For the second straight year, NASCAR Cup Series driver Kurt Busch will give away 100-plus tickets to all 36 Cup races – as well as the non-points Busch Clash and All-Star races – to military veterans.
Busch once again partners with Veterans Ticket Foundation (Vet Tix), which oversees the distribution of tickets as part of the KB100 Plus program. Last season, Vet Tix received over 50,000 requests for 3,800 NASCAR race tickets that were distributed. Since 2008, Vet Tix has provided over 9 million free event tickets to a variety of sports events to more than 1.5 million military veterans. For more information visit www.vettix.org.
“I have always had a strong desire to pay respect to those who have served and continue to serve our country,” Busch said in a media release. “My hope is that with help from others we can enhance the offering for more deserving Vet Tix members to attend races this season, hence KB100+.”
Time to pay up! Happy to announce another season of the @VetTix KB100 ticket program for veterans! And because of the demand last season, it’s now the KB100+ as we’re calling on all tracks, drivers and sponsors to help us add to my 100 tickets per event. No amount is too little! https://t.co/j0T2MdisOk
— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) January 28, 2020
CITGARD, a part of the CITGO Petroleum Corporation, will sponsor John Hunter Nemechek in the 2020 NASCAR Cup season as it expands its partnership with Front Row Motorsports.
CITGARD will back Nemechek in five races during his rookie campaign in the No. 38 Ford, beginning with the Feb. 16 Daytona 500.
It will return at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (July 19), Michigan International Speedway (Aug. 9), Bristol Motor Speedway (Sept. 19) and the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Oct. 11).
MORE: Speedy Cash expands sponsorship of John Hunter Nemechek
CITGARD was a sponsor for David Ragan in three races last year and made its debut with Front Row Motorsports in the 2018 race at Darlington when Ragan drove a Dale Jarrett CITGO throwback scheme.
“CITGO Petroleum is an iconic brand in NASCAR,” Nemechek said in a press release. “Growing up in NASCAR, everyone knows the colors of CITGO and the past two seasons the CITGARD brand has brought the company back into the sport with FRM. It’s awesome to join their team and carry on their tradition and winning history. I can’t wait to represent CITGARD in the Daytona 500. There is no better race to start this relationship.”
CONCORD, N.C. — While Ryan Blaney says he’s not treated like it by his Team Penske peers, he knows how his performance output has compared to his teammates over the last few years.
“I look back and I’ve been the third best performing driver since ’16,” Blaney said during a media event Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “You don’t want to be that guy. That’s something I want to change really bad.”
Blaney, who is in the last year of his contract with the team, admitted being “the last guy” can “put your job in jeopardy.”
In his first four full-time Cup seasons, two with the Penske-aligned Wood Brothers Racing before transitioning to Penske’s No. 12 car, Blaney has three wins and 26 top fives. His wins have come at a pace of one a year starting in 2017, with two earned in dramatic last-lap fashion on the Charlotte Roval and last season at Talladega.
“You don’t want to be a one-win a year guy,” Blaney said. “People tell me that it’s better than no wins a year. You want to be level or above your teammates. That’s just a competitor thing.”
Enter Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Keselowski had 13 wins and 56 top fives in the last four seasons, while Logano claimed nine wins, 51 top fives and the 2018 Cup championship.
“I don’t want to be the bottom of the totem pole,” Blaney said. “I’m not treated like that. I’m not saying that. I get everything those guys get. … Joey and Brad are great. They’re both champions. I want to be better than those guys, that’s obviously the goal. It’s a personal thing. I need to get better.”
He hopes Team Penske’s major crew chief/crew shakeup announced earlier this month will do a lot toward making that a reality.
The 26-year-old driver enters his fifth full-time Cup season paired with crew chief Todd Gordon, who moves over to the No. 12 after eight years working on the No. 22. Seven of those were spent with Logano behind the wheel.
Blaney’s previous crew chief, Jeremy Bullins, is now paired with Keselowski on the No. 2 Ford and Keselowski’s former crew chief, Paul Wolfe, is paired with Logano.
