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10. WIVES & GIRLFRIENDS

35.

DRIVER PROFILES

this is for the fans 22

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62. DRIVER SPOTLIGHTS

READY FOR A REBOUND

NASCAR POLE POSITION RACE FAN GUIDE AN OFFICIALLY LICENSED PUBLICATION OF NASCAR

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GREEN FLAG Las Vegas to Host Two Tripleheaders

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as Vegas Motor Speedway will host a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race during the 2018 season and beyond. The 1.5-mile superspeedway will host the new Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race beginning in the fall of next year in addition to its customary March weekend.

LVMS also will welcome a second NASCAR XFINITY Series race beginning in the fall of 2018 and an additional NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race beginning in the spring of 2018, meaning both of the speedway’s NASCAR weekends will showcase races from each of NASCAR’s top three series – the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the NASCAR XFINITY Series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway will become the first facility on the NASCAR schedule to host two annual event weekends with all three national touring series. For more on this story, see Spotlight: Las Vegas on page 20.

DAN GUTTENPLAN

Business Insider recently released its ranking, based on Forbes data crunched by business-to-business marketplace Expert Market, of the highest-paid women in sports. Second on the list is Monster Energy NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Danica Patrick with 2016 earnings of $7.8 million, or an effective rate of $30,900 per day. She ranked below only Ronda Rousey, a mixed martial artist contracted to the UFC, who reportedly made $9.9 million in earnings in 2016.

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ld World Industries and Joe Gibbs Racing have signed a multi-year deal for the automotive aftermarket company, which is also an Official Partner of NASCAR, to sponsor drivers Matt Kenseth and Daniel Suárez in various NASCAR national series races.

Old World Industries’ key brands, including PEAK and BlueDEF, will serve as the primary sponsor of Kenseth’s No. 20 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota during two races this spring. It will also be featured as a season-long associate sponsor on Kenseth’s car.

In addition, the company will serve as the primary sponsor on Suárez’s No. 18 NASCAR XFINITY Series Toyota at Talladega Superspeedway and as an associate in the remainder of his XFINITY Series races.

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POLE POSITION 2017

PENNZOIL AND Speedway Motorsports, Inc. announced Pennzoil Motor Oil will be the title sponsor of the March Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway starting in 2018. The Pennzoil 400 will anchor a NASCAR tripleheader weekend at the 1.5-mile track.

Kobalt Tools previously sponsored the race.

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Wise Health System has joined forces with Texas Motor Speedway to serve as the title sponsor of the track’s April NASCAR XFINITY Series race and has become an official marketing partner of the 1.5-mile superspeedway. The five-year agreement is a multi-pronged sponsorship that includes entitlement rights for the XFINITY Series race that will be re-branded as the My Bariatric Solutions 300. Wise Health System also will be the Official Healthcare Provider of Texas Motor Speedway.

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING IS CONTINUING ITS SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT WITH Pfizer Inc., a premier innovative biopharmaceutical company. Pfizer will feature its Nexium 24HR ClearMinis and Advil brands as the primary sponsors for driver Ty Dillon in select NASCAR XFINITY Series race this season. To celebrate the release of the new Nexium 24HR ClearMinis, the brand will be the primary sponsor of the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro during the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Dillon will pilot the No. 3 Advil Chevrolet Camaro during the fall races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway.

Advance Auto Parts, a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America that serves both professional installers and do-it-yourself customers, has signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The agreement designates Advance Auto Parts as an official partner of the legendary 2.5-mile track’s events, including the Brickyard 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

NASCAR AND SIRIUSXM ANNOUNCED A SIXyear renewal to extend their broadcasting and marketing agreement through 2022. SiriusXM will continue to deliver racing content to millions of listeners across North America, including live broadcasts of every race, plus daily NASCAR talk and interviews with voices across the industry through its exclusive SiriusXM NASCAR Radio channel.

NASCAR content is available to SiriusXM subscribers in their car, at home or on the go on satellite radios, on the SiriusXM app and online at SiriusXM.com.

SiriusXM and NASCAR’s agreement extension marks another important milestone in the history of collaboration between the two organizations, as 2017 is NASCAR’s 16th season on satellite radio and listeners will have uninterrupted access to the sport for more than two decades. SiriusXM will also retain exclusive category rights to utilize NASCAR branding and trademarks for advertising and promotion.

NASCAR Announces Nominees for the Hall of Fame Class of 2018

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ASCAR announced the 20 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018, as well as the five nominees for the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR. The nominees include two car owners who have each eclipsed the 100-win mark (Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske), a driver who combined for four championships in NASCAR’s Modified and Late Model Sportsman divisions (Red Farmer), an extreme talent who collected 19 wins before his toosoon passing (Davey Allison), and the 2000 premier series champion (Bobby Labonte).

The nominees were selected by a nominating committee consisting of representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, track owners from both major facilities and historic short tracks, and the media.

The entire list of nominees includes Davey Allison, Buddy Baker, Red Byron, Ray Evernham, Red Farmer, Ray Fox, Joe Gibbs, Ron Hornaday Jr., Harry Hyde, Alan Kulwicki, Bobby Labonte, Hershel McGriff, Roger Penske, Larry Phillips, Jack Roush, Ricky Rudd, Ken Squier, Mike Stefanik, Waddell Wilson and Robert Yates.

From the list of 20 nominees, five inductees will be elected by the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel, which includes a nationwide fan vote on NASCAR.com. Voting Day for the 2018 class will be Wednesday, May 24.

Added to this year’s list of Landmark Award nominees are Jim France and Alvin Hawkins. They join previous nominees Ralph Seagraves, Janet Guthrie and Squier.

BLUE BUNNY HELMET OF HOPE CAMPAIGN

Seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and Mike Wells, president and CEO of Wells Enterprises, maker of Blue Bunny Ice Cream, announced the launch of this year’s Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope campaign, which will award $125,000 to five nonprofit organizations in May. The announcement, made on Johnson’s Facebook page, revealed that not-for-profit organizations that directly support K-12 public education will be eligible to compete for one of the five available $25,000 grants.

The Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope program, which began in 2008, allows fans and consumers across the country to nominate their favorite education-focused charities, including parent-teacher associations, to receive a $25,000 grant, a Blue Bunny ice cream party and special recognition on Johnson’s race helmet.

Ten semifinalists will be selected from the nominations. The public vote to choose the final five grant recipients will take place May 5 to 12.

To date, the Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope program has contributed more than $940,000 to 91 charities. Johnson will wear the Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 13.

For additional information, visit helmetofhope.org.

LILLY DIABETES NAMED OFFICIAL PARTNER NASCAR AND LILLY Diabetes announced Lilly is expanding its involvement in NASCAR through a multi-year official partnership with the sanctioning body. The new collaboration designates Lilly Diabetes as the Official Diabetes Health Partner of NASCAR. The relationship with Lilly Diabetes builds upon its primary sponsorship of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang driven by Ryan Reed, who won his second career NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway in February.

Additionally, as a part of this new partnership, Lilly Diabetes will work with NASCAR on multiple health and wellness initiatives, including launching

an editorial series on NASCAR.com.

As the Official Diabetes Health Partner of NASCAR, Lilly Diabetes – part of Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) – will expand its presence in the sport by introducing initiatives that educate fans about the disease.

Lilly encourages fans to stay determined and take action to better

manage their diabetes by talking to their doctor and making lifestyle changes like exercising and eating healthy.

Approximately 30 million Americans have diabetes, and if current trends continue, 1 in 3 U.S. adults will develop diabetes by 2050, making this partnership particularly important.

POLE POSITION MAG.COM

09

WIVES & GIRLFRIENDS PRESENTED BY

■■ Kurt Busch and wife Ashley ■■ Brad Keselowski and wife Paige ■■ Denny Hamlin and Jordan Fish ■■ Dale Earnhardt Jr. with racing couple Graham Rahal and Courtney Force

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POLE POSITION 2017

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CREW SPOTLIGHT ADAM LEWIS: JOURNEYMAN JACK MAN

MICHAEL CLEMENTSON: ROAD WARRIOR

Adam Lewis, the jack man for the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driven

by Ryan Newman, has memories of attending the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the 1990s during trips south from his home in Maryland.

He’s from a family of diehard NASCAR fans, so much so that his dad made a major career decision in order to be a part of the action.

“My dad was a huge Richard Petty fan,” Lewis said. “He owned his own diesel repair shop and his own trucks for most of his life. He woke up one day and moved to North Carolina and wanted to get a job in racing. That was in 1996 and we moved down shortly after that.”

After Lewis graduated from high school, he also decided racing would be his career choice. In 2007, he began studying pit stops through an unpaid opportunity at Team Penske.

“I started work at Penske for a couple of months. They taught me the ropes while working as a developmental crew member,” Lewis said. “Before I could get a paycheck there, Joe Gibbs Racing called me and they needed help with their Busch East [now NASCAR K&N Pro Series] team with drivers Mark David and Joey Logano.”

Lewis worked in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with Toyota and team owners Randy Moss and Morgan Dollar before moving to RCR with NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Elliott Sadler in 2012. When crew chief Luke Lambert moved to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with driver Jeff Burton, he asked Lewis to become the jack man for the No. 31 team.

Lewis also spends time maintaining the jacks he uses and keep the team’s pit guns in perfect working order.

Michael Clementson, one of the transporter drivers for Furniture Row Racing, makes sure the No. 77 Toyota driven by rookie Erik Jones arrives safely to all 36 events on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

In 1989, Clementson discovered stock car racing through an afternoon of fun with friends at Dover International Speedway. From the minute they arrived at the high-banked one-mile oval, they were hooked. Clementson left the track that day with a new excitement for auto racing.

The native of Cambridge, Maryland, chose the trucking industry as a career and spent several years driving the highways and interstates with a commercial carrier. Throughout his time on the road, he listened to races on Sunday afternoons by way of the Motor Racing Network and Performance Racing Network radio broadcasts.

An opportunity with Hendrick Motorsports 11 years ago gave him his chance to become a crew member and work inside the NASCAR Cup Series garage area. But it wasn’t a job – it was an exciting adventure that took him across the country with race cars and equipment as his cargo. For a time, Clementson stepped away from NASCAR but is glad to be back with one of the up-and-coming stars of the sport.

“I started in 2006 as a truck driver for the No. 48 [Jimmie Johnson] team,” Clementson said. “That was my first gig in racing. Then I got out for a while.

I went back to Cup with Justin Allgaier [with HScott Motorsports] and then I took another break. This is my first year with Furniture Row Racing driving for the No. 77 team.”

