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Race Central NASCAR Cup Series news and information

  • Stewart fastest in second practice

    Stewart fastest in second practice

    Tony Stewart posted the fastest time in second Sprint Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 35.622 and a speed of 202.122 mph. Ryan Blaney was second in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 35.745 and a speed of 201.427 mph. Chase Elliott was third in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 35.786 and a speed of 201.196 mph. Kurt Busch was fourth in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet with a time of 35.805 and a speed of 201.089 mph. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 35.833 and a speed of 200.932 mph.

    Martin Truex Jr. was sixth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Kevin Harvick was seventh in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet. Alex Bowman was eighth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson was ninth in his No. 48 HMS Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-10 in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet.

    Kyle Busch, who’s fastest single lap was 12th fastest, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 199.713 mph. Johnson was second at an average speed of 199.578 mph.

    The Sprint Cup Series is back on track later today at 11:30 a.m. for final practice.

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  • Logano Grabs the Pole at Michigan

    Logano Grabs the Pole at Michigan

    Joey Logano will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday in the Irish Hills of Michigan.

    The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford scored the pole for the Pure Michigan 400 after posting a time of 35.697 and a speed of 201.698 mph.

    “I was surprised after the first couple of rounds when we weren’t as fast as the last time we were here,” Logano said. “We were eighth going into the final round, but we made great adjustments to find a little bit more speed out of this thing. I was down there waiting and Todd (Gordon) said ‘Take it!’ So I said ‘Yeah, I am going to take it.’ So I got pumped up and I had the attitude that we were going to grab it or we were going to crash. It worked out well.”

    It’s his 17th career pole in 279 career Sprint Cup Series starts, third of 2016, third at Michigan International Speedway and his 18th top-10 start of the season.

    Jimmie Johnson will start second in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 35.728 and a speed of 201.523 mph.

    “We keep stacking pennies and making this car better and better,” Johnson said. “My hat’s off to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports and all the hard work they’re putting into things. Great practice and great qualifying. We need some more practice sessions tomorrow and roll them into a good race.”

    It’s his 10th top-10 start of the season and 20th in 30 races at Michigan.

    Denny Hamlin will start third in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 35.747 and a speed of 201.416 mph.

    “It was good and my runs were good – all of them were good,” Hamlin said of his qualifying runs. “Just really, just a little off obviously. That was the closest we were to the fastest speed. We were one of the top cars in every session and can’t really complain, no real balance complaints, just a little off on speed really.”

    It’s his 22nd top-10 start of the season and 11th top-10 start at Michigan.

    Kevin Harvick will start fourth in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 35.753 and a speed of 201.382 mph. Chase Elliott will round out the top-five starters in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 35.767 and a speed of 201.303 mph.

    Alex Bowman will start sixth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney will start seventh in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Jamie McMurray will start eighth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Carl Edwards will start ninth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Ryan Newman will round out the top-10 starters in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    Kasey Kahne will start 11th and Kyle Larson will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Forty cars were entered, so nobody was sent home.

    Twenty-two Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and seven Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field in Sunday’s race.

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  • Keselowski on driving a Ford Sweepstakes replica: ‘I got it up there pretty good’

    Keselowski on driving a Ford Sweepstakes replica: ‘I got it up there pretty good’

    Driving a Sweepstakes replica car around the Irish Hills of Michigan earlier this morning, Brad Keselowski said he “got it up there pretty good.”

    Speaking to the media on pit road earlier today, the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford spoke about taking a 1901 Ford Sweepstakes replica car for a drive around the speedway.

    “I got it up there pretty good, up to about 50 or 60,” Keselowski said. “I had a rider and Kelli (Stavast) didn’t want to get anyone hurt but we still got it going pretty good. Those cars there are all about horsepower. Now you look at our cars and it is about horsepower and handling and everything that matters to win here on the Cup side. Back then it was about just running. The race that Sweepstakes won, there were 40 entries and only two finished. The others all blew up or broke down and had all kind of issues.”

