Author: Ashlyn Siske

With two of the most historic tracks  up next on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series calendar, then a 10-race playoff to determine the 2018 champion, No. 14 Carolina Ford Dealers Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) driver Clint Bowyer says the needle on the sport’s intensity meter is about to be pegged.

“The pay window is starting to open and it’s time to get going,” said Bowyer, who’ll race in the 69^th running of the Southern 500 Sunday night at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway followed by the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 2. “This sport has two pretty big races the next two weekends and then it’s playoff time and we decide a champion. It’s the time of year when you show everything you have. This is what we’ve worked for. The intensity will pick up on the track and in the pits. This is the best time of the season.”

With so much on the line, who better to have on Bowyer’s side Sunday night than 50-time Cup Series winner and 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Ned Jarrett, who has a special affinity and skill at the South Carolina oval. Jarrett won the September 1965 Southern 500 by 14 laps – the largest victory margin in NASCAR history.

Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford Fusion will mimic the design Jarrett ran on his race-winning 1965 Ford Galaxie by sporting a royal blue paint scheme with period-specific graphics. The scheme is in keeping with “The Official Throwback Weekend of NASCAR,” during which the industry honors the sport’s history. Last year, nearly all the NASCAR Cup Series teams competed with throwback paint schemes in the Southern 500.

“If you want to be the best, you might as well go and join the best and Ned’s race down there that day is the best in the sport’s history,” Bowyer said. “I’m glad Ned will be with us this weekend. Maybe some of his success will rub off on us. Darlington has become such a cool weekend with our look back at the history of the sport.”

In the 1965 race, Jarrett drove his No. 11 Richmond Ford Motor Company Galaxie to the dominating Southern 500 victory. It marked the 49th of Jarrett’s 50 career wins and it helped secure his second and final series championship, bookending the title he won in 1961. Jarrett ran 21 races in 1966 before transitioning to a broadcasting career.

“I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to the Southern 500 and seeing everyone this weekend,” said the 85-year-old Jarrett, who will be in Darlington on Sunday. “I don’t think in this day and age you’ll see anyone win by 14 laps, but I think if you ask Clint and any of the other drivers, they’ll tell you they don’t care about the margin of victory. They just want the victory.”

Jarrett is NASCAR’s version of the NFL’s John Madden appealing to multiple generations of fans. Some fans know Madden as the Super Bowl-winning coach, others as a television commentator, while younger fans know Madden from popular video games.

NASCAR fans first met Jarrett as a champion driver. The next generation watched as he made the transition to the broadcast booth that included tenures at MRN Radio and on television with CBS, ESPN and TNN. Jarrett was the first widely known television analyst to work for different broadcast networks at the same time. He spent 22 years at CBS and 19 with ESPN while co-hosting the weekly, one-hour Inside NASCAR program on TNN.

A third generation of fans knows Jarrett as the patriarch of one of NASCAR’s first families. He and his wife Martha have two sons – Glenn and Dale – who are both former NASCAR drivers and daughter Patti J. Makar. Ned and Dale became the second father-son combination to win NASCAR Cup Series championships when Dale earned the 1999 title. Glenn followed his father’s career into racing and broadcasting and, after retiring as a driver in 2008, Dale joined Ned and Glenn as a broadcaster. Patti also worked in racing and married Jimmy Makar, who worked with Dale for three years at Joe Gibbs Racing and was the 2000 championship-winning crew chief for Bobby Labonte. Dale’s son Jason scored several ARCA victories and made numerous starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Bowyer hopes the Jarrett paint scheme is once again productive in Darlington. The Emporia, Kansas native is a 10-time NASCAR Cup Series winner and is in his second year driving SHR’s No. 14 Ford Fusion. Victories earlier this year at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway earned Bowyer a berth in the NASCAR playoffs that begins Sept. 9 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

Bowyer arrives at Darlington after enjoying the final off weekend of the 2018 season by taking his family of four on a vacation to the beach. He led 120 laps before finishing sixth at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Aug. 18, the most recent Cup Series race.

