Brian France Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor In the fall of 2015, the term “quintessential NASCAR” was coined by then NASCAR CEO Brian France with the genesis of the phrase coming after a late race incident between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Both drivers found themselves in contention as the race played out, with Logano running in the top-five for the majority of the race and Kenseth leading 153 laps on the day. A restart with 20 laps to go placed the two drivers onRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Less than 24 hours after NASCAR looked to be leaving Watkins Glen on a high note, the actions of its chairman and chief executive officer, Brian France, have led to a shake-up in the highest levels of the sanctioning body. According to a press release from the Sag Harbor, New York Police Department, France, who has served as NASCAR CEO since 2003, was arrested and taken into custody on Sunday night for “aggravated driving while intoxicated and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventhRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor NASCAR announced a handful of personnel moves among various leadership roles within the sport on Tuesday, with Ben Kennedy being named as the general manager of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series highlighting the announcement. Kennedy, a fourth-generation member of the France family, is the great grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, Jr. His mother, Lesa France Kennedy, is the CEO of International Speedway Corporation, while his uncle, Brian France, is the current CEO of NASCAR. Over the past four years, Kennedy has raced inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The distinguished NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2018 includes a formidable array of eclectic talent: NASCAR’s first champion, arguably the sport’s most innovative crew chief, racing’s most recognizable voice, the Camping World Truck Series’ all-time leading winner and a revered engine-builder-turned car owner. The first member of the 2018 class inducted on Friday night at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Red Byron, was a man of many “firsts.” He won NASCAR’s first sanctioned race on the Daytona Beach Road CourseRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Following the aftermath of Sunday’s post-race fight between Joey Logano and Kyle Busch at the conclusion of the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, all eyes turned to NASCAR to see if they would levy any fines or penalties on the two drivers in the days ahead. On Monday morning, NASCAR Vice President Steve O’Donnell made an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to give the sanctioning body’s thoughts on the incident to this point and the possibility of penalties going forward. “It’s certainly underRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Ahead of the start of the 2017 season, NASCAR announced competition and format changes that will be implemented across the three national series for the upcoming season and beyond. The new stage-based race format will roll out next month at Daytona in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and completely revamps the traditional race format that we have seen in years past. Each race will now be broken down into three stages, with drivers and crewRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Change is in the air. At the 2016 Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom, NASCAR announced several changes and perhaps none bigger than adding a playoff system to the XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series. The system will be identical to the Chase for the Sprint Cup format NASCAR has used the last two seasons. To be honest it is surprising that it took this long for NASCAR to add a playoff format to its two lower divisions and that it didn’t elect toRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Let’s cut to the Chase. Starting this year, the NASCAR XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series will use elimination-based playoff formats to determine their respective champions, just as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has done for the past two seasons. According to NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France, the new approach not only builds on the resounding success of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but it also provides a training ground for drivers who ultimately will compete at NASCAR’s highestRead More

Seven-Race Chase Formats to be Implemented in 2016 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 19, 2016) – Using the overwhelming success of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format introduced in 2014 as a guidepost, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France announced today the implementation of a playoff system in both the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. On the heels of a 2015 Chase that saw the highest season-finale viewership in nearly a decade, record-breaking page views on NASCAR.com and unparalleled volume on social media, the NASCARRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Though the line that separates acceptable racing practices from on-track over-the-line aggression may not be defined in bold paint like the line that marks the start and finish of a race, NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France contends that drivers know exactly where it is. “Do you know how many drivers have come to see (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director) Richard Buck in the last two weeks, three weeks, four weeks?,” France asked rhetorically during his annual “State of the Sport”Read More