All posts by Motorsports Tribune

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With Clint Bowyer needing a place to drive for a year while waiting to take over the No. 14 Chevrolet at Stewart-Haas Racing, Justin Allgaier was the odd man out at HScott Motorsports. But in Allgaier’s estimation, the opportunity to race for a NASCAR XFINITY Series championship with JR Motorsports is ample compensation for losing a full-time Sprint Cup ride. The presence of team principals Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller made signing with JRM a no-brainer. “This isRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Danica Patrick has 118 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts to her credit. She has no victories, no top fives. But as Patrick starts her fourth full season in Sprint Cup, paired with new crew chief Billy Scott, she points to her ability to get up to speed more quickly in practice as a source of confidence that the results will be better this year. “I’m far more confident,” Patrick said on Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway during NASCAR Media Day,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When tandem “love-bug” racing was the order of the day at restrictor-plate tracks, Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t like it one bit. Hated it, if you want to know the truth. NASCAR’s most popular driver couldn’t see the logic in pushing another car to victory, even if it happened to be a car driven by a teammate. When Jimmie Johnson won at Talladega in 2008, Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet was the caboose, and the caboose finished fourth. To Earnhardt, that wasRead More

PALMETTO, Fla. – The Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires will include a revised sub-class for 2016 following today’s announcement that the Expert Series, which previously catered to drivers over the age of 30, will be brought more in line with the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Presented by Mazda and replaced by a new National Class. Pro Mazda represents the middle rung on the acclaimed Mazda Road to Indy development ladder which provides Mazda scholarships to assist drivers graduating from karting through USF2000, Pro Mazda and Indy Lights PresentedRead More

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 16, 2016) – Cole Custer’s No. 00 Chevrolet Silverado will wear OneMain blue and white for three races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) this season, beginning at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway (July 20). OneMain, which joined JR Motorsports as backer of the No. 1 OneMain Chevrolet Camaro in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Elliott Sadler, will also be on Custer’s No. 00 entry at Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 22) and again the following week at Martinsville Speedway (Oct. 29). “We are proud to see OneMain stepRead More

Malaysian driver Weiron Tan is set to challenge for the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires title in 2016, after signing with Team Pelfrey to embark on his second year in the series. He is aiming to build on a successful rookie year, which saw him finish fourth in the standings, scooping four race victories along the way. He also finished Vice-Champion in the Cooper Tires Winterfest, scoring two wins and three second places from five races. Tan joined the Pro Mazda series in 2015 after a successful juniorRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway ended with a mere handful of cars undamaged—and race winner Denny Hamlin’s Toyota wasn’t one of them. But Hamlin got his wreck out of the way early in a two-car incident with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Ford on Lap 13 and won the race in overtime with a large swatch of silver tape on the right side of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry. Hamlin triumphed in the season-opening non-points event for theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Defending Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano saved his best for the last two minutes of the second and final practice session on Saturday afternoon. Drafting with teammate Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney of Wood Brothers Racing, a Team Penske affiliate, Logano topped the speed chart at 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway with a lap at 195.933 mph (45.934 seconds), the fastest of the day. Keselowski was a close second at 195.848 mph, followed by Blaney at 195.797 mph. Those three driversRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – To say that Brian Vickers appreciates the opportunity to drive the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet in place of injured Tony Stewart would be nothing short of a colossal understatement. “If anything, I feel more rested than every single person in this garage,” Vickers said on Friday at Daytona International Speedway, as Stewart-Haas announced him as the interim driver for Stewart during Speedweeks. “I’m more hungry than every single person in this garage. “I’m happier to be here, more appreciative.”Read More

Maximum Field Sizes / Corresponding New Points Systems NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Maximum 40-car field (36 Charter team cars, 4 Open team cars), race winner awarded 40 points, 40th place awarded one point. NASCAR XFINITY Series – Maximum 40-car field, race winner awarded 40 points, 40th place awarded one point. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – Maximum 32-truck field, race winner awarded 32 points, 32nd place awarded one point New points systems apply to driver, owner, and manufacturer championships. Existing 2015 Bonus points remain in place for 2016. QualifyingRead More