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  • Kyle Busch Fastest at Daytona in First Practice

    Kyle Busch Fastest at Daytona in First Practice

    Kyle Busch topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Daytona International Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 45.584 and a speed of 197.438 mph. Brad Keselowski was second in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 45.632 and a speed of 197.230 mph. Kevin Harvick was third in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 45.639 and a speed of 197.200 mph. Joey Logano was fourth in his No. 22 Penske Ford with a time of 45.647 and a speed of 197.165 mph. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 45.647 and a speed of 197.165 mph.

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Trevor Bayne and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-10.

    Bayne posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 196.073 mph.

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  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Daytona

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Daytona

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series travels to Daytona International Speedway this weekend for the Coke Zero 400 while the XFINITY Series will hit the track for the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250.

    Please check below for the complete schedule of events. All times are Eastern.

    Thursday, June 29:

    On Track:
    2- 2:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Practice – NBCSN
    3- 3:55 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – NBCSN
    4- 4:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – NBCSN
    5- 5:55 p.m.: Cup Series Final Practice – NBCSN

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    1:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series
    2:30 p.m.: Cup Series

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    1 p.m.: Sam Flood and NBC Talent Season Preview
    1:45 p.m.: Kurt Busch
    2:15 p.m.: Chase Elliott
    4:15 p.m.: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    Friday, June 30

    On Track:
    2:10 p.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN
    4:10 p.m.: Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN
    7:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 (100 laps, 250 miles) – NBCSN – Postponed to Saturday

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    1 p.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
    1:30 p.m.: Matt Tifft, Peter Intermaggio, Carol Eggert
    3:30 p.m.: Brad Keselowski
    3:45 p.m.: Richard Petty
    5:30 p.m.: Post-Cup Series Qualifying

    Saturday, July 1

    On Track:
    Noon: XFINITY Series Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 (100 laps, 250 miles) – CNBC – (Find CNBC on your TV)
    7:30 p.m.: Cup Series Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola (160 laps, 400 miles) – NBC
    11 p.m.: Cup Series Post-Race – NBCSN

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    2:30 p.m.: Post-XFINITY Series Race
    4 p.m.: Andrew Lumish, The Good Cemetarian
    4:15 p.m.: Gen. Wesley Clark, Richard Childress, Austin Dillon
    11 p.m.: Post-Cup Series Race

    Race Details:

    NASCAR XFINITY Series Coca-Cola Firecracker 250
    Date: Friday, June 30 – Postponed to Saturday – See above for complete details
    Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
    TV: NBCSN, 7 p.m. ET
    Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Distance: 250 miles (100 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on lap 100)

    Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola
    Date: Saturday, July 1
    Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
    TV: NBC, 7:30 p.m. ET, NASCAR America Saturday, NBCSN, 5 p.m.
    Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
    Distance: 400 miles (160 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 40), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 80), Final Stage (Ends on lap 160)

    Complete TV Schedule

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

     

  • Dominant Truex Drive Defeated by Engine Failure

    Dominant Truex Drive Defeated by Engine Failure

    A great day for Martin Truex Jr. ended behind the wall in the closing laps of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

    Starting the day in third, Truex worked his way to the race lead by out-braking Kyle Larson going into Turn 11 on Lap 10. He briefly lost the lead opting to pit under the Lap 14 caution that flew for a spin in Turn 11 but took it back from AJ Allmendinger on Lap 22 to win the first stage (his 11th of the season).

    Truex led the first 13 laps of the second stage before pitting under the lap 38 caution, which flew for debris and finished outside the top-10 in the stage.

    He found his way back to the front with 43 laps to go, out-braking Kevin Harvick entering Turn 11, only to pit from the lead three laps later and exit behind Harvick, who pitted the lap prior, due to a slow stop.

    Shortly thereafter, Truex reported that he was down a cylinder. The issue briefly subsided and he picked up his pace. With 24 to go, however, he made an unscheduled pit stop, then took his car to the garage because the engine expired.

    He said afterward that he “was on seven cylinders” for roughly “about 20 laps.”

