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  • Kyle Larson, Chad Hackenbracht and Matt Tifft Get Chance at NASCAR Dream

    Kyle Larson, Chad Hackenbracht and Matt Tifft Get Chance at NASCAR Dream

    Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka, Getty Images
    Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka, Getty Images

    The future young guns of NASCAR, Kyle Larson, Chad Hackenbracht and Matt Tifft, all have one thing in common. The trio is getting their chance to achieve their NASCAR dreams.

    Just a short time ago, about a year in fact, Kyle Larson stepped into a stock car to race for the first time. Now, the 20 year old up and comer has scored a full-time Nationwide Series ride through a partnership between Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and Turner Scott Motorsports.

    Larson’s quick rise in the NASCAR ranks came after winning the K&N Pro Series East title. Then, in just four races in the Camping World Truck Series, the youngster finished top-ten three times and was runner up at the Phoenix race.

    Larson will be paired with crew chief Trent Owens, who posted the following message on Facebook, “Very excited about the announcement that I’ll be the crew chief for Kyle Larson in Nationwide at Turner Scott Motorsports this year!! Also back to the number 32 that has a special place with me. Hoping this season will be a great one. So pumped!!”

    Although quite not so effusive, Chip Ganassi, a champion owner in his own right, is looking forward to the continuing development of his newest young talent.

    “We feel that he’s certainly capable of it,” Ganassi said. “I don’t think we’re rushing him along or anything like that.”

    “Like I said, he’s shown great ability in anything he’s driven so far.”

    Larson, on the other hand, knows that with the spotlight and the opportunity comes quite a bit of pressure.

    “I know I have a lot of pressure on me,” Larson said. “I try not to pay attention to it at all.”

    “Every week, I just try to go out and do the best I can,” Larson continued. “I try to finish in the top 10 in each race an log as many laps as I can.”

    “Each lap is just going to help me develop as a driver,” Larson said. “I’m going to need that since I’m really young and hopefully will be in a sport a long time.”

    “I will just try to develop as much as I can this year and do better in the future.”

    Joining Kyle Larson in the Nationwide Series will be another young gun with a very interesting last name. TriStar Motorsports announced that Chad Hackenbracht will join the team for at least five Nationwide races.

    Hackenbracht has raced most recently in the ARCA Series for his family’s team, scoring one trip to victory lane, two poles, five top-five finishes and 12 top-ten finishes. He completed the ARCA season top five in the championship point standings.

    “I’m excited for the opportunity,” Hackenbracht said. “I have not run any NASCAR events and I’m excited to make my debut in the Nationwide Series with an established team.”

    “My expectations are to finish every race I run this year, qualify in the top-20 and pull off top-15 finishes,” Hackenbracht continued. “The Nationwide Series is going to be very competitive this year but I’m ready for the challenge.”

    Hackenbracht’s team owner is also excited with his new addition and with being a part of the youngster’s development in the sport.

    “We are really looking forward to having Chad join our team,” Mark Smith said. “He has already shown that he has a lot of talent behind the wheel of a stock car.”

    “We are excited to help him develop his skills and give him his first opportunity to race in NASCAR,” Smith continued. “He will have some veteran guidance, which should help him as he takes the next step in his racing career.”

    The youngest up and comer of the bunch is Matt Tifft, who at just sixteen years of age will be moving up this season from the ARCA Midwest Tour to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Tifft will be racing full-time in that Series, which has catapulted other drivers such as Martin Truex Jr. to the highest level of the sport.

    Tifft will partner with Shane Tesch, a NASCAR veteran, to compete for the Rookie of the Year honors behind the wheel of the No. 89 Chevrolet Impala.

    “In the last couple months we have been working on this deal,” Tifft said. “The K&N Series is the next thing we wanted to do so when it came together with Win-Tron, it was a really good fit.”

    Tifft started racing young as his father owned a dirt late model and raced in Michigan. In 2007, when he was eleven years old, Tifft jumped into a go kart and fell in love with racing in his own right.

    “I always watched NASCAR, but I was hooked at that point,” Tifft said.

