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Tag: Cole Custer

  • Custer Takes the Pole Position in Trucks at Talladega

    Custer Takes the Pole Position in Trucks at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Cole Custer will lead the field to the green flag later this afternoon in the state of Alabama.

    The driver of the No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet scored the pole for the fred’s 250 Powered by Coca-Cola after posting a time of 53.672 and a speed of 178.417 mph.

    It’s his fifth career pole in 38 Camping World Truck Series starts, second of 2016 and first at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Grant Enfinger will start second in his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 53.683 and a speed of 178.380 mph. Spencer Gallagher will start third in his No. 23 GMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 53.747 and a speed of 178.168 mph. Ben Kennedy will start fourth in his No. 33 GMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 53.754 and a speed of 178.145 mph. Johnny Sauter will round out the top-five in his No. 21 GMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 53.855 and a speed of 177.811 mph.

    Timothy Peters will start sixth in his No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota. Cody Coughlin will start seventh in his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. William Byron will start eighth in his No. 9 KBM Toyota. John Wes Townley will start ninth in his No. 05 Athenian Motorsports Chevrolet. Korbin Forrister will round out the top-10 in his No. 5 Wauters Motorsports Toyota.

    John Hunter Nemechek will start 11th and Matt Tifft will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Matt Crafton will start 13th, Christopher Bell will start 14th and Daniel Hemric will round out the Chase drivers in 17th.

    With 36 drivers entered, four drivers – Jennifer Jo Cobb, Ryan Ellis, Clay Greenfield and Parker Kligerman – were sent home.

    Sixteen Chevrolet’s, 13 Toyota’s and three Ford’s will comprise the 32-truck field for this afternoon’s race.

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  • The Final Word – I would absolutely suck as a pit crew member, so why won’t Harvick hire me?

    The Final Word – I would absolutely suck as a pit crew member, so why won’t Harvick hire me?

    A classic. That is what the Southern 500 is. Born in 1950, it predates NASCAR’s jewel events in Indianapolis, Bristol, Talladega, Charlotte, and Daytona. It is the Southern 500, the Labor Day classic at Darlington. It is not a November race, not a race to be branded by Dodge, not run on Mother’s Day or in April. After a dozen years of stupidity, it returned in 2015 to be what it has always been meant to be, the great southern Labor Day NASCAR tradition.

    Kevin Harvick lost Sunday’s race in classic style. If a pit crew can screw things up, it can find work on this car. Two pit stops, two disasters. One dropped him from first to fourth. The next, from first to 12th. It has reached the point where even the most understandable reason is rejected as yet another damned excuse. “Someone slashed our spare tires” or “It is hard to change a tire with no arms” or “The dog ate the air wrench” no longer cuts it. Harvick finished second. He should have been first.

    That was left for Martin Truex Jr. to accomplish. Sometimes, it is just more fun to win a classic event over the holidays. After previous career victories at Dover, Sonoma, and Pocono, this season it has been Labor Day at Darlington and the Memorial Day World 600 in Charlotte. Those are the kind of wins that get a driver remembered.

    Winning a title also does that. With Richmond the last stop before the Chase, a dozen drivers are locked in having won a race or more. Chris Buescher claims a spot if he manages to be within ten positions of David Ragan next weekend, thus staying within the season’s Top 30. Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon are a lock should they come home within 23 and 15 spots, respectfully, of Ryan Newman this Sunday. Jamie McMurray lays claim to the final spot should he be no more than six places behind Newman at Richmond, and a first-time winner does not emerge to steal that final Chase place from him. The question is, do Newman, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Blaney, A.J. Allmendinger, Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Greg Biffle, or Paul Menard have the horses to do what needs to be done? The odds are long, but remember that they were for Buescher once, too.

    It was a true classic at Darlington, but it was something of a classic finish in the truck race at MoSport Park in Ontario on Sunday. Well, the finish between John Hunter Nemechek and Cole Custer would have gone down as a classic if it had taken place at almost any other track. Two racers rubbing and racing and scraping against the wall to the finish. Instead, on the outside, they had enough prairie to give me a home where the buffalo roam, along with a couple of elk, before they came across any barrier. Rather than taking Custer to the outside wall, Nemechek wound up taking him into the car pool lane. What could have been a classic finish had all the appearances of a demo derby. Does that make Nemechek a wild man or a guy who did what he had to do on a surface that extended much farther out than what we would have normally seen? He won, so does it matter? I bet to Custer, it does. He seemed downright excited as he tackled Nemechek after the race, sending the pair tumbling to the grass. Vengeance is a bitch, and she just might have some bite before their version of the Chase concludes in the truck series. Just ask Joey Logano.

