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  • Column: Blaney does rare burnout to celebrate sliding into next round of NASCAR’s playoffs

    Column: Blaney does rare burnout to celebrate sliding into next round of NASCAR’s playoffs

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    Early in his NASCAR career, Ryan Blaney didn’t do a celebratory burnout following a victory, a decision that caught the attention of Hall of Fame crew chief Dale Inman.

    “Dale Inman pulled me aside one day, and he said, ‘Hey, you don’t see the winner of the Kentucky Derby get off his horse and start beating the (crap) out of it,’” Blaney recalled. “So that’s why I don’t do burnouts. I didn’t do a burnout after one race, and he was like, ‘I like how you don’t do burnouts.’ And then he told me that story.”

    Blaney expects a tongue-lashing this week from Inman when he speaks to the crew chief who led Richard Petty to a record seven NASCAR championships. After all, Blaney did a burnout on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Couldn’t help himself.

    “You know what that means?” spotter Josh Williams radioed Blaney.

    “Round ’o eight, baby,” Blaney replied, dragging out the syllables.

    Blaney’s win at Talladega, where he held off Kevin Harvick in a drag race to the finish line by 0.012 seconds, took all the pressure off headed to this Sunday’s elimination race at The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Four drivers will be cut from the playoff field, and Blaney joined William Byron as the only two drivers already locked into the round of eight. Blaney did it with a third career victory at Talladega, which tied him with NASCAR Hall of Famers Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Davey Allison as well as Penske teammate Joey Logano.

    It marked just the second time in eight full Cup Series seasons that Blaney has won multiple races in the same year. He now gets a week on cruise control while six other drivers are fighting to keep their seasons rolling.

    Byron, who dates Blaney’s youngest sister, gloated to Blaney ahead of Sunday’s race that he had no stress for the first time ever at the always unpredictable Alabama track. Byron bragged about how much fun he planned to have.

    “You kind of just feel free,” said Blaney, who is in the round of eight for the fifth time in eight years and is Team Penske’s only championship contender after 2022 champion Joey Logano was eliminated in the first round.

    Blaney is indeed free in how he races on Charlotte’s hybrid road course/oval, where he won the 2015 inaugural race. Blaney is really good on The Roval, with four top-nine finishes in five races, but he and the No. 12 Ford team can attack the race any way they want, a strategy he will develop with crew chief Jonathan Hassler this week.

    “You go try to win the race next week for sure, but maybe you can be a little bit more aggressive on stages. Maybe you flip to stages and try to go win the race instead of having to go get points in the stages,” Blaney said. “I feel like a lot of guys are going to have to do that if they’re on that agenda of being close to the cutline, so it just kind of changes the way you approach it.”

    The four drivers below the cutline are Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, both of 23XI Racing, Ross Chastain, the championship runner-up last year to Logano, and Kyle Busch, who likely needs to win Sunday to avoid elimination.

    Although Reddick trails Brad Keselowski by only two points for the eighth and final spot in the next round, 23XI finds itself in a disappointing spot after getting both of its cars into the playoffs. It is the first playoff berth for Wallace, who was frustrated with his 23rd-place finish at Talladega.

    Wallace said “I fumbled the bag” following his underwhelming session. The stress was evident and Wallace engaged in a lengthy conversation with Michael Jordan, co-owner of 23XI Racing. The global superstar was clearly trying to encourage his drivers: Jordan grabbed Wallace behind his neck, placed his hand on his shoulder, and later pulled him in for a hug.

    Blaney gets a week of respite from that sort of tension. But then it’s right back on because Blaney has never before made it to the championship round.

    And this is a weird season for Penske’s last standing car. Blaney has just five top-five finishes this season, his lowest total in six years. But, two of those finishes are wins and victories trump all, especially at this time of the season.

    Hassler said the No. 12 Ford has lacked speed all year but he believed progress has been made. He’s excited, he said, for the opening race of the round of eight at Las Vegas.

    Hassler finds Vegas to be very similar to Charlotte’s oval, where Blaney won earlier this season in NASCAR’s crown jewel Coca-Cola 600. That flash in Charlotte and now his win at Talladega have given Blaney a chance to look ahead at Las Vegas as the track that makes him a true contender.

    He’s not really shown to be one of NASCAR’s dominant drivers this season — Byron, for example, has triple the amount of wins as Blaney with a series-best six — but should he break through one more round, Hassler believes the No. 22 team has a chance.

    “We’re just going to keep working and if we have a chance to get to Phoenix, Ryan is as good there as anybody else,” Hassler said.

    Should he do it, Inman should probably expect another Blaney burnout.

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  • Reddick now in NASCAR’s playoff mix at Texas after missing cut last year and then winning there

    Reddick now in NASCAR’s playoff mix at Texas after missing cut last year and then winning there

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    Tyler Reddick this time made it into the round of 12 that starts in Texas, where last year he won a tumultuous and tiring race right after just missing the cut in NASCAR’s playoffs.

    With a win at Kansas after opening these Cup Series playoffs with a runner-up finish at Darlington, Reddick advanced and already is thinking about what he needs to do to make it past this three-race round in his first season with 23XI Racing.

    “It’s about having smooth days and somewhat consistent finishes,” said Reddick, who finished 15th at Bristol last weekend. “I think if we can stay in the top 15 each of these races in this next round, when even regardless of a win, I think we’ll be in good shape to make it through the round of eight. And then obviously it’s a little trickier.”

    Of course, another win at Texas on Sunday would give Reddick an automatic pass into the round of eight — same as a win would do for any of the other 11 remaining playoff contenders.

    That group includes Kyle Busch, now driving the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing that Reddick took to victory lane in Texas, a race scheduled for 100 fewer miles this year.

    Reddick now sits eighth in the standings, only three points ahead of the cutoff to advance. Bubba Wallace, his 23XI Racing teammate, is 12th but still alive in the playoffs, with Texas, Talladega and the Roval in Charlotte to go before the elimination of four more drivers.

    So is Denny Hamlin, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver still looking for his first Cup title and a partner in the Michael Jordan-owned 23XI team. Hamlin is third after winning at Bristol and is considered one of the favorites at the Texas track where he has won three times.

    “Certainly based off of speed that we show week in and week out, absolutely I believe that we’re one of the best four teams out there that should compete for a championship in Phoenix,” Hamlin said Saturday. “Sometimes things are out of your control, but if they stay within our control, I do believe that this year that we will be tough to beat.”

    The second-round opener at Texas was highlighted last year by multiple tire issues leading to crashes — Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. all blew tires when leading. There were a track-record 16 cautions, a record 36 lead changes and a 56-minute red flag for rain and lightning in the area.

    “It was a little bit of an oddity,” Reddick said. “I think it’ll be a less crazy race (this year) … more straightforward.”

    While many of those tire issues a year ago were the result of teams pushing the limits, Goodyear brought new right-side tires for this race at the 1 1/2-mile oval that has different banking at both ends of the track.

    Reddick led 53 of the final 54 laps last year, when he lost a lap early when the team thought it had a loose wheel, lost track position again after contact with another driver going into Turn 1 and later almost crashed when some safety foam inside the cockpit came loose and got stuck on the steering wheel.

    “I don’t know where to even start. Probably the most disastrous race I’ve had in my Cup career, this race one year ago,” Reddick said. “We just got fortunate and had tires at the right time.”

    He finished 1.19 seconds ahead of Joey Logano, who went on to win the season title last year.

    But Logano already is out of contention to become NASCAR’s first repeat Cup champion since Jimmie Johnson won five in a row from 2006-10. Logano was among the first four playoff drivers eliminated this year, when he was 13th in the standings after Bristol.

    William Byron goes into Texas with a series-high five wins and leading the standings.

    “I definitely think it’s my best chance at it so far. You know, I look at being 25 years old and I feel like I have a lot of opportunities at this,” Byron said. “So this is a learning experience to see what the pressure is like getting to Phoenix. … Feel like each year has been a steady progression on that steady learning curve. So I just want to keep that going and try to make that next step.”

    Byron has two more wins than Truex, who has the same number of points.

    For the first time since Texas opened in 1997, the Cup race isn’t scheduled for 501 miles. It is set for 400.5 miles over 267 laps, 67 fewer than in the past.

