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  • NASCAR Suspends Pearn; Six Teams Docked Points

    NASCAR Suspends Pearn; Six Teams Docked Points

    Kenny Bruce|NASCAR.com

    NASCAR officials have suspended crew chief Cole Pearn for one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points race and fined the Furniture Row Racing employee $50,000 for a rules violation that took place during last week’s race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    In addition, driver Martin Truex Jr. has been penalized 15 championship driver points and team owner Barney Visser has been penalized 15 championship owner points.

    The infraction, which involved the roof flap(s), was found during pre-race inspection for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at AMS.

    According to a statement from Furniture Row Racing, the organization will appeal the penalty:

    “Due to the severity of the P3 penalty levied against Furniture Row Racing and its crew chief Cole Pearn today (Wednesday), the No. 78 Sprint Cup team has informed NASCAR it will appeal the decision. The infraction, which was immediately corrected following technical inspection at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week, was safety related and not competition related. We sincerely appreciate that NASCAR has an appeal process so we can review the level of the penalty.”

    Because the team is appealing the penalty, Pearn’s suspension and fine are temporarily deferred until the matter is heard.

    The Furniture Row team was one of 10 Sprint Cup teams either fined or the recipients of warnings at Atlanta.

    The loss of points drops Truex from second to ninth heading into this weekend’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    Randall Burnett, crew chief of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty entry with driver AJ Allmendinger, has been fined $15,000 and placed on probation through Dec. 31 in addition to the loss of 10 championship driver and owner points. The team was penalized for rear wheel crush panel issues that came to light during pre-qualifying inspection on Friday.

    Allmendinger falls from 26th to 30th with the points deduction.

    Richard Childress Racing crew chiefs Slugger Labbe (No. 3), Justin Alexander (No. 27) and Luke Lambert (No. 31), as well as crew chief Dave Winston (No. 95 Circle Sport Leavine Family Racing), have also been fined $15,000 and placed on probation through Dec. 31 while also losing 10 championship owner and driver points.

    According to the penalty report, those teams were in violation of Rule 20.4 e — Unless otherwise stated, all body attachment mounts and supports used to connect body components to the chassis must be constructed of magnetic steel round tubing with a minimum outside diameter of 0.168 inch and a maximum outside diameter of 0.5 inch. All body attachment mounts and supports must be non-adjustable and completely welded at both ends.

    Four teams received warnings for failing template inspection on multiple occasions (Nos. 32, 83, 88 and 98).

    The No. 32 Go Fas Racing with driver Jeffrey Earnhardt failed template inspection (pre-qualifying) three times; in addition to a written warning, the team will lose 15 minutes of practice time.

    The No. 83 BK Racing entry with driver Matt DiBenedetto, the No. 88Hendrick Motorsports entry of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 98 of Cole Whitt(Premium Motorsports) failed template inspection twice (pre-qualifying) and received written warnings.

    Truex finished second to Denny Hamlin at Daytona in the closest finish in the history of that event (0.01 second). Sunday at Atlanta, Truex finished seventh and was second in points through the season’s first two races.

    Pearn, 33, was placed on probation through Dec. 31, 2016, following this year’s season-opening Daytona 500 for an infraction regarding the roof flap(s) on the No. 78 Toyota before Coors Pole Award qualifying.

    The team was unable to make the necessary corrections in time to allow Truex to make a qualifying attempt.

    Pearn said of the Daytona issue that the roof flap was “propped up too much” and rather than correct the problem on the grid, officials “wanted us to put (the car) back through templates before we adjusted it. We just didn’t have time to get back there and do that before we got back out.”

    In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, crew chief Danny Stockman (RCR No. 2 Chevrolet) was fined $5,000 (rear alignment measurement issues).

    Six NXS teams received written warnings for failing LIS twice during pre-race inspection — JR Motorsports No. 1 (Elliott Sadler), RCR No. 3 (Ty Dillon) and No. 33 (Brandon Jones), Kaulig Racing No. 11 (Blake Koch), JGL Racing No. 24 (Corey Lajoie) and Jeremy Clements Racing No. 51 (Jeremy Clements).