    He also talked about how motorsports “has changed a lot. It changed a lot from there, that’s for sure. It was fun to drive. There are a lot of little things we probably take for granted now as far as amenities are concerned. The sport is building and getting better all the time. The cars we have now are really phenomenal pieces. Under appreciated by me at least.”

    He drove the car as part of a pre-race segment for NBC Sports. He, along with his passenger Kelli Stavast of NBC Sports, delivered the Heritage Trophy, which is handed to the winning manufacturer of every NASCAR race at Michigan, to track president Roger Curtis.

    Both were dressed up in clothing from the era with Keselowski dressed in a grey suit, bowtie, brown hat and goggles, and Stavast wore a white dress.

    Asked about the handling of the car, Keselowski said the car had “the new low, low, low downforce (package). It is good we gave Roger his trophy back, the manufacturer trophy that Ford had from Joey’s win here in the spring. Hopefully, we can get that back here on Sunday. That would be great. I am glad to be in Michigan. Happy to be here.”

  • Truex Fastest at Michigan in First Practice

    Truex Fastest at Michigan in First Practice

    Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 35.724 and a speed of 201.545 mph. Jimmie Johnson was second in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 35.797 and a speed of 201.134 mph. Joey Logano was third in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 35.827 and a speed of 200.966 mph. Ryan Blaney was fourth in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 35.861 and a speed of 200.775 mph. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 35.869 and a speed of 200.730 mph.

    Kyle Busch was sixth in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Chase Elliott was seventh in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne was eighth in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet. Tony Stewart was ninth in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Carl Edwards rounded out the top-10 in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 194.178 mph. Stewart was second at an average speed of 193.710 mph.

    The Sprint Cup Series is back on track this evening at 5:15 p.m. for qualifying.

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  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Michigan and Road America

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Michigan and Road America

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series travel to Michigan International Speedway this weekend as the XFINITY Series heads to Road America. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, Aug. 26:

    On-Track at Michigan:

    Noon-1:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
    1:30-2:25 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series First Practice – FS2
    4-4:55 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Final Practice – FS2
    5:15 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    11:30 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series
    1 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series

    Press Conferences:  (Watch live)
    11:30 a.m.: Tyler Reddick
    11:45 a.m.: Cameron Hayley
    2 p.m.: Austin Dillon
    2:15 p.m.: Greg Biffle
    3:45 p.m.: Alex Bowman
    6:30 p.m.: Post-Sprint Cup Coors Light Pole Qualifying (time approx.)

    On-Track at Road America:
    10-10:55 a.m.: XFINITY Series First Practice
    Noon-1:25 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice
    6:35 p.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Saturday, Aug. 27:

    On-Track at Michigan:

    8:30-9:25 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – CNBC
    9:45 a.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
    11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – CNBC
    1 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Careers for Veterans 200 Presented by Cooper Standard and Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation (100 laps, 200 miles) – FS1

    Press Conference: (Watch live)
    3 p.m. approx.: Post-Truck Race (time approx.)

    On-Track at Road America:
    3 p.m.: XFINITY Series Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville (45 laps, 182.16 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Sunday, Aug. 28:

    On-Track at Michigan:
    2 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 (200 laps, 400 miles) – NBCSN/NBC Sports App

    Press Conference: (Watch live)
    5:30 p.m.: Post-Sprint Cup Race (time approx.)

     

     

    Complete NASCAR TV Schedule

     

     

  • Dale Jr. out for Michigan and Darlington

    Dale Jr. out for Michigan and Darlington

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be out for another two weeks as he continues to battle with the effects of his latest concussion.

    Hendrick Motorsports announced today that the driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will be out of the car for this weekend’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway and the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway after undergoing further evaluations today at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program.

    Alex Bowman will drive in his place this weekend at Michigan and Jeff Gordon will drive in his place next weekend at Darlington.

    Earnhardt has been out of the car in the days following the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway when he was diagnosed with symptoms of a concussion. Since then, he’s reported trouble with balance and severe headaches.

    “We know how hard Dale is working to get back,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “He’s following what the doctors are saying, to the letter, and doing exactly what he needs to do. Everyone wants to see him in a race car, but his health is first and foremost. We’re behind him.”

