Nascar Drivers Stats By Track
Unveiled his paint scheme for the 2019 Cup season Friday, showing off what a No. 48 Chevrolet looks like when it’s not sponsored by Lowe’s. Johnson revealed his Ally Financial-sponsored car during a segment on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He made the reveal with Trevin, a 10-year-old who was there as part of the Make-A-Wish program. Johnson also invited Trevin, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, to attend the Daytona 500. Ally is signed with Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports through the 2020 season. It replaces Lowe’s, which ended its relationship with the team after sponsoring Johnson since he made his first three Cup starts in 2001.
HARRISBURG, N.C. — Wailing strands of a saxophone leap from ’s phone. The distinctive opening notes of Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” take Preece back in time even as the NASCAR Cup rookie looks ahead.
“If you listen to the lyrics, there’s a lot of things I can relate to,” Preece tells NBC Sports. He speaks while seated at a table that comfortably accommodates 10 people in the competition room after running limited Xfinity races the past two years with Joe Gibbs Racing. Although Seger’s song is about a musician, it could be about the highs and lows of a racer. Preece, born 17 years after the song’s debut, has lived life in the spotlight and experienced the late-night road trips on his circuitous path to Cup. On a long and lonesome highway The song’s opening line resonates with Preece. The 28-year-old Connecticut native raced modifieds throughout the Northeast and traveled to the South numerous times in his quest to reach NASCAR’s premier series.
There were many nights on the road. Preece worked his way to the Xfinity Series in 2016 but had limited success with an underfunded JD Motorsports team. With no other opportunities after that season, Preece returned home and faced the likelihood he would race modifieds the rest of his career.
Joe Gibbs Racing suddenly had some Xfinity races available. If Edwards had not left the sport, “I probably wouldn’t be where I am today,” Preece said. “There was no talk of going anywhere. When I went home, I went home (after 2016).
I spoke to a few teams and the (cost to run those cars) were so high. I just figured I could go make a living running a modified and winning. It wasn’t a sense of I wanted to be a big fish in a small pond this was my best chance at being successful.” Preece spent 2016 living in former Cup crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion’s race shop before moving back home after the season. After Edwards’ announcement, Manion called Preece and told him to contact JGR. “I was going to figure a way out,” Preece said. “That was the chance I was waiting for.” He gathered enough money for two races, won at Iowa and got two more races that season.
That turned into 15 races in 2017. He won at Bristol. His success that season led to the ride at JTG Daugherty Racing in place of AJ Allmendinger.
When you’re ridin’ sixteen hours and there’s nothin’ much to do And you don’t feel much like ridin’ you just wish the trip was through A crew member often played the song on long road trips and it has remained with Preece since, a reminder of those all-night drives from one region of the country to another to race. As he plays the song on his phone, Preece slips back to the past. He recalls a time he raced at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut, finished around 11 p.m. And drove through the night with his team to be at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for a race that Saturday. He won that weekend. Preece smiles at the memory.
Here I am On the road again There I am Up on the stage Here I go Playin’ star again There I go Turn the page “When I was younger, I was like that’s pretty catchy,’’ Preece said of the song. “As you grow older and you go through different events and different situations in your life, you start to relate to it. Every time there has been a great moment in my life, the more I can relate to that song.” He hopes to add to the collection of memories this season with the No.
Preece is ready for the season to begin. He’ll get an early start. His team will be among those that will test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Jan. Shortly after that, he will be off to Florida to compete in his first Daytona 500. Even as he heads on a new journey with Cup, Preece won’t leave the modified series behind. He plans to run a few races this season when his schedule allows. But after years of going back-and-forth from the Northeast to the South, Preece has one trip left.
He heads to Connecticut today to retrieve the last of his belongings and complete the move he and his wife have made to North Carolina. He also will tow his modified with him. He plans to leave Connecticut at 3 a.m. He knows through experience that’s the best time to depart to avoid New York traffic snarls.
One more overnight road trip. This time he’s headed for a new journey and a chance to turn the page in his racing career. Study habits Coleman Pressley admits he’s a “huge note taker” and he’s been doing just that as he reviews film and prepares for his first season as ’s spotter. Pressley, the son of former Cup driver Robert Pressley, spent the past four years spotting for AJ Allmendinger at JTG Daugherty Racing. Pressley became available after Allmendinger was not brought back for this season. One of the biggest challenges for Pressley will be Daytona Speedweeks and the Daytona 500.
