NASCAR

NASCAR: Matt Kenseth talks speed and progress as future starts to loom

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The NASCAR champion has lacked his usual speed since returning, but is hopeful going into Midwestern haunts in Indianapolis and Kentucky.

NASCAR’s offseason rumor mill is often given the label of “Silly Season”. Matt Kenseth believes that, in this most unusual and chaotic calendar year, the moniker could apply far beyond the whispers and speculation of auto racing free agency.

“This whole thing has been silly all year long, pretty much since the calendar changed,” Kenseth said with a smile when addressing reporters in a Zoom conference call. “Especially since March.”

Kenseth is one of many notable names up for discussion in the movement process. The 2003 NASCAR Cup Series champion returned from retirement earlier this year to take over the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet after the firing of Kyle Larson.

Kenseth got off to a good start in his new surroundings, earning a top-ten finish in the return for both he and the circuit at Darlington Raceway. He has yet to return since, done in by sheer bad luck and unforced errors alike. Finishes of 11th and 12th at the Pocono doubleheader last weekend marked the first times that Kenseth finished on the lead lap since the Bristol race in late May.

Armed with a “week-to-week” mindset, the current exploits of the No. 42 is all Kenseth is focused on right now. He was keen to reap the positive benefits last week’s exploits at the so-called “Tricky Triangle” had to offer.

“The fun part of racing is results and winning, gaining on it, and doing that stuff,” Kenseth said. “I haven’t performed the way I’ve expected to perform up to this point. (But) I’ve really enjoyed working with that whole team over at Chip Ganassi Racing and driving a Camaro.”

“I’m taking it one week at a time, trying to get the results that we know that we’re capable of and kind of going from there. There’s a lot of difficult things to navigate in today’s world, racing included. So we’re doing it one week at a time and hopefully, start to get some results, the ones we feel like we’re capable of.”

The only detailed look into the future Kenseth provided was a small hope that NASCAR, whose most recent track expansion was the Kentucky entry in 2011, would run a Cup Series race on the Milwaukee Mile, a track that’s about an hour from his Cambridge hometown. The Mile had previously hosted Xfinity and Truck Series events through 2009.

Kenseth perhaps expressed the most disappointment over the fact that his subpar showings would be unable to help Kurt Busch, his past and present teammate.

Busch, driver of Gannasi’s No. 1 Chevrolet, is set to make 700th Cup Series start on Sunday. He and Kenseth each earned their NASCAR start under the watch of team owner Jack Roush. The two combined for 38 Cup Series wins in Roush’s Fords and brought home consecutive titles in 2003-04. Busch’s most recent NASCAR win at last year’s Kentucky event, where he held off his brother Kyle by 0.076 seconds at the finish.

“Your hope with teammates is to help make both cars stronger and that’s always the goal,” Kenseth said. “He’s always been a great teammate from the first time around to this time around. It kind of surprised me when I found it was his 700th start. It doesn’t seem like that long, really.”

“He’s a great teammate, a great race car driver. I was there for his first start and I’m glad I get to be here for his 700th, as well.”

Stuck in 30th-place thanks to his late arrival, Kenseth nonetheless has a playoff waiver should he win a race and more or less lock up a de facto postseason berth this fall. Two big opportunities await, as the Cup Series descends upon two familiar spots for the Cambridge, Wisconsin native.

Sunday marks NASCAR’s annual visit to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as Kenseth will start 21st for the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records (4 p.m. ET, NBC). Kentucky Speedway awaits next week in the form of the Quaker State 400 as the regular season races toward its late August conclusion at Daytona.

Kenseth has completed all but one lap over eight Kentucky starts (2011-18). As for Indianapolis, he was intrigued by the Xfinity Series running on the in-house road course on Saturday but expressed interest in keeping the current oval settings.

One look at Kenseth’s statsheet makes it no shock as to why he’s feeling that way. His cars have finished no worse than 12th over his last six Indianapolis starts and even won the second stage of his most recent appearance when filling in at his old squad of Roush Fenway Racing in 2018.

Thus, the next pair of stops on the high-speed tour present good opportunities to get back on the right track.

“I feel like at Pocono, even though the results weren’t spectacular, off the charts, we really ran better. I think we learned some things about the car, and how I’m feeling. That might not transfer to other places, but I feel like we’ve been learning every week.”

“It’s been a steep learning curve (but) I think we’re ahead of where we were last month. There’s a lot of areas that we’ve been able to sharpen up on, mostly on my end. Each and every week, we’ll keep going at it, and hopefully, the results get better.”

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags 

NASCAR is reinvigorated as new eyes shift to its incredible change

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NASCAR was one of the first professional sports leagues to return following COVID-19. The desperate longing for sports and gambling has driven diehard sports fans to all forms of sports. Soccer has become a little more recognized by some that had ignored it in favor of NBA or MLB during the early summer.

The AFL and KBO have gained more mainstream notoriety in recent weeks as their fan bases expand to the United States. The sport that’s had the most successful return, NASCAR. NASCAR has experienced a reinvigoration in terms of both public image and ratings.

New Eyes On NASCAR

In the last few weeks since their return, over the span of 11 races, including some primetime week races, some races on FS1, and the usual summer dip, NASCAR has had an average of 3.08 million viewers per race.

