GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. may not be competing in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series as the 2016 season begins to wind down, but the series' most popular driver still has plenty to keep him busy.
"Going to the races, doing all my (sponsor) appearances, doing everything I was doing before, just not driving," Earnhardt said Wednesday during a stop at the corporate headquarters of Wrangler.
"Take the driving part out of it and everything else I'm still doing."
Earnhardt was joined by team owner Richard Childress to help kick off the second annual "Jeansboro Day" celebration and reminisce about the long relationship Wranger has enjoyed with Childress and Earnhardt.
Earnhardt has been sidelined since midseason after suffering concussion-like symptoms following a pair of crashes. In his absence, drivers Jeff Gordon and Alex Bowman have handled the driving duties in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet.
After missing two races in 2012, this marks the second time in his premier series career that Earnhardt has missed races due to a concussion or concussion-like symptoms.
Although he won't be back behind the wheel this season, Earnhardt told the crowd that he plans to be back in the car when the 2017 season gets underway atDaytona International Speedway.
"It's coming along pretty good," Earnhardt said when asked about his recovery. "We got dinged up, had a lot of wrecks this year, got dinged up pretty good. …
"(I'm) starting to feel real good, starting to be able to get out and do things, enjoy myself.
"I miss being in the car but we have every expectation of being in the car come February for the Daytona 500."
The Sprint Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for Sunday's Hellman's 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It is the final race of the Round of 12 in this year's Chase, with only the top eight advancing to the next round.
Earnhardt, who has six career victories on the 2.66-mile track, said he plans to be at Talladega "all three days."
On his promotional tour for his new book "Jeff Gordon: His Dream, Drive & Destiny", Jeff Gordon sat down with SiriusXM Shade 45 host Sway Calloway for his radio show, "Sway in the Morning".
Gordon was an open book in the interview, no pun intended.
He talked about everything from his early start in auto racing, to his days of break dancing as a kid in California, and more.
When a comment was made about how open Gordon was in his book, he elaborated on its purpose to be a reflective chapter for his fans of his NASCAR career.
"This book happened because it’s not just the 23-year NASCAR career, this all started when I was 5 or 6 years old," Gordon said on Shade 45. "This gets very in-depth and even my parents showed a lot of how the process started to get me into a race car. There was a lot going on with my mom and dad then, too.
"I like to be transparent and open. Knowing my career was ending in 2015, I wanted to bookend it with this, and we had the opportunity to talk about some fun and exciting moments but also some of the adversity."
The entirety of the interview hasn't been released outside of SiriusXM but will likely be posted on the Sway in the Morning YouTube channel later today or tomorrow.
During a break in the segment, Sway played hip-hop artist Nelly's 2000 song, "E.I." which features a line about Gordon.
When the song ended, Jeff rapped the part featuring his name -- "I'm flashy, double takes when you walk past me, nasty, don't be scared boo, go 'head and ask me, I drive fastly, call me Jeff Gordon in the black SS with the navigation."
And afterward, Gordon said he wasn't even aware of the song when it released, despite liking Nelly's music.
"I didn’t even know about being in that song until hearing it," Gordon said. "I was living in Florida at the time and some family members in California called me and told me to listen to the song. I thought 'that is awesome, that is so badass'. After that, I went to Nelly’s concert and met him and told him how amazing it was that he'd do that.'
Jeff jokingly added, "I know one thing I definitely took full advantage of it when I was in the clubs."
To hear more from Jeff, check out his appearance with NASCAR Race Hub’s Danielle Trotta and Kaitlyn Vincie on their new weekly digital show, "Off Track", which premieres today, Oct. 18 at 3:30 p.m. ET on Facebook Live. To watch live, go to the NASCAR on Fox Facebook page.
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.
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."
Jimmie Johnson said the No. 48 team had to face the facts during the season when they weren’t getting results and change direction and focus on different areas in order to return to victory lane.
As Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday -- for the eighth time in his career -- he was full of emotion and adrenaline. It is his well-earned Fast Pass ticket into the next round of the championship, which amazingly will be the farthest he's advanced under NASCAR's newest title Chase format.
The victory also ended the longest winless streak in the six-time Sprint Cup champion's career -- a 25-race span. It has been six whole months since the most accomplished driver of his era hoisted a trophy in Victory Lane. The seasons are practically ready to change. Massive worry has been averted.
Please.