In addition to winning at the historic tracks in the coming weeks, Bowyer’s goal at Darlington and Indianapolis is to add to the 10 playoff points he already owns. His 10 points are the fourth-most behind “Big Three” drivers Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. Playoff points are crucial for drivers with dreams of making it to the season finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway because they are added to each driver’s tally after the point totals are reset at the end of the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Drivers earn five playoff points for a victory and one point for a stage win. Additional points are earned based on the regular-season points finish after Indianapolis. The regular-season champion earns 15 points, second place earns 10, eight for third and seven for fourth, continuing in descending increments to one point for 10^th place.

Bowyer enters the Darlington race fifth in regular-season standings, trailing fourth-place teammate Kurt Busch by 20 points and leading sixth-place driver Joey Logano by eight points.

“We have a lot to race for these next two races,” Bowyer said. “Not only are winning at Darlington and Indy dreams of most drivers, but good runs at both places earn you those points that are really important if you want to advance in the playoffs.”

With historic tracks, the regular-season points race, playoff points and an upcoming playoff battle, it’s easy to see why there could be a broken needle on the sport’s intensity meter before all is said and done.

CLINT BOWYER, Driver of the No. 14 Carolina Ford Dealers Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What are your thoughts on Darlington?

“I just love the old-school feel. The racetrack lends that feel. You know, you can’t get on that racetrack and not feel old school. They repaved it and it’s already worn out. You run right up against the wall, it’s unique, you’ve got to be able to attack the track, but be patient enough and respectful enough to not ruin your day and destroy your car. It’s just very, very old school as you go back through there.”

Do you ever wish you could race back in the day?

“I would have loved to compete in the 1970s and ’80s. You were able to go to the shop and work your ass off and reap the benefits after you dusted the competition that weekend by having something that they didn’t, or because you outfoxed them.”

Why is this time of year important in NASCAR?

“First, everyone who has ever raced in NASCAR has wanted to win in Darlington. Taking that trophy home will be one of the best feelings in the world. Second, in the big picture, it’s close to money time. This is when the pay window opens and we put everything we’ve learned in 2018 on the line. All the hours put in by the folks at the race shop, at the track and all of our supporters, this is what our whole year has focused on. And then, in just a couple of weeks, 16 teams will have 10 races to win a championship.”

What are your thoughts on Darlington? 

“I like the uniqueness of the track. I’ve struggled to have good finishes there but we’ve always raced well. We just can’t seem to seal the deal at the end. Something always goes haywire in the end but, sooner or later, we are going to overcome that and have a good weekend.”

Do you remember your first Darlington experience?

“My first Cup race at Darlington was 2007 and I won the pole. Truth be told, it scared the daylights out of me.”

Event:             Sport Clips Haircuts Help A Hero VFW 200
Date:               Sept. 1, 2018
Location:        Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
Layout:           1.366-mile oval

Kevin Harvick Notes of Interest

• Hunt Brothers Pizza makes its fourth start of 2018 as a primary sponsor with driver Kevin Harvick in the No. 98 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste (SHR) during Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
• Hunt Brothers Pizza will pay tribute to the 20^th anniversary of Harvick’s 1998 NASCAR West Series Championship with a throwback paint scheme on the No. 98 Ford Mustang. The 2018 scheme was inspired by the No. 75 Spears Manufacturing car that Harvick raced to five wins, 11 top-five finishes, 12 top-10s and five poles in 1998 en route to his first NASCAR championship.
• Hunt Brothers Pizza and Haas CNC Racing first teamed up for the 2008 season. In 2014, Hunt Brothers Pizza reunited with what had become SHR to serve as a sponsor in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. When SHR formed an XFINITY Series team for the 2017 season, Hunt Brothers Pizza became a primary sponsor with Harvick and the No. 41 team – which is now the No. 98.
• Harvick is making his final of five scheduled XFINITY Series starts in the No. 98 Ford Mustang for SHR in 2018.
• He won at Atlanta Motor Speedway in his first start of the season in the No. 98, finished 19^th at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, eighth at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn and second at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet.
• Harvick has one pole, three top-five finishes, nine top-10s and 189 laps led in 15 XFINITY Series starts at Darlington.
• Harvick won the pole at Darlington in August 2003 with a lap at 167.516 mph.
• His XFINITY Series career includes 47 wins, 185 top-five finishes, 259 top-10s, 25 poles and 9,688 laps led in 345 starts.
• Harvick will be joined Saturday by SHR teammate Cole Custer in the No. 00 Ford Mustang.

