On the incident with
@kylebusch
,
@BubbaWallace
says he was paying him back for getting wrecked by the 18 earlier in the Carousel.
Bubba:
“I’m here to get respect. I don’t care if it’s Kyle Busch. *%!@ him.”
#nascar
When Paul Menard told
@woodbrothers21
he was retiring from
#nascar
, team co-owner Eddie Wood says, "Our first question was, 'Who should we get?' The first thing out of Paul’s mouth was, 'Get Matt.' We did. Right away, we started a conversation. That’s the only direction we went."
Defending
@IndyCar
champion
@12WillPower
says the series has "the toughest field in the world, and people need to know it.
"
@F1
's a joke as far as competition. They have amazing drivers. And I feel sorry that they don’t experience the satisfaction we do."
This was an amazing moment of TV/podcasting by
@DaleJr
.
The conversation with Schrader had many hilarious stories, but his best answer was this one in which he never said a word -- but yet still said everything through his facial expression in reaction to Dale's words.
#nascar
"I feel pain for you to have to carry that memory, but you carry it for me... you carry it for anyone who's ever cheered for him."
Before
@DaleJr
let Ken Schrader leave the
@DirtyMoMedia
studio, he shared an emotional message on what he means to the Earnhardt family.
#DJD
An insightful
@KyleBusch
availability closes with this gem.
Kyle, who is the face of
#nascar
?
“That’s not for me to answer.
@chaseelliott
is the most popular if that helps answer your question.”
OK, who’s the best driver?
(Without missing a beat.)
“You’re looking at him.”
So
@DaleJr
had a root canal the same day he was elected to the
@NASCARHall
because his dentist just reopened, and that's the slot they had.
One of the more on-brand Dale Jr. stories you'll hear and a testament to why he is a 15-time Most Popular Driver ... and a worthy inductee.
An emotional
@BubbaWallace
openly weeping in interview after hugs from his mom, sister: "It's a sensitive subject, but I'm so emotional about where my family has been the past two years. I don't talk about it. Having them here to support me is ... Pull it together, bud."
#nascar
Another
@KyleLarsonRacin
classically candid answer.
Asked by
@pkligerman
about the lack of track time for today's race
@IMS
, Larson shrugs, "We got 400 miles. If you can't figure it out by then, you shouldn't be doing this on weekends anyway."
#nascar
So I told
@JimmieJohnson
that
#nascar
fans already were asking about him possibly racing at North Wilkesboro.
And Jimmie’s face lit up as he noted that as the 2013 All-Star Race winner, he still could be eligible under a 10-year exemption.
“That’s another option!” he smiled.
On
@SiriusXMNASCAR
,
@odsteve
says "I'll be having a conversation with
@BubbaWallace
. That wasn't classy whatsoever. We totally get drivers having issues with each other after a race. When a driver is being tended to by medical personnel, you need to be smarter than that."
#nascar
#BobPics
Rare evidence the most diligent, intrepid and tireless reporter in
#nascar
does sleep.
Beyond being an uncanny journalist,
@bobpockrass
also is an uncommonly decent guy.
He’ll cover something next year. If it isn’t racing, the sport will be much poorer for it.
Am amused by Racing Twitter’s epiphany that
@KyleBusch
is, like, good.
As if we needed a double stint in GTD to prove this fact...and not the past 15 years of sustained excellence in
#nascar
’s top series.
He’s an all-world talent, kids. And always has been.
Behold the KB Show.
In his third start since losing his
#nascar
ride,
@KyleLarsonRacin
leads the final 16 laps and wins the
@WorldofOutlaws
NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series 40-lap feature race at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Missouri. A $20,000 payday.
Update on
@josefnewgardenfr
Dr. Geoffrey Billows: Newgarden is awake and alert but being airlifted to downtown Des Moines after falling outside his hauler and suffering a head abrasion. Dr. Billows says Newgarden was awake and alert and communicating. He checked out fine earlier.
I wrote about
@DaleJr
and some of the forces and events that helped transform him into a transcendent figure early in his Cup career through key places in mainstream media. An oral history:
After a cool suit failure,
@AJDinger
was attended to after the race. He got up to walk off under his own power with safety workers and appeared headed to the
@IMS
care center for further treatment.
