Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Trent Owens

  • Kaulig Racing reveals crew chief lineup, technical director hiring for 2025 Cup season

    Kaulig Racing reveals crew chief lineup, technical director hiring for 2025 Cup season

    Kaulig Racing revealed its crew chief lineup and the hiring of a technical director for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

    Veteran crew chief Trent Owens will be paired with veteran driver AJ Allmendinger and the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry while Andrew Dickeson will be working atop the pit box of the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry that will be piloted by Ty Dillon. For the technical director position, Mike Cook will assume the position after recently being a lead engineer for Stewart-Haas Racing.

    The news comes as Kaulig Racing, which strives to be competitive in NASCAR’s premier series in 2025, is coming off its third consecutive season in fielding two full-time cars in the Cup Series division. Throughout the 36-race schedule in 2024, Kaulig’s two entries (Nos. 16 and 31 Chevrolets) recorded a combined 11 top-10 results and 108 laps led. In addition, Daniel Hemric, who drove Kaulig’s No. 31 entry that is renumbered to 10 in 2025, finished in 29th place in the 2024 driver’s standings while Kaulig’s No. 16 entry that was split between Allmendinger, Dillon, Derek Kraus, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Williams ended up in 28th place in the owner’s standings.

    “I think this is the most impressive competition leadership group we have ever had,” Chris Rice, president of Kaulig Racing, said in a released statement. “We have such a great core team with all the men and women of Kaulig Racing, and bringing in smart people with fresh eyes will really help us compete on the track.”

    Owens’ move to Kaulig’s No. 16 team reunites him with Allmendinger, both of whom worked together for nine Cup races in 2018 at JTG-Daugherty Racing. This past season, Owens was the crew chief for Hemric and the No. 31 Chevrolet team. In addition, Allmendinger scaled back down to a full-time Xfinity Series competition after competing on a full-time Cup basis in 2023, where he won at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. During the 2024 season, Allmendinger notched a victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener, transferred to the Championship 4 round and settled in third place in the final driver’s standings.

    Dickeson’s move as a crew chief for Kaulig’s No. 10 team and Ty Dillon marks a new beginning for the Australian native, who recently spent a bulk of his career as an engineer for Richard Childress Racing. In addition, the 2025 season marks Dillon’s return to full-time Cup racing since 2023 after he spent this past season competing in all but the remaining five Craftsman Truck Series events for Rackley W.A.R., where he notched two top-10 results.

    The new position with a new organization generates a new and exciting adventure for Cook, who first joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 to work as an engineer and had remained at the organization until it ceased operations at the 2024 season’s conclusion. During Cook’s role at Stewart-Haas Racing, he went to Victory Lane in the 2017 Daytona 500 with former Cup Series champion Kurt Busch.

    “After a decade of learning and honing my craft, I am really excited to contribute to the continuing growth of Kaulig Racing,” Cook said. “Nothing in racing happens overnight, but I know I have the tools and the support I need to bring immediate impact. Andrew [Dickeson] has the demeanor and stability that I think will give Ty [Dillon] the best opportunity he has ever had at the Cup level. AJ [Allmendinger] and Trent [Owens] are just in sync and have a great working relationship. Both drivers are hungry and dedicated, so I know that team is going to be strong and impress some people in 2025.”

    Kaulig Racing’s 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to commence with the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2 that will commence at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. This event will be followed by the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway that will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Kaulig Racing reveals 2024 Cup Series crew chief lineup

    Kaulig Racing reveals 2024 Cup Series crew chief lineup

    Kaulig Racing took to social media to reveal its crew chief lineup for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season which features a new addition alongside a returning notable.

    The person who is new to the team for this upcoming season is Travis Mack, who will assume two roles, the first as crew chief for Kaulig’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry in the Cup Series and the other as technical director for Kaulig’s Cup program.

    Mack, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, joins Kaulig Racing after spending the previous three seasons at Trackhouse Racing, where he worked as Daniel Suarez’s Cup crew chief. He achieved his first career victory at Sonoma Raceway in June 2022, the same day where Suarez notched his first Cup career victory that enabled them to make the 2022 Cup Playoffs. Mack was also a crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in two Cup events in 2017 and for Kasey Kahne in 15 events in 2018.