"Nobody ever gave up, we know what a champion Jimmie is," said team owner and 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rick Hendrick, adding with a smile, "I've never taken the champagne bath in 30-something years, so it was like our first race (victory) again."
This win for Johnson wasn't just another trophy, another confetti moment in his surefire Hall of Fame career. This was a concerted effort to make good on this team's own high standards.
It was the product of hard work from behind the scenes at the No. 48 Lowe's team and all of Hendrick Motorsports. And the result was verification that the sport's most celebrated champion of the time is not done yet.
"There wasn't any fist pounding per se, but what we did do was try to get together with all the heads of state, let's say," Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus explained. "... what we were trying to do was identify where our weaknesses were, and once we started to hone in on where we thought we needed to get some gains, we started to allocate the resources to where we needed it.
"We've put responsibility in some different areas that maybe we hadn't in the past and I think that all of Hendrick Motorsports is definitely going to feel a lot of responsibility for this victory, which is great for all of us."
Johnson -- who qualified for the Chase with wins at Atlanta (in February) and California (in March) -- has led the most laps (363) of any competitor in the first four races of the Chase. Only two-time Chase winner Martin Truex Jr. is near that total (360 laps). The best of the rest hasn't even resulted in 200 laps out front.
Still pit road miscues -- speeding penalties, crew mistakes -- ultimately derailed Johnson's trophy moments no matter how many laps he has led in the Chase. His finishes of 12th, eighth and seventh, have not been indicative of how competitive he was in the opening Chase Round of 16.
He has been competitive but too often gutted with the result.
This win Sunday wasn't just the breathe-a-little-easier ticket to the Round of 8. It was a rebirth, a reminder of what this organization is capable of.
In the last two years, Johnson has famously and painfully been eliminated from the Chase in by the second round.
And now, he is six races away from a chance to tie NASCAR's all-time greatest drivers -- Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt -- with seven Sprint Cup titles.
Some -- probably Johnson and Knaus -- would say it's much too early to start thinking in those terms. But part of the allure and amazement in earning so many championships is the work it takes to even be in position for them.
With so many changes in NASCAR's title structure throughout Johnson's career -- more so than what Petty and Earnhardt faced even -- it has been an accomplishment to even realistically contend for the big trophy. And there is no time to leave anything on the table.
"There's no way I could have dreamed about this," Johnson allowed Sunday. "To have one sponsor (Lowe's), one manufacturer (Chevrolet), one crew chief (Knaus), being at one team (Hendrick), this is fairy-tale stuff. It's been really special."
But Johnson is the first to insist those are deep thoughts reserved for November.
Right now, he's got some races to win, messages to send, trophies to hoist, and history to make.
"You know, I've always raced for the experience I've had in the car," Johnson said Sunday in Charlotte. "It hasn't been about stats or the previous trophies that I've won or what's really ahead of me. There's an experience that I have in the car that I chase and I love.
"The community that's created on a race team, the bond and friendship that you have with the crew chief and teammates, that's the stuff that keeps me going."
"And," he added. "we're doing what we need to and that brings a lot of optimism to the team. You get this machine of Hendrick Motorsports rolling and some momentum on our side, we can accomplish a lot and I think all four cars are showing that.
"We've got a lot more to show the rest of the year."
Chase Elliott's 2017 NAPA Auto Parts paint scheme for the No. 24 Chevrolet was revealed by the driver and Hendrick Motorsports on Tuesday.
The 2017 season will mark Elliott's second season in the No. 24 car. This season he has the car that he took over from sure-fire Hall of Fame driver Jeff Gordon in the Round of 12 of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and looking to advance even further in the Chase.
Still pursuing his first win in the legendary ride, Elliott has accumulated nine top fives and 15 top 10s in his rookie Sprint Cup season. He ran well at Charlotte on Sunday leading 103 laps, but was collected in a pileup on a Lap 259 restart.
He's got old cars strewn throughout his property in Mooresville, North Carolina, for goodness sakes. And pieces and parts of old cars.
He's always talking about coming across cool relics from old races -- ones he participated in like this from what is now called the XFINITY Series but was the Busch Series back when Junior ran this car (or at least these pieces of the car) in 1998.Junior was 23 years old at the time, his crew chief was Tony Eury Sr., and he won the first of what would be back-to-back championships in that series before moving up to what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series the very next season.
But while that is cool, it's tough to top this true gem featuring his father's likeness from way back in 1981. And Earnhardt Jr. acknowledges as much.
