Danica Patrick joins breast cancer survivors to paint curbs pink at Martinsville

               

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and each year folks in NASCAR do their part to spread the word.

On Wednesday, Danica Patrick met up with a group of breast cancer survivors to paint the curbs pink at Martinsville Speedway prior to the Goody's Fast Relief 500, which will kick off the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

It looked like a big time for a great cause.

BOWYER BACK AT HOME TRACK,EAGERLY AWAITS MOVE TO SHR

MORE: Bowyer brings fan to tears with surprise | SHR to switch to Ford in '17

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The emails are already starting to hit his inbox.

"Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Ford driver, Stewart-Haas Racing," the mocked-up, soon-to-be-sold merchandise reads.

With six remaining races in the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season -- the one in which Bowyer drives the No. 15 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet -- it's hard for the veteran not to look ahead to next year, when he'll replace the retiring Tony Stewart.

"Certainly, it's always natural to start thinking about next year. You better be this time of year no matter if you are moving or staying the same and nothing changes," Bowyer said Friday at Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400(2:15 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). 

"That is how far in advance you have to look in this sport and work. All the organizations are lining themselves up and gearing up for next year, all the while, there is a lot of racing left to do in 2016."

It's a trying request for Bowyer not to start licking his chops thinking about his soon-to-be ride when he's struggled with an ill-performing car most of the season and has a mere three top-10 finishes, by far a career low.

ANALYSIS: Bowyer, HScott playing catch up

It doesn't help to stem the anticipation any when he sees his future teammates battling for wins and titles. Last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway is a prime example, according to the 37-year-old Emporia, Kansas native.

"I look over and I see all the Stewart-Haas cars up front, qualified well, Danica (Patrick) was fast, all the cars raced well," he said. "Those are the things that you look at and get excited for next year. But, hey, you've got an opportunity to come back home and race and compete in front of your hometown crowd. Like I said, there is plenty of racing to do and things to accomplish this year. We've got to cap it off well and start to get focused on next year. 

"It is exciting. … An email came across my phone and I look over and its No. 14 merchandise approvals for next year. You are like 'holy cow,' it's becoming reality. It's fixing to pick up in a big way."

There's basically nowhere to go but up in his impending season with SHR, as a tumultuous 2013 campaign with Michael Waltrip Racing set his career on the path of a winless downward spiral in which his performance declined from every measurable aspect -- a year after finishing runner-up to Brad Keselowski for theSprint Cup Series title. Last year’s announcement that he’d replace the three-time champion Stewart at season’s end was the first good news he’d had to share publicly since the birth of his son, Cash.

RELATED: Baby No. 2 on the way for Bowyer

Apart from the increase in performance he can expect from an organization that took home the 2014 title with driver Kevin Harvick, that has five wins this season and put three drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, SHR offers Bowyer a welcoming environment in which he's already comfortable with their top-tiered talent, many of which are longtime friends of his.

"Just a great outfit over there, everybody from the top to the bottom; the teammates, I've worked with Kevin (Harvick) for many years. I'm looking forward to Kurt (Busch). Kurt is the one that I've never really known a lot about. Always raced against him, but never worked with him in any way, shape or form. Danica, I'm closer to her than probably some of the others, so I'm just looking forward to it. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a neat atmosphere and something that 10 years into this thing one of the best opportunities ever is at your doorstep and fixing to happen.

" … Just looking forward to being in a situation where you can go out and know that if the equipment is there that you will have a good weekend. That is all you can ask for as a race car driver.”

While it's likely that Bowyer will have to wait until next year to finally win a Sprint Cup race at his home track, he knows that there were valuable lessons he'll take away from a frustrating season.

"I think I've learned a lot from the racing on the race track and I’ve learned a lot about myself (this year)," he said. "This isn't easy and I think hopefully we can get back in (the media center) and there are going to be these seats filled again.

"And I've got a beer in my hand because the trophy is sitting right there, right? That is what we do this for."

