NASCAR

NASCAR: NJ native Martin Truex Jr. on turning 40 and year two with Joe Gibbs

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Martin Truex Jr. had a chance to reflect before he leads the field to green at NASCAR’s All-Star showcase at Bristol on Wednesday.

Martin Truex Jr. turned 40 on June 29. Prior to a runner-up finish in Kentucky Speedway’s Quaker State 400 on Sunday, Truex insisted that he wasn’t “feeling” 40. The Mayetta, New Jersey native might have contradicted himself, however, when pressed about the “underglow” lighting NASCAR plans to use for its All-Star Race on Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, FS1).

“I’m not a huge fan of it. I don’t know, I think it’s kind of ridiculous looking,” Truex said with a smirk, perhaps aware his comments against the Fast and Furious-style enhancements were dating him. “It’s really up to what everybody wants and what the fans like. It’s not like we get to vote on it or anything. I found out just a few days ago. We’ll see how it all plays out.”

Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, as well as its competitors, will look different in more ways than one during the annual exhibition. In addition to the underglow, the cars’ side numbers have been pushed back. The race will also feature NASCAR’s first instance of the “choose cone” mandates, where drivers will be allowed to pick their lane on restarts, potentially sacrificing positions to draw their preferred lane.

This will also be the first time the All-Star race is held away from Charlotte Motor Speedway since 1986.

It’ll be Truex’s redesign that leads the field to green in the main event, having drawn pole position in the weekly lineup sweepstakes. Truex has a de facto lifetime pass to the event as one of eight active drivers who have taken home a NASCAR Cup Series title. Other invitees include prior All-Star Race winners and winners from any points race from the prior season or ongoing season up to that point (Rookie Cole Custer held off Truex at Kentucky to earn his spot). Three drivers can race their way in by winning any tier of the NASCAR All-Star Open beforehand and one more will enter via a fan vote.

Truex, however, doesn’t have to worry about his entry with the 2017 Cup Series title under his belt. He appeared to be a bit more focused on the stakes the remaining 19 points races have instead.

This marks Truex second season in Gibbs’ stable, joining the team after his single-car operation at Denver-based Furniture Row Racing shut down. It was in Furniture Row’s No. 78 that Truex earned his Cup title and he has posted back-to-back runner-up finishes in the standings, including last year in the No. 19 (in which he won a circuit-best seven races). After his second-place posting at Kentucky, Truex sits in seventh place in the current ledger. He won June’s 500-lap event at Martinsville Speedway and his nine finishes in the top ten are tied for fourth-best on the circuit. This modern success has been accomplished under the supervision of new crew chief James Small, who previously worked with Truex on the engineering side of things at both FRM and JGR.

Truex made two remarks in his Sunday availability that should inspire some fear into his competition: he feels his No. 19 team hasn’t hit its full potential yet in this new era of no practice or qualifying. That, and the fact he mentioned that he’s showing no inclinations toward retirement despite reaching his fourth decade.

“I don’t know we’re where we want to be right now,” Truex admitted. “I think last year, one of the things we struggled with was unloading off the trailer and being where we wanted to be. I felt like we always had to make a lot of gains throughout the weekends. This year, since coming back without having practice, I feel like it’s hurt us a lot. We’ve had some inconsistencies here and there and we’ve just had some bad races. It’s really not typical for us. I definitely would say we’re not where we want to be from that standpoint.”

“We really just have been missing practice a bit there. Our strength always as a team was figuring out how to get the car better between practice and the race. That was really something we really excelled at and we’ve missed out on that I feel like.”

As for retirement, Truex made it quite clear that he views his 40th birthday in a completely different light from that of his father’s.

“I’m glad to be 40, I’m glad to make it another year,” he remarked. “It’s funny, when I got reminded that it was coming up, I remembered back to when my Dad turned 40 and me thinking how old he was. Getting up there for sure, but I don’t feel 40 so I guess that’s a good thing.”

“I really hadn’t thought much about (how many years I have left) to be honest…I think I just kind of take it as the contracts come along and think about where I’m at, how things are going. Right now, I’m loving what I’m doing, I love my team and I’ve got a lot of great partners that have made it all possible. I think as long as we keep having success, we’ll just keep rolling.”

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: Rookie Cole Custer steals the last lap of a thriller in Kentucky

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For the first time in nearly three years, a rookie won in the NASCAR Cup Series, as Cole Custer’s last-lap pass scored an improbable victory.

