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  • NASCAR Xfinity and Truck qualifying rained out at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    NASCAR Xfinity and Truck qualifying rained out at Atlanta Motor Speedway

    The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series qualifying sessions originally scheduled for Friday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway were canceled due to rain.

    The starting lineups were set by performance metrics outlined in the NASCAR Rule Book. It is comprised of 25% driver finish at previous race, 25% owner finish at previous race, 35% owner points and 15% fastest lap ranking in the previous race.

    Craftsman Truck Series points leader Zane Smith will start on the pole for the Fr8 208 in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sammy Smith, who won his first race at Phoenix Raceway last week, will lead the field to green in the No. 18 Toyota for the Xfinity RAPTOR Tough 250 Saturday evening at 5 p.m. ET. It will be televised on FS1 with radio coverage by PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Starting Lineups:

    https://www.nascar.com/results/racecenter/2023/nascar-craftsman-truck-series/fr8-208/stn/lineup/

    https://www.nascar.com/results/racecenter/2023/nascar-xfinity-series/raptor-king-of-tough-250/stn/lineup/

  • Ford Performance NASCAR: Phoenix 1 (Four Mustangs Qualify Top-10 at Phoenix)

    Ford Performance NASCAR: Phoenix 1 (Four Mustangs Qualify Top-10 at Phoenix)

    NASCAR CUP SERIES – PHOENIX RACEWAY – FANSHIELD 500 – FORD PERFORMANCE DRIVER – POST QUALIFYING QUOTES

    FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS:

    2nd – KEVIN HARVICK

    5th – RYAN BLANEY

    6th – ARIC ALMIROLA

    9th – MATT DIBENEDETTO

    13th – JOEY LOGANO

    14th – BRAD KESELOWSKI

    16th – COLE CUSTER

    18th – CLINT BOWYER

    22nd – MICHAEL MCDOWELL

    23rd – CHRIS BUESCHER

    24th – ROSS CHASTAIN

    26th – JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK

    28th – COREY LAJOIE

    KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang — Qualified 2nd 

    “It was close. I probably didn’t have quite enough confidence on the first lap that I should have had in it. The guys did a great job. Not doing a qualifying lap in practice, we just worked on our race stuff and we were kind of winging it right there as to what we thought was right and it worked out okay.”

    YOU WOULD OBVIOUSLY LOVE TO HAVE THE POLE, BUT IS THE RACE THE DEAL? “The race is always the deal. I think as you look at the pole, it obviously makes your day better if you can get that first pit stall but still starting up front is going to be important. Being able to not have to deal with as much traffic early until we get our arms wrapped around our car as far as what is right and wrong and what we need to do and where to run on the race track and those types of things. It has been an interesting weekend so far but I think as you look at the race the cars will be a handful to drive, you just have to make yours drive faster than the other handful.”

    RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Tarkett Ford Mustang — Qualified 5th

    “I wish I could have done it again. I don’t think we would be on the pole but I thought we could have been maybe third looking at the times. I didn’t hit one and two very good and lost a little bit of time. For not having a mock run and making a lot of changes overnight, I thought that was a pretty solid effort by our group. It is nice to start in the top-five and see the front. Hopefully, we can stay there and move up a little bit.”

    “We started off really tight yesterday, super tight. We came here a little bit on the tight side. With the lower downforce package, we didn’t want to be free unloading. Everything we did to try to help it turn just wasn’t working. It was just kind of making the car disconnected and just free the back up but not help the front turn. That seemed like a lot of our practice yesterday so we sat down and talked about it last night and made a good bit of changes to just approach it a different way and it seems like it worked. It is hard to tell in one lap. You hope it races good. It is nice to have decent speed. I didn’t think we had that great of speed yesterday, so hopefully, it pays off.”

    ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang — Qualified 6th

    “I think that is by far the best I have ever qualified here at Phoenix. I am really proud of Bugga and all the guys on this team. Of all the tracks we go to, I feel like Phoenix is one of the utmost importance for track position, so having a good starting spot is really important. I am really happy with that lap. I felt like I got all out of it that I could and maybe even went a little bit overboard. It is still a good lap for us and I am just really proud of our whole Smithfield team. We have been working really hard to gel and come together as a team and things are going really good. I am having a lot of fun with this group of guys.”

