NASCAR Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It had to happen eventually. Wednesday’s second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice brought the first major accident of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway. Ty Dillon’s No. 95 Chevrolet spewed oil on the track, the result of an oil cooler cracked along the weld. Cars running behind Dillon’s in Turn 2 checked up, and Michael Waltrip’s No. 93 Toyota tapped the back of Ryan Newman’s No. 31 Chevrolet, spinning the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. That started a chain reaction that sawRead More

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

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

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief With the Sprint Unlimited now in the books and Denny Hamlin its victor, it is time to look at some key takeaways from Saturday night’s event. 1) NASCAR overtime rules prove insignificant The field was set after a late race caution with Hamlin leading Joey Logano, Paul Menard, and a charging Kyle Larson. They passed the overtime line on the backstretch of Daytona International Speedway, and after taking the white flag several cars ended up in the wall in Turn 2. NASCAR had a chance toRead 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 Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief After battling his own health issues the past several years, Brian Vickers is set for a golden opportunity in replacement duty for an injured Tony Stewart. Stewart-Haas Racing announced on Friday that Vickers will run the Sprint Unlimited (a non-points event) Saturday night, and the 58th annual Daytona 500. Vickers, 32, has seen his promising career derailed with a series of health issues that date back to 2010. However, after missing all but opening two races last season, the battle-tested North Carolina native has overcome aRead 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