NASCAR official says one driver not to blame for All-Star confusion

NASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell said that one driver shouldn’t be blamed for the Sprint All-Star Race format, admitted that “we learned some lessons” from last weekend’s race but was encouraged by the racing.

O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, made his comments Monday on “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Brad Keselowski was given credit for some of the ideas when the format was introduced — and then blamed for what resulted Saturday night — but O’Donnell said the format changes included input from several drivers, NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway, among others.

“I’ve seen some of the blame, some of the tweets that are cast upon one driver, let me dispel that myth,’’ O’Donnell said. “This was an inclusive effort. Were there some folks that maybe didn’t like the concept going in? Sure, but that’s any part of a format. I’m proud of what we put together in working with folks, working with the track and the industry. When you saw it play out in the race, I don’t want to say it was a perfect storm, but it was.’’

Problems occurred late in the first 50-lap segment. All teams were required to make a green-flag pit stop during that segment. Matt Kenseth was the only driver who hadn’t when Jamie McMurray’s spin brought out the caution on Lap 47. The caution period went to the end of the segment.

Kenseth had no chance at that point to fulfill the green-flag pit stop requirement before the segment ended.

NASCAR held Kenseth for a lap on pit road. Still, eight cars were a lap down and had no chance of getting their lap back. In a typical race, they could have stayed on the track for the wave around to get back on the lead lap while those ahead pitted. Problem was that NASCAR required all teams to pit after the first segment for at least two tires.

“In hindsight, we didn’t have the wave-around rule,’’ O’Donnell said. “Once you mandate that teams come down to change tires together, that prevented us from having a wave around and that created where we trapped cars a lap down.

“Do we wish we would have had that in place? Absolutely. Could we have made a call to maybe just wave them around anyway? We probably could have. The guys who had a lap up on everybody, what would they say? It was an unfortunate circumstance. We thought we had anticipated everything, but this one snuck up on us.’’

O’Donnell also was asked if the event would remain at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It has been run there every year but once since debuting in 1985.

“We’re happy with the event at Charlotte,’’ he said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Our intent is that it will be at Charlotte.’’

O’Donnell said that Tony Stewart would not be fined for his comments on FS1’s broadcast. O’Donnell said he talked to Stewart after the race.

O’Donnell also said that he felt good about the racing. Joey Logano chased leader Kyle Larson and passed him with two laps to go to win.

“We put some tweaks into the rules package, certainly minor, but wanted to see directionally if it would continue to have a positive influence on a track, especially at Charlotte, that has been one of the more challenging tracks for us both from tire wear and the leader getting kind of a big separation from second place,’’ O’Donnell said.

“What you saw really throughout the night, especially with some of our up-and-coming talent battling door-to-door for wins was really encouraging to see. The ability to pass certainly improved for the weekend and expect to see that continue for the (Coca-Cola) 600. Directionally, from a race product, (it’s) really continuing on what we’ve seen all year long, which is absolutely encouraging.’’

Upon Further Review: Sprint All-Star Race

The last couple of weeks have showcased some fascinating duels between young drivers in the Sprint Cup Series.

Kyle Larson has been involved in each.

Larson dueled with Chase Elliott for second place at Dover earlier this month. Larson eventually pulled away and challenged Matt Kenseth for the win before settling for second.

In Saturday’s Sprint Showdown, Larson battled Elliott for the win in the final segment to advance to the Sprint All-Star Race. Although their Dover battle was without contact, Larson squeezed Elliott into the wall off Turn 4 of the final lap of the Showdown, and they hit before Larson won.

“Kyle did what he had to do to beat us back to the end of the line, which is part of it,’’ said Elliott, who advanced to the All-Star Race via the fan vote.

Larson was aggressive on that final lap because he feared that if he finished second he wouldn’t advance to the All-Star Race via the fan vote.

“I had to use him up pretty good there,’’ Larson said of Elliott. “Feel bad about that. I feel like me and Chase race really well together. He’s always raced me clean, and I know I raced him dirty there, but I had to.’’

Saturday night saw Larson facing another nemesis in the Sprint All-Star Race.

Joey Logano.