Keselowski is among the sport’s premier drivers at that track and Talladega. He and former spotter Joey Meier — they had been together since 2006 until parting after last year — were among the top driver/spotter duos, winning four of the last 17 plate races (only teammate matches Keselowski’s record in that span). Pressley, who doesn’t have as much experience spotting a car at the front of the field at a plate track, has been studying how the race is different there than in the middle of the field. “I went to school the last two or three weeks just learning what the first two or three rows do,” Pressley told NBC Sports. “It’s amazing how much the draft changes in the first three rows then it does in the 10th or 12th row. I’m learning from arguably the best superspeedway racer right now.
“I feel like I’ve learned more in two or three times sitting down with Brad than in four years of spotting. He’s that good at it. It’s like dealing with AJ at a road course. AJ is so good at a road course, I learned a lot from him there.” One of the challenges with racing at Daytona is how the lead car controls the field and moves up and down the track, blocking the run from the cars in the lanes behind. It’s critical for the spotter to tell the driver which lane is making a move so the driver can block and remain in the lead. “Everything that we’re reviewing is more situational,” Pressley said. “Like what happens when three cars are this close and this lane is a car length apart.
Does this change if you’ve got a slower car third in line or what happens if there’s three lanes. We’re trying to make sure that when we get there, when I’m on the roof, that when I see something I know what is going to happen.” Pressley already has watched last year’s Daytona 500 multiple times and planned to watch the race with Keselowski this week. Caution laps won’t count South Boston Speedway will not count caution laps this season for its local division races 150 laps and shorter,. It’s an interesting concept. While it’s not something that could be done for a 500-lap Cup race, maybe it is something to ponder for the K&N Pro Series.
Possibly a Truck race. Or maybe don’t count caution laps in the last 50 laps of a Cup or Xfinity race at a short track. Maybe that is extreme, but with when examining the sport, why not consider such an idea? Cathy Rice, general manager at South Boston Speedway, a.4-mile track, told NBC Sports that the change — caution laps did not count previously for local races 75 laps or less — was made to give fans more racing. What if the race has several cautions and the night stretches on? Rice, entering her 31st season at South Boston, said they would shorten the event.
It goes back to her belief that they should limit the racing to three hours (not including practice and qualifying). If the first race takes the green flag at 7 p.m., then the checkered flag should wave on the final race by 10 p.m.
So fans can return home at a reasonable time. “I’m pretty hard on that that’s what we want to do, that’s what we’ve got to do,” Rice said. Rice said she’ll keep a close eye on how long the races go with the caution laps not counting. The rule may work perfectly or may need some tweaking, but for Rice it was worth trying after fans had told her they wanted more green-flag racing. That’s what they’ll get this season. Close quarters ’s first time on the track with his new team at Stewart-Haas Racing was Wednesday and Thursday at a Goodyear tire test at Auto Club Speedway. Two other cars were there, including Suarez’s former team, the No.
19 team at Joe Gibbs Racing now driven by 5. NBC SPORTS SCORES app The NBC SPORTS SCORES app is a new way to engage, read and watch all of the content across our platforms.
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In 2019, I’m returning to. THANK YOU BJ & Jessica. It’s been amazing to be a part of the growth of this team for 2 years. This year, we’re expanding to 3 full time cars. Blessed to have another opportunity. Read the full release here👇🏻 — Tommy Joe Martins (@TommyJoeMartins) “It is with great enthusiasm to have Tommy Joe Martins back with the team,” team co-owner Jessica McLeod said in a media release. “Martins has played a great part in helping us improve our on-track performance over the last two years and we are looking forward to what’s to come.” The team, which recently moved into a new shop in Mooresville, North Carolina, will field three full-time cars in the Xfinity Series in 2019, its fourth year of operation.
Its two full-time drivers will be in the No. 78 and in the No.
8, while Martins will be part of a rotating cast of drivers in the No. 99 that will also include team co-owner B.J. Avila Jr., and other drivers that may be added. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster is admittedly a big NASCAR fan. He’s attended numerous races at one of the sport’s oldest and most revered racetracks, Darlington Raceway, a major draw in The Palmetto State, pulling in an estimated $50-plus million in tourist dollars each year.