    The shortest Texas race has been 440 miles, when weather shortened a round of eight race in 2016 to 293 laps. The longest was 2014, when green-white-checkered finishes stretched to 512 miles over 341 laps.

    Temperatures were in the upper 90s last year at Texas, making it the hottest Cup race there. That could be surpassed this year when the high Sunday could reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius).

    “I was looking at (last year) for reference, but I do think it’s going to be tough. These cars are really hot,” Byron said. “We’ve taken a lot of measures to help the cooling on our side with the cool shirts and all those things, so hopefully all that stuff works well.”

    NASCAR hasn’t released its 2024 schedule, and there have been increased rumblings that Texas won’t be part of the playoff mix next year. The track used to host races in both April and November. “Texas has been very lackluster lately,” Busch said. …. Kyle Larson and Hamlin are listed as favorites to win Sunday, per FanDuel Sportsbook.

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  • Martin Truex Jr. in staring down elimination from NASCAR playoffs after winning regular season title

    Martin Truex Jr. in staring down elimination from NASCAR playoffs after winning regular season title

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    A shell-shocked Martin Truex Jr. has slumped into Bristol Motor Speedway fighting for his season.

    Truex won the regular-season title but two bad races to open NASCAR’s playoffs has him on the brink of elimination headed into Saturday night’s race at Bristol, Tennessee. The bottom four drivers in the 16-driver field will be cut from the championship sprint and Truex, winner of three races this season, is 13th — below the cutline.

    A cut tire three laps into last weekend’s race at Kansas — and an 18th-place finish in the playoff opener at Darlington — has Truex in serious trouble headed into one of his weaker tracks. In 32 previous starts on Bristol’s concrete configuration, a winless Truex has a meager four top-10 finishes.

    “It’s obviously a terrible spot to be in,” Truex said Friday. “Last week we didn’t even get a chance to race, which was disappointing. Coming off a tough Darlington race, and then, you know, two laps in (at Kansas) you feel like you’re in trouble and a flat tire. Turns out you ran something over. It’s just terrible bad luck. We’ll do the best we can. But obviously it’s a bad spot to be in.”

    Bubba Wallace, Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell are also below the cutline. Kevin Harvick, who is retiring at the end of the season, is seven points ahead of Truex above the cutline. Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick have both advanced to the next round with victories in the opening two playoff races.

    “It is what it is, you go race as hard as you can and where it falls, it falls,” Harvick said. “I don’t worry about those things anymore.”

    Truex did seem worried — at least subdued — about the task ahead. Weather is already a potential added headache and a forecast of rain for Saturday night led NASCAR to decide more than a day in advance to move the scheduled start up by one hour on the half-mile track.

    “I know tomorrow night’s a big race, this place hasn’t been our best place by any means, but I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Truex said. “It’s going to be what it’s going to be, and we’ve just got to go do our best.”

    STENHOUSE’S LAST SHOT

    Stenhouse opened the year with a bang at the Daytona 500, but he’s had just one top-five finish since and finds himself likely to be eliminated Saturday night.

    He could aim for a miracle, though, and Bristol in April was his only other top-five finish this year. Bristol was covered in dirt when Stenhouse finished fourth; the dirt is gone for this race.

    “Our thought process is we’ve just got a really good opportunity to make something happen,” Stenhouse said. “It’s a great racetrack for us. One of my favorite racetracks that we go to. We need a good day to make it into the playoffs. We want to win. We finished second there quite a few times and yeah, no better time to get the first win than right now.”

    BUSCH IN GOOD SHAPE

    Kyle Busch in his first season driving for Richard Childress Racing with a strong shot at advancing. He is seventh in the standings.

    He won three races early to start his new career endeavor, but was inconsistent leading into the playoffs. He finished 11th at Darlington and seventh at Kansas to give him some breathing room ahead of one of Busch’s best tracks. Busch has eight career Cup Series wins on the Bristol concrete, including three wins in the last nine Bristol races.

    His 16 short-track wins are the most among active drivers.

    ODDS AND ENDS

    Kyle Larson is the favorite to win Saturday night, per FanDuel Sportsbook. … Ford drivers have won three of the last four races at Bristol, but all three drivers were from different organizations. … The race winner started 19th or worse in four of the last five short-track races. … Bristol has had seven different winners in the last seven races. … Denny Hamlin is in the best position of all drivers who haven’t already clinched. He needs just 12 points to advance into the second round.

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  • Preece ready to get back in the car at Darlington after frightening crash at Daytona

    Preece ready to get back in the car at Darlington after frightening crash at Daytona

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    DARLINGTON, S.C. — Ryan Preece had a message to deliver, no matter how bad his eyes looked after his frightening crash at Daytona last week.

    “It’s OK to not race,” the Stewart Haas Racing driver said at Darlington on Saturday. “But it’s OK to race, and I think that’s what needs to be said.”

    Preece took questions publicly for the first time since his horrifying accident, where he went airborne and flipped over at least 10 times before coming to rest.

    Preece got out of the car on his own power. He spent the night at the hospital and before midnight, was suggesting to anyone who would listen that he felt good and was ready to go home.

    Preece, who was cleared to drive in the Southern 500 at Darlington on Sunday night, is not sore from the crash. His eyes are just bloodshot and bruised.

    “If I had headaches or blurry vision or anything like that that I felt I was endangering myself or anybody else here, I wouldn’t be racing,” Preece said behind his No. 41 hauler. “I have a family that I have to worry about as well. This is my job, this is what I want to do and I feel complete fine.”

    That’s remarkable given what Preece, 32, endured a week ago.

    He was in a line near Daytona’s outside wall when he was bumped by Erik Jones and turned down into teammate Chase Briscoe. Preece soon lifted off the ground and began to flip over the grassy area on the backstretch.

    Preece thought he might’ve checked up a bit before his wild ride.

    “I’ve seen other interviews from drivers in the past that as you get sideways and as you go in the air, it’s gets real quiet,” he said. “After experiencing that, that’s 100% true. Beyond that, everything’s happening so fast, you’re just flipping through the air. Until that ride stops, all you’re thinking about is just trying to contain yourself.

    “You tense up and you hope you’re going to be OK,” he continued. “Which obviously I am.”

    NASCAR has said the car’s safety improvements helped keep Preece from more serious hard. The organization will continue to investigate causes, including the possibility of paving over some grass areas to keep cars grounded.

    Playoff points leader William Byron said Preece’s accident was something drivers hadn’t seen much in recent years. Byron, like all drivers, was glad Preece came away in good condition and good spirits, indicators that safety issues in the second year of the Next Gen car are improving.

    “We’ve made progress, but some elements of that crash that definitely could’ve been better,” Byron said.

    Preece thanked safety personnel at Daytona and at Halifax Health Medical Center for their quick response and care he received.

    The experience hasn’t changed Preece’s opinion of what it takes to succeed.

    “This is what we’re supposed to be, we’re supposed to be tough,” Preece said. “And it’s OK to be tough, it’s OK to do those things. I feel good.”

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  • NASCAR driver Ryan Preece is ‘awake, alert and mobile’ following terrifying crash at Daytona

    NASCAR driver Ryan Preece is ‘awake, alert and mobile’ following terrifying crash at Daytona

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    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR driver Ryan Preece is “awake, alert and mobile” after his car rolled about a dozen times during a terrifying crash at Daytona International Speedway.

    Stewart-Haas Racing said Sunday morning that Preece “has been communicating with family and friends.” He was hospitalized overnight.

    The 32-year-old Preece was able to climb out of his mangled No. 41 Ford on Saturday night with help before emergency workers put him on a gurney and into an ambulance. He initially went to the track’s infield care center before being transported to Halifax Health Medical Center for continued observation.

    He will be evaluated by medical personnel again Sunday, the team said, adding that another update is expected in the afternoon.

    Preece tweeted about two hours after the race, posting: “If you want to be a race car driver, you better be tough. … I’m coming back.”

    Preece and SHR teammate Chase Briscoe made contact coming out of Turn 4, and Preece’s car went into an uncontrollable barrel roll as soon as it slid from the asphalt to the infield grass. The car came to a halt on all four tires, with some minor damage to the roll cage.

    Preece being able to climb out with help was a testament to NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which is considered the safest iteration in its 75-year history.