    Through 124 appearances as a Cup Series crew chief, Mack achieved one victory, one pole, 10 top-five and 27 top-10 results while working with three competitors. He also worked as a crew chief for 79 Xfinity Series events, where he achieved his lone victory at Daytona International Speedway in February 2019 with Michael Annett while working for JR Motorsports.

    Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry is set to be piloted by multiple competitors for the 2024 Cup Series season, starting with AJ Allmendinger competing in this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February. The remainder of the entry’s driver lineup and schedule for the 2024 season remains to be determined.

    Returning to Kaulig Racing is Trent Owens, who will continue to work atop the pit box of the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as a crew chief and for Daniel Hemric, the 2021 Xfinity Series champion who returns to the Cup Series after spending the previous three seasons in the Xfinity Series, including the last two with Kaulig Racing as he made the Xfinity Playoffs and settled in the top 10 in the final driver’s standings during both seasons.

    Owens, a native of Davidson, North Carolina, is coming off his second full-time season as a Cup Series crew chief for Kaulig’s No. 31 entry that was piloted by Justin Haley. During the two-year stint, the duo achieved four top-five results and nine top-10 results, with their best points result being a 22nd-place result during the 2022 season. Owens’ first and only Cup victory to date as a crew chief spans back to July 2014 at Daytona International Speedway, where he led Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford team to a rain-shortened victory that enabled them to make the 2014 Cup Series Playoffs.

    Through 348 previous appearances as a Cup Series crew chief, Owens has achieved one victory, 12 top-five and 40 top-10 results while working with 10 competitors. He has also accumulated five Xfinity Series victories and one Craftsman Truck Series victory as a crew chief.

    Kaulig Racing’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season commences with the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 4 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. This event will then be followed by the 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway which will occur on February 18 and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Trent Owens to call 300th Cup event as crew chief at New Hampshire

    Trent Owens to call 300th Cup event as crew chief at New Hampshire

    A significant milestone start is in the making for Trent Owens, crew chief for Justin Haley and the No. 31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team in the NASCAR Cup Series. By participating in this weekend’s Cup event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Owens will call his 300th career race as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Davidson, North Carolina, and the nephew of seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty who made select starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Owens made his debut as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief at Texas Motor Speedway in April for Reed Sorenson and the No. 32 Braun Racing Toyota Camry team that campaigned in select Cup events. By then, Owens was also in his fifth season as an Xfinity Series crew chief for Braun Racing. Throughout the 2010 season, the No. 32 entry qualified for six events and notched a season-best 29th-place result at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July with Quebec’s Jacques Villenueve.

    Two years later, Owens made his lone appearance as a Cup Series crew chief at Daytona International Speedway in July for the 1988 NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who piloted the No. 50 Chevrolet Impala for Turner Motorsports to a 37th-place result after being involved in a late multi-car wreck.

    In 2014, Owens became a full-time Cup Series crew chief for the first time as he was paired with Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion team. The duo commenced the season with a wreck and a 39th-place result in the 56th running of the Daytona 500, but rallied three races later by posting a third-place result at Bristol Motor Speedway in March. Another 14 races later, Owens and Almirola achieved their first career victory in the Cup Series in the rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in July. The victory occurred on the 30th anniversary where Richard Petty notched his record-breaking 200th victory in NASCAR’s premier series and it marked the first win for Petty’s iconic No. 43 since April 1999. With the victory and a guaranteed spot in the 2014 Cup Playoffs, Owens and Almirola were one of four teams eliminated following the Round of 16 despite finishing as high as sixth during the round. They went on to conclude the season in 16th place in the final standings. 

    The following season, Owens, Almirola and the No. 43 RPM Ford team managed to record three top-five results, one extra than 2014, and six top-10 results, one less than 2014. Despite finishing in fourth place at Richmond Raceway in September, they missed the 2015 Cup Playoffs by 17 points and they went on to finish in 17th place in the final standings.

    Remaining as Almirola’s crew chief for the 2016 Cup season, Owens led the No. 43 team to six top-15 results and a season-best 12th-place result in the 58th running of the Daytona 500. Despite surpassing 100 Cup appearances as a crew chief, he was replaced by veteran Drew Blickensderfer for seven of the remaining eight scheduled events.