The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season has been a good one for second-generation racer Chase Elliott, who is a lock to win Sunoco Rookie of the Year Honors this year and is still racing for the overall series championship.
Tuesday morning, Elliott went to Instagram to unveil the 2017 paint scheme on his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which again next year will carry the colors of NAPA Auto Parts.
Elliott’s ride ought to look good on track next year, when he’ll seek to put the No. 24 back in Victory Lane if he can’t get there in one of the final six races of this year.
This week, Elliott heads to Kansas Speedway, where ne needs a strong run to stay relevant in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Elliott comes into Kansas ranked 10th in points after he got crashed out of Sunday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and finished 33rd, despite leading 103 laps in the race.
Jimmie Johnson broke his 24-race winless streak at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday and is now on track to contend for his seventh title. NASCAR America’s analysts examine his day in the Bank of America 500.
CONCORD, N.C. — As the Chase field narrows, what happens on pit road could play a key role in who advances.
That might not seem to be a good thing for Jimmie Johnson’s team, heading into tonight’s Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the opening event in the Round of 12.
No Chase team had as many pit road
penalties in the first round or as many penalties in the last 10 races.
Despite those totals, Chris Krieg, pit coach for the No. 48 and 88 teams
at Hendrick Motorsports, remains confident in the group.
Johnson has had two pit road penalties in
the Chase. He was caught speeding in the Chase opener at Chicagoland
Speedway, and his crew was penalized at Dover when the jackman jumped
off the wall too soon.
In the last 10 races, Johnson’s team has
had 10 pit road penalties. Four have been for speeding, two have been
for not controlling the tire in the pit box. The team also has been
penalized for the crew over the wall too soon once and for a body
modification during a pit stop another time.
The Dover penalty was a result of Johnson having to slow as he headed toward his pit stall when Aric Almirola exited his stall. That threw the timing of the pit stop off and the team’s jackman jumped over the wall too soon.
While that incident can be viewed as a fluke incident for the crew, Krieg looks at it another way.
“It’s awareness before you get to that
point,’’ Krieg told NBC Sports. “Before you get to that millisecond
where you’re up on the wall and your weight is forward, it’s all those
seconds that led up to that. The 10 seconds before that we get up on the
wall and we see our surroundings. (Crew chief Chad Knaus) and myself as
a coach go, ‘Hey, be aware, we may get checked up here.’ It’s all the
seconds before you get to that point where we keep learning and getting
better.’’
Krieg, who is in his fourth year as a
coach, isn’t worried about the crew bouncing back from a penalty or
mistake. That’s why Hendrick Motorsports seeks former college athletes
and those who have competed professionally in another sport.
“They’ve had negative plays or things
happen their whole athletic career,’’ Krieg said. “They’re used to
bouncing back. It’s what they’ve done their whole life from an athletic
standpoint. If you were to take a regular person and have that happen to
them, they may be in a dark room all week.’’
As he examines the performance of Johnson’s pit crew this season, Krieg sees improvement.
“Last year the 48 (pit crew) was quite
possibly the best pit crew on pit road,’’ Krieg said. “This year may
have started out slower on the stop watch then we would have liked. So
we dug in, the guys did a great, great job. They worked harder than any
other group than I’ve seen in a very long time.
“Our times on the stopwatch have went down considerably in the last two months.’’
CONCORD, N.C. -- UniFirst and 11-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions Hendrick Motorsports have reached an eight-year agreement that will make the workwear and textile service company a primary sponsor of the No. 5 Chevrolet SS driven by Kasey Kahne. The contract runs through the year 2023.
As the new Official Workwear Provider of Hendrick Motorsports, UniFirst will be a two-race primary sponsor in both 2016 and 2017, with the relationship increasing to three primary races annually from 2018-2023. In addition, UniFirst will be a full-season associate sponsor of the No. 5 team.
UniFirst will make its Sprint Cup Series primary sponsorship debut later this season with back-to-back races Oct. 23 at Talladega Superspeedway and Oct. 30 at Martinsville Speedway.
"UniFirst is excited to be a primary sponsor of Kasey and Hendrick Motorsports," said Adam Soreff, director of marketing and communications for UniFirst. "This partnership is a great opportunity for our company because Hendrick Motorsports is one of the premier -- and most highly respected -- teams in professional auto racing. UniFirst's broad customer base, which includes 300,000 business locations across North America, employs thousands of enthusiastic NASCAR fans, so this relationship is a natural fit. We're extremely proud to have the UniFirst brand represented in such a dynamic atmosphere."