    “It’s very disappointing, I mean, sitting there running second on seven cylinders and staying right with the leader,” Truex said. “I mean this Toyota was so good today. Everyone at Furniture Row Racing did an awesome job with it. Everybody back in Denver, thank you for just crazy fast cars. TRD (Toyota Racing Development) stuff has been really good for the past year and a half. You know sometimes these things happen, so appreciate all their effort out there at TRD. Makes good power. It’s just this one wasn’t ready to go the whole distance today.”

    Truex leaves Sonoma trailing Larson by 13 points.

  • Harvick Captures First Win of Season at Sonoma

    Harvick Captures First Win of Season at Sonoma

    Kevin Harvick played the pit strategy game correctly and made a pass for the lead in the closing laps to win for the first time in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

    Shortly after losing the lead to Martin Truex Jr. with 43 laps to go, Harvick hit pit road to make his final stop of the race. Combined with a slow stop from race leader Truex two laps later, Harvick cycled ahead of Truex in the running order, putting him behind race leader Brad Keselowski.

    With 22 to go, Harvick out-braked him going into Turn 7a and drove on to score the victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

    “I am so excited,” Harvick said. “I think as you look at it, getting our first win with Ford, this has been a great journey for us as an organization and team. Kurt winning the Daytona 500 and we have run well. Everybody from Bush, Jimmy John’s and Mobil 1, Outback, Hunt Brothers and everybody. It is a great day. It finally all came together and we were able to not have any cautions there at the end. Rodney had great strategy and I was able to take care of the car and get out front. I felt like the 78 was the car we had to race and then he had problems and from there we were in control.”

    It’s his 36th career victory in 590 starts and first at Sonoma Raceway.

    “It means a ton to finally check this one off the list,” Harvick added. “I feel like we have been close a couple times but never put it all together. Being so close to home and having raced here so much, this was one that was on the top of the list and today we were able to check that box.”

    Teammate Clint Bowyer brought his car home second, while Keselowski rounded out the podium in third.

    “You get there back in traffic and you’re so much faster than them you have to check up to save a mistake,” Bowyer said. “You run over them and you don’t mean to; you get frustrated and get a little bit farther behind and a little bit farther behind. I saw the 42 check up and I get into him and I was thinking, ‘Well, we’ll both survive this’. And then all of a sudden the 47 was coming through him and I smoked him and hurt the left front. We were fast all weekend. With clean air and a long run, that’s always my strong suit. We got the long run, we just hard to start dead last to get it.”

    “The Freightliner Ford was really good today,” Keselowski said. “We didn’t have the qualifying fun we wanted. We had amazing race pace. That’s a credit to everyone at Team Penske. It felt really good. I just wish I could run this race again I think I might have had better car than driver today and I learned a lot. Just an amazing fun day.”

    Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10.

    Kyle Larson led the field to the green flag at 3:22 p.m. He held it for the first nine laps before Truex out-braked him going into Turn 11 to take the lead on Lap 10. A caution halfway through the stage shuffled the pit strategies, as is typical with a road course race, resulting in Chris Buescher, who elected not to pit, taking the lead under the caution. Teammate AJ Allmendinger took it from him exiting Turn 10 on Lap 19 and lost it to Truex in Turn 11 on Lap 22, who drove on to win the first stage.

    Truex retained the lead until he pitted under the Lap 38 caution, which went to Jimmie Johnson, who drove on to win the second stage.

    Denny Hamlin restarted the race with 56 to go as the race leader, having opted not to pit under the second stage caution. Kyle Busch took it from him going into Turn 11 with 47 to go and let Harvick power by him for the lead on the frontstretch two laps later. Truex returned to the front with 43 to go, out-braking Harvick going into Turn 11.

    A cycle of green flag stops occurred with 42 to go, with Truex pitting and exiting behind Harvick, setting up the run to the finish.

    Earnhardt brought out the first caution on lap 14 when he wheel-hopped, got loose going into Turn 11 and spun out. On the lap 30 restart, Earnhardt, Ryan Blaney and Danica Patrick ran three-wide going through Turn 4a, resulting in Patrick spinning out and getting t-boned by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. On the final lap, Kasey Kahne slammed the outside barrier on the frontstretch.