    The 2017 Cup season marked a new beginning for Owens, who joined JTG-Daugherty Racing as a crew chief for Chris Buescher and the No. 37 Chevrolet SS team. The team’s best results were a pair of sixth-place results at Michigan International Speedway in August and at Kansas Speedway in October. To go along with an additional two top-10 results, Owens guided Buescher to a 25th-place result in the final standings.

    In 2018, Owens and Buescher commenced the season on a strong note by finishing in fifth place in the 60th running of the Daytona 500. The remaining 25 regular season events, however, were a struggle for the duo as they managed an additional fifth-place result at Daytona in July and were unable to make the 2018 Cup Playoffs. Following the first Playoff event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September, JTG-Daugherty Racing swapped the crew chiefs of the team’s two-car lineup that resulted with Owens paired with AJ Allmendinger and the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team while Tristan Smith joined forces with Buescher. During the final nine scheduled events, Owens and Allmendinger achieved two top-10 results as the No. 47 team finished in 22nd place in the final standings, two spots ahead of Buescher. 

    In 2019, Owens, who remained at JTG-Daugherty Racing for a third consecutive season, reunited with Buescher as he returned atop the pit box of the No. 37 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team. Like the previous two seasons, however, the duo struggled with consistency as they only achieved four top-10 results, including a sixth-place result in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, before settling in 25th place in the final standings. By then, Owens surpassed 200 appearances as a Cup crew chief.

    The following season, Owens, who remained at JTG-Daugherty Racing for a fourth consecutive season, was paired with Ryan Preece, who took over the No. 37 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to make room for the team’s newest competitor, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in the No. 47 Chevrolet. Appearing in all but one of the 36-race schedule, Owens and Preece recorded two top-10 results and a season-best result of ninth place at Bristol Motor Speedway Night Race in September before falling back to 29th place in the final standings.

    Owens, Preece and the No. 37 JTG-Daugherty Racing Chevrolet team entered the 2021 Cup season without a charter that would guarantee them a spot in every event of the new season. Despite this, they qualified for the 63rd running of the Daytona 500, where Preece finished sixth despite being involved in a multi-car wreck on the final lap. Preece then backed it up by finishing ninth at the Daytona Road Course. Overall, Owens and Preece recorded two additional top-10 results and a season-best fourth-place result at Daytona in August. Despite earning a starting spot for every scheduled event, they ended up in 27th place in the final standings.

    A month prior to the 2022 Cup Series season, Owens was named crew chief for Kaulig Racing’s No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team that was set to campaign on a full-time basis with Justin Haley serving as the driver. Owens’ first campaign with Haley and Kaulig Racing started off on a rough note when Haley, who was running towards the front, was eliminated in a late accident during the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in February. Two weeks later, Owens was suspended for four races after Haley’s No. 31 Chevrolet lost a right-front tire during the early stages of the 64th running of the Daytona 500. Despite Kaulig’s attempts to appeal the suspension, which kept Owens atop the No. 31 pit box for the following three events in the West Coast, the suspension was ultimately upheld in late March as Owens was absent from Atlanta Motor Speedway in March through Martinsville Speedway in April.

    A month later and following a stellar third-place run with Haley at Darlington Raceway, Owens was issued another four-race suspension after the No. 31 Chevrolet lost a left-rear tire upon exiting his pit stall during an early caution period at Kansas Speedway. Since returning atop the No. 31 pit box at Nashville Superspeedway in late June, Owens and Haley are coming off a strong seventh-place run at Atlanta. With two top-10 results during the first 19 scheduled events, the duo are ranked in 22nd place in the drivers’ standings as they trail the top-16 cutline to make the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs by 149 points.

    Through 299 previous Cup appearances, Owens has achieved one victory, nine top-five results and 33 top-10 results while working with 10 different competitors.

    Owens is scheduled to call his 300th Cup Series career event as a crew chief at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 17, with the event’s coverage to commence as 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Hometown Son Trent Owens Shares Darlington Memories

    Hometown Son Trent Owens Shares Darlington Memories

    Darlington Raceway is a rare gem in today’s NASCAR because it is unlike any other track on the circuit. It was built on land that once grew cotton and peanuts and shaped around a minnow pond, giving it a unique design and producing NASCAR’s first paved superspeedway.

