By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter & NASCAR Contributor LONG BEACH, Calif. – California Pizza Kitchen will support Townsend Bell’s efforts with Andretti Autosport in the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. This will be the first time that the Beverly Hills based restaurant chain will serve as a sponsor in motorsport. “Being a California native, I cannot think of a better fit than California Pizza Kitchen to join our team for the 100th Running of the Indy 500,” said Bell. “It’s awesome to represent aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin had had their differences in the past, but what happened in Saturday morning’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway had nothing to do with old grudges. Nevertheless, contact between their two cars bent the sheet metal on both vehicles, Hamlin’s on the right front and Patrick’s on the left rear. Patrick, on new tires, was struggling with the handling of her No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet and had difficulty holding the bottom.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Erik Jones’ third NASCAR XFINITY Series victory was a real triple play. In the series’ new Dash 4 Cash format featuring two heat races and a main event, Jones took advantage of a restart with three laps left in Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 and 1) won the race, 2) earned the $100,000 dash for cash bonus and 3) stopped Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and race runner-up Kyle Busch’s streak of four straight NASCAR national series victories. Jones, the pole winner,Read More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter & NASCAR Contributor LONG BEACH, Calif. – Helio Castroneves rose to the occasion in the Firestone Fast Six to claim his second straight pole at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Castroneves snuck his way out of group one and made it into the Fast Six. Once the green flag dropped for the Fast Six, Castroneves wasted no time from the get go and laid down the fastest lap of the session. Will Power went off course in turn 9 which brought out the red flag withRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer The Verizon IndyCar Series held its final practice before qualifications for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Team Penske, with their four-car juggernaut, swept the top of the charts led by 2014 Series Champion, Will Power.  Power’s Penske teammates, Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya took positions two through four, respectively. With a lap 1:06.89, pacing the circuit at 105.918 mph, the Australian driver topped the time charts in the morning session, completing pre-qualifying efforts that saw Penske cars lead both theRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter & NASCAR Contributor The debate on the domed skids for the superspeedways seems to be pretty split throughout the Verizon IndyCar Series paddock. The domed skits are mounted on the bottom of the chassis and are designed to change the airflow under the car when the car spins in order to keep the cars from getting airborne. With the domed skids comes a reduction in downforce, As a result of that, the downforce generated by the bottom of the cars is reduced due to the raisingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – When Carl Edwards wins the pole at Bristol, good things happen – for Edwards. So forgive the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing if he feels optimistic about Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FOX), the eighth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season. With the only sub-15-second lap in the money round of Friday’s knockout qualifying at the .533-mile short track, Edwards won his second Coors Light Pole Award of theRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter & NASCAR Correspondant Team Penske was on top once again during practice at Long Beach, but this time it was Will Power who paced the field. The two-time Long Beach winner bettered his time from this morning to set the fastest lap of the day at 01:07.5992s. “It was a bit of a good setup,” said Power. “I learned some stuff with Juan and now we’re progressing well. This is a track where I have struggled the last couple of years in qualifying, starting way backRead More