UniFirst is one of North America's largest workwear and textile service companies, providing managed uniform, protective clothing, custom corporate image apparel, and ancillary facility services programs to businesses in virtually all industries. As part of the new relationship, UniFirst will supply work clothing and uniforms to Hendrick Motorsports and sister company Hendrick Automotive Group, which is the largest privately held retail automotive organization in the United States.
"When a sponsor feels strongly enough to commit for eight years, it sends a clear message," said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. "There's tremendous excitement about the opportunities our team and our sport present for UniFirst. They have a reputation for world-class service, the highest quality products and services, and having incredible people. We share a similar mindset and culture, and we're looking forward to working together across our entire organization."
Since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2012, Kahne, 36, has earned three Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berths and five race wins with the No. 5 team. The Enumclaw, Washington, native has 17 career victories, 27 pole positions and 166 top-10 finishes in NASCAR’s top division.
"UniFirst will be a great addition to our partners at Hendrick Motorsports," Kahne said. "They're a reliable company that we've worked with at Kasey Kahne Racing for a long time, so I was happy to hear they are coming on board. I'm looking forward to having them as part of the No. 5 team and working with them in the years to come."
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.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Despite a cumulative 208 laps led throughout the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup's first three races, Jimmie Johnson remains frustratingly winless thanks to a string of costly mistakes during the playoff's first round.
To be more precise, pit road mistakes. Albeit frustrating, it has been highly motivating.
The Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway saw the dominant No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet atop the leaderboard for 118 circuits -- a race high -- in
the 270-lap event. A pit road speeding penalty changed everything,
though, preventing "Six-Time" from reaching Victory Lane. During the race, Johnson could be heard bellowing "No! No!" on the
team radio when he learned of the penalty. After rallying to a
disappointing 12th-place finish, Johnson admitted post-race that he was
"dumbfounded" by the penalty.
Fast forward to two weeks later at Dover International Speedway,
Johnson again served a pass-through after NASCAR tagged the team with
having crew members over the wall too soon. Following the gaffe, Johnson
-- who had led for 90 laps -- ended the day eighth.
Chris Krieg, head coach of the
Nos. 48 and 88 pit crew teams, has refused to let these playoff errors
lessen the morale of his championship-contending team.
"In athletics you're going to
have negative things happen and you have the ability to either stand
back up and put your chin up and get 'em next time or you can choose to
go in the corner and run from it," an upbeat Krieg said Wednesday at the
Nos. 48 and 88 shop in Charlotte, North Carolina. "Our guys are standing up and they're working harder than they ever had. And we will absolutely bounce back." Saturday's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
(7 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the team's chance to
put the hard work to practice at a track where Johnson has collected
seven wins. "Our goal is just to be consistent and give our car and our driver
the best ability to finish a race well and win a race," Krieg said. "(We
want to) go out there and be consistent and clean and smooth and if we
can do that, we'll have a good ending to the race." Wednesday, Krieg also welcomed five new pit crew members during
Hendrick's second-annual pit crew signing day. The group joining the
four-car organization are: TJ Semke, Mason Harris, Austin Holland, Timmy
Hall and Dylan Intemann.
Six-time Talladega Superspeedway winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. visited one of his favorite tracks Thursday for an action-packed day of greeting fans, mingling with the Alabama Gang, assisting the track with its landscaping duties and watching his father's No. 2 Chevrolet take a lap around the superspeedway.
The Hendrick Motorsports wheelman, sidelined for the rest of the season by concussion-like symptoms, was welcomed by Alabama Gang members Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison and short-track legend Red Farmer as an honorary member of the group.
The Alabama Gang, with deep roots in stock-car racing's early days, was the nickname earned by a group of notable NASCAR drivers -- the Allisons, Neil Bonnett, and Farmer among them -- with ties to the state. Talladega's back straightaway was named "The Alabama Gang Superstretch" in their honor in the spring of 2014.
Although Dale Earnhardt was not a part of the group, he remained great friends with the drivers -- especially Bonnett, a fellow outdoorsman. The group paid tribute to the first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee as Donnie Allison wheeled Earnhardt's famous No. 2 Monte Carlo around the 2.66-mile track.
See glimpses from Dale Jr.'s day.