    The “Track Too Tough to Tame” was the site for an open NASCAR test session Wednesday. Aric Almirola and his crew chief Trent Owens were one of 12 Sprint Cup teams that participated.

    Owens, who hails from Darlington, has racing in his DNA. His father, Randy Owens (Richard Petty’s brother-in-law), was only 20-years-old when he lost his life in a bizarre pit accident at Talladega while attempting to extinguish a fire on Richard Petty’s No. 43. A pressurized water tank exploded, killing him instantly. Trent was only four months old.

    He followed in his father’s footsteps, working at Petty Enterprises as a teenager and eventually making his debut as a driver in NASCAR’s truck series in 2001. The following year he made six truck starts for Billy Ballew Motorsports, but the team lost its funding and Owen’s career took him on a different path.

    From 2006-2013, Owens began working as a crew chief in the Busch/Nationwide Series (now XFINITY) with various teams including Braun Racing and Turner Scott Motorsports. He won with five different drivers in the series and served as crew chief for the 2013 Rookie of the Year, Kyle Larson. Owens also captured one win with Larson in the Camping World Truck Series along with a victory in the ARCA Series.

    In 2014, when Owens got the call to move up to the Sprint Cup Series as crew chief for the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 car with driver, Aric Almirola, it was as if his life had come full circle.

    “In a lot of ways,” Owens said, “I know he would be extremely proud and in a lot of ways I feel like I’m continuing what he was trying to do. Not knowing him, it is special that I’m working on the same car that he was working on.”

    During a break from testing, Owens spoke about the special connection he has with Darlington.

    When asked about his first memory of the track, he said, “It’s hard to remember exactly. I think the best thing for me was getting out of school early to come for qualifying on Thursdays. I always enjoyed that. I don’t think I’ve missed a race here and it’s hard to remember what year that may have been.

    “It was cool that I lived in a town that, you know this racing deal, when you talk about family, we travel a lot, we don’t get to see our families so it was nice that I got to live in a town that my family got to actually come to a town I lived in and I got to visit them there. So I think that was one of the coolest things.”

    As the team heads to Michigan this weekend, their focus is on improving from a 15th place car to a top-10 or top-five car. But in three months, when the team travels back to Darlington for the Southern 500, the emphasis will certainly be on winning. For this Darlington son, a victory with the No. 43 would be nothing short of a dream come true.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona Coke Zero 400

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona Coke Zero 400

    From a rain delay of a day to a rain-shortened race, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

    Surprising: In spite of the fits and starts of the race due to the rain, the Coke 600 was still the stuff of legends, from the anniversary victory for The King and Richard Petty Motorsports to the last call of Barney Hall of Motor Racing Network.

    RPM’s famed No. 43 made it to Victory Lane, thanks to some rainy luck for driver Aric Almirola and crew chief Trent Owens, on the 30th anniversary of The King’s 200th historic win at Daytona. Almirola was the 43rd driver to pilot the No. 43, scoring his first win of his career at his home track.

    “I couldn’t have dreamed of a better place to get my first win,” Almirola said. “I’ve sat in these grandstands and watched the Daytona 500. I’ve watched the Firecracker 400s. That’s what everybody always talked about, and as a young kid, coming over here and watching, just dreamed about what it would be like to have a chance to race at the highest level at this racetrack.”

    “I think it’s very cool that we won on this weekend,” Almirola continued. “It’s 30 years to the weekend that The King won his 200th race with the President here. That’s really special.”

    Another legend, Barney Hall, also called his final race at Daytona and will retire from race announcing at the age of 82 years.

    “He has spoken to millions of fans and made millions of individual fans of our sport,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said. “I wanted to thank him for all he has done for us personally, but also all he has done for NASCAR.”

    Dale Earnhardt Jr., an aficionado of the history of the sport, also shared his appreciation for the career of Hall.

    “Barney Hall is a legend,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweeted. “I grew up listening to him. Forever grateful.”