    In the time he’s sat out, Earnhardt has dropped from 12th to 21st in points.

  • Part Failure and Wreck Ruins Kyle Busch’s Day

    Part Failure and Wreck Ruins Kyle Busch’s Day

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — A dominant day for Kyle Busch turned south fast near the three-quarter mark of the race at Thunder Valley.

    The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota started third and led 256 of the 500 laps in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He even led his 12-thousandth career lap in Sprint Cup Series competition. But after losing the lead to Kevin Harvick on lap 348, he reported that something was wrong with his car.

    On lap 359, Busch’s car got loose rounding Turn 1. His car slid down the track and then turned backward towards the wall. As his car sat there motionless, Justin Allgaier, subbing for Michael Annett, clipped the left front of his car. Allgaier continued up the track and collected Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson.

    When asked what broke on the car, he said he didn’t know.

    “It’s a shame,” Busch said. “The last few times we’ve been here, we’ve had really fast M&M’s Toyota Camrys and we haven’t been able to finish. We’ve been having parts failures here, so something we’ve got to address and fix. I’m really tired of losing races here with parts falling apart, so they’ll hear about it on Tuesday.”

    When asked what he’d tell his team Tuesday, he said “They already know just by watching the race, but it’s frustrating because that’s like two or three or four races in a row here at Bristol that we’ve had problems. Yeah, maybe a couple of them were my doing, but we’ve also had parts failures here and we can’t be having that sort of stuff.”

    He took issue with Allgaier clipping the side of his car.

    “The person that’s really the biggest moron out there is the spotter of the 46 and the driver of the 46 (Justin Allgaier),” Busch said. “I’ve been wrecking for half a lap and they just come on through and clean us out. That’s stupid, so I don’t know – frustrating day. Let’s go home.”

    Busch leaves Bristol sixth in the points, down two spots from Watkins Glen, standings trailing Harvick by 88 points.

  • Harvick Wins the 24 Hours of Thunder Valley

    Harvick Wins the 24 Hours of Thunder Valley

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — It took 24 hours to finally settle the results of the night race at Bristol and Kevin Harvick found himself in victory lane as the Sun set over Northeast Tennessee.

    The 56th running of the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race was scheduled to start last night at 8:15, but weather delayed the start by nearly 30 minutes. Carl Edwards led the field to the green flag at 9:03 p.m. but lost the lead to teammate Denny Hamlin and wasn’t threatening to win much after that.

    The lead swapped back and forth between Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch for the first 30 laps before rain brought out the first caution of the race.

    After a one hour, 24-minute and four-second red flag period, the cars rolled back off pit road for 10 laps before more rain forced NASCAR to postpone the remainder of the race to Sunday.

    A scheduled start of 1 p.m. was pushed back by constant rain. Eventually, the red flag was withdrawn at 4:33 p.m. and the race restarted on lap 58.

    Most of the first half of the race was dominated by Busch. After the halfway mark, Harvick moved in to take control of the race.

    Busch’s car suffered a part’s failure and spun out in Turn 2 on lap 359. As his car say lifeless in the middle of the track, Justin Allgaier, tried to avoid him but collided with the car. Allgaier’s car continued up track and collected Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson.

    Calamity continued two laps after the ensuing restart when race leader Kurt Busch got loose exiting Turn 2 and slid down into Brad Keselowski. As the field slowed down to avoid the spinning Busch and Keselowski, Elliott slammed into the rear of Matt Kenseth and sent him into the rear of Jimmie Johnson and the wall.

    Harvick dominated most of the rest of the race and drove on to score the victory.

    “I’ve got to thank Busch Beer, Jimmy John’s, Chevrolet, and Mobil 1 and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing on this Chevrolet,” Harvick said. “We should have won a lot of races this year but we just had things not go our way. We made mistakes, or whatever the case may be. But, to get back into Victory Lane here at Bristol feels really good. We’ve had some good cars here over the last few years. And to have Busch Beer on the car; we’ve had crummy luck with these guys on the car and so I’m just really happy for Busch and Jimmy John’s and really proud of these guys on the No. 4 team.”