In terms of comparison against pass races this time last year, the numbers are higher even if they’re on FS1. Publicly NASCAR being back also turned eyes to the sport with the uproar of the Black Lives Matter Movement and allowed them to take a vocal stance in support of the movement. More eyes are tuning into the sport, and more money is being spent on merchandise than before.

With that said, is it sustainable? As the NBA and MLB attempt to navigate their returns, those same fans that gravitated to NASCAR in the absence of sports may return to watching the more familiar sports. Not only that but as coronavirus spikes in the south, that’s not good for NASCAR, which has most team shops primarily based in North Carolina. Now, Jimmie Johnson has been diagnosed with COVID, and that could also spark some worries as the first case they’ve had since their return.

Still, with sports like MLB struggling to return and missing out on an opportune time to gain mainstream attention and the NBA trying to navigate the new normal, eyes will still be on the sport for now. At least for now, a sport that was deemed by some to be on the ropes just a short time ago has experienced a rejuvenation.

 

NASCAR: Christopher Bell talks about a most unusual rookie season

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Christopher Bell’s first NASCAR Cup Series starts have come during perhaps the most unusual stretch in the circuit’s history.

The 2020 NASCAR season has been unlike any in the auto racing circuit’s history. Drivers in the premier Cup Series have raced as often as three times in seven days as they provide a sports-starved nation enticing morsels in the midst of a health crisis. To adhere to social distancing mandates, drivers are often afforded little, if any, face-to-face time with their crews as they prepare their machines for race days. Grandstands have been kept empty save for a few lucky thousands invited to Cup events at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway (this month’s All-Star Race in Bristol is expected to welcome 30,000).

Now imagine making your first starts at the Cup Series in the midst of this chaos.

Such is the case for Christopher Bell, the rookie driver of the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota. Bell finished third in last season’s Xfinity Series rankings and won the 2017 Truck Series to earn his promotion. Most up-and-coming NASCAR stars, like Bell’s fellow Rookie of the Year candidates Tyler Reddick and John Hunter Nemechek, often race in a handful of Cup Series events before making their debuts, but Bell wasn’t afforded such a luxury. He made his debut in February’s Daytona 500 and remains, by far, the least experienced full-time driver on the entry list.

“It started off with a pretty crazy turn of events,” Bell remarked with a smile in a Friday morning conference call. “With Donald Trump coming to the Daytona 500 and getting rained out, racing on Monday and then all of a sudden we’re taking a hiatus or whatever it was. 2020 has been one to remember, that’s for sure.”

Bell enjoyed the elite backing of Joe Gibbs Racing on the Xfinity circuit, but with their Cup stable full, he’s latched on to the mid-budget endeavors of LFR. The Texas-headquartered, family-owned squad is one of NASCAR’s few single-car teams, having regularly fielded the No. 95 since 2011. It has yet to visit victory lane, but gained speed over the years thanks to a technical alliance with Gibbs. Last season saw Matt DiBenedetto drive it to a team-best three top-five finishes, including a runner-up posting in the August race at Bristol.

The season’s opening saw Bell struggle to keep the momentum alive. A multi-car pileup on the penultimate regulation lap of his Daytona 500 debut set a foreboding pace to his Cup career before a slow day marred by postrace inspection penalties actually saw him leave Las Vegas Motor Speedway with negative points. By the time the Cup Series was forced into a two-month hiatus due to the ongoing health crisis after four race, Bell already had his first last-place finish under his belt (38th after an engine failure at Fontana) and sat a humbling 32nd-place in the standings.

He credited crew chief Jason Ratcliff for guiding him through the tough stretch. Ratcliff worked with Bell during top-five postings on the Xfinity level and won 14 races with Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 Toyota stall at JGR. The two earned 15 wins together in NASCAR’s AAA-baseball equivalent. Their seven in 2018 were good enough to set a record for an Xfinity Series rookie.

“Jason is obviously a guy that I have a lot of trust in,” Bell said. “He’s an A-caliber crew chief and I was fortunate enough to get my feet wet with him in the Xfinity side and I think that was kind of our goal was to train, I call it train, together in the Xfinity Series and get to know each other and get on the same page. It was all about making this transition to Cup. The first four weeks were a disaster, but it seems like we’re getting going and getting a lot better here recently.”

When the series was able to resume in May, Bell got off to a solid start with an 11th-place posting at the second race back at Darlington Raceway before earning the first top ten of his career in his first start at another crown jewel, the marathon Coca-Cola 600. Since the return, Bell has tallied four top-tens overall and his first top-five, a fourth-place posting at the first half of a Pocono Raceway doubleheader on Saturday.

“Ever since the break, we’ve been able to come back to the race track and be pretty competitive,” he said. “I feel like the first four weeks were definitely disappointing, but after the break my team has been doing great, bringing a lot better race cars to the track and we’ve been able to capitalize on that.”

The efforts to race in a confined, timely manner haven’t afforded Bell the opportunity to try out his Cup car on the track. So-called racing gods have apparently been all-too-keen to further complicate his quest.

With qualifying wiped out, Bell and the rest of the field are at the mercy of random draws in determining the starting lineup. The top dozen in car owners’ points get the corresponding spots. The next 24 are then separated into equal pools while the final four round out the field. Bell’s brutal start has placed him in the third pool, which is awarded the 25th through 36th positions. Prior to the second half of the Pocono doubleheader, Bell had started 32nd or worse in five of the prior six races.