Kentucky is known for hosting “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” via the Kentucky Derby, whose post time has been pushed to September. The NASCAR Cup Series was happy to partly fill the gap in the meantime at Kentucky Speedway.

The final two laps of the Quaker State 400 took just over a minute to complete, but they certainly retained the level of excitement and intensity the Thoroughbreds often provide on the first Saturday in May. An hour away from Churchill Downs, Cole Custer and his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford came out on top at the end of a two-lap shootout, the final portions of the 267-circuit event. The rookie Custer beat out the combined 84 Cup Series wins of Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Ryan Blaney to earn his first victory at NASCAR’s premier level.

Custer sat in the sixth position when the caution flag came out for Matt Kenseth’s spin with six laps to go. He got a good push on the outside from fellow first-win seeker Matt DiBenedetto on the outside lane to catapult past the lead trio of Harvick, Truex, and Blaney. Once Custer got into clean air at the front, he was able to hold Truex off by 0.271 seconds to earn his first win in his 20th Cup start.

Custer, 22, has finished in the top five in the final standings in each of the past three NASCAR Xfinity Series campaigns. His full-time Cup Series debut got off to a tough start with only one top-ten finish over his first 15 starts in 2020. But he built momentum with a fifth-place finish at last week’s event at Indianapolis before his historic afternoon at Kentucky. Sunday featured not only the first win for Custer, but also the first win for his crew chief Mike Shiplett. The two united for seven wins at the Xfinity level last season.

The win for Custer proved monumental in other ways on the national level as well. Custer’s win ensures him a spot in the NASCAR All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday night (7 p.m. ET, FS1). Had Sunday’s effort fallen short, Custer would’ve had to race his way into the exhibition by winning one of the three stages of the NASCAR All-Star Open. One more driver will reach the event through a fan vote. Provided he finishes in the top 30 in the points standings, Custer has also more or less clinched a spot in the Cup Series playoffs this fall. He is the first Rookie of the Year competitor to a win a Cup Series race since Chris Buescher won the rain-shortened Pocono event in August 2016 and the first to do so without the assistance of weather since Juan Pablo Montoya at Sonoma Raceway in 2007 (Trevor Bayne and Brad Keselowski won as part-time drivers in 2011 and 2013 respectively).

Truex, a two-time winner at Kentucky, managed to hold on to the runner-up spot despite late contact with Harvick, who finished third behind DiBenedetto. Defending race-winner Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.

Following the non-points race at Bristol, the NASCAR regular season resumes next Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway via the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

Race Notes

  • Custer currently sits in the 20th spot in the standings but leapfrogs ahead of 16th-place Austin Dillon for the final playoff spot. Dillon was involved in a late incident with Brennan Poole but recovered to finish 13th.

 

  • Jimmie Johnson returned to the track after missing the Indianapolis race due to a positive test for COVID-19. It ended his streak of 663 consecutive Cup Series starts, but two negative tests in a 24-hour span allowed him to return. Johnson was in third place for a restart with 19 laps to go, but contact with Brad Keselowski spun him out and relegated him to an 18th-place finish. He nonetheless holds the final playoff spots via points, 24 points in front of Dillon.

 

  • In addition to Custer, two other rookies finished in the top ten, including Christopher Bell (7th) and Tyler Reddick (10th).

 

  • Aric Almirola saw his streak of consecutive top-five postings end at five races. Almirola still managed a top-ten finish (8th) and won the first stage of the race as part of a streak where he led 128 consecutive laps.

 

  • Benefitting from a separate Kenseth spin, Keselowski (9th) used a late caution to his advantage to win stage two.

 

  • John Hunter Nemechek (accident), Timmy Hill (electrical), Ryan Preece (transmission) all failed to finish

For full results, click here

For full standings, click here

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

Bubba Wallace Is Becoming The Tiger Woods of NASCAR

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Racial integration is something that has been a fixture in our nation’s history for the longest time. In terms of sports, it was not easy. Barriers had to be broken down for African Americans to earn the opportunity to compete at the highest level in their respective sports.

Now, as the national climate changes, a traditionally caucasian dominated sport has found it’s newest star in trailblazer, Bubba Wallace.

Tiger Woods was a star golfer from a young age. From putting against Bob Hope on the Mike Douglas Show, his stardom has only blossomed. Yes, there have been many bumps in the road with injuries and controversy, but Tiger has done something that Bubba has begun to emulate.

