NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
#Se7en: A Jimmie Johnson Story
It includes Jimmie Johnson instead of Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, but for the next three weeks, NASCAR fans will be treated to another star-studded tale called #Se7en.

With his victory at Martinsville Speedway, Jimmie Johnson clinched the first berth in the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Sunday, Nov. 20, 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC) where he will attempt to tie NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty with a record seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

The win in the Round of 8 opener gives Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team a strategic advantage because it can focus strictly on building a car for Homestead – a place where Johnson has never won. He has placed runner-up at the South Florida track twice (2004 and 2010).

In the meantime, Johnson can help himself even more by winning the upcoming races – Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC) and the Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (Sunday, Nov. 13, 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC). By visiting Victory Lane in those events, Johnson can block automatic berths in the Championship 4 from two drivers on the outside looking in who have had success at Homestead in their careers – Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards.

Harvick (7.2) and Edwards (9.5) claim the top-two all-time average finishes at Homestead. Harvick finished runner-up at the 1.5-mile track last year after winning the championship with a visit to Victory Lane there in 2014. In 15 starts at Homestead, Harvick boasts seven top fives and 13 top 10s. Edwards has won at Homestead twice (2008, 2010). In 12 starts there, he claims two wins, five top fives and seven top 10s.

Johnson is the favorite to visit Victory Lane in the Lone Star State. He has won five of the past eight races at TMS, including the last four fall races.

Johnson gave a coy answer when asked about his strategy for the next two races, saying, “Just the big takeaway for us over these next two weeks could be momentum. If we can run up front or win again, I mean, that’s just huge momentum for the team. That’s the big thing we have that could work for us going to Homestead.”
If Johnson wins his seventh championship his 543 starts would be less than Earnhardt’s 676 to achieve the feat and Petty’s 1,184.

November 4, 2016

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Tex. – The suddenness of the accident took Kyle Busch by surprise.

And an hour later, with work complete on a backup car, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team was still feeling the aftershock.

Busch hadn’t completed a lap in opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice when his Toyota chattered over the bumps in Turn 3 at Texas Motor Speedway and smacked the outside wall.

“We got into Turn 3, and the car felt great, loaded up really good,” Busch said. “Got back to the throttle, and then got to the bumps that are over there in (Turns) 3 and 4 and felt like it bottomed out a little bit and kind of got me up the track. And then from there, the whole car just kind of came out of the track and I got loose and couldn’t get it checked up or slowed down before it slapped the wall.

“Speeds are really high here at Texas, and when you lose that grip, typically it happens in a hurry and just kind of got away from me there. Wish that I would have had maybe taken it a little easy, but I really wasn’t even trying that hard, to be honest with you. Just kind of a shock that that happened.”

Busch had time for only four laps with the backup car before practice ended, and he posted the 22nd fastest speed at 193.002 mph.

With ample time to practice the car on Saturday, however, Busch doesn’t feel that using a backup will have a major effect on his chances in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC).

“As far as going to backup cars, in years past I haven’t had that situation happen to me ever–I don’t think I have ever crashed on the first lap of getting out there on the race track before,” Busch said.

“We’ve right-sided cars before here or there, and I always had a running joke with one of our guys at the body shop that comes to the race track on Sundays, that anytime he has to put a right side wrap on a car, it meant good things. Going to a backup car, I don’t think it is going to hurt us any.”

Busch currently is fourth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, four points ahead of Joey Logano in fifth. After the Nov. 13 race at Phoenix, the Chase field will be cut from eight to four drivers.

Matt Tifft 2017 XFINITY Series Program Confirmed with Joe Gibbs Racing
NASCAR NEXT Class Participant Overcomes Health Trials to Earn Full-Season Opportunity
JGR Introduces Matt Beckman as 2017 XFINITY Series Crew Chief

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (November 4, 2016) – Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announces today Ohio-native Matt Tifft will pilot a Toyota Camry full-time in 2017, across all 33 races of the NASCAR XFINITY Series. The 20-year old rookie, a part-time driver currently in the Joe Gibbs Racing stable, who accomplished his first top-five result and first pole-qualifying run in only nine races in 2016, has now earned a larger opportunity to compete in NASCAR’s XFINIY series, appropriately themed “Names are Made Here.”

Tifft has run a limited schedule in both the XFINITY Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series over the last three seasons, making a combined 31-career starts. In these early stages of his career Tifft has recorded one top-five and eight top-10 finishing spots in the Camping World Tuck Series and one top-five, five top-10 finishes and a pole-qualifying position in the XFINITY Series. Tifft has also recorded time in NASCAR’s K&N Pro West, K&N Pro East and ARCA Series and the X-1R Pro Cup Series.

Tifft made his first career XFNITY Series start and first entry with JGR at Kentucky Speedway in 2015 earning an impressive 10th-place finish in his debut.

His racing career would take a detour in 2016 when in June of this year a low-grade glioma in his brain was discovered during routine evaluations for some back pain. In July the young driver had surgery to remove the benign tumor and began rehabilitation. By August the strong rookie was working his way back to driving a consumer vehicle and in September he returned to NASCAR competition with the Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland (Ill.) Speedway. One week later he was back with JGR in the XFINITY Series at Kentucky Speedway, ironically the same track where he accomplished his initial series start. Tifft’s fast return from brain surgery to on-track racing yielded 12th place and fifth-place results respectively. The Kentucky run was Tifft’s first top-five finish of his young XFINITY Series career.