KURT BUSCH GOING TO BACKUP CAR AFTER LATE PRACTICE SPIN

RELATED: Chase Grid | Starting lineup for Sunday's race 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Kurt Busch was dealt a blow -- literally -- to his Chase hopes in Saturday's final practice for Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.
 
With mere seconds left on the clock in the third and final practice session of the weekend, Busch's right front tire blew out, sending his No. 41 Stewart-Haas RacingChevrolet careening into the infield grass. The front end of his entry took significant damage, enough that he'll be forced to drive a backup in the Hollywood Casino 4000 (2:15 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App), the middle race of the Round of 12.

The 2004 Sprint Cup champion qualified 15th for the race, but will start from the rear as a result of moving to a backup.
 
The car had shown speed in practice, landing second on the leaderboard in the opening session at 194.119 mph and was third in the final go-about at 185.797 mph before settling in the grass.
 
Busch, fifth in points, is one of the 12 Chase drivers vying for a spot in the next round, set to begin after the elimination race on Oct. 23 at Talladega Superspeedway. Only Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson has secured a spot into the Round of 8, thanks to his win last week at Charlotte.
 
While it's a disappointing turn of events for the veteran, the team tweeted out a pretty encouraging statistic for him.

Busch's overall history at Kansas isn't favorable, however, as he has just seven top-10 finishes in 21 career starts at the 1.5-mile tri-oval, leading just 20 laps since 2011. That said, he does have three straight top 10s and placed third here in May.

Busch's teammate Kevin Harvick also found trouble during the 50-minute practice session, as his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet brushed the wall and brought out the caution. Harvick got back on track after repairs, coming up 13th-fastest in the field

Cain: Don't count out Harvick,Logano,Elliott or Dillon at Kansas

RELATED: Chase Grid | Set your Fantasy lineup for Kansas With two races remaining to set the Round of 8 to contend for NASCAR's 2016 Sprint Cup title, the four most vulnerable drivers in the standings have vastly different histories at this week's venue, Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 (Sun., 2:15 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And with the unpredictable nature of Talladega Superspeedway's restrictor plate brand of racing coming up next week for the Round of 12's elimination race, the more traditional Kansas 1.5-mile venue offers a relatively calmer opportunity to climb the standings. Now. The four drivers hoping to race back inside the top eight are separated by only five points. Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott are tied, only three points behind eighth place Denny Hamlin, whose Toyota suffered a rare engine failure last week late in the Charlotte race. WATCH: Hamlin's engine blows late at Charlotte Joey Logano is six back and 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick trails Hamlin by eight points. The two veterans -- Harvick and Logano -- currently trying to race their way to a top-eight transfer position have historically fared well at Kansas. The younger competition -- Dillon and the rookie Elliott -- still don't have much of a track record to lean on. Harvick sits eight points out of the cutoff position after a 38th-place finish -- due to mechanical issues -- at Charlotte last weekend and a 37th-place result at Dover International Speedway the week before. Harvick, however, won the fall race at Kansas in 2013 and has three runner-up finishes there in the last five races. In the last six Kansas races, he has led the most laps (392) of the four drivers hoping to climb back into the top-eight in the standings. In the last three years, he has three pole positions (fall of 2013 and both 2014 races) and an average finish of 10.8 at Kansas. "The repave is definitely what changed and turned things around for us at Kansas," Harvick said. "Really, I liked the racetrack the way it was before with the asphalt really worn out and cars sliding all over. But, once the repave happened, we were able to really hit on some things and, for whatever reason, it kind of fits my driving style and we have gotten some good results out of it. "It has been a really good-performing racetrack for us and one that we look forward to going to and hopefully continue to get good results out of it because it's been so good for us in the past." Logano, who is currently ranked 11th of the 12 still-eligible Chase drivers, had five consecutive top-five finishes at Kansas until a crash this May, which resulted in a 38th-place showing. But most importantly -- and encouraging -- to Logano's Team Penske crew, he is the two-time defending winner of this week's Chase race. "Things happen," Logano said of his 36th-place showing at Charlotte. "It's part of racing, but we're not out. We're not gonna die. This team is resilient. "We've proved it before and we'll just have to go out and prove it again. We just have to have two flawless races. It's something we can make up." Dillon and Elliott, who are both three points behind the top-eight cutoff, don't have an extensive Kansas track record to examine. The 20-year old Elliott finished ninth in his only Sprint Cup race there this Spring. He also scored top-10 finishes in both XFINITY Series races he competed in at the track. He hasn't led a lap at Kansas previously in either series. However, his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has turned in impressive work out front during the Chase, with 176 laps led in four races -- more than half of his season-long total. Dillon, 26, has two top-10 finishes in six starts at Kansas, including a sixth-place effort this May. However, he also has three finishes of 20th or worse, including a 41st place showing in this race last year. "What we think of is,'What has made us faster in the past?' and 'What can we do to be faster?' Dillon said this week. "I look at everything I can as a driver, from the lines in the track to the history of the track -- what typically happens, who is good there? We're just going to do our best and try to not leave anything behind. This opportunity is so great. It doesn't happen often." Hamlin -- who currently sits in the final playoff transfer position -- won at Kansas in Spring of 2012, but has had an inconsistent record here. He crashed out of the spring races the last two seasons, taking finishes of 41st and 37th. He was, though, runner-up to Logano in this race last fall. "I think each race you're going to have a handful that are going to have issues -- Kansas I don’t think will be any different and Talladega we know will be crazy," Hamlin said. "That's why we're not out of it my any means, we just have a little hole we have to dig out of."