Larson charged to the lead at the start of the final segment, but Logano stalked him. Logano passed Larson with two laps to go. Logano won $1 million. Larson bounced off the wall and finished 16th.

“I hate that I keep letting my team down,’’ Larson said. “I tried to hang on his quarter panel like I did with Chase earlier (in the Showdown). I got really loose as soon as I got in the corner. We were going so fast that I couldn’t correct it and ended up drilling the wall.

It’s not the first time that Logano has kept Larson from winning. In 2014, Larson finished runner-up three times. He finished second to Logano at New Hampshire and Kansas that year.

“He’s a heck of a racer,’’ Logano said about Larson. “He’s going to win a lot of races, that’s for sure, and it’s fun to race against him, and it’s fun to see the youth in this sport. For me, starting eight years ago now, to see guys that are close to my age now, and I get to race them for wins is a lot of fun.”

YOUTH MOVEMENT

The All-Star Race marked the eighth time in the last nine Sprint Cup races that at least one driver age 25 and younger has scored a top-five finish.

All-Star Race: Joey Logano (he turns 26 Tuesday) won.

Dover: Kyle Larson (age 23) finished second. Chase Elliott (20) placed third.

Kansas: Ryan Blaney (22) finished fifth.

Talladega: Elliott was fifth.

Richmond: No driver 25 and younger placed in the top five.

Bristol: Elliott was fourth. Trevor Bayne (25) placed fifth.

Texas: Logano placed third. Elliott was fifth.

Martinsville: Larson was third. Austin Dillon (was 25 at the time) placed fourth.

Auto Club: Logano was fourth.

STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Days after a frank assessment of his team and season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt better after his third-place finish in the All-Star race.

Earnhardt is 11th in the points — the lowest he’s been in the points at this time of the season since 2010 — and said on his weekly podcast that “we’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and really get to it here, figure out what’s going on and what we need to be doing, start really trying to find some speed and some answers.’’

Earnhardt noted on his podcast that the All-Star weekend wouldn’t solve all their issues but would be a start. After Saturday night’s race, Earnhardt was encouraged.

“For our team it’s a good step in the right direction to get more competitive,’’ he said. “A lot was made about the comments I made in the podcast on Monday. I just want the team to succeed and really like the crew and Greg (Ives, crew chief), and I think we can do it. We did it last year.

“We started this year off really awesome and hit a little rough patch, but this week was a great opportunity for us to learn, and I think we did. We had about 80 percent of the setup on the car was new stuff. So I hope Greg learned a lot. We didn’t get a lot of practice, so we had to learn as much as we could in the race, and I think we learned some stuff.’’

COVER BOY

By placing fourth and as the highest-finishing Toyota driver in the All-Star Race, Carl Edwards will be on the cover of the NASCAR Heat Evolution game for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. The game will debut Sept. 13.

What drivers said after Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte

Here’s what most of the 20 drivers in Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race had to say after the race (or after their night ended prematurely) at Charlotte Motor Speedway:

Joey Logano – finished 1st: “What a crazy battle for a million dollars at the end. This is the All-Star Race. It’s special just to be in the race. Forget winning it, it’s just special. It’s neat to be in victory lane. … It’s up there for sure (when asked where does this win rank in his career). It’s definitely one you want to have on your resume. You want to have the Daytona 500, but the All-Star Race is special and the Coca-Cola 600 is next and that’s a really special one to have.”

Brad Keselowski – finished 2nd: “A decent night, but not the great night we wanted with the Miller Lite Ford ending up second. I’m pretty happy for my teammate Joey Logano. He kind of did exactly what you would expect out of an All-Star Race format and made a pretty incredible pass to win the race. I’m happy for Team Penske as a whole, but of course I wish it was me in victory lane. … There was a next-to-last lap pass for the lead. There were several passes for the lead. The last four races there hasn’t been a pass for the lead in the last 20 or 30 laps. I think our fans deserve a better format than that and they got that today. I don’t know how you can get much more compelling racing than what we saw today, so they need to get unconfused and enjoy the racing.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. – finished 3rd: “We still have some gains to make. We didn’t win the race but we outran a lot of guys who had been outrunning us the last few weeks. We didn’t get to practice so we worked really hard during the race changing a lot of stuff, and I hope Greg (crew chief Greg Ives) learned a lot. Next weekend we’ll actually get to practice some and make some changes to see if we can’t get our car better for the 600. I’d love to win that race before I retire.”

