NASCAR Paul Menard

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Heading to the Rear for the Daytona 500

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series NASCAR NASCAR Wire Service Track News
Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, practices for the 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 24, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Photo – Jared C Tilton/Getty Images

With their primary cars damaged in Thursday night’s Can-Am Duel 150-mile qualifying races, Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard and Ryan Blaney will start the Daytona 500 from the rear of the field in backup race cars.

They’ll be joined at the rear by three cars that failed to meet the minimum ride height requirement during inspection after the Duels. The two cars of JTG/Daugherty Racing—the No. 37 of Chris Buescher and the No. 47 of AJ Allmendinger—were demoted to the back of the field in their respective Duels, as was the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr.

Allmendinger lost the seven points he would have scored for his fourth-place finish in the second Duel, and Truex lost the four points he would have earned for finishing seventh in the first Duel. Continue reading →

Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin Win Action-Filled Can-Am Duel Qualifying Races

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series NASCAR NASCAR Wire Service Track News

Daytona 500 pole winner Chase Elliott put an exclamation on his qualifying effort with a victory in Thursday night’s first Can-Am Duel at Daytona International Speedway.

Elliott passed second-place starter Brad Keselowski for the lead on lap 37 and held it the rest of the way—through a wreck that altered the positions of the two Open Team drivers trying to race their way into the field for the 59th running of the Great American Race.

In the second Duel, defending Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin got a huge push from Austin Dillon and passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the next-to-last lap to win the race by 0.214 seconds over Clint Bowyer, who was competing for the first time in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Continue reading →

Mr. Menard Meet Mr. Borland

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Photo – Getty Images

In a late-season move in early November, Richard Childress Racing hired veteran Matt Borland as crew chief of the No. 27 Chevrolet driven by Paul Menard.

Though Borland had worked extensively with Menard’s teammate, Ryan Newman, dating to Newman’s days at Team Penske, Menard and Borland didn’t know each other, but that’s a situation both driver and crew chief have been working hard to correct. Continue reading →

Austin Dillon Edges Hard-Luck Joey Logano for Texas Pole

NASCAR NASCAR Wire Service Sprint Cup Series Track News

 

Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 Realtree/Bad Boy Chevrolet, poses with the Coors Light Pole Award after qualifying for the pole position during Salute to Veterans Qualifying Fueled by Texas Lottery for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 4, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo - Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 Realtree/Bad Boy Chevrolet, poses with the Coors Light Pole Award after qualifying for the pole position during Salute to Veterans Qualifying Fueled by Texas Lottery for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 4, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Just because Austin Dillon is no longer in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, that doesn’t mean the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet has forgotten how to go fast.

Dillon sped around 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway in 28.081 seconds (192.301 mph) in the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session to earn the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at 2 pm ET on NBC, the second race in the Chase’s Round of 8. Continue reading →