    The race lasted two hours, 46 minutes and 52 seconds at an average speed of 78.710 mph. There were 13 lead changes among 10 different drivers and six cautions for 12 laps.

    Larson leaves with a 13-point lead over Truex.

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  • Johnny Sauter Comes Up One Spot Short At Iowa

    Johnny Sauter Comes Up One Spot Short At Iowa

    Johnny Sauter was looking for his second win of the year and it looked liked it might come in Iowa.

    After qualifying fourth, Sauter was working his way up quietly. When Stage 1 ended, Sauter wound up in the third position.

    The turning point in the race came during Stage 2. When a caution came out on Lap 108 for a spin on the backstretch, there were varying pit strategies. Eventual race winner, Bell, stayed out, while the rest of the field, including Sauter, pitted.

    After a restart on Lap 113, Bell, on old tires, slipped back, and this saw Sauter take the lead on Lap 116. A caution came out late in the stage, thus ending the race under yellow conditions, which gave Sauter the Stage 2 win.

    In Stage 3, another caution flew with 15 laps to go. It was a carbon-copy of what happened in Stage 1. Sauter was the only driver that stayed out during the final round of pit stops. With the late race restart that came with seven laps to go, Sauter tried holding off the field on old tires. He did so for one lap, then held on to finish in the second position.

    “Yeah, you know, obviously, tires prevail here, but we made the call,” Sauter said. “Chase (Briscoe) actually took me to school there. That kid is a hell of a wheelman.”

    “Great day for GMS and our Allegiant Travel Chevy,” Sauter said. “We probably should’ve had tires there and I should’ve been communicating better with my spotter. All in all, a great day. We just had a good truck, just not good enough.”

    Sauter continues to lead the championship point standings forty-two points over Christopher Bell.

     

  • William Byron Gets First Career XFINITY Win at Iowa Speedway

    William Byron Gets First Career XFINITY Win at Iowa Speedway

    NEWTON, Iowa — Last week, a blink-of-an-eye moment weighed heavily on William Byron.

    Saturday, the driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet lifted his head and shouted out a pent-up yelp that formed the suitable soundtrack the rookie’s first career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory.

    “I feel it all kind of comes around in racing and last week we were so close,” said Byron, who finished a mere .012 seconds behind Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin last Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. “You’ve got to have a little bit off luck to win every race that we win and I feel like we got one back for last week.”

    The final restart with 10 laps to go came just 11 laps after the previous one during which Byron pitted and capped off fuel while taking tires.

    Good fortune finally found Byron again, who never was seriously challenged down the stretch, but only had four or five laps of fuel left before his last pit stop helped set the stage for victory.

    “We definitely got a huge break the way the caution fell right there,” Byron’s crew chief, Dave Elenz, told FS1 pit reporters during a caution period with 15 laps to go. 

    Byron made the most of it. He won last year at Iowa, but in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

    “It’s awesome just to kind of come this far,” said Byron, who received a congratulatory call from Rick Hendrick after the win.

    The ninth caution of the night also benefitted some less familiar top-10 finishers, including Ryan Sieg, who ran second to notch his fourth career top-five finish in 117 series starts. Tyler Reddick took third.

    “It was fun racing with Tyler at the end,” Sieg said. “We had a little bit of a battle.”

    Christopher Bell — in the second leg of his first double-duty weekend — started on the pole and remained on point the entire first stage, fending off an early challenge from teammate Kyle Benjamin, and a late charge from Sam Hornish, Jr., who made his first start in nine months.

    Hornish led 183 laps while winning last season at Iowa, but misfortune struck 19 laps into stage two as Bell made contact with his rear fender — an encounter that sent Hornish careening into the wall.

    It also ended the veteran stock car and open-wheel racer’s first night back with Team Penske.

    “He came up pretty hard when he got loose and hit me,” said Hornish, who is slated to run a limited schedule this season. “Of course, we got the brunt of it. I’m disappointed. This is one of my favorite places to come to.”