Kevin Harvick, Driver No. 98 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang

The Hunt Brothers Pizza paint scheme gives a nod to your beginnings in NASCAR, inspired by your 1998 NASCAR West Series championship. What does running the Hunt Brothers Pizza throwback scheme like that mean to you?

“The throwback scheme Hunt Brothers Pizza is doing for us is pretty awesome – the 1998 throwback to the Spears championship car. That was probably one of the most fun years I’ve ever had in racing. We traveled up and down the road in a 1977 Winnebago and a 24-foot trailer because that’s what Wayne (Spears) told us that we had to use when we didn’t have the truck and trailer that were at the Truck races, so we had more fun in that motorhome than we probably did any other time that I’ve ever raced stock cars. We had one car. We had a group of guys who just loved to race and we raced all but one race, I believe, that year with the Truck series and wound up winning the West Series championship that we weren’t even supposed to run. So it was a fun year, and to have Hunt Brother’s kind of throw it back to that year for me is a lot of fun and definitely had some input on that one.”

What makes Darlington Raceway so unique in terms of the racing?

“Darlington is a track with a lot of history and is one that you circle on your calendar each year. This track has a lot of character and it is easy to make mistakes, so we just focus on ourselves, race the track and try to avoid making any of those mistakes.”

What is it about Darlington that makes it special for you as a competitor?

“For me, personally, I look forward to coming to Darlington every year just for the fact that it means so much to our sport and has such a huge history in what we have accomplished as a sport altogether. To be able to come back and race and be able to experience things they have experienced through the years on a racetrack that has been repaved, but its original shape is still the same – to me, it’s something that is pretty neat. I’m looking forward to the weekend.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Beer Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), is helping Busch Beer celebrate its deep history in NASCAR by featuring a car inspired by Busch’s racetrack-specific collectable can series dating back to 1996 during Sunday night’s Southern 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

The Busch Beer collectable can series from 1996 featured the layout of NASCAR tracks throughout the series along with facts about the configuration of each racetrack. Darlington was one of the featured tracks in the series of collectable cans.

Busch Beer’s rich history in NASCAR dates back nearly 40 years to the sponsorship of Cale Yarborough’s No. 11 car during the 1979 season, starting with one of the most significant races in NASCAR history – that year’s Daytona 500.

Darlington is the perfect setting to celebrate Busch Beer’s deep racing roots. Highlights of Busch’s storied racing heritage include sponsoring the Busch Pole Award in 1978, presented to Cup Series pole winners each week. Busch introduced the Busch Clash in 1979, held each year at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway the week prior to the Daytona 500. And it was title sponsor of NASCAR’s steppingstone division – currently known as the Xfinity Series – from 1984 through 2007. Busch Beer also held the “Official Beer of NASCAR” status from 1988 through 1997.

Busch Beer reclaimed its “Official Beer of NASCAR” status and sponsorship of the Busch Pole Award at the beginning of the 2018 season.

While Harvick will drive a No. 4 Ford honoring the history of his sponsor Busch Beer, he is looking to score his second Cup Series win at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval.

In 2014, Harvick won the 65th running of the iconic Southern 500 – one of the crown jewels on the 36-race Cup Series schedule – in dominating fashion. He started from the pole and led 238 of 374 laps en route to beating runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr., to the finish line by .558 of a second.

The win at Darlington was the second of Harvick’s five Cup Series wins during his championship season.

With only two races remaining before the start of the 10-race Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Harvick would like to add to his series-best seven points-paying wins of the season at Darlington Sunday night. In addition to adding to his win total, Harvick is trying to close the gap on points-leader Kyle Busch, who holds a 43-point advantage through 24 of 26 regular-season races.

