INDIANAPOLIS — He won’t be racing Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s name will carry on at the Brickyard.
After track workers removed a sign Friday afternoon (at the behest of Hendrick Motorsports) that listed Jeff Gordon as the replacement driver of the No. 88, Earnhardt’s name was above the team’s stall when the Sprint Cup garage opened at 8 a.m. ahead of Sprint Cup qualifying Saturday afternoon.
Gordon was 25th fastest Friday afternoon in the final Sprint Cup practice session but was fastest on his final lap and is optimistic about finding speed for qualifying.
“It was one of the most challenging days I’ve had in a race car to try to get comfortable, be consistent, have the speed and give good feedback,” he said Friday. “I still love this track, and I’m glad that we are doing this (At Indy) because I think that helps me have the confidence to be able to learn faster, but it’s tough. It was tough. That first run I was like ‘wow’ I forgot how hard of work this is.”
Jimmie Johnson soared to the top of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series leaderboard Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an opening practice that featured the return of Jeff Gordon to competition.
Johnson pushed the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet to a best lap of 184.185 mph around the 2.5-mile track. He'll seek his fifth Indianapolis win in Sunday's Crown Royal Presents The Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the Brickyard (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Former Indy pole winner Denny Hamlin was second-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota at 182.563 mph, a sizable .434 seconds off Johnson's pace. Casey Mears (180.346 mph), Kevin Harvick (179.845 mph) and Ryan Newman (179.784 mph) completed the top five in the 85-minute opening session.
Gordon clocked the ninth-fastest speed, landing a 179.376 mph lap in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet. He's scheduled to make his first Sprint Cup start of the season Sunday as a replacement for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he recovers from concussion-like symptoms.
Tony Stewart , scheduled to make his final Brickyard start in what's to be his last full-time season, was eighth-fastest at 179.655 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet. The native Hoosier will be vying for his third Brickyard victory in Sunday's 400-miler.
Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch, also the defending race winner, was 12th-fastest but recovered from a spin at the one-hour mark of the session. Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota made a prolonged slide out of Turn 2 after making contact with the Go FAS Racing No. 32 Ford of Patrick Carpentier.
Carpentier, 44, walked over to Busch's garage stall later in the session to issue an apology for crowding his pass attempt. Carpentier was 39th-fastest of the 41 drivers entered during first practice.
Final Sprint Cup practice is scheduled for tonight from 4-5:25 p.m. ET. Coors Light Pole Qualifying is set for Saturday at 1:45 p.m. ET. Both sessions will be broadcast on NBCSN.
LOUDON, N.H. -- Martin Truex Jr. was counting the positives and trying to ignore the negatives when he climbed out of his Furniture Row Racing entry Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
For the fourth time this season, the 36-year-old led more than 100 laps and he was out front with less than 40 laps remaining in the New Hampshire 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
The performance bodes well for the series' fall return, when the track hosts the second race in this year's Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
But a broken shifter left him with a lame No. 78 Toyota down the stretch. Visions of victory were replaced with thoughts of merely making it to the end.
He did, finishing 16th, despite numerous late restarts that left him perfect for the picking.
"It's not tough, it's just that you're a sitting duck and there's nothing you can do to get going," Truex said. "Unfortunately we got passed by a lot of cars and we pitted for tires on that last stop because we were starting all the way in the back ... and we wanted to get some momentum going ... make sure we didn't destroy the race car getting in a wreck.
"We passed 10 cars in the last 10 laps so we had a good race car, just nothing to show for it today."
Toyotas were dominant on a mostly sunny day here at the 1.058-mile track, leading all but two of the 301 laps. And the Toyota of Truex was, for most of the day, as strong as any.
He led 83 consecutive laps early (from Lap 89-171) and 37 circuits a bit later (from Lap 221-257). His team was quick and efficient on pit road. Mistake-free.
"I think looking forward to the Chase and what we're trying to do with this team, this is a big relief to come here and be able to run well," said Truex, who won earlier this year with a dominant performance in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. "We knew this was one of our tough tracks and if we could come here and get through here good in September then we'll be set up to start pretty good in the Chase.
"All in all, couldn't be more proud of everybody at Furniture Row Racing and everybody on this Toyota. We weren't that good yesterday ... but the guys went to work last night and we had some good ideas, we talked about it and some things stuck out to Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and the guys and things that they thought we needed to work on just based on what I felt yesterday."
Truex led 141 laps earlier this year at Texas and 172 at Kansas, in addition to his Charlotte effort. All three tracks will host Chase races.
Sunday's result was credited to "total team effort," he said, "and the pit crew was great today, the best they've been all year by far.
"We're doing everything right, but we're taking some on the chin here, but this isn't when it counts so we'll just keep our heads up and keep working. Our race cars are fast and everyone is doing a great job. Sooner or later we'll get everything straight."
ROSSBURG, Ohio -- Battling back from all kinds of adversity, Kyle Larson sailed away on a late race restart with 16 laps to go to win Wednesday night's fourth annual Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby 150 at Eldora Speedway.
"It means a lot, especially losing the way I did the two years I ran," said Larson from Victory Lane. "Thanks to everyone on this GMS Racing team, DC Solar for coming on-board for this, this is very special for them. I knew running a blue No. 24 I had to run hard here at Eldora. Rico (Abreu) does a really good job in a Sprint car with that. I had to put on a show.