    Points leader Elliott Sadler shares that sentiment — even though mostly bad luck plagued his night.

    He qualified fourth, but was sent to the rear after an unapproved pre-race adjustment was made on his car. No matter. He’d ascended to fifth by the end of the first stage and ended up eighth.

    Bell settled for 16th after he was collected in an incident involving Brennan Poole and Ryan Reed — the very caution that benefitted Byron and others.

    Bell led 152 laps to Byron’s 78, but as both drivers know, it’s the last lap that counts.

    Especially Byron, who vocally and visually celebrated this week after enduring quiet disappointment the last.

    “To get second last week kind of hurt, just because we were that close,” Byron said. “But I feel like it gave us extra motivation, and I feel like last year the beginning of the summer was when I kind of hit my stride and I think we won back-to-back, so to now have a second and a first feels really good.”

    NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen

    Iowa Speedway – Newton, Iowa  – Saturday, June 24, 2017

     

                   1. (6) William Byron #, Chevrolet, 250.

                   2. (22) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 250.

                   3. (15) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 250.

                   4. (14) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 250.

                   5. (7) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 250.

                   6. (20) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 250.

                   7. (18) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 250.

                   8. (4) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 250.

                   9. (5) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 250.

                   10. (31) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 250.

                   11. (30) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 250.

                   12. (27) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 250.

                   13. (25) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 250.

                   14. (32) David Starr, Chevrolet, 250.

                   15. (28) Dylan Lupton, Toyota, 250.

                   16. (1) Christopher Bell(i), Toyota, 250.

                   17. (26) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 250.

                   18. (37) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 250.

                   19. (17) Ryan Reed, Ford, 250.

                   20. (21) Ben Kennedy #, Chevrolet, 249.

                   21. (11) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 249.

                  22. (9) Matt Tifft #, Toyota, 249.

                   23. (23) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 249.

                   24. (24) Cole Custer #, Ford, 249.

                   25. (13) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 249.

                   26. (16) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 249.

                   27. (8) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 249.

                   28. (38) Timmy Hill, Dodge, 247.

                   29. (34) Ray Black II, Chevrolet, 246.

                   30. (19) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, 244.

                   31. (2) Kyle Benjamin, Toyota, 241.

                   32. (12) Scott Lagasse Jr., Chevrolet, 236.

                   33. (33) Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, Accident, 161.

                   34. (10) Ty Majeski, Ford, Accident, 143.

                   35. (40) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Engine, 121.

                   36. (29) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, Engine, 118.

                   37. (3) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, Accident, 78.

                   38. (39) Carl Long, Toyota, Brakes, 18.

                   39. (36) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Vibration, 16.

                   40. (35) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, Electrical, 6.

     

    Average Speed of Race Winner:  85.859 mph.

    Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 32 Mins, 52 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.140 Seconds.

    Caution Flags:  9 for 65 laps.

    Lead Changes:  11 among 6 drivers.

    Lap Leaders:   C. Bell(i) 1-64; R. Black II 65; W. Byron # 66-86; J. Allgaier 87-91; W. Byron # 92-103; C. Bell(i) 104-114; B. Gaughan 115-123; W. Byron # 124-142; C. Bell(i) 143-219; W. Byron # 220-224; D. Lupton 225-229; W. Byron # 230-250.

    Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  C. Bell(i) 3 times for 152 laps; W. Byron # 5 times for 78 laps; B. Gaughan 1 time for 9 laps; J. Allgaier 1 time for 5 laps; D. Lupton 1 time for 5 laps; R. Black II 1 time for 1 lap.

    Stage #1 Top Ten: 20,22,9,7,1,18,14,3,16,21

    Stage #2 Top Ten: 62,9,20,1,51,2,39,7,16,28

  • Larson Takes Pole Position at Sonoma

    Larson Takes Pole Position at Sonoma

    Despite a botched entry into the final turn, Kyle Larson won the pole for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 after posting the fastest time in the final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Sonoma Raceway.