    The car was roundly criticized following its debut in 2022 because rear-impact collisions wreaked havoc on drivers. Kurt Busch of 23XI Racing suffered a life-changing concussion during a qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway last summer, and Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman missed five races because of a concussion.

    Multiple other drivers complained about the violence felt during what they considered routine hits and wondered if they too had suffered head trauma.

    NASCAR spent much of last year and the offseason testing and tweaking its car to try to limit the G-forces delivered to drivers. The changes were welcomed, resulting in considerably fewer missed races and no reported concussions in 2023.

    Busch, meanwhile, has yet to return to racing and formally retired from the Cup Series Saturday at Daytona. The 45-year-old Busch held back tears as he called it quits, saying his “body is just having a battle with Father Time.”

    Busch added that he’s dealt with arthritis and gout while trying to shake lingering effects of a brain injury that rocked stock car racing a year ago.

    Preece’s accident harkened memories of Ryan Newman’s harrowing wreck in the 2020 Daytona 500. Newman was able to walk out of the hospital days later, another testament to NASCAR safety improvements made since Dale Earnhardt’s death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

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  • NASCAR suspends driver Noah Gragson for liking an insensitive meme with George Floyd’s face

    NASCAR suspends driver Noah Gragson for liking an insensitive meme with George Floyd’s face

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    Driver Noah Gragson has been suspended indefinitely by NASCAR and Legacy Motor Club due to liking an insensitive meme with a photo of George Floyd’s face

    FILE – Noah Gragson looks out onto the track before a NASCAR Xfinity Series auto racing practice session at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, in Homestead, Fla. Gragson has been suspended indefinitely by NASCAR and Legacy Motor Club due to undisclosed activity on social media. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

    The Associated Press

    BROOKLYN, Mich. — Driver Noah Gragson has been suspended indefinitely by NASCAR and Legacy Motor Club due to liking an insensitive meme with a photo of George Floyd’s face.

    “I am disappointed in myself for my lack of attention and actions on social media,” Gragson posted Saturday. “I understand the severity of this situation. I love and appreciate everyone. I try to treat everyone equally no matter who they are. I messed up plain and simple.”

    Josh Berry will be in the No. 42 Chevrolet in Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway to replace Gragson.

    Floyd, who was Black, died in 2020 after a white police officer knelt on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes. His death sparked mass protests around the world and forced a national reckoning on racial injustice.

    In the wake of Floyd’s death, NASCAR banned the Confederate flag at events and venues after Bubba Wallace — its lone Black driver — said there was “no place” for it in the sport. Earlier that year, Cup series driver Kyle Larson used a racial slur while playing a video game. Chip Ganassi Racing fired Larson and he was suspended by NASCAR, which required him to complete a sensitivity training course for reinstatement.

    NASCAR said Gragson violated the member conduct of its rule book, without providing details.

    “His actions do not represent the values of our team,” Legacy Motor Club said in a statement.

    The 25-year-old Gragson, who is from Las Vegas, is in his first full season in the Cup series and is No. 33 in points.

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  • NASCAR thinking big after exciting finish to Cup Series’ 1st street race in its 75th season

    NASCAR thinking big after exciting finish to Cup Series’ 1st street race in its 75th season

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    CHICAGO — Moments after NASCAR‘s daring adventure was over — a soggy day in downtown Chicago rescued by a compelling Cup Series race — they were all thinking big.

    Shane van Gisbergen pondered a move from Australia’s Supercars to a regular NASCAR ride. Justin Marks contemplated the promising future of Project 91. Steve O’Donnell talked about holding a NASCAR event on another continent.

    “I think we’re all confident at NASCAR that we could take the Cup Series anywhere we want,” said O’Donnell, who became the chief operating officer of NASCAR in March 2022.

    O’Donnell and Ben Kennedy, the 31-year-old great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France and a key engine behind the sport’s evolving schedule, were buoyed by Sunday’s exciting finish to the Cup Series’ first street race in its 75th season.

    After hours of rain flooded the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course and scuttled the end of the Xfinity stop, it cleared up in time to get the Cup Series on the tricky track, albeit for a race cut short by the looming darkness.

    The wet conditions added another element to an already challenging course that included seven 90-degree turns, and transitions from concrete to asphalt and back. But the drivers figured it out on the fly, and van Gisbergen powered to the front in the final laps to secure the win.

    And just like that, NASCAR’s first try at a downtown Chicago race won over at least some of the skeptics that had wondered aloud about its feasibility ever since it was announced a year ago.

    “Truthfully, for a street course, I think it raced better than I thought it would,” said Chase Briscoe, who finished 20th. “There are definitely parts that can be improved like widening the track and other certain things. But, all things considered, it surprised me compared to what I thought it was going to be.”

    NBC and Nielsen said Monday that the race averaged 4.795 million viewers, which makes it the most-watched NASCAR race this season and NBC’s most-viewed race in six years.

    NASCAR has a three-year agreement with the city of Chicago, and Kennedy said it is planning to take a comprehensive look at its first event under the deal.

    “We’re going to have a lot of takeaways from this weekend, which I think will be really good,” he said, “but from what I’ve seen so far, certainly from the fans and from a lot of folks in the industry, has been positive.”

    The 34-year-old van Gisbergen, a New Zealand native, became the first driver to win his Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963. The three-time Supercars champion also became the sixth driver born outside the United States to win a Cup Series race.

    Van Gisbergen’s seemingly smooth transition to NASCAR was helped by the similarity of its Next Gen cars to what he is used to back home. He also has extensive experience in street races, but he showed off his impressive skills as he chased down Justin Haley for the victory.

    “As a driver you don’t want other forms of motorsport drivers to come in and beat you at your own game … but unfortunately he’s just really good,” said Haley, who finished second.

    Van Gisbergen raved about the racing, and left open the possibility of a NASCAR return.

    “I’m committed next year to Supercars,” he said. “I still love Supercars and hope it goes well there. But in ’25, who knows.”

    Van Gisbergen drove the No. 91 Chevrolet in Chicago as part of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91. It was the third start for the program — designed to give international drivers a shot at NASCAR — after former Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen finished 27th at Circuit of the Americas in March.

    Marks, who owns Trackhouse, said Chicago was the last date on the calendar for Project 91. But he sounded as if it was only the beginning.

    “It was a big weekend because we had a company come in that said, we want to sponsor Project 91. You go get the driver. It wasn’t attached to a driver,” Marks said. “Enhance Health came in and said, we love this concept and we want to sponsor it.

    “That’s a big moment for our company, is that actually a partner looked at it and said, we believe in this Project 91 thing siloed from everything else. We really love it and we want to be a part of it.”

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    Follow Jay Cohen at https://twitter.com/jcohenap

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  • Heavy rains flood Chicago roads and force NASCAR to cut short a downtown street race

    Heavy rains flood Chicago roads and force NASCAR to cut short a downtown street race

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    Heavy rains have flooded Chicago streets and forced the cancellation of a NASCAR race set to run through the city’s downtown

    People walk along pit row in the rain before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at the Grant Park 220 Sunday, July 2, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

    The Associated Press

    CHICAGO — Heavy rains flooded Chicago streets Sunday, trapping cars and forcing NASCAR officials to cancel the last half of an Xfinity Series race set to run through the city’s downtown.

    The National Weather Service warned the flooding could be “life-threatening,” with numerous impassable roads, overflowing creeks and streams and flooded basements across the Chicago area. Up to 6 inches of rain fell in suburban Cicero and Berwyn by midday, according to t he NWS website. Flood warnings had mostly expired by evening.

    The Illinois State Police said parts of Interstate 55 and Interstate 290 have been closed because of flooding, with at least 10 cars trapped in water on Interstate 55 near Pulaski Road, a major north-south thoroughfare in the city. Trains were stopped in some parts of the city as well.

    Katera Fisher’s car “just started floating” when she tried to drive through high water.

    “So, my first reaction was to try and get out of the car. I opened the door, and the water started flooding my feet,” Fisher told WLS-TV.

    NASCAR officials had planned to complete the last half of an Xfinity Series race through the city’s downtown on Sunday morning after suspending action on Saturday due to lightning. They announced around midday Sunday they had decided to cancel the race because of the rain and declared Cole Custer the winner.

