As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season nears its conclusion, a star-studded list of drivers have already punched their ticket for next season’s first event -- The Sprint Unlimited At Daytona scheduled for Saturday night, Feb. 15 at Daytona International Speedway (TV -- FOX Sports One, Radio -- MRN Radio and Sirius XM Satellite Radio).

Twenty NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers have earned starting positions in the 2014 edition of The Sprint Unlimited, the 75-lap non-points event that kicks off the stock car portion of Budweiser Speedweeks 2014.

For the second straight year, eligibility requirements for The Sprint Unlimited will consist of the previous season’s pole winners and past winners of The Sprint Unlimited who have attempted to qualify for at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race during the 2013 season.

Seventeen drivers have earned their starting spots by winning pole positions while three others will qualify as past winners of the event. Here’s a current look at the eligible drivers for The Sprint Unlimited:

·         Denny Hamlin (4 poles)

·         Kyle Busch (3)

·         Joey Logano (2)

·         Jimmie Johnson (2)

·         Matt Kenseth (2)

·         Ryan Newman (2)

·         Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2)

·         Jeff Gordon (2)

·         Carl Edwards (2)

·         Marcos Ambrose (1)

·         Kurt Busch (1)

·         Kevin Harvick (1)

·         Brad Keselowski (1)

·         Mark Martin (1)

·         Jamie McMurray (1)

·         Danica Patrick (1)

·         Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (1)

·         Terry Labonte (past winner 1985)

·         Ken Schrader (1989 and 1990)

·         Tony Stewart (2001, 2002 and 2007)

More details on the format, competition elements and the at-track experience opportunities for race fans will be announced in January.

DIS PR

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas features a who’s who of the auto industry. And Michigan International Speedway boss Roger Curtis will be a panelist at the annual trade show Tuesday. 

Curtis is part of a panel on innovation and fan experience at NASCAR events. 

“It is an honor to be asked to be part of this prestigious event,” Curtis said. “The SEMA show brings the best of the industry together in one location to discuss all things related to the automobiles. I look forward to sharing our plans about enhancing the fan experience initiatives in NASCAR and how we can work together to make it successful.”

Curtis joins NASCAR Vice President of Innovation and Racing Development Gene Stefanyshyn; Jim Campbell, Vice President of General Motors Performance Vehicles and Motorsports; Jamie Allison, Director, Ford Racing; Beth Paretta, Director SRT Brand and Motorsports, Chrysler; Wilfried Eibach, Chairman Eibach Group; Yves Morizot, Chairman Stand21.

NASCAR President Mike Helton will serve as keynote speaker during the Racing and Performance session.

Michigan International Speedway has implemented several fan experience initiatives over the past years, including installing WiFi for guests. With the help of ISC, the free WiFi hotspots around the racetrack are available to all cell phone carriers. Fans are able to stay up to date on the latest happenings in NASCAR and set their fantasy line up right from the track. They can use the app, download interactive maps, buy tickets and stay in touch with loved ones back home – all using free WiFi.

In addition, ISC last week unveiled its plan to provide race fans with the sport’s first fully-integrated multi-media race-day experience across all its motorsports facilities over the next few years. ISC and its partners have committed to complete fan enhancements through 2015 at all its facilities, including installation of digital high-definition video screens, unique, at-track content and enhanced connectivity. 

MIS has been instrumental in opening the 1,400 acres of the facility to auto manufacturers as a neutral testing ground. Located in the heart of America’s automobile manufacturing and testing, the track has multiple intersections, a road course that goes through remote areas to offer real life situations in a secure environment, obstructions and a recently repaved road course in the infield. In addition, the large skid pad on the back stretch offers an opportunity to test how cars talk to each during quick braking, scalability and other evasive maneuvers.

The racetrack is a perfect, neutral testing location for manufacturers and suppliers.

SEMA consists of a diverse group of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, publishing companies, auto restorers, street-rod builders, restylers, car clubs, race teams and much more. The SEMA Show is the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world. In addition, the SEMA Show provides attendees with educational seminars, product demonstrations, special events, networking opportunities and more.