WHEN AWAY FROM the race track, Lewis enjoys woodworking and has spent many hours renovating and remodeling his house.

“AS LONG AS I’VE DONE IT, I KIND OF JUST ZONE IN ON THE THINGS I’M DOING AND I DON’T EVEN REALIZE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE WATCHING ME. I ENJOY THE ADRENALIN RUSH AND I HOPE THAT NEVER GOES AWAY.”

PLAYING FAVORITES WITH ADAM LEWIS VACATION SPOT ■■ Charleston, South Carolina SEASON ■■ Fall HOLIDAY ■■ Christmas TV SHOW ■■ The Wall MOVIE ■■ Pulp Fiction

WHEN TIME permits, Clementson enjoys singing and playing country music on various instruments.

“I LIKE ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE SPORT. I LIKE KEEPING BUSY. DRIVING A TRUCK IN THE NASCAR CUP SERIES IS A DREAM JOB A LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SO I’M PRIVILEGED TO HAVE THIS JOB.”

PLAYING FAVORITES WITH MICHAEL CLEMENTSON SEASON ■■ Fall HOLIDAY ■■ Fourth of July TV SHOW ■■ Criminal Minds MOVIE ■■ Six Pack MUSIC ■■ Country

BEN WHITE 12

POLE POSITION 2017

Oh. Hi, Ty. Introducing Ty Dillon, GEICO’s new NASCAR driver.

Ty’s driving for GEICO. You should drive with GEICO. And not just because Ty is. We pride ourselves on outstanding customer service, saving people money and getting you great coverage for your car, motorcycle, RV and so much more.

geico.com | 1-800-947-AUTO | Local Office

Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states or all GEICO companies. Motorcycle and ATV coverages are underwritten by GEICO Indemnity Company. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance Company, Washington, D.C. 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. © 2017 GEICO

TAILGATING PRESENTED BY

Pilgrimmage to Talladega At 2.66 miles in length, Talladega Superspeedway is the largest track on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

Not surprisingly, Talladega’s infield and outside parking areas are pretty robust, too.

And, of course, with all the extra space comes extra room for a favorite pastime of untold thousands of NASCAR fans — tailgating.

Of the nearly 3,000 acres of property owned

by Talladega Superspeedway, some 1,5002,000 acres are used for fan parking and/or tailgating. Parking in the car and designated RV lots is free during the track’s two annual NASCAR weekends. It’s no wonder the famed Alabama facility is a prime destination for tailgating enthusiasts young and old.

“We have thousands of fans who come out and start camping in many of the free campgrounds the weekend prior to race week,” said Russell Branham, Talladega Superspeedway’s director of public relations. “We’ll see campers lined up to get in the North Camping lot across the street from the track.

“Tailgating at Talladega is like a pilgrimage. We see a lot of fans who make friends in other tailgating and camping areas who want the same spots each time to attend so they can then be with their news friends, which become life-long friends.”

Q&A WITH KARLA ALLEN

Talladega Boulevard, a short stretch of road in Turn 2 of the infield, is arguably the most well known ribbon of asphalt in NASCAR that isn’t for racing stock cars. In short: It’s the “Party Capital of NASCAR.” Each spot is filled with campers and tailgaters who love to have a good time. Such is life at Talladega.

“More than 70 percent of our fans come from outside of the state of Alabama to get the ‘Talladega Experience,’” Branham said. “They want to see not only the greatest racing on the planet, but to have a sense of ‘home’ when they are here.”

JARED TURNER

MUST-HAVE GEAR If you’re looking to be the most popular person at a tailgate, you’ll want to bring the Daiquiri Whacker – the portable gas-powered blender.

The Daiquiri Whacker is the ultimate ice breaker for a NASCAR tailgate with its three main ingredients: Throttle, alcohol, and its ability to attract fans with Margaritas and Daiquiris.

If you’re looking for a blended drink, but are nowhere near an electrical outlet, the Daiquiri Whacker is the answer to your problem.

The Daiquiri Whacker retails at $308 and is available for purchase at Gasblender.com.

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POLE POSITION 2017

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THE EXPERIENCE

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efore Karla Allen acquired a personal affinity for NASCAR, the longtime high school teacher and counselor became acquainted with the sport through a pupil.

“I had a young, enthusiastic student in my class when I was an English and Public Speaking teacher in the ’90s,” she said. “This young man lived and breathed all things NASCAR, including writing essays about it, giving informative speeches about his favorite driver, and updating me after each race on how his favorite drivers were doing.”

Recalling her days as “a reluctant fan,” everything changed when she and her husband started attending races at Richmond International Raceway. With it came a newfound passion for tailgating.

“One tailgating race experience we have done in Richmond is called ‘The Front Porch,’” she said. “This is an outdoor experience up above the track which also has covered seating. An open buffet is served with a full meal, but there are also options of a nacho bar, popcorn, desserts and, of course, an open bar. With this option you get track passes to go down and take a pit tour, look at the cars up close, and you can also go to the stage before the race starts for the introduction of the drivers.”

RESIDES: Richmond, Virginia HOMETOWN: Trenton, Georgia TRACKS WHERE YOU’VE TAILGATED: Richmond International Raceway HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A NASCAR FAN? When we moved to Richmond in 2003, we lived only a few miles from the track. On race weekend, Richmond turns in to another world. I could sit on my front porch and watch the Blue Angels fly over, and I could hear, “Gentlemen, start your engines,” and the roar of the cars as they pulsed across the miles.

I would then run into the house and watch it live as I could hear it outside the door. It wasn’t long before we started wanting to be a part of the action.

FAVORITE DRIVER: Kyle Busch YOUR BEST TAILGATING EXPERIENCE: My husband, Scott, and I splurge on a full race experience, which involves tailgating inside the track, meeting the drivers and getting up close and personal to the cars. The best and most elite option at the Richmond track is the Torque Club. This was our treat for the May 2016 race. We were entertained in a sky box above the track with a wide array of hors d’oeuvres, a full buffet, an open bar and a full array of desserts, including an ice cream sundae bar.

Porta-Party.

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From RVing, camping and tailgating to home backup and jobs around the house, a Honda Generator is your portable party machine.

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SPOTLIGHT PRESENTED BY

KNOW WHEN TO REPLACE

Be Responsible for Your Own Headlights SYLVANIA Automotive (an OSRAM company), the world leader in automotive lighting, is on a mission to help people realize just how simple and non-time-consuming swapping out headlights can be.

Here’s the real crux of the matter: You can be responsible for your own headlights — a fact that research suggests most drivers don’t know.

“I was at soccer practice and there was one of the moms and I said, ‘Let me do this for you,’ and it took about two minutes to change both low beams and high beams on both sides,” said Brian Noble, OSRAM SYLVANIA’s marketing manager. “She just

stared at me like, ‘It was that easy?’ Yeah, it’s that easy. I showed her how to do it, and so now she can do it, too — real quick and easy. Not every vehicle is that way, but there are so many of them that are so easy to get in, push, pull it out, disconnect, reconnect and put it back in, and it’s that easy.

“What SYLVANIA is trying to do is give people the idea that you can have control and that you can get in there and with a few steps go in and put a better light in and see better when driving at night, and make yourself feel better and more confident when driving at night.”

Noble strongly

recommends utilizing the many online tutorials available on how to change a headlight in the driveway. Not only does replacing headlights at home save time; it’s cheaper, too.

“It’s easy for anybody of all ages,” Noble said.

“I’ve had my kids do it. I’ve had my parents do it. Anybody that wants to get it done can do it. Some cars

are more complicated than others, but for the most part it’s an easy fix. It’s something where if you wanted to spend the $50 to have a mechanic do it, that’s your choice… but there are videos out there that will give you the confidence to do it and let you know what steps you have to take and how to complete them.”

JARED TURNER 16

POLE POSITION 2017

IN ORDER FOR DRIVERS to successfully install new headlights, they must not only know how to do it – they must know when to do it.

Headlights should be treated no differently than ceiling lights; they should be replaced before, not after, a blowout.

“That filament will over time wear out so that less light is coming off of that filament, so when you’re driving down the road you’re not seeing as far or as much,” said Brian Noble, OSRAM SYLVANIA’s marketing manager.

If one headlight has a longer lifespan than the other, it’s a good idea to go ahead and change out both since replacing just one creates an uneven field of vision for the driver.

“It’s almost impossible for me to tell you to do it every year or every two years, because everybody’s driving habits are different,” Noble said. “If you drive 10,000 miles a year, you might do it every three years. If you drive 30,000 miles a year, you might do it every year and change them out ahead of time because you put a lot of wear and tear on them.

“It’s one of those things that if you don’t remember the last time you’ve changed them, now might be a good time to think about it.”

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BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW

2.66 TUMULTUOUS BEGINNING

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A Presidential Connection During a tour of the South in 1791, President George Washington ate lunch and rested at a home that served as the ticket office for Charlotte Motor Speedway when the track opened in 1960.

While traveling north from Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 29, 1791, President Washington and his entourage stopped at the home of Major General Robert Smith and his wife, Sarah, on what was then known as Smithfield Plantation.

Smith was a colonel in the British army before joining the fight for American independence.

The historic home was located at what is now the speedway’s main entrance, right next to U.S. Highway 29. After dining with the Smiths, Washington continued north to Red Hill Tavern and Inn in Concord where he spent the night.

MARKETING EXPERTISE In addition to driving the No. 4 Busch Beer/Jimmy Johns Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick has a rather unique side job. Harvick and his wife, DeLana, own and operate KHI Management, a full-service marketing agency that represents high-profile clients in the sports, music and broadcasting industries. According to the company’s website, “KHI Management affords clients the opportunities to expose their brands across multiple sports and entertainment platforms via a singular agency with a vast array of services ranging from career management and media relations to licensing and philanthropy.” KHI Management’s clients include: country music entertainer Jake Owen, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, golfer Jason Gore, broadcaster Shannon Spake, UFC contender Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and second-generation racer Harrison Burton.

he inaugural event at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway on Sept. 15, 1969, was one of the most controversial races in NASCAR history. The giant 2.66-mile speedway, built on the site of the former Anniston Air Force base, was the brainchild of NASCAR founder William H.G. France, who wanted a new track that was both bigger and faster than Daytona International Speedway. Issues with tires blistering and chunking during practice led to a boycott of the race by some 37 members of the Professional Drivers Association. France quickly assembled a makeshift field that included 23 Grand Touring cars and drivers that had competed in the Saturday preliminary. The 500-mile race was run as scheduled with Richard Brickhouse, who withdrew from the PDA, winning in a 1969 Dodge Daytona.

