All posts by Aaron Bearden

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer “This one is on us.” It’s rare to hear that level of candor from the sanctioning body of any sport, but those were the exact words to come from Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, during a Wednesday teleconference announcing a change to the sanctioning body’s penalty system for post-race laser inspection system (LIS) failures. The old rules — and I say “old” loosely, as they were just implemented last week — provided a gray area with P2 and P3 level penalties for teams thatRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer Race-winner Martin Truex, Jr., and Jimmie Johnson won’t be stripped of points or fined after failing post-race LIS inspection at Chicagoland Speedway. Instead, in the interest of fairness, NASCAR has elected take the blame and make changes to post-race procedures moving forward. Both Truex and Johnson appeared due for penalties after being caught with minor infractions following Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, but the repercussions were stripped when NASCAR observed a clear issue with their penalty system relevant to Chase benefits. NASCAR confirmed Wednesday that both TruexRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer Brad Keselowski finished third at his home track in Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400, but the result comes with a fine after NASCAR assessed Keselowski’s No. 2 team with a P2 level penalty. Keselowski was docked 10 points and crew chief Paul Wolfe was fined $15,000 after the 2012 Sprint Cup Series champion’s car failed post-race laser inspection at Michigan International Speedway. Team Penske owner Roger Penske was also docked 10 points in the owner’s standings as a result of the penalty. However, neither Penske norRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer No one wishes for weather-shortened races, but in small doses the wild card aspect of these events can add excitement and intrigue to an otherwise predictable NASCAR tour. Chris Buescher’s upset victory at Pocono Raceway in Monday’s Pennsylvania 400 isn’t likely to carry the same praise that other weather-shortened races have provided in the past after mother nature literally rained on the parades of Kyle Larson in his search for his first Sprint Cup Series win. However, what the win does do is offer storylinesRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer With 40 laps remaining in Monday’s Pennsylvania 400, it looked like Kyle Larson might finally be en-route to his first-career Sprint Cup Series win and an automatic berth in the Chase. Instead, after a shocking fog-shortened victory for Chris Buescher, Larson find himself just holding onto playoff contention as the Chase bubble begins to burst. Larson’s strong run at Pocono Speedway ended in a sixth-place finish after the race was called following 138 of the planned 160 laps for fog and inclement weather. The performance keptRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer Sprint Cup Series points leader Kevin Harvick will be without his crew chief Rodney Childers this weekend at Pocono Raceway after a suspension from NASCAR. NASCAR announced Wednesday that Childers has been suspended from NASCAR competition through Aug. 3 and fined $20,000 after Harvick’s No. 4 Chevrolet was observed with improperly installed lug nuts following Sunday’s Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Childers, 40, has also been placed on NASCAR probation through Dec. 31. Stewart-Haas Racing has elected not to appeal the decision. InRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer Journeyman driver Travis Miller made the most of his ARCA Racing debut for Ranier Racing with MDM, giving the organization its best finish on the year with a runner-up result. “The first long run we had, I was fighting for the lead and I made the mistake of burning the front tires off of it,” Miller said. “If I could have done it any different it would’ve been riding around and waiting for a caution. For the 30-40 laps we had on that last green-flag runRead More