MIS PR

Of all people to surprise, Jeff Gordon is hoping it's himself this Sunday in the Advocare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR).

In February of 2011, Gordon scored his second victory at PIR and then ceremoniously began the reconfiguration/repavement project on the Arizona track. In the four races on the new layout and surface since, Gordon has had mixed success with two top-10 finishes and two finishes of 30th or worse.

"This is a track that has been on our radar - one that we need to perform better at," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Axalta Racing Chevrolet. "We were decent here earlier this year, but we need to step it up this weekend.

"I put this track in the same category as Kansas - not the kind of track we excel at because of a recent repave. But I hope we leave Phoenix similar to the way we left Kansas. We executed well at Kansas, we had a great car there and we had great strategy.

"The performance surprised even me."

Each race on the 'new' track surface at PIR gives it some age.

"It seems like the groove has widened out the past couple races and that the pavement is aging," said Gordon, who has two wins (2007 and 2011), three poles, 10 top-fives and 20 top-10's in 29 starts at the one-mile track. "And the tires had some fall-off here earlier this year, so you could start searching the track for a different line that maybe helped your car.

"Hopefully, we will continue to see the groove widen."

Last weekend at Texas, a tire issue led to a 38th-place finish for Gordon. He now sits sixth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings entering the penultimate race of the 2013 season.

"That was frustrating because I thought we had a great car there - especially on the long runs," said Gordon. "That finish definitely hurt our momentum.

"But not this team's fight."

PPR PR

Trevor Bayne and the crew of his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion struggled with an ill-handling car through the early portions of Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Long green-flag runs hampered the crew in its attempts to diagnose the problem, which also caused tire issues that forced unscheduled pit stops that led to lost laps.

 Finally, a late caution period allowed the Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew time to carefully inspect the car, and the problem was located.

 “A spring rubber had fallen out of the right-rear spring,” team co-owner Len Wood. “They replaced it, and it made a different car out of it.”
 
Spring rubbers are pieces of rubber inserted into the coils of a spring to change its affect on the car’s handling. They’re also useful during races because they can be quickly inserted or removed, thus providing a significant chassis adjustment. With the spring rubber back in place, Bayne was able to run competitive laps and race with those around him, but by that time he had lost four laps to the leaders and wound up finishing 29^th.

Wood said the chassis adjustments the crew made during the race didn’t produce the expected results because the missing spring rubber so adversely affected the chassis set-up of the No. 21 Ford Fusion. “It would take three times the usual adjustment,” he said.

Wood and the rest of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team had praise for Bayne and his handling of the challenges of the afternoon, especially the issues with the tires, which wore excessively due to the missing spring rubber. “He caught it each time and did a nice job of getting the car to pit road,” Wood said, explaining that a blown tire likely would have meant a wrecked car especially at a high-speed track like Texas Motor Speedway.

 Now Wood and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team turn their attention to the season-ending Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in two weeks.

 “We tested there last week, and we’ve got a good plan and a different car for the Ford 400,” Wood said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Wood Brothers Racing PR

Race Highlights: 

• Richard Childress Racing teammates finished eighth (Kevin Harvick), 15th (Paul Menard), 22nd, (Austin Dillon) and 24th (Jeff Burton) in the AAA Texas 500.
• Following the event at Texas Motor Speedway, Harvick is third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings, 40 markers behind the leader, while Menard is 17th and Burton sits 19th.
• The No. 29 Chevrolet SS team is third in the Sprint Cup Series owner championship point standings, with the No. 27 team ranked 17th in the standings and the No. 31 team 20th.
• According to NASCAR's Post-Race Loop Data Statistics, Harvick completed 51 passes while running in the top 15, positioning him fifth in Quality Passes.
• Harvick had the eighth-best Average Running Position, earned the eighth-best Driver Rating, was the eighth-Fastest Driver Early in a Run, eighth-Fastest Driver Late in a Run, ninth-Fastest on Restarts and had the ninth-Fastest Green-Flag Speed.
• Menard completed 148 green-flag passes, 40 of which came while running in the top 15 (Quality Passes).
• With 117 passes, Dillon was fifth in the post-race loop data category of Green-Flag Passes.
• Burton gained three positions during the final 10 percent (34 laps) of the 334-lap event, tying him for sixth in the Closers category.
• Jimmie Johnson earned his sixth victory of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season and was followed to the finish line by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne.
• The next Sprint Cup Series race is the AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, Nov. 10. The 35th race of the 2013 season is scheduled to be televised live on ESPN beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern Time and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio, channel 90.