“I wouldn’t say I needed a kick in the ass,” Blaney said of the shakeup. “I feel like when things like that happen, they happen so abruptly and it’s a big change for everybody. It kind of opens some people’s eyes. ‘Oh, ok we weren’t doing as good as we thought. We need to be better.’ They’re not afraid to make a change. It might get everyone hungry. I want to show I can do this with a new person. … Change can be good. If you’re going to make change, don’t make a little change. I’m a big fan of big overhauls. I think it will give everyone a big jolt of energy. We’ll find out in about a month.”
Gordon has proven what he can do with a young driver who has struggled to produce consistent success.
When Logano arrived at Team Penske in 2013 at the age of 23, he brought with him a four-year record at Joe Gibbs Racing that saw him win twice, in his first and final years with the team.
While they only won once in 2013, over the next three years Logano and Gordon claimed 14 victories. After missing the playoffs in 2017, they won five times over the last two seasons and won the 2018 title.
“Working with someone new is going to challenge me more to learn him and you kind of combine your two knowledges,” Blaney said. “You have your own language, right? You mesh them together and you hopefully understand and work on and both make sure you understand.”
Richard Childress Racing announced Tuesday that Andy Street has been promoted to crew chief for the No. 21 Xfinity car that will feature drivers Myatt Snider, Anthony Alfredo and Kaz Grala this season.
Street has been with RCR for 16 years. He joined the team as a design and test engineer. He served as an engineer in Cup, scoring 10 wins with Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer. Most recently, Street’s role was as an engineer in the Xfinity Series. His duties included R&D work as a design engineer specializing on chassis and suspension systems.
“Andy is a brilliant design engineer, who has spent a lot of time and effort at RCR over the past 16 years,” said Andy Petree, vice president of competition, in a statement from the team. “When Andy stepped into the Xfinity Series crew chief role in Richmond Raceway last fall, I was very impressed with how he went about the weekend running and leading the race team. He proved he is worthy of this role. He’ll be the perfect complement to both Justin Alexander and Randall Burnett because of his engineering background and having worked with both of these guys on the R&D side of the company.”
One of Talladega Superspeedway’s most endearing and popular figures has passed away.
John “Johnny” Ray, whose diesel big rig carrying an American flag around the 2.66-mile track has been a fixture during the playing of the National Anthem at NASCAR Cup races for the past two decades, has died at the age of 82, the track announced Monday.
Ray began the tradition behind the wheel of his gold, brown and chrome-colored Peterbilt semi-tractor in 2001, with an oversized American flag flowing in the breeze behind the tractor.
The procession quickly became a significant fan favorite, eliciting loud cheers and applause from fans in the stands each time it passed by on the track’s front stretch.
“We just had the 9/11 attacks and Dale (Earnhardt) had also passed away earlier that year,” Ray, who lived down the street from the track in Eastaboga, Alabama, said in an interview three years ago. “I had a crazy idea to run my rig out on the track with an American flag attached to the back. It started off as a tribute to the country and to Dale.
“I never thought it would become the heart-felt moment that it has over the past some-odd years, but I’m glad it has become a tradition that means so much to the fans and the Talladega family. It represents such a sense of pride that we all share together as a nation and as a community. It is my honor and privilege to do it.”
Ray, who started his own trucking company in the early 1970s, and also had a brief NASCAR racing career of his own, ceded driving duties of the big rig several years ago to his late friend, Roger Haynes, and then last year to son Johnny Ray, to continue the tradition.
“National Anthems at Talladega Superspeedway are the most iconic, and it’s because of our great friend John Ray,” Speedway President Brian Crichton said in a media release. “What he brought to our fans can’t be duplicated.
“He was an incredible, passionate man who supported the track and all of motorsports with everything he had. His spirit will live here forever. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Ray family.”
Funeral arrangements for John Ray are pending, according to the track.
Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of one of our most cherished friends. John Ray was a racer, trucking legend, and a treasure in our community and Talladega family.
Our love and prayers are with the entire Ray family.
🔗 https://t.co/QpnsskQnz5 pic.twitter.com/1QWW39IRx6
— Talladega Superspeedway (@TalladegaSuperS) January 27, 2020
My hero; best friend; Dad.
Johnny Ray, as most people called him, was more than a successful business man, lover of racing, trucks and aviation. Most importantly to me, he was my Dad. The bond I experienced with him was simply amazing.
Rest easy, Dad! Til I see you again. pic.twitter.com/y9JtrZOVVy— Kevin Ray (@kevinray77) January 26, 2020
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