“It has been an incredible year and I am honored to have the opportunity to continue working with Joe Gibbs Racing in the 2017 season. I’ve always wanted the chance to contend for a championship with the Chase for the Championship program, I am thrilled to be with JGR and know they will be instrumental in my career. Through my health challenges this year and while I have continued to learn and improve my driving skills, Coach Gibbs, the staff, and veteran drivers here have mentored me and I look forward to the opportunity to be around them now for a full season,” remarked an appreciative Tifft.

In addition, JGR announces that Matt Beckman will serve as crew chief for Tifft and team in 2017. Beckman currently serves as the race engineer under crew chief Mike Wheeler with the No. 11 Sprint Cup Series Toyota team. Beckman joined JGR in 2007 as an engineer with the race team support group and was promoted to manager of the group in 2014 before becoming race engineer on the No. 19 Sprint Cup Series Toyota team in 2015. He holds an undergraduate degree from Michigan Tech and earned his master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for me and I’m excited to work with Matt (Tifft),” said Beckman. “Joe Gibbs Racing has had incredible success for many years now in the XFINITY Series and I know the organization takes immense pride in those accomplishments. You don’t have to look any further than JGR’s Cup Series crew chief lineup to realize the tradition they established at JGR and I’m honored to become a part of it starting next season.”

Tifft’s 2016 XFINITY Series schedule afforded him the opportunity to compete in eight races to date, which yielded one top-five, four top-10 finishes, a first pole capture and 23 laps led. The rookie has two scheduled races remaining on the 2016 XFINITY Series schedule, this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and in two weeks at the season-ending Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.

Tifft further described next year’s opportunity, “I am very excited to work with a new crew chief and look forward to building on my race experience alongside Matt (Beckman). I know I have two more races to finish this year, but 2017 is right around the corner, and I can’t wait to get started in Daytona!”

JGR has history of developing young drivers with Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez most recently achieving success in their program.

“We look forward to continued development with Matt (Tifft) over this next race season,” said Executive Vice President of XFINITY Series Operations and Development Steve DeSouza. “He’s shown strength through adversity and a strong willingness to advance his performance level for a long-term career in racing. JGR has enjoyed watching young drivers such as Erik (Jones) and Daniel (Suarez) move through our system and build experience that is yielding them positive results on the racetrack. With the championship caliber NASCAR Sprint Cup Series programs, drivers and personnel to draw from here, these young competitors continue to grow. I know Matt will take full advantage of this continued opportunity.”

When he’s not improving his race skills to become a veteran NASCAR driver, Tifft is also a second-year student at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, as a business management major.

Primary sponsorship across the 33 designated races with Tifft and the assigned car number will be further developed and announced at a later date.

Michael Annett and Pilot Flying J to Join JR Motorsports in 2017
JRM Expanding Lineup to Four Full-Time Teams in NXS Competition

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Nov. 4, 2016) – JR Motorsports will expand its NASCAR Xfinity Series program to four full-time teams in 2017, as the Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned company has signed a multi-year agreement with driver Michael Annett and Pilot Flying J, the largest operator of travel centers and travel plazas in North America. Annett will compete full-time for an NXS championship with JRM’s No. 5 Pilot Flying J entry next year.

A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Annett will join a 2017 JRM roster that already includes full-season drivers Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier, and rookie William Byron. JR Motorsports will run a fifth car, the No. 88 entry, in select races with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne.

“What a great opportunity it is to bring Michael and Pilot Flying J on board with JR Motorsports,” said Kelley Earnhardt Miller, general manager of JR Motorsports. “To expand our presence in the NASCAR Xfinity Series truly shows the commitment JRM and our sponsors have made to the series. By partnering with Pilot Flying J, all the pieces are in place to run four competitive, full-time cars for a championship next year. We’re confident this will make our organization even stronger.”

A partnership with Pilot Flying J is familiar territory for Annett, who has been aligned with the Knoxville, Tenn.-based company and its more than 650 retail locations since he first entered the NASCAR scene in 2008. In that time, Pilot Flying J has supported Annett in each of NASCAR’s top three series.

“Pilot Flying J is excited to continue our long-standing relationship with Michael,” said Ken Parent, president of Pilot Flying J. “We look forward to working with JRM and wish Michael the best of luck and success in the 2017 season.”

The 30-year-old Annett will make his return to NXS competition after a three-year stint in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He previously competed as an NXS regular from 2009 through 2012, finishing a career-best fifth in the championship standings in 2012 and totaling 34 top-10 finishes.

“I’m excited for this opportunity with JR Motorsports,” said Annett. “Dale Jr. and Kelley have done a great job building this organization. They have put the right people in place and have a championship to their name. I look forward to joining them and competing for wins and a championship next season in the Xfinity Series.”

Additional details surrounding crew duties on the No. 5 Pilot Flying J team will be announced at a later date.