    Classic. They have been racing at Richmond since 1953, and the list of the winners there is a smorgasbord of NASCAR history, with all the fixings. It is where three generations of Petty boys have a victory, including 13 by the King himself. Both Earnhardts have won there, with Senior having a 5-3 advantage over Junior. Kyle has a 4-2 lead over Kurt in the battle of the Busch boys. Richmond is where Bobby Allison won seven times, with six wins apiece awarded to David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, and Rusty Wallace.

    Sadly, the one-time Capital City 400 sold its soul to Wrangler more than 35 years ago. Since then, the trail has winded through a brewery, a battery outfit, a car manufacturer, to even include a brand of pistachios for a season. A classic event it is not. A classic venue it most certainly is.

    Here is hoping for a classic finish. This spring Carl Edwards bumped Kyle Busch out of the way to record the first last-lap pass for the win in Richmond history. Why not another?

  • MoSport Finish Highlights Double Standard Set By Fans, Drivers

    MoSport Finish Highlights Double Standard Set By Fans, Drivers

    I have three words to describe yesterday’s Camping World Truck Series finish at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park: It. Was. Awesome.

    Plenty of beating and banging, with the No. 8 of John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 00 of Cole Custer leaning on each other coming to the checkered flag, smoke flying, metal crunching as both trucks were hooked together unable to pull apart. Then, for an added bonus, Custer straight up sacked Nemechek as he was going to grab the checkered flag. Don’t let anyone tell you differently; that’s usually the best way to settle any racing issue when you’re not in the mood for talking and explaining. Face-to-face or hand-to-hand is how all disagreements should be settled at the race track.

    Now, do I understand why Custer was upset? Absolutely. The incident was, in fact, Nemechek’s fault. On top of that, in his first full season, Custer has yet to score his third career CWTS win, and his JR Motorsports truck has not been operating up to par in 2016. He isn’t solidly in the Chase and with one race left before it begins, he’s under a lot of pressure. So yes, of course, he’d be furious after seeing his best shot at a Chase spot go up in a cloud of smoke and dirt because of a guy who has already won this season.

    That said, has Nemechek deserved the hate and vitriol he’s been getting over social media? No. Absolutely not. He did what he was paid to do, and he wanted that win just as badly as Custer did. It’s a racer’s prerogative to go for the win; why should we hate on that? Yes, he was at fault for the incident. He drove a little over his head, had a rare lapse in car control, and both he and Custer ended up in the grass. Keep in mind there, they were in the grass. With slicks. Hooked together coming to the checkered flag. Going for a win, it would have been stupid to let off the gas to regroup, but even if he did do that it would have taken a little longer to get their trucks unstuck.

    Yet after the race, people made it as if Nemechek was a dirty, soulless driver with a habit of wrecking others. It makes no sense, honestly. Nemechek races other drivers as respectfully and clean as possible. Sure, he’s slipped, he’s had issues, but which driver hasn’t? Kyle Larson let loose with this tweet following the race:

    I find it funny Larson showed a bit of savagery with this tweet, considering Larson dumped C.E. Falk at Daytona in 2013 for a win.

    Other tweets from the NASCAR contingent include these:

    I love how some of these guys plus plenty of other drivers were quick to bash Nemechek like they were bastions of clean, respectful racing and had never pulled a similar stunt on a race track.

    I bring all that up because I want to point out a few things regarding this latest blatant example of a double standard. All this outrage, all this anger, where was it when Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch were beating and banging for the win at Darlington in March of 2003? They were leaning, turning into each other, bumping each other, rubbing each other, and to this day we as fans eat that up. That was as big an event to us as the 1979 Daytona 500.

    What about the 2012 CWTS season finale at Homestead when Cale Gale squeezed Kyle Busch into the wall to score his first career win in the series? Where was the outrage there? Where was the seething hatred for Gale? Does anyone have any idea? I don’t.

    What about a personal favorite, last year’s fall Sprint Cup race at Martinsville where the lapped car of Matt Kenseth crashed then-leader Joey Logano in the first-turn wall? I don’t recall this much outrage for Kenseth’s actions. Instead, I hear nothing but cheers for Kenseth handling Logano. Never mind the fact that they weren’t going for the checkered, but were still several laps away and Kenseth had already been involved in a crash. That only goes to further accentuate the double standard. When it came to a lapped car taking out the leader, everyone was overjoyed. But yesterday, when two hungry drivers slammed and banged for the win, everyone was ready to crucify Nemechek.

    It makes no sense.

