Kasey Kahne‘s Southern 500 paint scheme will be based on a car driven by former Hendrick Motorsports driver Terry Labonte early in his Hall of Fame career.
Kahne’s No. 5 LiftMaster Chevrolet will be patterned after the No. 44 car Labonte drove in 1982 when he drove for Billy Hagan and was one of five cars sponsored by J.D. Stacy. Labonte helped Kahne unveil the paint scheme at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Kahne’s sponsor, LiftMaster, was founded in 1982.
Labonte won twice at Darlington in his Sprint Cup career, claiming both is first (1980) and last career wins (2003) at the “Track Too Tough To Tame.” Kahne has started from the pole four times and earned three top fives in his 13 Darlington starts.
“Darlington’s throwback weekend is one of the coolest programs any track does all year,” said Kahne in a press release. “I’m glad that LiftMaster is participating in the program to celebrate their start of the garage door opener business. I appreciate the opportunity to honor Terry Labonte with our throwback paint scheme at one of my favorite tracks.”
Kahne is the last Hendrick Motorsports driver to have their Southern 500 paint scheme announced following Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s, Chase Elliott’s and Jimmie Johnson’s.
The rest of the Southern 500 paint schemes will be on track on Sept. 4 on NBC.
When Chris Buescher hits the track at Darlington Raceway – his favorite track – for the Sept. 4 Southern 500, his No. 34 Ford will pay tribute to his sponsor’s origins.
Buescher’s Love’s Travel Stops car will have a paint scheme inspired by the very first Love’s location, which opened in Amarillo, Texas, in 1981.
The No. 34 color scheme will be patterned after the fuel canopies and building facade of the location.
“The Darlington throwback weekend has become a pretty big deal, and it’s cool to have Love’s Travel Stops bring some of their history into the race weekend with their old colors,” said Buescher in a press release. “Darlington is my favorite track, and I can’t wait to get there and turn some laps in this special Love’s Ford Fusion.”
Buescher’s car announcement comes the day after the one for his teammate, Landon Cassill.
The rest of the throwback paint schemes for the Southern 500 can be seen on Sept. 4 on NBC.
Jeff Gordon says he will not drive the No. 88 car for Dale Earnhardt Jr. next weekend at Michigan International Speedway because of a prior commitment.
“I didn’t know I was going to be doing all of this,” Gordon said.
Gordon would not say what the commitment was but said he would only be at Michigan on race day. Hendrick Motorsports confirmed that Alex Bowman will drive the No. 88 car at Michigan if Earnhardt is unable to race. Bowman drove for Earnhardt last month at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and finished 26th.
Earnhardt has not said what his status for Michigan is. Thursday, Earnhardt posted a series of pictures and videos on his Instagram account showing some of the physical and mental exercises he is doing to aid his recovery.
Gordon said it’s simple why he’s not driving at Michigan.
“I can’t be there all weekend,” he said.
Asked if he could drive on race day only at Michigan, Gordon said: “It doesn’t make sense. I’ve not driven that (reduced downforce) package. I think it’s only fair, and I’m pretty sure that Alex Bowman would be in the car, it wouldn’t be fair to him, it wouldn’t be fair to this team. I’m not so sure I’m even the best choice for that package at that race anyway to get the most points for the car owner (standings). That’s my primary goal.”
The Sprint Cup Series will use the reduced downforce package at Michigan that was run there earlier this year and at Kentucky. That package is expected to be set for next season.
Gordon qualified 11th for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This will be his fourth race filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has been out because of a concussion suffered in June at Michigan. The symptoms, though, did not show up until weeks later. Bristol will be the fifth race Earnhardt has missed. Gordon drove for him at Indianapolis (finished 13th), Pocono (27th), Watkins Glen (14th) and Bristol.
Watkins Glen marked Gordon’s 800th career Sprint Cup start.
Gordon said he would be available to run in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway if Earnhardt was still unable to be back in the car by the Sept. 4 race.
