Monthly Archives: January 2017

XFINITY Champion Suarez Promoted to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

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HUNTERSVILLE, NC – JANUARY 11: NASCAR driver Daniel Suarez talks about his future driving at NASCAR’s highest level during a press conference at Joe Gibbs Racing on January 11, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Photo by Bob Leverone/ Getty Images

The phone call interrupted Daniel Suarez’s lunch. He didn’t mind.

Team owner Joe Gibbs was calling with the surprising news that Suarez, winner of the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship last season, would be promoted to drive the team’s No. 19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota in 2017 as a replacement for Carl Edwards.

Edwards had told Gibbs about his decision to leave racing during the Christmas holidays. Continue reading →

Edwards Steps Away from Full-Time NASCAR Racing

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HUNTERSVILLE, NC – JANUARY 11: NASCAR driver Carl Edwards talks about his career in a stock car during a press conference to announce his retirement at Joe Gibbs Racing on January 11, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Photo by Bob Leverone/Getty Images

Calling at least a temporary halt to a career he described as “living a dream,” Carl Edwards confirmed Wednesday his decision to step away from driving race cars to pursue what he described as other adventures.

In a decision that shocked the NASCAR world, Edwards, 37, said he was leaving the Joe Gibbs Racing team and one of the best rides in stock car racing “because I’ve always followed my gut. All the signs point to this being the right thing to do.”

Daniel Suarez will be elevated from the NASCAR XFINITY Series operation at JGR to replace Edwards in the No. 19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota.

Edwards would not rule out returning to racing in the future, but, during a 37-minute news conference in which he was near tears, he emphasized that many other things – at this point not identified – have his attention.

He said he is satisfied with his driving career, which includes 28 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup victories and an XFINITY Series championship. He barely missed a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup title twice. Continue reading →

Stock Car Racing Pioneer Raymond Parks Set the Standard During NASCAR’s Early Era

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1949: NASCAR’s first “Super Team,” consisted of car owner Raymond Parks (L), mechanic Red Vogt (C) and driver Red Byron (R). The trio captured the first-ever NASCAR title, the 1948 Modified championship, then went on this year to take home the first NASCAR Cup championship.
Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images

As one of early stock car racing’s most successful car owners, it is appropriate that Raymond Parks captured the first two championships offered by the fledgling National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, an organization Parks helped form in 1947.

Parks and his driver, Red Byron, won NASCAR’s modified title in 1948. The pair, along with mechanic Red Vogt, became the sanctioning body’s 1949 Strictly Stock champions – the initial season of what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

The Dawson County, Georgia, native and his racing team were gone from NASCAR after 1955, winning just twice. But Parks, who died in 2010 at the age of 96, was seen as one of the sport’s seminal figures and a visionary.

“He set the standard. Mr. Parks brought the sport class,” said NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty in a speedwaymedia.com interview shortly after Parks’ death. “It took people like Mr. Parks to lay the foundation we’re living off of.

“And without him, we wouldn’t have the history we have and we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

Parks’ contributions will be celebrated Jan. 20 in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame (8 p.m. ET on NBCSN). His fellow inductees among the Hall’s Class of 2017 are Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Mark Martin and Benny Parsons. Continue reading →

A $20 Car, a Couple of Great Breaks and Prolonged Excellence Sends Richard Childress to the NASCAR Hall of Fame

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Richard Childress made 41 starts in the NASCAR Grand Touring/Grand American division between 1969 and 1971 before moving on to Cup racing. He finished 22 of those races in the top ten.
Photo – ISC Archives via Getty Images

Note: This is the first in a five-part series of features detailing the careers of the five inductees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2017. The inductees, who will be officially enshrined on January 20th at 8 pm ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, are Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Mark Martin, Raymond Parks and Benny Parsons.

Journeyman stock car racer Richard Childress caught lightning in a bottle, not once but twice.

NASCAR’s only driver strike, on the eve of the 1969 inaugural race at Talladega Superspeedway, gave Childress the opportunity to earn enough money to build his first race shop and lay the foundation for Richard Childress Racing, the powerhouse Chevrolet organization which to date has claimed 11 owner titles across NASCAR’s three national series.

Nearly a decade later, the Winston-Salem, N.C. native met Dale Earnhardt. Together, the pair won six NASCAR premier series championships along with 67 races between 1984 and 2000.

Earnhardt entered the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a member of its 2010 inaugural class. Childress will be enshrined in the hall on January 20 in Charlotte, NC at 8 pm ET on NBCSN, along with Rick Hendrick, Mark Martin, Raymond Parks and Benny Parsons.

Childress, 71, grew up selling peanuts and popcorn at Winston-Salem’s legendary Bowman Gray Stadium.

Soon after, he bought a 1947 Plymouth for $20. Continue reading →

Summary of Five NASCAR Off Season Storylines

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Fan4Racing has taken a break since the NASCAR season finale at Homestead-Miami, but now it’s time to compile a summary from five of the biggest NASCAR news stories during the off-season as we gear up for the 2017 season to begin.

Also coming soon is our first 2017 Fan4Racing Radio show next Monday night starting at 8:30 pm ET with myself and co-host Sal Sigala on Fan4Racing NASCAR & Race Talk. Watch for more details about this show on Monday, January 16th.

Now let’s get started with a summary of the five biggest off-season NASCAR news count down. Continue reading →