NEWS & MEDIA RACES

quinta-feira, 26 de maio de 2016

NASCAR America: Raymond Parks was a pioneer as one of the original car owners

Raymond Parks brought unprecedented organization to stock car racing, becoming NASCAR’s first successful team owner. His contributions to the sport are enough to put him in the Hall of Fame in the Class of 2017.

NASCAR America: Rick Hendrick: ‘I would have thought you were crazy’ with Hall of Fame talk

Rick Hendrick never would have thought he would be elected into the NASCAR Hall of Fame when he started his team as an owner back in 1984 and he still has a chance to add to his legacy over the coming years.

quarta-feira, 25 de maio de 2016

NASCAR America: Richard Childress: It’s been ‘quite a ride’ to reach Hall of Fame

Richard Childress became the first owner to win three titles in all three NASCAR national series. He talks about how special it is to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and his special connection to Dale Earnhardt.

Hall of Fame selection ensures Benny Parsons’ last remaining wish

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Shortly before he died in 2007, former NASCAR champion and broadcaster Benny Parsons gave his wife a list of 10 things to do.

Some were personal: He wanted her to grow a vineyard, something he had wanted but hadn’t done.

Some were about community: He wanted her to help find a way for racing to return to North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Some were for family that remain private.

She completed those tasks, but for years, the last item on the list haunted Terri Parsons.

“The one that kept throwing me was ‘Don’t let people forget me,’ ’’ she told NBC Sports. “How does one person do that? There is only so much Facebook you can do.’’

Voters for the NASCAR Hall of Fame showed they had not forgotten Wednesday. While it took until the eighth class for one of the remaining inaugural nominees to be selected, Benny Parsons made it after receiving 85 percent of the vote. He’ll be joined by Mark Martin, Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress and Raymond Parks.

Terri Parsons had a feeling that this year would be different from all the times she had come before, hoping the man she loved and fans adored would be inducted.

She had a restless night of sleep. She was nervous on the drive to the Hall of Fame. Then shortly before the announcement, Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett told her he thought this would be Parsons’ year based on the talk about the 1973 champion among voters.

“When his name was announced, it hit me, this is it,’’ Terri Parsons said. “Nobody is going to forget him. People will know the history of Benny forever.’’

Still, she sat stoically. Jarrett, who spoke to his fellow voters earlier in the day about Parsons’ credentials, reached over and shook Terri Parsons’ wrist. Hall of Famer Bobby Allison turned around and shook her knee.

“I was numb,’’ Terri Parsons said. “I wanted to make sure I heard it right.’’

And then she saw the face of the man she married in 1992 on a video board as the first member of the new Hall of Fame class.

“He’s in,’’ she said to herself.

She later described it as “an awesome moment for me.’’

And for her husband, who became as well known to many fans for his role as broadcaster with NBC and other networks as for his success on the track.

“Somewhere tonight he’s saying fantastic, I’m sure, and we all know the smile he would have on his face,’’ Terri Parsons said.

It’s the smile that will be etched on his pylon when he’s inducted Jan. 20, 2017, into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Fastenal signs multi-year extension with Roush Fenway Racing

Roush Fenway Racing announced Wednesday morning that Fastenal has signed a multi-year extension as primary sponsor for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.‘s team. As part of the agreement, Fastenal will increase the number of races it will serve as primary sponsor in 2017.

“We’ve seen a lot of improvement across the board this year,” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said in a team release. “We are very happy that Fastenal will continue to be a part of the momentum at Roush Fenway. There has been a lot of hard work and effort put into this team and our goal and expectation is to reward Fastenal with a trip to victory lane and the Chase in the near future.”

This is the fifth season Fastenal has served as a primary sponsor for a Roush Fenway Racing Sprint Cup team. This is Fastenal’s second season as the anchor partner on Stenhouse’s car. The announcement did not say how many races Fastenal will serve as the primary sponsor beginning next year. Fastenal has served as the primary sponsor in five of the first 12 points races this season, including the Daytona 500. It also was the primary sponsor for Stenhouse in the Sprint Unlimited.

Stenhouse is 20th in the points entering this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has finished in the top 20 in five of the last six points races.