    The finish at MoSport is exactly what the CWTS needs. Gripe and complain now, but years from now this finish will be remembered fondly. That was good racing in a season full of great finishes. This has been a banner year for the trucks, as only two non-regulars have won this season, race quality has been spectacular, and on top of that, we’re seeing the rise of stellar young drivers like William Byron, Christopher Bell, and Daniel Hemric.

    Instead of dropping the hammer on a driver for doing nothing more than racing hard for a win, accept the fact that MoSport was a heck of a race with a fun finish. Accept that, and leave it at that. Don’t go harebrained and take to social media to bash Nemechek for doing his job.

  • Four Gears – Indianapolis Edition

    Four Gears – Indianapolis Edition

    This week our staff takes a look at some of the hot topics in the world of NASCAR. We discuss Jeff Gordon’s current status as a substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart’s chances for another championship in his final season. We also look at possible prospects for the recently announced Stewart-Haas Racing’s 2017 XFINITY team and question NASCAR’s decision that moved the XFINITY Series event from O’Reilly Raceway Park to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    We are joined by guest contributor, James Burton. Burton is a former ARCA pit reporter who covered the Talladega events for three years as well as the first Mobile ARCA 200. He was with WTDR 92.7 FM from 2011-13 and is currently with Jacobs Media Services.

    First Gear: After subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Indy, Jeff Gordon’s next (and likely last) race in the No. 88 will be at Pocono. Is this the last we’ve seen of Gordon in a Sprint Cup car? Should Hendrick have put more focus on Alex Bowman in the 88 car instead?

    Given that the race after Pocono is a road course, I’d put my money on Jeff Gordon – the all-time winningest road course racer in NASCAR history – being in the car for Watkins Glen. Although given his track record at The Glen since 2001, I would think it wise to let someone else drive the car.

    I wrote a piece recently explaining why I didn’t want to see Gordon back in the car again, at least not in NASCAR, and I also took to Twitter to say Hendrick Motorsports should’ve put Alex Bowman in the car after his drive at Loudon. So you probably knew where I stood on this. – Tucker White

    I want to say yes. The fact that Gordon has come back to sub for Earnhardt sort of diminishes the impact of his final season. I was sort of hoping he’d go the Rusty Wallace route and be done with it all. Still, I’m holding onto hope that maybe he will be done once and for all after Pocono. Maybe then he’ll be done for good. As for Bowman, Loudon wasn’t enough of a shot for him. On one hand, put him in the car more. He’s a heck of a driver who knows how to take care of his stuff. Then again, as James pointed out in his comments, maybe put him in the car for the shorter, flatter tracks if Earnhardt has to sit out longer. – Joseph Shelton

    I don’t think it’s the last time we’ll see Jeff Gordon drive in a Cup series race. With how few development drivers Hendrick employs (as in none), there’s a good chance Gordon will be called on again if somebody has to miss a race. Because of that, I’d rather keep Gordon in the car over Alex Bowman, who hasn’t really proven himself yet past a couple of great runs in JR Motorsports equipment. – Michael Finley

    I think so, barring more injuries from other Hendrick drivers. Gordon said he kept getting his butt kicked on restarts, so you can tell being out of the seat has changed his perspective a little bit. He’s got one race to go before he goes back into retirement, so you never know if he could go out there and dominate. Three weeks ago when Bowman filled in for Earnhardt the first week, it was mentioned it was the first time that neither an Earnhardt or Gordon had been in a race since Dale Earnhardt Sr. sat out four races in 1979. What they failed to mention was that David Pearson drove the No. 2 car those four races and he qualified on the pole at Michigan and won at Darlington. Is that banking on good omens and superstition? Absolutely, but superstition is pretty commonplace in this sport and Gordon’s no slouch at Pocono.

    As for Bowman, I think Hendrick made the right decision. This is a kid who has thus far had a ‘meh’ Cup career, but honestly deserved a chance to drive for one of the big dogs. Had it been short to mid-sized tracks past New Hampshire, then yes, keep Bowman in the car. Gordon in at Indy and Pocono was and is the right decision. Even if Earnhardt doesn’t get a waiver (which let’s be honest, he will) then the owner points will have the best chance to remain the same. – James Burton

    Second Gear: It’s looking more and more like Tony Stewart is shaping up for the upcoming Chase. With the way that he is running, does he have a chance for the championship?