    Since then, Tifft has run in several karting series, as well as late model racing, before racing on the ARCA Midwest Tour. The teen scored  Rookie of the Year honors in that series in his first ever points series season and finished fifth in points.

    “It’s the right time to move up to the K&N Series,” Tifft said. “It’s better to get more experience in the bigger, heavier cars in a NASCAR series.”

    And just who might some of Tifft’s heroes be in the racing world? One of them is a driver that is joining him in the move up in his NASCAR career.

    “I’ve watched drivers like Kyle Larson and watching him go through and get the experience in the K&N Series is what helped attract me,” Tifft said.

    “It’s a really cool deal to build up that experience.”

    Tifft, like Larson and Hackenbracht, is all about learning, growing and just fine-tuning skills behind the wheel. He summed it up best for himself and his fellow racing compatriots who will be racing at the next level this season.

    “I know I have a lot of learning to do,” Tifft said simply. “But I’m up to the challenge.”

  • Chad Hackenbracht First Time ARCA Series Winner At Pocono

    Chad Hackenbracht First Time ARCA Series Winner At Pocono

    [media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”184″][/media-credit]Chad Hackenbracht, driver of the No. 58 CGH Motorsports Chevrolet, became the second first time winner of the day at Pocono Raceway, scoring his first ever ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards win.

    Hackenbracht used some ‘Tricky Triangle’ strategy to claim victory in the Pennsylvania ARCA 125, his first win in 42 career starts.

    “I’m not sure what to think,” Hackenbracht said. “My parents weren’t able to make it to this race so I’m not sure if we’ll let them come to any others.”

    “Those last ten laps, I was just waiting for the caution,” Hackenbracht continued. “But finally it all played to our advantage and we finally got the monkey off our backs.”

    “I can’t thank everybody enough.”

    Brennan Poole, pole sitter and driver of the No. 25 Cometic Gasket/Midas-Venturini Motorsports Toyota, was runner up to Hackenbracht.

    “Well, we just couldn’t take a chance in pitting that early and not being able to run all 50 laps,” Poole said. “We didn’t have a caution at the end and Chad’s strategy paid off for him.”

    “We were close, but came up a little short on fuel strategy.”

    Poole did, however, secure the points lead and is ahead of the field by 15 points. And he is looking forward to the rest of the season, at tracks where he has been good before.

    “We’re going to a few great tracks for me so I’m looking forward to that,” Poole said. “I just have great people around me.”

    “The Venturini Motorsports is a family and it’s a blessing to be able to work with them,” Poole continued. “I’ve had some of the most fun racing than I ever have this year.”

    Alex Bowman, behind the wheel of the No. 22 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Dodge, came in third.

    “It’s definitely frustrating with as good as we were in practice,” Bowman said. “We just came up a little bit short.”

    “We got tight and fell back to 3rd or 4th,” Bowman continued. “We made up ground on the green flag pit stop but got beat on strategy.”

    Frank Kimmel, driving the No. 44 Ansell-Menards Toyota, finished fourth and fifth place went to Chris Buescher in the No. 17 Reliance Tool-BeavEx Ford.

     

  • Chad Hackenbracht is Making a Name for Himself On and Off the Track

    Chad Hackenbracht is Making a Name for Himself On and Off the Track

    [media-credit name=”Photo Credit CGH Motorsports” align=”alignright” width=”246″][/media-credit]In spite of his difficult to pronounce moniker, up and coming 20 year old racer Chad Hackenbracht has been making a name for himself on and off the track.

    Hackenbracht definitely made a name for himself on the track at Talladega by leading laps at the end of the race and pushing Brandon McReynolds, son of former crew chief and FOX broadcaster Larry McReynolds, to his first ARCA win.

    The driver of the No. 58 Kindify Chevrolet Impala led 38 laps and was leading when the white flag flew. Unfortunately, Hackenbracht was a sitting duck at the front of the field and had to settle for a third place finish in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 when all was said and done.

    This was Hackenbracht’s fifth career top five finish and his best finish ever at a superspeedway.