    One NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team was penalized post-Atlanta — the No. 86 Brandon Brown Racing Chevrolet with driver Brandon Brown. The team received a written warning for a truck trailing arm that did not meet specifications.

     

  • Atlanta in the Rear-View

    Atlanta in the Rear-View

    It’s time to put a nice little bow on everything that happened this past weekend in Atlanta.

    Under clear blue Georgia skies, Jimmie Johnson gambled on his fuel to put himself in position to win the race. On the final restart, he got the best restart and scored the victory in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It tied him with the late Dale Earnhardt for seventh on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

    “It’s such an honor,” Johnson said. “With the chaos at the end and the crash, wondering about overtime and how it worked these days, I kind of lost sight of that. I remembered on my victory lap coming down and I had to come by and throw a 3 out the window to pay respects to the man. There’s a huge void in my career that I never had a chance to race with him, but at least, I was able to tie his record there.”

    The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is now hands down a legend of NASCAR beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt. He’s a six-time series champion – five of which came in a row – and has amassed 76 wins. In 509 starts, he’s also accumulated 208 top-fives (40.86 percent) and 315 top-10’s (61.89 percent).

    To suggest that he doesn’t deserve a spot in the NASCAR Hall of Fame is ludicrous.

    Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
    Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

    A dominant car wasn’t enough for the third straight year at Atlanta for Kevin Harvick. The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet led 131 of the 330 laps but had a bad pit stop with 40 laps to go and could only get within six seconds of Johnson before his tires were exhausted.

    “We had issues about the last three runs,” Harvick said. “I had to start driving the car different. It just required a little bit different handling. And then we had a slow pit stop there. We got way behind and the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) was way out front and I had to drive the car really hard and got the right rear burned up. We just didn’t execute today but everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Busch Chevrolet hung in there all day and we’ll keep at it.”

    He stumbled on the final restart, had to settle for a sixth-place finish and left Hampton, Georgia third in points. The West Coast Swing plays into Harvick’s wheelhouse as he won two of the three races and led the most laps in all three events.

    Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
    Photo Credit: Noel Lanier

    Kyle Busch scored his 77th victory in the XFINITY Series on Saturday afternoon.

    I’ve always been on the fence on whether Cup drivers should be allowed in the lower divisions. While someone like Busch or Brad Keselowski occasionally win in the Truck Series, the drivers running for points in that series have now gotten to the point where they are winning the races more than the Cup drivers.

    That’s not the case in the XFINITY Series.

    I bring this up because of the new Chase format in the series where a win gets you in. Given this, I don’t understand why drivers like Busch continue racing in the lower divisions and take wins from drivers racing for points in the series.

    While I would rather see somebody get something on merit rather than superficial circumstances, I think we’ve gotten long past the point when NASCAR should seriously consider limiting drivers to a few races a season in a series they’re not racing for points.

    Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
    Photo Credit: Noel Lanier

    John Hunter Nemechek survived late race melee to score his second career victory in the Camping World Truck Series.

    The driver of the No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet inherited the lead after Christopher Bell suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 4.

    Fifteen laps earlier, Bell got into the corner of teammate Daniel Suárez, who then got into the corner of Matt Crafton and sent both of them into the wall.

    Now let’s address the elephant in the room. This race saw the first official usage of the caution clock. I was in the media center for the Truck race and the caution for the clock expiring wasn’t very popular with a lot of the media people, especially Matt Weaver. Anybody who knows him knows that he’s not a fan of the caution clock and neither am I. I won’t tell you what Weaver said about it, but it would’ve been the reaction of the race had it not been for this tweet from Pete Pistone.

    Needless to say, I died laughing from this.

    I’ll end this by calling out the Atlanta sports fans that couldn’t be bothered to get their hindquarters to the track yesterday.

    For an entire year, I heard the people in the Atlanta area bitch and moan about it being too cold. Yesterday, it was clear blue skies and T-shirt temps and that still didn’t pack the stands. In other words, you all lied about wanting better temps.

