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Tag: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Wallace on Cup Debut – ‘I did okay, but I want to be better’

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Pocono Raceway Sunday in the historic No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. There were a few bumps along the way but he characterized it as “a wonderful day for me, a wonderful day for the sport.”

Wallace is filling in for Aric Almirola who was injured May 13 at Kansas Speedway, suffering a compression fracture that will sideline him for approximately two to three months.

Although he said he was not nervous during the race, the emotions of the day caught up to him shortly after getting out of the car when he fainted during a media interview.

“It’s happened three times now where I’m very hard on myself, Wallace said, “and I’m super pissed off at myself, and I’m just so mad I just pass out. Competitive.”

Most of the day’s frustrations were a result of multiple penalties for speeding on pit road which put him a lap down. In preparation for his next race at Michigan International Speedway, the team will focus on practicing pit stops.

“I’m so used to analog tachs and everything, and this digital stuff I’ve got to figure out. I’ll say I’m not a fan of it right now,” he admitted. “It’s jumping around too much. You just don’t get a true feel of what you’re running down pit road. A lot of other guys say it’s fine, so I’ve just got to figure out what I’ve got to do better.”

Wallace also realizes that it will take time to become accustomed to the feel and speed of the Cup cars.

His goal is to become “more comfortable in these cars, having the raw speed. I was figuring some things out, figuring out which tire I could feel out there, and that was really cool, as opposed to the XFINITY car, I was talking to Blaney before, you’re kind of just sliding around, not really in the racetrack. Here you can feel each tire, so I was kind of pumped up about that, so some things to keep in the memory bank and talk at the debrief about to see how we can be better. At the end of the day, it was my first race.”

“I did okay, but I want to be better.”

It was not exactly the race he wanted to run but Wallace is having the time of his life.

“I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid, being in the Cup Series, and now it’s here, and I made a name for myself. I thought I ran a pretty decent race, just kind of running there by myself, passed a couple people, tried not to make anybody too mad, and hopefully earned a lot of respect from those guys out there. I definitely had a blast.”

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

June 11, 2017
Wreck Ends Day for Johnson and McMurray at Pocono

Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray saw their day end in a violent wreck within seconds of each other just prior to the end of the second stage of the Axalta Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Johnson was working his way down the frontstretch on lap 96 when he suffered brake failure. His car turned down the track, which he later admitted was an intentional move on his part to bleed off speed, and clipped the grass, before turning back up the track and slamming the Turn 1 wall twice.

Johnson was asked if there were any issues with the brakes prior to the incident.

“No, it went right to the floor and I saw a replay inside the medical center. The smoke, I think, is the brake fluid coming out of wherever failed and onto the rotors. I can only speculate that I got the brakes too hot and when I went to the brakes they just traveled straight to the floor,” Johnson said. “I didn’t even have a pedal to push on. At that point, I threw it in third gear and I was just trying to slow it down. I was heading to the grass and I was wondering why I didn’t turn right and get to the wall sooner, but I’m fine. Certainly, a big scare. I haven’t had a scare like that since 2000 at Watkins Glen. So, just want to let my wife and kids and my mom know that I’m okay and I will go change my underwear and get ready to go home.”

He also addressed his move to catch the grass, saying he told himself “if this even happened again I would turn immediately into the outside wall and try to slow myself down, but my instincts, you are looking at the corner, you look at all that real estate to the inside and I pointed it down to the infield. Once I was in the grass, I was like, man, I’ve been here before, I should have just turned dead right into the wall and got to the wall right away. You have a split-second decision to make there. Fortunately, this one turned out well for me, just an exciting ride.”

Seconds later, McMurray suffered brake failure and slammed the wall in Turn 1. His car continued down the track before catching fire on the Long Pond Straightaway. He exited the vehicle safe and sound though, and the fire was extinguished.

“So, I didn’t really even see the No. 48 (Johnson) car wrecking until I just went down and I got on the brake pedal and my pedal started to go to the floor and I had a little bit that I could kind of pump it and I thought I was going to be okay,” McMurray said. “And then, I don’t know if I got into some oil or what happened, but I just started spinning and didn’t have any brakes. So, it was really weird that we kind of both had the same thing happen at the same point on the racetrack, but fortunately, we are both okay and yeah, move on.”

Johnson leaves seventh in points, 163 behind Martin Truex Jr. McMurray leaves eighth, 166 back.

June 11, 2017
Blaney Gets Maiden Victory with Late Pass at Pocono

Ryan Blaney passed Kyle Busch in the closing laps of the Axalta Pocono 400 and held off Kevin Harvick for the rest of those closing laps to win for the first time in his career at Pocono Raceway.