    COLE CUSTER, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang — Qualified 16th

    “To me, it just felt a little bit too loose. I couldn’t get back to the gas how I wanted. Everything is so close, you have to be right on the edge. I think I just probably could have hit it a little bit better but I think we have a really good Mustang for the race, so we will see.”

    ROSS CHASTAIN, No. 6 Oscar Mayer Ford Mustang — Qualified 24th 

    “I am still learning a lot. Qualifying in the Cup Series is still probably one of my steepest learning curves. A lot left to be desired on my end.”

    WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE HAVING RYAN (NEWMAN) HERE AND AROUND AS OPPOSED TO JUST HAVING HIM CALLING AND TEXTING? “Just as guys and as people it is just good to see him and see him walking around. As a person, it is just good to see him. He has a lot of information in that noggin of his. He has degrees that I probably can’t even spell. He understands these race cars and has given me a lot of information.”

    ANY IDEA HOW MUCH LONGER YOU WILL BE NEEDED? “Oh Bob, you already asked him that. We are just happy he is alive. I want him in the car tomorrow. If he could get in it. He already told me he could drive it without the insert. If I wasn’t back in time for practice he said he would practice it. I don’t think they would allow that, I think we all know that. I want him back as soon as possible. It has been a great experience and a lot of learning on my side but I would love for him to be able to get back in the car right now.”

    CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 SunnyD Ford Mustang — Qualified 23rd 

    “We did not do a qualifying run yesterday in practice, so for us, we were just kind of hoping for the best. I think our team has made some really good changes through the night. The car felt pretty stable. Want a little more speed always, but our SunnyD Ford will be in a respectable place when qualifying is done. I will be the first to say Phoenix is not my best racetrack and I put a lot of pressure on myself here as well to try to do a little better every time we come.”

    JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford Mustang — Qualified 26th

    YOU WILL START AT THE BACK OF THE FIELD BECAUSE OF THE RADIATOR CHANGE. HOW WILL THAT AFFECT YOU?  “I hope the Xfinity guys get the PJ1 running today so that we can move up and go. That is just part of it, part of racing. You can’t be frustrated by it. You have to let it fuel you and hopefully, you can make passes and continue to grow on that and go forward.”

  • Chevy NCS at Phoenix 1 – Post Qualifying Notes and Quotes

    Chevy NCS at Phoenix 1 – Post Qualifying Notes and Quotes

    NASCAR Cup Series – Phoenix Raceway – FanShield 500 – Team Chevy Post-Qualifying Notes and Quotes

    TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:

    POS.   DRIVER

    1.        CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1 1LE

    4.        KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE

    7.        KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 1LE

    8.        ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE

    17.      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 1LE

    TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:

    POS.  DRIVER

    1.        Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)

    2.        Kevin Harvick (Ford)

    3.        Denny Hamlin (Toyota)

    4.        Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)

    5.        Ryan Blaney (Ford)

    FOX will telecast the FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway live at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, March 8. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

    TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:

    CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Pole Winner

    THE POLE TODAY, DIFFERENT PACKAGES. WERE THE LINES SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT?

    “The line through Turns 1 and 2 was a lot different. Kevin (Harvick) kind of made the top work and then I think after that, everyone saw that and moved up. So, it’s great to get a pole. We’re in a little bit different colors this week with Unifirst on our Camaro. So, I’m excited to grab them a pole. It’s always a good thing when you can put down a fast lap. Hopefully, I just hope tomorrow goes good. That’s always the challenge. We’ll see, and I’m looking forward to it.”

    KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 4th

    THOUGHTS ON THE TRACTION COMPOUND SO FAR.

    “Harvick went up into the PJ-1, so I went up there too. I don’t know if it was better or not; maybe a touch better I felt like. If I had another attempt at it, I could have gone a lot faster. So far, it’s better than I thought it would be so that’s good.”

    WILL YOU BE UP THERE EARLY TOMORROW?

    “I don’t know. My car didn’t work very well in it last year. The little bit I ran it in practice yesterday, I didn’t think it was much better for me. But we’ll see. Maybe it’ll be a little bit different in the race tomorrow, especially with it being lower in turns three and four.”