With the Sunday race lineup determined by inverting Saturday’s final order, Bell started 17th, which might as well been pole position based on his luck. However, disaster came on lap 39 of 140, when a crash ended his day early and relegated him to a 39th-place finish. NASCAR’s latest travels haven’t done any good toward Bell’s starting lineup luck, as he’ll start 36th for Sunday’s Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (4 p.m. ET, NBC). The No. 95 is 17 points behind Nemechek and his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford for the final spot in the second pool (24th).

However, even as the lineup lottery fails to smile upon him, Bell is enjoying the change.

“Honestly, I’ve really enjoyed the no practice and no qualifying,” he said. “I feel like it fits what I’ve grown up doing and if you look at our performance, we’ve run exceptionally better since we stopped practicing for whatever reason that is. I really enjoy it.”

“As a rookie going to the race track, which my starting position, I’m not starting on the pole or the front row so I’m not having to go wide open into turn one and expect the car to stick or anything. I have enough time starting in the back that we’re able to just creep up on it and I feel like I’ve done a good job of not overstepping my limits and making sure I get to that first pit stop where we can tune the car to my liking and stuff like that.”

Time will tell where Cup Series endeavors take Bell. He’s impressing in LFR’s mid-budget ride thus far and has declared that he’d be interested to see where the car would be if not for their brutal luck in the early going.

But if this is what his rookie season is like, it’s certainly safe to say any post-yellow stripe campaigns should be a Sunday drive.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson tests positive for COVID-19

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Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will be piloted by Justin Allgaier this weekend at Indianapolis.

NASCAR has confirmed that Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson has tested positive for COVID-19. The seven-time Cup Series champion will not race at Sunday’s event, the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (4 p.m. ET, NBC). His No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will be driven by Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier.

According to a release from NASCAR, Johnson notified NASCAR of his positive test. Another statement from HMS revealed that Johnson was tested after his wife Chandra had “tested positive after experiencing allergy-like symptoms”. A member of Hendrick’s No. 48 travel crew will also self-quarantine due to, as the latter release reads, “close contact with the driver”.

“NASCAR has outlined the steps for Johnson’s return,” the former statement reads. “In accordance with the CDC’s current guidelines, which includes that Johnson is symptom-free and has two negative COVID-19 test results, at least 24 hours apart. NASCAR requires Johnson to be cleared by his physician before returning to racing.”

“My first priority is the health and safety of my loved ones and my teammates,” Johnson said in the HMS release. “I’ve never missed a race in my Cup career, but I know it’s going to be very hard to watch from the sidelines when I’m supposed to be out there competing. Although this situation is extremely disappointing, I’m going to come back ready to win races and put ourselves in playoff contention.”

NASCAR and its three national series have returned in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic after a two-month hiatus. Races have been run without practice or qualifying, turning race weekends into single-day endeavors. Social distancing measures have been maintained with press conferences being held virtually over Zoom and only essential personnel has been admitted to the track. Fans have not been admitted to a majority of events, but the showings at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway admitted a select number of spectators. NASCAR is expected to welcome in 30,000 fans to Bristol Motor Speedway on July 15 for the annual All-Star Race exhibition.

Johnson, 44, has spent his entire career in the No. 48 and has appeared in 663 consecutive Cup Series races. His seven titles are tied for most in series history alongside Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty and he leads all active drivers with 83 Cup wins (tied for fifth all-time with Cale Yarborough). Shortly after the end of the 2019 season, the first time he missed the NASCAR postseason, Johnson announced that 2020 would be his final year as a full-time racer.

NASCAR has also clarified that Johnson will be eligible for a waiver to reach the NASCAR playoffs if and when he returns. Playoff rules dictate that a driver must partake in all 26 regular season races to be eligible for a spot, but has granted such waivers for extenuating circumstances. Previous 2020 examples include Ryan Newman (who missed three races due to injury) and Matt Kenseth (who took over Chip Gannasi’s No. 42 Chevrolet after four races for the fired Kyle Larson). Johnson is currently in the playoffs in the 12th slot, 63 points ahead of 17th-place Austin Dillon, the first driver out.

Johnson’s replacement will be Allgaier, who currently sits seventh in the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings. He drives the No. 7 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, which is co-owned by Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the latter’s sister Kelley. Allgaier, 34, has finished the no worse than seventh in the Xfinity Series in each of the past nine seasons and drove two full years (2014-15) at the Cup Series level in the No. 51 Chevrolet for now-defunct HScott Motorsports.

Allgaier will run both the Cup and Xfinity races. The former, the Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard, will be held on Saturday on Indianapolis’ road course (3 p.m. ET, NBC). Allgaier will start fifth on the road course, but will likely have to move to the end of Sunday’s field due to a driver change. Starting positions have been determined by random draw in lieu of qualifying.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

ESM EXCLUSIVE: NASCAR Cup Series Driver Corey LaJoie

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The driver of the No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford spoke with ESM about the challenges a mid-tier squad faces and the recent changes in NASCAR.

Corey LaJoie’s NASCAR machines have carried some interesting sponsors over the years. He represented all 23 of Dr. Pepper’s flavors when he drove the matching numeral for BK Racing’s Toyota. Last season, he joined the Mystery Inc. gang as classic cartoon characters Scooby-Doo and Shaggy appeared on his car. His current ride of the No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford has borne a close-up of his own magnified face, including a masked version at the recent Martinsville event.

As NASCAR’s current schedule presents several sweltering challenges in spring’s final days and summer’s opening, he’s particularly thankful for his latest partnership.