Carl Edwards – finished 4th: “I had fun on those restarts. That was wild. I don’t know what it looked like on television. … Just a crazy night. I wouldn’t call it confusing because I kind of understood what was going on, but it took most of my brain power to keep up. … NASCAR has done a good job with the aero package, they’re working in the right direction and the 600 should be good. I think with the long runs in the 600, you’ll see guys moving around a little more and maybe a little more racing.”

Chase Elliott – finished 6th: “I was confused the whole time. I really was. There was a lot of time I didn’t know what was happening and just a lot of things, but hey, I was really proud of our effort. It was such a long day and my guys did such a good job fixing our car; not once, but twice today. So, I’m proud of them for that. I thought we had a good car from the start of the race until we got our damage and I think that’s encouraging for next week.”

Trevor Bayne – finished 7th: “We learned a lot tonight that will help us for next weekend in the (Coca-Cola) 600. Our car was really fast all day long and I’m really happy we got to be a part of this race after winning the Showdown. In that last segment we were able to race into the top five before the aggression really ramped up but we’re happy to come home seventh with this AdvoCare Ford and I’m really proud of all of my guys for their work throughout the day.”

Denny Hamlin – finished 9th: “I think when you start to set rules on you can pit at this time, but you have to do it before this or that and then the caution comes that you don’t expect like we saw then it puts cars laps down. I don’t know. How do you keep up at home to be honest with you? I knew when it took about 10 minutes to explain the rules in the driver’s meeting that it was going to be a complicated night. All this is to give the fans a great finish and we’re trying to fabricate something for them to look at this All-Star race and say that it’s exciting. You want to create a last lap pass every race you can, but you also don’t want to get too goofy trying to create it.”

Kyle Busch – finished 10th: “I have no idea what the race looked like on TV so I can’t really comment on what it was. … I thought our strategy was perfect – poor execution on the driver.”

Kevin Harvick – finished 11th: “We just had something that went wrong. It’s unfortunate, because we had a really fast Busch Light Chevrolet. It was really, really fast, but I just got to a point where I couldn’t steer anymore in traffic or in the corner. It just made it tough.”

Kyle Larson – finished 16th: “I’m super disappointed. I hate that I keep letting my team down. They did everything right. They worked their tails off after I got all the damage in the Showdown. We had a really, really good Target Chevy and were able to get to the front pretty quick there to be in the best position possible there for the last restart. I got clear right away and thought I could cruise. … I’m really disappointed but congrats to Logano and their team. Hats off to my guys. They’ve worked their tails off. We’ve had fast cars the last few weeks where we had struggled with that recently. I’m having fun but this will be hard to get over.”

Matt Kenseth – finished 18th: “I got more than bumped from behind, I think I got drove over. I hope everybody understands this race better than I did from the cockpit, because ever since the first car pitted in that first segment, I have no idea of what’s going on.”

Tony Stewart – finished 20th: “I’m as baffled as everybody,” Stewart said on Fox Sports 1. “It’s the most screwed-up All-Star Race I’ve ever been a part of. I’m glad it’s the last one (for him). I’m alright, I’m just madder than hell. I don’t understand how they’ve officiated this thing from start to finish.”

Sprint Showdown and Sprint All-Star Race rules

With non-points races come unique rules and there are many for the Sprint Showdown and the Sprint All-Star Race.

Here’s a look at those rules:

SPRINT SHOWDOWN

* The 50-lap race will be divided into three segments.

*SEGMENT 1 (20 laps)

• Winner advances to the Sprint All-Star Race and does not continue in the Sprint Showdown
• All laps (green and yellow) count
• Pit road will be closed with three laps to go
• After the first segment ends, teams must pit and make at least a two-tire change.
• The starting lineup for the second segment will be based on how cars exit pit road after the mandatory pit stop
• After the lineup is set, the field will be brought down pit road again so NASCAR officials can check the lug nuts on each car. NASCAR states that “lug nuts must be up against the wheel. Missing or loose lug nuts must be corrected and the car will start at the tail of the field.”