    DO DRIVERS HAVE THE CHAMPIONSHIP ON THEIR MINDS THIS WEEKEND?

    “I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it too much. I always take each race week by week, so I haven’t thought too much about it. I don’t know if the crew chiefs and engineers have or not, but I always try to give it the best I can each week and give the best feedback I can each week so they can take that information and try to grow on it.”

    KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 7th

    THOUGHTS ON THE WEEKEND, SO FAR, AND GOING INTO SUNDAY’S RACE.

    “I feel like we had a top-ten car in everything; short run speed, long run speed, qualifying as well. We have to crossover to get to that top-five spot. I think we’ll learn more as the race goes on with the traction compound that they’ve sprayed down and with the short track package. Right now, everything is driving on the loose side. I think it’s fun, we’re sliding a little bit more. But how long can you slide on that right-rear tire.”

    ARE YOU PROS OR CONS TO GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND TRACK TWICE IN ONE SEASON?

    “There’s the notes that you gather from the race in March, but a lot of things change and technology advances by the time you get back to this place in November. I’m not too worried about it. I feel like whatever NASCAR throws at us for a championship venue, it brings that championship atmosphere no matter what. So, whether you’re at a ballpark or a stadium early in the season, when you roll in there for the championship, you know there is going to be a big trophy and a big check.”

    ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 8th

    THOUGHTS ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN. WERE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT?

    “I didn’t expect more. I really felt like we’ve been off since we unloaded. We really struggled here in the fall with just being really tight and when we unloaded, we were still really tight. In between practices, we made some changes and got it really loose. It didn’t really necessarily get much faster, but I feel like it’s going to be better that way than it is when it’s tight. The first lap, I probably over-did it a little bit in turn one there. The second lap, to be eighth, I don’t think is the end of the world. I would have liked to be a little better, but as bad as we’ve been here in the fast and as bad as we were in practice, we’ll take it. If we could come out of here with a top-ten, I would be high-fiving people after the race. Our short track program, this is the area we need to work on. Our intermediate program is phenomenal and it ended that way last year. Our short track program is the area we need to work on the most.”

    WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 17th

    “Honestly, if you use the brake a little bit more, a little bit differently, I feel like you just have to get all the braking done quicker and then set up for the corner. There’s just more brake usage, more similar to my rookie year I would say, in terms of brake usage and the way that you kind of drive the car. You just have to get everything done early and more finesse on throttle too.”

    WHAT WERE YOU ABLE TO DO IN PRACTICE WITH THE CAR THAT MAYBE YOU COULDN’T DO AS WELL LAST YEAR?

    “It’s hard to say. I wasn’t really around a lot of cars in practice. I thought our car felt pretty good in practice, so it’s hard to say how it’s going to handle in traffic, I would say. It’s kind of an unknown, so far.”

    TALK ABOUT THE INCIDENT WITH THE NEXT GEN CAR TEST?

    “Honestly, with that car with the side wall being so much smaller than what we have now, it’s kind of like your street tire. So, when you get loose, the combination of that plus no side force, it just makes it a lot different when you get loose. That’s what I noticed, so far. I’m sure it’s going to be a lot different once we actually race it.”

    “I haven’t really spun out like that before. It was different, for sure, but it’s a long ways from the finished product and they said they’ve learned some things from that. It wasn’t like I was driving super hard or anything like that, so you just learn from it and move on.”

    RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 19th

    WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU STACK UP SO FAR THIS WEEKEND?

    “The cars are pretty loose with the downforce change for this package. It’s pretty fun to drive. If you can get it calmed down, I think it can be pretty fast. We’ve been pretty loose with our Kroger Camaro ZL1 1LE all weekend. But we’re just trying to not get it too tight because the last two weeks, going from practice to the race, I feel like we’ve gotten the car to tight when we’ve been loose in practice. So, we’re just trying to guard against that a little bit knowing the characteristics each week of what our race car is doing. We’re learning a little bit. It will be interesting. I think the top’s going to come in a lot quicker than it has for us in these races and I think it’ll be a good race.”

    JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 21st

    “We didn’t have enough pace yesterday. We ended up going down a little different road. So, having our debriefs, we were able to re-direct things and get back on a similar course of what are teams are, especially the 9 (Chase Elliott) and 24 (William Byron) were on. There were some differences there. So, we’ll find out here shortly if it works in the short run. The short run is so important here. I think, to a certain extent, everybody ends up at the same pace when the tires are really hot and mad. It’s what you can do on the short run to create passing opportunities and get track position.”

    IS THE TIRE FALL OFF ENOUGH WHERE THE LONGER RUNS ARE A LITTLE MORE IMPORTANT OR IS IT STILL NOT A BIG ENOUGH FALL OFF?

    “For me, the opportunity to get track position is always early in a run here, regardless of tire fall off. Especially since they re-paved it. I’m sure longer runs are important, but man it takes you ten laps to pass a guy on a long run. In a short run, you can get four or five if things are working right.”

    BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 27th

    THOUGHTS ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN.

    “We have a lot of work to do. The car was a little bit better, but not what we need.”

    TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 I AM SECOND CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 29th

    THOUGHTS ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN.

    “It was a lot more of the driver, than the car. It stinks, we didn’t want to qualify like that. It doesn’t reflect what our long run pace was considering the issues we fought in practice. It was polar opposites. We mocked up and we were really, really tight and really, really slow. We were substantially faster than that mock run we did, but what everyone is running, that’s not good.”

    DO YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR LONG RUN SPEED?

    “I thought so, but when I went back and looked, it’s hard to say. We’ll definitely work hard on it and try to make it better in the race. I knew that I had some work to do coming into a track like this, especially in qualifying and what I have to do to get the tires warmed up and be able to execute the lap that we need to in order to get a good starting position. It’s a process. I didn’t think we would sit on the pole, but I was really thinking we’d do better than that.”

    AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 30th

    ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:

    “Not very good. I went into Turn 3 coming to the green and locked-up the left front. I was trying to drive the same point I had yesterday and I don’t know if the brakes were just cold, or what. So, I drove all the way back around to try and get a lap but I don’t know if we flat-spotted a tire, or what. Had a vibration the rest of the last two laps. Unfortunate. The car’s not bad. It was just a little miscue coming to the green and it killed our qualifying effort.”

  • Harvick Gets to Keep His Pole Position at Richmond

    Harvick Gets to Keep His Pole Position at Richmond

    Kevin Harvick earned the pole for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 in Friday night’s Busch Pole Qualifying at Richmond Raceway, and he gets to keep it.

    Why’s that?

    Four of the top 10 qualifiers will have to start from the rear of the field after failing pre-race inspection Saturday afternoon — Erik Jones (qualified second), Chase Elliott (seventh), Daniel Suarez (ninth) and Jimmie Johnson (10th). They all will have to start from the rear of the field for Saturday’s race.

    “Eyes forward and let’s get to work,” said Johnson on Twitter after being asked his thoughts on starting from the rear.

    But the drama of failed inspections didn’t stop there. Aric Almirola (qualified 15th), Denny Hamlin (18th), Matt Tifft (20th), and Joey Gase (36th) all failed inspection and will have their cars moved to the back of the pack when the green flag waves later tonight.

    Additionally, Elliott, Hamlin and Tifft all failed a second time, resulting in a crew member ejected from each team. All eight drivers that failed inspection will start between 30th and 37th positions.

    Since Richmond is a night race, NASCAR impounds all the Monster Energy Cup Series cars until the garage is opened again on Saturday for inspection. Single failures result in disallowed qualifying times, and the team is set to start at the end of the field for the race. Multiple failures result in increased penalties against the team.

    So the updated results from qualifying are as follows. Harvick is still on pole with a time of 21.722 seconds. Kurt Busch is now the new face on the front row and will start second, 0.075 seconds off the pace. Joey Logano, last weekend’s short track winner, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. with his best start of the season, round out the top five. Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard and Kyle Larson complete the updated top 10 qualifying results.

    The green flag is set to wave shortly after 7:30 p.m ET tonight.

  • The White Zone: Thoughts on Texas

    The White Zone: Thoughts on Texas

    Race No. 7 of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season is in the books, and I have some thoughts to share with the class.