Breaking into a white-dominated sport and having success. Tiger was able to do it and do it in a big way by becoming one of the best to ever do it.

Bubba has yet to win a race yet, but whilst driving the number 43 machine for the king, Richard Petty, he has had success. With a handful of top tens in the cup series, Bubba has continued to develop as a racer.

Although he hasn’t had substantial on-track success, off the track he has brought in a new fan base to the sport. African Americans are seeing Bubba as an inspiration and hopefully will flock to racing.

Right now, Bubba is not on the Tiger Woods level of success in terms of accomplishments. However, he could be soon. The notoriety Bubba has gained has made him a household name in mainstream media. He’s dominating the All-Star fan vote and becoming a serious merchandise seller. This revenue could lead some more successful teams with top tier machines to give Bubba a shot.

A team like Hendrick Motorsports could tap Bubba to replace Jimmie Johnson, in what would be a huge move. Or, even another top team like Stewart Haas or Chip Ganassi Racing could give him a shot. Despite significant on track success, Bubba is making a huge impact. Bubba is helping NASCAR make great strides in their continued mission to preach diversity and inclusion in racing as they truly modernize and adapt to society.

NASCAR sends memo to teams about mask use and coronavirus exposure

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This week, NASCAR sent a memo to teams about crew members not fully following coronavirus protocols. Several team members have been caught not wearing masks properly or at all, and some may have lied about coronavirus exposure.

This comes as coronavirus cases rise down south and out west. A lot of the locations with the rising cases are places where NASCAR is expected to host events in the near future.

Additionally, this is after Jimmie Johnson became the first driver to test positive for the virus. He got it from his wife who was having mild symptoms. After a short quarantine period, he tested negative twice and was cleared to return to racing. He missed just once race.

Although NASCAR won’t release how many tests have came back positive throughout the sport, it’s presumed that the number is rising. If team members weren’t following guidelines and numbers weren’t going up, then I doubt NASCAR sends out the memo. Policies haven’t been enforced very strictly, but that could change for the coming events.

Here’s the memo below:

The memo seems to be a warning to the teams, and a strong reminder about the impact that coronavirus can have. Coronavirus shut down the sport before, and it could do it again if the situation in the sport worsens.

Hopefully, NASCAR won’t see many more coronavirus cases and teams will effectively be warned from the memo. Ratings have been improved since the return in May, and staying in business would be great for the sport. The playoffs are nearing and the intensity is rising, with a lot of racing ahead. It would be a shame if NASCAR got shut down again.

NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson speaks about his return to the track

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Less than a week after testing positive for COVID-19, Jimmie Johnson will return to the NASCAR Cup Series circuit on Sunday.

Prior to last Sunday’s Big Machine Hand Sanitizer Powered by Big Machine Records at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it had been nearly two calendar decades since Jimmie Johnson’s name didn’t show up on a NASCAR Cup Series scoring monitor.

The 2001 New Hampshire 300, the year’s season finale, was the race in question. It was a rare Friday afternoon excursion, rescheduled from its usual early fall spot after the tragic events of September 11. Of the 42 drivers who partook, four are still racing in the Cup Series full time and five had sons run in either the Cup or Xfinity Series events at IMS over the weekend. The circuit was still known as the “NASCAR Winston Cup Series” at the time. Among the sponsors adorning the machines…some of which were manufactured by Pontiac…were Kmart, Cingular Wireless, and Kodak.

Simply put, it had been a long, long time since Johnson didn’t run a race sanctioned by NASCAR premier series, 663 races to be precise. A positive test of COVID-19 brought upon his absence, revealed less than 48 hours before the green flag waved at Indianapolis.

Johnson took a different seat last Sunday, that of his couch from his home in Colorado. There, Johnson watched Xfinity Series regular Justin Allgaier pilot his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, the first time someone else took over the car since it hit the track for the first time in 2002. In that vehicle, Johnson has won seven Cup Series titles (tied for the most all-time with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt) and made countless racing memories. This season is set to be Johnson’s final year of full-time racing, one that has already been interrupted by the virus’ initial outbreak. His diagnosis prevented him from a final victory lap at IMS, where he had won four times (most among NASCAR drivers other than Jeff Gordon).

Sunday wasn’t the hardest part, though. According to Johnson, the toughest stretch was the hours that preceded it.