*SEGMENT 2 (20 laps)

• Winner advances to the Sprint All-Star Race and does not continue in the Sprint Showdown.
• All laps (green and yellow) count.
• Pit road will be closed with three laps to go.
• After the second segment ends, teams must pit and make at least a two-tire change.
• The starting lineup for the third segment will be based on how cars exit pit road after the mandatory pit stop.
• After the lineup is set, the field will be brought down pit road again so NASCAR officials can check the lug nuts on each car. NASCAR states that “lug nuts must be up against the wheel. Missing or loose lug nuts must be corrected and the car will start at the tail of the field.”

*SEGMENT 3 (10 laps)

• Winner advances to the Sprint All-Star Race.
• Only green-flag laps count in this segment.
• Overtime rule is in effect.
• Fan vote winners to the Sprint All-Star Race will be announced after the event.

SPRINT ALL-STAR RACE

* The 113-lap race will be divided into three segments.

*SEGMENT 1 (50 laps)

• All laps (green and yellow) count.
• Teams must make a mandatory green-flag pit stop with a minimum two-tire change.
• After the first segment ends, teams must pit and make at least a two-tire change.
• The starting lineup for the second segment will be based on how cars exit pit road after the mandatory pit stop.
• After the lineup is set, the field will be brought down pit road again so NASCAR officials can check the lug nuts on each car. NASCAR states that “lug nuts must be up against the wheel. Missing or loose lug nuts must be corrected and the car will start at the tail of the field.”

*SEGMENT 2 (50 laps)

• All laps (green and yellow) count.
• Teams must make a mandatory green-flag pit stop with a minimum two-tire change before Lap 85 (Lap 35 of the segment).
• After the second segment, there will be a random draw to decide if the top nine, 10 or 11 cars must enter pit road for a mandatory four-tire pit stop. Pit road is closed for all other cars.
• The starting lineup for the third segment will be based on how cars exit pit road after the mandatory pit stop, lining up behind the cars that did not pit.
• After the lineup is set, the field will be brought down pit road again so NASCAR officials can check the lug nuts on each car. NASCAR states that “lug nuts must be up against the wheel. Missing or loose lug nuts must be corrected and the car will start at the tail of the field.”

*SEGMENT 3 (13 laps)

• Only green-flag laps count.
• Overtime rule is in effect.
• Winner gets $1 million.

chuva lava fora Sprint Showdown, corrida de NASCAR Truck

chuva persistente mantido quaisquer veículos NASCAR - outros do que os Titãs de ar - de entrar na pista sexta-feira em Charlotte Motor Speedway, a criação de uma agenda de sábado movimentada.

Programação de hoje é:

Todos os horários são Oriental

08:30 - Sprint Cup garagem abre

9:30 - 10 am - Sprint All-Star equipes prática (FS1)

10:05 - 10:15 am - Sprint All-Star equipes pit prática (FS1)

11:00 - Sprint Showdown (FS1, Motor Racing Network)

12:30 pm - corrida da NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (FS1, a MRN)

17:00 - Reunião Sprint All-Star motoristas

7:10 pm - qualificação Sprint All-Star (três voltas com um pit stop) (FS1, a MRN)

8:35 pm - All-Star introduções do excitador

21:00 - Corrida Sprint All-Star (113 voltas em três segmentos) (FS1, MRN, Rádio SiriusXM NASCAR)

O site tempo Wunderground.com chama para uma elevação de 77 graus sábado e uma baixa de 56 graus. A chance de chuva é de 24 por cento, às 9 horas da manhã e cai para 15 por cento 10:00-14:00 Há uma chance de 71 por cento de chuva em 19:00, caindo para 52 por cento às 8 horas e menos de 40 por cento do resto da noite .