HORSEPOWER GALORE

D

over Downs is the only entertainment complex in the United States to feature both harness racing and NASCAR-sanctioned stock car racing.

Built in the late 1960s by construction company owner Melvin Joseph, Dover Downs now includes a 1.0-mile concrete oval for NASCAR racing that surrounds a .625-mile dirt track for harness racing.

The Delaware facility hosted its first NASCAR race

– won by Richard Petty – on July 6, 1969, and the first harness event took place on Nov. 19 of the same year.

The harness racing season runs from early November through mid-April while the track’s NASCAR events are traditionally in early June and late September.

An enclosed grandstand that runs along the backstretch of the NASCAR track is the primary viewing area for harness racing.

UNIQUE DOUBLE Tony Stewart, who retired from driving in NASCAR’s top series following the end of the 2016 season, is the only driver to win championships in America’s two premier racing series – the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the Verizon IndyCar Series. Stewart honed his racing skills in USAC’s trio of open-wheel divisions prior to making his IndyCar Series debut in 1996. Running the full 10-race schedule for car owner John Menard in 1997, Stewart scored six top-10 finishes, including a victory at Colorado’s Pikes Peak International Raceway, en route to the title. Stewart earned Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championships in 2002 and 2005 while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. His third series crown came as an owner/ driver with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2011.

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NASCAR PETS Peters’ Chocolate Lab Has a Familiar Name

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ood luck finding a bigger dog lover than Timothy Peters, driver of the No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Unfortunately, Peters’ history with canines hasn’t been entirely pleasant, however.

Peters and his wife, Sara, are the proud owners of a 10-year-old Chocolate Lab named “Dover” — after the race track, of course — who is the lone survivor among four dogs who once took up residence at the Peters’ estate.

The good news is that Dover, despite being on up in dog years, continues to live a healthy, active life and remains a central figure in the family — especially for the couple’s two young children, son Brantley and daughter Macie.

“It’s good to see once you have children — and then your dogs are like your children — how your kids get attached to your pet. That’s what it’s been all about for us,” Peters said. “Even though he’s 10 years old, we love him to death and the kids love him and it’s

cool to see our son warm up to him. Our daughter, she’s steadily getting braver every day, so it’s pretty cool.”

Dover, who weighs in at a sturdy 105 to 110 PRESENTED BY pounds, lives outdoors in a fenced-in area but remains an object of considerable affection in the Peters household.

“I’ve always had a Lab,” Peters explained. “I guess that’s where my love for Labs came from, but I always had Black Labs and you always hear about how smart Chocolate Labs are and their attitude and their demeanor and stuff like that, so that’s what we decided to get. But it didn’t just start, say, 10 years ago. It started back when I was 4. I’ve always had some sort of pet because I just think pets are cool.”

JARED TURNER

SPOTLIGHT: LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas Doubles Down

SUPERSPEEDWAY TO HOST TWO MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES RACES Las Vegas Motor Speedway will hold a pair of aces next year as the 1.5-mile superspeedway doubles down with a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race for the 2018 season and beyond.

LVMS will host the new Monster Energy Cup race beginning in the fall of 2018 in addition to its customary March NASCAR weekend.

LVMS also will welcome a second NASCAR XFINITY Series race beginning in the fall of 2018 and an additional NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race beginning in the spring of 2018, meaning both of the speedway’s NASCAR weekends will include races from each of NASCAR’s top three series – the Camping World Truck Series, XFINITY Series and Monster Energy Cup Series.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway will become the first facility on the NASCAR schedule to host two annual event weekends with all three national touring series. Official race dates will be announced later by NASCAR as part of the full 2018 schedules.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Speedway Motorsports and Las Vegas Motor Speedway to create a NASCAR spectacle worthy of the greatest racing in

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the world and the Entertainment Capital of the World,” said Speedway Motorsports, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Marcus Smith.

“It’s taken a tremendous amount of work to make this happen, and we are very thankful to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and NASCAR for their support in our endeavor to create a triple-header NASCAR weekend in such a world-class destination.”

In 2018, Speedway Motorsports will realign the September Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races from New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the September NASCAR XFINITY Series race from Kentucky Speedway to create the two triple-header weekends in Las Vegas.

LVMS first hosted a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in 1996, added a NASCAR XFINITY Series race in 1997 and will host its 20th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event, the Kobalt 400, this

Sunday. The first race held at the 1.5-mile oval was the Indy Racing League’s Las Vegas 500K in 1996.

“We’re honored that NASCAR has entrusted us with a second NASCAR weekend,” LVMS President Chris Powell said. “We’ve pursued a second NASCAR premier-series race weekend for quite some time, so this news is monumental for everyone at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as well as everyone in our wonderful city.”

“Las Vegas and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have become great destinations for NASCAR fans,” NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said. “The experience is unique to any other in our sport.

We look forward to having NASCAR racing there for two race weekends in 2018.”

The addition of a second NASCAR weekend in Las Vegas will be a big boost for the “Entertainment Capital of the World,” and the news was welcomed by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority Board of Directors at a meeting earlier today.

“We have outstanding support from the LVCVA and other Las Vegas leaders, and we’re supremely confident that we’ll host two top-notch race weekends,” Powell added. “Today’s news will create lasting memories for our fans and will provide immeasurable economic impact for Southern Nevada.

“Over the years, Las Vegas has become a major sports city as a popular destination for a variety of championship and professional sports events, and today we are proud to add a second NASCAR Cup race to that roster. Las Vegas, NASCAR and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have developed a strong and successful partnership, and we are certain this second race will prove to be another great success,” said Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“Last year’s March race attracted more than 115,000 fans, with more than 96,000 coming from out-of-town, and generated nearly $140 million in economic impact. We have worked with LVMS and NASCAR for years to bring a second Cup race to Las Vegas, and now we are committed to making the fall race just as successful for all of us.”

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THIS IS FOR THE

FANS Expect New Race Format to Produce More Drama 22

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History tells us it’s almost unheard of for NASCAR drivers and other industry stakeholders to be in virtually unanimous agreement on much of anything.

But when it comes to NASCAR’s new, enhanced competition format, introduced prior to the start of the season, it’s safe to say almost everyone in the sport gives it a big thumbs-up.

Increasing the sense of urgency and emphasizing aggressive racing and strategy, the new race format promises to deliver more dramatic moments over the course of an entire race and season, with playoff point incentives on the line throughout.

In a nutshell, the enhanced format consists of the following: ■■ Races are now made up of three stages, with championship implications in each stage. The exact length of each stage varies by race.

■■ The top-10 finishers of the first two stages are awarded additional championship points.

■■ The winner of the first two stages of each race receives one playoff point, and the race winner receives five playoff points. Each playoff point will be added to the driver’s reset total following race No. 26, if that competitor makes the playoffs.

■■ All playoff points will carry through to the end of the third round of the playoffs (the Round of 8), with the Championship 4 racing straight-up for the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway as they’ve done since 2014.

■■ Championship points following the first two stages of each race will be awarded on a descending scale, with the stage winner receiving 10 points, second receiving 9 points, and so on.

■■ The race winner following the final stage now receives 40 points while second-place receives 35, third-place 34, fourth-place 33, and so on.

“Simply put, this will make our great racing even better,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, the sport’s third-generation leader. “I’m proud of the unprecedented collaboration from our

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THIS IS FOR THE FANS

industry stakeholders, each of whom had a common goal: Strengthening the sport for our fans. This is an enhancement fully rooted in teamwork, and the result will be an even better product every single week.”

NASCAR also announced over the offseason the addition of a playoff bonus structure in which the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points leader at the conclusion of the 26-race regular season will be honored as the regular season champion, earning 15 playoff points that will be added to the driver’s playoff reset total of 2,000. In addition, the top-10 drivers in points leading into the playoffs will receive playoff points, with second-place netting 10 playoff points, third-place earning eight points, fourthplace collecting seven points, and so on.

All playoff points will carry through to the end of the Round of 8.

“These are enhancements that the NASCAR fan has long sought, and the entire industry has worked hard to develop a better racing format for our fans,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “This format puts a premium on every victory and every in-race position over the course of the season. Each point can eventually result in winning or losing a championship.”

NASCAR executives are hardly alone in viewing the format changes as a positive step for the sport.

“I think everybody’s excited about it – I know I am,” Furniture Row Racing driver and 2016 playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. said. “You can get points throughout 24

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the whole season and being able to take those into the playoffs is really exciting for us; coming off a year like last year when we did a lot of great things and had a lot of high moments and bright spots that we could’ve gained those bonus points that would’ve helped us in the playoffs. It’ll be a benefit to our race team in particular.”

Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick lauds NASCAR for implementing the changes with major input from drivers and other industry stakeholders, rather than acting autonomously.

“The most exciting thing to me about the whole format change is just how everybody in our sport came together and had this situation progress into what it has become,” said Harvick, the 2014 champion of NASCAR’s premier series.

“When you make the whole race relevant, you shouldn’t hear drivers say that they were just pacing themselves. There are real goals where you can gain points, and those points will contribute to your playoff all the way through the end of the year until the last round at Homestead. Every moment matters. I think everybody has done a great job with that.”

Last year’s premier series championship runner-up, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, was among those who offered NASCAR suggestions on how a new race format might look.

“I was involved in the meetings and it was pretty cool to be a part of that,” Logano said. “The first one was in Las Vegas when we were out there for the

[2016 awards] banquet and it was a very impressive group. [There were] a select number of drivers and folks from NBC and FOX with commentators and NASCAR with very open ears to hear any options. We all threw it out there in the open for discussion and then you had team principals there as well.

“It was quite the conversation to get things going and ideas were all over the place. You kind of leave there with knowledge that there were ideas but no real direction. As the meetings kept moving forward, we started honing in on what it was going to be and I got more and more excited about it.”

Drivers, TV personalities and executives weren’t the only ones given an opportunity to share ideas on ways to improve the racing product.

“It’s been really interesting because everyone has been at the table contributing, discussing, debating and ironing out this format change,” said Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway. “Not only NASCAR but they were asking for a lot of help and buy-in from drivers, team owners, track owners and operators, some sponsors, some manufacturers, and all have been at the table representing the sport, and I think that is a good way to do things.”

Logano — who has made the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in two of three seasons since NASCAR introduced a winner-take-all finale — believes NASCAR’s new points-for-winning-stages

approach provides him with another golden opportunity to capture his first series title.

“I know it’s going to be the right thing for the sport,” Logano said. “Every lap became more important. Every race became way more important and that’s good for everyone. … The way this whole format is structured is for a reason — for everyone to race hard and put on a great race for our fans. I don’t see anything but good things coming out of it, so I’m really excited about everything coming up for this sport.