“It was just such a weird set of events,” Johnson recalled in a Friday morning conference call. “I would say that Saturday night trying to go to sleep was probably the most difficult time for me, knowing that I wasn’t going to be in the car. Sunday morning was still pretty tough, but I felt like Saturday night was probably the peak of the emotions that go with missing a race and the consecutive start streak coming to an end. Not being in the car, my final year, all the things that you would naturally think of, Saturday night was the peak.”

Johnson wouldn’t be at the hallowed racing ground of Indianapolis. But once he partook in the No. 48 team’s weekly prerace meeting, he knew things were going to work out.

He admitted that Sunday morning “wasn’t great”, but things drastically improved upon hearing the voices of his crew and encouraging them for the 400-mile test ahead. The only special advice he had for Allgaier was to “just to drive the wheels off of” the famed No. 48 machine.

“I was able to just hear the voices of my crew guys, pump them up, and just be involved in that team moment,” he recalled. “It’s crazy how it just relaxed me because I was convinced that I wasn’t going to watch the race. I was like I can’t do it. But having that moment to talk to (crew chief Cliff Daniels), all the guys, Justin was clearly on the call and to hear the words he had to say to the team, it let a lot of that go and I actually watched the race.”

The No. 48 didn’t last long on Sunday. Allgaier had to start from the back of the field and made up 11 positions by the time a competition caution came out on lap 14 of 160, but he got involved in a pit road pile-up that took out several competitors. A lost tire damaged the car beyond repair and relegated Allgaier to a 37th-place finish. Fortunately for Johnson, a good majority of his competition on the NASCAR playoff bubble likewise struggled on Sunday, leaving him a healthy 46 points ahead of the 17th-place cutoff in the standings.

Two negative tests and a physician’s approval later, Johnson will return to the track for Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1). Johnson has drawn the 20th spot in the starting lineup for the 267-lap event. Kentucky is one of four venues on the circuit that has yet to host Johnson in victory lane. His 83 victories are most among active drivers and tied for fifth all-time with Cale Yarborough. The most recent of those victories, however, came back in June 2017 at Dover, 110 races ago. It’s by far the longest drought of his career.

Even if Johnson is forced to leave Sparta without a victory, the track holds a special, nostalgic place in his heart. The track hosted some of his early HMS tests prior to his Cup Series debut. Results, however, have been hard to come by. He has finished 30th or worse in three of his last four Kentucky visits and crashed in his lone Xfinity trek in 2001 (when it was known as the Busch Series). A trophy on Sunday would not only clinch a playoff berth but also help his career come full circle…and provide a storybook ending to what’s been one of the most challenging weeks of Johnson’s life.

“I have positive vibes from (the Hendrick tests), but my racing experiences there from the Busch Series days and even in the Cup car has just been demanding and tough,” Johnson said. “I hope to conquer the track from that personal standpoint. And then clearly what I’ve been through, what my friends and family have been through, what my fan base has been through in the last week, it would be nice to leave there with a trophy.”

A sense of family helped Johnson get through the process of recovery. Earlier this week, Johnson was one of several drivers who stood in defense of Bubba Wallace when U.S. President Donald Trump falsely accused the circuit’s only African-American driver of passing a noose found in his garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway last month off as a hoax. Johnson confirmed a post marked with the tag “#IStandWithBubba” and an image of the stylized No. 43 seen on Wallace’s Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet.

Even more concerning to Johnson than the status of his No. 48 was how his family was coping with the diagnosis. Johnson confirmed he never experienced any COVID-19 symptoms but was tested after his wife Chandra experienced what she thought was seasonal allergies (Chandra has likewise been asymptomatic otherwise). Fortunately, neither of the couple’s daughters, Genevieve and Lydia, were said to be ill. The pair gave the command to start engines prior to the Pocono 350 two weekends ago and Johnson revealed on Twitter that Genevieve, nicknamed Evie, turned 10 on Tuesday.

“The kids are in a good place with it all, I think as good as they can be for their ages,” Johnson said. “But it is tough, they quickly forget how diligent they need to be. I guess ultimately, I know this is a point in time that their little minds will never forget what their parents went through.”

Even with all the delays and the potential of one last ride at Indianapolis delayed at the very least, Johnson has shown no signs of straying away from that path of a final full-time season. But he truly believes that his last season can be one of growth, learning, and understanding thanks to what he’s experienced in this process and the changing landscape across NASCAR.

Though the situation may appear dire at times, Johnson’s refusing to let these current affairs take his sense of positivity.