    NASCAR’s Cup Series race started running through downtown Sunday afternoon.

    The start of the Chicago Cubs’ afternoon game against the Cleveland Guardians at Wrigley Field remains delayed.

    Ricky Castro, a meteorologist in the NWS’ Chicago office in suburban Romeoville, said a storm system was pinwheeling over the area rather than moving east, giving it time to pull moisture from the atmosphere and leading to heavy rainfall. All of the concrete in the metropolitan area prevents the rain from seeping into the earth, resulting in flooding, he said.

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  • Heavy rains flood Chicago roads, NASCAR ends downtown street race and names winner

    Heavy rains flood Chicago roads, NASCAR ends downtown street race and names winner

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    Heavy rains have flooded Chicago streets and forced the cancellation of a NASCAR race set to run through the city’s downtown

    NASCAR Cup Series driver Cody Ware drives during qualifying for the Grant Park 220 NASCAR Cup Series Race Saturday, July 1, 2023, in downtown Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

    The Associated Press

    CHICAGO — Heavy rains flooded Chicago streets Sunday, trapping cars and forcing NASCAR officials to cancel the last half of an Xfinity Series race set to run through the city’s downtown.

    The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for multiple counties in the Chicago area, saying up to 6 inches of rain had already fallen in suburban Cicero and Berwyn by midday.

    The Illinois State Police said portions of Interstate 55 and Interstate 290 have been closed due to flooding, with at least 10 cars trapped in water on Interstate 55 near Pulaski Road, a major north-south thoroughfare in the city, WLS-TV reported. Trains were stopped in some portions of the city as well.

    NASCAR officials had planned to complete the last half of an Xfinity Series race through the city’s downtown on Sunday morning after suspending action on Saturday due to lightning. They announced around midday Sunday they had decided to cancel the race due to the rain and declared Cole Custer the winner.

    NASCAR had scheduled a Cup Series race to run through downtown later Sunday afternoon. The race was still expected to take place.

    The start of the Chicago Cubs’ afternoon game against the Cleveland Guardians at Wrigley Field was pushed back to 4:05 p.m., WMAQ-TV reported.

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  • NASCAR great Jimmie Johnson’s in-laws found shot to death in Oklahoma

    NASCAR great Jimmie Johnson’s in-laws found shot to death in Oklahoma

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    Police in Muskogee, Oklahoma, are investigating the shooting deaths of three relatives of NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson

    FILE – Jimmie Johnson poses with his wife Chandra Janway in victory lane after his win in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 4, 2012. Police in Muskogee, Okla., confirmed Tuesday, June 27, 2023, that they are investigating the deaths of three relatives of seven-time NASCAR champion Johnson as an apparent murder-suicide. A representative for Johnson confirmed the three are the parents and nephew of Johnson’s wife, Chandra Janway. (AP Photo/Tim Sharp, File)

    The Associated Press

    MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Police in Muskogee, Oklahoma, confirmed Tuesday they are investigating the shooting deaths of three relatives of seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

    The bodies of Jack Janway, 69; his wife Terry Janway, 68; and their grandson Dalton Janway, 11, were discovered Monday at a home in Muskogee, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa, Muskogee police spokesperson Lynn Hamlin said. Hamlin said investigators believe Terry Janway shot and killed her husband and grandson before shooting herself.

    Police responded to the home after a woman called 911 to report a disturbance with a gun before hanging up, Hamlin said.

    When police arrived on the scene, they found one person near the front door of the home and then heard a gunshot from further inside, where officers later found two other people dead, Hamlin said. Hamlin confirmed the three are the parents and nephew of Johnson’s wife, Chandra Janway.

    Johnson’s race team, Legacy Motor Club, announced on Twitter it was withdrawing his No. 84 Carvana Chevrolet from this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event in Chicago. The team added: “The Johnson family has asked for privacy at this time and no further statements will be made.”

    “We are saddened by the tragic deaths of members of Chandra Johnson’s family,” NASCAR said in a statement. “The entire NASCAR family extends its deepest support and condolences during this difficult time to Chandra, Jimmie and the entire Johnson & Janway families.”

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  • NASCAR great Jimmie Johnson’s in-laws found dead in apparent murder-suicide in Oklahoma

    NASCAR great Jimmie Johnson’s in-laws found dead in apparent murder-suicide in Oklahoma

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    Police in Muskogee, Oklahoma, are investigating the deaths of three relatives of NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson as an apparent murder-suicide

    FILE – Jimmie Johnson poses with his wife Chandra Janway in victory lane after his win in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 4, 2012. Police in Muskogee, Okla., confirmed Tuesday, June 27, 2023, that they are investigating the deaths of three relatives of seven-time NASCAR champion Johnson as an apparent murder-suicide. A representative for Johnson confirmed the three are the parents and nephew of Johnson’s wife, Chandra Janway. (AP Photo/Tim Sharp, File)

    The Associated Press

    MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Police in Muskogee, Oklahoma, confirmed Tuesday they are investigating the deaths of three relatives of seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson as an apparent murder-suicide.

    The bodies of Jack Janway, 69; his wife Terry Janway, 68; and their grandson Dalton Janway, 11, were discovered Monday at a home in Muskogee, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa, Muskogee police spokesperson Lynn Hamlin said. Police responded to the home after a woman called 911 to report a disturbance with a gun before hanging up, Hamlin said.

    When police arrived on the scene, they found one person near the front door of the home and then heard a gunshot from further inside, where officers later found two other people dead, Hamlin said. She said investigators believe Terry Janway shot and killed her husband and grandson before shooting herself. Hamlin confirmed the three are the parents and nephew of Johnson’s wife, Chandra Janway.

    Johnson’s race team, Legacy Motor Club, announced on Twitter it was withdrawing his No. 84 Carvana Chevrolet from this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event in Chicago. The team added: “The Johnson family has asked for privacy at this time and no further statements will be made.”

    “We are saddened by the tragic deaths of members of Chandra Johnson’s family,” NASCAR said in a statement. “The entire NASCAR family extends its deepest support and condolences during this difficult time to Chandra, Jimmie and the entire Johnson & Janway families.”

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  • Teams ask NASCAR for meaningful discussions on permanent charters, AP learns

    Teams ask NASCAR for meaningful discussions on permanent charters, AP learns

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    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The fight between NASCAR and its teams over a new revenue model led the owners of 16 organizations to send a letter to NASCAR’s board of directors requesting “meaningful dialog” regarding the franchise model system.

    The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, was sent to NASCAR via email on May 1 — the same day NASCAR’s exclusive negotiating window expired with both Fox Sports and NBC Sports on a new television package.

    The letter acknowledges that conversations with NASCAR have been productive and notes a “tentative acceptance of the economic split of a new media deal.”

    But the letter makes clear the main sticking point between the teams and NASCAR remains the charter system, under which each of the 36 cars with a charter are guaranteed a spot in the 40-car Cup Series field each week and a slice of TV package revenue.

    The charters, which are worth millions, require renewal. The teams want to make the charters permanent but NASCAR has balked, which led to the team owners skipping a scheduled April 5 meeting with NASCAR because they were at a “significant impasse” over charters.

    The teams wrote in the letter that acceptance of “the new media split” was dependent on permanent charters.

    “We have seen the market for Charters rise since initially issued, but there is currently no real market due to the uncertainty surrounding the pending renewal process,” the letter states. “In order to continue to invest in our Teams and the sport as a whole, we need to build long term value in our Charter ownership that is stable, predictable, and permanent.”

    NASCAR on Friday did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

    The charter system was introduced in 2016 to create a franchise model that protected team owners’ investment in a racing series founded by and independently owned by the France family. The charters can be held, sold and leased to other teams, and they can also be revoked by NASCAR.

    The current charters expire at the end of the 2024 season — the same time as NASCAR’s current television package — and the four-person team owner negotiating committee told AP last month that NASCAR was unwilling to even discuss making them permanent. The committee is comprised of Jeff Gordon representing Hendrick Motorsports; Joe Gibbs Racing president Dave Alpern; RFK Racing president Steve Newmark; and Curtis Polk, an owner in 23XI Racing and longtime business manager for Michael Jordan.