This car finished seventh
@DAYTONA
and made the
#nascar
Cup playoffs after being on the damaged vehicle clock and in danger of falling out with less than 15 to go.
Quite a performance and result for
@TylerReddick
and
@RCRracing
.
In the
@DISupdates
media center,
#nascar
's
@odsteve
reads a
@roushfenway
statement that
@RyanJNewman
is in "serious condition" at Halifax Medical Center, being treated for what doctors say are "non-life threatening injuries." O'Donnell says more updates when available.
#nascar
The question begged to be asked of a guy who has worked around engines for a living all his life, so
@DaleJr
put it to
@Yates_Doug
:
Could
#nascar
run a 24-hour race?
Yates' answer seemed a definite maybe.
So I've nominated
@MartinsvilleSwy
as the potential location!
#IMSA
"She’s a badass. You have to compete to go over the wall on our car. There are no handouts. You have to earn your spot by your pit times. She’s one of the quickest on pit lane.”
@josefnewgarden
on Caitlyn Brown, the first woman to pit an Indy 500 winner:
I wrote about the ongoing rebirth of
@TooToughToTame
.
Once "The Lady In Black" seemed left for dead as a pariah that would be wiped off the schedule. Now it's somehow become the triumphant savior for Cup
And
#nascar
's future is unimaginable without it.
Asked by
@dustinlong
about the future of the No. 48, Rick Hendrick says, "Yeah, I've already picked the guy. (pause) Jeff Gordon is coming back."
He was smiling and looking directly at Gordon in the front row when he said it.
#nascar
A cool moment in
@CLTMotorSpdwy
victory lane as
@IndyCar
champion
@AlexPalou
met actor Daniel Craig, the grand marshal of today’s
#nascar
race as he completes his run playing James Bond. (Palou also got a selfie.)
Not only an
@IndyCar
rookie,
@AgustinCanapino
just took a crash course in English for three months (and is impressively fluent) to communicate with his engineers.
He also is living outside Argentina for the first time but “loves the challenge and has confidence.”
Dale Earnhardt always wanted to race the
@24hoursoflemans
, and he'll be there in spirit this year.
With help from
@DaleJr
on the design and authenticity,
@CorvetteRacing
No. 3 driver
@jordan10taylor
will wear a special helmet tribute to "The Intimidator":
In recent years,
#nascar
has gone away from issuing penalties for brawling/fighting.
Will be interesting to see how officials handle these circumstances (i.e., a helmeted instigator getting in two punches to the face of a helmetless rival with his guard down).
Covering my first race weekend
@iowaspeedway
, where the big story for the
@IndyCar
doubleheader weekend is title sponsor
@HyVee
, which has invested seven figures in sprucing up the track and adding massive hospitality/suite areas for four major concerts and Saturday-Sunday races.
Courtesy of
#IndyCar
, a still giddy
@JimmieJohnson
recaps his Saturday at Barber after qualifying 21st.
“This smile is not going to go away. What an amazing day. Didn’t qualify last so that’s a really good thing and a small victory.”
This is the wide-eyed Seven-Time.
Watch:
News here from
#nascar
:
The Cup Series will move to single lug nuts for pit stops in 2021 with the NextGen car and its 18-inch aluminum wheels.
Here are more details about the change, how it could impact teams and a wheel rendering (cc:
@DaleJr
):
There have been 15 races across
#IndyCar
and
#nascar
so far in 2021.
There have been 14 winners. Two more inaugural visits this year to victory lane today, by a two-time series champ and one destined to be one.
Some interesting storylines unfolding in these here United States.
"Can't thank all you fans enough. This win means so much personally. I can’t even describe it. I can’t wait to get my journey started and see where my future goes from here."
Full postrace comments on
@dirtvision
from an emotional
@KyleLarsonRacin
here:
ICYMI: I wrote about how the announcement of a muted exit was so perfectly Paul Menard as
#nascar
’s most understated driver also managed to deliver the feel-good stunner of Silly Season by helping
@mattdracing
. Here’s to the pride of Eau Claire, Wisconsin:
With all the talk of possible
#IndyCar
-
#nascar
doubleheaders, it seems apropos
@DaleJr
will lead the 103rd Indianapolis 500 field to green.