    The race

    Kyle Busch leads a line of cars down the front stretch at Texas Motor Speedway, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. Photo: Don Dunn/SpeedwayMedia.com

    If you follow me on Twitter, you know my thoughts on races at Texas Motor Speedway already. For those who don’t, I’m not a fan of the racing at Texas. For years, it’s been unwatchable, single-file snore-fests. And the fact that both races at Texas are 500 miles in length made boring races there more agonizing to watch.

    Maybe it was my low expectations for races at Texas, but Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 was good.

    The field didn’t get exponentially stretched out as the race progressed, and the leader didn’t simply pull away from the car in second.

    It was the race that I thought we’d get at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a few weeks ago.

    With that said, however, there was still the ever present fact that passing the leader was a Herculean task. Yes, the number of lead changes were up from 2018 (26 among 13 different drivers in 2019 vs. 16 among eight different drivers in 2018), but by my count, only five of them happened on track under green. The rest were a result of pit stops, which tends to inflate the number of lead changes.

    It was more of the varying pit stop mistakes and cycles that made the race compelling to watch. Last season, races at Chicagoland Speedway, Las Vegas in September and Homestead were great races, because of the racing product, not pit road mistakes.

    Which is why I don’t believe this high downforce package is the right direction for the sport.

    Yes, it was entertaining, but it was in spite of the racing on track, not because of it.

    Compare it to the Bahrain Grand Prix earlier in the day. It had a great mix of pit stop strategy and on track competition that made it legitimately good racing.

    I know that “we’re in the entertainment business,” but I believe that NASCAR should treat its events as a sports competition first.

    Jimmie Johnson’s afternoon

    Jimmie Johnson races, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo: Kathryn Gaskill/SpeedwayMedia.com

    In 2018, Jimmie Johnson led a grand total of 40 laps, and didn’t lead more than 13 in one race. On Sunday, he led 60 laps, 150 percent more than he did in 2018.

    And while he didn’t lead a second time in the race, he maintained the second-highest running average all race at 7.78.

    Johnson had a race that was a step in the right direction. His car was great in clean air and had speed.

    “It was a little evil in traffic, and I had a heck of a time on green flag restarts, but really worked hard to get it up underneath me and tightening the car up a little bit for us to race,” he said. “Ended up having great pace and decent drivability, so are working in the right direction.”

    For the first time in quite a long time, Johnson was a legitimate threat to win, and at a mile and a half track.

    If he continues this at Kansas Speedway in a few weeks, we can truly say he’s back.

    Qualifying

    Let’s just get something out of the way. NASCAR brought this on itself.

    If you missed qualifying Friday, there were multiple instances of drivers blatantly violating NASCAR’s new impeding rule. Most egregious was Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer.

    And what did NASCAR do? They did nothing. All they had to do was enforce the rule they put in place, and we’re not talking about this.

    And now, we’re seriously discussing the possibility of returning to single-car qualifying for mile and a half tracks, because NASCAR didn’t enforce its own rules.

    This same thing happened with the restart zone four years ago and the overtime line two years ago.

    NASCAR, if you want these games to stop, enforce the rules you put in place, unless you want the inmates to continue running the asylum. If not, don’t have these rules in place.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • NASCAR announces updates to qualifying procedure for Texas

    NASCAR announces updates to qualifying procedure for Texas

    After what most considered to be an awkward qualifying session at Auto Club Speedway, NASCAR promised two things: qualifying rule changes coming before Texas, and not going back to single car qualifying. Both were fulfilled on Monday when NASCAR officially announced changes moving forward.

    During the final round of qualifying at California, none of the 12 drivers made it to the line in time to begin an officially timed lap. NASCAR’s response? Any drivers that fail to run a timed lap in any of the qualifying rounds will have all times disallowed and start at the rear of the field. This includes those that advance into a further round of qualifying. For example, if a driver makes it to Round 3 of qualifying, yet fails to post a lap time, they would start 12th for the race under previous rules. Now, they would be moved to the rear of the entire field for the start of the race.

    Another frustrating situation for some drivers was the congestion at the end of pit road, blocking some drivers from entering the track if they desired to leave the pits for their timed lap. At the judgment of NASCAR officials, teams could face severe penalties if they end up prohibiting other drivers from exiting pit road.