Menard Finishes 15^th at Texas Motor Speedway

Burton Finishes 24^th at Texas Motor Speedway

Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team finished 24^th at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday evening. Starting the 334-lap event from the 20^th position, the 21-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner battled a tight-middle and loose-off handling condition on his black and yellow machine during the early laps while maintaining a top-25 running position. Throughout the middle stages of the event, the South Boston, Va., native continued to battle with the ill-handling machine while the Luke Lambert-led Caterpillar pit crew made chassis and air pressure adjustments on multiple four-tire pit stops under both green-flag conditions and caution-flag periods. The Richard Childress Racing driver maintained a top-25 running position over the final 100 laps, taking the "wave around" pass under a late-race caution-flag period and was scored two laps down to the leader late in the race. Although he was hoping for one more caution-flag period, the 46-year-old driver was forced to bring his Chevrolet SS to the attention of the Caterpillar pit crew under green-flag conditions before the end of the race, ultimately crossing the finish line in the 24^th position. Burton remains 19^th in the Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.

Start - 20                      Finish - 24                   Laps Led - 0                Points - 19th

JEFF BURTON QUOTE:

"It was a tough day for the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team because we couldn't find the balance we needed on the car. One run we would be tight and the next we would be loose. It actually started to come around there at the end. I'm looking forward to getting back to Phoenix (International Raceway) where we had a top-10 finish earlier this season."

Dillon Drives the No. 33 Boot Barn Chevrolet to a 22nd-Place Finish at Texas Motor Speedway

Austin Dillon drove the No. 33 Boot Barn Chevrolet to a 22nd-place finish in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. The Welcome, N.C., driver started the 500-mile race from the 21^st position and reported to his team that the car's handling was loose on entry into the corners in the early portion of the 334-lap race. A series of green-flag pit stops provided the Richard Childress Racing team an opportunity to work on the handling of Dillon's Chevrolet SS, but changing track conditions made the job of keeping up with adjustments challenging. The team fell one lap down to the race leader on lap 136 while running in the 25^th position and was unable to race their way into the "Lucky Dog" position.  In the closing portion of the race, Dillon reported a loose-handling condition. However, a green-flag pit stop with 32 laps remaining gave Dillon four fresh tires for the closing laps, allowing him to advance to 22^nd for the race's finish.

Start - 21          Finish - 22        Laps Led - 0    Points - N/A

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:   

"I think if we would have taken the "wave around" pass, we may have gained a few extra positions, but overall I am happy with the strategy we played today. I have a lot to learn. I want to thank Boot Barn, Wayne Workwear, VF Imagewear and all of the guys at RCR who helped me today on this car. It was a fun race."

RCR PR

Nothing was easy for Ryan Newman and the Outback Steakhouse race team Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, but their hardworking efforts were rewarded as their silver-and-black No. 39 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) crossed the finish line ninth in the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

“It was a long day, but I’m happy that we were able to get a top-10, which means that tomorrow is going to be another Bloomin’ Monday at Outback Steakhouse,” Newman said. “It certainly didn’t come easily, so I hope that everyone appreciates the hard work we put it to make that happen for them tomorrow night when they get their free Bloomin’ Onion.”

Newman started 13^th in the 43-car field and led once for two laps en route to scoring his fifth top-10 in 21 career Sprint Cup starts at the 1.5-mile oval. It was also his 17^th top-10 this season.