Busch, on older tires, got the superior restart over Brad Keselowski, on newer tires, with 13 laps to go. But while Keselowski posed no threat, Blaney took over second and challenged Busch’s claim to the lead. Blaney used the entire width of the frontstretch to go for the lead with 10 to go, but Busch blocked his advance. He got to Busch’s inside heading down the Long Pond Straightaway, but Busch drove him down to the apron to force him to back off going into Turn 2, which he did. Busch rounded the turn a lane off the bottom, giving it to Blaney exiting Turn 2, who used it to his advantage and passed Busch for the lead on the Short Chute.

He spent the next nine laps holding off a hard-charging Harvick to score his first career victory in his 68th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start.

Harvick finished second and Erik Jones earned a career-best finish of third.

Kurt Busch and Keselowski rounded out the top-five.

Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-10.

Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 3:22 p.m. The first stage was uneventful, only broken up by a cycle of green flag stops around lap 14-19 and Joey Logano making an unscheduled stop for a flat left-rear tire on the sixth lap. It came to end on lap 50 when the first caution flew for the end of the stage, won by Busch.

The start of the second stage offered a little more with Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffering an engine failure on lap 58 and Clint Bowyer tagging the wall in Turn 1 moments later, but it then settled into another long green run. The lead only changed during a cycle of green flag stops when Busch pitted on lap 91, followed by Denny Hamlin the next lap, giving the lead to Kyle Larson.

Unlike the first stage, there was a caution during the stage to interrupt the flow. Four prior to the end of the second stage, Jimmie Johnson suffered a brake failure and slammed the wall in Turn 1.

Johnson was asked if there was any braking issues before that.

“No, it went right to the floor and I saw a replay inside the medical center. The smoke, I think, is the brake fluid coming out of wherever failed and onto the rotors. I can only speculate that I got the brakes too hot and when I went to the brakes they just traveled straight to the floor,” Johnson said. “I didn’t even have a pedal to push on. At that point, I threw it in third gear and I was just trying to slow it down. I was heading to the grass and I was wondering why I didn’t turn right and get to the wall sooner, but I’m fine. Certainly, a big scare. I haven’t had a scare like that since 2000 at Watkins Glen. So, just want to let my wife and kids and my mom know that I’m okay and I will go change my underwear and get ready to go home.”

Jamie McMurray slammed the wall in Turn 1 seconds later after also suffering brake failure.

After a 23-minute and 25-second red flag, NASCAR opted for a one-lap shootout to end the second stage, instead of running the laps out, and Larson won the stage.

Busch regained the lead by staying out.

Back to green with 55 to go, he made his final stop of the race with 36 to go. After Martin Truex Jr. pitted four laps later, the lead went to Keselowski, who held it for 11 laps before pitting with 20 to go. The lead cycled back to Busch.

The following lap, Kasey Kahne suffered brake failure going into Turn 1 and slammed the wall, bringing out the fourth caution and setting up the 13-lap run to the finish.

“Yeah, I was going down the front stretch about halfway and the right front popped,” Kahne said. “I had been fighting serious brake problems for a while. So, I’m guessing it had something to do with that. But, it happened in the middle of the front stretch so I just kind of rode the wall, blew my brakes off, rode the wall to the backstretch, which was actually was a very easy ride for where it happened. Just disappointed that happened, that is three weeks in a row we have had issues. Been in the care center and man, haven’t done anything wrong yet, just keep having issues. That is a struggle.”

The race lasted two hours, 48 minutes and 40 seconds at an average speed of 142.292 mph. There were 13 lead changes among nine different drivers and four cautions for 18 laps.

Truex leaves Pocono with a one-point lead over Larson.

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June 11, 2017
Kyle Busch Fastest in Final Practice at Pocono

Kyle Busch topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway.

The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 51.305 and a speed of 175.421 mph. Brad Keselowski was second in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 51.345 and a speed of 175.285 mph. Kyle Larson was third in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 51.367 and a speed of 175.210 mph. Chase Elliott was fourth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 51.406 and a speed of 175.077 mph. Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 51.414 and a speed of 175.050 mph.

Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano rounded out the top-10.

Harvick posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 172.442 mph.

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June 10, 2017
Truex’s Season After 13 Races

In 2015, Martin Truex Jr. went from longtime journeyman to a breakout contender with a win at Pocono Raceway. In 2016, he went from breakout contender to legitimate championship contender, achieving his first multi-win season of his career. He shows no signs of slowing down this season after 13 races.