RELATED: Larson puts on a show
"We got the flat tire there early, I knew we would get a lucky dog, I just didn't know if I could get back to the top-three as quick as I did. It just worked out where I got by (Christopher) Bell when he got in the wall and I think Bobby (Pierce) had a gear issue. He was definitely better than I was for sure.
The win didn't come easy though.
Larson took the lead from last year's runner-up Bobby Pierce following the second caution on Lap 35 and appeared to be in control of the event, but while leading, Larson spun in Turn 4 on Lap 52 to bring out the fourth caution of the night.
Adding fuel to his fire, Larson was docked one lap by NASCAR for intentionally causing the yellow after spinning and stopping on the race track.
Two cautions later, however, Larson found himself back on the lead lap courtesy of the free pass and his mission to rally from the back to the front began.
Chasing down Pierce for the race lead, Larson took advantage of Pierce's transmission being stuck in fourth gear to take the lead with 30 laps to go, Pierce attempted to take the lead back three laps later, but slammed the outside Turn 4 wall, ending his night and bringing out the final caution of the event.
RELATED: Pierce discusses late-race woes
Despite a late race charge from Bell on the restart, Larson pulled away as the laps dwindled away and earned a 0.767-second advantage to win his second NCWTS race in his 12th start.
"I guess I didn't really hold him (Pierce) off, he slid in there and hit the wall and got a flat I think," Larson said. "I hated that I couldn't race with him, but I was happy when he was out. I almost gave it away again after that restart. I went to the middle of three and four in third gear and I missed a shift off Turn 4 and Bell got into my back bumper. Thankfully, he wasn't inside of me, because he would have got the lead there and probably would be standing where I am."
Bell, last year's winner, was disappointed with second but knew he gained crucial points towards his championship chase.
"Tony (Stewart, Eldora Speedway owner) did an awesome job with the race track tonight," said Bell. "It was really technical, it was really tough to get around and it was really fun, too. Kyle's been trying to win this race for a long time and it was cool for him to win tonight. The guys at KBM ( Kyle Busch Motorsports) worked really hard to put me in this position. I was disappointed we couldn't repeat."
Pierce who led a commanding 102 laps finished 25th in likely his final truck race of the season.
"The carburetor was flooded and I couldn't get off the corner at all. Larson drove a great race," Pierce said. "When that happened on the restart, I caught him a little bit, he hit the wall and I tried to slide him. I went in there a little too hard, it was super-slick and I got the wall and knocked the right-rear off the rim and that was that."
Notes: The event was halted for seven minutes, 29 seconds for a nine truck accident in Turn 3 on Lap 38. ... The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to competition at Pocono Raceway on July 30 for the running of the Pocono Mountains 150 (1 p.m., FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Busch is the defending champion.
NASCAR levied penalties to the race-winning Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota team Wednesday after last weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
As a result of infractions found in a post-race pass through the laser inspection station (LIS), the No. 20 team was docked 15 championship points in the team owner standings and driver Matt Kenseth absorbed a 15-point deduction in the Sprint Cup drivers' standings. The points penalty moved Kenseth, a two-time winner this year, from eighth to ninth place in the standings.
The P3-grade penalty also carries a $25,000 fine for No. 20 crew chief Jason Ratcliff.
The No. 20 Toyota driven to victory by Kenseth in the New Hampshire 301 was found out of compliance during Sunday's post-race trip through the LIS platform. The car was sent to the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further evaluation this week.
A host of other teams were issued written warnings Wednesday by the sanctioning body:
-- The Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet team for driver Austin Dillon and the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevy for driver Kevin Harvick were both handed written warnings and docked 15 minutes of practice time during this weekend's activities at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The No. 3 team failed LIS three times pre-race and pushed their current warning total to four. The No. 4 entry failed body template inspection three times pre-qualifying.
-- The Team Penske No. 22 Ford team for driver Joey Logano and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota of driver Carl Edwards both failed LIS twice. The No. 22's violation came in pre-race inspection; the No. 19's was in pre-qualifying. Both teams received written warnings (their first).
-- The following Sprint Cup teams received written warnings for failing pre-qualifying template inspection twice: Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 1 (driver Jamie McMurray ) and No. 42 ( Kyle Larson ), Richard Childress Racing's No. 3 ( Austin Dillon ), Roush Fenway Racing's No. 6 ( Trevor Bayne ), Stewart-Haas Racing's No. 10 ( Danica Patrick ) and No. 14 ( Tony Stewart ), HScott Motorsports' No. 15 (Clint Bowyer), Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 19 ( Carl Edwards ), Wood Brothers Racing's No. 21 ( Ryan Blaney ), JTG Daugherty Racing's No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) and BK Racing's No. 83 (Matt DiBenedetto).
-- The Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet team for driver Ty Dillon in the NASCAR XFINITY Series was also issued a written warning for failing template inspection three times before qualifying.
NBC Sports medical expert Mike Ryan discusses concussion management, imPACT testing and the health of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has missed three races in his Sprint Cup career due to concussion symptoms.
The first of two practice sessions for the Camping World Truck Series at Eldora Speedway was led by Tyler Reddick, who put down a top speed of 85.808 mph around the half-mile dirt track.Reddick was followed by Sprint Cup driverKyle Larson (85.800), Christopher Bell(85.062), Rico Abreu (84.790) and Bobby Pierce (84.740).Speed Chart