    “I knew we had a good chance at winning for sure,” Hackenbracht said. “But you don’t want to be in the lead at a superspeedway.”

    “You’re a sitting duck with no friends at all,” Hackenbracht continued. “So, they got me on that last restart. I tried to back up to them but they wound up getting around me.”

    While rivals on the track, Hackenbracht and McReynolds have been good friends off the track. And they planned on working together in the draft during their superspeedway competitions.

    “Brandon and I talked about pushing each other since the tandem racing began at Daytona,” Hackenbracht said. “Ever since then, we tried to work together but never got the opportunity until the Talladega race.”

    So, how has McReynolds paid Hackenbracht back for that winning push, which has brought great attention to both racers’ names, at Talladega?

    “He hasn’t given me anything,” Hackenbracht said with a laugh. “He called me after the race and thanked me.”

    “He said we could go get some lunch or dinner or hang out,” Hackenbracht continued. “He has thanked me a lot and really that’s all you can ask for.”

    “Obviously with Brandon being Larry Mac’s son and me pushing him to the lead, we’ve both gotten a lot of exposure,” Hackenbracht said. “So, when they talk him, they’re also talking about me.”

    “We’re getting some good press out of it for sure and hopefully making a name in the garage area.”

    Hackenbracht certainly had mixed emotions after the ARCA race, even with his third place finish. Among those emotions were elation for his friend, sadness that he was not in Victory Lane, and a little bit of anger all at the same time.

    “Right after the race, I was actually kind of upset because the 16 came up and damaged our car,” Hackenbracht said. “He decided to come up and block us after we were right next to him.”

    “Third is good because it helps us go after the championship,” Hackenbracht, who is third in the ARCA point standings, continued. “You always want to be in Victory Lane but it will happen when it’s supposed to happen.”

    Hackenbracht has also been making a name for himself off the track as well. The young driver was chosen to do the Hoosier tire test at several newly paved tracks, as well as fulfilling a great deal of sponsor and charitable appearances.

    “We did the Hoosier tire test,” Hackenbracht said. “We were the only team that went up and tested the tires on the new surface.”

    “We also did that a few weeks ago in Michigan, as well as at Pocono,” Hackenbracht continued. “Michigan was very similar to the old track as far as conditions.”

    “It had a lot of grip and is a lot faster,” Hackenbracht said. “We were actually only two tenths off of the Cup speeds in the ARCA cars.”

    “Pocono also looks great,” Hackenbracht continued. “I can’t complain about that at all. It’s smooth and fast too.”

    Hackenbracht has become a bit of a rock star off the track as well, between all of his sponsor visits and charities.

    “Before Talladega, we went to Fort Bragg and did a show car appearance,” Hackenbracht said. “I had never once been on a base before and I didn’t realize it was like a whole other town.”

    “It was great to meet the troops and spend time with them.”

    “That Thursday of Talladega, we went to Fort Rucker and it was so nice to meet people and get my name out there,” Hackenbracht continued. “Another thing that I’ve started to do is with the RAD (Race Against Drugs) program. They’re going to have a go kart thing where kids get to race against us ARCA racers.”

    “At ‘Dega, as soon as I got out of the car after finishing the race, I rushed everybody out and went to the hauler, changed my clothes and went outside the track to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame to sign autographs for different kids with the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind,” Hackenbracht said. “That was fun to speak with a bunch of different kids.”

    “It was hectic getting right out of the car but it was really fun.”

    While Hackenbracht likes to go fast and finish well on the track, making a name for himself and causes he cares about off the track is something that is vitally important to the young driver.

    “That’s one thing I really like to do is the off-track stuff, whether it’s autographs or just meeting people,” Hackenbracht said. “I love meeting new people and you never know where there connections will lead.”

    Although it is early in the season, Hackenbracht has been enjoying making a name for himself on and off the track. And he just knows that his team will be the next ones in Victory Lane.

    “We’re getting closer to finally closing the deal on the win,” Hackenbracht said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

    “We’ve had dominant performances but bad luck or other problems have gotten in the way of the win,” Hackenbracht continued. “It’s definitely been a good season so far.”