Forty cars are entered for this weekend’s Pure Michigan 400 Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.
No driver is listed for the No. 88 car. Hendrick Motorsports tweeted Monday that an announcement on who will drive the car is not expected before Wednesday afternoon. The team has stated that if Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not cleared by doctors to race, Alex Bowman will drive the car this weekend.
Michael Annett is listed in the No. 46 car after missing last weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway for what the team called flu-like symptoms. Justin Allgaier drove for Annett at Bristol.
Forty-one cars are entered for Saturday’s Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville Xfinity race at Road America.
Michael McDowell is the only Sprint Cup driver doing double-duty between Michigan and Road America this weekend. Justin Marks, who won in the rain at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago, is entered. Team Penske will have Alex Tagliani in the No. 22 car.
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Chris Buescher took another important step toward earning a berth in this year's Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, garnering a hard-fought fifth-place finish in Sunday's rain-delayed Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
It was the second top-five finish of the season for the 23-year old driver of the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports, and came just three weeks after his first career win in the series.
That win, which came at Pocono Raceway, opened the door for a Chase berth but only if the 2015 XFINITY Series champion could make his way into the top 30 in points.
The finish at Bristol did just that, vaulting him past David Ragan and into 30th place. Teammate Landon Cassill sits 29th, 27 points ahead.
RELATED: How the Chase bubble looks post-Bristol
"I don't know exactly where we're at quite yet, but I know we had to get there," Buescher said on pit road after his top-five finish. "That's Chase eligibility in one race out of the four we had to do it. Now we have to hold onto it."
Sunday's event, the continuation of a race that started Saturday night but was interrupted after just 48 laps due to rain, was also impacted by weather, starting more than three hours late. Kevin Harvick, the 2014 series champion, won, with Ricky Stenhouse (Roush Fenway Racing), Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing), Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing) and Buescher completing the top five.
The overnight delay didn't seem to impact the performance of Buescher and his team. After running inside the top 20 for most of the race, Buescher finally cracked the top 10 with 125 laps of the 500-lap race remaining. From there, he steadily worked his way into the top five.
"I'm really proud of this team," he said. "... We knew Bristol would be a good one for us. It took us a day later to do it, but we got ourselves a top-five and had a blast out here. That was an awesome run."
Buescher has only a brief history at Bristol in Sprint Cup competition, finishing 25th here in last year's spring race and 21st earlier this season. In the XFINITY Series, he posted three top 10s in five starts.
"I love Bristol. I absolutely love this race track."
With five laps to go, Buescher had closed on Dillon when his team told him, "You've got room; try him if you can." Another position would mean another point earned. Buescher said the risk of losing spots should he make a run at the RCR driver wasn't a concern.
"I wasn't planning on messing up if I got next to him," he said. "It was one of those things where we could catch him and then mess up a corner and get a little bit of gap, and then we got back to him there.
"I think the 19 (of Carl Edwards) and someone else was behind us, and they were within a couple car-lengths, so I didn't want to go to the bottom and give those two cars a chance to pass us and lose two points that easily."
With a precarious points position and three races remaining to determine the full 16-team Chase field, Buescher says the team's plan of attack won't be altered by what could go wrong in those races, either. It's what should go right that matters.
"We came to Bristol knowing that we had speed, that we love this race track, and it was a good chance for us to go out and have an awesome run," he said, "and that's exactly what we were able to do.
"Points will fall however they will. You can't focus on them too much because you lose sight of what the main goal is, and that's to go out and win races."
Thirty-one trucks are on the entry list for Saturday’s Career for Veterans 200 Presented by The Cooper Standard Foundation & Brad Keselowski‘s Checkered Flag Foundation Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Reed Sorenson, who is entered in the Sprint Cup race at Michigan, is entered in this event also. Ben Kennedy enters this event after his first career series victory last week at Bristol Motor Speedway.
