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preseasonthunder_JimmieJohnsonJohnson said the NASCAR’s rules package remains the “hot topic” for the Drivers’ Council that met with NASCAR officials for the first time last weekend at Dover.

He says that although NASCAR has “lots of simulation and technology” to determine how cars will respond and compete on track, “we (the drivers) are living it inside the car. We just want to make sure our voice is heard and that the people that make the decisions know what is really going on in the car.”

Although Johnson is not one of the eight driver representative, Earnhardt is.

“I think it’s awesome because you’ve got all the NASCAR guys (together) that you want five minutes with,” Earnhardt said. “Everybody’s in the room to work together and everybody wants the same things – a healthy sport, racing as good as it can be and as safe as it can be.”

One thing Earnhardt doesn’t think will be left up to the drivers is changes to the race schedule. He sees that as a matter left to NASCAR’s governing body, teams owners and tracks. “I don’t expect to be in that conversation,” he said.

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2014nscsportraits_haas_childers_harvick_120414Stewart-Haas Racing Signs Crew Chief
Rodney Childers to Multiyear Contract Extension

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (June 5, 2015) – Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has signed crew chief Rodney Childers to a multiyear contract extension, maintaining the successful pairing with 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.

In his inaugural season as crew chief for Harvick and the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team in 2014, Childers oversaw an outfit that won five races, scored eight poles and led 2,137 laps en route to the championship. The Childers-led squad became only the third Sprint Cup team to lead more than 2,000 laps in a single year since 2000, and of the 24 track qualifying records set during the 2014 season, the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team accounted for six of them. No other team had more than four.

Childers and Harvick haven’t let up in 2015. They have a commanding lead in the championship point standings 13 races into the season thanks to two wins, nine top-two finishes and 12 top-10 finishes. They’ve also led 1,123 laps this season, or 25.99 percent of the laps available. The next closest driver in laps led this season is Harvick’s SHR teammate Kurt Busch, who has led 659 laps in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS.

“Rodney Childers and Kevin Harvick set a new standard of excellence in 2014 that they’ve carried into this season. Keeping Rodney and Kevin together was a high priority, and we’re obviously very happy to have the two of them at Stewart-Haas Racing for many years to come,” said Tony Stewart, co-owner of SHR with Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation, the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America.

“I’ve always believed in investing in exceptional, individual leaders and then providing the resources necessary for them to pave their own path and deliver results. Rodney’s results speak for themselves, and we’re glad to have him helping this organization shape its future,” Haas said.

“I knew when I came to Stewart-Haas Racing that this was a special opportunity,” Childers said. “Kevin’s skills have always been evident, and his hunger and desire to be the absolute best he can be in every practice, qualifying session and race motivates our entire team. We have great leadership at Stewart-Haas Racing along with a deep commitment toward success, excellent people and strong partners. If you want to win, this is where you want to be, and I’m happy to be here for a long time.”

Childers is a native North Carolinian who turns 39 on June 7.

About Stewart-Haas Racing:
Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team co-owned by three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The team fields four entries in the elite Sprint Cup Series – the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart, the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet for Danica Patrick, the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick and the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Kurt Busch. Based in Kannapolis, North Carolina, Stewart-Haas Racing operates out of a 200,000-square-foot facility with approximately 280 employees. For more information, please visit us on the Web at http://www.StewartHaasRacing.com, on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/StewartHaasRacing, on Twitter @StewartHaasRcng and on Instagram @StewartHaasRacing

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during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 9, 2015 in Kansas City, Kansas.
during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 9, 2015 in Kansas City, Kansas.

The comforting term “It’s still early” doesn’t really apply anymore – not when discussing opportunities to lock into the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Thirteen down, 13 to go. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season officially reached its midpoint as the checkered flag dropped at Dover to give Jimmie Johnson his series-leading fourth victory of the season.

It was a storyline-rich first half…

· Nine different drivers have won a race, all but locking up a spot in the Chase.

· Kevin Harvick opened the season with five consecutive finishes of second or better. Dating to the end of the 2014 season, Harvick cobbled together a string of eight consecutive top-two finishes, the longest streak since 1975.

· Johnson is closing in on a hallowed NASCAR number – 76. That’s Dale Earnhardt’s career win total, which currently is good for seventh on the all-time list. Johnson’s four wins thus far puts his career total at 74.

· After a rough 2014, Martin Truex Jr. is in the midst of a career-year. Though still searching for his first victory, Truex is second in the points and is on pace to obliterate his career-high of 19 top-10 finishes. He currently has 12.

· Through 13 races, there have been a total of 55,701 green flag passes, the second-highest total through 13 races since the inception of loop data in 2005.

Each manufacturer – Chevrolet, Toyota and Ford – has at least two victories.

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pocono_080314_larsonpoleKyle Larson ended a four-race top-10 drought with a season-best third-place showing last Sunday at Dover International Speedway.

The No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet driver has struggled after entering the season with high expectations stemming from his strong 2014 campaign in which he earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.

But maybe Dover is the turning point he can build momentum from.

Larson returns to Pocono Raceway – the site of his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Award – for Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners’” 400 as a legitimate threat to visit Victory Lane. He placed fifth at the Tricky Triangle after winning the pole last June and earned an 11th-place finish there last August.

Through 13 races, Larson ranks 20th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings and has accumulated one top-five and four top-10 finishes. He missed the Martinsville race in March after he fainted at the end of an autograph session the day before.

Last year, Larson finished 17th in the final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings on the strength of eight top fives and 17 top 10s.

If Larson takes the checkered flag this weekend at Pocono, he would become the first graduate of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program and the NASCAR Next initiative to win at the sanctioning body’s top level.

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Kobalt 400 - PracticeAh, how times have changed.

Just last spring, Martin Truex Jr. had to be content with a ninth-place finish at Pocono, the second of only five top-10 finishes he would collect the entire season. This year, however, a mere top-10 showing will fall short of the satisfaction No. 78 is searching for at Pocono.

Currently second in the points standings, Truex is having a standout season by any standard of measure. In 13 starts, he’s finished outside of the top-10 only once, including a stretch of seven straight top 10s to start the season. He has already led more laps in 2015 (389) than he has in all but two total seasons throughout his 12-year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, and more than any driver this year not named Kevin Harvick (1,123), Kurt Busch (659) or Joey Logano (464).

Although the most important column on Truex’s stat sheet remains empty (he hasn’t won since Sonoma in 2013), history suggests he’ll eventually reap the rewards of running up front as long as he can keep up the pace. In the past 25 seasons, only one driver (Jeff Gordon, 2010) has finished a full season top-four in laps led without having a win to show for it.