Friday’s on-track schedule at Charlotte Motor Speedway

It’ll be a busy day for drivers in both the Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

First, more than 20 drivers are entered in Friday’s Sprint Showdown, which will give the two highest-finishing drivers — as well as the winner of the fan vote — will advance into Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race and its $1 million check to the winners. Both the Showdown and All-Star Race are non-points paying exhibition races that do not count in the regular Sprint Cup season standings.

However, the Truck Series will engage in a regular points-paying, regular season contest in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 race, which is due to take the green flag at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Here’s the schedule for a busy Friday (all times listed are Eastern):

Friday, May 20

9:30 a.m. – 9 p.m. – Sprint Cup garage open

10:30 a.m. – Truck garage opens

1:30 – 2:55 p.m. Sprint Showdown practice (Fox Sports 1)

3 – 4:40 p.m. – Sprint All-Star practice (FS1, Motor Racing Network)

4:45 – 4:55 p.m. – Sprint Cup All-Star pit road speed practice

5:15 p.m. – Sprint Showdown driver/crew chief meeting

5:30 p.m. – Truck qualifying — single vehicle/two rounds (FS1)

6:45 p.m. – Truck driver/crew chief meeting

7 p.m. – Sprint Showdown driver introductions

7:15 p.m. – Sprint Showdown race (20 laps/20 laps/10 laps) (FS1/MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR Radio)

8 p.m. – Truck driver introductions

8:30 p.m. – North Carolina Education Lottery 200 race (134 laps, 201 miles) (FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Joe Gibbs Racing is NASCAR’s top team, but how long can it stay No. 1?

Joe Gibbs Racing couldn’t have started without help from Hendrick Motorsports. Twenty-five years after receiving a starter kit of cars and equipment, Gibbs has supplanted Hendrick as NASCAR’s top organization.

They’ll duel the next two weekends at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a track Hendrick cars have won a record 18 points races and eight All-Star races, while Gibbs cars have won five points races and one All-Star Race.

Yet, in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately category, Gibbs dominates.

Joe Gibbs Racing enters Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race having won each of the sport’s six most prominent races within the last year: 2015 All-Star Race (Denny Hamlin), 2015 Coca-Cola 600 (Carl Edwards), 2015 Brickyard 400 (Kyle Busch), 2015 Southern 500 (Edwards), 2015 championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Busch) and the 2016 Daytona 500 (Hamlin).

No team has owned all those trophies at one time since Hendrick Motorsports did it in 2012-13 but Hendrick didn’t win the ’12 title as Gibbs won last year’s crown.

“I’m very aware the advantage we have right now at JGR,’’ Edwards said. “Even though it’s slim, it is an advantage, but they’re fleeting. We’ve got to keep pushing. We know these other teams are targeting us.’’

Joe Gibbs Racing’s advantage — seven wins in the season’s first 12 points races — and his own team’s recent struggles are wearing on Hendrick driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. He voiced his frustration on his weekly podcast.

“I know our fans are really disappointed, and they see the Gibbs guys doing well,’’ Earnhardt said on the Dale Jr. Download. “It’s obvious to us whose doing good and who’s not. We understand that we have lost a little bit of something. These last four or five weeks have bene miserable.’’

It’s been longer for many. Gibbs cars have won six of the last seven races. The only race a JGR car didn’t win in that span was at Talladega and Kyle Busch finished second.

"I don’t want to hear about people complaining because we’re on top and we’re dominating and we’re bad for the sport, because I remember years that Hendrick won 12, 13, 14 races and (six) of eight championships or something like that. So it’s our turn now. Let’s hope we can have it stay for a while.’’

But Busch also knows that the seeds of this success were sown two years ago when Gibbs was struggling. JGR cars won two races in 2014 (Hendrick cars won 13 races that year). Even until Hamlin’s win in last year’s All-Star race, Gibbs cars were not particularly feared.

“I just think when we were behind on the engine side, we worked on our cars, our setups, on driver-crew chief communications, all that stuff to get our cars better,’’ Busch said. “When the engines came, it was all there. We had the total package.

“I feel like we’ve been able to take advantage of that the last couple of years of having all the right pieces in the right places, and Hendrick have had that. They’ve had great engines, they’ve had great cars, and now it’s time for them to go to work in one of those areas in order to get better.’’