LaJoie recently welcomed in Built Bar to his cause over at Go Fas. The protein and energy bar adorned his vehicle for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this month and will work with him as an associate for at least the remainder of the 2020 season. As temperatures have soared and weight has been lost inside the cars, which have gone through locales like Martinsville, Virginia and Homestead, Florida, LaJoie was pleased to get some of his calories back when the checkered flag waved.

Lately, LaJoie was caught in the midst of a social media-induced confrontation that involved 2020’s four-time race-winner Denny Hamlin. The two drivers took thinly veiled jabs at each other through Twitter with arguments stemming from the idea of Hamlin owing his success to superior equipment at Joe Gibbs Racing compared to LaJoie’s relatively meager setup at Go Fas. LaJoie recently called an end to the feud this week, remarking that the situation “escalated to a point it shouldn’t have“.

In the midst of a busy schedule, LaJoie took the time to speak with ESM about his current trials and tribulations…

Q: What kind of role can Built Bar play in the continued success of a team like GoFas?

A: I think it’s a unique case for the sport in general because there really hasn’t been a protein bar company to really see the demographics of racing. I think that the assumption of race fans is that they’re kind of old and kind of out-of-shape, but I think when you look at the actual people working on the cars, doing the pit stops, obviously the drivers are fairly in shape just because we have to be, that’s not the case. I think it’ll get some brand recognition out there to people if they’re looking for a great-tasting protein bar and haven’t found one yet.

Just looking back through my social media mentions since we’ve had the partnership, it seems like a lot of people have enjoyed the taste of the bar and a lot of people are supporting the sponsorship.

Q: You’ve had some interesting sponsors over the past few seasons…including your own face! How does Built Bar compare to some of the other partnerships you’ve had?

A: Well, Old Spice was the brand behind the face car. It certainly wasn’t me because that would be some Ricky Bobby-type stuff!

I’ve been lucky enough to have some great partners throughout my whole career. When I first started in the Cup Series, I was sponsored by Dr. Pepper. Then a company called Schluter Systems has been following me for years now. They’ve kept growing their investment because they see the value in the hospitality and bringing customers to the racetrack. It doesn’t really matter what the company is. If we can keep finding the niche and they get the return on investment, they’re all good. For me personally, I like to stay in shape and I’ve got a sweet tooth, so Built Bar checks both of those boxes. The car was great, the new rebranded boxes and wrappers look cool and it was great to unveil. I’m looking forward to doing it in the future.

Q: How does the economic instability facing this country challenge a lower-budget team like GoFas?

A: Most of the company’s payroll is the hardest thing to stomach just because you’re not moving. Our product that we essentially sell is the real estate on the car via the paint scheme and the purse money on the backend. We weren’t racing just like anybody else (in March and April), everybody was inside. We weren’t able to get that purse money to offset payroll’s expense and the sponsorship revenue wasn’t coming in. It was tough times for the team. It’s a tough time for the country and the world to deal with, but luckily my team was able to weather the storm and we were able to sign Built Bar to get them partnered up with us. That was really cool to be able to do. I’m looking forward to building that relationship going into the future.

Q: This is your second year in the No. 32 car. How pleased have you been with the 2020 developments?

A: We’ve had a couple of mechanical failures that we’re trying to clean up because I feel like we should have more strong runs to show for than what we’ve had. But, overall, the speed is a lot better. We’ve got some new, newer to us, Stewart-Haas cars. There are some parts, pieces, engine packages that could be upgraded if sponsorship dollars end up coming in toward the end of the year. I feel like GoFas has always done a great job of doing more with less. But, this year in particular, we got a crew chief in Ryan Sparks. He brings a lot of knowledge to the table. Him and I have been communicating well. So it’s been fun and it’s been fun to race in such a weird manner like we have been with no practice, no qualifying, just going out to battle. I feel like the preparation in the shop has been fairly good and I’m looking forward to getting to some of these race tracks for a second time and applying the notes we’ve gained without it.

Q: What have been your thoughts on NASCAR’s navigation through these trying times?

A: Our sport is unique in the way that, when we’re competing, we’re not doing it body-to-body. We’re separated, we’re sitting in the racecars and you’re not getting that up-close, you don’t have to get that up-close contact. NASCAR is putting in a lot of protocol to separate the drivers, separate even the pit crews and stuff like that. Social distancing, wearing facemasks, stuff like that, to adhere to any sort of guideline. They’re going through and they’re being very thorough with this process, which is cool because I think you have to be, that way you’re not reckless when you get back to the racetrack.

Overall, I think NASCAR has done a great job with getting us and our partners back on the racetrack, as well as getting race teams back on and getting that purse money put back. Our sport has its own economy within itself. You’re so dependent on the league distributing TV money to the teams. If the network pays the league, the league pays the team per event on a weekly basis. If the league’s not getting paid, the teams aren’t getting and paid, and if the team’s not getting paid, the guys aren’t getting paid. It all trickles down from the top. Obviously NASCAR knew the imperative need to just figure out how to get the cars back on the racetrack and they’ve done that by doing above and beyond what needs to be done. In these times, I’d rather be way more cautious than reckless and getting shut down because we are being too careless. That’s not the case, and I’m looking forward to more fans being back at the track soon.

It is a little bit deflating when you don’t see any fans at the racetrack. You don’t get to sign any autographs. But, hopefully, that returns to normal here soon. It may not be this year where what we’re used to comes back but, hopefully, it will look somewhat normal in the next couple of months.

