NASCAR fined John Wes Townley $15,000 and Spencer Gallagher $12,500 for their fight last weekend during the Camping World Truck Series race at Gateway Motorsports Park.
NASCAR issued the fines for the physical altercation and for being on the track during a caution period. Both drivers also were placed on probation through Dec. 31.
They made contact earlier the race, causing Townley to hit the wall. They wrecked in the final laps after a restart. After both exited their trucks, they scuffled, wrestled and threw a few punches before walking away.
Gallagher issued a public apology this week to Townley for the incident earlier in the race and his involvement in the fight. Townley has not issued a comment on the matter.
Today’s episode of NASCAR America, which airs from 6 – 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN, gives you one last preview of this weekend’s action at Daytona International Speedway.
Dave Briggs hosts with Parker Kligerman from Stamford, Connecticut.
Included in today’s show:
Hear from our crew at Daytona International Speedway, including Krista Voda, Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, Rick Allen, Steve Letarte and birthday boy Jeff Burton.
On Saturday, Tony Stewart makes his final start at Daytona as a full-time Sprint Cup driver. Stewart has never won the Daytona 500, but can tie David Pearson’s record of five July Daytona wins this weekend. We’ll look back on his summertime success.
Marty Snider is down in Daytona with the rest of the crew and he spoke with Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman as they get ready for Saturday night’s race.
The art of side-drafting has become critical to success everywhere – especially at Daytona. Parker Kligerman jumps in the simulator to break down how drivers use side-drafting to their advantage.
If you’re not near a TV, you can watch online or on the NBC Sports app via at the NASCAR stream on NBC Sports.
If you plan to stream the show on your laptop or portable device, be sure to have your username and password from your cable/satellite/telco provider handy so your subscription can be verified.
Once you enter that information, you’ll have access to the stream.
Click here at 6 p.m. ET to watch live via the stream.
NASCAR racing returns to NBC this weekend with the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. Coverage begins July 2 at 7:45 p.m. ET on NBC.
The June 13 fire at ThorSport Racing’s shop was accidental and started outside the building in mulch underneath a stairway, according to a report by the Ohio State Fire Marshal.
About 40 percent of the building was lost because of the fire. The report listed fire damage as $10 million. The team fields entries in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes, Cameron Hayley and Rico Abreu. Fifteen of the team’s trucks were saved, but the suspension room and fab shop were destroyed. Fire units from four communities were called to the fire.
The report did not list an exact cause of the fire. The investigator wrote: “I was unable to eliminate careless smoking material discarded into the mulch bed on the exterior of the building as the heat source for this fire.”
The report noted that automatic sprinkler and fire alarms in the building did not activate because “the fire spread from the exterior into the roofline and walls. This was above and beyond the sensors and sprinkler heads. The interior alarms did activate once fire crews arrived and began to ventilate the interior rooms.”
The report also noted that “several sprinkler heads on the east side of the building activated once the roof collapsed and fire spread to interior portions of the building.”
The investigator detailed fire damage found in the patio area. After removing metal siding, the investigator reported that “fire damage was visible from the ground level into the void space between the metal wall covering and the original building. … Both the composite wood and wood framing was heavily damaged at ground level and evenly damaged on the interior facing side indicating fire spreading from the ground level upward.”
The report also included interviews with those who worked at the shop. They noted the patio area was often a place for employees to take lunch breaks during weekdays. No one reported seeing anyone smoke in that area that weekend before the fire.
“Copious amounts of water used during the fire attack washed a large portion of the mulch and other ground cover away from the building,” the investigator stated in the report. “I was unable to identify smoking materials in the area of origin but did see smoking materials on the grounds of the brick patio. The area of origin was the east side exterior of the building below the stairs. The mulch bed and ground cover is the specific area of origin.”
The report states the case is closed with no further investigate actions to be performed.
The last time the Xfinity Series visited Daytona International Speedway, the race ended in the familiar sight of a bunch of drivers trying – and failing – to chase down a car with the No. 88 on its side.
But for once, the driver who emerged from the car wasn’t Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has won 10 times at Daytona in the Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series. It was Chase Elliott, who got to celebrate with Earnhardt the team owner.
Elliott’s win – his first on a restrictor-plate track – was the third JR Motorsports triumph at Daytona in five starts. It followed a sweep of the 2014 races by Regan Smith and Kasey Kahne.
In addition to his win in February, Elliott also earned the pole in both Sprint Cup plate races.
Like its owner, JR Motorsports’ restrictor-plate success is not limited to the Florida coast. The team has returned from Talladega Superspeedway victorious twice since 2013. Elliott Sadler claimed the win in May’s race after he was ruled to be the leader when the caution came out on the final lap.
“Our restrictor-plate program is very good right now,” Sadler said in a press release. “We had the lead at Daytona on the last lap to start the season and we just won Talladega a few weeks ago. We’re in a position, being locked in the Chase, where we can go down this weekend and be aggressive and do everything we can to just focus on winning the race.”
Sadler’s win gives JRM five in the last 10 races on plate tracks with four different drivers. The team’s avg finish of 4.57 in the first two plate races of 2016 is five positions better than any other team.
JRM will have Elliott, Sadler and Justin Allgaier on the track for this weekend’s Firecracker 250. The three drivers combined have three plate wins. Allgaier has three top fives in 17 Xfinity starts at plate races.
If one of them winds up in victory lane, it would make JR Motorsports the third team to sweep the Xfinity Series’ three plate races. The last two were Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008 and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in 2003.
That year, Earnhardt pulled the feat off himself, leading 227 laps on the way to three wins.
The teams of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth each received written warnings last weekend at Sonoma Raceway, with Kenseth receiving his fourth and losing pit selections for the race.