.@DaleJr doing some track landscaping and surprising fans at @TalladegaSuperS. #NW88JR pic.twitter.com/ptrIfuXW8y
— Nationwide 88 (@nationwide88) September 29, 2016
We have some REALLY cool stuff coming up with @DaleJr and the famed #AlabamaGang!
Keep an eye on Periscope & Facebook Live! pic.twitter.com/fT05pKOgrN
— TalladegaSuperspdwy (@TalladegaSuperS) September 29, 2016
Donnie, Bobby and Red welcome @DaleJr as an OFFICIAL Honorary Member of the #AlabamaGang! pic.twitter.com/JjCPAt99FJ
— TalladegaSuperspdwy (@TalladegaSuperS) September 29, 2016
Dale Sr.'s No. 2 Monte Carlo rides again with Donnie Allison at the wheel! #AlabamaGang https://t.co/HeBNAtQWh8
— TalladegaSuperspdwy (@TalladegaSuperS) September 29, 2016
Good times today @TalladegaSuperS promoting the race with the Alabama Gang. Tickets are on sale for the race on October 23rd. pic.twitter.com/vm6OZFTslx
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) September 29, 2016
I remember this old thing. @TalladegaSuperS Hall of Fame. The carpet is teal, I kid you not. Great choice pops. pic.twitter.com/UMn4RAe34L
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) September 29, 2016
How cool to rename the MRN booth @TalladegaSuperS in honor of Barney Hall! pic.twitter.com/7u24pIDUnM
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) September 29, 2016
LOUDON, N.H. -- Jimmie Johnson felt certain he'd be facing a much larger deficit in the second event of the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. A points penalty for his Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet failing its post-race pass through the Laser Inspection Station (LIS) platform last week likely would have dropped him into the bottom four of the 16-driver postseason field. But Johnson said he received a phone call Wednesday afternoon on his way back from his race shop that altered his outlook. NASCAR competition officials had just implemented a midweek update regarding minor LIS infractions, offering a reprieve for both himself and the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 team of last weekend's race winner, Martin Truex Jr. "I was just taking my lumps and going on with my business and then kind of Christmas showed up in September," Johnson said Friday after qualifying fourth for Sunday's Bad Boy Off Road 300 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "Just unexpected, but happy." NASCAR's competition department announced Wednesday that P2 and P3-level penalties would be eliminated for lesser LIS violations found in post-race inspections, leaving the stricter P4-grade punishments in place for more egregious infractions. Truex, who automatically advanced to the Chase's next round with his victory at Chicagoland Speedway, and Johnson were not penalized in the points standings. Johnson said he was pleasantly surprised, though he knew his car was slightly outside of the allowable measurements for its rear axle offset, or "skew." "I really feel NASCAR was trying to create a penalty system that was more forgiving," Johnson said. "Stuff bends, stuff moves, and they set those tolerances up to really help the garage area and then to keep cars failing out of the headlines. But it's tough. There's a lot of moving parts in these cars and of course we're trying to get as much skew as we can and we failed. "I'm sure directionally, it was an advantage. Everybody will take every hundredth of an inch they can get. I think we were four thousandths over. I don't know how much of an advantage you can get in four thousandths. That's awfully, awfully small, but we're in a world now where it's black or white." The non-penalty kept Johnson in the heart of the Chase's opening round, slotted eighth with a 13-point spread behind series leader Truex. Four drivers will be eliminated from championship eligibility after next weekend's race at Dover International Speedway, where Johnson has won a record 10 times. Johnson's current ranking could be worse had the penalty taken effect, but it could have been better as well. Johnson was solidly on the verge of a top-five finish last week at Chicagoland, but a pit-road speeding penalty on his penultimate stop bumped him outside the top 10. Johnson said he began to accelerate just 2 feet too early at the pit-exit line, sending him over the speed limit for the final timing section and offsetting the performance strides the No. 48 team had made in recent weeks. "We've definitely been showing speed over the last month and a half," Johnson said. "That's been something that's very welcomed and it's been a lot of hard work to get to that point. Unfortunately, mistakes still are continuing to happen and last week was on me." RELATED: Hear Johnson's reaction on the scanner
Chase for the NASCARSprint CupdriverAustin Dilloncrashed into the outside wall ofNew Hampshire Motor Speedway's Turn 1 late in Friday's firstSprint CupSeries practice session, and suffered significant damage to the right rear of the No. 3 Chevrolet that will require a move to a backup car. He finished the session 32nd (132.813 mph).