“It’s been an interesting year and at times wonder why it’s happened in my final full-time season in Cup. (But) when you turn on the news and look around and see how many people are really ill from this, the seriousness and the severity of the pandemic, it quickly fades out of my mind,” Johnson said. “This is a big problem, it’s a pandemic. So, I’ve really kept my emotions in check. I’m just trying to figure out how to keep my family safe and how I can ultimately learn from everything that’s going on.”

“We’ve dealt with a lot in the last four months as a nation and a world, so (we’re) trying to learn and grow, trying to teach and educate my children. Try to lead by example. I’ve been able to learn that my challenges are watched closely by my kids and how I deal with that adversity is ultimately teaching them. And with having a tough couple of years professionally and then now it’s ramped up to this level. Again, I just try to find the right spin on it. It’s easy to get into a dark headspace on all this. My wife and I are trying so hard to not let that happen and try to teach our children the best that we can.”

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: No. 24 driver William Byron remains hopeful on the cusp of the playoffs

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Three years into his NASCAR Cup Series career, William Byron’s pleased with his current trajectory despite a lack of victory lane visits.

The paths of William Byron and Didi Gregorius will likely never cross. After all, one’s a driver on the NASCAR Cup Series national tour and the latter is a Major League shortstop in Philadelphia. The two, however, share an exclusive, if not unspoken, bond in that each held the most unenviable position their premier circuit has ever seen.

Both Byron and Gregorius were the ones to follow the trails of athletic icons from the 1990s that changed their respective sports forever and stretched their respective careers into the new century. Each complimented their on-field/track exploits with larger-than-life personalities that brought their sport beyond the pages of, say, Sports Illustrated. But that’s how big Jeff Gordon and Derek Jeter respectively were to auto racing and baseball. Gregorius spent the past five seasons stepping out of Jeter’s cleat trails as the New York Yankees’ shortstop and made a name for himself. Such efforts were rewarded with a new, $14 million deal with the Phillies.

Three seasons in, Byron’s still working on that second part.

The 22-year-old’s spot in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 Chevrolet is safe by all accounts. But a visit to victory lane still awaits 88 starts into his Cup career. Technically speaking, he isn’t the “true” successor to Gordon, as Chase Elliott took over the car for two years after Gordon’s 2015 retirement. But Elliott has since made a name for himself in the rebranded No. 9 for Hendrick, leaving the current burden to Byron, who won the 2017 Xfinity Series title less than two weeks before he turned 20.

Pressure, however, isn’t getting to Byron. He’s currently teetering on the brink of the NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture, holding the 14th of 16 postseason seeds and 48 points ahead of the cutoff. The Gordon successor is more pleased about the progress he’s making on his third go-around.

“It’s definitely easy to get frustrated with the fact that we haven’t won,” Byron said in a Friday afternoon Zoom teleconference. “I think that at this point, just with our progression we had last year, at this point we would have thought we’d have a few more late-race chances at it. I think we’ve had some cars on some days that were capable of winning.”

“But, to be honest with you, we’ve had six or seven issues this year that have really been no fault of one thing or one individual, but we’ve just as a team, we’ve just not executed in those situations. We’ve had flat tires and different issues. Those were some of our best races and some of our best chances to win and unfortunately, those kind of got washed away for us. But honestly, we just try to continue bringing the same speed and we know if we can bring that same speed that we’ve had on those weekends when things did go wrong, we’ll give ourselves a shot to win. So, yeah, we expect to win. We hope to win soon. We’ve just got to continue to bring the speed to do it and hopefully execute those moments.”

There has, indeed, been a good share of things to smile upon in the No. 24 stall. Byron’s squad won one of the two qualifying races prior to the Daytona 500 and has won stages at Darlington and Indianapolis since NASCAR returned from its coronavirus pause. Since a wreck took him out of the early stages of Daytona’s season-opener, Byron has finished 15 consecutive races, running all 32 laps in the process.

Bad luck, however, like a flat tire in the latter event on Sunday, has denied him a win and kept him on the playoff bubble. General consistency has followed. Last season saw Byron beat out Hendrick teammates Alex Bowman and Jimmie Johnson in top-ten finishes. But Byron, backed by the expertise of former Johnson pit boss Chad Knaus (who was on board for all seven of Johnson’s titles), is enthused by the progress he’s made in his third season.