Earnhardt, whose car failed pre-qualifying template inspection twice, received his second written warning. A fourth warning results in loss of pit selection for the following race
Kenseth’s fourth written warning was issued after failing pre-qualifying laser inspection.
Earnhardt’s team has already gone through the cycle of earning four warnings and losing pit selection. The No. 88 team lost pit selection for the Coca-Cola 600.
MORE: Townley, Gallagher fined for Truck race scuffle
WATCH: Stewart's smoky burnout | Bird's-eye view of the last-lap pass
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. -- In a lightning-paced span of less than 24 hours, Mike Bugarewicz went from Sonoma Raceway's Victory Lane in the heart of California wine country to right back to work on the shop floor at Stewart-Haas Racing.
The first-year crew chief had just made the savvy pit call of a veteran, propelling Tony Stewart to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in more than three years and the brink of his first Chase playoffs appearance in almost four. Accordingly after such an intense day atop the No. 14 team's pit box and all the high-energy fanfare that followed, sleep did not come easy.
Movies replaced shut-eye on the plane ride back to North Carolina, and once Bugarewicz arrived at his home, he said he still didn't feel tired. So at 4 a.m. with a hoppy West Coast IPA by his side, he finally found a quiet moment to exhale.
Sonoma's celebratory drink of choice is typically served in a chalice; Bugarewicz's comes in a pint glass.
"I just needed a minute to myself to just reflect on the day and just enjoy a nice, cold beer," Bugarewicz said Monday from SHR's expansive stock-car headquarters. "I just sat and thought about everything that happened and how special it was for Tony and this whole organization…
"It's still kind of sinking in quite a bit, but seeing all the people here at the shop, how happy everybody is and all that, it's just a great feeling around the shop today."
Yeah it's 4am and just got home but I needed to sit alone for a bit and take all of today's event in... pic.twitter.com/DPdxHwb0xW
— Mike Bugarewicz (@BugaMike14) June 27, 2016
The joy was magnified by both the manner in which the owner/driver outdueled Denny Hamlin on the last lap and the protracted wait for his first checkered flag after an 84-race dry spell. That it also put Stewart one step closer to championship eligibility in his final Sprint Cup campaign made it that much more meaningful. Stewart now has the victory he needs; his next agenda item is to inch into the top 30 in driver points in the 10 regular-season races that remain.
Though the three-time champ's actions behind the wheel played a huge part in the Sonoma success, Bugarewicz's strategy play to give Stewart precious track position was similarly crucial. With NASCAR spotters searching to confirm reports of debris on the track, Bugarewicz called for Stewart to hit pit road ahead of the other frontrunners. When the yellow flag flew just one lap later, Stewart was out front and in control.
"I talked to him on the radio and said, well, our options here are either to ride it out and finish in the teens somewhere, and yeah, we'll gain some points on 30th (in the drivers' standings), but we all know at the end of the day we have to win to have an opportunity to compete in the Chase," Bugarewicz said. "So I said our other option is listen to radio and when we think a caution's going to come out, we'll hit pit road, we'll take the chance. If it works, yesterday's result could come, and if it doesn't work, well, we might finish 30th, but you know what, I don't think the losing 10 points versus gaining 10 points is really what we're looking for. We were shooting for wins."
In other words, no pressure. Taking late-race gambles weighs on even the most experienced crew chiefs. So is Bugarewicz, just 16 races into his first season atop a premier-series pit box, getting more comfortable with the weekly tension?
"It still makes you nervous because if it wouldn't have worked out, then I'd be kicking myself today, saying, 'well, that was dumb and we lost 10 points because of it,' " Bugarewicz said. "With the way the format is nowadays in NASCAR, and especially in our unique situation, winning is everything. People are taking the bigger risks and the bigger chances to try and get those wins because it does solidify your Chase hopes."
While Bugarewicz is less than halfway through his rookie season as a crew chief, he's spent even less time working directly with Stewart behind the wheel. The severe back injury that kept 'Smoke' out of the No. 14 Chevrolet's seat for the first eight races forced Bugarewicz to adjust, calling the shots for substitute drivers Brian Vickers (five races) and Ty Dillon (three races) in the interim.
In the two months since Stewart's April return at Richmond, Bugarewicz said the communication has improved, with the 34-year-old engineer trying to keep Stewart loose and reminding him to have fun. Though the farewell season now has its defining highlight to date, Bugarewicz said he hopes to add an equally compelling postseason chapter to the story.
"We keep meshing better and better every week and I think if it keeps progressing like it has and we can still show that every week that we can contend, we can lead laps, we can run up front, in the top 10, top five and so forth, then absolutely we can be a contender," Bugarewicz said. "Heck, we've really only had eight races together now, me and him working together and the rest of the team. We've got a lot of time yet to prepare for the Chase and there's still going to be a lot of that prep work going on."
Bugarewicz said the focus wouldn't necessarily change over the regular season's home stretch, indicating that the No. 14 team will still aggressively pursue victories when the chances arise, but with a measured approach to minimize any subpar results in the points standings.
Stewart sits 32nd in the driver standings, just nine points behind Brian Scott and the 30th-place threshold he needs to cross. That quest continues this weekend at Daytona International Speedway in the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:45 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM), a race Stewart has won four times in his career.
Though Bugarewicz was already back to business Monday, his spirits were lifted by watching a jubilant Stewart's long-awaited celebration, a festive memory to carry through one special sleepless night and beyond.
"It was a genuine happiness that I haven't seen on his face in a long, long time," Bugarewicz said. "I've seen a drive in him that, it's what we all remember and we see in the highlight films and remember Tony as. I mean, that guy just wanted it yesterday and just seeing that sheer happiness in his face is definitely going to stick with me."