Q: How do you feel NASCAR has responded to the current events in our nation?

A: I like the effort NASCAR has been putting in because they are well aware of the stigma that NASCAR was a southeastern, southern sport. There have been opinions, even that the sport has made with alliances they’ve made with people in politics in the past, that they have to recover from or even repair the image. I do applaud NASCAR for being on the forefront of this movement. We have to be there. We can’t just sit back and let everyone else do it for us. I’m glad to be a part of it in a small sense. I’ve been trying to educate myself. I’ve had people on my podcast, Sunday Money, to talk about it. We had the pit crew coach from Chip Ganassi Racing on last week and we had some great conversations.

I’m trying to use my platform to impact and if it changes a couple of race fans’ point of view toward what other people are going through, ones that might not look like them, that’s what we’re all called to do. Overall, I’m really happy to be part of the sport and the direction it’s going.

Q: What can you say about NASCAR’s Confederate flag ban?

A: NASCAR made a call several years ago for several tracks that Confederate flags weren’t going to be allowed. I hadn’t really seen a whole lot, you’d see one every now and then. We need to not allow that banner to be at the racetrack, personally. I don’t really care how you can justify what it means. I think, if anything, you can justify it as being insensitive to people it offends. This might not be a practical analogy, but if my brother is definitely allergic to peanuts and I love peanuts, I’m not going to eat peanuts in front of him, right? Just because it has the possibility to hurt him, physically. If there’s something that I consciously do to offend somebody emotionally, I wouldn’t choose to do that, even if I enjoy eating peanuts.

If race fans think that they have some southern tradition to upkeep with the Confederate flag, do that in the privacy of your own home. But when it comes to supporting our sport, we need to have everybody feel welcome. No one should feel offended by anything, no signage, no opinions by anybody. Really, we’re one community trying to entertain people and that’s what we love and what show up 36 weekends a year to do. We don’t want to exclude anybody, we want everybody to feel welcome coming to the NASCAR track.

Q: You’re one of several legacy drivers in the sport, your father Randy having won in the NASCAR Busch Series. What’s the best piece of advice he has given you?

A: Dad always lets me figure it out myself and then yell at me and let me learn, take care of it afterward. My dad has been a supporter of mine for my whole career and is my biggest fan. He might not verbalize it toward me as often, but I think that, growing up, he wanted me to branch out and form relationships with other guys because he knew he’d always be there if I needed something. Rather than him critiquing everything I did, he’d be like “hey, man, go down there and ask Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, what those guys are doing”. Whatever comes out of your dad’s mouth, you really don’t believe, but if Jimmie Johnson says the exact same thing he says, you’ll go “oh yeah, that makes sense now”. That’s kind of what it was.

There’s been a lot of things that I’ve learned the hard way. Those stick a little bit more than someone just telling you. Dad has had a great relationship with the guys in the garage and that kind of trickled down to me. It’s cool to be able to carry the LaJoie flag on Sundays for sure. When Dad was at his peak in the mid-90s, he passed up several opportunities to go Cup racing on Sunday because he knew the time commitment that it was. He’d stay home with me and my brother, invest some time into us. It’s cool to see that investment pay off for him.

(Special thanks to Azione PR for arranging this interview, which was held in mid-June)

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

 

NASCAR: 700 starts later, Kurt Busch is still making an impact

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Set to race a NASCAR Cup Series vehicle for the 700th time on Sunday, Kurt Busch looks forward to a continued impact on the sport.

New NASCAR fans seeking a primer on the circuit’s history could do far worse than simply studying the career of Kurt Busch.

Driver of the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, Busch is set to make his 700th start in the premier Cup Series at the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records on Sunday (4 p.m. ET, NBC). Not only is Busch only the 16th driver to reach that precipice, but he’s gone through an auto racing roller-coaster that entire race teams may never experience.

Asked about the upcoming landmark start in a Wednesday conference call, Busch waxed nostalgic, thinking back to his father Thomas racing on the local tracks that began the racing journey that continues to this day.

“To have this opportunity and to have been blessed to have raced with so many great race teams over the years, just making it past the local track was something that I thought was an achievement because my dad was a local racer. He won a lot. But it was like money, sponsors, and the whole challenge of even getting to like the Southwest Tour and Late Model division, that was even tough for us way back in the past. So, it’s amazing. Twenty years of racing at the top series level and now having 700 starts, I never would have guessed.”

In Busch’s defense, few truly could’ve projected where this trek would take him.

Busch, 41, has been full-time racing in 2001. He’s one of only four active Cup drivers to have partaken in a race alongside the late Dale Earnhardt. Much like The Intimidator, Busch developed a bit of an antagonistic role and engaged in conflict with several other drivers, including one with his future teammate and team owner Tony Stewart during an event at Richmond in 2013. That came six years after Busch and his younger brother Kyle briefly stopped speaking after an incident at the 2007 NEXTEL All-Star Challenge in Charlotte, a feud that ended only weeks after the season when their grandmother intervened before Thanksgiving dinner.

His career has been a roller-coaster, one that has experienced the valleys of not just his confrontations, but a 2005 DUI and domestic violence allegations a decade later (charges were never filed). All in all, the “controversies” section on his Wikipedia page is over seven bullets long. On the track, Busch took home the 2004 Cup Series title (the first under a playoff format) but by 2012, his antics and inconsistency relegated him to low-budget exploits.