“I think we’ve learned through the adversity that we’ve had this year,” Byron noticed. “Our pit crew has improved. I think that was an area that we needed to improve at the beginning of the year, and we made some changes and things to improve that. So, I think we’re there now. We just have to keep ourselves in a good points position and then, get toward the Playoffs and hopefully turn that speed and potential into there so we can maybe go farther than the Round of 12 like we did last year.”

Byron has even taught himself to use misfortune as a positive experience.

“When adversity would hit me at the beginning of my career, it really affected me toward the next week and I would really kind of race differently because of it,” Byron said in a look back. Maybe (I’d be) more conservative or more aggressive, trying to make up for it. Whereas now I feel I just don’t look at it and I don’t really pay attention to the bad fortune that happens. It definitely frustrated me a lot the day of the race, and really maybe even carries over until the next morning, but that’s really it. Once we get past the next morning, it really doesn’t affect me anymore. And that’s been a difference for me. I think that’s just maturity, probably, and the race team and myself.”

Byron has drawn a starting position of 21st as the NASCAR Cup Series descends upon Kentucky Speedway for Sunday afternoon’s Quaker State 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: Watkins Glen event cancelled in latest schedule release

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For the first time since 1985, Schuyler County’s Watkins Glen International will not hold a NASCAR Cup Series event.

NASCAR released its remaining regular season schedule for each of its national series on Wednesday, but the annual trip to Schuyler County will have to wait until 2021.

New York State’s Watkins Glen International will not run their annual events in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series as the auto racing circuit continues to run its full slate in its comeback from the coronavirus pause. The premier Cup Series was set to hold the Go Bowling at The Glen on August 16, one day after the Xfinity drivers ran the Zippo 200 at The Glen. Their races have instead gone to Daytona International Speedway, who will host these summer events on their in-house oval-road course hybrid (known as a “roval”).

“This is an unprecedented time in the history of our nation and Watkins Glen International,” said WGI President Michael Printup said in a statement. “The dynamic situation we are all confronting is impacting our daily lives and activities in unimaginable ways. While we are disappointed we will not experience NASCAR in New York this year, as we look broadly at the current pandemic in our country and around the world, we must focus first on everyone’s safety and well-being as NASCAR seeks the best way to continue delivering a remarkable on-track product week after week.”

WGI hosted its first NASCAR race in 1957 and the Cup Series has visited annually since 1986. Chase Elliott has won each of the past two visits while Tony Stewart leads all drivers with five wins at the 2.45-mile road course near the Finger Lakes. The Xfinity Series has also visited annually since 1991 with the exception of a three-year hiatus (2002-04).

Daytona is best known for hosting the renowned, season-opening Daytona 500. Its summer event, the Coke Zero 400, was moved from its traditional Independence Day weekend slot to the final race of the 26-stage regular season prior to the start of the campaign. This will be the first time that NASCAR races on the Daytona roval, which has staged the Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race (previously known as the 24 Hours of Daytona) since 1962. Each of NASCAR’s three national series (including the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series) will run on the roval, as will the ARCA Menards Series (a NASCAR property since 2018).

Despite the loss of Watkins Glen, NASCAR will still make visits to the northeast. Delaware’s Dover International Speedway, commonly known as “The Monster Mile”, will host six races on the weekend of August 21-23, including a pair of 311-lap Cup Series races. A previously announced portion of the schedule revealed that New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon will still host the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 on August 2.

Nearing its midway point, the Cup Series will return to action on Sunday afternoon at Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

Remaining Cup Series Regular Season Schedule
Date Location Time (ET) Length (Miles) TV
July 12 Kentucky 2:30 p.m. 400 FS1
July 15 Bristol (All-Star) 7:00 p.m. 75 FS1
July 19 Texas 3:00 p.m. 501 NBCSN
July 23 Kansas 7:30 p.m. 400 NBCSN
August 2 New Hampshire 3:00 p.m. 318 NBCSN
August 8 Michigan 4:00 p.m. 312 NBCSN
August 9 Michigan 4:30 p.m. 312 NBCSN
August 16 Daytona (Roval) 3:00 p.m. 231 NBC
August 22 Dover 4:00 p.m. 311 NBCSN
August 23 Dover 4:00 p.m. 311 NBCSN
August 29 Daytona 7:30 p.m. 400 NBC

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson medically cleared to return to action

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Jimmie Johnson, Nascar

After two negative COVID-19 tests in a 24-hour span, Jimmie Johnson will return to Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 Chevrolet.