    I think the jury is still out on this one. He’s starting to post more consistent top-10 runs, but I see him being where Jeff Gordon was a year ago, just cracking the top-10 at the end of the day. With that being said, I think the only track that would hinder a title run is Talladega, which as we all know is its own animal. – Tucker White

    Stewart is building momentum. Obviously, in the past he’s kicked his season into gear during the summer and it’s looking like this could be the case again. It’s not going to be anything like his dominance in 2005, but we could be looking at a repeat of his 2011 season; mildly consistent, something of a sleeper, then once the Chase kicks in, he’s the guy to beat. – Joseph Shelton

    Anything that can happen in the Chase will happen. Jeff Gordon had no momentum at all going into his final Chase last season and ended up making the final four. Stewart is no stranger to coming out of nowhere to compete and win in the Chase- just look at his 2011 season. He went from saying he didn’t deserve to be in the Chase to hoisting the Cup just a few months later. – Michael Finley

    Stewart is in the position he needs to be. Back when he returned he had to win and average a 22nd place finish in order to make the top 30 in points. He’s won and he currently sits 27th in points with six races before the cut off. In five of the last six races he has finished no worse than 11th and even his 26th at Daytona hasn’t caused him to falter much. The momentum seems to be in his favor as he has won at all the upcoming six tracks at least once.
    Does he have a chance at the championship? He’s Tony Stewart. Of course he does. The trick is staying out of trouble at the tracks that will bite you. He has one restrictor plate track left on the schedule that comes at a crucial cut off point. You survive Dega and transfer, then you have a chance at Homestead. – James Burton

    Third Gear: With the announcement of Stewart-Haas Racing fielding an XFINITY Series entry in 2017, who are some likely candidates to fill in the seat?

    The first one that comes to mind right away is Cole Custer. With his father being an executive at Stewart-Haas Racing, he’s probably leaving the JR Motorsports camp at the end of 2016, although I’m not sure if he’s ready to make the jump to the XFINITY Series.

    A more likely candidate would be Jeb Burton. He was in contention for a Chase spot before sponsorship dried up and his ride in the 43 car went the way of the dodo. Of course, depending on contract status, drivers like Darrell Wallace Jr., Ryan Reed, Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reddick could fit the bill as well. – Tucker White

    With the Penske ties I could see Reddick or Hemric in the car. Reddick has seniority and a couple of Camping World Truck Series wins under his belt, but Hemric is solidly consistent, sitting third in points with nine top-10s in 11 starts. I see a lot of potential with him if he heads to the XFINITY Series. – Joseph Shelton

    I can see Cole Custer running a partial season while running full time in the trucks for fellow Ford team Brad Keselowski Racing. Clint Bowyer seems to be open to running lower series races, while Harvick has said he is not running in the XFINITY Series after this season. Finally, Tony Stewart has said he is open to running XFINITY races and would help provide the team with some sponsorship. – Michael Finley

    The first people to look at will be the truck drivers for Brad Keselowski Racing. Since SHR is basically replacing Hendrick for Penske as their “parent” team, you’re going to have talent such as Daniel Hemric or Tyler Reddick fighting for that ride. If I had to choose between the two I would go with Reddick as he has seniority with the organization. Another possibility might be to see Bubba Wallace jump to another Ford camp. Wallace has had mild success at Roush but SHR might be the atmosphere he needs to break through to the XFINITY win column. – James Burton

    Fourth Gear: On Saturday we were faced with yet another lackluster XFINITY race at Indy. Did NASCAR make a mistake in moving the division to Indianapolis Motor Speedway instead of leaving them at O’Reilly Raceway Park?

    Alex, I’ll take “Questions that deserve a DUH response” for 1000. I don’t care how big the purse is for the XFINITY Series at the Brickyard. The product we get at the Brickyard does not justify it. The lackluster product is compounded by the fact that the XFINITY Series is at its worst.

    I watched the ARCA race that was held at Indianapolis Raceway Park last Friday and it was a pretty entertaining race. That’s more than I can say for what we got at the Brickyard. I say either move the XFINITY Series onto the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course or take it back to Indianapolis Raceway Park or whatever it’s called now. – Tucker White

    Yep. Yep, yep, yep. I don’t understand the logic in bringing Indianapolis Motor Speedway to the XFINITY Series and it hasn’t been fruitful in the slightest. Kyle Busch has won three of the five events there, with Brad Keselowski and Ty Dillon winning the other two. Every race there has been forgettable and I think it was a mistake to leave O’Reilly Raceway Park.

    In trying to make the XFINITY schedule more like the Sprint Cup schedule, they’ve robbed the division not only of good racing but also of its own identity. We didn’t need IMS on the XFINITY schedule. We didn’t need Pocono on the schedule. If anything, if they wanted to create good racing in the series they should have made sure the schedule stood apart from the other divisions and retained its own identity. Simple as that. – Joseph Shelton

    Considering there was much better racing at ORP and just as many if more fans actually in attendance, they made a pretty big mistake. – Michael Finley

    Absolutely. To put it in perspective, let’s compare it to a bowl game. Just because the Dr. Lane’s Bath Salts for Menopause and Spider Bites Bowl is played at the Rose Bowl stadium doesn’t mean it’s going to be as epic as the actual Rose Bowl. It’s just another page in NASCAR’s failed attempts at what equates to “no driver left behind.” You race at the Brickyard when you’re good enough to make it Cup. Plain and simple. – James Burton

    Please join us again next week and become a part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts in the comment section below.