    The four went public last October to reveal the teams found NASCAR’s current economic model unfair with little to no chance of long-term stability. NASCAR, which is run by the son and granddaughter of founder Bill France Sr., vowed to work on a solution.

    The letter sent this month said “substantial progress has been made on a framework to address the economic issues.” But it asked NASCAR to explain its position on permanent charters.

    “We would like to directly engage in conversations in order to understand (NASCAR’s) concerns. Items that have been mentioned are general concepts about transfer restrictions, protection from bad actors and dealing with material adverse economic changes over time,” the letter says. “We have reviewed these concerns with our outside counsel and others who are well versed in such issues from other leagues, and we are optimistic that by working together we can work through these or any other specific concerns, just as we did successfully at the creation of the charter system.”

    The teams said their request is no different than NASCAR’s “desire to pass along ownership of a strong and robust property to the next generation of the France/Kennedy family”

    “We seek to do the same thing with our families,” they wrote.

    The letter was signed by representatives of 16 different teams, including Hall of Famers Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress, Joe Gibbs and Jack Roush.

    NASCAR maintains that teams receive about 40% of industry-wide generated revenue, but the teams dispute the calculation.

    An $8.2 billion media rights deal signed ahead of the 2015 season allots 65% to the tracks, 25% to the teams and 10% to NASCAR, according to the series. NASCAR owns the majority of the venues on the Cup Series schedule, including the crown jewel Daytona International Speedway, and the France family owns NASCAR.

    The teams have said that sponsorship covers 60% to 80% of their budgets and they need financial relief from NASCAR because they’ve become “full-time fundraisers.”

    ___

    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • ‘Sick of him’: Chastain drawing ire of fellow NASCAR drivers

    ‘Sick of him’: Chastain drawing ire of fellow NASCAR drivers

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    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ross Chastain used to be known primarily as the driver with the family roots in watermelon farming, and whose victory lane celebrations usually involved standing on the roof of his car and smashing a melon to pieces on the pavement.

    Now, he’s becoming known for an aggressive driving style that is repeatedly rubbing others the wrong way.

    The latest incident came Sunday at Kansas Speedway, where Chastain first earned a torrent of expletives over the radio from Kyle Busch, then squeezed Noah Gragson into the wall with about 60 laps to go. The latter dust-up led to a wild scene on pit road, where Chastain threw a haymaker at Gragson and the two had to be pulled apart by security.

    “I’m sick and tired of it,” Gragson said afterward, while dropping a few expletives of his own. “The guy runs into everyone. When you have guys like Chase Elliott and other guys telling you to beat his ass, everyone is just sick of him.”

    The incident came six days after the NASCAR Cup Series ran its rain-delayed race at Dover, and Chastain got into the back of Brennan Poole, sending him up the track and taking Kyle Larson out of the race in the process.

    Larson vented over his radio about Chastain while Poole was more pointed in his criticism during a televised interview.

    “I haven’t really seen the replay, but it felt like I just got ran over really for no reason 80 laps into the race,” he said. “Doesn’t make any sense to me. I guess that’s something he’s been known to do here recently. Probably needs to get his butt whooped.”

    Last month, Denny Hamlin had a $50,000 fine and 25-point penalty upheld after he acknowledged on his weekly podcast that he intentionally wrecked Chastain on the last lap of the Phoenix race in March.

    “I got no respect from him,” said Hamlin, who won Sunday’s race at Kansas, “so I chose not to give him any.”

    Chastain, who was fifth at Kansas and leads the NASCAR Cup Series points standings, was even criticized by Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, who was a guest analyst on the Fox broadcast at Dover: “He’s got a steering wheel in his hand and a brake and a gas (pedal) at his feet. He could have controlled that a little better. That was a little too aggressive, in my opinion.”

    Back in Wallace’s day, it wouldn’t have taken long for someone to retaliate. Dale Earnhardt had a reputation for policing the way drivers acted on the drack, and many others from NASCAR’s heyday did the same thing.

    Yet the furor also begs the question: Is Chastain exactly what NASCAR needs these days?

    The series has struggled to attract audiences, and sections of empty seats at Kansas Speedway on a bright, sunny Sunday were the latest evidence of it. Many drivers have told The Associated Press that one of the series’ problems is the lack of identifiable stars in the Cup Series.

    Perhaps Chastain can embrace the role of the villain. There’s a fine line to walk between creating drama and creating havoc, though.

    Take the incident with Busch on Sunday. Chastain was racing him hard shortly before Busch crashed out of the race — Chastain had nothing to do with that — and the two-time series champion often regarded as something of a villain himself lit into him over the radio.

    “He’s pissed because I’m pissed that he races like an (expletive),” Busch told his team, “and so I doored him twice down the backstretch like, ‘This is your warning, boy.’”

    Apparently the warning wasn’t heeded. Or at least, not where Gragson was concerned.

    “Just got fenced by him,” Gragson said in explaining their pit-road altercation. “Nobody else has the balls to at least confront him, at least just grab him and do something. He’s going to keep doing it. I’m over it. I’m ready to fight him. I didn’t even get a shot in because the security guards got in the middle of it.”

    Chastain acknowledged racing Gragson hard and defended the swipe he took on pit road.

    “Noah and I have a very similar attitude on the racetrack, and we train together, we prepare together, we know every little bit about each other,” Chastain said. “Definitely crowded him up off of four, and he took a swipe at us in three, and then he came down and grabbed ahold of me, and a very big man once told me we have a no-push policy here at Trackhouse.”

    That policy will surely be tested in the coming weeks.

    ___

    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Hendrick gets big win off track, emotional victory on track

    Hendrick gets big win off track, emotional victory on track

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    What a week for Hendrick Motorsports, which scored its first victory in NASCAR’s version of a courtroom and its second win on the track at Richmond Raceway.

    NASCAR’s winningest team had received the largest penalty ever issued to a single organization for illegal modifications to supplier-provided parts on the Next Gen car. Hendrick Motorsports appealed and, in a rare overruling, a three-person panel last week reversed a significant portion of the penalty.

    The celebration came Sunday when Kyle Larson picked up his first win of the season on what would have been the late Ricky Hendrick’s 43rd birthday. The winning Chevrolet at Richmond was painted to replicate the scheme Ricky Hendrick used before his death in a 2004 plane crash.

    “Me racing this 5 car has been special, but especially this paint scheme,” said Larson, who copped to watching YouTube videos last week of his 2021 championship season to “remind myself that I used to be good.”

    The videos reminded him of his fist win with Hendrick in 2021 at Las Vegas, which was his first race with Ricky Hendrick’s old paint scheme. A win later that season at Kansas, Larson said, “I think it was 17 years to the date of the accident, and then now this, winning on his birthday.

    “It’s all really special and kind of crazy kind of how things maybe work out from the power above,” Larson added.

    Ricky Hendrick was the only son of team owner Rick Hendrick and the heir to the NASCAR juggernaut. He was among 10 people killed when a Hendrick plane crashed into a Virginia mountain en route to a race at Martinsville Speedway. Also killed in the crash was Rick Hendrick’s brother, his twin nieces, the Hendrick Motorsports general manager and lead engine builder.

    Hendrick Motorsports has celebrated their lost loved ones many times in the nearly 19 years since the crash, but there’s no greater joy for Rick Hendrick than watching Larson pilot and win in a car that reminds him of his late son.

    Jeff Gordon, who is now vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports and assuming responsibilities that presumably would have fallen to Ricky Hendrick, said Larson’s win at Richmond makes the organization wonder what might have been if not for the plane crash.

    “What Ricky’s presence would do for us if he was here with us today and what his leadership … you know, he was so passionate about Hendrick Motorsports and racing,” Gordon said. “I was talking to Rick and he was emotional and excited, and so his presence is still here.

    “Our folks try to do everything they can to make Rick Hendrick proud. But when you know what Ricky’s impact could have been on our company and the people and the 5 car and that paint scheme and what that means to the whole company, it’s very rewarding to know that we’re still kind of thinking of him and paying tribute to him as often as we can. Maybe he is looking down on us as well.”

    Hendrick Motorsports persevered since NASCAR confiscated its modified parts, stripped three of the four Hendrick drivers of 100 points each and suspended all four crew chiefs for four weeks, with $100,000 fines apiece. But William Byron and Larson have each scored wins in the month since, and the appeals panel restored the points deductions — an overruling of NASCAR that has Alex Bowman as the current points leader. Byron is ranked fourth and Larson sixth.