    Not Surprising: In spite of the weather drama and the strategy that was playing out to outfox the rain drops, it was not surprising that what caught the eye of mainstream media were the two ‘big ones’, involving a total of 42 crashed race cars.

    Second place finisher Brian Vickers had a bird’s eye view of both incidents, barely making it through each incident.

    “We went to the front, and then it got a little bit too dicey for my comfort that early, and guys were moving around a lot,” Brian Vickers, second place finisher, said. “So we went to the back, just had a bad feeling about kind of the energy in the pack and where it was headed, so we dropped back, and at about two laps later there was a big crash and we were fortunate to be out of that.”

    “We ended up actually getting into the pack at about the wrong moment and were fortunate enough to get through the last big wreck,” Vickers continued. “I saw it kind of starting out of the corner of my eye, a car from the outside to the inside just went way too quick, and I just jumped on the brakes and as soon as I saw it opening downshifted and went to the gas and was able to get through it. But very lucky to get through that wreck and keep the FSU car out of trouble.”

    Surprising: Kurt Busch had some surprising comments about his relationship with his crew chief Daniel Knost after finishing the race in the third spot.

    “Yeah, the relationship with Daniel, you know, there’s some times when a driver and a crew chief hit it off and they’re off to the races right away. Daniel and I have been slower to mature together in our relationship, and so we’re 18 races into our first date,” the driver of the No. 41Haas Automation Chevrolet, said. “Now we’re going into the second half of the season, and all of our first dates are done.”

    “We’ll go to New Hampshire next week, and that’ll be the last new track that we see together, and then from there on out, all the tracks that we’ve been to we have notes and we have test sessions planned, and that’s where we have to make the 41 team stronger.”

    Not Surprising: There was no driver more excited about a top-five finish than Austin Dillon, who has been battling Kyle Larson for Rookie of the Year honors. And this race saw Dillon hold serve over Larson, who was involved in the first wreck and finished 36th.

    “It’s huge for us getting a top 10, a top 5; it definitely can change the rookie race,” the driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/NRA Museum Chevrolet, said. “We’ve got some momentum now.”

    “We’ve got the last four races, I think, in the rookie race, and just stay consistent and hopefully we can come out with this thing,” Dillon continued. “Our cars have been really fast all year, and we’re getting better each week. I feel like we’re gaining a little bit, and I’m excited about that.”

    Surprising: Driver Paul Menard no doubt had the most appropriate car name for this Daytona race, driving the No. 27 SPLASH/Menards Chevrolet. Menard was marking time in the back but then got caught in the second big one to finish 16th.

    Menard did, however, gain at least one position in the point standings, regaining his spot in tenth.

    “We battled weather all weekend,” Menard said. “Our strategy was to ride around in the back and miss all the wrecks, but with rain coming we knew it was time to move towards the front.”

    “Of course, when we got to the front someone got turned around and we were caught up in a huge mess,” Menard continued. “Fortunately, my guys did a great job on pit road to repair damage and were able to keep us on the lead lap.”

    “I think we moved up in points, so all-in-all it wasn’t a terrible day.”

    Not Surprising: With Daytona, anything can happen during the ‘big ones’, including cars going airborne and upside down. Unfortunately, for both Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch, each experience a little bit of both.

    “It’s kind of scary I think my car got airborne,” McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet, said. “I have never had that happen before it’s a helpless feeling when you are getting hit as you are in the air.”

    “It was kind of scary, but glad it looks like everyone is okay.”

    “Just felt like a slow carnival ride,” Kyle Busch said of his upside down ending. “I guess that’s fitting for the Fourth of July weekend. I just got T-boned there at the end and it just kind of toppled me over.”

    “I got hit by the 26 (Cole Whitt) which just toppled me over and when I toppled over you know you just sit there upside down basically in your restraints,” Busch continued. “Your chest is held, your abdomen is held and everything is held and you just wait for them to come in there and get you and turn you over, because it’s way safer to get turned over in that seat because you already got turned over once then it is to try to undo the belts and bang your head off the ceiling and try to get out.”

    Surprising: One would have thought that the race was at a short-track rather than on the high banks of a restrictor plate track with the way tempers were flaring.