“It plays to the person’s advantage who takes the opportunity ahead of him.

When there are changes like this, the first person who figures it out is going to have a huge advantage. If you can get some bonus points early in the year, it sets you up well for when you get to Homestead.”

Teammate Brad Keselowski, the 2012 series champion, won four races last year but wound up 12th in the standings after an up-and-down playoff. An enhanced race format, Keselowski said, “re-fosters the connection between the regular season and the postseason.”

“It’s important from the teams’ and drivers’ sides because it keeps us honest,” the Team Penske driver added. “It keeps us from, not necessarily taking races off but keeping us from saying, ‘Let’s not take our best car to this race.’ … Our fans deserve to know that whatever they see on the weekend is guaranteed to be important. As drivers, I think you’re going to see more of a desire and an anger factor when things don’t go your way in the regular season.”

In other words, the days of the occasional sandbagging are over.

Now, it is pedal to the metal for everyone from the first lap to the last lap. The reward is simply too great for a driver and team to merely play it safe in the first part of a race.

“There’s incentive to go out there and perform,” said seven-time and reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. “As a competitor, it’s tough to say that’s going to change much of what I do. But I know there will be opportunities where that

[bonus] point [for winning one of the first two stages] matters for someone. It might take people from being at the 100-percent mark to being even more desperate and creating those storylines.”

Richard Petty, the only other living seven-time champion of NASCAR’s premier series, loves tradition as much as anyone, and probably more than most in the sport. But even “The King” is on board with the enhanced race formats.

“Since NASCAR started, there has always been change,” said Petty, who is the co-owner of Richard Petty Motorsports and NASCAR’s all-time wins leader with 200 premier series victories. “The world changes and you have to change with it. This new format just adapts to the current and next generation of fans. It’s something to help create more excitement during the races. You have to put on a good race, a good show where people want to watch at home and enjoy coming to the track. Having two additional winning

moments is a good step in that direction to keep the drivers competitive and fans excited throughout the race and season.

“As an owner, I’m fine with it,” Petty added. “I have the same rules as everyone else. That’s fair. We just have to figure out how to be the best under this format.”

Excelling under the new format will fall as much on the shoulders of the men atop the pit boxes as the drivers on the track.

“I feel like this is definitely going to be a big chore for the crew chiefs,” StewartHaas Racing driver Danica Patrick said. “If I were them, I would already be nervous or trying to think of scenarios. I’d probably be waking up or going to bed thinking, ‘If this happened and then we were running here, but we were fast.’ … You’re running through all these scenarios in your head with, ‘What would you do?’ I feel like it’s going to be challenging because as far as a driver goes, I do try and drive the fastest laps I can every single lap. I’m doing my best unless there’s a reason to slow down like fuel or tires are going off or something like that, or you want to maintain your tire life — something like that. So I think it’s going to be exciting.”

And the best part is that the biggest winner figures to be the people sitting in the stands and watching on television.

“The new format is going to pay off for NASCAR fans,” said Marcus Smith, president of Charlotte Motor Speedway president and chief executive officer of Speedway Motorsports Inc. “We looked at all these decisions and all these different opportunities from the eyes of a fan. We all really take that to heart. This isn’t just our job. We love the sport and this is for the fans.”

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Ready for a Rebound “THIS IS THE BEST OPPORTUNITY I’VE EVER HAD”

R

emember when Clint Bowyer scored a career-high three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victories and finished runner-up in the series standings? It was 2012 — pretty recent, relatively speaking. For Bowyer, though, it might as well have been a lifetime ago. When you go four seasons without a win — and suffer through a season as woeful as the one Bowyer endured in 2016 — past success seems to fade into the reservoir of memories no longer so fresh. The good news?

Bowyer enjoyed enough success in 2012 — and the years leading up to it — for virtually no one to question his talent behind the wheel of a race car.

And, thankfully for Bowyer, one of the folks who took notice was three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart. So when Stewart announced in September 2015 that 2016 would be his last season as a driver for Stewart-Haas Racing, the organization he co-owns with Gene Haas, Stewart anointed Bowyer his handpicked successor.

The only bad news for Bowyer? With Michael Waltrip Racing set to shut its doors at the end of 2015, he had no ride for last season. Bowyer found one — at the now-defunct HScott Motorsports — but sputtered through a season he would rather just forget ever happened. Then again, it could have been worse.

“Everybody always questions what last year was and everything else,” Bowyer said. “I signed that deal [with SHR] prepared to sit on the couch and do nothing, so anything was better than that.”

Now, in Stewart’s old seat, Bowyer is on a mission to show the world what his new boss saw in him years ago: That he has the ability to run up front, win races and contend for championships.

“People have asked me, ‘How do you have the confidence to get back to where you need to be?’” Bowyer said. “… All the confidence you need is having a threetime champion of this sport and a big-time

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owner in motorsports having the confidence in you to put you in the thing. So that gave me all the confidence I needed to be behind the wheel.”

Stewart, who notched 49 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victories over a wildly successful career that spanned 18 years, still has no doubt that choosing Bowyer was the right move.

“Being around us, it’s not hard to realize why,” said Stewart, who maintains an active role in the day-to-day operations of SHR after his retirement from driving.

“We both have a great sense of humor and our backgrounds are really similar.

We’re both dirt-track racers, but racing against him I saw things that I saw in myself. I see that drive and determination and he’s one of those guys that does not like to lose, and that fits what we want at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

Despite going winless the past four seasons, Bowyer is no stranger to Victory Lane, or being in the hunt for NASCAR’s premier series title. From his rookie season of 2006 through 2012, the affable native of Emporia, Kansas, rang up eight wins. The first five came with Richard Childress Racing, where he captured the NASCAR XFINITY Series title in 2008 while also competing as a full-time premier series driver for the Welcome, North Carolina-based organization.

Bowyer also won eight NASCAR XFINITY Series races at RCR, in addition to finishing an impressive third in the standings in just his second season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Feeling the time had come for a change, Bowyer departed RCR at the end of 2011 to join Michael Waltrip Racing – where he

THE OLD AND THE NEW As part of StewartHaas Racing, Bowyer is exposed to scenery both old and new.

The old comes primarily in the form of Harvick and Harvick’s crew chief, Rodney Childers.

Bowyer and Harvick were teammates at RCR from 2006-2013 before Harvick left RCR for SHR. Childers was a crew chief at MWR during part of Bowyer’s time with the company, so the two know each other.

“It seems like everybody at SHR is someone I’ve either worked with before or I’m already friends with,” Bowyer said.

“It’s just a perfect fit.

The culture is me. They take care of business and have a lot of fun doing it. That’s what I love that about SHR.” Now for the new. At RCR, Bowyer drove Chevrolets and at MWR he drove Toyotas.

This season is Bowyer’s first in a Ford.

“With the transition to Ford, the thing I’ve noticed right off the bat is you are talking to the head honchos,” Bowyer said. “Raj Nair [Ford executive vice president of global product development and chief technical officer] is the guy who brought Ford Performance to what it is today. Whether it’s a meeting at the shop or going over to Ford Performance, he and his counterparts are the ones you talk with, making sure you have what you need to be successful at the race track. That means a lot to a race car driver.”

spent four seasons prior to the company folding at the end of 2015. Last season proved to be Bowyer’s most challenging on the track, however, as he earned just three top-10 finishes and finished a career-worst 27th in the standings while driving for an organization that lacked the resources and personnel to compete at a high level.

Bowyer has all of that and more at SHR, where he is competing alongside veteran teammates Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick.

From its 2009 inception through 2016, SHR posted 36 points-paying victories and two championships with Stewart (2011) and Harvick (2014). The Kannapolis, North Carolina-based company has also won the exhibition NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“This is the best opportunity I’ve ever had,” Bowyer said. “Everybody knows that.

Getting in the No. 14 Ford isn’t easy. It’s going to be a challenge. The first thing you think about is Tony’s fan base. There are a whole lot of people I don’t want to let down.

I want to make all those people proud of the No. 14 this year, proud of me being in that No. 14, and proud of Tony’s decision to put me in it this year. The pressure is probably there but, to be honest with you, from where I’ve come to looking forward to this opportunity for more than a year, there’s more excitement than pressure.”

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NASCAR DEFINED

PRESENTED BY

This edition of NASCAR Defined features excitement, intensity, camaraderie and fun in a behind-the-scenes look at life at the track.

GETTY IMAGES

■■ The final minutes of daylight offer a sunset view for fans during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Active Pest Control 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

■■ Kurt Busch celebrates in Victory Lane with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who recently collected his second Super Bowl championship.

■■ A detailed view of Kurt Busch’s helmet. Busch won the first NASCAR Cup Series race with Monster Energy as the title sponsor.

■■ A Monster Energy motorcycle rider performs in the Fan Zone prior to the 59th annual Daytona 500.

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“Victory Never Tasted So Good!”

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NASCAR DEFINED

PRE S E N T E D B Y

■■ Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Amy Reimann observe to the national anthem before the Daytona 500.

Junior’s life changed significantly since his last Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event. He missed the last half of the 2016 season due to postconcussion symptoms.

He also married his longtime girlfriend during the offseason.

■■ Kurt Busch gave Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart his first Daytona 500 win in February after the four-car team switched from Chevrolet to Ford in the offseason. Stewart was 0-for-17 in the Daytona 500 as a driver.

■■ A late pit road speeding penalty erased Kevin Harvick’s sizable advantage and opened the door for Brad Keselowski to win the second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.

■■ Samantha Busch, wife of driver Kyle Busch, on the grid with their son, Brexton, prior to the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

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■■ Crew members of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet huddle prior to the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

■■ Fans participate in pre-race activities at Daytona International Speedway.

■■ In the NASCAR XFINITY Series Boyd Gaming 300, Joey Logano chose the top side for a restart on lap 196 of 200. After an intense side-by-side battle, Logano cleared Kyle Larson in Turn 4 for the win.

■■ Martin Truex Jr. became the first driver to win all three segments in the new stage-based Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series format.

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PRE S E N T E D B Y

■■ Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford, and Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, lead the field prior to the start of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

■■ Christopher Bell was dominant in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta, earning pole position, leading the first 83 laps and claiming both the first and second 40-lap stage wins in the process.

■■ NASCAR fans hold up American flag paraphernalia during the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

■■ A Monster Energy truck driver performs in the Fan Zone prior to the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

■■ Brad Keselowski holds his daughter, Scarlett, prior to the NASCAR XFINITY Series Rinnai 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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■■ Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, signs autographs for fans prior to the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

■■ Crew members of the No. 48 team stretch in the pit area prior to the 59th annual Daytona 500.