The time-honored, cutthroat auto racing concept of “rubbin’s racin'” and championship competition was well-personified by Busch. In addition to his historic championship, Busch has earned 31 Cup victories, including crown jewel triumphs in the 2010 Coca-Cola 600 and the Daytona 500 seven years later (in which hed led only the final lap). He’s even made a mark beyond NASCAR, winning 2003’s International Race of Champions title (beating out names like Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, and Helio Castroneves) and he even partook in Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s more renowned event, the Indy 500, in 2014. He finished that race sixth before running the Coca-Cola 600 that night. To date, Busch is the last driver to attempt to run both the IndyCar and NASCAR events on Memorial Day weekend.

Busch had made no indications he wants to hang up his helmet any time soon. In fact, with NASCAR sharing IMS with the IndyCar circuit this weekend, he hinted that his future exploits may not just include his No. 1 Chevy. He was even considering running in the latter’s event on Saturday, but current events made that difficult.

“I looked at it and just with everything going on with COVID and the pandemic and lack of preparation, it just kind of shut everything down as far as the progress and the approach, because it takes a full effort of being tested and track time and being ready,” Busch remarked. “That’s something that I really put in when I ran the Indy 500 six years ago now. And so, everything just got shut down. But, it would have been fun to with Chip Ganassi Racing.”

Redemption soon awaited the Las Vegas native, as strong performances in the fledgling Phoenix Racing and Furniture Row Racing machines showed the racing world he still had plenty left in the tank (literally and figuratively). Four years before Martin Truex Jr. had the wheel in a title run, Busch guided FRR’s No. 78 car to its first playoff berth. It caught the eye of Stewart’s ownership partner Gene Haas, who made him the original driver of the No. 41 in their Stewart-Haas Racing stable. He would miss the first three races of his sophomore drive with Stewart due to the aforementioned allegations but won his sixth race back.

Busch joined Gannasi after five years in the No. 41 and went to Gannasi’s No. 1 for what, appropriately, was set to be a final season. But a strong showing punctuated by a thrilling victory in which he held off Kyle by 0.076 seconds at Kentucky Speedway convinced Busch to sign on for at least two more seasons.

Now, Busch’s career is defined by consistency, not controversy. He’s firmly entrenched in the NASCAR playoff picture in 10th, and only Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin have earned more top ten finishes (9). Over the past dozen races, Busch has finished no worse than 18th, a fact he has attributed to a strong behind him. His return has also afforded him a return to action alongside Matt Kenseth. Nearly two decades after the pair won back-to-back titles under Jack Roush’s supervision, they reunited in the Gannasi stalls when Kenseth was called to drive the No. 42 Chevrolet mid-season.

“It takes a good team to have a driver’s ability to find the success. A team is the foundation,” Busch said of his longevity. “I’m having some of the best years of my career as far as consistency because I’m using that experience level. I’m using that calmness and that ability to project the future in the car, and that’s leading to good, consistent, and quality finishes. It’s just that we’ve got to cross over another barrier of sometimes you just throw caution to the wind and let it rip.”

Busch noted that he was part of a NASCAR revolution, one that began to rely on younger drivers. He himself ran his first race when he was 22, called upon to drive the No. 97 Ford for Roush. It was in that car where Busch won his first races and his monumental title, as well as where he saw Kyle enter the series at 18 in the early stages of that championship campaign.

Those days of youth may be long behind Busch, but he’s grateful that such a revolution has taken him on this lengthy NASCAR ride…one that shows little signs of stopping.

“The change, the shift, has happened for younger drivers to get in, and yet it’s still tough to go past 25 years is extreme. I don’t think we’ll ever see that anymore,” Busch remarked. “So that’s that window that we’ve all had this opportunity to race in, and I think it’s just a matter of age blended with the experience level and with a top-tier team. And when you see that, it’s usually in that 32 to 38 range that I would say could be the peak.”

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: Michael McDowell set a record no one wants to beat

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An early crash in Sunday’s Pocono 350 earned McDowell and the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford a place in NASCAR Cup Series infamy.

History was made from each of the most extreme sides of Pocono Raceway’s Sunday scoring monitors.

Denny Hamlin’s win in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Pocono 350 not only put him in sole possession of 19th-place on the premier circuit’s all-time wins list, but also tied him with Jeff Gordon for the most wins at the 2.5-mile triangle. Conversely, the 40th and final car in the running order, that of Michael McDowell, set a Cup Series record for the most last-place finishes.

McDowell, driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, ironically came in the final position for the 34th time, breaking a tie with Joe Nemechek. He was running 25th on the 15th of 140 laps when his right rear tire went down, putting him into the wall. McDowell had previously scraped the wall while battling the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Chase Elliott for position. The Front Row team immediately determined the damage was too great to carry on, relegating McDowell to the fateful finish.

The timing of the historic accident couldn’t be more unfortunate for McDowell and the underfunded No. 34. Save for a surprise playoff appearance in 2016 (brought upon by a weather-induced win by Chris Buescher in the No. 34), FRM has not placed a car within the top 20 in owners’ points since joining the series on a full-time basis in 2009. McDowell and rookie teammate John Hunter Nemechek (Joe’s son and driver of the No. 38 car) have placed their Fords in respective 22nd and 23rd positions in the current postings.