    “The No. 17 car (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) got sideways on the lap that we’re all getting a competition caution,” Tony Stewart, behind the wheel of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Chevrolet said. “I don’t know. I guess Ricky thought it paid something to get to lap 20. I don’t know. It didn’t make much sense to me, but I’m not that smart either; so I don’t know. I don’t know that I’m the right person to ask.”

    “I guess is was just Stenhouse being an idiot,” Smoke continued. “It didn’t make much sense when we’re coming to the caution, we’re like a quarter of a lap from getting to the caution and he does something stupid.”

    “It tore up a lot of people’s cars and a lot of people’s days,” Stewart said. “To get here on Wednesday night and sit here all day and run 19 and three-quarter laps and get wrecked by somebody who’s doing something stupid.”

    Not Surprising: Like so many of the other racers, Martin Truex Jr. was ready to put Daytona in his rear view mirror. In spite of a vibration and battery change, Truex finished 15th in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.

    “It was a roller coaster day,” Truex said. “We never could get going. I didn’t like what I was seeing early in the race and I hung back. That turned out to be a good move as we missed being collected in the first wreck.”

    “Then we had a vibration in the car, and later we needed to make a battery change,” Truex continued. “As I was exiting pit road after the battery change, the second big wreck happened. We most likely would have been in that wreck had we not been on pit road changing the battery.”

    “We eventually got back on the lead lap and we were ready to move forward. But we never got that opportunity because of the race being declared official following more rain.”

    “It’s been one of those weekends you want to forget about and move on.”

  • Aric Almirola Destined For Richmond Victory; Richard Petty Returns to Racetrack

    Aric Almirola Destined For Richmond Victory; Richard Petty Returns to Racetrack

    Aric Almirola and Trent Owens are determined and destined to win at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) this weekend; especially after it was announced that Richard Petty, team owner of Richard Petty Motorsports, will be returning to the racetrack for the first time since the tragic and unforeseen passing of his wife, Lynda Petty.

    “It’s going to be great to have our leader back at the race track,” Almirola expressed on Wednesday. “He is the name and the face of our company, and all the guys on the race team and myself included look up to him and enjoy having him around at the race track and having him inside hauler and talking to us after practice and getting his perspective on what he sees with other race cars and with our race cars throughout practice.”

    Almirola attended an appearance with Petty in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday and he found ‘The Kings’ attitude to be repaired and prepared for Richmond this weekend.

    “I know (Petty is) itching to get back,” Almirola further explained. “You can’t take the racer out of that guy. He’s not going to sit at home and just sit around and do nothing.”

    Owens, who is the nephew of Petty, also is confident that Petty returning will allow everyone at the organization to take a deep breath and refocus on the task at hand, winning.

    “I think it will be good medicine,” Owens said Wednesday. “When something like that happens, you kind of want to hide for a little bit and just get your feelings straight. But he’s been by the shop and been in good spirits, and I think he’s doing very well considering.”

    “We look forward to definitely getting him back to the race track and getting him back into race mode.”

    Now, with the relief of having the boss back, Almirola and crew chief Owens turn their undivided attention to Richmond, where they’ll hope to deliver their first victory of the season, which would undoubtedly be an emotional one – for multiple reasons

    “I always get excited about going to Richmond,” Almirola commented during a press conference held on Wednesday morning. “I like the racetrack a lot, and then besides the racetrack, it’s a big weekend for us with Smithfield Foods headquarters being right there nearby in Richmond, and we get a lot of people come out from Smithfield headquarters, and it’s just a big weekend, and it’s a lot of fun.”

    “The racetrack is where I made my first (NASCAR) Nationwide (Series) start, and I just got a lot of good memories from there, and I’ve always run well it seems like, so I’m excited about going to Richmond this weekend.”

    Almirola, 30, finished eighth last season at Richmond after starting a dismal 34th position- his first top-10 at the difficult speedway.

    “I think I have a really good understanding of what it takes to run good at Richmond, and I’ve had good runs there,” Almirola expressed about his wisdom within Richmond. “You know, last spring we ran pretty good there.  I think we finished in the top 5 or maybe top 10, I’m not sure, and then in the fall race I thought we had an even better car than we had in the spring race, and we had an incident on pit road on a green flag stop that ended up getting a couple laps down and hurt our day.”

