NASCAR Chase Across North America gets underway: NASCAR's Chase Across North America program got underway on Tuesday with Chase drivers embarking on a multi-city media tour, crisscrossing the nation to make special appearances and build excitement for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup - a 10-race culmination to the season that crowns a battle-tested champion. Some events:
ESPN: With 17 national series victories, no one has dominated at Bristol Motor Speedway like #18-Kyle Busch. But on Tuesday, he dominated the other Bristol - Bristol, Connecticut, home to the headquarters of ESPN. While at ESPN, Busch participated in a number of ESPN property interviews, including live appearances on SportsCenter in front of his #18 M&Ms Crispy Toyota Camry - which was parked on the ESPN campus all day.
Charlotte: #20-Matt Kenseth hit three cities (Charlotte, North Carolina; Greenville, South Carolina; Greensboro, N.C.) to promote Charlotte Motor Speedway's Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the lone night race in the postseason. During each stop, Kenseth met with fans and dignitaries, including Greenville Mayor Pro-Tem David Suddeth and Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan. While in Charlotte, Kenseth and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Marcus Smith honored military members in attendance with free race tickets.
Chicago: #2-Brad Keselowski had no idea what would be in store for him during his visit to the Second City. To his delight, a few lucky fans were selected to accompany Keselowski at three distinct and iconic Chicago hot dog locations. He not only visited locations famous for their Chicago-style hot dogs, he provided moral support to the fans as they taste-tested what Chicagoans declare the mecca of all things sausage - the Chicago Style hot dog. First up on the list of quintessential locations was the small in size but not so small in flavor, Wiener's Circle in the heart of Lincoln Park. Known for its Maxwell Street Char-dogs, cheese fries and mutual verbal abuse between employees and customers, Brad was in for a culture shock of Chicago skyscraper proportions. Next up in Brad's eventful day was new to the Chicago hot dog scene, Franks N' Dawgs. Slightly fancier than your average wiener shack, Franks N' Dawgs offers hand-crafted artisan sausages, placed gingerly atop lauded New England-style lobster roll buns, topped with seasonal, high quality ingredients and a precise attention to detail. Last, but certainly not least, Keselowski and crew visited Villa Park's original "Dog House," Portillo's. Keselowski did enjoy a fair share of the delicious chocolate cake Portillo's connoisseurs know oh-so-well. Decadent desserts, scenic décor and one-on-one media opportunities at this final stop wrapped up the Chase Across North America day.
Dover: #31-Ryan Newman spent Tuesday discussing his championship goals, getting wrapped up in crepe paper and advising children to take their education seriously. Newman met with media members at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino before visiting Fred Fifer III Middle School in Camden, Del. At Fifer Middle School, Newman spoke to approximately 1,000 students during two pep rallies, took questions from the students, signed autographs and participated in two relay races where he and Fifer teachers and administrators were wrapped in crepe paper by four students each, before racing across a mat to the finish line. Newman, who is used to running up front in NASCAR Sprint Cup fields based on his 51 career poles, won both races. SiriusXM radio host and Delaware native Mike Bagley served as the emcee for the pep rallies, and drew loud cheers when he announced that students would be receiving tickets to the "Hisense 200" NASCAR XFINITY Series race, set for Saturday, Oct. 3 at the Monster Mile.
Homestead: #11-Denny Hamlin teamed up with Homestead-Miami Speedway and the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science to host students from Broward County High School, where Hamlin and the students participated in a variety of activities and exhibits at the museum. During the trip, Hamlin might have done some recruiting for future engineers for Joe Gibbs Racing. He drove an incredible solar-powered car built by Western High School students from Davie, Florida.
Kansas: #48-Jimmie Johnson visited the University of Kansas Hospital Tuesday night to brighten the spirits of children in the Pediatric Wing. During his visit, Johnson delivered Lowe's Build & Grow kits and hosted an ice cream social with Blue Bunny for the children.
Martinsville: Like Jamie McMurray, #27-Paul Menard makes his first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup appearance after a consistent regular season. Menard, who headed to Martinsville to help promote its Nov. 1 Chase race, received the key to the city of Martinsville and participated in a celebratory parade in the city's downtown.