    Chase Elliott is still out with a broken leg, and replacement driver Josh Berry finished a career-best second on Sunday, with Hendrick not missing a beat despite all its distractions. Gordon found Berry after the race on pit road to congratulate the journeyman and later told reporters the 32-year-old has a future in the Cup Series.

    “It’s been a good week. It’s been really stressful trying to prep for an appeal and not knowing what the outcome is going to be,” Gordon said. “We’re certainly happy with what the appeals committee came to that conclusion, but at the same time, we feel like we laid out enough information there that it shouldn’t have ever happened, or even the monetary side of it and the crew chief side of it.

    “We were really hoping we were going to get all of that back. But we’re going to move on from that. Once the green flag dropped, it’s all about those teams executing and doing their job. But certainly quite a few smiles around (Hendrick) campus this day. They’ve been down with what happened. So that definitely reenergized our folks this week and coming into this weekend’s race.”

    ___

    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • NASCAR star Elliott has leg surgery after snowboard accident

    NASCAR star Elliott has leg surgery after snowboard accident

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    NASCAR superstar Chase Elliott had successful surgery for an unspecified injury to his left leg Friday night, hours after a snowboarding accident in Colorado. He will miss this weekend’s NASCAR race at Las Vegas.

    Team owner Rick Hendrick told The Associated Press that Elliott was “just out of surgery” and “it went well.” Hendrick gave no additional details about Elliott’s condition or the accident.

    Hendrick is NASCAR’s winningest car owner and Elliott is NASCAR’s most popular driver.

    Josh Berry will drive the No. 9 Chevrolet on Sunday in place of Elliott.

    Elliott would need a waiver from NASCAR to be eligible for this year’s playoffs because he’s missing a race. NASCAR has granted waivers to drivers for a variety of medical and non-medical reasons.

    “Chase’s health is our primary concern,” Hendrick said ahead of Elliott’s surgery. “He’s spoken with several members of our team and is understandably disappointed to miss time in the car. Of course, he has our full support and we’ll provide any resources he needs.”

    Elliott is a second-generation driver and the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott. The Georgia native is NASCAR’s five-time fan-voted most popular driver.

    Elliott was runner-up to Kyle Busch last week at Fontana, California. He was part of a crash in the season-opening Daytona 500.

    Las Vegas is the third race of the season. Berry is a two-time winner in the Xfinity series at Las Vegas and is the defending Xfinity winner. Berry also will race Saturday for Hendrick affiliate JR Motorsports.

    Elliott is a part of NASCAR’s shrinking group of true superstars and was signed to a developmental deal by Hendrick when he was just 14 years old.

    He blossomed into a bona fide elite racer and won the Cup title in 2020. The 27-year-old has 18 career Cup victories and has advanced into the championship finale the last three consecutive years.

    The injury comes at a time when Hendrick dramatically shifted his stance on extracurricular activities. He was a firm believer in that his drivers could not race in other series or partake in daredevil behavior for fear of injury.

    But he did a complete U-turn after signing Kyle Larson for 2021. Larson runs at small tracks all over the country and persuaded Hendrick not to force him to quit.

    In fact, Hendrick is even partnering with McLaren and Chevrolet to enter Larson in the Indianapolis 500. The deal has been announced for 2024, but the AP has learned it is a two-year deal that includes the 2025 race.

    Hendrick the previous two seasons also entered a car in the IMSA sports car series endurance races and in June is going to the 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of a special project with NASCAR. Elliott was thought to be an early contender for a seat in the historic entry, but NASCAR has a conflicting race weekend and Elliott has always said he wouldn’t miss a Cup race.

    Hendrick’s new position opened the door for all four of the HMS drivers to start racing other events, and Elliott has taken the offer.

    Elliott’s snowboarding accident, however, happened during a physical activity, and it isn’t publicly known what he can and can’t do under his Hendrick contract.

    Elliott is a licensed pilot and because he’s never left his Dawsonville, Georgia, hometown he often helicopters himself to meetings at Hendrick’s North Carolina race shop.

    Once he relaxed his view on extra racing, Hendrick explained that a driver knows very well if they get injured, they will be replaced. This will be his first test.

    Hendrick driver Alex Bowman missed five races last year with a concussion suffered in a NASCAR race. He received a contract extension last month.

    The 32-year-old Berry normally drives for JRM in the second-tier Xfinity Series. He is a five-time winner for JRM and has two previous Cup starts.

    ___

    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Kyle Busch gets 1st RCR victory in Fontana’s NASCAR farewell

    Kyle Busch gets 1st RCR victory in Fontana’s NASCAR farewell

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    FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — Kyle Busch still smiles at the memory of getting thrown out of California Speedway during his first competitive trip here in 2001. The 16-year-old upstart dominated a NASCAR Truck Series practice, only to be told he couldn’t run in a race sponsored by Marlboro because he was too young to smoke.

    “That was my ‘Welcome to NASCAR’ moment and my ‘Welcome to California Speedway’ moment,” Busch said.

    Anger, conflict and disrespect have always appeared to be Busch’s favorite fuels, and the record-setting veteran burned plenty of them Sunday while rewarding his new team — and sending this beloved track off in style.

    Busch stormed up from the back after an early speeding penalty to earn his first victory for Richard Childress Racing, winning on this two-mile Southern California track for the fifth and final time.

    Busch held off Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain in the NASCAR Cup Series’ final race on the gloriously weathered asphalt at Auto Club Speedway, which will soon be demolished to make room for a proposed half-mile track. Busch asked Fontana officials for a chunk of that asphalt as a souvenir after he burned it up one last time on his way to Victory Lane.

    “That’s what I enjoy the most about this racetrack,” Busch said. “It’s big. It gets spread out. But man, you can move around and you can spread out and you can make your own destiny by trying to find something that will work for your race car. It’s a sad day for me to see this racetrack in its last race being a two-mile configuration. Glad I was able to win the final run here.”

    Busch drove his Chevrolet to victory in only his second race with RCR, which scooped him up in December after his 15-year tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing ended. This win was Busch’s first since Bristol last season on a dirt track, and his first on pavement since Pocono in 2021.

    With his 61st career victory, Busch earned a win in his record 19th consecutive Cup season, breaking a tie with Richard Petty. Busch said he set his focus on Petty’s longevity record “a long, long time ago.”

    “I’m just so thankful for the opportunity to set that bar, and would love to continue to keep raising it,” Busch said.

    The victory also was the combined 95th win by Kyle and Kurt Busch, breaking the NASCAR record for brothers previously held by Bobby and Donnie Allison.

    Elliott finished 2.998 seconds behind Busch in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Daniel Suárez finished fourth, and Kevin Harvick was fifth in the Bakersfield native’s 750th Cup start.

    “Congratulations to Kyle,” Elliott said. “For him to leave and then to go get the job done like that is pretty cool. He’s always been really good to me, so happy for them.”

    After that teenage trouble, the Las Vegas native has enjoyed plenty of highlights down the I-15 at Fontana. Busch got his first Cup victory at this speedway back in 2005 in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and only Jimmie Johnson (6) earned more Cup victories here.

    Even the California fans appreciate a driver who typically gets boos after his triumphs: Fontana serenaded him with cheers as he claimed another surfboard trophy.

    “There’s nothing more rewarding than being able to go to Victory Lane,” Busch said. “I death-gripped that wheel throughout the second half of that race, but we got the victory.”

    Busch was sent to the back early in the race for speeding on pit road, and the penalty infuriated him. To absolutely nobody’s surprise, he roared through the field in response, passing Michael McDowell for the lead with 20 laps to go.

    “That’s why he’s won as many races as he has,” said Randall Burnett, Busch’s crew chief. “Because he always pushes it to the limit.”

    GOODBYE FONTANA

    The traditional five-wide salute before the race carried added poignancy because of the finality of this race: NASCAR is shutting down the track built by Roger Penske with vague plans to build a new track in its place, along with selling off much of the surrounding property.

    The decision brings an end to an entertaining era for stock car racing in Southern California’s rich car culture. The big track east of Los Angeles is a favorite of nearly every racer in multiple disciplines, with its coarse grip and wide-open spaces creating impressive racing for a quarter-century.