    It’s no wonder Atlanta sports fans are a laughing stock in the sports world. I’m not joking when I say this isn’t limited to NASCAR. From 1991 to 2005, the Atlanta Braves won 14 straight division titles and rarely sold out playoff games. In the late 2000’s, the Atlanta Falcons were one of the best teams in the NFL and rarely sell out the Georgia Dome. In the 2014-2015 season, the Atlanta Hawks had the best record in the NBA, but the Philips Arena ranked 20th in attendance in a 30 team league. Atlanta also has the dubious distinction of being the first and only city in the modern era of the National Hockey League to have had two NHL teams relocate to another city (the Atlanta Flames (now the Calgary Flames) and the Atlanta Thrashers (now the Winnipeg Jets)). Both teams cited lackluster attendance as their reason for relocating.

    Yet when it comes to college football, you can barely find a soul in downtown Atlanta because they’re either at a Georgia Bulldogs or Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets game.

    I would think that a city that’s lost one NASCAR race already would stop making excuses and go to their one remaining race before it’s too late. I even told Dave Moody this and this was his response.

    Before you say Atlanta is a big market where there’s always something going on, Eddie Gossage has never had trouble getting the people of the Dallas/Fort Worth area to all but pack the stands at Texas Motor Speedway.

    Let me be clear on a few things. I love the city of Atlanta, I love the Atlanta Braves and I love Atlanta Motor Speedway. What’s not to love about it? It’s a fantastic track that’s put on great, historic races over the years. We crowned our champion at Atlanta for 14 years. Ed Clark and his staff do fantastic work making the track a go-to facility. So I don’t say all this to be mean. I say all this because I’m truly afraid that unless the Atlanta populace bucks up and starts packing the stands to the point that Bruton Smith puts the Turn 3 stands back up, Atlanta’s days are numbered.

    Now Atlanta Motor Speedway is in no danger of going away for the next five years. But once that sanctioning agreement is up, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bruton Smith decides he’s not going to continue putting up with the lackluster attendance from the Atlanta market and move its one race to another track. When that day comes and if you weren’t among the 50,000 people who did show up, you have no right to complain about losing it.

    That about sums up the events of the weekend. The next race for the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series is in Viva Las Vegas. The Camping World Truck Series is off for the next five weeks and will return at Martinsville Speedway in April.

    The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author and may or may not represent the views of Speedway Media.

  • Toyota NCWTS Atlanta Post-Race Notes & Quotes

    Toyota NCWTS Atlanta Post-Race Notes & Quotes

    Toyota NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes
    Atlanta Motor Speedway
    Race 2 of 24 – 200.2 miles, 130 laps
    Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016

    TOYOTA NCWTS DRIVER FINISHING POSITIONS at Atlanta Motor Speedway
    2nd, CAMERON HAYLEY
    3rd, TIMOTHY PETERS
    6th, BEN RHODES
    9th, CALEB HOLEMAN
    11th, RICO ABREU
    15th, BEN KENNEDY
    16th, AUSTIN WAYNE SELF
    20th, RYAN TRUEX
    22nd, JUSTIN MARKS
    26th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
    30th, MATT CRAFTON
    31st, DANIEL SUAREZ
    32nd, WILLIAM BYRON

    TOYOTA DRIVER NCWTS POINT STANDINGS following Atlanta Motor Speedway (race 2 of 24)*
    4th, TIMOTHY PETERS 49 points
    6th, RYAN TRUEX 45 points
    8th, BEN RHODES 43 points
    11th, CAMERON HAYLEY 41 points
    17th, AUSTIN WAYNE SELF 31 points
    18th, MATT CRAFTON 29 points
    19th, BEN KENNEDY 28 points
    20th, RICO ABREU 26 points
    21st, CHRISTOPHER BELL 25 points
    *unofficial point standings

    TOYOTA NOTES
    · Toyota driver Cameron Hayley (second) was the top-finishing Tundra driver in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
    · Hayley led the field once for eight laps (of 130) en route to his career-best NCWTS finish of second.
    · In addition to Hayley’s result for Toyota, Tundra drivers Timothy Peters (third), Ben Rhodes (sixth) and Caleb Holman (ninth) also tallied top-10 finishes on the 1.54-mile track located south of Atlanta.
    · Tundra driver Matt Crafton (30th) led the field three times for a race-high 76 laps before being involved in a late-race accident.
    · Tundra driver Christopher Bell (26th) led the field three times for 42 laps prior to having his race ended by an accident.

