NASCAR Podcast
SHOW #379 – Guest: Contender Round Drivers – We recap the horror that was Dover since Jimmie was knocked out of The Chase, Kerry is in the corner sobbing for the foreseeable future, Does Roush-Fenway dole out the good cars?, Dale Jr. gets spiffy 2016 paint, Petty goes Ford from Ford, $5 part costs the 48 team millions, plus a full Charlotte preview. Hosted by Toby Christie and Kerry Murphey
( Roughly 48:00 mins)
BUSCH RETURNS TO RACING IN 2016 AS SPONSOR OF
DRIVER KEVIN HARVICK AND NO. 4 TEAM OF STEWART-HAAS RACING
Storied Brand to Engage with Fans “Earning It” at Racetracks Nationwide
and Launch @BuschBeer Twitter Handle
Concord, N.C. (Oct. 8, 2015) – Busch announced today that the brand will return to NASCAR, reigniting its storied history in the sport by sponsoring Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 team of Stewart-Haas Racing for select races beginning with the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
Busch, Busch Light and other special-edition Busch paint schemes will be featured on Harvick’s No. 4 Chevrolet SS for 12 races in 2016. The iconic Busch logo will first appear on the hood for the Feb. 13 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. Formerly known as the Busch Clash, this non-points exhibition race helped kick-start the brand’s involvement with NASCAR 36 years ago. Additional races will be determined shortly after NASCAR releases the 2016 Sprint Cup schedule.
“Busch’s NASCAR roots go back to 1978 and we’re thrilled to reconnect with these passionate fans that identify with our ‘Here’s to Earning It’ message on a daily basis,” said Chelsea Phillips, Director of Value Brands, Anheuser-Busch. “Kevin and the entire No. 4 team have been tremendous partners for Anheuser-Busch since 2011 and we have exciting plans to engage with the NASCAR community both on and off the track nationwide in 2016.”
Harvick has represented Budweiser since 2011, and in 2014 he and Budweiser moved to Stewart-Haas Racing. In their inaugural season with the team co-owned by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, Harvick made five trips to victory lane and won the 2014 Sprint Cup championship.
The Busch brand, along with its current tagline “Here’s to Earning It,” has a time-honored tradition of rewarding hard-working men and women who “earn it” every day, which aligns perfectly with the NASCAR fan base.
“Busch beer belongs in NASCAR,” said Harvick, a winner of 31 Sprint Cup races, eight of which have come with Stewart-Haas Racing. “The entire Stewart-Haas Racing team and I can’t wait to have the Busch logo on the No. 4 car next season as we work toward another Sprint Cup championship.”
To celebrate their return to the sport, Busch will employ a comprehensive marketing approach to engage with racing enthusiasts and loyal Busch consumers through on-track, experiential, in-market and retail activations during the 2016 NASCAR season. TV spots will also air leading up to the season and during races, recognizing Harvick, his pit crew and fans alike who “earn it” every day so they can enjoy race weekends.
“NASCAR provides the opportunity to further the brand marketing initiative of recognizing outdoor pursuits of our Busch drinkers and celebrate those hard-working individuals behind the scenes that help the No. 4 car perform week-in-and-week-out,” added Phillips.
In conjunction with the NASCAR announcement, and to remain in touch with Busch drinkers, Busch is expanding its social media presence by launching the brand’s first-ever Twitter handle. Starting today, consumers can follow @BuschBeer and use the hashtag #BuschIsBack.
Busch has a rich racing history and some of the highlights of the brand’s involvement in the sport from its beginning include:
Sponsored the Busch Pole Award in 1978, which was presented to the pole winner of each NASCAR Winston Cup Series race
Sponsored Cale Yarborough’s No. 11 car throughout the 1979 and 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup seasons
Introduced the Busch Clash in 1979, held each year at Daytona International Speedway the week prior to the Daytona 500
Served as the title sponsor of NASCAR’s stepping-stone division to Sprint Cup – currently known as the NASCAR XFINITY Series – from 1984 through 2007
Expanded involvement with racing via the Busch All-Star Tour in 1985, a series of dirt track events in the Midwest
“Official Beer of NASCAR” from 1988 through 1997
“Some of my fondest racing career memories to-date involve the Busch brand, including winning the 2001 and 2006 Busch Series championships,” Harvick said. “The brand is historic and I’m looking forward to building the Busch racing legacy with all that we’re able to accomplish in 2016.”