Another reason for the success is the team’s partnership with Furniture Row Racing. Busch had said previously that he didn’t feel there was a close enough working relationship with fellow Toyota team Michael Waltrip Racing.

That doesn’t seem to be an issue with Furniture Row Racing, which joined the Toyota lineup before the start of this season. Martin Truex Jr. nearly won the Daytona 500 and has had cars capable of winning the past two races. A part failure on pit road and getting collected in a crash kept him from winning those races. Still, what he and his team have added has proved valuable to JGR.

“They have brought some things to the table that have helped our game,’’ said Jimmy Makar, senior vice president of racing operations at JGR on Furniture Row. “I feel the same thing from us to them. I think both of our teams will become stronger as the year goes on.

“We share setup books. The drivers share driving comments. We brought them in just like a fifth team to Joe Gibbs Racing. That’s why I think it works.’’

That’s not a good sign for other teams. Since last year’s Coca-Cola 600, Joe Gibbs Racing has won 19 of the last 37 Sprint Cup points races.

“What you’re seeing is with that many cars with that much speed on a weekly basis, you can have one or two cars have a bad race because your other two or three are going to be there to pick up the pieces and race for a win,’’ Hamlin said.

“It’s hard to get all the cars running well at the same time. But obviously JGR has done a great job of that.’’

The question is how much longer will Joe Gibbs Racing dominate?

Danica Patrick looks for this weekend to be a sign of things to come

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Danica Patrick grabbed a hold on the climbing wall and launched. She moved one leg up to another hold and the next, moving at a steady pace until she reached the top.

She did it as part of a promotional event for sponsor Nature’s Bakery at the U.S. National Whitewater Center with contest winners who had chosen to scale the rock climbing wall with Patrick.

Her climb toward the front in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has not been as swift, but she feels that tonight’s Sprint Showdown could be a sign of things to come. At least she hopes.

Patrick is in the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Three drivers will race their way into Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race by winning any of the three segments. The final two drivers in the 20-car Sprint All-Star Race will be selected by a fan vote.

Patrick has competed in the Sprint All-Star Race twice, earning entry via the fan vote. She finished 20th in both races. She enters this weekend coming off a season-best 13th-place finish at Dover.

“I hope we can race our way in,’’ Patrick said. “That’s for sure what every driver wants to do if they’re not in the (all-star race). It’s the most honorable way to get in, but it’s not as though there is not honor in getting through the fan vote because it just means you’re resonating with the fans and they’re showing that they like you and appreciate you and want to see you race.

“I hope that we’re good because, to be honest, if we race our way in, that means really good things moving forward in the season, too. It’s not going to be easy to qualify our way in because there are lots of great drivers that aren’t necessarily already in the race. So, I think that probably overall more than anything racing my way in will mean that I think we’re going to be a lot better moving forward in the season.’’

Among those entered in the Sprint Showdown looking to advance to the Sprint All-Star Race are Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and rookies Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney.

NASCAR announces changes to reduce downforce at Sprint All-Star Race

In a Monday morning post on NASCAR.com, aerodynamic changes were announced for Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

NASCAR senior vice president of innovation and racing development Gene Stefanyshyn told NASCAR.com that there will be tweaks in three areas: the truck trailing arm, a limit on cooling fans and the toe alignment of the rear wheels.

Sprint Cup teams have been required to weld truck trailing arm mounting brackets since the May 7 race at Kansas Speedway, and that rule will remain in effect through the rest of the 2016 season. The change limits how cars can move.

Stefanyshyn told NASCAR.com that fans were creating more downforce, and that preventing teams from having too many would reduce the aerodynamic impact and save costs.

Stefanyshyn said the toe alignment changes would prevent teams from using “skew” to slant the cars and gain sideforce. It also should cause a 3 mph decrease in Charlotte corner speeds, which some drivers have lobbied for reducing.

NASCAR reduced downforce by 900 pounds with its 2016 rules package, Stefanyshyn said. He estimated teams have regained about 100 to 200 pounds since the season began.

