We are gearing up for race number three in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and each week, I am bringing you “4 things you need to know” before the green flag waves. This week, we head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Home to the Kurt and Kyle Busch, this track never ceases to bring some great on-track battles!
Along with the four things you need to know, we will take a look back at one thing we learned from the race before. So let’s get started with what you need to know before Las Vegas. 1: Kurt Busch is one to watch. The No.41 team of Kurt Busch, led by veteran Crew Chief Tony Gibson, is on track for an impressive 2016 season. Now, I know we are only three races in to the season but Busch has already captured two pole positions; Las Vegas and Atlanta. The Stewart-Haas Racing team has had its down moments but for the most part, since its creation in 2014, the No.41 has shown immerse progress and growth. Busch made the Chase in 2015 and had a strong showing, capturing two wins last season. Busch and Gibson are a great paring and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see this pair vying for the Championship trophy at the end of the season. Keep an eye on the eldest Busch brother…I think the best is yet to come. 2: Jimmie Johnson ties Dale Earnhardt. It’s a feat not many have accomplished. Dale Earnhardt is one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history and Jimmie Johnson, with his win at Atlanta last weekend, has tied The Intimidator in the number of race wins in a career. “Six-Time” Jimmie Johnson is no doubt one of, if not the greatest, driver of his time. It won’t be long before he surpasses Earnhardt in the number of race wins and he could very well surpass former teammate and friend Jeff Gordon before he retires. Keep an eye on Johnson this season, we could be calling “six-time” a seven-time Sprint Cup Series Champion come November. 3: Weather might be an issue. While rain might be the devil to NASCAR fans and drivers weekend, the temperature during the race plays a big part in the way the cars handle throughout each run. This weekend, the temperature is expected to drop from the 80s on Friday to the 60s come Sunday. Along with expected wind gusts upwards of 30mph, it could mean the low downforce package will be tough to handle for a lot of drivers. 4: For the second week, there will not be a full field of drivers. With a field of 39 for the second week in a row, the Sprint Cup Series race will not have a full 40-car field. What does this mean for NASCAR? Too soon to tell. The field number was dropped by NASCAR from a maximum of 43 drivers to 40 drivers for this season and the shortage of entries could just mean low-funded teams are waiting for the bigger races to enter their cars. It could also mean that the rising price of entry compared to the chances of making the race and the risk of coming home with a wreck racecar is too much for low-funded teams. Does a change need to be made in order to get more cars on the track? You decide. One thing we learned at Atlanta. Chase Elliott is going to surprise us this season. After his race was shorted in Daytona thanks to a wreck, Elliott made up for it at Atlanta. He consistently ran in the top-10 and finished an impressive 8th at the tough track. Is it too early to expect great things from this Rookie? I don’t think so. Elliott comes from a family of great racers. With Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kasey Kahne as his teammates and mentors, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Elliott in Victory Lane this season. Link to the original article
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It’s time for this week’s ”Four Things” and this week, we head to Atlanta, Georgia for the second race of the season! This week, along with our four things, we will take a look at one important take away from the Daytona 500.
1: One Big Change… One of the biggest teams in the Sprint Cup Series made a major announcement today that shocked much of the NASCAR world. Social media, fans and analysts didn’t know what to make of this bombshell or what it would mean for the 2016 season. If you didn’t catch the big announcement, here it goes… Stewart-Haas Racing is switching from Chevrolet to Ford starting in 2017. This major change means the end of a big alliance between SHR and NASCAR powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports. HMS supplies SHR with the chassis and engines for their teams. This alliance has been in effect since SHR’s creation in 2009. Stewart-Haas Racing will get their engines from Roush Yates and will start building their own chassis in house. Hendrick Motorsports released a separate statement staying they were “disappointed” in the decision made by SHR and that HMS would continue to field Chevrolet entries for the foreseeable future. What will this announcement mean for the 2016 season? Will things change between the two racing powerhouses? I guess we will have to wait and see. 2: Martin Truex Jr. is one to watch in 2016. After having quite the impressive season in 2015 and even making the Chase, Martin Truex Jr. and the single-car team of Furniture Row Racing took the NASCAR world by storm, impressing many along the way. After Speedweeks and the Daytona 500, it was pretty clear that 2015 was just “good luck.” Truex Jr battled Denny Hamlin for the race win and while he came up short…by just a few inches…he proved that he and the No.78 team are starting off the season on the right foot. Will we see the same from him this weekend at Atlanta? I guess we are about to find out. Home / Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series / Four Things You Need To Know: Atlanta Edition Four Things You Need To Know: Atlanta Edition
