SUAREZ VISITS WHITE HOUSE FOR NATIONAL HISPANIC MONTH

Joe Gibbs Racing's Daniel Suarez has exciting things happening for him on and off the track with his XFINITY Series championship hopes still alive and a month-long National Hispanic Month celebration underway.

Tuesday, the Mexican-born wheelman visited the White House, representing NASCAR for National Hispanic Month. Take a peak inside his busy day in Washington, D.C.

Radioactive:Charlotte-"Yeah, we [expletive] ourselves there."-'NASCAR Race Hub'

Check out all the best scanner audio from the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Jimmie Johnson: 'He ranks right up there with the old man'

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has no issues with Jimmie Johnson possibly running down a seventh NASCAR Premier Series championship that would tie Johnson for the most of all time with Earnhardt’s late father and Richard Petty.

In fact, it’s exactly the opposite.

Earnhardt revealed on his weekly podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, that he is pulling hard for Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, to run down the record that dear old dad has shared with Petty since winning his own seventh title in 1994.

“I’m real excited about Jimmie,” Earnhardt Jr. said on his podcast. “He’s chasing that seventh championship that would put him up there with Richard and my father. He wants that so badly.

“We’ve had a few conversations about that and I know how much that would mean to him. I think that he’s one of the greatest race-car drivers this sport has seen.”

Junior made it clear that he thinks Johnson is right on par with his father in terms of talent. He also said he thinks Johnson’s legacy deserves to be considered on par with his father’s and Petty’s as well.

Johnson won five titles in a row from 2006 through 2010, and claimed his sixth in 2013.

“Obviously to win five championships in a row like he did is unbelievable, and the argument is undeniable that he is one of the greatest,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “He ranks right up there with the old man and anybody else you want to put in the conversation.

“To be quite honest, yes, I am pulling for Jimmie to get this championship. I believe he does deserve it after everything that he’s put into the sport. I think that it would be good for him to go ahead and win that championship.”

Johnson won last Sunday’s rain-delayed Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to claim his third win of the 2016 season and clinch advancement into the Round of Eight in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs. It was the 78th win of his career overall, two more than the elder Earnhardt registered in his long and storied career that was cut short when he died in a last-lap accident in the 2001 Daytona 500.

The Chase heats up with its most intensity in Round of 12

On the final restart of the 2015 Talladega Chase race led to a pile-up on the front stretch that collected several cars.

The biggest wild-card in the existing Chase for the Sprint Cup format is the race at Talladega on Sunday Oct. 23.

Beyond the fact that it's a restrictor-plate race where anything can, and usually does happen, it's also an elimination race where only eight Chase drivers will advance.

I have to say that I am very disappointed that NASCAR let the drivers talk them into swapping dates in 2017 with Kansas because I think it definitely takes away a lot of the drama. Having Talladega as an elimination race in any round ramps up the intensity.

Obviously we have 400 miles to run this Sunday at Kansas and we have the possibility of another driver joining Jimmie Johnson to lock themselves into round three with a win Sunday, but I think Jimmie is really the only one who can feel safe right now.

A classic example is Denny Hamlin only a year ago. He went into Talladega second in the points and by the time the checkered flag flew, Denny found himself eliminated from the 2015 championship picture.

Believe me when I tell you that these other 11 drivers want to win more than anything this Sunday at Kansas. If any one of them could pull that off, they could go to Talladega and breathe a little bit easier just like Jimmie is right now.

Don't think that because he is locked into Round 3 that Jimmie is going to put the next two races on cruise control.

If you look at the Chase standings, he has some heavy hitters in a hole right now and he'll want to do all he can to keep it that way.

If he would happen to win Sunday at Kansas or next weekend at Talladega, that could go a long way in knocking some power players off the board that he won't have to face in on the road to Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.

Now that Charlotte is in the rear-view mirror and because of what happened to a lot of those Chase drivers, this second round is not only the most tense but also the most unpredictable in my book of all four rounds.

The old belief that once you are in you can relax is a bunch of crap.

Jimmie has some serious players behind the eight-ball and he needs to keep the pressure on them.