What does the future hold for collaboration between two series that often have been rivals? Views from both sides:
After positive reviews for select internal surveying of the rough cuts, am psyched about a two-part
@NASCARonNBC
Podcast coming Weds. and Thurs.
It's about the 2001
@Rolex24Hours
where Dale Earnhardt and son raced a Corvette. Through the eyes/voices of
@DaleJr
and others there.
During the 2020 Indy 500,
@IndyCar
declined to throw a red flag for a late crash because "there were too few laps remaining to restart."
Race officials made an entirely different decision yesterday, and runner-up
@Ericsson_Marcus
was unhappy about it:
Strong comments from
@KevinHarvick
on Ricky
@StenhouseJr
’s departure, which he says was “bad business ethics.” Harvick disappointed Roush didn’t sit down with Stenhouse the way RCR did with Harvick during tough seasons.
Harvick’s company will start repping Stenhouse next year.
The parent company of an
#IMSA
team that fields Porsches and also manufactures composite deck lids for
#nascar
Cup cars has shifted its production to facemasks.
It began shipping hundreds from its Rock Hill, South Carolina, headquarters today.
If you’ve watched any big moments in
#nascar
over the last 37 years, you likely have witnessed the handiwork of Mike Wells. Today is the last chance to see it in a Cup race.
On the latest
@NASCARonNBC
Podcast, analyst and Hall of Famer
@DaleJarrett
lobbied strongly for the elimination of shifting with the Next Gen car on ovals at speed.
Here’s a clip (full podcast audio ; discussion around the 36-minute mark):
Mark sometime in mid-May 2023 as potential for
#nascar
history.
There's never been a
@NASCARHall
inductee with 100% of the vote.
Presuming the
#nascar
Hall's voting schedule/criteria remain static, that'd be when its panel decides if
@JimmieJohnson
is the first to be unanimous.
Single-car qualifying is being considered by
#nascar
for drafting tracks,
@odsteve
tells
@SiriusXMNASCAR
this morning after another controversy last week.
Single car “won’t be popular with some of the owners, but unfortunately, we’re being put in this position,” O’Donnell said.
On
#nascar
manufacturer alliances at Dega,
@DaleJarrett
has thoughts, namely that it's "total BS. They shouldn't be demanding this of the drivers. You have to be a selfish driver to do well any week, especially today. I appreciate what the manufacturers do but stay in your lane."
Roger Penske said he talked with Dallara executives Monday
@IMS
about the flying tire during the Indy 500 and said force apparently sheared the tether.
"I’ve never seen a wheel come off. That to me was probably the scariest thing. We’ve got to fix that.
After winning "the final Xfinity race on a real Atlanta racetrack,"
@KyleBusch
requested a chunk of
@amsupdates
to cherish its memory while blasting its future.
"There ain’t nobody thinking. Brains for sale. Never used. Operating racetracks."
Story:
ICYMI,
@RyanJNewman
is in Phoenix this weekend. A
@roushfenway
spokesman says Newman will be at the track in support of his No. 6 team but isn't scheduled to do interviews.
#nascar
Asked by
@jeff_gluck
if it was as difficult to pass as it seemed today,
@chaseelliott
replies: “Absolutely. I don’t know what genius decided to pave this place or take the banking out in (Turns) 1 and 2, but not a good move for the entertainment factor in my opinion.”
#nascar
Update on the
@GPSTPETE
:
According to the St. Petersburg mayor, the Grand Prix WILL continue but will be closed to spectators. All public events associated with the race are canceled.
Mayor encourages everyone to watch the
#IndyCar
race on
@NBCSN
.
@IndyCaronNBC
After a few days to mull, I wrote about the plight of
@KyleLarsonRacin
, what we've learned during his brief career and why it's reasonable to wonder whether there is a road back to a
#nascar
Cup ride for him ... or even whether he would want to take it.