Saturday’s first half of Pocono’s Cup Series doubleheader was historic in a brighter sense for McDowell. He drove the No. 34 to an eighth-place finish, earning his career-best result at a track other than Daytona or Talladega. Consistency has been the name of the game for McDowell and the No. 34 team in 2020. Prior to the crash, the car had posted top 20 finishes in four consecutive events, as well as seven of the past nine. McDowell is currently on pace to set a career-best finish in the Cup Series standings, having previously come home 26th in 2016 and 2017 (doing so with FRM in the latter).

Though his name is etched in NASCAR infamy (a history eloquently documented by a website known as LASTCAR), McDowell has had his share of auto racing accomplishments. He took home 2004’s championship honors in the open-wheel Star Mazda Championship (now known as the Indy Pro 2000 Championship), one year after scoring Rookie of the Year honors in the ARCA series. McDowell also earned a win at the NASCAR Xfinity Series level in 2016.

Fortunately for McDowell, he has a long way to go to set the all-time record for last-placements across NASCAR’s three national series. According to LASTCAR, that dubious mark is held by former Xfinity Series champion Jeff Green, who has been relegated to 121 such finishes.

McDowell and the Cup Series returns to action next Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Big Machine Vodka 400 Powered by Florida Georgia Line (4 p.m. ET, NBC).

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: Erik Jones impresses on the playoff brink

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On the cusp of the NASCAR playoff picture and facing an uncertain future, Erik Jones came up big after facing disaster at Pocono.

Summer often affords the opportunity for sports fans to relax and divert their eyes away from the playoff picture and enjoy the games for what they are during the supposed “dog days”, allowing the insanity to fully reign in September.

But with NASCAR racing serving as the only sport in town, fans will take whatever sort of postseason discussion they can get.

Now is as good a time as any to talk about the NASCAR Cup Series’ playoff picture. Against big odds, the series has entered the second half of its 26-race regular season and suddenly only 11 races remain until the postseason begins at Darlington Raceway. Winning more or less assures a driver’s playoff participation, while those who go without must rely on the mercy of points.

Erik Jones, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, is currently the 16th and final name on the guest list as the postseason preparty rolls on. After this weekend’s historic Cup Series doubleheader at Pocono Raceway, Jones is up 14 points on Austin Dillon, his closest competitor for the slot. This posting comes after Jones finished a season-best third at the Pocono 350 event on Sunday afternoon.

Jones reflected on his playoff quest during a postrace conference call hosted on Zoom.

“I think we’re so much better than (16th) that it doesn’t really even play into my mind I know if we just kind of do what we need to do, things will kind of work out,” Jones said when asked if he or his No. 20 squad looks at the standings at a time like this. “It’s not really even a question in my mind at this point, making the Playoffs or not.  I feel like we’ll be strong enough here to get a win at a race here in the next month or two somewhere.  I don’t think that’s really in my mind.  We just have a good enough car, a good enough team.  We just got to clean some things up, have some things go our way.  I don’t really believe in luck that much.  You keep chugging along, things will go your way eventually.”

All things considered, it’s actually a solid position for Jones to be in. The weekend began with him on the outside looking in, a mere point behind rookie Tyler Reddick for the final spot. Those who crave playoff drama were no doubt intrigued by an incident that befell Jones, as he ironically crashed with Reddick on the 70th of 130 laps during Saturday’s Pocono Organics 325 in partnership with Rodale Institute. While Reddick was able to muster a 30th-place finish running four laps off the pace, Jones’ Toyota was damaged beyond repair, relegating him to 38th.

When Reddick endured mechanical problems at the start of the second part, a 350-mile event on Sunday, he took full advantage.

His Toyota wasn’t fast enough to run with his teammate, race-winner Denny Hamlin, but Jones kept a wave of decent momentum going with a relative bronze medal at the 2.5-mile track’s 2020 finale. It’s his second top-five finish over the last three races, having managed a fifth-place showing after being involved in the topsy-turvy ending at Talladega.

“I think we’ve been pretty fast every week,” he said. “I can’t think of a race other than Martinsville where we didn’t have good speed. It’s unfortunate we haven’t finished as good as we’ve ran at some races. I think that’s going to come around. You can’t have things go wrong every single week.”

“It was a good day today. The Craftsman Camry was pretty quick. It’s good to get a good finish. …I wish we could get some more finishes. I feel like we’re moving in the right direction.”

Jones is in his third season of Cup Series racing with Gibbs. He’s looking for a third playoff berth that would match his seasons in the No. 20…one that would certainly come in handy during contract negotiations.

The 2015 NASCAR Camping World (now Gander RT & Outdoor) Truck Series champion is slated to be a free agent at the end of the 2020 season. If Jones hits the market, he could get lost in a crowded picture that might also include former series champion Brad Keselowski, as well as fellow playoff participants Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney. After his second top-five run in the span of a calendar week, Jones expressed confidence that a new deal could be done and he would remain in the No. 20 stable.

“We started talking to them about next year, what we’re going to do moving forward,” Jones reported. “I feel like right now that’s kind of the plan, is working with them. We’ll see what happens. But I feel good about it right now moving forward.”

Jones and the Cup Series stars return to action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next Sunday afternoon for the Big Machine Vodka 400 Powered by Florida Georgia Line (4 p.m. ET, NBC). He owns a runner-up finish at IMS, coming home second to Keselowski in the 2018 event.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: Denny Hamlin ties Jeff Gordon with sixth victory at Pocono Raceway

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After a runner-up finish on Saturday, Denny Hamlin reversed his fortunes to win the second part of a NASCAR Cup Series weekend doubleheader.

