All posts by Motorsports Tribune

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer KMC Wheels has signed a sponsorship agreement to support Zane Smith for the 2017 ARCA Racing Series season, Venturini Motorsports announced on Tuesday afternoon. KMC Wheels, a leading automobile wheel manufacturer and distributor located in Southern California, will partner with Smith to promote the company’s popular KMC Truck and SUV Wheel brand. “We’re proud to support Zane’s efforts with our KMC Wheel Brand for the upcoming ARCA season. Zane’s youth and talent compliments our overall KMC target demographic and appeals to a large segment ofRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Change. Whether it’s in business or in your personal life, the one and only constant is change. On Monday evening at the Charlotte Convention Center, NASCAR executives announced a major change to the racing for all three of its national series. These changes come as attendance and ratings continue to decline and the sanctioning body looks for a way to keep fans engaged throughout the course of a race. The new format breaks down as follows: Each race will have three stages Stage 1 andRead More

Like good friend Colton Herta, Chandler Horton grew up at Verizon IndyCar Series races. His father Jeff is the longtime INDYCAR Director of Engineering, and young Chandler played with many a race car in paddocks across the country. Starting out on dirt bikes then progressing from karts to formula cars, the 19-year-old now moves into the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires, driving for RJB Motorsports in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. Here, Horton details his other racing passion (cycling), how he became the familyRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 36 Years in Cup: 13 Career Wins: 17 Biggest Accomplishment: 2006 Season (Six wins and an 8th-place finish in the standings) There’s no doubt that now is the time to perform for Kasey Kahne. The 2017 season will mark Kahne’s sixth with Henrick Motorsports behind the wheel of the No. 5 Chevrolet and his thirdRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 25 Years in Cup: 7 (Five part-time with Wood Brothers and two full-time with Roush-Fenway) Career Wins: 1 Biggest Accomplishment: 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne came into the Cup Series with a bang, winning a race in just his second start. And it wasn’t just any race; Bayne took the No. 21 Wood BrothersRead More

To say that Colton Herta was born to be a race car driver is probably not too far off the mark, as the son of 1993 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires champion (and two-time Indianapolis 500-winning car owner) Bryan Herta began racing soon after he learned to walk. Swiftly moving from karts to open-wheel, including the Pacific F1600 series (which he won in 2013), Herta first joined the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires in 2014. He missed the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda seasonRead More

By Mike Hembree, NASCAR Wire Service HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – The phone call interrupted Daniel Suarez’s lunch. He didn’t mind. Team owner Joe Gibbs was calling with the surprising news that Suarez, winner of the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship last season, would be promoted to drive the team’s No. 19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota in 2017 as a replacement for Carl Edwards. Edwards had told Gibbs about his decision to leave racing during the Christmas holidays. “I was having lunch with my girlfriend and her family,” Suarez said WednesdayRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Kyle Weatherman has signed with Mason Mitchell Motorsports for 10 races on the 2017 ARCA Racing Series schedule, the team announced on Wednesday. Weatherman will pilot the No. 78 Chevrolet for the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and will compete in the next three races at Nashville, Salem and Talladega. The remaining races for the 19-year-old driver will be Pocono, Michigan, Iowa, Chicagoland, Kentucky and Kansas. Weatherman was the 2015 SCOTT Rookie of the Year in the ARCA Racing Series, winning at New Jersey MotorsportsRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Driver lineups in the ARCA Racing Series are taking shape in advance of this weekend’s test session at Daytona International Speedway, with Ken Schrader Racing announcing Austin Theriault as the driver of  the team’s No. 52 for the full 20-race schedule. Veteran crew chief Donnie Richeson, who has led a variety of drivers to victory lane during his 15-year tenure, will continue as the team’s crew chief. Theriault won in his ARCA debut in August 2014 at Michigan International Speedway behind the wheel of aRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Combining a history that stretches more than 65 years with a future infused with a new premier series entitlement sponsor and a next generation of stars, NASCAR unveiled a new brand identity Monday via its social and digital media platforms. In addition, NASCAR also unveiled the mark and name for its premier series, which will become the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series beginning in 2017. The new brand identity – which replaces the familiar bar mark that had been in place since 1976 – uses theRead More