    TOYOTA QUOTES
    CAMERON HAYLEY, No. 13 Cabinets by Hayley Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
    Finishing Position: 2nd
    Did you have anything for the winner at the end?
    “I think I did and I’m beating myself up a little bit. It was a great run for our Cabinets by Hayley Tundra – best-career finish. I can’t complain about that, but I just know in the back of my head if Matt Crafton was in my truck, he could have won that. I just – I needed a run a little bit harder, but great run to start up this year. This was my hardest track all year. I needed to get this one over with and to come out of here second I’m pretty happy with the team and proud of everything Toyota, everybody has done for me. It’s just an amazing start to the year.”

    What could you have done differently?
    “I was just afraid to go to the high side there in one and two. I think I could have gone high, got a run on John Hunter (Nemechek) getting down the back straight and maybe passed him into three and four. I was just – my truck was not that great on the outside all day and I was just afraid that if I went up there, I’d lose more positions than I was going to gain, but that’s just part of learning and something I need to learn.”

    What did you see from inside your Tundra when the wreck occurred?
    “There was a lot off wrecking in front of me and we almost got in the wreck. I think one major heart attack in there I’m still trying to recover from, but at the end there our Cabinets by Hayley Toyota Tundra was really strong. We definitely had an up-and-down day, had the right front almost blow there at the beginning of the race, but overall great run for our guys. They work so hard – Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Triad, Cabinets by Hayley – all these people who help get me here. It’s just a good run for our team at the start of the season.”

    TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
    Finishing Position: 3rd
    How was your race?
    “We think we had a Red Horse Tundra that could win this race. We were able to catch the vibration with our right front cording on us. Had to come down to pit road. Shane (Huffman, crew chief) made great calls. The pit crew did awesome not only getting me back out to where we were only one lap down, but all race long they gained us spots, gained us spots, gained us spots. For the laps on our tires and to fight back through adversity, I’ll take it.”

    BEN RHODES, No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
    Finishing Position: 6th
    How was your race?
    “Traffic – it just couldn’t run in traffic and that’s something we’re all going to go back to the shop and work on and work with Toyota on. We had a bad fast Tundra, but the problem was just trying to get around people and we worked on it, worked on it, worked on it. We got the balance a little off and got it too loose towards the end, fell back, started making our way back to the front and once again had some issues in the air. But the good news is that we came home with a sixth-place finish. It could have been a lot worse – a lot of bad stuff happening again. It felt like Daytona all over again and we were in the middle of a wreck and somehow made it through. Just really thankful for everybody that’s behind me – Alpha Energy Solutions, Refrigerant Rescue, Alliance Comfort Systems and ThorSport Racing for putting some awesome trucks together and all that they do.”

    CALEB HOLMAN, No. 75 Food Country USA/Lopez Wealth Management/Lay’s Toyota Tundra,
    Finishing Position: 9th

    RICO ABREU, No. 98 Safelite Auto Glass/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
    Finishing Position: 11th

    BEN KENNEDY, No. 11 JACOB Companies Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
    Finishing Position: 15th

    AUSTIN WAYNE SELF, No. 22 AM Technical Solutions Toyota Tundra
    Finishing Position: 16th

    RYAN TRUEX, No. 81 Aisin Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises
    Finishing Position: 20th

    JUSTIN MARKS, No. 32 Katerra Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
    Finishing Position: 22nd

    CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 4 JBL Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
    Finishing Position: 26th

    MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Hormel/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
    Finishing Position: 30th
    What did you see that caused the accident?
    “They said the 4 (Christopher Bell) just lost it and hooked the – got the 51 (Daniel Suarez) in the right rear and just turned him dead sideways into me and a little long ride down the back straightaway when you didn’t know if you were going to get hit in the driver’s door. IT was a pretty solid shot, but like I said hands down to NASCAR for having all these SAFER barriers and everything around this race track, but it’s a shame because this Menards Toyota Tundra was so, so fast.”

    DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 51 ARRIS Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
    Finishing Position: 31st
    Are you okay after the accident?
    “Yeah, I’m good. There is not a lot to say. I think it’s pretty plain – our teammate (Christopher Bell) turned us around. I don’t know why. We had a difficult day learning about everything and building chemistry with my new crew chief with Bono (Manion). We were doing an amazing job. The truck was the fastest by far our there. We made some adjustments right there at the end – the truck was super-fast again. I understand that this happens, but between teammates I always think that we – we just have to take care of each other a little more.”

    WILLIAM BYRON, No. 9 Liberty University Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
    Finishing Position: 32nd
    What ended your race?
    “Yeah, it’s just unfortunate we blew a motor, so nothing we could really do, but thankful for all my KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) guys. We had a really fast Toyota Tundra. We came from 15th – we started 15th and got to second there and just needed a few adjustments, but we were going to be there. Just can’t thank Liberty University enough for being on board and we’ll get them at Martinsville.”

  • Toyota NCWTS Atlanta Post-Race Notes Quotes

    Toyota NCWTS Atlanta Post-Race Notes Quotes

    Toyota NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Post-Race Quotes
    Atlanta Motor Speedway
    Race 2 of 24 – 200.2 miles, 130 laps
    Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016

    TOYOTA QUOTES

    CAMERON HAYLEY, No. 13 Cabinets by Hayley Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
    Finishing Position: 2nd
    Did you have anything for the winner at the end?
    “I think I did and I’m beating myself up a little bit. It was a great run for our Cabinets by Hayley Tundra – best-career finish. I can’t complain about that, but I just know in the back of my head if Matt Crafton was in my truck, he could have won that. I just – I needed a run a little bit harder, but great run to start up this year. This was my hardest track all year. I needed to get this one over with and to come out of here second I’m pretty happy with the team and proud of everything Toyota, everybody has done for me. It’s just an amazing start to the year.”

    What could you have done differently?
    “I was just afraid to go to the high side there in one and two. I think I could have gone high, got a run on John Hunter (Nemechek) getting down the back straight and maybe passed him into three and four. I was just – my truck was not that great on the outside all day and I was just afraid that if I went up there, I’d lose more positions than I was going to gain, but that’s just part of learning and something I need to learn.”

    What did you see from inside your Tundra when the wreck occurred?
    “There was a lot off wrecking in front of me and we almost got in the wreck. I think one major heart attack in there I’m still trying to recover from, but at the end there our Cabinets by Hayley Toyota Tundra was really strong. We definitely had an up-and-down day, had the right front almost blow there at the beginning of the race, but overall great run for our guys. They work so hard – Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Triad, Cabinets by Hayley – all these people who help get me here. It’s just a good run for our team at the start of the season.”

    TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
    Finishing Position: 3rd
    How was your race?
    “We think we had a Red Horse Tundra that could win this race. We were able to catch the vibration with our right front cording on us. Had to come down to pit road. Shane (Huffman, crew chief) made great calls. The pit crew did awesome not only getting me back out to where we were only one lap down, but all race long they gained us spots, gained us spots, gained us spots. For the laps on our tires and to fight back through adversity, I’ll take it.”

    BEN RHODES, No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
    Finishing Position: 6th
    How was your race?
    “Traffic – it just couldn’t run in traffic and that’s something we’re all going to go back to the shop and work on and work with Toyota on. We had a bad fast Tundra, but the problem was just trying to get around people and we worked on it, worked on it, worked on it. We got the balance a little off and got it too loose towards the end, fell back, started making our way back to the front and once again had some issues in the air. But the good news is that we came home with a sixth-place finish. It could have been a lot worse – a lot of bad stuff happening again. It felt like Daytona all over again and we were in the middle of a wreck and somehow made it through. Just really thankful for everybody that’s behind me – Alpha Energy Solutions, Refrigerant Rescue, Alliance Comfort Systems and ThorSport Racing for putting some awesome trucks together and all that they do.”

    MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Hormel/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
    Finishing Position: 30th
    What did you see that caused the accident?
    “They said the 4 (Christopher Bell) just lost it and hooked the – got the 51 (Daniel Suarez) in the right rear and just turned him dead sideways into me and a little long ride down the back straightaway when you didn’t know if you were going to get hit in the driver’s door. It was a pretty solid shot, but like I said hands down to NASCAR for having all these SAFER barriers and everything around this race track, but it’s a shame because this Menards Toyota Tundra was so, so fast.”

    DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 51 ARRIS Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
    Finishing Position: 31st
    Are you okay after the accident?
    “Yeah, I’m good. There is not a lot to say. I think it’s pretty plain – our teammate (Christopher Bell) turned us around. I don’t know why. We had a difficult day learning about everything and building chemistry with my new crew chief with Bono (Manion). We were doing an amazing job. The truck was the fastest by far our there. We made some adjustments right there at the end – the truck was super-fast again. I understand that this happens, but between teammates I always think that we – we just have to take care of each other a little more.”

    WILLIAM BYRON, No. 9 Liberty University Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
    Finishing Position: 32nd
    What ended your race?
    “Yeah, it’s just unfortunate we blew a motor, so nothing we could really do, but thankful for all my KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) guys. We had a really fast Toyota Tundra. We came from 15th – we started 15th and got to second there and just needed a few adjustments, but we were going to be there. Just can’t thank Liberty University enough for being on board and we’ll get them at Martinsville.”

  • Nemechek Captures the Truck Victory at Atlanta

    Nemechek Captures the Truck Victory at Atlanta

    HAMPTON, Ga.– One final restart was all that was needed for John Hunter Nemechek to score the victory at Atlanta.

    The driver of the No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet led just eight laps, but it was the final eight laps as he scored his second career victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He is the youngest winner in Atlanta Motor Speedway history.

    Cameron Hayley was leading late in the race, but was passed by Nemechek with 13 laps to go and finished runner-up. Timothy Peters finished third in his No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota. Daniel Hemric finished fourth in his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford with Grant Enfinger rounding out the top-five in his No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet.

    Ben Rhodes finished sixth in his No. 41 ThorSport Racing Toyota, John Wes Townley finished seventh in his No. 05 Athenian Motorsports Chevrolet and Parker Kligerman finished eighth in his RBR Racing Ford. Caleb Holman finished ninth in his No. 75 Henderson Motorsports Toyota and Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top-10 in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet.

    Matt Crafton was the dominant car of the race leading 76 of the 130 laps. With 15 laps to go, however, Christopher Bell tapped the left-rear corner panel of Daniel Suárez’s truck. He was sent into the right-rear corner of Crafton and both slammed into the wall on the backstretch. Crafton finished 30th and Suárez finished 31st.

    Bell was leading the race with four laps to go before suffering a right-front tire blowout and slamming the wall in Turn 4. He finished 26th.

    The race lasted one hour, 39 minutes and nine seconds at an average speed of 121.150 mph. The caution was waved five times for 25 laps – two times for the caution clock expiring – and one red flag for six minutes and 20 seconds. There were seven lead changes among four different drivers.

  • Matt Crafton on the Pole for the Truck Race at Atlanta

    Matt Crafton on the Pole for the Truck Race at Atlanta

    HAMPTON, Ga.– Matt Crafton wins the pole for this afternoon’s Camping World Truck Series race.

    The driver of the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota posted the fastest time in qualifying for the Great Clips 200 with a time of 30.836 and a speed of 179.790 mph.

    John Wes Townley will start second in his No. 05 Athenian Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 30.854 and a speed of 179.685 mph. Christopher Bell will start third in his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota after posting a time of 30.858 and a speed of 179.662 mph. Grant Enfinger will start fourth in his No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 30.908 and a speed of 179.371 mph. Cameron Hayley rounded out the top-five in his No. 13 TSR Toyota after posting a time of 31.014 and a speed of 178.758 mph.

    Cole Custer will start sixth in his No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Ben Rhodes will start seventh in his No. 41 TSR Toyota. Ryan Truex will start eighth in his No. 81 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota. Daniel Hemric will start ninth in his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford. Ben Kennedy rounded out the top-10 in his No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota.