HARVICK EARNS FIRST POLE AWARD OF YEAR AT CHARLOTTE

CONCORD, N.C. – Kevin Harvick may have won the pole for Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), but Alex Bowman continued to open eyes as a substitute driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Touring the 1.5-mile speedway in 27.547 seconds (196.029 mph), Harvick knocked Bowman (196.000 mph) off the pole by a scant .004 seconds in the final round of Thursday evening’s knockout qualifying.

The pole was Harvick's first at Charlotte, his first of the 2016 season and the 16th of his career.

"It was good in (Turns) 1 and 2, but I felt like I gave up a little something in (Turns) 3 and 4 coming to the checkered," Harvick said of his lap in the money round. "This has just been a fun car to drive today. Hopefully we can get it dialed in race trim."

Where Harvick gave up speed in the final two corners, Bowman likely lost the pole in the first two turns, where he drifted up the track slightly and scrubbed off just enough speed to fall short of Harvick by the minute fraction of a second.

Nevertheless, driving in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in six of the last seven races of the season while Earnhardt recovers from a concussion, Bowman stole the show.

"The Showman Bowman was fast tonight," Earnhardt tweeted after the final round. "Great job @AlexBRacing and @AxaltaRacing gang. P2 @CLTMotorSpdwy."

Bowman, the fastest of the non-Chase drivers in time trials, recently posted his career-best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish, a 10th at Chicagoland Speedway. Though Bowman continues to show excellent speed as a substitute, he has no definite plans for next year.

But he came tantalizingly close to a monumental achievement on Thursday night.

"Honestly, we didn't put the greatest lap together," said Bowman, who ran the fastest lap of the day in the second round (196.200 mph). "In (Turns) 1 and 2, we were a little free in (into the corner) and didn't really keep it on the bottom like I needed to.

"Turns 3 and 4 were really good. It means so much for Hendrick Motorsports to take a chance on me for these races. I'm really thankful to be here. I hate that we didn’t get the pole. We were so close. It's definitely my best starting spot by a bunch, but you'd always like that pole."

Chase drivers claimed eight of the top-12 starting positions, with Chase Elliott qualifying third, Kyle Busch fourth, Martin Truex Jr., seventh, Carl Edwards eighth, Denny Hamlin ninth, Joey Logano 10th and Jimmie Johnson 11th.

Chase drivers Matt Kenseth (17th), Austin Dillon (19th), Brad Keselowski (20th) and Kurt Busch (23rd) failed to advance to the final round.