■■ Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation Ford, stands in the garage area during practice for the Kobalt 400.

■■ Jimmie Johnson stands in front of the No.48 Kobalt Chevrolet prior to the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

■■ Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER BOATS Toyota during practice for the Kobalt 400. Truex qualified in second position.

■■ Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 4 JBL Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Active Pest Control 200. Bell held off fellow Tundra driver Matt Crafton in a two-lap shootout to the finish for his first win of the 2017 season.

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PRE S E N T E D B Y

■■ Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, races Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, during the Kobalt 400.

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■■ Defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson prior to the Daytona 500 with his wife Chandra and their daughters.

■■ Ryan Reed’s overtime victory in the Powershares QQQ 300 over Kasey Kahne was Reed’s first NASCAR XFINITY Series victory since 2015.

■■ Joey Logano, driver of the No. 12 REV Ford, and his wife, Brittany, pose with the trophy in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Boyd Gaming 300.

■■ Brad Keselowski celebrates his victory in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

■■ Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet, took an early pit stop during the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

■■ NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo and actor Adam Sandler in the garage area during practice for the Kobalt 400.

■■ Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER BOATS Toyota, celebrates after winning the Kobalt 400.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Driver Profiles

Almost every NASCAR driver has one particular track where he or she excels above all other tracks. Following are nine drivers and the track where each is most likely to make some real noise during the 2017 season.

JARED TURNER

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DRIVER PROFILES

PRE S E N T E D B Y

Dale Earnhardt Jr. TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY How good is Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Talladega Superspeedway? From fall 2001 through fall 2004, NASCAR’s most popular driver won five of seven races at the high-banked Alabama tri-oval that is just one of two restrictor-plate tracks on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

After a lengthy drought, the third-generation driver returned to Victory Lane at Talladega in the spring of 2015. Junior’s six wins there are the most among active drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series but still pale in comparison to the mark set by his legendary father, the late Dale Earnhardt, who took home 10 Talladega trophies prior to his death in February 2001.

Even with his own success at the fast 2.66-mile track, Junior isn’t willing to take all or most of the credit.

“I’ve had some really fast cars,” said Earnhardt Jr., who notched his first five Talladega victories with Dale Earnhardt Inc. but went to Victory Lane most recently at Talladega with his current team at Hendrick Motorsports. “Tony [Eury] Sr. and Tony Jr. [two of Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chiefs at DEI], just by happenstance, happened to be very smart about what they needed out of their plate cars and how to work in some of the gray areas that a lot of people didn’t know about. Watching my dad, who was

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one of the best, I learned a tremendous amount because I solely watched him, whereas someone else who grew up around the sport may not have focused as much on one particular driver. All those things maybe helped me develop into maybe a better plate race car driver than the average guy.”

Earnhardt Jr. has led nearly 17 percent of all the laps he’s completed at Talladega since his rookie season of 2000. The Kannapolis, North Carolina, native has been almost as impressive at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR’s other restrictorplate track, where as of press time he had notched four points-paying victories that included a pair of Daytona 500 triumphs. But Junior credits most of his success at the plate tracks, and especially at Talladega, to simply being in superb equipment.

“The cars are everything,” he said.

But the driver behind the wheel clearly knows what he’s doing, too.

NUMBER

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Kyle Busch KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY As proverbial batting averages go, they don’t get much better than Kyle Busch’s at Kentucky Speedway. In the six races that NASCAR’s premier series has run at the 1.5-mile track, Busch has five top-10 finishes highlighted by two victories — the first after he started from the pole in the inaugural Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kentucky in 2011.

The 2015 series champion’s average finish at Kentucky of 5.2 is a series best. Indeed, the Las Vegas native has quite the record at the race track situated some 65 miles north and east of Louisville’s Churchill Downs, a legendary racing facility known for horsepower of an altogether different variety.

Busch has notched victories at Kentucky Speedway in all three of NASCAR’s national divisions – Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck. Add a 2003 ARCA Racing Series win at Kentucky to the mix and Busch has been victorious in four racing divisions there while making quite a Kentucky home of his own in the state’s second-most-famous Victory Lane.

The only potential bad news for Busch is that his worst Kentucky finish, 12th, came in NASCAR’s premier series last year – in the first NASCAR Cup Series race held at Kentucky since the track’s heavily worn racing surface and layout were replaced

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POLE POSITION 2017

by not only a newly repaved surface but also a slight reconfiguration of Turns 1 and 2. Even so, Busch remains an unabashed fan of racing in the Bluegrass State.

“I love Kentucky,” Busch said. “It was special there in 2011, when we were able to win the first Cup race there, and it stayed that way during our win there last year [2015]. I look forward to going back every year.”

Busch’s winning history at Kentucky started way back at the tender age of 18 in that ARCA race.

“It’s a pretty challenging race track,” Busch said.

“It used to be a place that lends itself to different kinds of setups because it was so rough. Fast lap times at Kentucky come from momentum. The place is so round that there’s not a ton of banking compared to some other 1.5-milers. It’s all about how round the corners are and just being able to maintain corner speed and stay on the gas.”

NUMBER

18 INFO

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48

For many drivers, Dover International Speedway — universally regarded as one of NASCAR’s most demanding tracks — has long been a source of frustration and disappointment.

INFO For Jimmie Johnson, however, the 1-mile oval dubbed OWNER “The Monster Mile” has been the place where he’s RICK HENDRICK enjoyed by far the most success as a driver in NASCAR’s TEAM premier series. The seven-time NASCAR Monster Energy HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS NASCAR Cup Series champion’s 10 wins at Dover are not SPONSORS LOWE’S, KOBALT only a personal best; they’re a NASCAR record.

Nine victories are the most that any other driver has MANUFACTURER CHEVROLET claimed at the Delaware facility — which Johnson not CREW CHIEF surprisingly proclaims to be his favorite track. It turns out CHAD KNAUS that Johnson’s love affair with Dover predates his days in NASCAR’s premier series where entering the 2017 season he’d amassed 80 victories to go with his record-tying seven titles.

“The experience around Dover is so intense and so fun. I guess it’s the only track that we compete on that really reminds me of my motocross or off-road roots with the transitions into the corners and off the corners,” said Johnson, who swept the two annual Dover races in his rookie season of 2002. “I came here in an ASA car in maybe ’97-’98 and just fell in love with the track then and was very fast and competitive then. It’s stuck with me through the XFINITY Series and then to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series here.”

Johnson has even forgiven Dover for being the place that cost him a shot at the 2015 premier series championship due to a malfunctioning part on his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the track’s playoff elimination race that fall.

“That was human error,” Johnson said of the parts failure. “It was something that we did wrong as a race team and cost ourselves a shot at the championship when we were in the fall race. You’re going to have bad experiences at all tracks. People are going to make mistakes. Drivers are going to make mistakes even if it’s at their favorite track. It doesn’t matter. My love for this track … I fell in love with it on my first lap in an ASA car back in the ’90s, and it’s still just as cool now as it ever has been.”

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DRIVER PROFILES

PRE S E N T E D B Y

Joey Logano NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

NUMBER

22

Once asked to identify his favorite track, a grinning Joey Logano responded coyly: “My favorite track’s the next one.” While it may be true that Logano always considers the INFO next track on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedOWNER ule to be his “favorite,” there’s also no doubt that one track, ROGER PENSKE generally speaking, ranks above all others to the Team Penske TEAM TEAM PENSKE driver. That track is New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the site of his first premier series NASCAR victory back in 2009 and SPONSORS SHELL-PENNZOIL, AAA, the place that’s always served as a home track for the native AUTOTRADER of Middletown, Connecticut.

MANUFACTURER “I remember the first time I went to New Hampshire was in FORD 1997, when I was 7 years old,” Logano said in an article he CREW CHIEF TODD GORDON authored for the NASCAR Wire Service in 2015. “My family camped out by Turn 2, back there behind all the midway activities for the weekend. We were there for the weekend and watched the modified race, the Busch North race – at the time that’s what the K&N Pro Series East was called – and the Cup race. My family actually still has a photo album of the trip. I got pictures of the cars when they came out and practiced. Looking back on it, I guess that really was my first memory of NASCAR racing.”

On top of the sentimental component, Logano also has a good racing history at New Hampshire. In addition to his victory at NHMS in 2009 as a rookie driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, Logano won at NHMS in 2014 with his current team at Team Penske. In fact, four of Logano’s past five starts at NHMS have produced top-five finishes. As far as Logano is concerned, his second win at NHMS even surpasses his triumph in the 2015 Daytona 500.

“That win was hands down the coolest win of my career,” Logano told the NASCAR Wire Service. “The Daytona 500 was neat. I mean who doesn’t grow up wanting to be a race car driver and not want to win the Daytona 500? But the New Hampshire win beats it in my opinion. I think you can start to see why. For one, it’s my home track. Any win any driver gets at their home track is special.”

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DRIVER PROFILES

PRE S E N T E D B Y

Danica Patrick DAYTONA INT’L SPEEDWAY

Daytona International Speedway holds a special place in Danica Patrick’s heart like no other track on the NASCAR schedule.

How could it not? It was at the venerable 2.5-mile superspeedway in February 2013 that Patrick kicked off the season with a history-making run in the 55th Daytona 500. She rewrote the record books in becoming the first woman to win a NASCAR premier series pole when she set the fastest time in qualifying for the Daytona 500.

During that same edition of Daytona Speedweeks, Patrick also became the first female to lead NASCAR’s most prestigious race, as well as the first woman to lead a NASCAR race under greenflag conditions. At the end of the Daytona 500, Patrick found herself vying for a top-three finish until a group of cars lined up in the inside lane and powered by on the final lap, leaving her out of the draft. Patrick dropped to eighth before taking the checkered flag, but her result was still the best ever for a woman in The Great American Race.

Now, every time Patrick heads back to Daytona, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver can’t help but recall all the fond memories of Speedweeks 2013.

“I always like going there,” she said. “It’s where my

44

POLE POSITION 2017

NUMBER

first stock car start was in 2010 (in an ARCA race) and I actually have a lot of experience there. At the end of the day, you just need to be in the right place at the right time. A lot of it is out of your control.”

Entering this season, Daytona was the only track where Patrick had recorded multiple top-10 finishes. In addition to her eighth-place showing in the 2013 Daytona 500, Patrick also came home eighth at The World Center of Racing in July 2014.

