NASCAR MEETS HOLLYWOOD IN UPCOMING 'LOGAN LUCKY' FILM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Better slow down on the highway -- Kyle Busch has traded his fire suit for a state trooper's uniform.

(Disclaimer: It's not permanent.)

Busch is one of the drivers who will make cameo appearances in the upcoming filmLogan Lucky, a heist movie set at a NASCAR track. Under the watch of multi-time Academy Award winning-director Steven Soderbergh, the film features a star-studded cast including Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum, two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, Seth MacFarlane and Riley Keough. Academy and Emmy Award winner Mark Johnson -- who also produced "Rain Man," "Breaking Bad," and "The Notebook," among others -- will serve as one of the film's executive producers.

The production team was on the ground during a rainy Bank of America 500weekend shooting for the film. The crew also shot during Coca-Cola 600 weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, as well as at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"It’s a movie that's designed to be a lot of fun," Johnson said Sunday at Charlotte, prior to a day of shooting at the track. "It's designed to be very, very commercial, where I joke we're not out to win Oscars -- we're out to win the Bank of America award ... (Viewers) should laugh and they should have fun with the intricacies of the robbery itself.

"It's a robbery that couldn't really take place, but (it can) in our world, and it's very important to us that the world of NASCAR be real."

What's more real than casting an actual NASCAR driver in a racing film? In addition to Busch, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski,Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson will all be popping into the film for brief roles.

"We wanted to make sure that NASCAR was treated in a positive light, was the big, world-class, glossy event that it is," said Zane Stoddard, NASCAR Vice President of Entertainment, Marking and Content Development. "The thing that we worked closely with Mark and the production on was getting drivers into driver cameo roles. We thought that would fun for the fans, sort of Easter eggs throughout the film with these drivers in these roles for our fans.

"But it's also a bit of a wink and a nod that we’re on the inside of the fun of this film. So, we think the fans are going to love these roles that these guys are in."

Part of Stoddard's role in the production process was to help marry the worlds of NASCAR and Hollywood, a process that he says has been seamless on both ends.

"The general audience wouldn't have too much trouble buying into the authenticity of this," Stoddard said. "For us, the most important sort of a litmus for us is that it passes the smell test with the core fan because they know the sport so much better. These guys -- we haven't had to push at all in terms of getting them to want to be as authentic as possible. They are the best in the business and so it’s been a collaboration on making sure everything is right.

"… It’s amazing the detail that exists in our sport just on the race car, not even taking into consideration the tracks or the teams and everything that happens in our universe. These guys have been meticulous about all of that."

That starts with shooting at the track and getting into the garage. For Johnson, authenticity came from that hands-on research, where he spent about a week and a half simply observing NASCAR’s version of Hollywood Blvd.

"I produced two baseball movies, The Natural and The Rookie and those taught me a lot about baseball and you have to do the research and understand the world and NASCAR was not a world I understood," Johnson said. "I was fascinated by it, but I really didn't know how it worked.

"Look at this big all-access pass," he said with a smile, gesturing to his hot pass. "I can go into the garage and watch how people work and I ask stupid questions about cars and it's great because I will have spent a concentrated amount of time learning about NASCAR."

He echoed Stoddard's sentiment about this movie working for the core fan.

"We would be very upset if this movie doesn’t work for the NASCAR fan," Johnson said. "So we want to make sure the NASCAR fan, no matter who he or she is, that they see the movie and say 'They got it right.'"

But just who is the typical NASCAR fan? Not whom you would think, Johnson says.

"It's interesting -- any preconceptions I had about who the NASCAR fans were, were all wrong," Johnson said. "They come from all walks; surprising number of women. Quick revelation."

"Logan Lucky" will debut in theaters October 2017.

JUNIOR FINDS NEW PERSPECTIVE IN TIME AWAY FROM RACING

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. said it would be hard to explain, the perspective that he's gained being sidelined from NASCAR competition.

The driving part, he clearly misses. The related appearances, autograph sessions and other obligations have gained newfound enjoyment during his absence from the cockpit. The challenge for when he plans to return to driving full-time is finding a way to savor the two parts together.