He opened the season with a 13th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and followed it up with an eighth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He put on a dominant drive and took advantage of Brad Keselowski’s ailing car in the closing laps to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The next races included 11th at Phoenix, fourth at Fontana, 16th at Martinsville, eighth at Texas, eighth at Bristol — in addition to 116 laps led and a late speeding penalty — and 10th at Richmond.

Truex’s only lousy finish on the season was a 35th at Talladega Superspeedway, thanks to getting caught up in a late race multi-car wreck.

He rebounded with a 104-lap led victory drive at Kansas Speedway.

Truex left Charlotte Motor Speedway the points leader after leading 233 laps and finishing third.

He led 102 laps and brought his car home to a third-place finish at Dover International Speedway.

Statistically, he’s on track to have the best season of his career. He’s amassed double the top-fives he accrued in each of the lasted two seasons and is already halfway to eclipsing his top-10 total from 2016.

But where Truex has excelled over the competition is the accumulation of stage points, stage wins and playoff points. In addition to the 10 playoff points he’s acquired via his two wins, he’s collected eight additional playoff points as a result of his eight stage wins through the season. This includes a clean sweep of the stages and race victory at Las Vegas.

While many were caught off guard on just how important stage points would be this season, Truex said his team had a plan from the start on how to tackle it.

“We planned it all. We said this was exactly how we were going to do it and here we are,” Truex said. “Everybody comes with the same plan and it starts with being consistent and running up front each and every week and having fast race cars and we’ve been able to do that.

“At the same time, we’ve been able to not make mistakes, be consistent, not a lot of issues and I think our only really bad races was Talladega and that’s Talladega. We’ve been able to just get more points than everybody so just a job well done by our team and all of our guys. It’s really going better than we even imagined so far. It’s been fun and it’s been a real treat to be consistently up front each week, leading laps and I’m having a blast right now so I’m having fun.”

June 9, 2017
Larson Fastest in First Cup Practice at Pocono

Kyle Larson topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway.

The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 50.758 and a speed of 177.312 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 50.780 and a speed of 177.235 mph. Matt Kenseth was third in his No. 20 Gibbs Toyota with a time of 50.865 and a speed of 176.935 mph. Kevin Harvick was fourth in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 50.966 and a speed of 176.588 mph. Joey Logano rounded out the top-five in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 50.973 and a speed of 176.564 mph.

Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-10.

Trevor Bayne, who ran the 27th fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 168.195 mph.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered engine problems after eight laps early in the session and changed motors. He’ll start from the tail-end of the field on Sunday.

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June 9, 2017
NASCAR Racing Schedule for Pocono and Texas

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the XFINITY Series head to Pocono Raceway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series travels to Texas Motor Speedway. There are 39 drivers on the entry list for the Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 race.

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

Thursday, June 8:

On Track – Texas Motor Speedway:
4-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Practice – No TV (Follow live)
6-6:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Practice – No TV (Follow live)
8-8:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Final Practice – No TV (Follow live)

Friday, June 9:
On Track – Pocono Raceway:
11 a.m.- 12:25 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – FS1
1- 1:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Practice – FS1
3- 3:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – FS1
4 p.m.: Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1

Press Conferences: (Watch live)
9 a.m.: Ty Dillon
9:15 a.m.: Daniel Suarez
9:30 a.m.: Darrell Wallace Jr.
10:15 a.m.: Kurt Busch
10:30 a.m.: Cole Custer, Brennan Poole, Brendan Gaughan
12:45 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
1:15 p.m.: Chris Buescher
1:45 p.m.: Ryan Newman
5 p.m.: Post-Cup Series Qualifying

Garage Cam: (Watch live)
10:30 a.m.: Cup Series
12:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series

On Track -Texas Motor Speedway:
5:35 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – No TV (Follow live)
8 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series winstaronlinegaming.com 400 (167 laps, 250.5 miles – FS1

Saturday, June 10:

On Track – Pocono Raceway:
9:35 a.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
11:30 a.m.- 12:25 p.m.: Cup Series Final Practice – FS1
1 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Pocono Green 250 (100 laps, 250 miles) – FOX – Special Drivers-Only Broadcast with on-air time of 12:30 p.m. ET

Press Conference: (Watch live)

3:30 p.m.: Post-XFINITY Series Race

Sunday, June 11:
On Track – Pocono Raceway:
3 p.m.: Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 (160 laps, 400 miles) – FS1

Press Conference: (Watch live)
6 p.m.: Post-Cup Series Race

Race Details:

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Race: winstaronlinegaming.com 400 – Texas Motor Speedway
Date: Friday, June 9
Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 7:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 250.5 miles (167 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 40), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 80), Final Stage (Ends on lap 167)

