Monthly Archives: November 2016

Who Says Joe Gibbs Racing Drivers aren’t Cooperating?

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Photo - Getty Images

Photo – Getty Images

Team owner Joe Gibbs says it’s every man for himself in Sunday’s Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on NBC at 2:30 pm ET.

Just don’t tell his drivers.

Gibbs is the first owner to place two drivers in the final round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup since the elimination format debuted in the 2014 season.

And to Gibbs, it’s understandable if Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards hold back proprietary information from each other as they compete for the series title. Continue reading →

Competition Between Manufacturers Extends to the Showroom

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HOMESTEAD, FL - NOVEMBER 19: (L-R) U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, Jim Campbell, Director of Ford Performance Dave Pericak and Toyota Vice President of Marketing and Media, Incentives & Motorsports Edward Laukes speak with the media at a press conference during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, 2016 in Homestead, Florida. Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

HOMESTEAD, FL – NOVEMBER 19: (L-R) U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, Jim Campbell, Director of Ford Performance Dave Pericak and Toyota Vice President of Marketing and Media, Incentives & Motorsports Edward Laukes speak with the media at a press conference during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, 2016 in Homestead, Florida. Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Competition between NASCAR manufacturers isn’t confined to the race track. In a press conference featuring executives from Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota, Ed Laukes of Toyota couldn’t pass up an opportunity to needle Chevy’s Jim Campbell.

“Let me apologize for those 16 Monday mornings,” Laukes quipped, referring to Toyota’s 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories this season.

“Let me apologize for last night,” retorted Campbell, referring to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship Chevrolet driver Johnny Sauter won on Friday.

Continue reading →

The Games Team Owners Play

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HOMESTEAD, FL - NOVEMBER 18: (L-R) Team owners Rick Hendrick, Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske attend a press conference during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18, 2016 in Homestead, Florida. Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

HOMESTEAD, FL – NOVEMBER 18: (L-R) Team owners Rick Hendrick, Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske attend a press conference during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18, 2016 in Homestead, Florida. Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Don’t be surprised if you see a Tony Stewart bobble head as a hood ornament on Jimmie Johnson’s car in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration.

But Johnson’s team owner, Rick Hendrick, confessed on Friday that’s he’s been known to make subtle additions to his cars to confound other owners, all of whom are watching closely.

“In the garage area, you watch everybody,” Hendrick said. “It’s the damndest place I’ve ever seen about snooping.

“Sometimes you’ll put stuff on a car just to watch them take a picture of it, and it really doesn’t do anything. But it’s just fun to watch them run around and take a picture of it.”

Inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase Culminates in Miami

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For the first time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series’ 34-year existence, the title will be decided at the culmination of the inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase, a four round elimination-style playoff that will name the series’ 27th different champion in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The first of the Championship 4 drivers to cross the finish line at Homestead will become the 2016 series driver champion. Elliott Sadler, Daniel Suárez, Erik Jones and Justin Allgaier are the Championship 4 and have competed all season for the chance at the title in the Ford EcoBoost 300 on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 2 pm ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.   Continue reading →

Johnny Sauter Claims NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Title; William Byron Gets Record Seventh Win

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Johnny Sauter won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship with a third-place finish in Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, leaving race winner William Byron to consider what might have been.

As Byron and Tyler Reddick battled for the lead, Sauter passed Championship 4 contender Matt Crafton for third-place on lap 119 of 134 at the 1.5-mile track. Sauter then pulled away to claim the championship as Crafton faded to seventh in the closing laps.

Byron, the polesitter, claimed his rookie-record seventh victory of the season to salve the wound of last week at Phoenix, where a blown engine late in the final Round of 6 race knocked him out of the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase. Continue reading →