So it’s not surprising that the Republican state leader took time during his inauguration speech Wednesday to pay tribute to NASCAR , saying, “NASCAR racing in Darlington, if you haven’t been, you ought to go.” While he stopped short of telling constituents how they can buy tickets for the Sept. 2 Bojangles Southern 500 throwback weekend (this year’s race will feature the 1990-1994 era), he fondly singled out the 2003 race that featured the closest finish in NASCAR history between race winner Ricky Craven. “It is excellence in engineering, perfection, high speed, raw courage, brute force,” McMaster said.
“It is something to see. In 2003, after 400 miles with average speeds topping 125 miles per hour, including yellow flags and pit stops, Ricky Craven in a No. 32 Pontiac beat Kurt Busch in a No. 97 Ford by two one-thousandths of a second. “In distance, that would be the thickness of the paint on the front bumper.
Nascar Drivers Stats By Track
If one of Mr. Craven’s tires had been even a little bit flat, he would have lost, he would have lost the race, he would have lost the competition.”. McMaster also used the sport as an example when it came to promoting education in the state. “Similarly, our state will never excel and succeed to its fullest potential if parts of our state are ‘flat’ – or not performing (education-wise),” he said. “If we are bold and we prepare for the race in front of us, South Carolina will beat the competition every time.” McMaster was elected in November. He previously had served as South Carolina’s lieutenant governor and then ascended to governor in 2016 when then-governor Nikki Haley resigned to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for President Donald Trump.
For the second year, the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series launches its Drivers Recruitment Program to find the best drivers representing different backgrounds and develop them into successful NASCAR drivers. NWES and its partners will invite selected prospects to participate in a test during one of the recruitment test days that will be held in Europe between October 2018 and March 2019. Following these tests, the best prospects will receive scholarships from 10 000 to 40 000 € to enter the 2019 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season. Drivers from all over the world can enter the program by submitting their resumes and racing references via email to. The Elite Club Challenge is specially designed for drivers wanting to discover EuroNASCAR and have fun in a friendly atmosphere.
It’s a regularity time contest organized during the NWES events. Some scholarships of 2000 to 4000 € will be attributed to beginner drivers.
To apply this program beginner drivers must meet the following requirements:. Open to everyone, having or not a racing experience. Want to discover NASCAR racing without pressure. Be eligible for a racing license. Be able to gather a minimum budget of 10 000 €.
FOR THE COMPETITION: The best drivers in Europe battle for the NASCAR European crown, the NWES Champion's ring and to put their name in the NASCAR Hall Of Fame alongside the legends of NASCAR. Special trophies to reward every kind of driver: Junior, Challenger, Legend, Rookie, Ladies. FOR YOUR CAREER: NWES is the ideal stepping stone to build a professional career for every driver aspiring to race in NASCAR or other US Series. Many NWES drivers already crossed the ocean thanks to NWES to race in the US at the highest levels: NASCAR Monster Energy Cup, NASCAR Xfinity Series, FOR THE FUN: With its 400 HP thunderous V8, absolutely no electronic aids and a driving feeling that fascinated some of the brightest stars in motorsports, the Euro NASCAR car has quickly become the ultimate challenge and a must drive for any kind of driver. Tens of thousands of fans flock to the best European tracks to enjoy the unique atmosphere of the NWES events.
Nascar Drivers Stats By Tracker
'Before driving a NASCAR I thought it was a car that wouldn't brake, wouldn't go around the corners and wouldn't be fast on the straights, but when you actually drive a Euro NASCAR, you understand it is a very different kind of driving and the car is the exact opposite of what you thought. It’s a car you can really play around with. You can still drive with some oversteer: not all the laps will be perfect, but it’s challenging and very satisfying to drive and it’s really old-school, which is very nice. The atmosphere in the paddock is great and it's you as a driver, together with your team, to make a difference rather than being dependent on a manufacturer performing better or on the BOP, plus budget-wise you can have a lot of fun and career opportunities for an affordable price.' 'When I came across the Recruitment Program last year, I thought it was a dream come true. I've always dreamed of racing in NASCAR, especially in the US, and the Euro Series is the first step towards it.
Nascar Driver Statistics
What the Euro NASCAR offers through the Recruitment Program is first of all a way get to have a taste of the car and the series. I had the pleasure to meet both NWES President Jerome Galpin and NASCAR legend Bobby Labonte in my first test. The whole experience really drove me to enter the championship. I knew NASCAR was something I wanted to do, but the Program really convinced me and the support you get with it is unrivaled. The support you get thrugout the year is invaluable.'