NASCAR Drive for Diversity Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 scheduled to be driven by Ray Black, Jr., will be among the 41 entrants in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. However, it’s Black’s pit crew who are the subject matter as NASCAR announced Tuesday that tire changers Brehanna Daniels and Breanna O’Leary will go over the wall in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for the first time, serving Black’s car. Daniels, a former Norfolk State University women’s basketballRead 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 Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer In recent years, Martinsville Speedway has become a track for young, up-and-coming drivers to make their NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut. This weekend’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 will be no different. Three of the up-and-coming drivers are family, and are all from Eagle River, Wisconsin. 18-year-old Natalie Decker will be attempting to make her debut in the No.14 VP’s Madditive Chevrolet Silverado for NTS Motorsports. Natalie’s cousin, 21-year-old Claire Decker, who is also attempting to make her series debut, will drive the No.10 AMSOILRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – It was a chance internet search that led jackman Mike Russell to NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program and, ultimately, to a NASCAR XFINITY Series championship with driver Chris Buescher. “I was on the internet searching pit crew development stuff, and I came across coach Phil Horton,” said Russell, who on Saturday became the first African-American D4D alumnus to win a NASCAR national series championship in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “So I called him and talked to him, and thatRead More