“When I first started and all of the veterans didn’t like coming to the superspeedway, I was like, ‘Why? It’s exciting. It’s not that bad.’ Now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s because you crash most of the time,’ and I get it. It’s just the nature of this racing, but it’s exciting no doubt and it’s something I feel like the fans love watching it. I love watching it … [and] the opportunity that it presents.”

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DRIVER PROFILES

PRE S E N T E D B Y

Ty Dillon INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY Indianapolis Motor Speedway is arguably the most famous and revered race track in the world.

You certainly won’t get any argument about that from Ty Dillon.

It was at Indianapolis in July 2014 that Dillon, the youngest grandson of legendary team owner Richard Childress, notched his only victory in three years as a full-time NASCAR XFINITY Series driver.

And he did it in notable fashion, fending off a charge from premier series veteran Kyle Busch in the closing laps and claiming a $100,000 “Dash 4 Cash” bonus awarded by the series sponsor.

Prior to going to Victory Lane at the 2.5-mile rectangular track, Dillon had been winless in 30 XFINITY Series starts. He couldn’t have picked a more hallowed ground to break into the XFINITY Series win column than Indy, a track steeped in open-wheel and stock car glory that hosted its first race in 1909.

“It was one of the best moments of my racing career, one that I’ll never forget,” said Dillon, whose four NASCAR XFINITY Series starts at Indianapolis have produced as many top-10 finishes and an impressive average finish of 5.5. “I think the best part of that afternoon was having my family with me to enjoy the moment. They were all so excited and happy for our team. It was a great day all around; we won the race, the Dash 4 Cash bonus and we

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had a heck of a race car.”

Lining up second alongside Busch with just under 25 laps remaining, Dillon powered ahead on the restart and led the rest of the way despite serious concerns about running short on fuel. Dillon, then an XFINITY Series rookie, also spent the entire race in extreme heat after his cooling system malfunctioned at the start.

“Our car had good speed all weekend,” he recalled. “We got out front, man, and she unleashed.

It was awesome.”

After three full XFINITY Series seasons, Dillon has made the leap to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this year with Germain Racing. Although Dillon entered 2017 with 18 premier series starts already under his belt, none have been at Indianapolis. No doubt he’ll be ready to change that when the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to Indy in July for the prestigious Brickyard 400.

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DRIVER PROFILES

PRE S E N T E D B Y

A.J. Allmendinger WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL There is one track on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series tour where A.J. Allmendinger has an average finish that’s inside the top 10. There is also one track where the JTG Daugherty Racing driver has a race victory.

Not surprisingly, the latter and the former are one and the same — Watkins Glen International, one of two road courses on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

Allmendinger, who comes from an open-wheel racing background, has a clear advantage over much of the competition at the two road circuits visited each season by NASCAR’s premier series. All those laps on road courses have clearly paid off big for the “Dinger,” whose average finish at The Glen is a stout 9.4.

In eight starts at the fast, 2.45-mile road circuit, Allmendinger has collected five top-10 finishes and finished outside the top 15 just once.

“We all know at JTG Daugherty Racing that going into Watkins Glen if we go do our job, we are going to have a great chance to win this race,” Allmendinger said. “I know I believe in myself, and that’s what I have always loved about road course racing, is that the driver can make a difference. You still need a great car, but a driver can make more of

48

POLE POSITION 2017

NUMBER

a difference by braking a little later, driving it in just a little bit more, getting a little bit more out of the car, and I pride myself on that. When it comes time to do it, if we go do our job, we know we have a shot to win. And, if it’s meant to be and we go win, it’s the greatest feeling in the world.”

Allmendinger’s victory at Watkins Glen came in 2014 after he started sixth and led 29 of 90 laps.

The following season, he qualified on the pole at The Glen and led 21 laps but posted a career-worst Watkins Glen finish of 24th after running into trouble. With that disappointment in the rear-view mirror, everyone in the sport knows that Allmendinger’s best opportunity to get a win and punch his ticket into the playoffs comes when NASCAR visits the historic road course in Upstate New York.

“It’s no secret: I love this race track,” Allmendinger said. “I love road course racing.”

47 INFO

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Brandon Jones IOWA SPEEDWAY

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Now in just his second full season as a NASCAR OWNER RICHARD CHILDRESS XFINITY Series driver, Brandon Jones has yet to firmly TEAM establish one particular track as the place where he RICHARD CHILDRESS performs best. The closest thing to one is Iowa Speedway, RACING a popular seven-eighths-mile short track in Newton, Iowa, SPONSORS that the NASCAR XFINITY Series visits twice each year.

RAIN-X, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS, Jones has thus far made four starts at Iowa Speedway, ANDERSON’S MAPLE SYRUP posting as many top-20 finishes with a best finish of MANUFACTURER eighth. Meanwhile, over in the NASCAR Camping World CHEVROLET Truck Series, Jones has led in two of his three Iowa starts CREW CHIEF MIKE HILLMAN JR. and finished second in one of the 2015 races.

“The best way I can describe Iowa Speedway is that it drives like a mile-and-a-half track, but you also drive it like a short track,” said Jones, a 20-year-old Richard Childress Racing driver who qualified for the inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series playoff last season. “You can race around people and you don’t get aero-tight like you do at the mile-and-a-half tracks. It is very similar to the mile-and-a-half tracks because of the way the corners are banked and how you arc the car into the corners. That just fits my style for whatever reason. I’m still learning and picking things up about the mile-and-a-half tracks, but the short-track stuff we have figured out pretty well.”

Iowa Speedway is also the site of Jones’ lone trip to Victory Lane in 25 starts as a NASCAR K&N Pro Series East driver. That win came in 2014 and helped propel Jones to a fourth-place finish in the standings of the regional touring series. Jones also made an ARCA Racing Series start at Iowa Speedway in 2015, leading 31 laps on the way to an 11th-place finish.

“Iowa Speedway is the track on the NASCAR circuit I have been to the most,” Jones said. “I’ve been there in the past in the K&N Series, the Camping World Truck Series and ARCA as well, so I’ve been there plenty of times and have a really good feel for how to get around that track. I always look forward to getting back to Iowa Speedway. I think we can run inside the top five and hopefully get up there and contend for the win.”

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Terminology Drafting: When two or more cars are traveling either side-by-side or in a row, an aerodynamic advantage is created to increase speed. The practice is used mainly at larger tracks, such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, where restrictor plates on the engines limit the amount of horsepower the engines produce. With the restrictor plates, drafting comes into play as multiple cars draft in a pack, increasing the overall speed rather than running as if they would at non-restrictor plate tracks.

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WITH NASCAR DRIVER JOEY GASE

Joey Gase is a veteran of the NASCAR XFINITY Series garage area. Now, the 24-year-old Iowa native is ready to break into the top-tier of NASCAR. With the help of BK Racing, Gase plans to make at least three starts in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season.

What does it mean to you to have the guidance of such an established veteran like team owner Jimmy Means?

It is very cool. Jimmy has been around for pretty much ever.

Everyone in the garage knows Jimmy and a lot of people look up to him. He’s one of the few owners left who all they have ever done is race. A lot of the owners coming in were businessmen before and racing was a hobby they wanted to do.

Is it frustrating to struggle to run in the top 20?

All I could say is that it’s about sponsorship dollars. If we had the same money those guys did, we’d be near the top every week and probably beat those guys. We’ve learned a lot on how to get by without a lot of money.

It’s frustrating, but you have to remember there are only 40 teams out there every week and there are thousands of people dying to be in that position.

JOSEPH WOLKIN 50

POLE POSITION 2017

What is the biggest difference you’ve seen between driving a BK Racing Toyota and driving a Ford?

So far, it seems like Toyota helps BK a lot. They encourage them to do well, and when they do well, they reward them. It’s pretty cool to see how they do that. Ford helps out a little bit over at Go FAS, but from what I’ve seen so far Toyota is much more involved with BK Racing. It’s a good thing.

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MY RACE GIG Telling Ford’s Story When there’s information to be shared concerning Ford Motor Co. and its success in NASCAR racing, Dan Zacharias makes certain each member of the motorsports media has access to the details necessary for crafting their stories.

The Detroit native and transplant to nearby Warren, Michigan, served as an intern for the Detroit Pistons’ PR staff from 1986 to 1990 while attending Oakland University. After graduation, he worked as assistant sports information director at the University of Detroit before assuming a similar position at Wake Forest University.

A move to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and its public relations arm, Sports Marketing Enterprises, offered exposure to what is now known as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. At the start of the 1998 racing season, Zacharias became Ford’s NASCAR media relations manager through Campbell Marketing and Communications and he’s now in his 20th Cup Series season.

Whether it’s an executive from Ford, a driver or crew member with a team, NASCAR personnel or someone from the media, the job keeps Zacharias in communication with people in various roles within the sport.

In short, Zacharias tells Ford’s racing story – it’s past, present and future. He is a trusted and well respected, award-winning representative that everyone covering NASCAR relies on heavily, especially when quotes from drivers are vital.

“My job may entail pitching stories to writers and broadcasters or coordinating interviews with drivers and other team personnel,” Zacharias said. “My job is to help make the media’s job easier. It’s impossible for one writer or broadcaster to physically interview every driver following a race, so I view my role as one who searches out the key Ford story for that day and asks the key questions to tell that story.”

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POLE POSITION 2017

ACTION/REACTION ACTION: NASCAR drastically changed its format for the 2017 season, dividing races into stages that award points and make every lap important in the overall race distance.

There are three stages to every race. The top-10 drivers at the end of Stage 1 and Stage 2 are given points on a 10-through-1 scale. A break in the racing action comes after each segment. The third stage features the overall victory with traditional point scoring applied for that stage with 40 points to the winner.

The remainder of the field is scored on a 35-to-2 scale with positions 36th to 40 receiving one point.

Bonus points through the 26-race regular season can be used in the 10-race playoff.

Segment winners are

NEW SCHOOL VS. OLD SCHOOL FIRST RACE

interviewed during breaks between segments, giving fans the opportunity to get their thoughts on the action.

REACTION: Drivers and teams are very high on the new format and their promotion of the new format is universal among all of NASCAR’s top divisions.

As tracks announce the laps when segment breaks will come, crew chiefs from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Series are studying their strategies for each race on the schedule.

Following NASCAR’s announcement in January, fans steadily accepted the changes and look forward to NASCAR’s new race formats over the course of the season.

CHASE ELLIOTT NEW SCHOOL

BILL ELLIOTT OLD SCHOOL

MARCH 29, 2015 MARTINSVILLE

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Find these six items on the pages of this edition of NASCAR Pole Position.

Enter at polepositionmag.com to win!

FINE DINING On which page is there a delicious meatball?