Earnhardt described the contrasts Wednesday at Martinsville Speedway, taking part in the announcement that the .526-mile track would add a lighting system as part of its 70th-anniversary season celebration in 2017. The driver, sidelined since July with concussion-related symptoms, also discussed how his time out of the car has spurred a recent health kick, offered him time to assist in planning his offseason wedding to fiancée Amy Reimann, and how it's taught him to relish race-weekend moments that go beyond his driving duties.

"When I was driving, I really didn't enjoy everything I did outside the car, reluctantly, just to do the driving part," Earnhardt said. "Now that I'm not in the car, I enjoy all the stuff that I'm doing outside the car that I've always done. I'm getting up in the morning race days to do the hospitalities or coming to do the winner's circle (appearances) here or Talladega, I've really enjoyed doing those things.

"The pressure of racing made the majority of everything that came with it miserable, and I probably am responsible for controlling that, right? And so, I think being out of the car has shown me that I've got to find a way that if I'm going to race more how to not feel so much pressure that it makes everything else intolerable or hard to do."

Earnhardt Jr., who turned 42 earlier this week, had his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season cut short after 18 races because of concussion-like symptoms. The unexpected absence has allowed Earnhardt to participate in activities he would've otherwise missed, such as attending a drag-racing event in Concord, North Carolina, and taking in his high school's homecoming football game.

But his time away from the circuit's entry lists has also meant an unburdening, removing the weekly stress of performing for his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team, which has found able substitutes in Jeff Gordon and Alex Bowman while keeping Earnhardt Jr.'s name on the windshield and above the drivers' side window.

"I think once I get back in the car, I've got to have a whole new frame of mind about how I handle the pressure of driving and the pressures of performing and finishing well and all that good stuff," Earnhardt said. "… The driving is fun, and I never really had a problem with that. I enjoy being at the track, and I enjoy doing the hospitalities. I'm going to go do a Wal-Mart appearance somewhere in freakin' who-knows-where, and I would be so frustrated about that because of what I was going to be doing on a race weekend.

"It wasn't the appearance that had me bent out of shape. It's just the pressure of week to week to week, performing, performing, performing -- the expectations of everything, myself and everyone else made all that sort of a heavy, heavy weight on my back. Now without the performance and the worry of having to perform, I go do this stuff and have fun. So I've got to figure out how to race and have fun, if that makes any sense."

Another unintended byproduct of his time away has been weight loss. With Reimann's encouragement, Earnhardt said he's had more of a dedicated fitness routine, something he never had to consider much during his weekly racing obligations since drivers routinely burn hundreds of calories inside the car during a race weekend.

"The only thing I ever had to worry about was just making sure I fit in my suit," Earnhardt said, adding that he's lost roughly eight pounds since beginning his rehab regimen for his concussion-like symptoms. "Any time we had to alter the suit, I had to start watching what I was eating, like we're getting out of control here."

And Earnhardt Jr. has also kept busy with planning his upcoming nuptials with Reimann in the offseason.

"We're definitely not being lazy and pushing everything off until the last minute, but it feels like it's right around the corner," Earnhardt said. "We just want it to be a great day. I think that's the same way everybody kind of feels. They just want everything to go right and not have anything go wrong. We're just making sure we've got all our T's crossed and all our I's dotted, so that that day's a special day for us."

While he's finding advice on floral arrangements and other details to make the event go off without a hitch, he's also been receiving unsolicited advice from all corners about his treatment plan. If there was a Highlights for Children etiquette lesson on how best to interact with people with his condition, the would-be physicians lighting up his XFINITY Series team's switchboard fall under the heading of Goofus as opposed to Gallant.

"I think the wrong thing to say would be to give any kind of medical advice because you've got to listen to your doctors," Earnhardt said. "We've got people calling every single day to JR Motorsports: 'tell Dale to try this, tell Dale to drink this drink, tell him to eat this, tell him to quit milk' -- all kinds of crazy, hare-brained reasons why I'm ill or need to get better, what'll speed it up and all that stuff. I've got doctors, they're smart, they know everything I need to do and that's who I need to listen to, obviously."

And the right way to offer support?

"'Look forward to seeing you back at the track,' sounds awesome," Earnhardt said. "I want to hear that. 'Get well' is great. I like to know that people want me to be well, so anytime, that feels good."

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.

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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.