    His No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet carried a tad too much speed and about lost the car from behind going into Turn 11, but got an excellent drive off to stay in the green and post a time of 1:15.177 and a speed of 95.295 mph.

    Larson said afterward that his entire lap “actually felt pretty bad.”

    “I messed up into (Turn) 1 and into (Turn) 2 and was out a little bit too far,” he said. “Yeah, I felt like I gave up enough there that I wouldn’t have a shot at the pole. I thought maybe I’d maintain and run about the same lap time as the previous run. So, I was surprised and I was happy about that. This is cool to get a pole on a road course at my home state. This is my closest track to Sacramento or Elk Grove where I grew up. I have lots of friends and family here. We’re going to celebrate with the team. The Target Chevy was good. And then we’re going to head out to Calistoga and go watch some Sprint Car racing. So, I’m excited about that.”

    It’s his fourth pole in 127 career starts, third of the season and his second consecutive pole.

    Teammate Jamie McMurray will start his No. 1 Ganassi Chevrolet second after posting a time of 1:15.249 and a speed of 95.204 mph.

    “I have been on the pole here three times and haven’t been able to win the race. So, I’m not as worried with qualifying as excited as I am for how good our car was in race trim,” McMurray said. “We did two or three long runs and the car had good initial speed and I didn’t think it fell off as much as some of the other cars did. The No. 78 looked really fast, but I thought overall our car was one of the best in race trim. So, the fact that we have a good starting spot at the beginning is going to be big. The stages are going to be interesting to see how that affects the race or if it does. But, yeah, got a good car and just ready for tomorrow.”

    Martin Truex Jr. will start his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota third after posting a time of 1:15.453 and a speed of 94.947 mph. Kyle Busch will start his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota fourth after posting a time of 1:15.459 and a speed of 94.939 mph. AJ Allmendinger will round out the top-five starters in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 1:15.553 and a speed of 94.821 mph.

    Danica Patrick, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher and Dale Earnhardt Jr. round out the top-10.

    Daniel Suarez and Kevin Harvick round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    No drivers were sent home for failing to make the race.

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  • John Hunter Nemechek Goes Back To Back In 2017

    John Hunter Nemechek Goes Back To Back In 2017

    John Hunter Nemechek won the M&MS 200 at Iowa Speedway Friday night, capturing his second straight victory.

    Noah Gragson set the pole in qualifying, alongside him was Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Christopher Bell, who has won twice this season. Sixty laps each made up Stages 1 and 2, while 80 laps made up the final laps.

    When Stage 1 began, Gragson led early, but it was Bell who took the lead on Lap 17 and never looked back. Bell would go on to win the first stage, which was incident free.

    Stage 2 took place on lap 69; Bell and Chase Briscoe were on the front row after pit stops. While it looked like the stage would remain incident free once again, problems began on Lap 95 for Ben Rhodes, who had a vibration and had to pit from fifth place. The second caution came out on Lap 108 when Mike Senica spun off Turn 2.

    This caution brought many varying pit strategies. The race leader Bell stayed out while the rest of the field pitted.

    Stage 2 went back to green on Lap 113 and Johnny Sauter took the lead away from Bell three laps later. Toward the end of the stage, Kaz Grala and Cody Coughlin made contact on the backstretch to bring out another caution. Rhodes was also involved, getting a flat tire due to contact. NASCAR made the decision to end the stage under caution, to allow clean up due to extensive fluid laid down the track. Sauter ended up winning the second stage.

    Stage 3 got underway with 68 laps to go. Sauter was setting the pace until Briscoe took the lead with 17 laps to go. It looked like the race was going to remain green but Matt Crafton wrecked and hit the wall hard in Turns 3 and 4, due to a bump by his teammate Grant Enfinger. Under this caution, we saw the race-winning call. Sauter stayed out, while others pitted. This also saw eventual race winner, Nemechek, take four tires and restart in the fourth position.