From the drop of the green flag, Newman struggled with a loose-handling Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet that challenged his ability to make forward progress. At one point, Newman described his racecar as “crashing loose” and opted to play it safe until having the opportunity to pit. Crew chief Matt Borland ordered adjustments on every pit stop, ranging from air pressure to wedge and track bar, but was unable to dial the handling toward Newman’s liking.

Despite the uncomfortable handling of the racecar, Newman raced his way inside the top-10 in the latter stages of the 334-lap race. Newman and Borland agreed to make one last change during a green-flag pit stop at lap 297. Newman pitted for four tires, fuel and a final track bar adjustment, and returned to the track in 14th-place. Newman gained five positions over the final 34 laps to take the checkered flag in ninth.

“There wasn’t much that we didn’t try to change,” Newman said. “We fought with the handling of our Outback Steakhouse Chevy all day, but Matt (Borland, crew chief) and the team worked on it every stop, and it had gotten better. We just couldn’t get it to where I needed it to be. But in spite of how much we struggled today, to finish ninth was good. We’ll certainly take that after the day we had.”

Newman’s SHR teammate Mark Martin, interim driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS as he subs for the injured Tony Stewart, finished 11^th.

TSC PR

The Richard Petty Museum is coming home. After 10 years of being located in downtown Randleman, North Carolina, the museum that holds memorabilia and personal collections of the most decorated American stock car driver in history is going back home to Level Cross. The Museum will be located on the site of the original Petty Engineering and later Petty Enterprises race shop. The site currently is the home of Petty's Garage and the Petty Family Foundation.

The Museum was founded at the race shop in Level Cross in 1988 by Lynda Petty but moved to Randleman in 2003 after space demands of the expanding race operation. Randleman, the neighboring city where Richard Petty went to high school, then became the home of museum. With the race operation, Richard Petty Motorsports, now operating in Concord, North Carolina, it was decided to move the museum back to its original location.

"It is just time to move the museum back to its original location," said "The King" Richard Petty. "We are really grateful for everyone in Randleman for allowing us to move the museum there when our race shop had to grow. We now have the opportunity to move it back to where it all started, and I think everyone agrees that's where it belongs. We want people to come and see the history on the same ground where it all happened. We're going to take the time to make it even better too. It's exciting for our family, and we hope everyone will enjoy it with us."

After it's relocation and renovation, the museum will not only recover its spot in the building first built to house Kyle Petty's race program but will eventually expand to include the "Reaper Shed," first home of Petty Engineering where Lee Petty found the family dynasty. The museum will also include the Dodge Barn, built in the days of the team's close connection to Dodge and Plymouth. Finally, fans will be able to also visit the Lee Petty House, birthplace of both The King and his brother Maurice. The new-look museum will also feature exhibits of the Petty family's four members in the Hall of Fame (Lee, Richard, Dale Inman and Maurice), of "Mr. and Mrs. The King" from the Pixar film "Cars" and of the family's many contributions to the sport of stock car racing.

Rebecca Moffitt, Executive Director of the Petty Family Foundation, will play a key role in the move of the museum. The daughter of Lynda and Richard Petty has been preparing for the move for months.

"This has been a project that our family has been working over the last year," said Moffitt. "We're thankful for the people in Randleman to allow us to host the museum in their downtown, and now, we want to move it back to the original race shop. It will really give fans the most genuine look at the Petty racing history. We're going to work hard with many in the community and state to ensure that when we open in the original location that it's a destiny for all race fans."

Michael LaPaglia of LaPaglia Associates in Durham has been hired to design and construct the new exhibits. Local attorney and historian Mac Whatley of Asheboro has been hired as Executive Director of the Museum to oversee the move and plan the facility's future expansion. The museum will also host special events including an opening gala and other special events to benefit the Petty Family Foundation.

The move is effective immediately, and while the new exhibits will not open until February of 2014, the museum will provide limited tour opportunities at the Level Cross facility during the move and renovation period. Call 336-495-1143 to book a reservation.

RPM PR