Yearly Archives: 2016

637 posts

Eggleston Edges Gilliland for Homecoming Victory at Colorado

1 comment
NASCAR
Photo - Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
Chris Eggleston at 8:40 pm ET on Monday, June 13, 2016 Photo – Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Chris Eggleston and Julia Landauer are our guests on Fan4Racing NASCAR & Race Talk on Monday, June 13, 2016 at 8:40 and 9:30 pm ET. Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @Sal_Sigala with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast. 

Bill McAnally Racing teammate, Chris Eggleston edges Todd Gilliland to win the NAPA AUTO PARTS / Toyota 150 at his home track of Colorado National Speedway on Saturday and capture his second consecutive victory in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West.

In addition to being his second win of the year, it marked the fifth career series victory for the defending series champion, who hails from nearby Erie.

It was also the second series win at CNS for the driver of the No. 50 NAPA Filters/H2O Fire Protection Toyota Camry. In addition, it marked BMR’s fourth win in five races this season. Continue reading →

ThorSport Racing’s Shop Damaged In Monday Morning Fire

Camping World Truck Series Catchfence Chris NASCAR

ThorSport-Racing-Logo

ThorSport Racing, home of four full-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) teams caught fire early Monday morning near Sandusky, Ohio. The Sandusky Register reported that multiple fire departments were called to combat the blaze.

The extent of the damage was not immediately clear for the 100,000 square foot shop.

The team, owned by Duke and Rhonda Thorson, currently fields trucks for Rico Abreu, Matt Crafton, Cameron Hayley and Ben Rhodes and has competed in the series since it’s inception in 1996.

The team issued the following statement early Monday morning:

“Shortly after midnight on Monday morning, a fire broke out in the basement of the ThorSport Racing shop, located in Sandusky, Ohio. At this time, we can confirm that no one was injured.

We are currently working with the fire department and local officials to contain the blaze, and assess the damage.

We do not expect this to impact the team’s competition schedule. Our next race is at Iowa Speedway in Newton on Saturday, June 18. Further details will be forthcoming.“

A team official told CATCHFENCE.com that fire crews were still working to extinguish the fire at 7:30 a.m. ET.

The team recently competed in this past Friday night’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. The team posted three top-11 finishes including Matt Crafton’s runner-up finish. Abreu nearly pulled off his first career win, but hit the wall with two laps to go and finished ninth. Ben Rhodes and Cameron Hayley finished 11th and 18th respectively.

Crafton, a two-time series champion, currently leads the series standings and has already earned a season-high two wins this season. Hayley is 11th in points, Rhodes, a rookie is 15th and Abreu also in his rookie season is 17th.

Upcoming Kentucky Test Adds New Variables to Lower-Downforce Equation

NASCAR NASCAR Wire Service Sprint Cup Series Track News
Photo - Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images

For more than a third of active NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, there will be no rest for the weary.

One driver from each Cup organization is eligible to participate in a test of newly repaved Kentucky Speedway on Monday and Tuesday. The test is a continuation of NASCAR’s proving-out process for a new lower-downforce competition package earmarked for 2017.

Last year, as the sanctioning body solidified the rules for 2016, races at Kentucky and Darlington were used as benchmarks for the progression toward lower downforce for the Cup cars. This year, in selected events, NASCAR is taking an additional 500 pounds of downforce and 125 pounds of sideforce away from the cars by chopping the size of the spoiler, reducing the surface area of the splitter, tapering the rear deck lid fin and eliminating rear axle offset. Continue reading →

NASCAR Pleased with Performance of New Aero Package at Michigan

NASCAR NASCAR Wire Service Sprint Cup Series Track News
Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR Senior Vice President, Innovation and Racing Development and Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Photo - Kena Krutsinger / Getty Images
Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR Senior Vice President, Innovation and Racing Development and Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior VP of Competition
Photo – Kena Krutsinger / Getty Images

The new lower-downforce aerodynamic package under evaluation for 2017 got its first test in a points race at Michigan, and NASCAR officials liked what they saw in the 400-miler.

“It was definitely different than we’ve seen here before, a lot of action on the restarts, a lot of movement there,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition. “Obviously, we all watched it get strung out a little bit, which we weren’t hoping for longer into the runs.

“I think we saw a lot of things that we liked, some other things that may need a little bit of reevaluating, but I think overall, for such a big move in downforce, that it was a really pretty successful day and something that we can build on.”

If the new configuration, or a variation thereof, is adopted for next year, Goodyear will have time to build a tire designed for the new package and the track.

“I think we probably need to come back to a bit more work on the tires, which these tires have not been tuned to this package, so we’ll work with our Goodyear folks,” said Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR senior vice president, innovation and racing development. “Probably a bit handicapped by the entry speeds being pretty high (reaching roughly 218 mph), so still that creates some aero effects, so that’s something we’ll look at.

“But again, this has been planned as a two to three step process. We’re off to Kentucky tomorrow (for an organizational test on Monday and Tuesday), and then we’ll be on the track at Kentucky (July 9)—shorter track, lower speeds and all that, so we’ll see how that all comes together.”

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service