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Fans, Hornish and SHOP.COM Send 10 Campers to Victory Junction: Sam Hornish Jr. and the #9 SHOP.COM/Victory Junction Ford team put in a great effort during Friday night's Sprint Showdown with a 14th-place finish in the first 20-lap segment and a fourth-place finish in the second 20-lap segment. Hornish was one of the fastest cars in the second segement. Although Hornish and the #9 SHOP.COM/Victory Junction Ford team did not find Victory Lane, they still leave Charlotte Motor Speedway as winners. Earlier this month, Richard Petty Motorsports partner SHOP.COM announced a campaign surrounding the Sprint Fan Vote and Hornish. For every Sprint Fan Vote that Hornish received, SHOP.COM donated $5 to Victory Junction and $10 for every shared vote on Facebook and Twitter up to $25,000. Through the support of SHOP.COM and the NASCAR community, Hornish received enough fan votes to reach the $25,000 goal to send 10 campers to Victory Junction.(RPM)(5-16-2015)

France defends NASCAR decision about waiver for Kyle Busch: NASCAR CEO and Chairman Brian France defended NASCAR's decision to waive the 26-race rule on Wednesday and allow Kyle Busch to be eligible for the Chase. Although the sanctioning body granted the waiver, it doesn't mean the Joe Gibbs racer will automatically qualify for the playoff. That's where France says the challenge lies. "The real beauty in the way the championship is now decided, you have a little bit of flexibility to crown your champion," France said. "As opposed to the old days, when it was an accumulation of all the points. Now, you're resetting it any way. You still have to get into the Chase with a win. Once you get there, that's when the real work begins - those final 10 races and to survive that. I think the flexibility the format adds we're still rewarding the best driver in a given year is helpful for us and allows us when things like Kyle Busch happens or something else that are out of a driver's control we at least have a tool left in our tool kit so we can put them back in." Although France acknowledged that Busch's absence for nearly one-third of the Sprint Cup season played into NASCAR's decision-making process, with the new Chase format, the main emphasis is qualifying for and performing in the playoffs.
"What we determined in this case is you still have to finish strong in the remaining events leading up to the Chase, you have to win a race and you have to perform in the final 10 when it matters the most any way," France added. "There is plenty of merit if Kyle, in this case, is able to accomplish all that, then he will be a fine champion."(Motorsport / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)(5-16-2015)