Cole Rouse Racing with Kyle Busch Motorsports Super Late Models

Photo – Courtesy of KBM

Racing his rookie season in the full NASCAR K&N Pro Series West schedule last year, Cole Rouse posted four top-five and 12 top-ten finishes with an average finish of 7.6 over 14 events. His racing career started at the age of 14, competing in mini-cup cars before advancing to Late Model competition in 2013. Rouse led a race high 145 laps of the American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville in 2015, before finishing fifth after a shock broke late in the race.

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Carl Edwards’ Exit Could Hasten Christopher Bell’s Advancement to XFINITY Series

Photo – Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

How long do you think it took Christopher Bell to do the math?

Carl Edwards’ shocking announcement of his abrupt exit from the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has had a ripple effect that could go far beyond the promotion of Daniel Suárez to a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ride.

Because Suárez will fill Edwards’ seat in NASCAR’s premier series, he won’t defend his NASCAR XFINITY Series title. Bell will be one of the beneficiaries of the changes in Suárez’s schedule. Continue reading

Daniel Suárez: Promoted Earlier than Expected – But Not Too Soon

Photo – Getty Images

Don’t worry about Daniel Suárez.

And don’t buy into the assumption that, in promoting Suárez to fill the seat of departing Carl Edwards, Joe Gibbs Racing is making the same mistake it made in 2009 when the organization threw then-18-year-old Joey Logano into the deep end of the pool.

Laboring under the weight of replacing Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Toyota, Logano never blossomed at JGR. It took four years of seasoning and a move to Team Penske for Logano to realize his enormous potential in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car.

Suárez, on the other hand, is already 25, and possesses a ferocious work ethic matched only by his desire to learn – and learn quickly. 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

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