    “The inherent problem (at Auto Club) was obviously everybody waiting to the end, and it being unorderly on the end of pit road with people blocking and playing all kinds of games,” NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller told NASCAR.com. “So really, we want to retake control and make order out of pit road and the way that drivers leave.

    “We want to allow every competitor the chance to leave pit road when they want to leave and not be at the mercy of somebody else.”

    The current structure of qualifying will stay as is: three rounds of qualifying with the first round being 10 minutes, and the last two rounds at five minutes.

    According to NASCAR’s official statement from their website, Scott Miller, Senior Vice President of Competition, shared that they collaborated “with teams and others in the industry, and there were a few options considered.” Returning to single-car qualifying however was not considered, which was what he initially shared with the media at Auto Club Speedway immediately after qualifying.

    “One of the things we wanted to hold true to is not to go back to single-car qualifying,” Miller said. “Single-car qualifying is two things – it’s boring and it’s expensive. It also doesn’t create a good show.

    “Anytime we go on the track it should be a show. Certainly, we are in, first and foremost, the racing business. But we’re also in show business. We definitely have to provide our fans with something that’s intriguing to watch and gets them excited about coming back and watching the race.”

    Busch Pole Qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway is scheduled for Friday, March 29 at 7:40 p.m. ET.

  • Toyota MENCS ISM Raceway Post-Qualifying Recap

    Toyota MENCS ISM Raceway Post-Qualifying Recap

    Toyota Racing Post-Qualifying Quotes
    Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
    ISM Raceway – November 9, 2018

    TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS

    1st, Kevin Harvick*

    2nd, Chase Elliott*

    3rd, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.*

    4th, Ryan Blaney*

    5th, Alex Bowman*

    6th, KYLE  BUSCH

    7th, ERIK JONES

    10th, DENNY HAMLIN

    13th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.

    26th, DANIEL SUÁREZ

    35th, JJ YELEY

    36th, TANNER BERRYHILL

    37th, TIMMY HILL

    *non-Toyota driver

    TOYOTA QUOTES

    MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 78 Auto Owner’s Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing

    Qualifying Position: 13th

    After the issues in practice and inspection today, how do you feel about your starting position?

    “This seems to be kind of par for the course for us lately. I’d say 13th is a pretty good starting spot for the day we’ve had. We really didn’t get a crack at anything in practice and we didn’t have much time to get ready for
    qualifying and we were pretty far off. Made some good gains for sure. I wish we could have ran again. I definitely feel like I could pick up some more, we were pretty tight. We’ll start 13th and get to work tomorrow.”

  • Kyle Busch on Pole at Atlanta, First at 1.5-Mile Oval

    Kyle Busch on Pole at Atlanta, First at 1.5-Mile Oval

    Kyle Busch will have a front row seat when the field takes the green flag for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race after qualifying with the fastest speed of 184.652 mph at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  Driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Busch nabbed the top spot from Ryan Newman (184.419 mph) and clinched his first career pole at the iconic 1.5-mile oval.

    Busch was cautiously optimistic after winning the pole.

    “The pole run was really good with being able to start up front where we left off last year having strong qualifying efforts each week all year long.” But, he added, “Atlanta is a tough place. It certainly isn’t easy, you have to able to make sure you bide your time here with the tires and everything. Going through three rounds of qualifying is a challenge and it certainly was for us. But we got it right there on the last round and were certainly were able to hit a good lap there on the last one. We got everything we needed out of the racecar, so we certainly were glad the time popped up when it did to put us on the top of the sheet and we’re looking forward to Sunday.”

    Ryan Newman will join Busch on the front row after qualifying with the second fasted speed.

    “We’ve got a good racecar with our Liberty National Life Insurance Chevrolet. Obviously, the Camaro is strong out of the box, but wish we could have got that pole for them as well as us. Just in general, look forward to this weekend,” Newman said.

    Kevin Harvick (184.388 mph) will start third, placing all three manufacturers in the top-3 starting positions. Daniel Suarez (184.229 mph) and Brad Keselowski (183.856 mph) round out the top-five.

