Bristol Motor Speedway is once again experimenting with the racing surface of the half-mile track in hopes of bringing back two-wide racing.
First reported by Motorsport.com, with consideration from the Sprint Cup Drivers Council, Bristol “polished” the lower groove of the track following the Food City 500 in April.
The changes, the first to the track surface since BMS grounded the high line in 2012, were finished last week and will be first raced on Aug. 17 by the Camping World Truck Series. Since the grinding, the preferred racing line has been up high. The track has progressive banking from 24 to 28 degrees in the turns, which came about after a 2007 resurfacing.
This has resulted in less side-by-side racing and fewer dramatic finishes and thrown helmets, which the track has become known for.
BMS released the following statement to NBC Sports from Jerry Caldwell, executive vice president and general manager of the track:
“Following the Food City 500 we evaluated the race and track surface, as we always do. During that process we made a decision to make some minor modifications to the bottom groove. Throughout this process we had great collaboration with industry stakeholders and the NASCAR Driver’s Council. We look forward to another great race weekend during the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race week August 17 -20.”
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, was on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive” Tuesday and addressed the “minor” alterations to the track. O’Donnell said the track “certainly consulted” with the sanctioning body in addition to drivers.
O’Donnell described the work done to the lower lane as “just smoothing the track to get it ready really to apply what’s called VHT (Track bite), which is used in NHRA, kind of at the starting line that applies more grip,” O’Donnell said.
VHT, also known as PJ1 TrackBite, is a “custom formulated resin that provides controlled traction for competition racing” according to Jegs.com.
“So they applied that and then really used the tires to drag the track, so if you get up there you will see what already looks like kind of an asphalt track on the first groove that was concrete,” O’Donnell said, referencing a machine that was also used by Kentucky Speedway following its repave to help improve tire traction. “A lot of work has been done to really bring the lower groove back in. We’ll see how it plays out, but we’re certainly excited heading into this weekend.”
After the Truck race on Aug. 17, the Xfinity Series competes in the Food City 300 on Friday, Aug. 19 before the Sprint Cup Series’ Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race the following evening.
On Tuesday, Blake Koch and Kaulig Racing became the latest Xfinity Series team show off their retro paint scheme for the Sept. 3 VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway, which will air on NBC.
Kock’s No. 11 LeafFilter Chevrolet will be a time capsule from the early 1980s as a tribute to the career of three-time Sprint Cup champion Darrell Waltrip.
Kaulig Racing revealed Koch’s paint scheme, based on Waltrip’s No. 11 Mountain Dew car that he ran in the 1981 and 1982 seasons when Waltrip won his first two titles.
MORE: Check out all of the Darlington throwback paint schemes
Twenty-four of Waltrip’s 84 career wins came with the white-and-green paint scheme, including the 1981 CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 at Darlington.
Waltrip won at Darlington five times in his career.
“Running this paint scheme at Darlington is a huge honor for us at Kaulig Racing as well as those of us at LeafFilter,” said Matt Kaulig, owner of Kaulig Racing in a press release. “Darrell Waltrip is a true icon in the sport of NASCAR, and his success in the Mountain Dew paint scheme makes it extremely recognizable to both those in the racing industry and fans new and old. In 2015, Darlington Raceway delivered on its first ‘throwback’ themed Labor Day weekend, and we’re excited to be apart of this year’s celebration that’s guaranteed to be even bigger.”
Koch is in his sixth season of Xfinity Series competition and is 12th in the point standings. In five starts at Darlington, Koch’s best finish is 18th in 2011.
“It is an awesome feeling to be apart of something as cool as the throwback weekend at Darlington,” Koch said in a press release. “It’s even cooler to be able to run a Darrell Waltrip paint scheme, a driver who is a legend in our sport. He had a ton of success during his career in the No. 11, hopefully we can continue that trend.”
Koch is not the only driver who will compete in an old Waltrip paint scheme at Darlington. For the Sept. 4 Southern 500, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will use the paint scheme Waltrip had for his first Sprint Cup win.
Everybody has their name misspelled or botched in a public forum at least once. Even NASCAR drivers.
That’s what Denny Hamlin discovered Monday when he opened USA Today to find someone else had won Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International.