WHO AM I? What is the first name of the driver who won the Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona this year?

HALL OF FAME How many individuals were nominated for the 2018 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction?

BUBBA BURGER How many BUBBA burger logos and product images appear in this edition?

HE’S SPEEDY How many races did Speedy Thompson win during the 1960 season?

BEST TRACK Where is Brandon Jones’ “best” track?

CAPTION CONTEST Tweet @nppmag with a photo caption for this picture. The winning submission will receive a lifetime subscription to NASCAR Pole Position magazine. The winner will be announced on Twitter. Good luck!

se the hints below to determine the identify of this NASCAR driver. Find the answer on the NASCAR Pole Position Facebook page.

1

I RACE IN THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES.

2

I AM THE YOUNGEST RACE WINNER IN NASCAR NATIONAL SERIES HISTORY.

3

I SET THE RECORD AS THE YOUNGEST POLE WINNER IN NATIONAL TOURING SERIES.

4

I RACE FOR STEWART-HAAS RACING.

5

I AM NOT YET 20 YEARS OLD.

NASCAR Trivia TEST YOUR RACING KNOWLEDGE WITH THESE SEVEN QUESTIONS!

1

Which track was the first to display the laps of a race counting down AND also counting up on two separate panels of the scoring tower?

A. Texas Motor Speedway B. Bristol Motor Speedway C. Charlotte Motor Speedway D. Kansas Speedway Which active driver – with a minimum of five starts – has the best average finish at Bristol Motor Speedway?

A. Kyle Busch B. Dale Earnhardt Jr. C. Kevin Harvick D. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

2

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POLE POSITION 2017

3

5 ANSWERS AT POLEPOSITION.COM

Who was the first driver to break the 200 mph barrier in a stock car at Talladega Superspeedway?

A. Bill Elliott B. Cale Yarborough C. Buddy Baker D. Dale Earnhardt Which track was the first modern superspeedway to host night racing?

A. Daytona International Speedway B. Talladega Superspeedway C. Charlotte Motor Speedway D. Richmond International Raceway

4

Which driver won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway on his 24th birthday in 2009?

A. Brad Keselowski B. Denny Hamlin C. Brian Vickers D. Kyle Busch Hollywood Casino overlooks which turn at Kansas Speedway?

A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4 What was the original name of the 2.66-mile track in Talladega, Ala.?

A. Talladega Raceway B. Talladega Motor Speedway C. Alabama International Motor Speedway D. Alabama Superspeedway

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Allmendinger Almirola Bayne Blaney Bowyer Buescher Cassill DiBenedetto Earnhardt Jr Elliott Hamlin Harvick Johnson Jones Kahne Kenseth Keselowski Larson Logano McDowell McMurray Menard Newman Patrick Ragan Stenhouse Jr Suarez Truex Jr Whitt AustinDillon KurtBusch KyleBusch TyDillon

WHOSE HELMET? ELLIOTT HAMLIN HARVICK JOHNSON JONES Identify the owner of each racing helmet. Find theKESELOWSKI KAHNE KENSETH answers on the NASCAR Pole Position Facebook page.

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POLE POSITION MAG.COM

55

NASCAR LEGENDS

21

“Tiny” Lund Dewayne “Tiny” Lund was known as one of the most jovial competitors in NASCAR competition. Sadly, the native of Harlan, Iowa, died in a multi-car crash at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway on Aug. 19, 1975.

Lund was born into a farming family. He raced motorcycles at a young age and then moved to four wheels in midgets and sprint cars. After military duty in the United States Air Force, he returned home and attended dirt-track events across the Midwest as a spectator and competitor. He quickly discovered he had a natural talent for driving a race car – and for winning races.

BEST SEASON

RECORD-SETTER

POLE POSITION 2017

AWARDS ■■ Daytona 500 winner, 1963 ■■ NASCAR Grand American Champion, 1968, 1970, 1971 ■■ NASCAR Grand National East Champion, 1973

JOVIAL DETERMINED

RESPECTED

OUTGOING

COMPETITIVE SMART

THE NO. 21 CAR

KNOWN FOR

IN 303 NASCAR starts, Lund logged five Cup Series victories, 54 top-five finishes, 119 top-10 results and six pole positions. He averaged 15.2 in starts and 15.6 in finishes in cars often considered strong enough to win. Even though he raced limited schedules, he was often in top rides during his two-decade career.

STANDING 6-FOOT-5 AND 270 pounds, Lund was one of the sport’s toughest competitors. In addition to NASCAR, he was a fan favorite in USAC, ARCA and the Pacific Coast Racing Association.

He won the NASCAR Grand American championship three times (1968, 1970 and 1971) and the NASCAR Grand National East championship in 1973.

BEN WHITE 56

BIRTHPLACE ■■ Harlan, Iowa

Lund’s first start in NASCAR’s premier series came on dirt in Lehi, Arkansas, on Oct. 9, 1955, where he was involved in a series of flips on lap 65 of the 200-lap race. He suffered bruises and a broken arm but soon returned to pursue his dream of becoming a winner in NASCAR. From 1956 to 1962, he logged 109 starts in NASCAR’s premier series, collecting 16 top-five finishes and 62 top-10 results with a variety of team owners, including Gus Holzmueller, A.L. Bumgarner, Petty Enterprises, Sam Rice and Bob Welborn, to name a few.

While at Daytona International Speedway in February 1963 without a ride, fate set the stage for the biggest victory of Lund’s 20-year career.

Marvin Panch of Wood Brothers Racing crashed while practicing for the upcoming American Challenge Cup race. The NASCAR star’s Ford-powered Maserati landed upside down and burst into flames. Lund ran to Panch’s aid and helped pull him from the wreckage. As a reward for his heroism, Lund filled in for the injured Panch in the Daytona 500 and won the race.

Lunda was voted most popular driver four times, was elected to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994 and was included on the list of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

A REALLY GOOD GUY. BUT YOU DIDN’T WANT TO GET HIM MAD AT YOU. HE WAS BUILT LIKE A BULL. IF HE HIT YOU, THE LIGHTS WENT OUT. – MARVIN PANCH

LUND, A journeyman part-time racer in NASCAR, scored his biggest victory in the 1963 Daytona 500 while using only one set of tires.

The No. 21 Wood Brothers Mercury he piloted as a replacement for the injured Marvin Panch was strong while leading the final 17 of 200 laps.

BIRTHDATE ■■ Nov. 14, 1929

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RACE REWIND Underdog Scenario The 1960 season featured a popular underdog who battled for a championship against the sport’s top teams. When the dust settled, a new champion was crowned.

The 1960 NASCAR season actually started with two races in late 1959 and featured a total of 44 events on a variety of tracks, including both paved and dirt short tracks along with a pair of new 1.5-mile speedways, as the sport began to expand its horizons.

The Chevrolets fielded by General Motors won 20 of the 44 races, including the Daytona 500, Charlotte’s new World 600 and the series championship. Ford drivers won 15 races, while Chrysler’s conservative effort logged nine total victories for its drivers.

The intensely competitive field of drivers included Rex White, in the No. 4 Chevrolet he owned, and rising star Richard Petty, part of the powerful Petty Enterprises operation. White, a native of Taylorsville, North Carolina, and Petty, of Level Cross, North Carolina, were involved in an interesting battle for the series championship.

White’s lone career NASCAR title came through consistent finishes, highlighted by victories in Montgomery, Alabama; Weaverville, North Carolina; Martinsville, Virginia; North Wilkesboro, North Carolina; and twice in Columbia, South Carolina. He accumulated 25 top-five finishes and 35 top-10 results.

After a long year full of triumphs and occasional setbacks, White was crowned the 1960 champion after finishing fifth in the season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Petty’s three victories came on short tracks in Martinsville, Virginia; Hillsboro, North Carolina; and the fairgrounds oval in Charlotte, North Carolina. His 16 top-five results and 30 top-10 finishes were not quite as strong as the numbers amassed by White. Petty’s season-long tally of 17,228 points fell 3,936 short of White’s 21,164.

1960

SEASON RECAP DATE CIRCUIT Nov. 8, 1959 Charlotte Fairgrounds Nov. 26, 1959 Columbia Speedway Feb. 12, 1960 Daytona International Speedway Feb. 12 Daytona International Speedway Feb. 14 Daytona International Speedway Feb. 28 Charlotte Fairgrounds March 27 North Wilkesboro Speedway April 3 Arizona State Fairgrounds April 5 Columbia Speedway April 10 Martinsville Speedway April 15 Hickory Speedway April 17 Wilson Speedway April 18 Bowman Gray Stadium April 23 Greenville-Pickens Speedway April 24 Asheville-Weaverville Speedway May 14 Darlington Raceway May 28 Hub City Speedway May 29 Orange Speedway June 5 Richmond International Raceway June 12 Marchbanks Speedway June 19 Charlotte Motor Speedway June 26 Bowman Gray Stadium July 4 Daytona International Speedway July 10 Heidelberg Stadium July 17 Montgomery Air Base July 23 Rambi Raceway July 31 Atlanta Motor Speedway Aug. 3 Dixie Speedway Aug. 7 Fairgrounds Speedway Aug. 14 Asheville-Weaverville Speedway Aug. 16 Hub City Speedway Aug. 18 Columbia Speedway Aug. 20 South Boston Speedway Aug. 23 Bowman Gray Stadium Sept. 5 Darlington Raceway Sept. 9 Hickory Speedway Sept. 11 Sacramento Fairgrounds Sept. 15 Gamecock Speedway Sept. 18 Orange Speedway Sept. 25 Martinsville Speedway Oct. 2 North Wilkesboro Speedway Oct. 16 Charlotte Motor Speedway Oct. 23 Richmond International Raceway Oct. 30 Atlanta Motor Speedway

WINNER Jack Smith Ned Jarrett Fireball Roberts Jack Smith Junior Johnson Richard Petty Lee Petty John Rostek Rex White Richard Petty Joe Weatherly Joe Weatherly Glen Wood Ned Jarrett Lee Petty Joe Weatherly Ned Jarrett Lee Petty Lee Petty Marvin Porter Joe Lee Johnson Glen Wood Jack Smith Lee Petty Rex White Buck Baker Fireball Roberts Ned Jarrett Johnny Beauchamp Rex White Cotton Owens Rex White Junior Johnson Glen Wood Buck Baker Junior Johnson Jim Cook Ned Jarrett Richard Petty Rex White Rex White Speedy Thompson Speedy Thompson Bobby Johns

PRESIDENT: JOHN F. KENNEDY TOP NEWS: AUG. 25: 1960 OLYMPICS OPEN IN ROME, ITALY MARCH 3: ELVIS PRESLEY RETURNS TO U.S. AFTER MILITARY SERVICE NO. 1 SONG: “THEME FROM A SUMMER PLACE,” PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA

TOP CARS REX WHITE, in the No 4. Impala sponsored by Nalley Chevrolet, collected six victories, 25 topfive finishes and 35 top-10 results in 40 starts.