    He’s completed in five Nationwide Series races at Richmond finishing a track-best seventh during the 2011 season with JR Motorsports. This weekend, he’s hoping to utilize that running his previous experience at RIR to help drive him into victory lane.

    “Richmond is a place that I actually have a lot of laps at,” Almirola further commented. “The very first time I ever got to drive a truck, it was a two-day test at Richmond back in 2004 and I’ve done a lot of testing there in trucks and Nationwide cars and even Cup cars back when we were allowed to go test, and I made my first Nationwide start there.  I think I’ve run quite a few Nationwide races there, and I’ve made quite a few Cup starts there.”

    Owens, who joined his Uncle Petty’s operation at the beginning of this season, is also expecting a good placing this weekend, despite the demands being a crew chief calls upon throughout the course of this weekend.

    “Really looking forward to (the) race (at Richmond),” Owens commented during the press conference. “Our short track program seems to be in a decent direction this year.  We’ve got some work to do on our mile-and-a-halfs, but really looking forward to getting in front of the Smithfield folks and putting on a good show.”

    “Practice is so tough here, the tires wear out at Richmond but that does provide for good racing.  You really want to be good off the hauler and just kind of work on a few things, maybe mock up some practice changes that duplicate your race stuff.  But practicing during the day, racing at night at a place like Richmond is just so much different.”

    Almirola and Owens are hoping for success in just their ninth race together, however, they also both understand the ultimate achievement isn’t to win, but it’s to help re-boost Petty’s confidence and moral, even in the toughest of moments.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Mark Martin Lucky in Vegas While Danica Patrick Makes History

    Mark Martin Lucky in Vegas While Danica Patrick Makes History

    Mark Martin, driving the No. 32 Dollar General for Turner Motorsports for the first time, not only was lucky with his fuel mileage but also took advantage of the bad luck of Brad Keselowski to win the 15th Annual Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    [media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”239″][/media-credit]This was Martin’s 49th Nationwide win Series win, making him the seventh oldest driver to win a Nationwide race.

    “We only had one chance to win the race and that was to win it on fuel,” Martin said in the media center after celebrating his win in Victory Lane. “When I caught Brad, I realized that it was going to take all the gas I had to get past him.”

    “Trent (Owens) gave me great information,” Martin said of his crew chief, who scored his first win ever. “I managed to back off the throttle and wait to see if Brad (Keselowski) would make it or not.”

    “It worked out for us today,” Martin continued. “It was a great team effort. Turner Motorsports is doing such good work and I wanted to get in there and be a part of it.”

    “It was a real special win for us,” Martin said. “We got us another trophy and that’s all I care about.”

    Martin’s Turner Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier also had good luck in Vegas, scoring a second place win in the No. 31. This was Allgaier’s third top-10 finish in three races at Las Vegas and his second top-10 finish in 2011.

    “This was a really good finish for us because we battled through a lot of adversity,” Allgaier said. “To be able to come out of here one, two and to be able to be beat by Mark Martin, as much as I wanted to win the race there is only one person in the garage that I’d rather have beat me and it would be Mark.”

    “Mark is really cool.”

    While luck was on the side of Martin and Allgaier, Brad Keselowski had some of the worst luck of the Vegas Nationwide race weekend. According to Keselowski, the weekend started bad and ended even worse.

    “We started off this weekend and we were atrociously bad,” Keselowski said. “My team worked all weekend long and found speed in my car.”

    “From there we used great strategy and smarts to get in position to win the race,” Keselowski said. “I was trying to conserve my stuff and felt we had it, but obviously didn’t.”

    “I just ran over something because it went down pretty quick,” Keselowski said of his blown tire. “It was just one of those days where you do everything right and don’t win. That’s why they call it racing.”

    “I just feel bad for my guys,” Keselowski continued. “We’ve had three great cars in the last three races and something has happened. It just has to come back around. We’re on the down side of the roller coaster and I’m ready for it to come back up.”

    While Martin took the checkered flag, Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 7 GoDaddy.com for JR Motorsports crossed the finish line in the fourth position, making her own brand of history as the highest finishing female ever in a NASCAR national series. With Patrick’s fourth place finish, she topped the record of Sara Christian, who finished fifth in 1949.