    “I think everybody did a great job on our Jimmy John’s/Busch Ford and the car still had speed. It just didn’t drive as good as we needed it to drive to cut to the center of the corner and it was just way too tight the whole time. We were that way in race trim too, and you don’t get a lot of chances at it in practice to try and make it better, so we took our best guess at it,” Harvick said.

    Perhaps the biggest news besides Busch’s first career pole at the speedway was the pre-qualifying inspection failure by defending Monster Energy Cup champion, Martin Truex Jr. After three failed attempts to pass through Optical Scanning Station, NASCAR’s rule book states that a crew member gets ejected and the team is docked 30 minutes of practice. Blake Harris, car chief for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota will be ejected for the remainder of the weekend. Truex will start at the rear of the field, as he and Harrison Rhodes did not turn a lap during qualifying.

    “NASCAR’s new inspection process is just that … new,” said Joe Garone, president of Furniture Row Racing. “The tolerances are very tight, within thousandths of an inch. It’s difficult to push the limits where you feel you need to and still be within the tolerances of the new system. One thing we won’t do is leave anything on the table and expect to get poles and wins. We will always push for the maximum.”

    Notable drivers eliminated during the first round of qualifying include Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and last week’s Daytona 500 champion Austin Dillon. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who topped first practice earlier in the day, backed up his run with a sixth-place start at 183.722 mph for Sunday’s race.

    “Some days you do and some days you don’t and we didn’t today. So, I don’t know. We were way off, not even close. So, I don’t really have much of an excuse for it. We just didn’t hit it right today and we’ll go to work tonight and work through it and hopefully get ready for tomorrow. It’s our only option now,” Elliott said.

    The green flag will wave on Sunday afternoon for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 shortly after 2 p.m. ET at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

  • Monsoon Mile: Qualifying Rained Out For The Sprint Cup Series At Dover

    Monsoon Mile: Qualifying Rained Out For The Sprint Cup Series At Dover

    Kevin Harvick will start Sunday’s Sprint Cup race on the pole after qualifying was rained out at Dover International Speedway on Friday.

    The field for Sunday’s race, as per the NASCAR rule book, was determined by the most recent practice session. Harvick was the fastest on Friday’s lone Sprint Cup practice session and will thus start on pole. Fellow Chevrolet driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. will begin the race opposite Harvick on the front row. Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top five.

    Harvick returns to Dover for the first time since his dominating victory last fall. Going into the day all but needing to win to advance to the next round of the Chase, Harvick responded by leading 355 laps in route to a dominant first win at the “Monster Mile”. He also enters this race as the Sprint Cup Series points leader, with nine top 10s in the first 11 races this season.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. comes into Sunday riding a streak of eight straight top twenties at Dover but only one win 15 years ago. Earnhardt Jr. currently sits ninth in Sprint Cup Series points, ridding off the strength of three second place finishes.

    Practice was also marked by a massive wreck between Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart, and Jamie McMurray. Something broke on Patrick’s car while exiting turn 4 and she spun down the front stretch while the rear of her Chevrolet caught on fire. Stewart slammed the outside wall before getting caught in Patrick’s leaked oil and smacked the inside wall hard. Meanwhile McMurray also hit the wall hard but was able to avoid the oil. All three hit walls that were not protected by SAFER barriers. All three drivers were checked and released from the media center, but the session was delayed for half an hour for repairs.

    Full starting lineup for the AAA 400 Drive For Autism at Dover International Speedway:
    1st Kevin Harvick
    2nd Dale Earnhardt Jr.
    3rd Kyle Busch
    4th Carl Edwards
    5th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    6th Denny Hamlin
    7th Martin Truex Jr.
    8th Ryan Newman
    9th Kurt Busch
    10th Matt Kenseth
    11th Kasey Kahne
    12th Austin Dillon
    13th Chase Elliott
    14th Brad Keselowski
    15th Aric Almirola
    16th Greg Biffle
    17th Brian Scott
    18th Ryan Blaney
    19th Paul Menard
    20th AJ Allmendinger
    21st Jimmie Johnson
    22nd Joey Logano
    23rd Kyle Larson
    24th Jamie McMurray
    25th Trevor Bayne
    26th Casey Mears
    27th David Ragan
    28th Michael McDowell
    29th Matt DiBenedetto
    30th Chris Buescher
    31st Danica Patrick
    32nd Clint Bowyer
    33rd Regan Smith
    34th Tony Stewart
    35th Landon Cassill
    36th Cole Whitt
    37th Michael Annett
    38th Reed Sorenson
    39th Jeffrey Earnhardt
    40th Josh Wise

    Although McMurray, Patrick, and Stewart will be going to back-up cars, they will not go to the back as NASCAR rules dictate a team can go to a back-up car as long as they switch before qualifying.