Will Denny Hamilton please stand up?
While someone might have had the Lin-Manuel Miranda Broadway musical on their mind at an unfortunate time, it was fixed for a later edition of the national paper.
But the hits kept on coming for Hamlin on Tuesday.
The winner of this year’s Daytona 500 has finally received his version of The Harley J. Earl Trophy that’s given out each year to the victor of the “Great American Race.”
However, the trophy was mislabelled to identify Hamlin as the winner of the 2015 Daytona 500.
That race was won by Joey Logano.
At this rate it will be a very long off-week for Hamlin, who returns to the track with the rest of the Sprint Cup Series on Aug. 20 for the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
MORE: Back pain doesn’t keep Denny Hamlin from victory lane
RELATED: NASCAR Nation offers condolences to Clauson family
Bryan Clauson, a sprint-car specialist who made 26 career starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, died Sunday. He was 27 years old.
Clauson crashed Saturday night during a U.S. Auto Club (USAC) midget car race at the Belleville High Banks, a half-mile dirt track in Belleville, Kansas. Amateur video showed his open-wheel sprint car flipping in Turn 4, where it was struck by another vehicle.
Clauson was airlifted to a hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was pronounced dead late Sunday. His death was confirmed on Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where a statement from the family was read.
"NASCAR extends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Bryan Clauson, a passionate competitor whose love for racing fueled his unmatched positive spirit," NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell said in a statement. "He was a dear friend to many in the racing community, and he was loved and respected by all who knew him. He touched the lives of so many in our motorsports family, and his warm presence and relentless enthusiasm will be missed."
Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart was a longtime team owner for Clauson's sprint-car efforts. He extended his condolences and thoughts to Clauson's family after finishing fifth in Sunday's race at Watkins Glen International.
"Yeah, terrible thoughts. It's a tragedy," Stewart said. "That kid drove for us for a long time and did a great job and never went anywhere, I don't care what happened, no matter how bad his day was, he always found a way to smile with it. Him and Lauren being engaged, the kid had such a bright future, and it's just ... it was hard to start the day today in the car. It sucks when it's anybody in racing. It's hard when you lose them, but it's even worse when they’re somebody as close to you as Bryan was."
Clauson made the majority of his XFINITY Series starts for team owner Chip Ganassi in 2008. He had one pole position (Daytona in July 2008) and one top-five finish (fifth place, Kentucky in June 2008) in his NASCAR career.
Clauson had set a preseason goal of competing in 200 open-wheel races this year. That ambitious schedule included a start in the 100th Indianapolis 500, where he placed 23rd in his third effort at the famed Brickyard. According to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Clauson had accumulated 27 wins in 116 races this season.
Clauson, a native of California and a resident of Noblesville, Indiana, was a seven-time champion across three divisions of USAC racing. He also was champion of the prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals in 2014 and scored a win in the ARCA stock-car series in 2007 at Gateway Motorsports Park.
"Short-track racing has always been the heart and soul of auto racing in America," Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles said in a release. "Bryan Clauson combined his passion and enthusiasm for grassroots racing with a God-given talent that made him the favorite to win every time he got in a midget or sprint car. And he proved on the world's largest racing stage -- by leading three laps in the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 -- that he could use that talent in just about anything with wheels.
"More importantly, he possessed a humility and character out of the race car that made him a person that fellow competitors and fans alike enjoyed being around. His spirit, his positive outlook and his thrilling talent will be missed by the entire racing community. The thoughts and prayers of everyone at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are with the Clauson family in this difficult time."
USAC President Kevin Miller added that, "This is truly one of the darkest days in the history of the U.S. Auto Club."
Donations in memory of Clauson can be made through the USAC Benevolent Foundation at USACBF.org.
With his win in the Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International, Denny Hamlin became the sixth Sprint Cup driver to win multiple races in 2015. He jumped six spots on the latest Chase grid to fourth.
Losing spots were Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon, who each dropped two spots after being involved in a multi-car wreck Sunday that led to Johnson finishing last.
Luckily, Johnson is already locked into the Chase. Dillon is 14th on the grid and has yet to win this season.
Chris Buescher, who won last week at Pocono Raceway, is still not on the grid. After finishing 33rd due to being in a late wreck and being forced to go to the garage, Buescher is still three points out the top 30 in points. A driver must have a win and be in the top 30 to automatically qualify for the Chase.