    With seven to go for the restart, Sauter was on old tires as Briscoe made a pass for the lead and held on for one lap. Nemechek made the winning pass with six to go on the backstretch. When he took the checkered flag, there was a wreck involving Harrison Burton and Justin Haley. Both drivers were uninjured.

    “That’s definitely special,” Nemechek said. “All year, we felt really good about this whole stretch, Gateway, Iowa and Kentucky. So hopefully, we can go to Kentucky and make it three in a row.”

    “I can’t say enough,” Nemechek said. “Thank you to all my guys. They’re so determined. They work as many hours as needed. This is fun getting to victory lane.”

    Sauter, Brandon Jones, Enfinger and Bell rounded out the top five. Current Truck Series champion Sauter is the points leader by 42 over second place Bell.

    This was Nemechek’s second win of the year and his fifth career win. He led once for six laps.

    There were five leaders among six lead changes, with four cautions for 34 laps.

    Next Up: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series takes next weekend off, before heading to Kentucky Speedway Thursday, July 6.

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  • Earnhardt Retirement Gift Tour Kicks Off at Sonoma

    Earnhardt Retirement Gift Tour Kicks Off at Sonoma

    With the 2017 season nearing the halfway mark and Dale Earnhardt Jr. retiring at the end of it, the retirement gifts for NASCAR’s favorite driver will come with greater frequency if past history is any indicator.

    In the last two years, a new tradition has formed — in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series — that when a well-known driver begins his final season, he must be showered with gifts and honors from almost every track on the circuit. Even if the driver asks not to be showered with gifts, in the case of Jeff Gordon, or even flat our says he won’t take part in coming to the deadline room week after week to talk about what it’s like to race his last race at *insert track,* as was the case with Tony Stewart, he finally caves in and takes part in a great (Gordon) or small (Stewart) degree.

    Having only announced his retirement the day after a wreck resulted in a 38th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in April, eight races into the season, Earnhardt had avoided this. That all changed today at Sonoma Raceway.

    When he arrived to meet with the media corp in the deadline room, Sonoma Raceway General Manager Steve Page announced that, along with a commemorative giant bottle of red wine, he’d had three service dog puppies, who’d live their lives in Sonoma County, California serving children with disabilities, named after him and wife Amy.

    “Yeah, this is really, obviously we all heard the story and I think it’s a great thing that the track did,” Earnhardt said. “Amy is going to love this idea and she is going to be a little sad she wasn’t here to see the dogs today, but it’s nice to know that these types of things are happening and you guys are making a difference in people’s lives. We really appreciate that and obviously, thank the track for their investment to make this happen. It warms my heart. We do love dogs and love making a difference in kids’ lives and this is a twofer. Pretty neat deal. Just thanks a lot. Excited to maybe come back and see how the dogs are doing. Be a lot of fun to do that. We aren’t disappearing we will be back to see you guys again, so thank you.

    “I love the idea that we… I can’t really say we, but the race track is going to do something that makes a difference for someone else,” he added. “Our whole idea on finishing up the season is to try to show our appreciation. And sort of express that to our fans and everyone in the industry on making this an incredibly enjoyable ride. This fits right into that. It’s awesome that we are going to be able or they are going to be able to help somebody and help some kids. These dogs are going to have wonderful lives and they are going to enjoy doing that as well. The dogs will enjoy making a difference in someone’s life. That’s pretty cool.”

  • Larson Fastest in Sonoma Final Practice

    Larson Fastest in Sonoma Final Practice

    Kyle Larson topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Sonoma Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 1:15.899 and a speed of 94.389 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 1:15.935 mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 1:16.017 and a speed of 94.242 mph. AJ Allmendinger was fourth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet with a time of 1:16.034 and a speed of 94.221 mph. Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five in his No. 1 Ganassi Chevrolet with a time of 1:16.199 and a speed of 94.017 mph.

    Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top-10.

    Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 91.817 mph.

    With less than 15 minutes remaining in the session, Chase Elliott got loose in Turn 10, spun and hit the outside wall. The damage forced him to roll out his backup car. In the opening minutes, Erik Jones spun out in Turn 11 and hit the tire barrier, forcing him to roll out his backup car.

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