Stefanyshyn said a Goodyear tire test Tuesday at Michiagn International Speedway would test the new changes and also evaluate potential changes for 2017. NASCAR.com reported that Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola and Martin Truex Jr. will test at Michigan.

Elliott among top five vote-getters for Sprint All-Star Race; polls still open

CONCORD, N.C. -- On the heels of his seventh top-10 finish in 11 races this season, Chase Elliott was announced as one of the top five vote-getters in the Sprint Fan Vote.

Elliott is one of 25 drivers vying for an opportunity to race in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race via fan vote -- and the polls are still open.

The current top five -- in alphabetical order -- are Ryan Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto, Elliott, Kyle Larson and Danica Patrick.

The leader in the Rookie of the Year points standings, Elliott's seven top-10 finishes lead all fan-vote contenders. In fact, only four drivers have earned more top-10s this season, and three of them are former Sprint Cup champions.

Elliott's seven are tied with teammate Jimmie Johnson for the most top-10s through the first 11 races of a rookie season.

The youngest Daytona 500 pole-winner in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history, Elliott's 85.9 driver rating ranks higher than any of his fellow fan-vote contenders.

Elliott's Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have already secured their spots in the event. Johnson and Earnhardt qualify as race-winners from the past two seasons, while Kahne makes the field thanks to winning the All-Star Race in 2008.

Fans can #VoteChase to see all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers compete for a chance to win the $1 million All-Star Race purse.

Voting closes on Friday, May 20, and fans can vote once a day until then. Votes shared via Facebook or Twitter will count double toward a driver's total. When you share your vote, make sure to use the hashtag #VoteChase to join the conversation.

Could Kansas race be start of something special for a Sprint Cup team?

It was about this time a year ago that Joe Gibbs Racing began making its push toward dominance and a Sprint Cup championship.

Can someone else make that move this month?

Tonight’s race at Kansas Speedway begins a key stretch for NASCAR Sprint Cup teams. Three of the next four races, including the Sprint All-Star Race, will be at 1.5-mile tracks — Kansas, the All-Star race at Charlotte and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

After this stretch, teams will race on one more 1.5-mile track (Kentucky in July) before the Chase begins in September. Five of the 10 Chase races are on 1.5-mile speedways.

Last May, Denny Hamlin won the Sprint All-Star Race for Joe Gibbs Racing and Carl Edwards followed with a win in the Coca-Cola 600.

“It just seems like since that point they have been the cars to beat,’’ Jamie McMurray said of JGR. “The No. 4 car (Kevin Harvick) has still been really quick. Maybe not quite as quick as he was last year, but he is still fairly quick, but the Gibbs cars just since last May have been the cars to beat.’’

The success continued for the Gibbs cars after last May. Kyle Busch won at Kentucky. Hamlin made it four in a row on 1.5-mile tracks by winning at Chicagoland Speedway to open the playoffs. Although the streak ended at Kansas with Joey Logano’s victory, Busch went on to win at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a 1.5-mile track, to capture the title.

Entering tonight’s race, Busch is tied with Jimmie Johnson with the best average finish (2.7) in the first three races on 1.5-mile tracks. Busch won at Texas, the most recent race on a 1.5-mile track. Johnson won at Atlanta. Brad Keselowski won at Las Vegas.

While McMurray and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson have struggled on these tracks this season, McMurray is hopeful that tonight will change their fortunes and season.

“They’ve learned quite a bit of stuff in the wind tunnel that we are going to apply this weekend that I think will make a big difference,’’ McMurray said of his Ganassi team. “And I’ve said this for the last couple of years and over the winter, that to me, if you can get your 1.5-mile program good, it carries you through the road course and the short tracks. It’s just so important to be good at the 1.5-mile tracks.’’

Best average finish on 1.5-mile tracks this season (3 races)

2.7 — Kyle Busch

2.7 — Jimmie Johnson

4.0 — Dale Earnhardt Jr.

5.7 — Joey Logano

7.3 — Kurt Busch

7.7 — Kevin Harvick

8.0 — Martin Truex Jr.

9.3 — Brad Keselowski

10.0 — Carl Edwards

11.7 — Austin Dillon