AJ Allmendinger re-entered the top 20 after finishing fourth Sunday. He is now 34 points behind the cutoff spot of 16th. In 16th is Kyle Larson. Larson is teetering on the edge of the top 16, only eight points up on 17th, after Allmendinger wrecked him on the final lap of Sunday’s race, sending Larson to a 29th-place finish instead of a top five.
Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen continued a trend that has seen pit road speeding penalties increase 375 percent compared to the three races before NASCAR doubled the number of timing zones.
And next for the Sprint Cup Series is Bristol — where there were 17 speeding penalties on pit road in the spring race.
This recent increase is significant because an ill-timed speeding penalty could impact a driver’s chances of racing their way into the playoffs or winning and collecting additional bonus points for the first round of the Chase.
NASCAR has issued 19 penalties for speeding on pit road in the last three races — Indianapolis, Pocono and Watkins Glen. That corresponds to when NASCAR doubled the timing zones on pit road.
The change was made after competitors raised issues about NASCAR penalizing Martin Truex Jr. for passing leader Kevin Harvick on pit road July 9 at Kentucky Speedway. Truex accelerated after he crossed the last timing line before his pit stall and passed Harvick, who had yet to cross the final timing line before his stall, and could not increase his speed.
NASCAR responded by doubling the timing zones. The move was made at New Hampshire on an experimental basis but the extra zones were not used to determine speeding penalties that weekend. NASCAR officially went to the increased timing zones the following week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
At Pocono, there were 18 timing zones on pit road — twice as many as earlier this year there. The change equated to a timing zone about every 2.5 pit stalls.
Shortening each timing zone, though, makes it harder for drivers to correct their pit road speed if they must.
“With the timing lines being so far apart, you kind of had some leeway to where if you are supposed to be running one red light and you happen to flash two or three red lights (on the dashboard), which would be speeding, you had an opportunity to kind of slow back down,’’ Aric Almirola said recently. “Now, with the timing lines closer together, if you just get a little bit greedy, or you look up to see where your pit stall is at and you creep up your RPMs a little bit, you’re going to get a speeding penalty.’’
Among those caught for speeding since the change are Chase contenders Jimmie Johnson (at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen), Denny Hamlin (Indianapolis), Tony Stewart (Indianapolis), and Joey Logano (Watkins Glen). Chris Buescher, who is seeking to become Chase eligible after winning at Pocono, was called for speeding in that race.
Here’s a look at the number of speeding penalties in the three races before the change at Indy and the three races since:
2 — Daytona
1 — Kentucky
1 — New Hampshire
4 — Indianapolis
8 — Pocono
7 — Watkins Glen
The 19 speeding penalties since the timing zone change are six more than the total number of speeding penalties called in the six Sprint Cup races before the change was made.
Now looms Bristol on Aug. 20. In the last four races at the half-mile track, NASCAR has called an average of 11.3 speeding penalties. That number could increase dramatically if drivers and teams do not properly adjust to these new conditions on pit road.
TONY STEWART HOT AGAIN
Tony Stewart’s hot run continued Sunday with a fifth-place finish at Watkins Glen, his fifth top-five finish in the last seven races.
It’s easy to overlook what rookie crew chief Mike Bugrarewicz has done this season. He’s made what have turned out to be the right calls in races and helped put Stewart in position to score strong finishes.
In seven of the last eight races, Stewart has finished better than he was running at the halfway mark. The result is he’s scored seven top-10 finishes and had a win during that stretch — his best stretch of racing since the 2011 Chase when he won the title.
At Watkins Glen, he was 18th before pitting three consecutive laps for fuel just past halfway. That dropped him to 32nd on Lap 50, but he moved into the top 10 on a caution after the restart when most of the field pitted and he didn’t. Stewart needed additional cautions to stretch his fuel and got it for a top-five finish.
He was 16th at the midway point at Kentucky last month and stretched his fuel to finish fifth.
A pit call by Bugarewicz to pit ahead of most of the field helped Stewart go from 16th at the halfway mark to the lead at Sonoma. He went on to win that race.