     

  • Byron Wins Truck Series at Iowa, Moves to Second in Points

    Byron Wins Truck Series at Iowa, Moves to Second in Points

    William Byron continued his streak of successes in 2016 by winning the Speediatrics 200 at Iowa Speedway, his third win in nine career starts. Unlike his other victories at Kansas and Texas, Byron had the dominant truck this time, starting fifth and leading 107 laps. Cole Custer finished second in his JR Motorsports Chevrolet, while ThorSport drivers Cameron Hayley and Ben Rhodes took third and fourth, respectively. Rounding out the top-five was Brad Keselowski Racing driver Tyler Reddick, who led 37 laps.

    With this win Byron moves to second in the Camping World Truck Series points behind Matt Crafton, who has an 11-point cushion. But with this being the first year of the CWTS Chase system, based off of the Sprint Cup playoff format, Byron currently holds the top seed in the Chase with his three wins.

    Custer’s first race with new Crew Chief Marcus Richmond paid off, taking the lead on lap 188 and hanging on for three laps until Byron took over the lead for good on lap 191. Said Custer of his race, “For the first 10 laps or so, the others were probably better than us on four tires. After that it kind of equaled out. I thought I had them there when I took the lead. I can’t thank Marcus and everyone enough. They worked their tails off all weekend. I really appreciate that. I think we’re going in the right direction.”

    Custer sits 11th in points, 65 points out of first. His runner-up finish is his best result of 2016, previously trumping his season-best of fifth at Dover in May.

    Another notable in the top-five was fellow rookie Ben Rhodes, who took his No. 41 ThorSport to a fourth-place finish after contending for the lead on the lap 188 restart. Rhodes and third-place finisher Cameron Hayley were a pair of bright points in the week for the ThorSport Racing organization.

    On Monday a fire demolished the shop the organization operates out of, causing damage to several trucks and equipment. The organization is one of the longest-running teams in the CWTS, and with two trucks in the top-five at Iowa and a third truck in eighth, the team will take this momentum and carry it to Gateway while the team continues the process of rebuilding.

  • Cole Custer Fastest in Final Truck Practice

    Cole Custer Fastest in Final Truck Practice

    MARTINSVILLE, Va.– In case you missed it, Cole Custer topped the chart in final Camping World Truck Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 19.788 and a speed of 95.694 mph followed by  John Hunter Nemechek in second in his No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 19.826 and a speed of 95.511 mph. Ben Rhodes, who topped the speed charts in the second practice, was third in the final session in his No. 41 ThorSport Racing Toyota with a time of 19.837 and a speed of 95.456 mph. Kyle Busch was fourth in his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota with a time of 19.863 and a speed of 95.333 mph while Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top-five in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.881 and a speed of 95.247 mph.

    Daniel Suárez was sixth in his No. 51 KBM Toyota while Kaz Grala was seventh in his No. 33 GMSR Chevrolet. William Byron (fastest in the first practice) was eighth in his No. 9 KBM Toyota. Kyle Larson was ninth in his No. 24 GMSR Chevrolet and Johnny Sauter rounded out the top-10 in his No. 21 GMSR Chevrolet.

    Busch ran the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 93.793 mph. Larson was second at a speed of 93.416 mph. Nemechek was third at a speed of 93.394 mph.

    The Truck Series is back on track this morning at 11:15 for qualifying.

    Second NCWTS Practice Results at Martinsville Speedway

    First NCWTS Practice Results at Martinsville Speedway

     

    Martinsville NCWTS-FInal-page-001

     

  • NASCAR BTS: Stewart Haas Sponsor Code 3 Associates

    NASCAR BTS: Stewart Haas Sponsor Code 3 Associates

    While Danica Patrick may just have scored a brand new sponsor for the next race season, Stewart Haas Racing has another unique sponsor relationship with a nonprofit organization by the name of Code 3 Associates.

    This week’s NASCAR Behind the Scenes takes a closer look at Code 3 Associates, their unique synergy with an elite NASCAR team, and their new relationship with up and coming driver Cole Custer.

    “Code 3 was a company that I will readily admit that I half-heartedly started in the 1980s when I was a police officer,” Eric Bagdikian, President, Code 3 Associates, said.  “Right around the mid-1990s, my wife Nan Stewart had retired off the road as a California state humane officer and was in very high demand to teach and consult.”