SHOW #378 – Guest: Brandon Jones – We recap the New Hampshire race weekend, break down Brad Keselowski’s beef with NASCAR, are aliens helping Joe Gibbs Racing, have a chat with Miles the Monster, did Miles eat Jimmie Johnson?, Jimmie talks about his run in with Kevin “The chest puncher” Harvick, plus a full Dover preview. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie.
( Roughly 48:00 mins)
Sept. 27, 2015
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
LOUDON, N.H. – Kevin Harvick clarified his championship status on Sunday—but not the way he had planned.
After dominating the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for most of the afternoon, Harvick ran out of fuel while leading on Lap 298 of 300, handing the top spot and the victory to Matt Kenseth, who joined teammate Denny Hamlin as an automatic qualifier for the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Despite leading 216 laps on Sunday, Harvick, the defending series champion, heads to next Sunday’s Chase race at Dover almost certainly needing a victory at a track where he has never won in order to escape the Challenger Round of the Chase and keep his title hopes alive.
Kenseth, who came to pit road for fuel and tires on Lap 239, triumphed for the fifth time this season (tops in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series), for the second time at the Magic Mile and for the 36th time in his career. He finished 8.941 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who nursed his car to a runner-up finish despite a late-race issue with the right front wheel.
“It feels great to win here–a lot of great race fans here at New Hampshire,” Kenseth said. “We had a great car today – Kevin definitely had the field covered and (Kenseth’s crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) did a great job on pit strategy there, and those new tires paid off better than we thought to get up through the field.
“And I was able to keep the pressure on enough and he came up a little short.”
The victory was the 13th of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing, which has won 10 of the last 13 Sprint Cup events.
Joey Logano ran third, followed by Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. The only non-Chase driver of that group, Biffle posted his third top-five result of the season.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a consistent top-10 car all afternoon, until he, too, ran short of fuel with two laps left and finished 25th. Earnhardt goes to Dover with no margin for error. He’s 12th in the standings, the final position that will survive elimination next Sunday, and just one point ahead of both Kyle Busch and Paul Menard.
Busch blew a right front tire on Sunday, pounded the Turn 3 wall on Lap 159 and was credited with a 37th-place finish.
Harvick, who finished 21st and declined comment after the race, came to pit road for the last time on Lap 212 and couldn’t squeeze the last 88 laps at the 1.058-mile track out of his fuel cell. Restarting third on Lap 243 after the ninth and final caution (for Justin Allgaier’s wreck in Turn 3), Harvick passed Biffle for the lead on Lap 252.
Twenty laps later, Kenseth got past Hamlin for second and tried to pressure Harvick, who left Loudon in 15th place, 23 points behind Earnhardt in 12th.
“Jason kept saying he (Harvick) was low on fuel, but you never know unless they really run out,” Kenseth said. “I was trying to run hard, but I was trying to save a little bit. I got racing Denny pretty hard, and I wanted to save the tires a little bit, but I also know I needed to get by him to pressure the 4 (Harvick).
“That was as hard as I could run. I was planning on running up there and trying to pass him. I just couldn’t get there. Kind of resigned to finish second with about four or five (laps) to go there. I couldn’t get much closer, and he ran out with a couple to go.”
Second to Kenseth in the standings, six points out of the Chase lead, Hamlin also acknowledged JGR’s good fortune on Sunday.
“Really, I don’t feel like we were dominant today by any means,” Hamlin said. “Yeah, our cars finished 1-2, but I’m not sure that we had 1-2 cars most of the day.
“So I think we’ve been very fortunate with some strategies and things that we’ve played that’s worked out in our favor. You’ve got to just keep working. That’s the only way you can stay on top is to not rest.”
Notes: At 2:19 p.m. ET, Jeff Gordon took the green flag at New Hampshire and started his 789th consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, breaking the Iron Man record he shared for a week with Ricky Rudd. … Modified star Ryan Preece finished 32nd in his Sprint Cup debut.
The Final Lap Weekly 