NASCAR Sprint Cup Series News and Notes – Friday, June 17, 2016

Aside

F4R-SCS-News-Notes

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams are on a well-deserved break this weekend and will return to action Sunday, June 26th at Sonoma Raceway for the Save Mart 350. Television coverage starts at 2 pm ET on FOX Sports 1 with the green flag waving at around 3 pm ET for 110 laps covering 218.9 miles on the California road course. Radio coverage is on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Logano Captures First Win of Season; Becomes Tenth Different Race Winner

Joey Logano led 138-of-200 laps on his way to Victory Lane in Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway for his first win of the 2016 season.
The No. 22 Team Penske Ford driver became the tenth different winner in 15 races this year and posted a near-perfect 149.2 driver rating. His triumph marked the 100th victory for Roush-Yates Engines. Continue reading

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wrecked Early at Michigan International Speedway

Photo - Josh Hedges/Getty Images

Photo – Josh Hedges/Getty Images

Vocal that he had a strong car for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. never really had the opportunity to showcase it after being eliminated in early race crash.

Shortly after a Lap 60 restart Earnhardt’s Chevrolet was in a three-wide battle with Chris Buescher (on the bottom) and A.J. Allmendinger (on the outside). Buescher’s Front Row Motorsports Ford broke loose and hit the left rear of Earnhardt’s car, which sent both he and Allmendinger into the backstretch wall.

The damage was too severe for both Earnhardt and Allmendinger to continue placing them 39th and 38th respectively in the finishing order. Continue reading

Logano is Two-for-Two with New Aero Package

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In the second race that featured NASCAR’s new lower-downforce package, Joey Logano lowered the boom—again. 

There was one major difference between Joey Logano’s victory in Sunday’s FireKeepers 400 at Michigan International Speedway and his win May 21 in the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte. This one counted in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings and punched Logano’s ticket into the Chase.

But it remained abundantly clear that Team Penske already has a handle on the aerodynamic configuration the sanctioning body is considering for 2017.
Continue reading

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Overachieves for Runner-Up Finish at Pocono

Photo - Matt Hazlett/Getty Images

Approximately halfway through the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final green-flag run on Monday at Pocono Raceway, crew chief Greg Ives radioed to driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“The 41 (leader Kurt Busch) needs to save (fuel) to make it. We do not. Go get him!”

But over the closing laps, the handling of Earnhardt’s car tightened up, and he was unable to track down Busch, even though the eventual race winner was in fuel-conservation mode.

Earnhardt thought he could have been more effective in keeping Busch behind him after the final restart. Continue reading

Despite Penalties, Brad Keselowski Battles Back to Third at Pocono

Photo - Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Photo – Chris Trotman/Getty Images

A long day ended with a good result for Brad Keselowski and his No. 2 Team Penske team in Monday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Axalta ‘We Paint Winners 400’ at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

The event’s pole sitter had to rally from the back of the field after NASCAR ordered him to pit road on Lap 27 after determining his Team Penske pit crew made unapproved body modifications to the right-side of his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion during the previous rounds of pit stops. Continue reading