    “So, Code 3 became the perfect platform for her to work off to do that. She has really been the driving and passionate force behind Code 3 Associates.”

    “As things developed, Code 3 branched out into two areas,” Bagdikian continued. “My wife and a former partner saw a need for animal welfare and care in times of natural disasters. At the time, there was little or nothing in the federal incident command structure has various different emergency service functions (ESFs). At that time, the realization of animals as part of the family was just coming out into the open as part of that protocol.”

    “Nan and my partner saw this but also saw the need for a tool, which gave birth the BART, our 82-foot hauler, known affectionately as the Big Animal Rescue Truck. It literally houses everything that operators and responders are going to immediately need to respond to the needs of animals in a disaster.”

    “The other side of the company that developed concurrently, because of Nan’s expertise, was training. At the time, there were only a few organizations that specialized in animal control training. This has become more important now because training is the first line for liability and risk management.”

    “So, over the years, Code 3 has continued to develop in this area. One of the bigger animal control organizations was National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA) and Code 3 ended up joining forces.  So, that is how Code 3 Associates came about and has evolved.”

    Code 3 Associates also has a very unique story when it comes to their involvement in NASCAR.

    “We have a benefactor who has a very, very strong interest in animals and are big NASCAR fans,” Bagdikian said. “Putting the two together, we are able to combine their passions, get into NASCAR and provide a cause to apply to that interest.”

    “We looked at various different teams and drivers but back in the early 2000s Code 3 received an unsolicited donation of $500 from the Tony Stewart Foundation. The craziest things happen from the smallest seeds. So, that was the link. We approached Stewart-Haas Racing and it was the perfect recipe.”

    “At the time Ryan Newman was one of the drivers on the team and of course Tony Stewart. They both have a very strong interest in animals. They both love animals. And Tony operates his Foundation, which provides for animals and/or children.”

    “So, that’s how it all came about. It was a synergy that was waiting for a catalyst. It just so happened that Code 3 was the catalyst. We met with the VP of Business Development for SHR and we were truly amazing at his reaction to the synergy. Stewart-Haas has taken an active interest in what we are doing in almost a daily basis. They have been very supportive of Code 3 and animal welfare issues in general.”

    Code 3 Associates and Stewart-Haas Racing also combine their missions in very down to earth unique ways.

    “Code 3 holds a couple of training sessions at the race shop during the year,” Bagdikian said. “And that’s been at Stewart-Haas insistence. But they do have one complaint because when we are there all of the workers want to come out of the shop and play with the animals.”

    “They’re not getting much done, but their frame of mind is much better when they get back to work!”

    One of the most unique aspects of the Code 3 Associates partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing is their interest in the development of a seventeen-year-old racer Cole Custer.

    Cole is a very bright, well-educated, outgoing young man. You don’t get that from him initially, but he is. And he really cares,” Bagdikian said. “When we initially started talking about this, Cole does bring the young element to the table.”

    “And in my opinion, we have sold that generation short. I’ll call them kids, but that generation does care. They really do want to help. Cole is emblematic of that. NASCAR really needs to culture that generation into their fan base. So, it’s a perfect platform for that generation’s passions to also make that bridge to NASCAR.”

    “While nobody can predict a cut and dry timetable, right now our mutual interest is really Cole’s development,” Bagdikian continued. “Some of us are focusing on the competition end of it and some of us are focusing on the off-track development. And that is where we see providing Cole the opportunity to represent the cause that he believes in as us helping him with his development.”

    “I am a firm believer that as each day, month, year goes by, that representation will be more and more present. If we can help him grow and develop and benefit this cause, we are all for it.”

    The most important partnership for Code 3 Associates is that they are fulfilling their mission with a long-term commitment to drivers like Cole Custer and teams like Stewart-Haas Racing.

    “One of the things that I like is that drivers like Cole are coming in with no sense of entitlement,” Bagdikian said. “The vast majority of them have had to compete. Yeah, it’s all fine and well to say you are part of a team, but when you’re out on the track you are competing for yourself.”

    “Cole has really worked and honed his craft with diligence and determination. I think this is one thing that really separates our sport from others as far as our up and coming athletes.  There are not scholarships. They have to come up on their own merits. The recruitment opportunities in our sport are not as prevalent as in other sports.”

    “So, I definitely I think we are in for the long-term with this NASCAR relationship.”

    For more information about this unique organization and its NASCAR commitment, check out www.Code3Associates.org.