    NASCAR currently has nowhere to race in the area in 2024, and the new track might not even be ready by 2025 — if it happens at all.

    DRY SUNDAY

    A week of unusual rainstorms and occasional snow finally abated Saturday night, and NASCAR dried the asphalt impressively before the race. Although sand and debris bothered some drivers, the track even managed to avoid any major problems from collected rainwater weeping out of cracks in the track.

    BIG CRASH

    The race featured a major wreck out of a restart shortly before the midway point involving 10 cars, the most in any collision in a Cup race at Fontana. Four drivers — including pole-sitter Christopher Bell — couldn’t continue after the wreck that sent several cars skidding into across infield.

    FOR STARTERS

    Defending champion Kyle Larson was out of contention after developing engine trouble on the opening laps. Shortly after Brad Keselowski spun from contact with Corey LaJoie, Busch was sent to the back.

    ___

    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Fox pit reporter Sims a symbol of NASCAR’s diversity goals

    Fox pit reporter Sims a symbol of NASCAR’s diversity goals

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    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — When Josh Sims reports on NASCAR this season, the stock car series these days — from the garage to the grandstands to top brass — looks more like him.

    Yes, Sims takes pride in the fact that he will become the first Black pit reporter for the Daytona 500 and that his rapid rise at Fox has made him one of the primary faces of the network’s NASCAR coverage.

    More than that, Sims sees that NASCAR may finally be running out of unconquered firsts for people of color. For women. For any minority who perhaps has experienced an uneasy relationship with a series founded in the South 75 years ago, a generation before the civil rights era.

    Sims’ journey from NASCAR novice through a sports anchor gig in Charlotte, North Carolina, that sparked his passion in the sport had led to his biggest assignment yet: pit reporting as a Black man from one of auto racing’s signature events.

    “I never set out to be a first,” the 35-year-old Sims said. “I never set out to make history. I just wanted to be the best at what I was doing, whether it was hosting or reporting. At the same time, I kind of understand the platform and what it means for me to be doing this.”

    Sims has a full workload this season. He is the Cup Series pit reporter, teams with Regan Smith as an Xfinity Series reporter and is part of the host rotation for the FS1 show “Race Hub.”

    And this season, he wants to share the stories on what he sees at the track beyond the in-race reports and fantastic finishes. Minorities may not necessarily become the dominant demographic for the series, but they can certainly grab a larger share of the marketplace.

    “I think if more people out there saw it, saw people that looked them, instead of just driver, crew chief, you might be more inclined to feel like, hey, I feel a little more comfortable going to the track,” Sims said. “Getting that out there might help in terms of more people coming to the track and getting more different faces to the stands. It’s not necessarily about getting more people in, it’s showing what you already have.”

    It was, of course, a very low bar but the garage and grid and fans certainly appears to be more diverse now than before 2020 when NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its tracks and properties. NASCAR is still overwhelmingly white, but NASCAR President Steve Phelps isn’t exaggerating when he says you notice the change when walking through the garage.

    “I think the events of 2020 allowed the sport to get younger and more diverse,” he said at his state-of-the sport address in November.

    Among the notable achievements: Jusan Hamilton, who last year became the first Black race director in Daytona 500 history, will do it again this season. Amanda Oliver, a Black woman, negotiates high-profile deals as NASCAR’s senior vice president. John Ferguson, a Black man, is the chief human resources officer.

    Owners now include Pitbull and Michael Jordan, whose team features Bubba Wallace, the Black driver who prompted the flag ban. Rising stars in the developmental series include Rajah Caruth, a 20-year-old graduate of the “Drive for Diversity” program.

    Phelps said NASCAR was committed to strengthening ties to various programs that can attract a broader fan base, from Boys & Girls Clubs to “some of the other areas we have from a partnership standpoint that really speak to what’s happening in the African American community, what’s happening in the Hispanic, Latino community (to) what’s happening in the LGBTQ community.”

    While the frequently toxic nature of social media makes it easier for haters to reach Sims and others, he’s a popular personality each weekend at the track.

    “I never necessarily felt uncomfortable,” he said. “You get stuff here and there in terms of messages that’s emailed to you or sent to you but that’s par for the course if you’re a minority in the sport, a woman in the sport, even white drivers get stuff like that. But for every one or two of those, I get a lot more stuff from people excited that I’m here. You know, focus on the good.”

    Raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey, Sims is a Villanova graduate who followed the Wildcats in NCAA Tournament games in 2009 and remained a fan of most Philly teams.

    “I grew up in Jersey, so not exactly NASCAR country,” Sims said. “Growing up, you know the Jimmies and the Dale Seniors and the Tony Stewarts and everybody but it wasn’t something I followed week in and week out.”

    His interest in NASCAR picked up in 2015 when he moved to Charlotte and hosted a pre-race show on the local Fox affiliate. Sims covered his first Daytona 500 in 2016 when Denny Hamlin nipped Martin Truex Jr. in the closest finish in race history.

    “I was like, I am all in,” Sims said.

    Charlotte can feel like a small town for a city and Sims kept bumping into friends and contacts in NASCAR. Fox Sports executives hired Sims in 2021 as a reporter for their slate of NASCAR shows. He also became the first Black pit reporter in any NASCAR series, for Trucks races.

    “I kind of hope that young people that look like me, can see me doing it and now recognize that it’s possible,” Sims said. “I hope I can kind of blaze a trail for them to one day say, hey, because Josh Sims did it, I can do it, too. And that’s what’s important.”

    ___

    AP Images blog on 75 years of NASCAR: https://apimagesblog.com/historical/2023/2/nascar-75

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    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/apf-AutoRacing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • NASCAR 75: Car evolution includes stock, wings, safety. EV?

    NASCAR 75: Car evolution includes stock, wings, safety. EV?

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    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR’s next 75 years almost certainly will include at least a partially electric vehicle turning laps at Daytona International Speedway.

    It’s unfathomable to some, unconscionable to others.

    It’s unlikely the sanctioning body would make the transition without at least trying to keep the heart-pounding sound of a throaty engine and the permeating smell of exhaust fumes – as much garage staples as sponsorship logos and haulers.

    “Do I see us racing EVs down the road? Probably,” former NASCAR crew chief and longtime Fox Sports commentator Larry McReynolds said. “But I’m going to be very honest and very candid. I hope it’s after I’ve left the sport. I like what we’ve got.”

    Even though the Next Gen car is entering its second NASCAR season – a nd already has been tweaked in hopes of preventing more head injuries like the one that sidelined 2004 champion Kurt Busch indefinitely – the evolution of the car has been an integral part of the sport since its debut in 1948.

    The car has gone from “Strictly Stock” in its inaugural season to high-tech platforms distinguished solely by manufacturer stickers in the 1980s to something in between these days. What’s next will be debated, but most believe a new engine will be introduced sooner rather than later.

    “The electrification of the cars has to be on the horizon. Whether it’s 50 miles on the horizon or 300 miles on the horizon, I don’t think any of any of us know right now for sure,” NASCAR historian Ken Martin said. “But I know there’s talk about a hybrid component.”

    Getting there could be trickier to navigate than any road course on the 2023 schedule.

    “We might see the day that we might go to a hybrid and use the electrical power for pace laps or pit stops,” Martin said. “That would be a way to ease into it. We know that a huge component of our sport is the sound. It grabs you, and that’s part of what our fans come to hear, come to see, the sights and smells and sounds.

    “I think we’ll be very, very careful about eliminating that sound. But we realize that if Detroit says, ‘Hey, we’re not making any fuel-related engines,’ we’d have to take a look at what would need to be done.”

    Even though EVs are becoming more common in driveways across the country, the elimination of gas engines is years, maybe decades, away. Maybe even longer for NASCAR, which has built an empire on squeezing every bit of horsepower from gas-powered cars since it started racing on the Daytona Beach sand.

    Here’s a look at that progression as NASCAR celebrates its 75th anniversary:

    GENERATION 1 (1948-66)

    The first cars debuted in 1948 and were nearly identically to those on the street. There were three rules: The back seat had to be removed, headlights had to be taped over and doors had to be secured.