Though the differing pit strategies and weather issues at Pocono, Stewart was 13th at halfway and finished fifth.
At New Hampshire, he was 17th at the midway point but finished second. He was helped by being in the outside line, the favorable line, on a couple of late restarts.
The only time Stewart hasn’t gained spots from the halfway point to the finish was Indianapolis. He was pitting under green with 38 laps to go but the caution came out while on pit road. He was penalized for speeding on pit road as he exited to try to remain on the lead lap. Still, he finished 11th, placing only two spots worse than where he was running at the halfway point of that race.
HENDRICK WOES
Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen marked the fifth time in the last six races Hendrick Motorsports did not have a car finish in the top 10. Chase Elliott was Hendrick’s top car at Watkins Glen, finishing 13th.
Sunday also marked the 17th consecutive race Hendrick has failed to win, tying the organization’s longest winless drought since 2001-02.
This is how rough it has been for Hendrick’s drivers: Only once in the last six races has any Hendrick driver scored back-to-back top-15 finishes. That was Jimmie Johnson, who was 12th at New Hampshire and then third at Indianapolis.
Johnson’s last-place finish Sunday — the result of being collected in a crash when he could not avoid Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s spinning car — marked the seventh time in the last nine races that Hendrick Motorsports has had at least one car finish 30th or worse.
Sunday also marked the fourth time in the last nine races that Johnson has failed to finish because of an accident. He was in that position after multiple penalties on pit road, including his second speeding penalty in the last three weeks.
PIT STOPS
— Brad Keselowski’s third-place finish Sunday was his fourth top-three result at Watkins Glen in his last six starts there.
— Three drivers scored top-five finishes on both road courses this season: Denny Hamlin won at Watkins Glen and was second at Sonoma; Joey Logano was second at Watkins Glen and third at Sonoma; Tony Stewart was fifth at Watkins Glen and won at Sonoma.
— Denny Hamlin’s victory marked the eighth time in the last 10 races at Watkins Glen that the winner started sixth or better. Hamlin stated sixth.
— Kurt Busch extended his NASCAR record of running every lap to 22 consecutive races to start the season. He finished 11th Sunday, completing all 90 laps.
— Since his return, Jeff Gordon has finished 13th at Indianapolis, 27th at Pocono and 14th at Watkins Glen.
— Trevor Bayne’s ninth-place finish marked his career-high fifth top-10 of the season.
Denny Hamlin won Sunday's Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International after leading the final 10 laps in the 90-lap event.
This is the Joe Gibbs Racing driver's second win of 2016 and his first at the New York road course.
On the final lap, Martin Truex Jr. was battling for the lead with Brad Keselowski behind him when Truex spun out on Turn 11 after Keselowski made contact with the No. 78, causing both him and Keselowski to fall back. This allowed defending race winner and victor of Saturday's XFINITY Series race, Joey Logano, to run away with second.
Keselowski, AJ Allmendinger and Tony Stewart complete the top-five finishers.
RELATED: Gordon picks up damage early after contact with No. 3
Four-time Watkins Glen winner Jeff Gordon, who is still filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88, ran into some trouble early in the race with Austin Dillon when his No. 3 Chevrolet made contact with Gordon, leaving the Hendrick Motorsports veteran with significant damage. Gordon ultimately finished 14th.
RELATED: Big wreck brings heavy damage to multiple cars at The Glen
On Lap 52, Ricky Stenhouse got loose coming out of Turn 5 and his No. 17 hit the wall head-on, collecting Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon in its path. The wreck brought out a red flag lasting 13 minutes, 19 seconds. Stenhouse, Biffle and Johnson were scored 38th, 39th and 40th, respectively. Dillon returned to the track to finish 31st.
RELATED: Second red flag brought out after another wild restart
A second red flag was brought out on Lap 84 for cleanup when Kevin Harvick and David Ragan got into each other after a restart, dropping oil on the track. The red flag lasted 16 minutes, 44 seconds. Harvick, who entered Sunday's race first in the Sprint Cup Series standings, lost his points lead to Keselowski and now sits nine points behind the Team Penske driver. Harvick finished the Cheez-It 355 32nd.
The Sprint Cup Series takes a week off, but returns to racing on Saturday, Aug. 20 for the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