Sure he could play defense but why would he? Everybody wants to win, that's why we race, but winning this Sunday or next Sunday or even both would really change the Chase complexion of the No. 48 team's chances of making history.

Johnson would join only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. with seven NASCAR Sprint Cup championships, the most all-time.

Goodyear tire notes for Kansas Speedway

Both the Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series will compete at Kansas Speedway this weekend, but they will be running different tire setups.

Sprint Cup teams will run the same tire combination they did at Kansas earlier this season. However, it will be the first time the Xfinity Series runs their tire setup at Kansas.

Sprint Cup tire info:

Set limits: Sprint Cup – five sets for practice and qualifying and 10 sets for the race

Tire Codes: Left-side — D-4656; Right-side — D-4662

Tire Circumference: Left-side — 87.56 in. (2,224 mm); Right-side — 88.35 in. (2,244 mm)

Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 25 psi; Left Rear — 25 psi; Right Front — 54 psi; Right Rear — 50 psi

This is the same combination of left and right-side tires that Sprint Cup teams ran at Kansas earlier this season. Kansas is the only track at which either of these two tire codes will be run by Sprint Cup teams in 2016.

This right-side tire code (D-4662) employs Goodyear’s multi-zone tread technology, which combines two distinct tread compounds on the same tire: the outboard 10 inches of the tread (Traction Zone) features a compound that is designed for grip, while the inboard two inches of the tread (Endurance Zone) is toughened to enhance durability on that area of the tire which sees the most heat and takes the most abuse.

As on all NASCAR ovals greater than one-mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Kansas. Air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.

Xfinity tire info:

Set limits: Xfinity – seven sets for the event

Tire Codes: Left-side — D-4670; Right-side — D-4672

Tire Circumference: Left-side — 87.60 in. (2,225 mm); Right-side — 88.39 in. (2,245 mm)

Minimum Recommended Inflation: Left Front — 26 psi; Left Rear — 26 psi; Right Front — 54 psi; Right Rear — 50 psi

This is the first time Xfinity Series teams have run this tire setup at Kansas, though they did run this left-side tire code (D-4670) at Michigan International Speedway in June and this right-side tire code (D-4672) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. Both the left and right-side tires feature the same compound run at Kansas last year, though there is a construction change to Goodyear’s updated speedway construction on both sides.

As on all NASCAR ovals greater than one- mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Kansas. Air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.

Royals’ catcher named pace car driver for Sprint Cup race at Kansas

With the Kansas City Royals not taking part in the MLB postseason, Drew Butera has a lot of time on his hands.

He’ll fill some of it by being the honorary pace car driver for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway.

The track announced that Butera, a catcher for the defending World Series champions, will drive the car during the opening pace laps of the Hollywood Casino 400.

Butera, who has been in MLB since he was drafted in 2005, was behind the plate for the final inning of the World Series, which the Royals won in five games over the New York Mets.

Martinsville Speedway to add lights for next season

Martinsville Speedway will add lights next season, track officials announced Wednesday.

Construction is scheduled to begin the day after the Oct. 30 Sprint Cup race at the 0.526-mile oval. The track will be the first motorsports facility to have LED lighting. There will be 14 poles installed.

Clay Campbell, president of Martinsville Speedway, said the lights will be used as an “insurance policy” in case the race is delayed or goes later into the afternoon. In the Nov. 1, 2015 race, Jeff Gordon won as darkness enveloped the track.

“If we would have had one more delay, we wouldn’t have finished that race,” said Campbell, who estimated the project will cost $5 million and added it would be paid for by International Speedway Corp., which owns the track. “It’s important and critical we get those races finished.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on hand for the announcement and likes the move.

“I think it’s great for the racetrack, and it opens up a ton of possibility for the track itself,” he said. “Martinsville is one of the very best short tracks in the country. It’s awesome, and it’s been a long time coming.

“I would say I would love to have a night race here any day of the week. Short-track racing is what this sport was born on.”

The move comes as the track prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary next year.

The 2017 race times have been set. Martinsville’s April 3 race will be at 2 p.m. ET and the Oct. 30 race will start at 1 p.m. ET

With Martinsville adding lights, tracks that host Sprint Cup races that don’t have lights are Dover International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Sonoma Raceway.