Gray Gaulding entered into first Sprint Cup race at Martinsville

Gray Gaulding, an 18-year-old with 15 national NASCAR series starts, will make his Sprint Cup debut next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

Gaulding, who has two Xfinity and 13 Camping World Truck Series starts, will make his debut in the No. 30 car for The Motorsports Group before also driving it at Phoenix and the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The No. 30 has been driven by Josh Wise in 27 races this season.

The No. 30 will be sponsored by Feed the Children, a non-profit relief organization.

“It’s exciting bringing a new partner into the series and to be making my NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at a track like Martinsville (Speedway) where we’ve had a really good history in the past is honestly unfathomable,” Gaulding said in a press release. “I’m excited to partner with Feed the Children and use NASCAR as a platform to deliver our message and work to create a world where no child goes to bed hungry. A lot has happened in a short period of time but I’ve never been as excited to debut this beautiful Feed the Children car next week at Martinsville Speedway.”

Gaulding, a native of  Colonial Heights, Virginia, has started at Martinsville four times in the Truck Series. His best result is 14th.

In 13 Truck starts, he has one top five at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2014.

Gaulding has one win in a NASCAR national or touring series, a victory in the K&N Pro Series East at Phoenix in 2013.

Entry list for Sprint Cup’s Alabama 500 at Talladega

Forty-two cars are entered into the Sprint Cup Series’ Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Two cars will not make the field.

Ryan Reed, who competes in the Xfinity Series, will attempt to make his Cup debut in the No. 99 for Roush Fenway Racing.Jeffrey Earnhardt will drive the No. 83 for BK Racing in his first attempt to start at Talladega.

While on the entry list, Josh Wise‘s team has withdrawn from the race.

Brad Keselowski won the May race at the 2.66-mile track. His Team Penske teammate Joey Logano is the defending winner of the fall race.

Keselowski is the only repeat winner (three wins) in the last 11 Talladega races.

Click here for the full entry list.

NASCAR issues warnings to 10 Sprint Cup teams for Michigan inspection issues

Ten NASCAR Sprint Cup teams received warnings for inspection issues last weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Those that received warnings were:

Josh Wise’s team failed the Laser Inspection Station three times before qualifying for its first warning. The team also will be docked 15 minutes of practice time this weekend at Darlington Raceway.

Michael McDowell’s team failed the Laser Inspection Station three times before qualifying for its fourth warning and lost its pit stall pick for that race. The team also will lose 15 minutes of practice time at Darlington. McDowell’s team also failed the Laser Inspection Station twice before the race. That marks the team’s first warning toward the new set of four that determines when a team loses its pit stall pick.

Regan Smith’s team received its third warning after failing the template inspection before qualifying at Michigan. The team received its fourth warning after failing the Laser Inspection Station twice before the Michigan race. Smith’s team will lose its pick of pit stalls for this weekend’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Brad Keselowski’s team received its third warning for failing the Laser Inspection Station twice before last weekend’s race at Michigan.

Ryan Newman’s team received its third warning for failing the Laser Inspection Station twice before last weekend’s race at Michigan.

Chase Elliott’s team received its third warning after failing the Laser Inspection Station twice before qualifying.

Michael Annett’s team received its third warning after failing the Laser Inspection Station twice before qualifying.

Kasey Kahne’s team received its second warning after failing the Laser Inspection Station twice before qualifying at Michigan.

Trevor Bayne’s team received its fourth warning after failing template inspection twice before qualifying at Michigan. The team lost its pit stall pick at Michigan.

Kyle Larson’s team received its second warning after failing template inspection twice before qualifying at Michigan.

Xfinity preliminary entry list for Iowa

Sprint Cup drivers Brad Keselowski andJosh Wise are among the 42 entries on the preliminary list for this weekend’s Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway.

The race will be Sunday. The Sprint Cup Series is off this weekend.

Daniel Suarez, who scored his first series win last weekend at Michigan International Speedway, seeks his second consecutive victory.

Chase Elliott earns pole 30 years almost to day father Bill did it at Talladega

Chase Elliott continued his dominance as a top qualifier at restrictor plate racetracks, capturing the pole for Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Elliott, who won the pole for this year’s season-opening Daytona 500, earned his second straight plate track pole position with a speed of 192.661 mph in Saturday’s Sprint Cup qualifying at NASCAR’s longest (2.66 miles) and biggest track.

It also came almost 30 years to the day — May 4, 1986 — that Chase’s father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, sat on the pole for the then-Winston Cup race at Talladega (although the elder Elliott finished 24th in that race).

“That’s a really cool stat, Dad sat on the pole on this day 30 years ago,” Chase Elliott said. “This is definitely a special place for him and it’s cool to get that done today.”

As for the younger Elliott, he reveled in his 192.661 mph qualifying performance.

“As I said in Daytona, this has got nothing to do with me,” Chase Elliott said. “It’s the same car we had at Daytona and brought another fast one here.”

But Elliott also hopes for a much better finish Sunday than he had at Daytona (crashed and finished 38th).

The race last time at Daytona didn’t go so good,” Chase Elliott said. “Hopefully, I take what I learned and cut down on the mistakes I made in the Daytona 500.

“Our first goal is to get to the end of the race, and if we get there, to be smart.”

Ty Dillon qualified second (192.424 mph), followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (192.293), Matt Kenseth (192.181) and six-time champion Jimmie Johnson (192.116).

A total of 41 drivers attempted to qualify, with Josh Wise falling short.