    “I guess that’s something I don’t think about,” Patrick said when asked about her history-making run. “I don’t think about trying to be the highest finishing female. I just think about trying to win the race.”

    “It was a good day,” Patrick, running in just her 16th race, said. “We just had a good car. I knew it from the beginning of the race.”

    “We worked so hard on the car this weekend and we did have a lot of practice time, which was good,” Patrick said. “I missed those lucky dogs like three more times and we finally got it.”

    “It allowed me to be consistent at the end, cautious and not over drive,” Patrick said. “It was a good day for GoDaddy and JR Motorsports.”

    Trevor Bayne, the Daytona 500 winner, rounded out the top five for the Sam’s Town 300. After a fairly chaotic run last weekend at Phoenix, Bayne felt most fortunate to have been so close to the front of the field.

    “It was cool to get a top-five out of that,” Bayne said. “You take them how you get them.”

    “It is awesome for these guys to get a top-five and we probably didn’t deserve it,” Bayne continued. “But we saved gas and put ourselves in that position. I can’t wait to watch the tape on this one.”

    Carl Edwards, who had been so dominant in the early part of the race, finished in the sixth position. Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Jason Leffler and Kenny Wallace rounded out the top ten.

    Reed Sorenson maintains the Nationwide Series points lead, with Ricky Stenhouse and Jason Leffler following closely behind in second and third respectively. Danica Patrick and Justin Allgaier round out the top five in the point standings.

    Unofficial Race Results
    Sam’s Town 300, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
    March 5, 2011 – Race 3 of 34

    Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps Status

    1 – 32 Mark Martin Chevrolet 0 0 200 Running

    2 – 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 42 0 200 Running

    3 – 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0 0 200 Running

    4 – 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 40 0 200 Running

    5 – 16 Trevor Bayne Ford 39 0 200 Running

    6 – 60 Carl Edwards Ford 0 0 200 Running

    7 – 20 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0 0 200 Running

    8 – 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 36 0 200 Running

    9 – 38 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 35 0 200 Running

    10 – 9 Kenny Wallace Toyota 34 0 200 Running

    11 – 30 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 33 0 200 Running

    12 – 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 32 0 200 Running

    13 – 62 Michael Annett Toyota 31 0 200 Running

    14 – 11 Brian Scott Toyota 30 0 200 Running

    15 – 88 Aric Almirola Chevrolet 29 0 198 Running

    16 – 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 28 0 198 Running

    17 – 19 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 27 0 197 Running

    18 – 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 26 0 196 Running

    19 – 99 Ryan Truex * Toyota 25 0 195 Running

    20 – 14 Eric McClure Chevrolet 24 0 194 Running

    21 – 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 23 0 193 Running

    22 – 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Dodge 22 0 193 Running

    23 – 97 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 21 0 193 Running

    24 – 15 Timmy Hill * Ford 20 0 193 Running

    25 – 28 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 19 0 190 Running

    26 – 81 Donnie Neuenberger Dodge 18 0 189 Running

    27 – 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 17 0 181 In Pit

    28 – 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 0 0 168 Running

    29 – 70 Shelby Howard Chevrolet 15 0 165 Running

    30 – 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 0 0 130 In Pit

    31 – 79 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford 13 0 127 Running

    32 – 141 Carl Long Ford 12 0 83 In Pit

    33 – 40 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 11 0 72 Out

    34 – 27 J.J. Yeley Ford 0 0 25 Out

    35 – 25 Kelly Bires Ford 9 0 14 In Pit

    36 – 55 Brett Rowe Chevrolet 8 0 12 In Pit

    37 – 24 Kevin Lepage Ford 7 0 11 In Pit

    38 – 39 Josh Wise Ford 6 0 10 In Pit

    39 – 52 Daryl Harr Chevrolet 0 0 8 In Pit

    40 – 103 Charles Lewandoski * Dodge 4 0 6 In Pit

    41 – 168 Tim Andrews Ford 0 0 4 In Pit

    42 – 44 Jeff Green Chevrolet 2 0 2 In Pit

    43 – 87 Kevin Conway Chevrolet 0 0 2 In Pit