Jimmie Johnson has medically cleared to return to NASCAR Cup Series racing and resume his final full season of action.

Johnson, 44, missed last weekend’s race at Indianapolis after testing positive for COVID-19 two days before Sunday’s 400-mile event. Having tested negative twice in a 24-hour span, Johnson was cleared by his physician in compliance with NASCAR’s health guidelines. According to a release from HMS, Johnson never experienced symptoms.

NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Justin Allgaier took over Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet during the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records. He was relegated to a 37th-place finish after getting involved in an early accident on pit road that tore up several cars.

“My family is so grateful for the incredible love and support we’ve received over the last several days,” Johnson said in the statement. “I especially want to thank Justin Allgaier for stepping in for me at Indy and being a true pro. I’m excited about getting back to business with my team this weekend.”

The Hendrick statement also revealed four crew members were tested after Johnson’s diagnosis and all of them tested negative. HMS runs four Chevrolets on a weekly basis, including the respective Nos. 9, 24, and 88 of Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman. Johnson himself was tested after his wife Chandra tested positive after experiencing what was thought to be seasonal allergies.

The seven-time Cup Series champion Johnson announced last fall that 2020 will be his final year as a full-time driver. Despite NASCAR’s two-month shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and his streak of 663 consecutive Cup Series starts ending, Johnson has no intention of delaying his retirement plans. He has driven the No. 48 full-time since 2002 and has won 83 Cup races (most among active drivers). The current standings place Johnson in 15th, 46 points ahead of the playoff cutoff with 10 races remaining in the regular season.

Johnson and the Cup Series descends upon Kentucky Speedway this weekend for Sunday’s Quaker State 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: Chase Briscoe proving he deserves a 2021 Cup Series ride

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One of the biggest stories of the 2020 NASCAR season has been the dominating performance of Chase Briscoe in the Xfinity Series. Through 13 races, Briscoe has won five of them and sits first in the standings, driving the #98 for Stewart-Haas. He’s won three of the past four races under interim crew chief Greg Zipadelli, the former crew chief of Tony Stewart.

Briscoe is proving that he deserves a Cup Series ride, and two spots may be opening up right in Stewart-Haas. Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola have contracts expiring after 2020. Although the two have performed pretty well, they haven’t won much. Because of the lack of wins, it’s possible that Stewart-Haas lets them walk after 2020.

Almirola is 9th in points, but has finished in the top five in each of the last five races. He won in 2018 at Talladega, that being his only win for Stewart-Haas. Bowyer has won twice for Stewart-Haas, but both were in 2018. He is 13th in standings now and has five top-10s this year.

With Almirola on the run that he’s on, it’s more likely that it will be Bowyer who walks after 2020. But, what if both come back to Stewart-Haas? There’s a ride potentially opening up at Penske this winter, with Brad Keselowski having a contract expiring. Lots of speculation may have Keselowski going to Hendrick to drive the 48, and if that happens, the 2 car could be free for Briscoe. Penske drives fords like Stewart-Haas, and Briscoe drove for Brad Keselowski in the 2017 truck series.

With his Xfinity Series success, a few different paths could take Chase Briscoe into the Cup Series in 2021. A ride could be opening in his current company, or it’s possible he could switch to Penske in the premier series.

NASCAR: Kevin Harvick holds off Matt Kenseth in chaotic Indianapolis thriller

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A late incident involving Denny Hamlin allowed Kevin Harvick to emerge from Indianapolis with his fourth win of the NASCAR Cup Series season.

With the Colts, Pacers, and Fever on hiatus, Kevin Harvick was happy to provide Indianapolis with some late athletic heroics during the NASCAR Cup Series’ annual excursion to perhaps auto racing’s most hallowed ground.

Denny Hamlin led the race with eight laps to go, but when a lost tire slammed him into Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s wall, Harvick took advantage. Flanked by teammates from Stewart-Haas Racing, his No. 4 Ford held off fellow veteran and Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth over a two-lap shootout to win the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered By Big Machine Records.

The win was Harvick’s fourth of the 2020 season and his third in the 400-mile event at the track known as The Brickyard. He joins Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson as the only NASCAR drivers to win at least three times at IMS, which has hosted the Cup Series annually since 1994.

Harvick, who started the day in 11th via random draw, took his first lead of the day at Lap 17 of 160 in the midst of the race’s competition caution. Crew chief Rodney Childers brought the No. 4 down pit road shortly before the yellow flag waved.