    Spencer Gallagher will start 11th in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet. Timothy Peters rounded out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 17 RHR Toyota.

    Jordan Anderson, Korbin Forrister, Norm Benning, Timothy Viens and Ryan Ellis were the five drivers that failed to qualify.

     

  • Grant Enfinger Tops Final Truck Practice

    Grant Enfinger Tops Final Truck Practice

    HAMPTON, Ga.– In case you missed it, Grant Enfinger topped the chart in final Camping World Truck Series practice.

    The driver of the No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 31.011 and a speed of 178.775 mph. Matt Crafton was second in his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota with a time of 31.146 and a speed of 178.000 mph. Christopher Bell was third in his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota with a time of 31.157 and a speed of 177.938 mph. Spencer Gallagher was fourth in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 31.202 and a speed of 177.681 mph. Cole Custer rounded out the top-five in his No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 31.210 and a speed of 177.635 mph.

    Ben Kennedy was sixth in his No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota. Ben Rhodes was seventh in his No. 41 TSR Toyota. William Byron was eighth in his No. 9 KBM Toyota. Cameron Hayley was ninth in his No. 13 TSR Toyota. Ryan Truex rounded out the top-10 in his No. 81 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota.

    Crafton posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 176.163 mph. Daniel Suárez, who was 13th in his No. 51 KBM Toyota, posted a speed of 175.627 mph.

    The Trucks will be back on track Saturday at 10 a.m. for qualifying.

    NCWTS – Complete Final Practice Results:

    Pos. Car # Driver Best Speed Best Time
    1 33 Grant Enfinger 178.775 31.011
    2 88 Matt Crafton 178 31.146
    3 4 Christopher Bell 177.938 31.157
    4 23 Spencer Gallagher 177.681 31.202
    5 0 Cole Custer 177.635 31.21
    6 11 Ben Kennedy 177.607 31.215
    7 41 Ben Rhodes 177.596 31.217
    8 9 William Byron 177.215 31.284
    9 13 Cameron Hayley 177.142 31.297
    10 81 Ryan Truex 176.961 31.329
    11 20 Austin Hill 176.69 31.377
    12 17 Timothy Peters 176.684 31.378
    13 51 Daniel Suarez 176.639 31.386
    14 19 Daniel Hemric 176.487 31.413
    15 75 Caleb Holman 176.341 31.439
    16 8 John Hunter Nemechek 176.308 31.445
    17 92 Parker Kligerman 176.257 31.454
    18 29 Tyler Reddick 175.805 31.535
    19 5 John Wes Townley 175.799 31.536
    20 22 Austin Wayne Self 174.57 31.758
    21 98 Rico Abreu 174.455 31.779
    22 32 Justin Marks 174.066 31.85
    23 21 Johnny Sauter 173.478 31.958
    24 86 Brandon Brown 172.958 32.054
    25 2 Tyler Young 172.56 32.128
    26 71 Carlos Contreras 171.843 32.262
    27 66 Jordan Anderson 171.577 32.312
    28 44 Tommy Joe Martins 170.969 32.427
    29 1 Travis Kvapil 170.579 32.501
    30 49 Timmy Hill 170.223 32.569
    31 63 Garrett Smithley 169.205 32.765
    32 59 Korbin Forrister 168.747 32.854
    33 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb 166.832 33.231
    34 50 Ryan Ellis 165.869 33.424
    35 6 Norm Benning 164.174 33.769
    36 74 Timothy Viens 159.76 34.702

  • John Wes Townley heads field in second Truck practice at Atlanta

    John Wes Townley heads field in second Truck practice at Atlanta

    HAMPTON, Ga.– John Wes Townley topped the chart in second Camping World Truck Series practice.  The driver of the No. 05 GMS Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 31.107 and a speed of 178.224 mph.

    Daniel Hemric was second in his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford with a time of 31.182 and a speed of 177.795 mph. William Byron was third in his No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota with a time of 31.257 and a speed of 177.368 mph. Cole Custer was fourth in his No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 31.294 and a speed of 177.159 mph. Matt Crafton rounded out the top-five in his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota with a time of 31.343 and a speed of 176.882 mph.