Joey Logano has chance to earn first All-Star, Coke 600 sweep since 2010

Joey Logano‘s win in the Sprint All-Star Race last Saturday might have been the result of the event’s confusing format, but it was also a result of broader trend.

Logano is kind of good at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Through his first seven seasons in the Sprint Cup Series, Logano made 14 starts at the 1.5-mile track, plus six starts in the All-Star Race.

Logano’s win last weekend was his second visit to victory lane in Charlotte in as many races, including his win last year in the October points race.

Based on his results in the 14 point races, Logano now owns the best average finish at Charlotte among active Cup drivers with an average of 9.57. NASCAR’s totals for the stat date back to the 2005 season, which was four years before Logano’s first full-time campaign.

In his last seven Charlotte starts, Logano has three top five and four top-10 finishes. If Logano were to win Sunday, he would be the first driver since Kurt Busch in 2010 with Team Penske to sweep the All-Star Race and the Coke 600.

Behind Logano in the avg finish category is defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Carl Edwards, with an avg of 10.5. Edwards has seven top five and 15 top-10 finishes at Charlotte since he broke into the Cup series in 2005. Last’s year’s Coke 600 was his first win in 22 Charlotte starts.

“Last year’s win at the Coca-Cola 600 was huge for us,” Edwards said in a press release. “It was a turning point in our season and it’s still sinking in that our 19 team are the defending champions of the Coca-Cola 600.”

Edwards’ win was his first with Joe Gibbs Racing.

“The track changes a lot as we go into the night and you have to stay on top of it and regardless of how long it is,” Edward said. “A lot of it is you have to be on your game at the end and those have been some long nights and I think that at the end of the day that does wear on you and you have to be prepared for it.”

Not among the top drivers in avg finish is a surprising name – Jimmie Johnson. While the six-time Sprint Cup champion is has the best driver rating at Charlotte since 2005 (109.0), his avg finish in that time is 14.9, which trails drivers like Logano, Edwards, Kevin Harvick (13.9), Denny Hamlin (12.8), Kasey Kahne (12.0) and Kyle Busch (13.5).

Since 2005, Johnson has won four of his record seven Charlotte races. His sweep in 2005 was part of four wins in a row for the No. 48 team. His two wins since 2005 came in the 2009 fall race and the 2014 Coke 600.

“Last weekend’s All-Star event was in essence a ‘test’ for this weekend,” said Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, in a press release. “We learned some important things about tire fall off even though we didn’t get a ton of practice. The 600-miler is a tough, tough race and it takes a lot of patience and some endurance on everyone’s part to be there at the end.”

In his 22 Charlotte starts over the last 10 seasons, Johnson has nine top fives, 11 top-10 finishes and four DNFs.

Since 2013, he has one win, but in the four races he hasn’t finished in the top five, he has failed to finish better than 17th.

NASCAR on NBC podcast, Episode XVIII: Roger Penske

Venerable team owner Roger Penske, who turned 79 in February, made a visit to the infield hospital last week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

This wasn’t a checkup to determine if Penske, who remains as spry as ever with his racing organization in its 50th year, was at risk of slowing down as he nears his ninth decade.

This was to ensure he could speed up, hammering the accelerator of the 2017 SS Camaro pace car that will lead the field to green Sunday in the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.

“I guess before you can drive on this racetrack, you need to have a physical,” Penske said with a chuckle during the Wednesday episode of the NASCAR on NBC podcast. “So the good news is I passed my physical, so I guess I’ll now be able to drive the car on race day.”

There was a time when he would have been racing it.

Though he has become synonymous with success in fielding cars – his teams have won a record 16 Indy 500s – Penske started his legendary career in racing as a driver and was named Driver of the Year in 1961 by Sports Illustrated and in 1962 by the New York Times.

Though he hung up his helmet for good in 1965 to focus on his automotive empire, Penske once won a NASCAR race at Riverside International Raceway in 1963, and he discusses those memories from his driving career during the podcast – including another NASCAR race he nearly won at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

“I was leading with about 10 laps to go and lost the rear end and then went out and won the race at Riverside,” he said, laughing. “When I came back (to Indianapolis), they didn’t want to let me in the Speedway because I’d driven a NASCAR car.”