Chevy in 2016, Ford in ’17. 1: One Big Change… One of the biggest teams in the Sprint Cup Series made a major announcement today that shocked much of the NASCAR world. Social media, fans and analysts didn’t know what to make of this bombshell or what it would mean for the 2016 season. If you didn’t catch the big announcement, here it goes… Stewart-Haas Racing is switching from Chevrolet to Ford starting in 2017. This major change means the end of a big alliance between SHR and NASCAR powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports. HMS supplies SHR with the chassis and engines for their teams. This alliance has been in effect since SHR’s creation in 2009. Stewart-Haas Racing will get their engines from Roush Yates and will start building their own chassis in house. Hendrick Motorsports released a separate statement staying they were “disappointed” in the decision made by SHR and that HMS would continue to field Chevrolet entries for the foreseeable future. What will this announcement mean for the 2016 season? Will things change between the two racing powerhouses? I guess we will have to wait and see. Martin Truex Jr is here to contend again this season. 2: Martin Truex Jr. is one to watch in 2016. After having quite the impressive season in 2015 and even making the Chase, Martin Truex Jr. and the single-car team of Furniture Row Racing took the NASCAR world by storm, impressing many along the way. After Speedweeks and the Daytona 500, it was pretty clear that 2015 was just “good luck.” Truex Jr battled Denny Hamlin for the race win and while he came up short…by just a few inches…he proved that he and the No.78 team are starting off the season on the right foot. Will we see the same from him this weekend at Atlanta? I guess we are about to find out. 3: Vickers is OUT… for now. After filling in for an injured Tony Stewart in the Daytona 500, Brian Vickers won’t be behind the wheel of the No.14 this weekend in Atlanta. Instead, youngster Ty Dillon will pilot the Stewart-Haas Racing entry. The younger Dillon drove for Levine Family Racing, piloting the No. 95 Chevy in the Daytona 500. He has seen some Sprint Cup Series seat time, driving in a handful of races between 2014 and 2015. Vickers will be back in the No. 14 for Las Vegas. No definitive return date for Tony Stewart has been set. 4: Pit road penalties might be an issue this season. There were 12 pit road penalties during the Daytona 500 and nine of them came from teams having men over the wall too soon. Since its inception, the most penalties given on pit road during a single race were nine (Fontana, Martinsville and Las Vegas). One of those teams that got busted for this penalty was the No. 10 of Danica Patrick. After making her mandatory pass through penalty, Patrick and her crew chief Billy Scott talked about the penalty. Scott and his team reviewed the pit stop and didn’t see any men over the wall too soon and were confused by the penalty. In 2015, NASCAR went to automated put road cameras to catch a majority of the pit road infractions like men over the wall too soon. Could these cameras be off? Are they giving penalties where they aren’t warranted? Having nine of the 12 total pit road penalties be because of men over the wall too soon seems a little fishy. But we can also chalk it up to teams trying to get that little extra advantage over their competition. It was the Daytona 500 after all. One important takeaway from the Daytona 500: Kyle Busch is going to be a championship contender at the end of the season. He is still riding high on the fumes of his 2015 championship win and that was evident during Speedweeks. If Busch can win a Championship after coming back from a debilitating injury AND taking care of a new baby, then what can he do this season? We have nine months to find out. Link to the original article ace fans, I’m pleased to introduce “Four Things!” Each week (primarily on Tuesdays), I will bring you four things that you need to know before the race such as team and driver updates, track and race changes, breaking news and more!First up, let’s talk about the season opener for the Sprint Cup Series aka the Daytona 500.
Here are the four things you need to know… 1: Chase Elliott added his name to the history books more than once by capturing the pole position for the Daytona 500. Elliott is the youngest pole sitter for the Great American Race at 20 years, 2 months and 17 days beating out the previous record holder by three years. The 2014 pole sitter, Austin Dillon, previously held that record when he won the pole at 23 years, 9 months and 27 days. Also, Elliott and his father, legendary Bill Elliott, became only the fourth father-son combinations to have claimed the prestigious pole award. Other who have done so are: Richard Petty, 1966 and son, Kyle Petty, 1993 Bobby Allison, 1981 and son, Davey Allison, 1991 Dale Earnhardt, 1995 and son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2011 Bill Elliott, 1985, 1987, 2001 and son, Chase Elliott, 2016 2: Danica Patrick’s new sponsor, Nature’s Bakery, is only six years old. Signing a 28-race deal to replace long-standing sponsor GoDaddy, Nature’s Bakery is a fairly new company. Father-Son team Dave and Sam Marson started the fig bar company in 2010 and it currently has manufacturing facilities in two states and employs 420 people. Nature’s Bakery is one of the youngest and smallest major sponsors for a NASCAR race team. 3: NASCAR Overtime NASCAR is following suit with many other popular sports and implementing “overtime” for its races. Overtime works like this. For each of the three major touring series, the green-white-checkered finish will feature and “overtime” line. This happens if a caution is put in to effect during the closing laps of the race. The “overtime line” location will vary from track to track but the procedure breaks down as follows. After the leader takes the green on a restart, the leader must then pass the “overtime line” for the green-white-checkered attempt to be considered good. If the leader takes the green flag and a caution is called before the leader reaches the “overtime line,” then it will be considered an invalid attempt at a green-white-checkered and the process starts over. Multiple attempts will be made if needed. Once the leader passes the “overtime line,” the green-white-checkered attempt is considered good and the race will finish with the next flag thrown. 4: New Points Systems (Sorta) and New Field Sizes All three major touring series are seeing tweaks to their field size and points systems. The Sprint Cup Series will consist of a 40-car field (36 charter cars and 4 open team cars). The driver finishing first will be awarded 40 points, second place will receive 39 points and so on down to the driver finishing last who will be awarded one point. The Xfinity Series is very similar with a 40-car field and the same points system. This series will also implement a seven-race season ending “Chase” for the title. The Camping World Truck Series will have a 32-car field with the winning driver awarded 32 points and the last place driver being awarded one. This series will also implement a seven-race season ending “Chase” for the title. Link to the original article The Chase. Implemented in 2004, it has went through a handful of changes, a lot of controversy, and many Champions. People have praised it and criticized it. This latest Chase format, starting in 2014, seems to be the most controversial. Fans, drivers and others alike have had their opinions on the Chase. Does it drastically change the outcome of the season? Would the same driver who won in the Chase, win without it?
