Monthly Archives: November 2016

Championship 4 Drivers are Tightly Bunched at Homestead; Harvick Wins Pole

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Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet, drives during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18, 2016 in Homestead, Florida. Photo - Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet, drives during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18, 2016 in Homestead, Florida. Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

Jimmie Johnson’s rueful rhetorical question told the story of Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“What’s a championship race without a little drama?” Johnson asked after earning the 14th starting position during a session fraught with difficulty for the No. 48 team.

Kevin Harvick, who was eliminated from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup last Sunday at Phoenix, won the pole for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 Championship 4 race on NBC at 2:30 pm ET, touring the 1.5-mile track in 30.399 seconds (177.637 mph) during the money round. Continue reading →

Stewart Says Goodbye with Wry Humor and Little Fanfare—the Way he Likes It

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HOMESTEAD, FL - NOVEMBER 18: Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Always a Racer/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, speaks with the media during a press conference prior to 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: Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Always a Racer/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, speaks with the media during a press conference prior to 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

Most people probably think the next chapter in Tony Stewart’s life begins on Sunday night, after he races his final laps in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

But from Stewart’s perspective, the next phase of his life starts on Saturday, a day before Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at 2:30 pm on NBC, his final race in NASCAR’s premier division.

Saturday is when he gets a new cell phone to replace the one stolen on Thursday night.

Someone presumed to be a pickpocket bumped into Stewart when he and his girlfriend stopped at a carnival on the way from Miami Beach to Homestead and pilfered the cell phone from the driver’s pocket. Continue reading →

Chip Ganassi Racing Announces Tyler Reddick to Compete in Multiple NASCAR XFINITY Series Races in 2017

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Photo - Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

Photo – Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

Northern California Native to Share the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro with Kyle Larson

Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) announced today that Tyler Reddick, a current driver and a three-time winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS), will pilot the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro in multiple NASCAR XFINITY Series races in 2017. Reddick, 20, will share the No. 42 Chevrolet with 2014 NASCAR Sprint Series Rookie of the Year and 2016 member of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Kyle Larson. Veteran XFINITY Series crew chief Mike Shiplett will continue to lead the No. 42 team. Continue reading →

Zane Smith Joins Venturini Motorsports for 2017 Season

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Pairs with Noah Gragson for Full Season Effort with 55-Toyota Team

Announced Friday, seventeen year-old Zane Smith has signed on with Venturini Motorsports (VMS) to pilot the No.55 Toyota Camry during the 2017 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season.

Smith, a native of Huntington Beach, California, will appear in 18 of 20 scheduled series events starting at the second race of the season in Nashville. Due to ARCA age restrictions, Smith will not participate at Daytona Int’l Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway as both tracks require drivers to meet the minimum age of 18. Continue reading →

Championship 4 Weekend Kicks Off With Camping World Truck Series Showdown

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The inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship 4 race kicks off what promises to be a thrilling weekend in Miami, NASCAR’s title town. Friday night’s race wraps up a four round elimination-style playoff that will crown one of four drivers as the 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. Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell and Timothy Peters are the Championship 4 and have competed all season for the chance at the title in the Ford EcoBoost 200 Friday, Nov. 18 at 8 pm. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.  Continue reading →