New Hampshire: #22-Joey Logano made a series of campaign-style stops in the Granite State as he met with students, fans and media to bolster support for his upcoming playoff race at the Sept. 27 SYLVANIA 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Logano visited "The Pit" at Manchester Community College, where he offered his "I'm In It to Win It" campaign theme. He also dropped by historic Robie's Country Store in Hooksett and finished at the State House in Concord.
Talladega: Though winless, #1-Jamie McMurray quietly had one of the better regular seasons of 2015. McMurray enters the Chase as a first-time Challenger - and could be a wild-card championship threat. So it makes sense that he stopped off at Talladega Superspeedway on Tuesday - the ultimate wild-card track. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver has a win at Dega, where he participated in media Q&As, co-hosted an hour-long live radio show with local station WJOX and painted a car in Talladega's Victory Lane with local elementary school students.
Texas: #15-Clint Bowyer got a taste of what it's like to be behind the camera - as opposed to his ubiquitous role as the on-camera funny man of the NASCAR garage. During his stop to generate excitement for the Texas Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race on Nov. 8, Bowyer pretended to be a camera man interviewing Texas Motor Speedway season ticket holders. 'Camera Man Bowyer' told one fan to be more positive when she said she didn't think Bowyer would do well in the Chase.
On Wednesday, Sept. 16, #24-Jeff Gordon, #41-Kurt Busch and #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. will take part in their respective market visits for Chase Across North America. Gordon will visit New York City, where he'll go on a multi-stop media tour highlighted by an appearance on Good Morning America and a visit to the SiriusXM Studios. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will hop on a cross-country flight to Los Angeles to participate in a day of media at FOX Sports, E! News' The Soup and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Busch will participate in the second annual "Breakfast With Champions" event with Phoenix International Raceway and The Heard Museum. Emceed by veteran motorsports reporter Ralph Sheheen, Busch will break down his picks in the Chase Grid for Phoenix-area media. The final three stops of Chase Across North America will take place during the week of Sept. 28, with driver visits to NBC's headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut (Martin Truex Jr.) and repeat trips to New York City (Kevin Harvick) and Los Angeles (Carl Edwards).(From NASCAR and Track PRs)(9-16-2015)
Teams penalized practice time at Chicago: The BK Racing team with driver #23-Jeb Burton will be docked 30 minutes of practice time Friday at Chicagoland Speedway for being late to qualifying and race inspection last weekend at Richmond International Raceway, NASCAR confirmed Tuesday night. NASCAR typically docks a team 15 minutes of practice time for being late to inspection. That penalty was doubled for BK Racing because the #23 team was late to two inspections. Three other teams - the #7 of Alex Bowman, the #26 of J.J. Yeley and the #95 of Michael McDowell - will be docked 15 minutes of practice time Friday for being late to qualifying inspection at Richmond.(NBC Sports)(9-16-2015)
Brian Scott returns to the #33: Brian Scott is scheduled to pilot the #33 in Sunday's MYAFIBRISK.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. This Chevrolet SS is a new chassis to the #33 fleet and will make its debut during Friday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice. Scott will be making his first Sprint Cup Series start at Chicagoland Speedway this weekend and 15th Series start. In 10 NASCAR XFINITY Series starts at the 1.5-mile paved speedway, Scott has an average starting position of 11.8 and an average finish of 9.2. Scott has earned three pole positions, including back-to-back poles in both visits to the track last season. Featured on the car will be Jewel-Osco and Kraft Velveeta. Albertsons is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, with both a strong local presence and national scale. The retailer operates stores across 33 states and the District of Columbia under 18 well-known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market and Carrs.(Circle Sport Racing)(9-16-2015)
Walmart joins the #9 team in Chicago: Richard Petty Motorsports announced that Walmart along with consumer brands, Blue-Emu, SlimFast and Natrol, LLC have aligned to serve as sponsors of the #9 Ford Fusion driven by Sam Hornish Jr. in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series race at the Chicagoland Speedway. Blue-Emu and Walmart were partners with RPM earlier this year which led to an expanded partnership with Walmart for the Chicagoland Speedway event. Walmart is a well known retailer to the NASCAR fan base as millions visit its retail locations on a weekly basis. And, while in the Chicagoland area for the race, NASCAR fans will be stopping in at the local Walmart to stock up on the requisite weekend supplies. SlimFast and Natrol, LLC are new partners in the NASCAR platform with RPM. Walmart has over 5,000 stores nationwide and reaches the millions of NASCAR fans who are among the most loyal of any sports fans.(Richard Petty Motorsports)