    It’s his 33rd career victory in 561 Sprint Cup Series starts, second of 2016, second at Bristol Motor Speedway, his 18th top-10 finish of the season and 15th top-10 finish in 32 starts at Bristol.

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished runner-up in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

    “We really wanted to get this Bryan Clauson tribute car in victory lane,” Stenhouse said. “It just wasn’t meant to be today. We made our car a lot faster throughout the race and came from two laps down to get back on the lead lap. We missed some wrecks and gave it all we had. I thought we were matching the 4 car there lap for lap, but he got away from us and we had to restart sixth there on that last restart, but it was an honor to drive this car.”

    It’s his fifth top-10 finish of 2016 and fourth in eight races at Bristol.

    Denny Hamlin recovered from a speeding penalty and a loose wheel that put him two laps down to round out the podium in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “Yeah, we had a great car,” Hamlin said. “We definitely got it a lot better there at the end and proud that we’re able to come back from two laps down and get a good finish out of it, but still a good overall day for our FedEx Express Camry. Just came up a little short.”

    Austin Dillon finished fourth in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Chris Buescher was the highest finishing rookie as he rounded out the top-five in his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford.

    Edwards came home sixth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Johnson recovered from being caught in the wreck with 127 laps to go to finish seventh in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray finished eighth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger finished ninth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Joey Logano rounded out the top-10 in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    The race lasted three hours, 25 minutes and five seconds at an average speed of 77.968 mph. There were 20 lead changes among eight different drivers and nine cautions for 106 laps.

    Harvick leaves Bristol with a 27-point lead over Keselowski in the points standings.

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  • Bristol Sprint Cup Race Postponed to Sunday

    Bristol Sprint Cup Race Postponed to Sunday

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — The night race at Bristol will now be run on a Sunday afternoon.

    Persistent rain showers forced NASCAR to pull the plug on the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race after completing 48 of the 500 scheduled laps. The forecast for the rest of the night showed no signs of improvement.

    The race will restart on lap 49 with Kyle Busch in the race lead. He assumed command of the race after driving underneath Chase Elliott exiting Turn 4 on lap 23. Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth make up the top-five in the running order.

    The race will resume at 1 p.m. on CNBC.

    This is the third race affected by rain in the last three years.

  • Additional resin added to lower groove at Bristol

    Additional resin added to lower groove at Bristol

    BRISTOL, Tenn. — NASCAR reversed course and added more resin to the lower groove at Thunder Valley.

    Eighteen inches of VHT was laid down on the bottom lane in through turns 1 and 2 and turns 3 and 4 during the overnight hours in preparation of tonight’s Sprint Cup Series Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    The substance is meant to give cars more grip so as to make the bottom lane equal to or better than the top lane that has been the preferred groove around Bristol the last four years.

    “It was a collaboration between the track, (NASCAR) and the industry,” said Kurt Culbert, NASCAR spokesperson. “(The resin) seemed to work really well.”

    It was announced two weeks ago that Bristol has laid down the VHT in advance of the triple-header weekend. Nobody wanted to touch the bottom during the first Camping World Truck Series practice of the weekend after overnight rain. But the trucks started running the bottom in final practice and were running lap times far faster on the bottom than on the top. The bottom continued to dominate through the UNOH 200, although drivers like William Byron tried to run the high line late in the race, and it appeared that the resin had brought back the Bristol of “old.”

    By the time the Sprint Cup cars hit the track, more and more drivers were moving up the track to rubber in the top groove. The gap in speed from the top to the bottom was closing, but the bottom was still the quickest way around.

    Just after the first caution flew in the XFINITY Series Food City 300, the top lane prevailed as the fastest way around the track.

    Brad Keselowski said after the XFINITY race he wanted Bristol to work on the bottom groove before the Cup race.

    “The whole point was to work on the bottom groove and make it so this isn’t a track you run up on top,” Keselowski said. “There was a lot of work to make that happen and it didn’t stick with running four series here over the weekend. It’s just a question on NASCAR, whether they want to let the track work on it and get it back.”