     

  • Odds and Ends as the New NASCAR Season Prepares to Crank it Over

    Odds and Ends as the New NASCAR Season Prepares to Crank it Over

    A new season, with a new defending champion, will be soon upon us. Kevin Harvick and the rest of the boys, and girl, will be in Daytona in less than a month to kick things off. According to Jayski, 43 teams have dreams of running full-time in 2015, with more than a dozen seeing drivers with new crew chiefs, and a handful of wheel men changing seats.

    Former Daytona winner Trevor Bayne goes full-time with Roush, returning in Mark Martin’s old No. 6. Sam Hornish Jr. makes a return to Cup driving the Petty No. 9. Carl Edwards moves on to Gibbs and the No. 19. Brian Vickers is out of Waltrip’s No. 55 until he mends from a heart repair. Nineteen-year-old Chase Elliot should get some seat time with Hendrick, while driving for Junior in the minor series. In the trucks, Junior will have soon-to-be 17-year-old Cole Custer running about 10 races. Cole Custer. If that isn’t the best damned name in NASCAR, I don’t know what is.

    Danica Patrick will be back. She will continue to be back regardless as to what she does, or does not do on the track, as long as fans and sponsors love her and pay her way. You could say she is a lot like Dale Earnhardt Jr. in that way, albeit minus the iconic father, the two Daytona 500 wins, five Talladega triumphs, 23 career victories, and seven appearances in the season’s top ten rankings.

    As I mentioned, while Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus continue their most successful racing marriage, others will be in new relationships. Danica, Junior, and Cousin Carl will be amongst those with new crew chiefs. So will Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr. and both Busch brothers. That could prove interesting, especially in the early going.

    Some get going, some get gone, and sometimes somebody is not happy the ways things turned out. As none of us were witness to the alleged altercation between Kurt Busch and his ex, we are left following along the court case. To be honest, as long as the guy is shown not to be a menace to society, as long as what may have happened is all that may have happened, I really do not care. As much as it is serious business for the principles involved, it is nothing more than a sideline event for the rest of us. An outcome to take notice of if we so wish, but not much more.

    It would be nice to owe millions, if only for having the chance to have spent millions in the first place. We try to live within our means, so that means my family is not bogged down in debt. Still, it would be nice to know that if I completely blew it there might be a bank or two willing to forgive millions in loans they gave me. It must be sweet to be in a position to forgive such a loan.

    The NASCAR Hall of Fame has been a white elephant from the beginning, with even its location suspect. It would seem the 25 minute drive from the track in Concord to downtown Charlotte is a trek many are not interested in making. Even the Daytona Experience, rejected as a site for the Hall, closed its doors and it was located right beside that track. I understand it will re-open again next year as the home of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. That is irony. Oh well, all is forgiven, I guess, to the tune of nearly $20 million. Now if they can only attract some paying customers, or the Convention Center there might wind up with tons of space for it to expand.

    It would be nice to say the new season means a change in the seasons, but for those of us in the lands of snow and ice, it does not. At least it gives us an idea what clear pavement, green grass, and shirt sleeves might look like. That, and a return of our favorite drivers, is good enough.

  • Hot 20 – Martinsville Could Showcase a Wildcard Cup Contender and a Dying Minor League

    Hot 20 – Martinsville Could Showcase a Wildcard Cup Contender and a Dying Minor League

    Will it bother anyone if, conceivably, one not so deserving wins the Cup title this year? I mean, if it is Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, or Brad Keselowski, I doubt few would argue the outcome. One could even argue that the likes of Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, or Ryan Newman would be a worthy champion.

    However, what about Denny Hamlin? Even if he had taken part in the two events he missed in order to mend, Hamlin would not even be in our Top Ten. Okay, maybe if he had won them both, but what were the chances? Still, would he be deemed as a worthy holder of the title?

    In a word, yes. Few, if any, are pointing out the fact that the World Series participants, the Giants and the Royals, are just a pair of wildcard teams. They were not the best in their division, and in fact each was just the fourth best in their respective leagues. Yet, as time goes on, fewer will remember that the Orioles, Tigers, Angels, Dodgers, Nationals and the Cardinals all had better runs in 2014. They did, but when it counted, they did not. Hamlin is among those who has, thus far, been there when it counted.

    When you watch a truck race, you can count on 36 entries. Usually. Well, sometimes. Not next year, when they scale the field down to 32. My guess is that it has been an embarrassment for NASCAR to realize a full slate just five out of 18 events. Three times they could not even get 30. Of the 37 entered to compete at Martinsville, only 13 have run the entire series. Only 16 have run 15 or more. Two others in that number, Ron Hornaday and T.J. Bell, are not even entered for this weekend.

    I wonder what the problem is. Eight races have been won by Cup regulars, six of them by Kyle Busch. He, along with Keselowski and Austin Dillon are not entered at Martinsville. Two time winner Erik Jones is not, along with Cole Custer. What has gone wrong?

    We are told the economy is still suffering, that sponsorship is hard to come by. So, is the involvement of the Cup guys keeping at least some level of interest alive, or is it helping to kill it? Maybe an answer can be found in the Nationwide series, where only 17 drivers have run all 30 of those races to date. They have won just eight between them. Nineteen have been won by Cup regulars, led by the half dozen claimed by (guess who?) Kyle Busch. At least they will retain the 40 car field for next season, but for how much longer?

    Me thinks NASCAR needs to rethink its model for the supposed minor leagues, where 27 of the 48 events have been claimed by “major leaguers” this season. If the trend of attrition in the number of teams and full-time drivers at its lower levels does not turn around soon, Cup might be all NASCAR has to offer.

    *Winning bonus increased from 3 to 25 points.
    BOLD = Current Chase contenders

    1 – Jeff Gordon – 4 Wins – 1203 Points*
    2 – Joey Logano – 5 – 1187
    3 – Brad Keselowski – 5 – 1175
    4 – Dale Earnhardt Jr – 3 – 1089
    5 – Kevin Harvick – 3 – 1088
    6 – Jimmie Johnson – 3 – 1033
    7 – Carl Edwards – 2 – 1005
    8 – Matt Kenseth – 0 – 993
    9 – Ryan Newman – 0 – 990
    10 – Kyle Larson – 0 – 967
    11 – Kasey Kahne – 1 – 923
    12 – Kyle Busch – 1 – 903
    13 – Greg Biffle – 0 – 900
    14 – Clint Bowyer – 0 – 885
    15 – Austin Dillon – 0 – 878
    16 – Jamie McMurray – 0 – 877
    17 – Denny Hamlin – 1 – 859
    18 – Brian Vickers – 0 – 830
    19 – Paul Menard – 0 – 826
    20 – Kurt Busch – 1 – 816

  • Alex Tagliani Wins Truck Series Pole at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

    Alex Tagliani Wins Truck Series Pole at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

    Alex Tagliani won the Keystone Light Pole Award and set a new track qualifying record at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with a lap of 80.558 seconds at 109.889 mph. As he leads the field to green in Sunday’s Chevrolet Silverado 250 race, he will also be making his debut in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

    Tagliani competes in the Canadian Tire Series and has one previous start in the series at this track in 2008 where he finished in fifth place. He also competes in IndyCar.

    After qualifying he talked about his preparation for qualifying and racing this weekend.

    “We went out, the truck was fast from the get go,” he said. “We had just one little glitch we had to fix, we had some fuel pressure issues. Basically it took about 25 minutes to fix that and then we went and ran and made sure that everything was good. We parked it before the session was over, the guys were happy enough. We used the second practice getting ready for the race tomorrow.”

    Tagliani also spoke about being part of the Brad Keselowski Racing team saying, “I feel really honored to be here and drive his truck.”

    NASCAR Next driver Gray Gaulding will start beside him on the outside pole. Erik Jones will begin the race in the third position followed by German Quiroga Jr. and Cole Custer to round out the top five.

    Several drivers had difficulties keeping their trucks on the track including third place finisher Jones who went off track during qualifying. Joey Coulter, who drove his No. 21 into the tire barriers, qualified in the 15th position. Ryan Blaney, who will start 14th, got sideways and Matt Crafton had similar issues but will begin the race in eighth place.

    Series’ point leader Johnny Sauter will start the race from the 11th position.

    The Chevrolet Silverado 250 is scheduled for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET, with television coverage on FOX Sports 1.

    Complete Starting Lineup:

    POS. CAR DRIVER
    1 19 Alex Tagliani
    2 20 Gray Gaulding
    3 51 Erik Jones
    4 77 German Quiroga Jr
    5 0 Cole Custer
    6 53 Andrew Ranger
    7 54 Darrell Wallace Jr
    8 88 Matt Crafton
    9 17 Timothy Peters
    10 32 Cameron Hayley
    11 98 Johnny Sauter
    12 31 Ben Kennedy
    13 9 Brennan Newberry
    14 29 Ryan Blaney
    15 21 Joey Coulter
    16 8 John Hunter Nemechek
    17 13 Jeb Burton
    18 99 Bryan Silas
    19 2 Tyler Young
    20 35 Mason Mingus
    21 7 Ray Courtemanche Jr
    22 50 T.J. Bell
    23 63 Scott Stenzel
    24 8 B J McLeod
    25 36 Justin Jennings
    26 6 Norm Benning
    27 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb
    28 0 Caleb Roark