I’m about to break all of that down. Using the popular statistics site: Racing-Reference.info, I’ll show you the Chase standings each year, starting in 2004, and the non-chase standings as well. To see how it all breaks down, please visit this story in its original post here. Don’t worry guys (and gals); she’s here to stay.
Back in April, long-time sponsor of Danica Patrick, GoDaddy, announced they would not be returning as the primary sponsor for Patrick’s car in 2016 (they will stay on as a personal sponsor so her streak of ‘most consecutive Super Bowl commercial appearances’ might continue on). GoDaddy, a global online domain registrar serving more than 13 million customers in 37 countries, plans to shift their focus toward small business and international markets. An associate sponsor of Patrick’s in 2007 and then primary sponsor starting in 2010, the company made the transition from IndyCar to NASCAR when she first dabbled in stock cars in 2010. It has been said that Patrick has helped grow the company’s brand awareness by 81% domestically according to a USAToday post. With sponsorship being one of the most important items on a race teams checklist each season, searching for a new one, especially branching out to companies new to NASCAR, can be tough. Besides the loss of sponsorship, Patrick’s contract with Stewart-Haas Racing was up for renewal at the end of the season as well. In an announcement yesterday, Patrick and Tony Stewart unveiled the new primary sponsor for the No.10 Chevrolet. Nature’s Bakery joins Stewart-Haas Racing and Danica Patrick for 28 races in 2016. Nature’s Bakery is a health food company specializing in fig bars. From the press release, “Nature’s Bakery was founded in 2010 by the father-and-son duo of Dave and Sam Marson with a mission of making delicious, convenient, on-the-go snacks that complement health-conscious living and active, everyday lifestyles. Their lineage in the food industry can be traced back to the 1960s when Dave’s father, Richard Marson, opened a family bakery. Growing up in the bakery, Dave passed his passion and skills along to his son, Sam, whereupon the two combined their knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit to form Nature’s Bakery.” “Danica Patrick is one of the most fit and health-conscious drivers in all of racing and she embodies the Nature’s Bakery customer,” said Dave Marson, founder of Nature’s Bakery. “We make great products that complement Danica’s lifestyle and the always on-the-go environment in which she competes. Nature’s Bakery provides ‘Energy for Life’s Great Journeys’ and we’re very proud to embark upon this NASCAR journey with Danica and Stewart-Haas Racing.” Patrick, whose Instagram and Twitter are filled with health food pictures and yoga videos, has been recognized for her health and fitness. An avid CrossFit enthusiast, Patrick said that Nature’s Bakery is a perfect fit. ““I feel like our brands align so perfectly, it’s kind of amazing,” Patrick said at the press conference. Along with a new sponsorship, Patrick also signed a multi-year deal with Stewart-Haas Racing, saying that her teammates and crew feel more like a family. In her three full seasons at Stewart-Haas, Patrick has six top-10’s and one pole position which came at the famed Daytona 500 in 2013. Currently sitting 21st in points, she’s running better than her fellow driver and boss, Tony Stewart. Patrick is improving with each season and each return to the track. Looking ahead to 2016, it could be a turnaround year for Patrick. A new sponsor and a new look might be a refreshing change. One thing is for certain; Nature’s Bakery is getting the better end of the deal in this partnership. By signing on with Patrick, they have increased their fan base tenfold. Personally, I had never heard of them before the announcement. One last tidbit of information for you, minutes after the sponsor announcement, the website for Nature’s Bakery crashed due to the influx of hits drawn in by Patrick. The power of NASCAR. Link to original piece |
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