Just capped his dominating pole at Spa today (won by a half-second) and radioed his team “that one was for Chadwick. Chadwick Boseman. Rest In peace, mate.”
I woke up today to the sad news, our super hero passed away. I’m so grateful I got to meet you brother. Thank you for all you have done for us. Rest in Power, you were the best of us and will never be forgotten. Love, light and prayers I send to you and your family
In a postrace interview with
@heymartysnider
, some cryptic but positive vibes from ninth-place finisher
@BubbaWallace
, who says his mind has been on the
#nascar
Silly Season:
"Everyone say a prayer for us. There's a big deal on the line right now. This could only help so much."
Interim
#nascar
CEO Jim France is
@MISpeedway
for the weekend. Attended Drivers Council meeting last night and will be at the race tomorrow. Politely declined comment to two reporters. “When I have something smart to say, I’ll say it,” he joked.
Diversity and inclusion are great. So is transparency.
If you're serious about being "a welcoming sport," you can't tiptoe like this and make fans guess at your boundaries.
Ditch the opacity and own whatever it is that happened that resulted in this "admission" being offered.
As we celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, we acknowledge that recent actions have not aligned with NASCAR’s mission to be a welcoming sport for all.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to create a more inclusive environment -- in our workplaces, at the race track & in the stands.
After getting out of the No. 31,
@chaseelliott
tells
@KelliStavast
that he's loved his first
@Rolex24Hours
and wants to run it again: "I hope I get to come back and apply some things I've learned and be more of a help next time around. Just really enjoyed my time."
Since the
#nascar
overtime era began in 2004, there have been only six "true" Daytona 500s.
There have been 12 years in which the distance of The Great American Race went beyond 500 miles.
The 2023 Daytona 500 set a record at 530 miles and was the fifth overtime in six years.
A brief and likely incomplete history of
#nascar
Cup drivers who signed with a new team more than a year out:
--While he was at RCR, news broke late in 2012 that Kevin Harvick will join SHR for 2014. Harvick had four wins and was third in the 2013 points in his final RCR season.
Former NASCAR star Ernie Irvan is at the
@GPSTPETE
today and got to climb into defending race winner
@smclaughlin93
’s No 3 Dallara-Chevrolet in the
@Team_Penske
pits this morning (photos taken by
@IndyCaronNBC
’s Marty Snider).
Regarding how NASCAR viewed Brad
@Keselowski
spinning his car during the red flag to help extinguish a fire, a spokesman says the maneuver was allowed because of driver safety.
Though it was an unusual situation, NASCAR deemed it fair because it was about driver protection.
After his winner’s interview,
@chaseelliott
hung around the
@WGI
media center to watch
@NASCARonNBC
’s video of a GoPro attached to the champagne bottle that Alan Gustafson sprayed in victory lane.
You can watch it soon on the
@NASCARonNBC
feed!
As someone who tends to be measured with his praise, this quote today from
@mattkenseth
on
@TylerReddick
stood out:
"I watched the (2019) Xfinity championship race at Homestead. I don’t know (Reddick) at all, but I watched with my dad and it was just incredible driving."
#nascar
This is an absolute MUST-listen for any Dale Earnhardt fan ... or just anyone who wants to hear what
#nascar
was like in the 1980s.
@DaleJr
and
@MikeDavis88
did an excellent job unlocking some great stories and insight from the oft-reticent but very wise Kirk Shelmerdine.
Scott Miller also said what Custer did was different from Elliott blocking Harvick to help Larson win because the latter wasn't "premeditated to alter the results. Don't think so."
On a prima facie basis, this is laughable.
Impeding a leader isn't attempting to alter a result?
Scott Miller on why Chase Elliott at Bristol last year was different: "That was the driver taking some things into his own hands" and wasn't told to do it.
Apparently just for fun (and without much publicity), 2003
#nascar
champ
@mattkenseth
ran the NYC Marathon and finished in 3:11:33 (faster than ex-NFL players Jason Sehorn and Tiki Barber).
#IMSA
driver and former
#IndyCar
winner
@Ryan_Briscoe
also ran and finished in 3:06:17.