"I don't think anybody knew that we could go as fast as Bowman went in that second round," Edwards said. "That kind of raised the stakes for everyone."

Notes: Danica Patrick will start 13th, her second-best effort this year after qualifying 11th at Sonoma in June. Patrick just missed advancing to the final round; Johnson edged her for the 12th and final position by .012 seconds… Hendrick Motorsports continued to show improved speed, putting all four of its cars in the top 12 (with Kasey Kahne in 12th joining Bowman, Elliott and Johnson). Hendrick-powered cars claimed four of the top five spots on the grid, with Harvick on the pole and Tony Stewart fifth.

WATCH: LIVE POST-RACE INSPECTION ON TUESDAY

NASCAR.com will live stream post-race inspection Tuesday from 8-11:30 a.m. ET at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

Tune in for a three-hour view of the inspection floor of the 61,000-square-foot shop, bringing you behind the scenes as NASCAR officials tear down and inspect Sprint Cup Series vehicles following Sunday's Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway.

The cars selected for further evaluation at the R&D Center this week are:

-- The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of race winner Martin Truex Jr.
-- The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of second-place finisher Kyle Busch.
-- The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick.
-- The No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet of Tony Stewart
-- The No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Austin Dillon.

For more details about the inspection process, click here.

STEWART NOT INTERESTED IN PLAYING NUMBERS GAME

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Crunch the numbers. Do the math. But don't bother telling Tony Stewart the potential scenarios required for him to advance to the Round of 12 in this year's Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

You'd be wasting your time and his time, too.

The only scenario Stewart, 45 and three times a Sprint Cup Series champion, cares about is the one that ends with him and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team celebrating in Victory Lane this weekend at Dover International Speedway.

"All we can do is go out and do the best we can this weekend," Stewart said Wednesday during a daylong media stop in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. "It still amazes me how people can take something that's so simple and make it so complicated. 'Will we be watching where everybody else is?'

"Well yeah, I can waste my time and do that but … I've got to focus on winning the race. Because if I win the race I don't have to worry about where they're at. But if I go and do everything I can to try and win the race and I finish second, then wherever they are is wherever they are. I can't control those guys on the race track so why focus your attention on it? It's a waste of time."

The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season is the final one for Stewart. He'll remain involved in the series as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, which fields four Sprint Cup teams and one that will debut a NASCAR XFINITY Series entry next year. He's a track owner, team owner and competitor in other series -- some NASCAR-affiliated, some not -- as well.

But his quest for a fourth title rests solely on the outcome of Sunday's Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). A 16-driver field that began the Chase two weeks ago will be trimmed to 12 after Dover, and Stewart will arrive Friday 15th on the Chase Grid.

His approach to what could be his final race as a title contender will be no different than any other weekend.

"There is no mindset to it," he said. "The most realistic mindset to go into it with is the same approach you go into it with every weekend of the year and that's to go try to win the race. If you don't, get the best finish you can get out of it. That's not glamorous and that's not what you want to hear … but it's literally that simple. Go try to win the race. Do everything you can to win the race. If you can't win the race, try to finish second. If you can't finish second, try to finish third. It is as simple as it can possibly get."

That Stewart is in this predicament is something of a surprise, given the strong summer run that saw him collect six top-10 finishes, including a win at Sonoma, in eight races. The No. 14 team, headed up by crew chief Mike Bugarewicz, seemed primed for a possible run at yet another title.

RELATED: See all of Stewart's victories

But the results of the most recent six races weren't nearly as impressive, with no finish higher than 16th.

"These things are such science projects," Stewart said of today's cars, "and pretty much the whole (SHR) organization fights the same thing. It's whichever one can find the solution first."

Teammate Kevin Harvick has guaranteed himself a spot in the Round of 12 with a win this past weekend at New Hampshire and Kurt Busch can advance either by points, depending on his finish, or with a victory. Teammate Danica Patrick is the only SHR entry not in the Chase field.

