Byron takes over lead in Truck Series standings after Gateway

William Byron failed to earn his third straight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win in Saturday’s Drivin for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park.

Although he finished 17th, it still was a good day for the rookie driver as he jumped to the top of the Truck Series point standings.

Byron knocked Matt Crafton from the top spot. Byron leads Crafton by one point. Timothy Peters is five points behind Byron.

The series’ next race is July 7 at Kentucky Speedway.

Here’s how the Truck Series points look after Gateway:

Victimized by cyber attack, NASCAR Sprint Cup team finds help from new partner

A NASCAR Sprint Cup team was the victim of a cyber attack earlier this year and paid a ransom to retrieve valuable information.

Since the attack, the No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing team has partnered with Malwarebytes, a malware prevention and remediation solution company.

The team stated in a release that computers with track data from races and test facilities and personnel information were infected. Those responsible demanded the team pay a ransom within 48 hours or lose their data.

The team valued the information being held hostage — car part lists, custom high-profile simulation setups, etc. — at $2 million. The team stated that it would have taken 1,500 man-hours to recreate the information.

“Just knowing that we could lose everything that we had worked so hard to achieve was terrifying,” crew chief Dave Winston said in a team release. “The data that they were threatening to take from us was priceless, we couldn’t go one day without it greatly impacting the team’s future success. This was a completely foreign experience for all of us, and we had no idea what to do. What we did know was that if we didn’t get the files back, we would lose years worth of work valued at millions of dollars.”

After paying the ransom, the team sought a company to protect its computer data. After running and installing Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, the company found and eliminated malware infection from more than 10,000 files.

“Like most companies, we felt we had solid security in place on our digital intelligence with our software and firewalls, but this is a very new threat,” said Jeremy Lange, vice president at Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing. “It’s an area of coverage that you don’t realize you need until it happens to you. We’re lucky that it all worked out, and now having this partnership with Malwarebytes, we hope to inform NASCAR fans and the industry of this threat and the solution.”

Ben Rhodes sweeps Camping World Truck practices at Gateway

Ben Rhodes posted the fastest lap in Saturday’s final practice session for the Camping World Truck Series race at Gateway Motorsports Park with a lap of 135.755 mph. Rhodes also was the fastest in the opening session Saturday at 135.738 mph.

Johnny Sauter was second in Saturday’s final practice at 135.510 mph with John Hunter Nemechek third at 135.054 mph.

Rico Abreu, who crashed in the first practice session, did not make it on the track for the final session. His team was busy preparing the backup. He will have no laps on that vehicle at Gateway when he qualifies at 5:45 p.m. ET today. The race is at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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Jeff Gordon open to co-hosting morning talk show with Kelly Ripa

Jeff Gordon says he’ll be back in the Fox Sports booth next season but the question is if he’ll have other broadcasting work.

The four-time champion said he would “welcome” the opportunity to succeed Michael Strahan as “Live” co-host with Kelly Ripa on the morning talk show. Gordon has co-hosted the show nine times with Ripa. A recent report stated he was on a short list of candidates to replace Strahan, who left the show for a full-time job on “Good Morning America.’’

“I’m flattered that my name has been associated with that,’’ Gordon told reporters Saturday at Sonoma Raceway. “I’ve always maintained a great friendship with the show and some of the producers and folks within the show. I had a great time co-hosting on that show, and I mean, I certainly would welcome it.

“My priority is Fox and Fox Sports and NASCAR, so I will definitely be back in the booth next year. If there was something that would fit into and around that, great. I don’t know if that’s a reality, but it’s been really interesting kind of seeing that unfold. I really don’t have anything that I can say about it.’’

This weekend marks the final Sprint Cup race broadcast for Fox Sports. NBC Sports takes over the broadcast of Cup and Xfinity races the rest of the year.

Heading into his final race broadcast of the year, how does Gordon rate his rookie season in the booth?

“I feel a lot more confident and comfortable,’’ he said. “I know my colleagues that I’m working with far better. I kind of know what to look for, what to ask for, and where I fit in better than I certainly did then. It’s been a lot of fun.

“I still have a lot of things to work on. Somebody talking in your ear while you’re trying to create a thought … start it and finish it and do it in 20 seconds is not an easy task, certainly not for me, so there’s certainly plenty of things there that I’d like to do better, but I like what I’m seeing out there.’’

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Carl Edwards cruises to Sonoma pole

Carl Edwards won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Sonoma Raceway with AJ Allmendinger, the pole-sitter in this event a year ago, qualifying second Saturday.

Edwards won the pole with a lap of 95.77 mph. Allmendinger qualified at 95.676 mph.

This is the first Sonoma pole for Edwards. He won at this 1.99-mile road course in 2014. Edwards has a series-high three poles this season.

“I can’t say enough about my guys, our car is fast,” Edwards told FS1. “This place is so much fun.”

Allmendinger told FS1: “A big gain from where we were (Friday). Still got work (for the race).”

Martin Truex Jr. qualified third at 95.672 mph and was followed by Kurt Busch (95.654 mph) and Kyle Larson (95.362)

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Dale Earnhardt Jr., Casey Mears fastest in 2nd Cup practice at Sonoma

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (95.298 mph) and Casey Mears (95.255 mph) paced the field in Friday’s second and final practice session for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

Denny Hamlin was third fastest (95.243 mph), followed by former Sonoma winner Carl Edwards (95.157 mph) and defending race winner Kyle Busch (95.145 mph).

Qualifying will take place at 2 p.m. ET Saturday.

Here’s how the final practice session played out:

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Saturday schedule for Sprint Cup, Camping World Truck Series

The Sprint Cup Series has a light day with only qualifying at Sonoma Raceway, but the Camping World Truck Series has a full schedule at Gateway Motorsports Park with practice, qualifying and the Drivin’ for Linemen 200.

Here’s today’s schedule:

All times are Eastern

Sprint Cup Series

(Sonoma Raceway)

10 a.m. – 6 p.m. – Sprint Cup garage open

2:15 p.m. – Sprint Cup qualifying; multi-car/two rounds (FS1, Performance Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Camping World Truck Series

(Gateway Motorsports Park)

8 a.m.  – Truck garage opens

9:30 – 10:25 p.m. – Truck practice (No TV)

11: 30 a.m. – 12:55 p.m.  – Final Truck practice (FS1)

4 p.m. – Driver-crew chief meeting

5:45 p.m. – Qualifying; multi-car/three rounds (Fox Sports 2)

8 p.m. – Driver introductions

8:30 p.m. – Drivin’ for Linemen 200; 160 laps, 200 miles (Fox Sports 1, Motor Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

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