    Hall of Famer Hershel McGriff, for example, drove his race car from Portland, Oregon, to Darlington, South Carolina, for the 1950 Southern 500, finished ninth and then drove it back across the country.

    “That’s how stock the cars were back then,” Martin said.

    GENERATION 2 (1967-80)

    As bigger and higher-banked tracks like Daytona started popping up throughout the South, NASCAR began allowing teams to build cars that could handle speedway rigors. Teams were allowed to beef up hubs, gears and suspensions while bodies remained stock. The cars also no longer featured doors.

    Those adjustments led to some of the most memorable winged cars in NASCAR history: the Dodge Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird.

    GENERATION 3 (1981-90)

    Custom-built race cars no longer resembled their showroom counterparts. The cars became smaller – 110-inch wheelbases — faster and more aerodynamically sound. They also received support from manufacturers Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, which provided body panels and other parts.

    GENERATION 4 (1991-2006)

    Fiberglass replaced steel bodies to reduce weight, and wind-tunnel time became commonplace to gain aerodynamic advantages. These cars are widely considered the most iconic in NASCAR history.

    Three GM brands — Buick in 1992, Oldsmobile in 1994 and Pontiac in 2004 — left the series. Dodge, however, returned in 2001.

    The generation was marred by the on-track deaths of Dale Earnhardt, Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty.

    GENERATION 5 (2007-12)

    Toyota made its debut in 2007 along with the Car of Tomorrow, which was years in the making following Earnhardt’s fatal crash at Daytona. The car was specifically designed to improve safety, with changes that included taller, wider and identical bodies, larger crumple zones and impact-absorbing foam built into both sides.

    The most noticeable modifications were a front splitter and a rear wing that evoked so much fan vitriol it was replaced by a spoiler midway through 2010.

    “It really got away from what we were doing on the highway,” Martin said.

    The COT proved to be nearly indestructible on the track, evident by violent crashes involving Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Michael McDowell and Ryan Newman.

    GENERATION 6 (2013-21)

    Dodge walked away from NASCAR after winning the 2012 Cup Series championship with Brad Keselowski, leaving Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota as the only manufacturers.

    These cars were designed with manufacturer-specific bodies that better reflected showroom counterparts, and the chassis underneath had very little competitive wiggle room. They were bulkier and faster.

    NEXT GEN (2022-current)

    NASCAR’S current car saw some of the biggest innovations in series history. The sanctioning body moved to an independent rear suspension, rack-and-pinion steering, a five-speed sequential shifter, a transaxle, 19-inch wheels and a center hub instead of lug nuts.

    “We did it all for the sake of being more relative to what the fan drives as a passenger car,” McReynolds said.

    Following concussions to Busch and Alex Bowman, NASCAR adjusted the car in hopes of reducing the amount of force delivered to drivers amid rear-impact crashes.

    “It’s automobile racing, and as much we’ll always strive to be as safe as we can, we will never, ever make it completely risk free,” McReynolds said. “I don’t mean to sound morbid, but I don’t think it needs to be risk free because that’s one of the attractions.”

    The sound of the engines is another. And that could ultimately go the way of doors, splitters and wings.

    “We’ll probably see more of a hybrid-type engine,” McReynolds said. “I think that’s a few years down the road. You can’t keep putting huge expenses on these owners or you’re going to run them out of business. If you change the engine package like we just went through the car package, it’s basically throwing everything out the window and starting from scratch again. No one is ready for that.”

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    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Kevin Harvick to join Fox both as NASCAR analyst in 2024

    Kevin Harvick to join Fox both as NASCAR analyst in 2024

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    LOS ANGELES — Kevin Harvick won’t spend a single day in retirement when his NASCAR driving days are over: Fox said Sunday it has hired Harvick for its broadcast booth next season.

    Harvick announced last month that he will retire from NASCAR competition at the end of the 2023 season.

    He will then transition into a broadcast roll for Fox, which has used Harvick regularly as a guest analyst since 2015. He is scheduled to call four Xfinity Series and three Truck Series races this year for FS1, and next season he will join Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer for Fox’s entire portion of the Cup schedule.

    “I knew that this was something that I wanted to do because it gives you such a unique position to be able to talk about the sport and be able to use your knowledge and relationships to be able to give the fans and people a great perspective,” Harvick told The Associated Press.

    “This has really been a conversation that’s been happening for several years, the timing just was never really right. Now it’s all worked out and it’s a great time to be able to transition and have a voice in the sport and remain a part of NASCAR racing on a weekly basis and talk about the things I love.”

    Harvick was the centerpiece of Fox’s “Drivers Only” broadcasts that began in 2015. The network began using a combination of active drivers and crew chiefs to call lower-level races and Harvick, who has called more than 25 races for the network, was a natural fit from the very beginning.

    He is so steady in the booth that many predicted Harvick would develop into a play-by-play announcer and lead a broadcast team. Harvick, who is beginning his 23rd Cup season, is the 2014 Cup champion and is tied for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list with 60 career victories.

    Harvick has 13 consecutive playoff appearances.

    “The credibility is off the charts. His longevity in NASCAR will only help him explain to the viewers the evolution the sport has taken,” Fox Sports executive producer Brad Zager said. “For him, that next step of being in the booth is something that’s almost been fait accompli since he first stepped into the booth with us.”

    Zager said the network had to do very little to prepare Harvick for the booth.

    “We never want to try to convince somebody they should be a broadcaster, and with Harvick, we didn’t have to,” Zager said. “He is someone who has a passion for it already. We’re very excited about everything that he brings, and we think he will be the perfect third man for Clint and Mike with his style, his personality and his credibility.”

    Fox primarily has been a two-man booth since Jeff Gordon stepped down at the end of the 2021 season. The network used guests in place of Gordon but has been content waiting for the right person to fill the role full-time.

    For Harvick, it will be his third different job as a co-worker with Bowyer.

    The two were teammates at Richard Childress Racing early in their career, were reunited at Stewart-Haas Racing and in 2024 will be side-by-side as Fox analysts.

    “We obviously have totally different approaches in the things that we do and say, and I think that makes it fun,” Harvick said. “Clint and I became good friends over the years, and we have a good relationship, but we’ve never been able to have a relationship outside the car that’s not been competitive.”

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    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Ally Financial expands NASCAR spend with 2 new partnerships

    Ally Financial expands NASCAR spend with 2 new partnerships

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    LOS ANGELES — Ally Financial has expanded its growing portfolio as a top NASCAR sponsor with a deal to become the official bank of the stock car series and NASCAR-owned race tracks.

    The multiyear deal was announced Sunday ahead of NASCAR’s exhibition extravaganza at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and led to the creation of the “Ally Pre-Race Tailgate” that debuted ahead of the Busch Light Clash.

    Ally also will be the presenting sponsor of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Awards beginning in 2024. It said it will use that platform to celebrate “the stories, community, and work being done across the cultural landscape of racing” and work with NASCAR on initiatives to welcome a diverse audience.

    Ally entered NASCAR as the main sponsor of the No. 48 Chevrolet for the final two years of Jimmie Johnson’s full-time career, stayed on the car after Johnson retired in 2020 and has been supportive of replacement Alex Bowman.

    Ally has also sponsored NASCAR’s return of Cup racing to Nashville.

    “We’ve loved every minute of the ride since becoming a sponsor of the No. 48, from seeing the growth in popularity of the sport to the increased diversity among team ownership,” Ally chief marketing and public relations officer Andrea Brimmer said. “The timing couldn’t be better for us to complement our wonderful relationship with Hendrick Motorsports by expanding our footprint as an official NASCAR sponsor.”

    Diversity (and animal rescue) have been key pillars of Brimmer’s stewardship of Ally spending in NASCAR. Ally’s increased activation has coincided with social changes throughout the NASCAR industry. Bubba Wallace remains the only full-time Black driver at NASCAR’s top Cup level, but he drives for Michael Jordan, showing the landscape of the ownership group is diversifying.

    Ally this season worked with paint scheme designer Carolina Fogle, one of the few women in her position, to design the primary No. 48 scheme that will be used on Bowman’s car.

    “It’s been a privilege to work in partnership with Ally these past five years and see them quickly establish themselves as an engaged and admired sponsor in our sport,” Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick said.

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    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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