RELATED: Harvick surges late for Loudon win

"We're going to have to rely on Kevin and Rodney (Childers, crew chief), Kurt and (Tony) Gibson (crew chief) for sure and do the best we can," Stewart said. "We weren't totally terrible at the spring race but definitely have to be better than we were to get done what we need to get done."

Scenarios? Talk to Stewart at Homestead, if he happens to be one of the championship four. That's when he'll be more aware of such things.

"When you get to the last race of the year and you're racing for a championship and you've got enough of a lead that no matter what, if you finish from here on up, then yeah, you think about that," he said.

"But that’s not the scenario we're in."

CHASE BUBBLE WATCH: ANALYZING THE PLAYOFF PICTURE AHEAD OF DOVER

Two races into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and several drivers are in jeopardy of not advancing past the Round of 16, which ends next Sunday at Dover International Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Let's find out which drivers are resting comfortably following Sunday's Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Who's hot: Kevin Harvick. Harvick came into Loudon one point shy of advancement after a dismal showing (20th) in the Chase opener in Chicago. The 2014 champion and the man nicknamed "The Closer" came on strong on the final restart to take the lead on Lap 295 and nab a win and a locked-in spot in the Round of 12. The victory, in which he only led eight laps, has to erase a little bit of the bitter taste from last fall's race at New Hampshire, where Harvick led 216 laps but ran out of fuel with two to go.

Matt Kenseth. Kenseth came into this race with two straight wins at the "Magic Mile" and looked to be closing in on his third-straight win before Harvick surged on a late restart. The 2003 champion led 105 laps en route to a runner-up finish and moved up to fourth in the standings, 25 points to the good of transferring into the next round.

Kyle Larson. A top-10 finish at Loudon moved Larson from 15th in the standings (two points back of the last transfer spot) to 12th and five points to the good. It was an up-and-down weekend for the third-year driver, who didn't show the same speed in the race he had shown in practice. Still, he is on the right side of the bubble heading to Dover, where the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver has an average finish of 6.2 and led 85 laps in the spring en route to a runner-up finish.

Who's not: Tony Stewart: The three-time champion was stuck a lap down for much of the second half of the race and finished 23rd, the second-lowest finish among the Chase field. The result had to be disappointing for "Smoke" after a runner-up showing at New Hampshire in July. Following a summer surge thanks to his Sonoma win, Stewart has not notched a top-10 finish in six races and is on the wrong side of the Chase cut line heading to Dover.

Austin Dillon. The weekend started rough when a wreck in the latter stages of the opening practice forced the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 team to pull out a backup car. Dillon's 16th-place finish was aided by a few late cautions to get him back on the lead lap, but he is still five points behind the cutoff line. On top of that, his overall numbers at Dover (see below) have the Chase rookie in a very tough spot to advance.

Four in, four out: Here's a look at the Chase bubble, with four drivers being eliminated after the third race of this round, at Dover International Speedway.
CHASE BUBBLE WATCH
STANDING DRIVER POINT DIFFERENTIAL FROM CUTOFF
9. Chase Elliott +16
10. Carl Edwards +16
11. Kurt Busch +15
12. Kyle Larson +5
------------ CUT-OFF LINE ------------
13. Jamie McMurray -5
14. Austin Dillon -5
15. Tony Stewart -11
16. Chris Buescher -30

Up next: Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway, Sunday Oct. 2, 2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Who it favors
Most wins: 10 (Jimmie Johnson, most all-time)
Best driver rating: 118.1 (Jimmie Johnson-29 races), 108.5 (Matt Kenseth-35 races)
Best average finish: 3.0 (Chase Elliott-one race), 6.2 (Kyle Larson-five races), 9.6 (Jimmie Johnson-29 races)

Who it hurts
Fewest top 10s: 0 (Austin Dillon-six races, Chris Buescher-one race)
Worst driver rating: 48.8 (Chris Buescher-one race), 66.2 (Austin Dillon-six races), 70.6 (Tony Stewart-34 races)
Worst average finish: 26.7 (Austin Dillon-six races), 18.6 (Denny Hamlin-21 races), 18.2 (Kurt Busch-32 races)