See an image of the scheme on the #9 Team Schemes page.(9-16-2015)
Pit crew changes to the #88 team: The #88 Hendrick Motorsports team has made a couple of recent changes to its pit crew. David Mayo is back as the team's front tire changer after being replaced earlier in the season by Kevin Novak. Mayo is a longtime changer replacing Novak, who spent time at Roush Fenway Racing and then the #38 car this year before getting a shot with the #88 team at Darlington and Richmond. To go along with the change made on the front, there was a change made in the rear. In late summer, Devin DelRicco replaced rear changer Joe Slingerland. DelRicco will continue in that position heading into the Chase.(PitTalks / NASCAR.com)(9-16-2015)
John Force to honor Gordon with special scheme at NHRA Carolina Nationals: John Force's memories of Jeff Gordon go back to the early 1990s, when the two drivers were just getting started on their impressive championship runs. As Gordon wraps up a legendary career at the end of this season, Force wanted to say thank you to Gordon in a way that only the 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion could, with a fully flamed Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car. Force will run the Funny Car for one race, the NHRA Carolina Nationals, starting Sept. 18. "I got the idea for the flames from Jeff telling me years ago he was a fan because I was always on fire. He was right; when I got started, we were on fire from here to Australia. I always enjoyed seeing Jeff at races and award banquets. The guy was just so polite and professional, but you knew he had the eye of the tiger, too. You don't win all those championships on your good looks. This special Funny Car is just a way for me, my family, my team, my sponsors, NHRA, and the fans to say thank you for being a great champion and being such a great driver in NASCAR. I put as many flames as my designer Brandon [Baker] could fit on my hot rod in Jeff's honor," said Force, who will unveil the Funny Car on Friday at the NHRA Carolina Nationals. In addition to recognizing Gordon's racing success, Force wanted to say thank you for the many times the pair of Chevrolet drivers shared a stage or autograph line throughout the years.(NHRA)(9-16-2015)
Lawsuit agains Stewart expected to move to federal court: The wrongful death lawsuit against Tony Stewart will be transferred to the Western District of New York court in Rochester, N.Y. The case was to have been heard in the Northern District of New York court in Utica, N.Y. The motion was made because Stewart's attorney stated that the federal court in Rochester, N.Y., is closer to Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park - where Kevin Ward Jr. died after he was struck by Stewart's sprint car - and more convenient for non-party witnesses expected to provide testimony. Paperwork filed by Stewart's attorney Tuesday stated that the plaintiffs, Ward's family, agreed to the move. A stipulated order was submitted and awaiting the judge's signature to make the move official.(NBC Sports)(9-16-2015)
Chicago Goodyear Tire Notes: Teams in all three NASCAR series will run the same tire set-up this week . . . this left-side tire code (D-4392) has been run by all NASCAR teams at Chicagoland since 2011 . . . this right-side tire code (D-4618) was run at Chicagoland by Sprint Cup teams only last September . . . Xfinity teams switched to this right-side tire at this track earlier this season, while this is the first Chicagoland race with this right-side for Camping World Truck teams . . . this right-side tire employs Goodyear's multi-zone tread technology, which combines two distinct tread compounds on the same tire -- one on the inboard two inches of the tread for endurance and heat resistance, and one on the outboard 10 inches of the tread for traction . . . all these teams ran this same combination of left- and right-side tires at Texas earlier this season . . . they are scheduled to run it again at both Texas and Homestead at the end of the season . . . this tire combination was confirmed for Chicagoland in a tire test at the track on July 13-14 . . . drivers participating in that test were Dale Earnhardt Jr., Sam Hornish, Martin Truex Jr. and J.J. Yeley . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Chicagoland . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire. (Goodyear), see tire codes, pressures, set limits and more on the Chicago Race Info page.(9-16-2015)