    Ben Kennedy was sixth in his No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota. Cameron Hayley was seventh in his No. 13 TSR Toyota. Tyler Reddick was eighth in his No. 29 BK Racing Ford. Ryan Truex was ninth in his No. 81 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota. Christopher Bell rounded out the top-10 in his No. 4 KB Motorsports Toyota.

    Daniel Suárez, who was 12th in his No. 51 KB Motorsports Toyota, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 175.185 mph. Bell posted a speed of 175.097 mph. Rico Abreu, who was 18th in his No. 98 TSR Toyota, posted a speed of 172.447 mph. Tyler Young, who was 31st in his No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet, posted a speed of 166.726 mph.

    The Trucks will be back on track for their final practice session at 4:00 p.m.

  • Grant Enfinger fastest in first Truck practice at Atlanta

    Grant Enfinger fastest in first Truck practice at Atlanta

    HAMPTON, Ga.– Grant Enfinger topped the chart for first Camping World Truck Series practice.  The driver of the No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 30.873 and a speed of 179.574 mph.

    Christopher Bell was second in his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota with a time of 31.004 and a speed of 178.816 mph. Matt Crafton was third in his ThorSport Racing Toyota with a time of 31.092 and a speed of 178.310 mph. Daniel Hemric was fourth in his No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford with a time of 31.171 and a speed of 177.858 mph. John Wes Townley rounded out the top-five in his No. 05 Athenian Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 31.171 and a speed of 177.858 mph.

    William Byron was sixth in his No. 9 KB Motorsports Toyota. Cole Custer was seventh in his No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Parker Kligerman was eighth in his No. 92 RBR Enterprises Ford. Cameron Hayley was ninth in his No. 13 ThorSport Racing Toyota. Tyler Reddick rounded out the top-10 in his No. 29 BK Racing Ford.

    Enfinger ran the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at an average speed of 174.852 mph. Rico Abreu, who finished 19th in his No. 98 ThorSport Racing Toyota, posted an average speed of 173,534 mph.

    The trucks will be back on track at 1:30 p.m. for their second practice session.

  • Christopher Bell Walks Away From Scary Crash at Daytona

    Christopher Bell Walks Away From Scary Crash at Daytona

    Christopher Bell was in fourth place entering the final lap of the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway Friday night when he was involved in an accident that sent his Kyle Busch Motorsports truck flipping multiple times before coming to a stop.

    He was able to climb out of his truck without assistance, was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and was released Saturday morning according to a statement from his team.

    “Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Christopher Bell was involved in a late-race accident during the running of Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Bell was transported to a local hospital following the accident as a precaution and was evaluated and released early Saturday morning.”

    The fact that Bell was able to walk away from such a violent crash is a testament to the importance of proper sports equipment and the safety measures that NASCAR has implemented.

    The following day, Bell expressed his thanks on his twitter page.

    “Nobody wants to test the safety gear that they are wearing but thankfully everything I had last night worked perfectly. The Butler seat, Arai Helmet and KBM Chassis did exactly what they were made to do and I walked away with only bruises. I can’t thank NASCAR enough and all the racers before me who have made this sport as safe as it is! I also want to thank the racing community and fans for the overwhelming support I have received, it means the world to me! And to the KBM team – You guys are the best, thank you!

    Bell, a former sprint car racer, is in his first full season in the Camping World Truck Series. He competed in seven truck races in 2015 scoring his first win at Eldora Speedway in only his third start in the series. In eight starts, he has one win, two top-fives and three top-10s.

    During Friday night’s race, Bell’s No. 4 JBL Tundra was competitive from the start but was caught up in an incident on Lap 42 when Cody Coughlin and Spencer Gallagher made contact. As Gallagher tried to correct to avoid the wall, he hit the left rear quarter panel of Bell’s car. After pit road repairs, Bell restarted in 23rd place but quickly made his way to the front where he was running fourth until the final lap wreck.

    Johnny Sauter captured the win and Bell was scored with a 16th place finish and is currently 14th in the point standings.

    The Camping World Truck Series action returns Feb. 27 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.