CHASE BUBBLE WATCH: HARVICK, STEWART HEAD IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS

Two races into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and several drivers are in jeopardy of not advancing past the Round of 16, which ends next Sunday at Dover International Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Let's find out which drivers are resting comfortably following Sunday's Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Who's hot: Kevin Harvick. Harvick came into Loudon one point shy of advancement after a dismal showing (20th) in the Chase opener in Chicago. The 2014 champion and the man nicknamed "The Closer" came on strong on the final restart to take the lead on Lap 295 and nab a win and a locked-in spot in the Round of 12. The victory, in which he only led eight laps, has to erase a little bit of the bitter taste from last fall's race at New Hampshire, where Harvick led 216 laps but ran out of fuel with two to go.

Matt Kenseth. Kenseth came into this race with two straight wins at the "Magic Mile" and looked to be closing in on his third-straight win before Harvick surged on a late restart. The 2003 champion led 105 laps en route to a runner-up finish and moved up to fourth in the standings, 25 points to the good of transferring into the next round. Adding to his good karma: Kenseth is the most recent winner at Dover, the series' next stop before four drivers are eliminated from the Chase.

Who's not: Tony Stewart: The three-time champion was stuck a lap down for much of the second half of the race and finished 23rd, the second-lowest finish among the Chase field. The result had to be disappointing for "Smoke" after a runner-up showing at New Hampshire in July. Following a summer surge thanks to his Sonoma win, Stewart has not notched a top-10 finish in six races and is on the wrong side of the Chase cut line heading to Dover.

Austin Dillon. The weekend started rough when a wreck in the latter stages of the opening practice forced the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 team to pull out a backup car. Dillon's 16th-place finish was aided by a few late cautions to get him back on the lead lap, but he is still five points behind the cutoff line. On top of that, his overall numbers at Dover (see below) have the Chase rookie in a very tough spot to advance.

Four in, four out: Here's a look at the Chase bubble, with four drivers being eliminated after the third race of this round, at Dover International Speedway.
CHASE BUBBLE WATCH
STANDINGDRIVERPOINT DIFFERENTIAL FROM CUTOFF
9.Chase Elliott+16
10.Carl Edwards+16
11.Kurt Busch+15
12.Kyle Larson+5
------------CUT-OFF LINE------------
13.Jamie McMurray-5
14.Austin Dillon-5
15.Tony Stewart-11
16.Chris Buescher-30

Up next: Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway, Sunday Oct. 2, 2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Who it favors
Most wins: 10 (Jimmie Johnson, most all-time)
Best driver rating: 118.1 (Jimmie Johnson-29 races), 108.5 (Matt Kenseth-35 races)
Best average finish: 3.0 (Chase Elliott-one race), 6.2 (Kyle Larson-five races), 9.6 (Jimmie Johnson-29 races)

Who it hurts
Fewest top 10s: 0 (Austin Dillon-six races, Chris Buescher-one race)
Worst driver rating: 48.8 (Chris Buescher-one race), 66.2 (Austin Dillon-six races), 70.6 (Tony Stewart-34 races)
Worst average finish: 26.7 (Austin Dillon-six races), 18.6 (Denny Hamlin-21 races), 18.2 (Kurt Busch-32 races)

STEWART'S FATHEAD MAKES POST-RACE PRESSER CAMEO

New Hampshire winner Kevin Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers had some company during their post-race winners press conference.

Harvick's son Keelan, a couple cans of beer and Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner and driver Tony Stewart's Fathead.

No, literally. There was a cardboard Fathead of Stewart -- identical to the ones several fans held up in the grandstands at New Hampshire Motor Speedway -- sitting humorously in front of the beer.

Let it be noted that good dad Kevin removed the beer from Keelan's reach. Guess that means more for "Smoke" -- cheers, Tony!