A week after 27 cars at Nashville marked the biggest field for an
@IndyCar
race outside the Indy 500 in eight years, there will be 28 cars
@IMS
for the Grand Prix race Saturday.
That's the largest field for an
#IndyCar
race outside the Indy 500 since Kentucky on Oct. 2, 2011.
The night David Pearson was inducted to the
@NASCARHall
, someone asked if he still raced much at 76.
"Haven't run any this year. Can't find nobody to run with, to know the truth. I built a dirt car three years ago, and I've won them all so far. So no one wants to run with me."
Roger Penske says he got a call in the postrace celebration from
@realDonaldTrump
, who told him, "I must have been your good luck charm."
The president also spoke with Indianapolis 500 winner
@simonpagenaud
and has extended Team Penske a visit to the White House.
#IndyCar
The
#nascar
All-Star Race!
Either move it back to Charlotte or end it.
That’s it.
I wrote this eight years ago, when
#nascar
already was a decade into its All-Star Race doldrums. And little has changed (aside from the venue a few times) since then:
ICYMI ... Besides joining the
@NASCARonNBC
booth, what else is happening with
@DaleJr
in his post-
#nascar
driving life?
A lot — much more than I'd realized until I spent a morning trailing him and his brand team to a grand opening.
Here's what I found:
I wrote about this long 2018 season marred by too many penalties and rules, and how the
@KevinHarvick
penalty is just the latest development with nothing good for
#nascar
:
"If you wreck everyone who flips you off, there’s going to be a lot of cautions out there. That’s just part of the game. Get a little bit thicker skin. That’s part of the game."
--
@kylepetty
on
@NBCSN
's
#nascar
postrace show (clips of which can be viewed in
@NASCARonNBC
posts).
Much has been made of last night being
@KyleBusch
's first win in the "fall" at Richmond.
More remarkable is that it's the first fall race at Richmond in 58 years. The only other Cup race run there after Sept. 21 was Oct. 23, 1960.
(Yes, I'm lots of fun at parties.)
#nascar
On the drive leaving
@HomesteadMiami
, there are two subdivisions a few miles north of the track whose entrances always are adorned with festive holiday cheer.
One of the images I’ll miss most with
#nascar
no longer ending its season here.
Thanks Homestead!
It was a great run.
Raise your hand if you glance up at the TV and sometimes have to think for a minute whether these are real or virtual cars you're watching.
#nascar
#RacingWeekNBCSN
@MotorsportsNBC
Current mood on the postrace
#IndyCar
Zoom media availability from
@iowaspeedway
.
(Yes, this is
@12WillPower
conducting a postrace news conference from his now famous ice bath. These are the interesting times in which we live these days.)
In other interviews,
@chaseelliott
didn't say much more when asked about
@KevinHarvick
other than "I'm headed to Texas next week to focus on my job."
I did ask if he would have wrecked Harvick if he'd gotten to him (9 was just behind 4 when it crashed).
Chase: "I'm not sure."
A rundown of how COVID-19 has impacted motorsports just today.
--NASCAR: Adjusts driver availability procedures;
--MotoGP: Reschedules fourth race of season, moves season finale;
--Supercross: Cancels Seattle round;
--Formula E: Reportedly will suspend season for two months.
I started covering
#nascar
full time in Jimmie’s rookie year of 2002. Over 19 seasons, rarely did I hear the tinges of giddiness and wonder like this in Seven-Time’s voice. Certainly not the last three years in Cup. (Or when he’d had one hour of sleep.)
This is cool to hear/see.
In his “Behind The Wheel”
@SiriusXMNASCAR
segment,
@joeylogano
explained why he thinks
@RossChastain
’s restart move
@IMS
was legal: “That was a real play in the playbook. He snookered everybody and had the guts to do it. He finished second in my book.”
"If they resurface the track, it ruins it for us. They probably will do what’s best for NASCAR. But if they saw the race today, they’d be crazy to do it."
A vintage barnburner
@IndyCar
race at Texas raises questions on the track's future for the series:
Don't want to say I know what's being announced at 10 a.m., but I just walked in from the
@NASCARHall
parking garage behind
@mattkenseth
's wife and their four daughters.
#nascar