    “Hopefully we will continue to go in the right direction.”

     

     

  • Chad Hackenbracht Gets Off to a Good Start Early in ARCA Season

    Chad Hackenbracht Gets Off to a Good Start Early in ARCA Season

    [media-credit name=”CGH Motorsports” align=”alignleft” width=”280″][/media-credit]While watching a race from Daytona on television, Chad Hackenbracht became interested in racing and told his parents he wanted to race.

    “They told me to brush it off over a couple of weeks,” he tells the story. “After a couple of months, I said ‘What’s going on? Am I going to race?’.”

    His parents told him to come up with some possible options to go racing in, to which he responded go-karts and four wheelers. His parents turned both of those options down.

    “My mom said no to four-wheelers,” he continues. “My dad said no to the go-karts just because they don’t have seat belts. So when you wreck, the object is to get away as far as possible from the kart by flying out of it.”

    The end result was the family buying a quarter midget to race in the Mid Western Quarter Midget Association to begin his career.

    Flash forward to the present day and Hackenbracht is now a competitor in the ARCA Racing Series for CGH Motorsports, currently sitting third in points.

    With points leader Cale Gale not expected to compete in all the races this season, Hackenbracht currently sits second of the full-time series drivers, 10 points behind Brennan Poole.

    “So far, we’ve run really well,” he says. “Daytona is sort of a crapshoot and we were running pretty good, got shuffled out to the outside. But we came out with a clean racecar, ready to go to Talladega.”

    Last weekend at Mobile, Gale scored another second place finish while Cale Gale went on to win the race.

    “We’re really satisfied with that so far,” he says. “Can’t really ask for too much more.”

    He is also on track with his expectations for 2012 as he expects to run in the top five while contending for the championship.

    Before they can get to that point, he is hoping that a sponsor comes on board.

    “Right now, we don’t know what races we’re going to and what races we’re not going to,” he comments.  “So it’s kind of tough and nerve-wracking as a driver not knowing where you’re going to race.”

    That’s why it’s important to get off to a good start, but also so that way they’re not in a hole.

    “When you’re trying to work your way up in points from 40th, it just makes for a long year,” he says. “It takes a lot more to get up front if you don’t start at the beginning of the season.”

    If things come together, Hackenbracht and team are ready to head to Salem Speedway next month.

    “If we go there, I picture a win because every time we’ve been there the past few times, we’ve run top five and had the fastest car all day long,” he says. “We have just had something mechanical happen. So expectation is definitely a win and top five qualifying, but hopefully we can come out of there with a good finish and maybe the points lead.”

    A lot of people looked to Hackenbracht and CGH Motorsports to have a successful 2012 season based on last year.

    Last season, he scored three top fives and 10 top 10s on his way to finishing eighth in points and impressing many people near the end of the season due to being a small, family-based team. Hackenbracht doesn’t consider it being a bad position to be in.

    “It’s not too tough when you have the right people, and I think we definitely do,” he says. “We’re definitely a small organization – we’ve only got three full-time guys. Kevin Reed came over from Venturini (Motorsports) and he’s done really well. He’s definitely stepped up our program. It’s not really tough to run against any so-called big name teams because once you get out there, it’s up to the driver. If you have the ability, then you’re going to be able to run with them.”

    Hackenbracht says one of the biggest lessons he learned last year was patience.

    “You’ve got 200 laps on these short tracks and you don’t need to going all out racing somebody for three or four laps, wearing out your equipment on lap 100,” he explains. “You don’t really have to use your equipment because it gets really hectic there at the end and that’s where you start getting the runs and able to go for the win with about 50 to go.”

    The patience factor is something he has in common with his racing hero – Mark Martin.

    “He’s a real clean racer and everyone sort of respects him and there’s not too much controversy surrounding him,” he says.

    For more information on Chad Hackenbracht and CGH Motorsports, please visit ChadHackenbracht.com and CGHMotorsports.com. 