On the move: Driver moves, changes for 2017

Clint Bowyer, Stewart-Haas Racing In 2016: No. 15 Chevrolet for HScott Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

In 2017: No. 14 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.The scoop: Bowyer takes over the ride of retiring three-time champion and team owner Tony Stewart. Moves to SHR worked well for Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, so the optimism is high that this will be a boon for Bowyer, who is winless since 2012.

KEVIN HARVICK WINS RAIN-DELAYED BRISTOL RACE

Kevin Harvick won the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race on Sunday evening at Bristol Motor Speedway, one day after the race was postponed due to inclement weather.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, finished in second place, 1.9 seconds behind the 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion.

Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five.

Scheduled for a green-flag time of 1 p.m. ET, persistent rain delayed the start for nearly four hours.

Kyle Busch led 256 laps, but was involved in a four-car wreck on Lap 357. His car spun due to what the driver said was a broken part, and Justin Allgaier drilled his No. 18 Toyota.

Shortly thereafter, an 11-car wreck -- triggered when Kurt Busch got loose and collected Brad Keselowski -- thinned the field further.

The Sprint Cup Series returns to the track on Sunday, Aug. 28 for the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). There are now just three races remaining in the regular season.

This story will be updated.

STEWART UNVEILS SPECIAL COCA-COLA LOOK FOR DARLINGTON

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Tony Stewart joked that "I can't remember what I had for lunch most days" but the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion said he can recall the first time he saw Bobby Allison race.

"It was at Scottsburg, Indiana," Stewart said Wednesday during an appearance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. "They ran Late Models, Street Stocks and Bombers or something like that that night.

"It was him in a Coke-sponsored car. He was running around the bottom the whole time; I was yelling 'Run the top!' I wanted to see him run the top once. But he was set up for the bottom I'm sure and I remember he ran eighth.

"That was probably 30-35 years ago but I can remember it."

Stewart will pay tribute to the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver during this year's Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway with a throwback paint scheme similar to that run by Allison between 1970-73. The car was unveiled for the first time at the Hall Wednesday.

Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet will bear the Coca-Cola logos and feature the same red and gold paint scheme that adorned Allison's familiar No. 12 entry.

"I knew Bobby because he was a NASCAR driver. My family, we barely could afford to race the go-karts we were racing let alone go do something else. ... So I went with a buddy of mine; I didn't know Bobby was going to be there that day. But out front of the race track on the marquee it said Bobby Allison was racing and the date and I thought 'Wow, that's going to be cool.'

Some two dozen throwback schemes for this year's race, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 4, have been announced. Track officials say they expect the entire field to feature a nod to the past in some form or fashion.

Allison won 84 times in NASCAR's premier series and won the championship in 1983. He won the Southern 500 at Darlington four times, twice (1971-72) while running the red-and-gold scheme.

But what helped make the Hueytown, Alabama-based driver a fan favorite was his willingness to go race anywhere, at any time. Race fans that were not able to travel to Daytona or Darlington, Bristol or Riverside could see Allison compete at the tiny half-mile tracks across the Midwest and Northeast.

Stewart, Allison said, is cut from the same cloth."

I appreciate his enthusiasm for the sport, his ability, his willingness to go anywhere anytime and run different kinds of tracks, different kinds of equipment," Allison, now 78, said. "I ran different kinds but I never really got into the dirt Super Mods or anything. I did run them just a little … never dug into that, which he has. And he's won. I won in quite a few, but not all of them. I look at that and really appreciate him."

Allison spent his entire driving career darting between weekly short-track events while competing in NASCAR's premier series."I felt like any lap was just more experience, more training for me," he said. "Also any differences helped me adjust when the track changed, the weather changed. So much of that would throw the drivers; it helped me adjust to whatever went on anywhere I was racing."

Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, will retire from Sprint Cup competition at season's end. It's a fitting way, he said, to honor Allison in what will be his final Southern 500 start.

"He was fierce in a race car," Stewart said. "You knew that if he was out there … you were going to have to be on your game to beat him that day.

"(Darlington) is one of two Cup tracks that we run that I've not won a Cup race at … this is my last chance to cross another one, and a big one, off the list. And it's going to be in a really cool car too."