The gambit paid off in more ways than one. Not only did Harvick take the lead when his competitors needed service, but he also avoided a pile-up at the narrow entrance that ended the day of several drivers including Ryan Preece, Corey LaJoie, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Zach Price, a tire-changer on Ryan Blaney’s pit crew, got pinched between his No. 12 Ford and Brennan Poole’s No. 15 in the chaos. Price was transported to a local hospital, but seemed to be in good spirits otherwise. NBC cameras showed him smiling and displaying the thumbs up as he was loaded into the ambulance.

William Byron took the first 50-lap stage, but Harvick fought back to take the second. It appeared that Harvick and Hamlin would once again be the drivers to beat after swapping the top-two spots during the doubleheader at Pocono last weekend. Over the final 60-lap segment, it appeared that would be how things shaped out. Hamlin would set himself up to take the lead from Harvick after pitting one lap before the No. 4. Kenseth, on a different pit cycle, would hold the lead from lap 123 through 134, when Alex Bowman lost a tire and hit the wall hard to bring out the caution.

Hamlin took the lead when Kenseth needed service during the Bowman caution and beat Harvick out on the ensuing restart. He had distanced himself from Harvick and Kenseth, who worked his way up to third, and seemed to be coasting toward his fifth victory of the year.

But going into the first turn, Hamlin lost a tire and took a hard hit to the wall, ending his chances at the win and setting up a two-lap, winner-take-all finish. Hamlin was one of several drivers who saw their days hampered or ended entirely due to tire issues, joining Bowman, Ryan Newman, Erik Jones, and Justin Allgaier.

Harvick assumed the lead next to Kenseth. Behind them were Harvick’s SHR teammates Aric Almirola and Cole Custer. He got off to a strong restart, aided by a strong push from the rookie Custer’s No. 41 Ford. From there, he was able to get into clean air and deny Kenseth his first Indianapolis title.

Kenseth has now finished in the Brickyard’s runner-up spot on four occasions. His second-place posting was nonetheless his best finish since taking over the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet from the fired Kyle Larson. Almirola would continue a hot streak in third, his fifth consecutive top-five finish. Brad Keselowski snuck into fourth, while Custer hung on to post first career Cup Series top five.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday afternoon for at Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1).

Race Notes

  • Sunday marked the first NASCAR Cup Series event without Jimmie Johnson since November 23, 2001, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Johnson, a seven-time Cup Series champion, was the first driver to test positive for COVID-19, though he has not experienced any symptoms. Allgaier is set to be the replacement driver until Johnson has two negative tests in a 24-hour span.

 

  • Sunday saw a major shakeup toward the bottom of the NASCAR playoff standings. Byron and Jones held the final two playoff seeds (15th and 16th respectively) entering the race, followed by 17th-place Austin Dillon. Each stayed out to earn valuable stage points at the end of the first segment (won by Byron). Dillon was able to slightly take advantage of Byron and Jones’ wrecks. Despite being relegated to an 18th-place finish after wrecking with Matt DiBenedetto on the final lap, Dillon currently holds the final playoff spot, ahead of Jones by six points. Johnson, currently in 15th, is 36 points ahead of Jones.

 

  • For the first time, IMS hosted NASCAR’s annual July 4th-weekend event. Daytona International Speedway’s 400-mile event had hosted the race from 1959 through last season. In another first, NASCAR also hosted shared a doubleheader with the IndyCar Series, which ran alongside the NASCAR Xfinity Series on the in-house road course on Saturday. Scott Dixon won the IndyCar event, while Chase Briscoe won his fifth Xfinity event of the season.

 

  • Michael McDowell finished seventh in the mid-budget No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. It’s McDowell’s second top-ten finish at a track other than Daytona or Talladega over the last three races after posting only one over his first dozen seasons.

 

  • In addition to Custer, the top 15 finishers featured three other rookies, including Tyler Reddick (8th), Christopher Bell (12th), and John Hunter Nemechek (15th).

 

  • Bubba Wallace (9th) tied his career-best with his third top-ten finish. He currently sits in 19th place in the standings, 42 points behind Dillon for the final playoff spot.

 

  • Martin Truex Jr. (38th) drew the eighth starting spot but suffered engine trouble in the early stages. He was later involved in the pit road accident and retired his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after 16 laps.

For full results, click here

For full standings, click here

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags