I don’t know that my car was faster afterwards, but it didn’t seem to hurt it any.”

    Chase Elliott led 27 laps and was the highest finishing rookie as he rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. When asked about what stood out to him in his Cup debut at Talladega, he said, “trying to finish. You can’t have a good day unless you finish. Just trying to focus in on that. Obviously, it got a little wild. For us, we just tried to keep that in mind and make it to the end.”

    Ty Dillon, subbing for Tony Stewart, finished sixth in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Clint Bowyer earned his second top-10 of the season with a seventh-place finish in his No. 15 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet. Kurt Busch was leading with two laps to go before getting shuffled back and finishing eighth in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney finished ninth in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Trevor Bayne led 22 laps on his way to rounding out the top-10 in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

    The race lasted three hours, 34 minutes and 15 seconds at an average speed of 140.046 mph. There were 37 lead changes among 17 different drivers and 10 cautions for 41 laps.

    Kevin Harvick leaves Talladega with a nine-point lead over Kyle Busch in the points standings.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/C1610_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Elliott Sadler Survives to Win at Talladega

    Elliott Sadler Survives to Win at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala.– Elliott Sadler’s 41st birthday will be one to remember as he scored the victory at the Alabama roulette wheel.

    The driver of the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet survived a wreck in the tri-oval coming to the checkered flag and had to wait for the official results to take said checkered flag in the Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. It’s his 11th win in the XFINITY Series, second at Talladega and first since 2014.

    “People don’t know how hard it is to win these races. It’s very emotional,” said Sadler choking up in victory lane. “It’s a great birthday gift to me. Man, we needed this win.”

    Coming to the line, he was trying to find his way around Joey Logano when Logano got loosened up, came down on Sadler, turned back up the track and slammed the wall head-on. As his lifeless car came back down, it was t-boned by JJ Yeley in his No. 44 Tri-Star Motorsports Toyota. Both drivers were unharmed. Yeley took his car back to the garage and Logano got out of his car under his own power.

    Justin Allgaier, who was sitting in his car on pit road after the race had concluded while the finishing order was still being determined, finished second in his No. 7 JRM Chevrolet. Brennan Poole, who had crossed the line first after the field was frozen, came home third in his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Jeremy Clements finished fourth in his No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet. Brendan Gaughan overcame an early pass-through penalty to round out the top-five in his No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    Austin Dillon finished sixth in his No. 2 RCR Chevrolet. Daniel Suárez finished seventh in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “I feel like we had a really fast car by ourselves, but for some reason in the draft and pushing and trying to push people it wasn’t great,” Suárez said. “Pushing was okay and when I was getting pushed it was horrible and then we made it better, but it wasn’t great. I don’t know. I feel like we have to keep working and improving our superspeedway program.”

    Matt Tifft led 21 laps on his way to an eighth-place finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.

    “It wasn’t too bad for typical Talladega until the end there,” Tifft said. “We had a really fast car all day. Just kind of got shuffled out – got shuffled back a little bit further than we might have wanted to. Then the last couple laps, just craziness here, so just tried to stay on the bottom. Just tried to kind of shove our way through there and stay out of trouble, so proud of everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing and our whole NOS Energy Drink Camry.”

    Chase Elliott led seven laps on his way to a ninth-place finish in his No. 88 JRM Chevrolet. Aric Almirola overcame an early pass-through penalty to round out the top-10 in his No. 98 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford.

    The race lasted two hours, 19 minutes and 45 seconds at an average speed of 132.477 mph. There were 20 lead changes among 13 different drivers and six cautions for 29 laps.

    Sadler leaves Talladega tied for the points lead with Suárez.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/N1609_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Elliott on the Pole at Talladega

    Elliott on the Pole at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala.– Chase Elliott will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow at Talladega.

    The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet scored the pole for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway after posting a time of 49.704 and a speed of 192.661 mph.

    “It’s obviously really special,” Elliott said on getting the pole at Talladega. “They were just telling me that on this day 30 years ago I think Dad set the (track) record here. That is pretty special. This has always been a special place to him and certainly great to be here and have the opportunity in Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports, Napa Auto Parts to come be a part of this weekend. Like I said in Daytona, this is all team guys. This had nothing to do with me and they have brought a fast car back. This is our same car that we ran at Daytona. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring it home in one piece, they had to fix it, but they did a great job doing that and hopefully, we can just try to be smart, try to cut down on some of the dumb mistakes I made in February and try to give ourselves a shot and be there at the end.”

    It’s his second career pole in the Sprint Cup Series and second of 2016.

    “I do think racing and trying to stay up front is important,” he said. “It’s obviously much easier said than done, but I think for us having a good pit road selection is very important.  I think that becomes a big factor at the end of the day when you come onto pit road with a big group of cars and being able to run down pit road and have that first box is big.  Hopefully, that helps, but you’ve got to get to the end of the day for that to matter.  Unfortunately, I didn’t do that in February so hopefully, we can do that tomorrow and see how it goes.”

    Austin Dillon will start second in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 49.765 and a speed of 192.424 mph.

    “The No. 24 car has won all the poles the last two years at speedways it seems like,” Dillon said. “To be that close to him and we know we can get a little better here and there, but that is just the big pick up. I think we qualified 24th here the last race. Huge pick up for us and we are excited for the race.”

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start third in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 49.799 and a speed of 192.293 mph.

    “We picked up a little bit,” Earnhardt said. “I was just talking with Kasey (Kahne) about our lines and what we did different. We think we saw a little bit out there that makes a difference. We were able to pick up a little bit. It’s hard to move forward in the second round at speedways. Usually, what you’ve got in the first round is what you’ve got in the second round, but we jumped a couple of guys and got a better starting spot.”

    Matt Kenseth will start fourth in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 49.828 and a speed of 192.181 mph.

    “We seemed to have pretty good speed,” Kenseth said. “We had good speed, but qualifying doesn’t necessarily mean a lot for the race. These guys have been doing a good job and I qualified well at Daytona and qualified well here, so that was encouraging that they got the speed in the car.”

    Jimmie Johnson will round out the top-five starters in his No. 48 HMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 49.845 and a speed of 192.116 mph.

    “The car is really good,” Johnson said. “The race environment is so much different than what we have in practice. We didn’t want to go out in the second (practice session) and risk the race car. We made a few single-car runs in the first just to see where our speed was and to get our tape and our heights right. It’s rare that you come to the race track and find some more speed during the practice session. It’s really done at the shop. We are just trying to minimize our risk and our time on the track.”

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start sixth in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

    “We have a great starting spot,” Stenhouse said. “We have to try to keep our track position all race. I feel like we haven’t done a very good job of that on the speedway races. I think that is a key because you are not going to be able to get track position in the last 30 laps. You have to keep it all race.”

    Brad Keselowski will start seventh in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

    “It was a much better effort than we have had here in the past which bodes well,” Keselowski said. “We were really fast in speedweeks for the Unlimited and it didn’t showcase itself in the 500 at all. We qualified terribly and ran terribly all weekend. That was very disappointing. We came here and qualified well in an impound scenario and that feels good.”

    Denny Hamlin will start eighth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Carl Edwards will start ninth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    “The Toyotas seemed to have some speed, so this is good,” Edwards said. “We actually picked up a little bit of time the second round which is great. Now we’ll just go race.”

    Paul Menard will round out the top-10 in his No. 27 RCR Chevrolet.

    “We had a nice pick up from yesterday,” Menard said. “That is always a good thing. The cars are cooler in qualifying than they are in race practice. When you can pick up from practice to qualifying that is always a good thing. I’m proud of my guys. A good top 10 starting spot and good pit selection.”

    Kasey Kahne will start 11th in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet.

    “Really fast cars and all of us (Hendrick Motorsports) had good speed,” Kahne said. “We slowed down a little bit in the final round, which is surprising, but other than that we were really good.”

    Martin Truex Jr. will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.

    When asked about his qualifying effort, he said it was “uneventful” in a good way. “Anytime it’s uneventful, it’s good. We’re ready to go racing. I thought everybody picked up, but us, which is kind of interesting, but I don’t know why that is. Other than that, everything is good.”

    Josh Wise was the one car that failed to qualify.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/C1610_STARTROW.pdf”]

  • Tifft on the XFINITY Pole at Talladega

    Tifft on the XFINITY Pole at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala.– Matt Tifft will lead the field to the green flag for this afternoon’s race at Talladega.

    The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for today’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway with a time of 52.857 and a speed of 181.168 mph.

    It’s the first career pole for the 19-year old of Fairfax, Virginia.

    Daniel Suárez will start second in his No. 19 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 52.951 and a speed of 180.846 mph. Austin Dillon will start third in his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 53.051 and a speed of 180.506 mph. Erik Jones will start fourth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 53.092 and a speed of 180.366 mph. Ty Dillon will round out the top-five in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet after posting a time of 53.136 and a speed of 180.217 mph.

    Brendan Gaughan will start sixth in his No. 62 RCR Chevrolet. Ryan Reed will start seventh in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Joey Logano will start eighth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Elliott Sadler will start ninth in his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. JJ Yeley will round out the top-10 starters in his No. 44 TriStar Motorsports Toyota.

    Derrick Cope, Mike Harmon and Josh Reaume were the three drivers that failed to make the race.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/N1609_STARTROW.pdf”]

  • Logano Fastest in Final Practice at Talladega

    Logano Fastest in Final Practice at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala.– Joey Logano topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

    The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 48.785 and a speed of 196.290 mph. Ryan Blaney was second in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 48.798 and a speed of 196.238 mph. Chase Elliott was third in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 48.811 and a speed of 196.185 mph. Danica Patrick was fourth in her No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 49.084 and a speed of 195.094 mph. Brian Scott rounded out the top-five in his No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford with a time of 49.107 and a speed of 195.003 mph.

    Kasey Kahne was sixth in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was seventh in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet. Trevor Bayne was eighth in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Austin Dillon was ninth in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Kurt Busch rounded out the top-10 in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet.

    Patrick posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 192.142 mph. Kahne was second at an average speed of 192.020 mph.

    The Sprint Cup Series is back on track tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 p.m. ETwith qualifying for the GEICO 500.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/C1610_PRACFINAL.pdf”]

  • Stewart Won’t Change Sunday Plans if it Goes Long Green

    Stewart Won’t Change Sunday Plans if it Goes Long Green

    TALLADEGA, Ala.– Tony Stewart said how deep the race goes before the first caution will have no bearing on him getting out and giving way to a substitute driver.

    During his media availability as part of a press conference with Danica Patrick, the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was asked if he would change his plan and run the entire race should the race go as long caution-free as it did last October.

    “I still think the goal is going to be for when the first caution comes out,” Stewart said. “And if it means we go 80 laps or 100 laps or whatever, it’s not likely that the race will go that long without a caution, but if it does, the level of intensity is pretty sanitary at that point. It’s not really ramping-up yet. So, I don’t feel like there’s any danger in that. It’s later in the race when guys are really having to make things happen; that’s the part of the race when we really need to be out of the car. There will be ample time to get that caution to get us out. The good thing is that Talladega is so big that even if it’s 40 laps from the end of the race when Ty gets in it, he’s going to have enough time to do what he needs to do. Hopefully, it will happen sooner than later; and that way he can get into the flow of the race earlier than later and he’ll be fine. Everything that he’s done in our car this year has been awesome. I think he’s done a fantastic job and I think he’ll be fine this weekend as well.”

    The plan is that Ty Dillon will hop into the car during the first caution of the race which will allow Stewart to be credited as the starting driver and receive the points from wherever Dillon finishes.

    The decision to get out of the car stems from his doctors advising he do so to not risk re-injuring his spine.

    Stewart suffered a burst fracture of his L1 vertebrae in a dune buggy wreck back in late January. After sitting out the first eight races, he made his return to competition in an 18th-place finish during last Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. He said afterward that he was having so much fun at his favorite track.

  • McMurray Fastest in First Practice

    McMurray Fastest in First Practice

    TALLADEGA, Ala.– Jamie McMurray topped the chart in the first Sprint Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

    The driver of the No. 1 Jamie McMurray was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 47.943 and a speed of 199.737 mph. Chase Elliott was second in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 47.945 and a speed of 199.729 mph. Kurt Busch was third in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 48.022 and a speed of 199.409 mph. Danica Patrick was fourth in his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 48.028 and a speed of 199.384 mph. Trevor Bayne rounded out the top-five in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 48.044 and a speed of 199.317 mph.

    Kevin Harvick was sixth in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet. Casey Mears was seventh in his No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet. Joey Logano was eighth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Kyle Larson was ninth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Michael McDowell rounded out the top-10 in his No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet.

    Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 195.541 mph. Logano was second at an average speed of 195.169 mph.

    The Sprint Cup Series is back on track this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET for final practice.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/C1610_PRAC1.pdf”]