When a grand marshal is usually announced
for a NASCAR race, it’s normally an actor promoting a movie or an
executive for a race sponsor no one remembers once the green flag drops. The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will have a grand marshal to remember for its season finale in the Elite 1 series. Jeff Gordon,
four-time Sprint Cup champion and 93-time winner, will give the command
to start engines for the race at Zolder Circuit in Zolder, Belgium on
Oct. 9. “I’ve been to Zolder before, and I am really looking forward to
seeing the NASCAR Euro Series race there,” said Gordon in a press
release. “I’ve become friends with (series points leader) Anthony Kumpen and I’ve heard great things about the series popularity. I’m looking forward to seeing it first hand.” Belgium is also the home country of Gordon’s wife of 10 years, Ingrid Vandebosch. The Elite 1 series is the one that NASCAR Next member Alon Day competes in and has three wins. “This is a great honor for everybody involved in the NASCAR Whelen
Euro Series,” said Jerome Galpin, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series President /
CEO in the release. “We are extremely proud to be part of the NASCAR
family. We have developed a really amazing relationship in few years.
Our drivers receive a great welcome every time they race in the USA and
we are pleased to welcome more and more drivers and personalities
visiting us from the USA. This Atlantic ocean becomes definitely smaller
day after day.” Gordon’s trip to Zolder comes a week after earning a top-10 finish at Dover International Speedway in a substitute effort in the No. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Gordon is scheduled for one more start in the Sprint Cup Series this
year at Martinsville Speedway, where he won last year before retiring
from full-time racing.
A 90-minute episode of NASCAR America
begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN and recaps the first elimination race of
the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Mike Massaro hosts with Dale Jarrett and Parker Kligerman in Stamford, Connecticut. Jeff Burton joins them from Burton’s Garage. In today’s show: • The Round of 16 is complete as four drivers have been eliminated from the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Gone are Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, Chris Buescher and Tony Stewart. The second round is set and the 12 drivers in it are led by Martin Truex Jr.,
after winning two of the first three Chase races. Jarrett,
Kligerman and Burton weigh in on the advances and the surprises,
comparing how they their Chase Grids compared to the actual after
results of the opening round. • NASCAR America takes a look back at Tony Stewart’s storied career.
He has been eliminated from the playoffs after finishing 13th at Dover.
Our analysts reveal how they will remember Tony Stewart’s final season. • We’ll also feature Sunday morning’s Xfinity Series race where Daniel Suarez joined Elliott Sadler in the second round of the Xfinity Chase. We’ll also get reaction from top-seeded Erik Jones, who now faces elimination this week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. If you can’t catch the show on TV, you also can watch it via the online stream at http://nascarstream.nbcsports.com 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 plug-in that information, you’ll have access to the stream. Click here at 6 pm ET to watch live via the stream.
With only one race left in the first round
of the Xfinity Chase, the No. 1 seed and favorite to win it all isn’t
in the top eight. Erik Jones sits at 10th on the Chase grid, four points out of eighth after a DNF and a 16th-place finish in the first two races. Also outside the top eight, which will advance to the second round, are Ty Dillon (-3), Ryan Sieg (-10) and Brandon Jones (-18). Daniel Suarez locked himself into the second round with his Dover win. He’s ahead of Elliott Sadler on the grid after having top-two finishes in both races. The eight drivers in the next round will be decided by the Drive for the Cure 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Friday night. Click here to view the Xfinity Chase grid.
Martin Truex Jr. won the last visit to Charlotte when he led 392 laps and won the Coca-Cola 600. Joey Logano won the fall race last year to start a sweep of the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
DOVER, Del. – Exchanging hugs with team members, Austin Dillon pumped a fist skyward and shouted what could be the mantra for his No. 3 Chevrolet. “That’s all we want – another shot!” Dillon exclaimed. “Next round, baby!” The Richard Childress Racing driver was the surprise qualifier for
the Round of 12 in Sunday’s Citizen Solider 400 cutoff race, but the
biggest surprise might have been how Dillon advanced in the Chase for
the Sprint Cup. He finished eighth – his first top 10 in seven starts at the 1-mile
oval where his previous best was 20th – and emphatically proved his
championship bid was deserving of continuing after a 400-mile race in
which several title rivals faltered. The former Xfinity and Craftsman Truck series champion, who hadn’t finished higher than 20th in the points during his first two seasons in Sprint Cup, said it simply ranked as the biggest moment of his career. “It’s amazing,” said Dillon , who had entered the race five points
out of the final transfer spot. “It’s huge for RCR. I want to keep
upsetting these guys, man. “There’s a lot of guys in this that don’t think that we should be here, and I’m proud to be that car that’s here.” Dillon wrapped up the final transfer spot by comfortably finishing 11 points ahead of Tony Stewart, whose final shot at a championship ended with a nondescript 13th. Dillon’s two biggest threats for advancement seemed to be Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray,
but the Chip Ganassi Racing Chevys both were out of contention before
the midpoint. Larson, who had a five-point cushion on McMurray and
Dillon entering the race, had a loss of power and hit the wall in a
25th-place finish. McMurray finished last with an engine failure. Even if they’d been at full strength, though, Dillon still would have
been a threat with a car that he said was good enough to finish in the
top five. After a mediocre practices Friday and Saturday, his car “came
to life in the race” – particularly after the second pit stop. “That’s when we really made it all up,” he said. “We made the Chase through that run.” It was a major turnaround from last weekend at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway, where Dillon crashed his primary car, stated in a backup and
flirted with a disastrous finish until rallying for 16th and setting up his impressive performance at Dover. “We just stayed focused, and once again, God just blessed us because
I’m still awestruck,” he said. “Things like this just don’t happen. I’m
proud to be going on to the final 12 and having race cars that are
capable of keep on moving on.” It’ll get much tougher from here. Dillon will be an overwhelming
underdog battling for one of eight spots in the next round against Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson. It’s a formidable list. But for Dillon, it’s another shot — and it’ll begin at Charlotte
Motor Speedway, which Dillon says his is best track on the circuit. “I’ve got three really solid tracks coming up,” he said of Charlotte,
Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superpseedway (where he finished third in
May). “I’m going to drive the wheels off it and have fun while we’re
here.”