  • Hot 20 – Joey and Jimmie Lead the Way West to Las Vegas for Some Action…and Some Warmth

    Hot 20 – Joey and Jimmie Lead the Way West to Las Vegas for Some Action…and Some Warmth

    While Daytona was good, Atlanta was tolerable. I wonder, if I was a transient type flipping channels, how long would I have lingered on the action beaming in from Georgia? A decade ago, the sport and its sponsors marketed the heck out of their product, but not so much anymore. Now NASCAR is seeking a new title sponsor for the Cup series to, in a couple of years, cough up $1 billion over a 10 year span? It is certainly nice to dream.

    A Daytona 500 win is nice. A Southern 500 victory is okay. A World 600 triumph is cool. A Brickyard 400 is lovely. However, just imagine the life long memories one will have just racing in the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 in Kansas. Just imagine. Good grief.

    News flash…except for the Daytona 500, most fans could not care less about qualifying. Check out the television ratings or, better yet, all those empty seats in the grandstands. Nobody cares. Put all those guaranteed a spot on the grid based on points, then have all those not locked in go through tech inspection first before they hit the track to qualify. As for the rest, take your time checking them all out. Take the whole day if you need it. That would eliminate another embarrassment like they had in Atlanta. Would that not be a good thing?

    Being good and lucky can go a long way in keeping one among our top drivers in the rankings. Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are good drivers. They just have not been very lucky thus far in 2015.

    Among those for whom things have gone better….

    Hot 20 after Atlanta

    1. Joey Logano – 1 Win – 88 Points
    A new bride, a winning ride, Joey’s horizons have opened wide.

    2. Jimmie Johnson – 1 Win – 87 Points
    The early favorite to win a seventh championship is…

    3. Kevin Harvick – 86 Points
    Still wearing that bridesmaid fire suit.

    4. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 84 Points
    I am reminded by my wife, Amy, that Las Vegas has chapels. What’s with that?

    5. Martin Truex Jr – 75 Points
    So far he has all his ducks and furniture in a row.

    6. Casey Mears – 68 Points
    It appears there are a lot more numbers unluckier than 13.

    7. Kasey Kahne – 65 Points
    Discovered that Atlanta in March is not Atlanta in late August.

    8. A.J. Allmendinger – 62 Points
    Better Than Bouillon, better than most.

    9. Aric Almirola – 62 Points
    Yet another Cup regular taking an Xfinity seat in Las Vegas.

    10. Clint Bowyer – 58 Points
    May have lost a cylinder, but he gained a Stenhouse…then a Biffle.

    11. David Gilliland – 56 Points
    At 38, I was watching my sons being born while this guy is watching his son race.

    12. Sam Hornish Jr – 55 Points
    2014 ‘Vegas Xfinity winner not in Saturday’s race…four other Cup guys will be.

    13. Carl Edwards – 54 Points
    If he aged 20 years, shrunk 6 inches, gained 50 pounds, and melted, I could be his body double.

    14. Greg Biffle – 54 Points
    And THAT is how a bad day can get worse.

    15. David Ragan – 53 Points
    Take your time, Kyle. Take your time.

    16. Danica Patrick – 51 Points
    No. 1 woman, No. 2 SHR driver

    17. Paul Menard – 50 Points
    If Menard’s sold heated hunting blinds, they could have made a mint last week.

    18. Matt Kenseth – 49 Points
    Qualifying means more to him than it does to us. Let him roll out in 18th, with Joey on the pole.

    19. Denny Hamlin – 48 Points
    Twice this week his vehicle gets broadsided…once when he was awake.

    20. Michael Annett – 47 Points
    Don’t expect to see him here next week.