  • Chad Hackenbracht’s Biggest Hurdle Not the Racing But His Own Last Name

    Chad Hackenbracht’s Biggest Hurdle Not the Racing But His Own Last Name

    Chad Hackenbracht had his best ever career finish in this past weekend’s ARCA race, scoring a fourth place in his family-owned No. 58 Tastee Apple CGH Motorsports Chevrolet at Michigan International Speedway.

    [media-credit name=”Photo Credit: CGH Motorsports” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]But even greater than the challenge of the intense competition on the track is the 19 year old driver’s challenge in just getting folks to pronounce his last name correctly.

    In addition to being on a quest for name recognition, the driver is having a little fun with it all. His team has just developed T-shirts, which say “What’s a Chad Hacken-something?”

    The correct pronunciation of that all important last name is in parentheses (hock en bra) on the new T-shirts, which are on sale on Hackenbracht’s website  www.cghmotorsports.com for just $19.95.

    “That actually was started by my marketing guy who is looking for sponsorship for us,” Hackenbracht said of the T-shirt venture. “It has turned into a really big hit.”

    Hackenbracht, however, is focused solely on his racing and was thrilled with his good performance at Michigan.

    “We wound up getting a fourth place out of it which wasn’t too bad,” Hackenbracht said. “We were up there in contention.”

    “It’s a career best for us,” Hackenbracht said. “It was really good.”

    The young driver from New Philadelphia, Ohio has been on a tear even before the career best finish in Michigan.  He scored an 11th place finish at Toledo in May, a ninth-place finish at New Jersey and seventh place finish at Pocono Raceway.

    This is Hackenbracht’s first full year in the ARCA Series, after running a limited schedule in 2010, with just the televised races on the docket. Prior to that, the young driver ran the Legends series, scoring 18 wins and the national championship.

    Hackenbracht is a bit unusual as far as his driving pedigree. He is not from a traditional racing family, but instead caught the racing bug by seeing it on television.

    “I basically was watching the Daytona or Talladega Cup race and I saw it and said to my parents, ‘Hey, I want to race.’ Hackenbracht said. “I don’t think they took me seriously but they said to come up with different options.”

    “I came up with four-wheelers and go karts and my mom said no to both of them,” Hackenbracht continued. “So, then we saw quarter-midgets and started with that.”

    The young driver has been moving on up the ranks ever since, with his eye eventually on a Truck or Nationwide ride. Like so many others, Hackenbracht definitely sees himself in the Cup Series sometime in the near future, with just the economy standing in his way.

    “I’m in the perfect age range,” Hackenbracht said. “But just the wrong economic time.”

    “In a couple years, you’ll have a lot of rides opening up,” Hackenbracht continued. “But you’ve got to survive until then.”

    Hackenbracht survives with a little help from his friends, particularly those in the Cup garage, as well as good friend and mentor Ron Hornaday, Jr.

    “ARCA is kind of like a big family,” Hackenbracht said. “All the teams work with you.”

    “I’ve got a connection with Ron Hornaday in the Truck garage,” Hackenbracht continued. “He’ll stop in the shop after a race and we’ll talk a little bit.”

    Hackenbracht does follow one particular Cup driver, one in fact that he has inherited from his mother.

    “My mom’s driver is Jeff Gordon,” Hackenbracht said. “I follow him just because of my mom and dad.”

    “But I really like Mark Martin myself,” Hackenbracht continued. “He races hard but he races clean. That’s what I do and what I want to be.”

    In addition to the racers that Hackenbracht follows on the track, he also models himself after the premiere drivers in the sport as far as putting time in at the shop and at the gym. But he does have one other duty that has led to yet another name for the young driver.

    “The guys at the shop call me ‘Sticker Boy’ because I put all the details on the car,” Hackenbracht said. “That’s kind of my thing.”

    Whether you call him ‘Hacken-something’ or ‘Sticker Boy’, Hackenbracht will next be doing his thing in the ARCA Racing Series on Saturday, June 25th in the Winchester ARCA 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts at Winchester Speedway in Indiana.

    “We came to Michigan and showed our performance was no fluke,” Hackenbracht said. “I’m anxious to get to Winchester as I feel we have a shot at our first career win.”