RICHARD PETTY, driving the No. 43 Petty Enterprises Plymouth, amassed three wins, 15 top-five results and 30 top-10 finishes in 40 starts.

BEN WHITE 58

POLE POSITION 2017

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BEST DRIVER REX WHITE WON THE 1960 MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR Cup Series championship by wheeling the gold-and-white No. 4 Chevrolets he and crew chief Louis Clements constructed with financial support from various sponsors that kept White’s fledgling team in business.

White was consistent everywhere he raced, often finishing among the lead cars as he posted six victories, 25 top-five results and 35 top-10 finishes. At 5-foot-4, White bested all other drivers by capturing NASCAR’s top honor.

BEST RACE DRIVING A 1960 CHEVROLET SORELY LACKING IN HORSEPOWER, JUNIOR JOHNSON won the Daytona 500 after discovering how to draft other cars. After being pulled to the front by faster cars, Johnson took the lead with eight laps remaining when the rear window blew out of Bobby Johns’ car and he spun. Johnson, a moonshiner from Wilkes County, North Carolina, picked up the ride in John Masoni’s car just eight days before the race.

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Designed for the ultimate in quality, portability and convenience, these models are ideal for tailgating, camping or any trip to the great outdoors. Honda is proud to support several teams such as Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Stewart-Haas Racing, Kyle Busch Motorsports, Red Horse Racing and Rev Racing with EU series generator products that provide smooth, reliable power for their racing needs.

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POLE POSITION 2017

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11 GOOF OFF

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Chicken Poop is crafted from the kind of earthfriendly, all-natural ingredients you want to put on your skin. Its raw zaniness inspires the kind of grin you love to put on your face. Chicken Poop contains only six ingredients: Avocado oil, jojoba, sweet orange, lavender essential oil, bees wax, and Vitamin E. In business for more than 16 years, we seek to make only the best, high-quality products, while also being environmentally responsible with our packaging, our business practices and in our own lifestyles. Peace, Love and Chicken Poop!

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POLE POSITION MAG.COM

61

DRIVER SPOTLIGHT XFINITY SERIES

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

BLAKE KOCH

KAZ GRALA

Blake Koch knows all too well about the start-and-park life of a NASCAR racer. But now, thanks to team founder Matt Kaulig and his bold vision, the 30-year-old Koch is in the midst of his third consecutive full season in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

“It’s going to be tough, but I’m all about setting big goals,” Koch said. “Matt Kaulig is all about goals. Set big goals and work your butt off to reach those goals. I’m actually sitting in my office right now and I wrote on my board: Get a pole and win a race.

Those are two things I really want to get, Lord willing.”

During the team’s inaugural season in 2016, there were no expectations other than to race. Crew chief and general manager Chris Rice wanted results right off the bat and that is exactly what happened.

As Koch and company persevered through the trials and tribulations of assembling a new team, they roared through the first set of playoffs in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, nearly making it to the championship round at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

With a year’s worth of experience and data on hand, there are high expectations for this season – thanks largely to the team’s alliance with Richard Childress Racing.

“My expectations are to progress as a team, do better as a driver, get better communication between Chris [Rice, crew chief] and I and make our team look better,” Koch said. “We need to strive to be better, and that’s what we are going to do.”

With a rookie campaign comes plenty of pressure, especially when joining an organization that is coming off a championship run.

That was what 18-year-old Kaz Grala faced to start the new season when he signed to join GMS Racing for the full NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule. Now, settling into his No. 33 ride, expectations are growing.

“I’m always my harshest critic,” Grala said. “I always put more pressure on myself than anybody else is. I want to do my best and see what I can do. This is my first year at the NASCAR national level. I’m excited to see where it could possibly take me.”

Grala earned his full-time ride after posting three top-10 finishes in his first nine races with GMS Racing a year ago, with a best result of seventh at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

But before he landed at GMS, he drove for Ben Kennedy Racing in the K&N Pro Series East for nearly two years.

Eventually, he ended up with a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ride thanks to Kennedy.

“Marcus Richmond, the crew chief for Timothy Peters at the time, was going for a test at Martinsville and asked if I’d test the truck and drive it for them,” Grala said. “When he got over to GMS, he saw the facilities and the people they have there and how they were working and he said, ‘Kaz, you have to come here and check this out. It might be a good place for you.’”

CAREER STATS Koch recorded his first career top-10 finish last year in the season opener at Daytona and then added four additional top-10 runs on the season. In his sixth year of running at least 23 NASCAR XFINITY Series races, he earned his best average finish of 16.9.

CAREER STATS Grala never won a K&N Pro Series East race in two-and-a-half seasons.

However, he finished seventh in the standings in back-to-back years, posting 12 top-five finishes in 38 career starts. When he moved to the Truck Series part time in 2015, he earned three top-10 results in nine races.

JOSESPH WOLKIN 62

POLE POSITION 2017

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2017 SCHEDULES

GETTY IMAGES MONSTERY ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES Feb. 18 Feb. 23 Feb. 26 March 5 March 12 March 19 March 26 April 2 April 9 April 23 April 30 May 7 May 13 May 20 May 28 June 4 June 11 June 18 June 25 July 1 July 8 July 16 July 23 July 30 Aug. 6 Aug. 13 Aug. 19 Sept. 3 Sept. 9 Sept. 17 Sept. 24 Oct. 1 Oct. 7 Oct. 15 Oct. 22 Oct. 29 Nov. 5 Nov. 12 Nov. 19

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway Phoenix International Raceway Auto Club Speedway Martinsville Speedway Texas Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway Richmond International Raceway Talladega Superspeedway Kansas Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway Dover International Speedway Pocono Raceway Michigan International Speedway Sonoma Raceway Daytona International Speedway Kentucky Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pocono Raceway Watkins Glen International Michigan International Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway Darlington Raceway Richmond International Raceway Chicagoland Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway Dover International Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway Talladega Superspeedway Kansas Speedway Martinsville Speedway Texas Motor Speedway Phoenix International Raceway Homestead-Miami Speedway

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES Feb. 25 March 4 March 11 March 18 March 25 April 8 April 22 April 29 May 6 May 27 June 3 June 10 June 17 June 24 June 30 July 7 July 15 July 22 July 29 Aug. 5 Aug. 12 Aug. 18 Aug. 27 Sept. 2 Sept. 8 Sept. 16 Sept. 23 Sept. 30 Oct. 6 Oct. 21 Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18

Daytona International Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway Phoenix International Raceway Auto Club Speedway Texas Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway Richmond International Raceway Talladega Superspeedway Charlotte Motor Speedway Dover International Speedway Pocono Raceway Michigan International Speedway Iowa Speedway Daytona International Speedway Kentucky Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway Iowa Speedway Watkins Glen International Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Bristol Motor Speedway Road America Darlington Raceway Richmond International Raceway Chicagoland Speedway Kentucky Speedway Dover International Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway Kansas Speedway Texas Motor Speedway Phoenix International Raceway Homestead-Miami Speedway

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES Feb. 24 March 4 April 1 May 12 May 19 June 2 June 9 June 17 June 23 July 6 July 19 July 29

Daytona International Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway Martinsville Speedway Kansas Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway Dover International Speedway Texas Motor Speedway Gateway Motorsports Park Iowa Speedway Kentucky Speedway Eldora Speedway Pocono Raceway

Aug. 12 Aug. 16 Sept. 3 Sept. 15 Sept. 23 Sept. 30 Oct. 14 Oct. 28 Nov. 3 Nov. 10 Nov. 17

Michigan International Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Chicagoland Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway Talladega Superspeedway Martinsville Speedway Texas Motor Speedway Phoenix International Raceway Homestead-Miami Speedway

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GOT YOUR NUMBER Numbers drive NASCAR in many different ways. Here are the stories behind two iconic numbers.

21 5

HENDRICK’S FLAGSHIP NUMBER

CLASSIC WOOD BROTHERS Wood Brothers Racing patriarch Glen Wood began his NASCAR career as a driver in 1953; five years after William H.G. France founded the stock car sanctioning body.

Beginning in 1964, Wood turned his Fords over to a long list of iconic drivers. The elite fraternity includes Marvin Panch, Tiny Lund, A.J. Foyt, Cale Yarborough and David Pearson, to name only a very few. All told, Wood’s Fords have won 98 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, including five Daytona 500s.

Glen Wood’s brother and longtime NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Leonard Wood recalled how the No. 21 was chosen.

“Very early on, we used No. 50 and No. 16,” Leonard Wood said. “A Modified at Spartanburg, South Carolina, was running fast so we put 22 on it. We built a second car and put 21 on that car. When we started running convertibles, we got the car Fireball Roberts raced and it had 22 on it. Sometimes the hardtops ran with the convertibles but the hardtops got first preference and someone had 22. So we ran the number 21 and left it.

“That is until 7-Eleven sponsored our car [in 1985-86 with driver Kyle Petty], they wanted the No. 7 on our car. That was OK because we had the No. 7 on the right door, 7 on the left door and 7 on the top and that added up to 21.”

Over the past 32 years, Hendrick Motorsports has collected 13 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championships and more than 240 series victories through the amazing talents of some of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.

It all began in January 1984 when the team, then known as All Star Racing, built two Chevrolet Monte Carlos in a modest shop near Charlotte Motor Speedway. Led by Harry Hyde, a hard-core, old-school championship crew chief that knew how to win, five employees worked night and day to assemble those cars.

In 1977, Hyde won two NASCAR Cup Series races with the No. 5 of the sides of Dodges driven by Neil Bonnett and he chose it again in 1984 for his new driver, Geoff Bodine. With very little sponsorship, Bodine visited victory lane at Martinsville Speedway, Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee, and on the road course in Riverside, California, during the team’s inaugural season.

“Harry was emphatic about having a single-digit number, and 5 was the only one, I think, available at the time,” Rick Hendrick said. “He just wanted a single-digit number.

“Man, it’s hard to believe when you go up on the hill and you look at that little tin building and think about the fact that I actually was renting transmissions, rear-ends, equipment, everything from Harry. Randy Dorton was next door, and he did the engines.

That was the most low-buck deal that you could imagine.”

Hendrick Motorsports has also won numerous Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races with the numbers 17, 24, 25 and 48.

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