It was auto racing deja vu all over again at Sunday’s Pocono 350. The second half of a NASCAR Cup Series weekend doubleheader, the first of its kind, featured the same top pair of finishers. Denny Hamlin, however, was glad to see the order reversed this time around.

Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team denied Kevin Harvick the opportunity of a weekend sweep, taking home the 350-mile event as dusk descended on Pocono Raceway. He would earn his series-best fourth win of 2020 and his sixth victory on the track known as “The Tricky Triangle”. Hamlin previously finished behind Harvick at a 325-mile event on Saturday afternoon at the Long Pond, Pennsylvania landmark.

Sunday’s win ties Hamlin with NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon for the most wins at the 2.5-mile track.

Pocono played host to Hamlin’s first win during his rookie season in 2006. Hamlin’s Sunday drive was his 41st Cup Series victory, breaking a tie with Gordon’s fellow Charlotte inductee Mark Martin.

Shrewd pit strategy allowed Hamlin to earn the fateful win. Sunday’s race was paused after six laps due to inclement weather, pushing the latter portions to the twilight hours. Due to the lack of lights at Pocono, drivers were forced to race both each other and the setting sun.

Hamlin took the lead from Harvick when the latter pitted to top off on fuel on lap 105 of 140. Rather than immediately follow Harvick, Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gabehart opted to run 15 extra laps to build a sizable advantage on the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Hamlin was able to get service and emerge ahead of Harvick when he pitted with 20 laps remaining. He ran only behind his JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. for six laps before the latter brought his own Toyota to pit road. Hamlin was thus able to coast to a victory won by over a three-second margin.

Harvick continues to lead the Cup Series points by a 52-point margin over runner-up Ryan Blaney as the circuit enters the second half of the regular season. He and Hamlin (who sits in fifth, 75 points behind) have combined to win 7 of the 15 races the 2020 season has had to offer thus far.

Another Gibbs entrant, the No. 20 Toyota of Erik Jones, finished a season-best third, while Chase Elliott and Harvick’s Stewart-Haas teammate Aric Almirola rounded out the top five.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday for a new Independence Day weekend tradition. For the first time, Indianapolis Motor Speedway finds itself in the coveted slot to host the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line (4 p.m. ET, NBC).

Race Notes

  • Kyle Busch, winner of three prior Pocono events, saw his day end on a crash toward the end of the second, 55-lap stage after he and Blaney made contact while trying to avoid the slower of Garrett Smithley. Busch was visibly displeased in an interview with Fox Sports’ Jamie Little, declaring “I know what happened but it doesn’t make any sense to talk about it. It will just come across in a bad way.” The defending series champion, Busch sits 11th in the current standings but has yet to earn a Cup victory this season.

 

  • Two drivers who impressed with strong runs on Saturday saw their Sunday end early in separate wrecks. Michael McDowell finished dead-last in 40th and rookie Christopher Bell finished only a spot ahead of him after respective crashes on laps 16 and 40. Bell was coming off his career-best fourth-place finish and came home third after the first stage. McDowell had finished eighth on Saturday, his first top-ten finish at a track other than Daytona or Talladega since November 2016.

 

  • In addition to hosting the first Cup Series doubleheader (two races at the same locale on the same weekend), Pocono also hosted the first NASCAR tripleheader, in which each of the organization’s three national series raced on the same day at the same track. Brandon Jones took home his first Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series win in the morning (winning a 150-mile event from Saturday) postponed due to weather) while Chase Briscoe held off Ross Chastain to win his fourth Xfinity Series races of the season.

 

  • Brad Keselowski won the second stage of the race after Kurt Busch took home the first, 30-lap segment. They respectively finished 11th and 13th.

For full results, click here

For full standings, click here

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

NASCAR: Two Underrated Drivers Had A Big Saturday

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NASCAR, Christopher Bell

Yesterday featured the opener to a big weekend of NASCAR. Starting at 9:30 am est the Trucks roll-off, then the Xfinity series goes off after them, and then the finale of the weekend is the second cup race. The first day was a big one for two underrated drivers.

Christopher Bell Finished 4th

Bell has been a highly touted rookie. Coming off a master class in the Xfinity Series last year, Bell was handed a ride and expected to fare well. Although Tyler Reddick has stolen a lot of headlines, Christopher Bell has had some speed. Piloting the 95 machine, Bell was fast at Pocono and parlayed that into a top 5 finish. Bell took over the Leavine Family racing ride from Matt DiBenedetto in order to gain cup experience before likely jumping up to a ride at JGR. His speed yesterday will make him one to watch later today. At the very least though, his success Saturday is a strong building point for the long haul.

Michael McDowell Finished 8th

Whereas Bell is a rookie with high potential, McDowell is the underdog for a team with lesser equipment. At 35 years old, McDowell is likely in the back 9 of his career starting at 18. It’s always entertaining when he has success though. McDowell is a guy people like to see succeed because he’s counted out often. Today was a good day for the 34 team and they took advantage of good pit strategy and a fast car in order to get to the front of the field. It was a good race for the Front Row team and hopefully, they can continue to replicate that success.

It’s always encouraging to see two underdogs succeed and hopefully, they continue to have success. For Bell, success could nail a top tier ride for 2021. For McDowell, success could change his career trajectory.