NASCAR XFINITY Series
Race: Pocono Green 250 – Pocono Raceway
Date: Saturday, June 10
Time: 1 p.m. ET
TV: FOX, 12:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 250 miles (100 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 25), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 50), Final Stage (Ends on lap 100)

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Race: AXALTA presents the Pocono 400 – Pocono Raceway
Date: Sunday, June 11
Time: 3 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400 miles (160 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 50), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 100), Final Stage (Ends on lap 160)

Complete TV Schedule

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

June 7, 2017
Kurt Busch Pounds Wall Twice in Dover Cup Race

By Lap 65, Kurt Busch was in second place and looked to have a car to run up front Sunday at Dover in the AAA 400 Drive for Autism. However, by Lap 97, he was in the garage and out of the race after hitting the wall a second time.

Busch lined up inside of Kyle Larson on the Lap 65 restart and edged ahead of him going into Turn 1. But rounding the turn, Busch got loose underneath Larson. He overcorrected, turned up the track, hit Brad Keselowski, who swerved up to the high line to avoid the spinning Busch and sent him into the outside wall in Turn 2. Busch continued his slide through the turn before coming to a stop near the exit of Turn 2 in the middle of the track.

“I got loose on a restart, it’s my bad as a driver. My bad,” Busch said. “We had good speed in our car and just couldn’t finish. You can’t make mistakes out here and we did.”

“Yeah, one of them racing deals,” Keselowski said. “These cars rely so much on aerodynamics. We saw that early with guys being able to stay out on two tires even with a lot of tire wear. I don’t know if it was Kurt’s fault, just one of them racing deals. We line-up double-file and somebody got loose and just took us out. What a bummer. Just one of them racing deals.”

Busch soldiered on in the race until his left-rear tire came apart entering Turn 1 on Lap 97, sending him spinning through the turn and rear-first into the outside wall.

Keselowski leaves Dover seventh in points, 135 back of leader Martin Truex Jr. while Busch leaves 16th, 254 behind.

June 4, 2017
Johnson Wins on Late Restart at the Monster Mile

Jimmie Johnson got the better of Kyle Larson on the final restart of the AAA Drive for Autism 400 to win for the 11th time in his career at Dover International Speedway.

Larson got a lousy restart on the outside lane, allowing Johnson to pull ahead. Ty Dillon got loose exiting Turn 2 and came down in front of Ryan Newman. His car turned back up the track and was t-boned by Erik Jones, triggering a multi-car pileup on the backstretch and ending the race under caution as Johnson had crossed the overtime line and the caution flew when he was rounding Turn 4.

The win ties him with Cale Yarborough for fifth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

“I never thought I would end up here in NASCAR as a kid racing in the dirt out in Southern California,” Johnson said. “I was a big Cale Yarborough fan and I remember going to a race in Oklahoma with my parents and my brother. We were driving across the country and we pulled up to a Hardee’s. I had no idea it was a burger stand and I really thought when I walked in the door I was going to Cale Yarborough’s race shop (laughs). It was very disappointing. I had a burger and left and then understood the world of sponsorship.

“To be here and tie him at 83 wins is amazing. We just got the tribute helmet. I wasn’t sure how quickly we’d be, or if we’d be able to go there, and get it done. But, Cale, you’re the man. Thank you for all you have done for our sport.

“To be a part of one team and one sponsor, Lowe’s, Chevrolet, Valvoline, Gatorade, and with the support of the fans, this is an amazing day.”

Larson came home second after leading a race-high of 241 laps.

“Jimmie did a good job. A lot better job than I did,” Larson said. “I spun my tires. I just spun my tires pretty bad. I tried taking off not using a lot of throttle and still spun my tires pretty bad. I knew we were both probably going to spin pretty bad, but I wasn’t getting great launches all day. I was always having to fight people off into Turn 1 when I was the leader. But, you know, my team gave me a great Target Chevy again. I thought we were the best car today, me and the No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) I thought we were really good. I definitely, obviously, didn’t need that last caution there. I was just cruising trying to log some laps, get to the end. I saw the lapper in front of me blow a right-front and wasn’t too worried. I thought maybe the outside lane would take off good. I just didn’t do a great job.”

Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the podium.

Ryan Newman and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five.

Daniel Suarez, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick rounded out the top-10.

Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 1:19 p.m. When he left pit road under the first caution, his left-rear wheel came off completely. This was caused by the air gun used to fasten the lug nuts into place being set to reverse. This handed the lead to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

On the ensuing restart, Martin Truex Jr. took the race lead and only lost it under the fourth caution when Larson opted not to pit.

Going down the backstretch on lap 79, Truex gave a tap to Larson to loosen him entering Turn 3, took the lead and won the first stage. Larson, as well as 11 others, opted not to pit under the stage break caution and assumed the race lead.

Aside a few laps under the seventh caution that were lead by Michael McDowell, Larson led most of the second stage. It was on the lap 211 when Truex passed under Larson in Turn 1 to take the lead and drove on to win the second stage.

Larson took back the lead from Truex prior to the restart of the final stage and controlled the race until a cycle of green flag stops occurred with 65 laps to go and caution flew, in the middle of green flag stops, with 62 to go when Regan Smith suffered a tire failure and slammed the wall in Turn 2.

The caution cycled Ty Dillon to the race lead, who held it for 23 laps. Meanwhile, Larson powered by Johnson’s outside to take second with 42 to go and drove by Dillon’s outside in Turn 4 with 39 to go to retake the lead.

In the closing laps, Larson was pulling away from Johnson and had the race in check. But with four to go, David Ragan suffered a right-front tire failure and slammed the wall in Turn 2, sending the race into overtime and setting up the run to the finish.

Ryan Sieg brought out the first caution for a solo spin in Turn 1 on lap 17. Stenhouse suffered a right-front tire failure and slammed the wall in Turn 2 on lap 47. He slammed the wall a second time in Turn 4 and brought out the third caution on lap 62. On the lap 65 restart, Kurt Busch got loose rounding Turn 1, overcorrected and turned up track into Brad Keselowski, taking both of them out. On lap 96, his left-rear tire came apart, his car spun out and slammed the wall in Turn 1. Danica Patrick spun out in Turn 4 on lap 144. Joey Logano suffered a right-front tire failure and slammed the wall in Turn 3. Paul Menard and Chris Buescher were collected in a two-car wreck on the backstretch with 58 to go.

The race lasted three hours, 52 minutes and six seconds at an average speed of 104.955 mph. There were 17 lead changes among nine different drivers and 15 cautions for 72 laps.

Truex leaves Dover with a nine-point lead over Larson.

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June 4, 2017
Jeffrey Earnhardt Scores Sponsorship Deal with Hulu

Jeffrey Earnhardt and team Circle Sport/TMG are breathing a little easier today after premium streaming service Hulu announced a 19-race sponsorship agreement for the No. 33 Chevrolet.

Earnhardt and team owner, Joe Falk, spoke to the media Friday at Dover International Speedway to discuss the impact it will have on the under-funded organization.

“I’ve got a lot of development to go, in myself, and we got a long way to build our race program, Earnhardt said. “We are aware of that and I know it’s not going to happen overnight.”

“Hell, my grandpa didn’t become a champion overnight, he busted his butt to get there and become who he became. That is kind of what I feel like I’m doing and I like it that way.

“Being a small team it’s huge for us. Every dollar goes a long way and there have been races where we haven’t had sponsorship and that is tough on anyone, but it’s even tougher on a small team like us. To be able to have good companies like Hulu come on board is huge and not just being able to have more funding going to the track, but to get us more exposure and branding is a huge plus too.”

Falk explained that the benefits go far beyond the initial funding and will help “get us to the next level.”

“We are hoping for a lot of different things here other than just the Hulu name on the car,” he said. “We are working on a partnership with them on some media and other things.”

“We are looking forward to it and of course, having Hulu on (the car) makes us legitimate in a lot of people’s eyes,” Falk continued, “and I think we will see a lot more support from Chevrolet and everybody else involved.”

This is Earnhardt’s second full-time season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. In 2016 he competed in 22 races, primarily with Go FAS Racing, with a best finish of 26th at Charlotte. In 12 starts this year, his best finish is another 26th place at Daytona. In four races this season, mechanical/engine failures prevented Earnhardt from finishing. He was also sidelined in three races due to accidents.

The 27-year-old grandson of Dale Earnhardt admits he has a lot to learn and is willing to do whatever it takes to grow in the sport. He also takes pride in the fact that everything he has accomplished has little to do with his last name and everything to do with hard work and determination.

The Earnhardt name is synonymous with NASCAR. With Dale Earnhardt Jr. retiring at the end of this season, fans can rest assured that the legacy will live on as Jeffrey Earnhardt continues the family tradition.

“One of the main goals that I want to achieve in my career is to continue the legacy that my grandfather built,” he said. “You know that means a lot to me. I know how much that man meant to the sport and the fans and stuff. If I can continue that legacy at some level, I mean I would like to say that I’m going to go deliver it at its best, but those were big shoes that he made and I don’t think I could ever get close to even considering filling those, but if I could just do a big portion of keeping that Earnhardt legacy alive, I would be pretty happy.”

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

June 2, 2017