At the conclusion of regular-season-ending Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the points leader collects 15 playoff points while the driver who finishes second collects 10. That five-point differential between first and second in the regular-season championship could play a vital role in whether a driver makes the winner-take-all Championship 4 playoff finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Harvick has clinched his spot in the playoff field for the 12th time by way of his career-best seven wins. He only needs to attempt to qualify for the remaining two regular-season races to make his playoff status official.

While Harvick and the No. 4 team are locked into the playoff field by points and wins, gaining playoff points via stage wins and race wins is now their top priority through the next two races, starting this weekend at Darlington.

KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Beer Ford Fusion:

Your thoughts about heading back to Darlington for this special race weekend?

“Darlington has kind of found its niche with all the throwback schemes and all the things that they do with the snack bars, tickets and all the cars. It’s great to see all the teams participate – and for me it’s something that bring backs a lot of memories as to when (Founder of Action Performance) Fred Wagenhals was around selling diecasts and creating programs and things like we used to do in the past. It’s great when you see a program come together like that.”

What’s it like to have so many drivers from the past at the track for throwback weekend at Darlington?

“We had a car inspired by Cale Yarborough’s a couple of years ago. We had him at the racetrack, driving around in the pace car and seeing some of the old-school guys who work on my racecar be as excited as they were, guys who don’t ever really get excited about anything. To see how excited some of those guys were when Cale came, we took a picture with the whole team at the car and, to have the whole paint scheme and everything to go with it, was really great. We do a lot of things with those guys now at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. To see those guys now at the racetrack signing autographs for the fans adds just a little bit to that event. To me, having Cale there was really neat, to have him around and talk to him. It’s something that means a lot because they’re a big part of the reason we’re here today.”

He’s got the Daytona 500 and he’s got the 600-mile race at Charlotte. Now he just needs Darlington and Indianapolis. And Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), is ready to try and win another crown jewel event at Sunday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Busch is coming off a win Aug. 18 in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race that solidified his spot in the 16-driver playoffs. It was the 30^th victory of his career and he now has earned six trips to victory lane at Bristol.

But before the playoffs begin, Busch would love to make a little history at two of the greatest tracks in the world.

Only four drivers have won the four crown jewels and they are legends of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick are the only drivers to see the checkered flag first at the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500.

Busch has had some success at Darlington, including nearly winning the spring race in 2003. In one of the most memorable finishes in NASCAR history, Busch came up .002 of a second shy of victory at the track “Too Tough to Tame” when he was nosed out by Ricky Craven in one of the closest finishes in Cup Series competition since NASCAR instituted electronic timing in 1993.

His No. 41 Haas Automation Ford this weekend will sport a paint scheme that looks very much like the No. 97 Ford Taurus he raced 15 years ago.

Busch added a third-place finish at Darlington in 2010, and he won the pole position in September 2001 and April 2013. If Busch is to be successful this weekend, he’ll have to battle the odd shape of Darlington’s racing oval.

Darlington is egg-shaped, 1.366 miles in length – the odd shape because its western half needed a tighter radius in the turns as founder Harold Brasington promised Sherman Ramsey, who owned a farm next to the property, that he wouldn’t disturb his minnow pond when he built the track in 1949.

The odd shape also means that, to find the fast way around the track, drivers run against the outside walls in each turn, sometimes brushing up against the wall and thus earning what has affectionately become known as a “Darlington Stripe” on the right side of the car. And the black marks left on the walls by the tires rubbing up against them all race weekend have led to the track’s other nickname, “The Lady in Black.”

Busch is hoping he can get a little stripe on his car on the road to victory, and to get another of the four crown jewels of NASCAR.

KURT BUSCH, Driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What would a win at Darlington mean?

“I’ve been close and it would mean the world to me because, when I first went there, I had no idea how difficult that track was going to be. And how narrow it is and how different both ends of the track are. Over the years, I quickly gained an appreciation for the nostalgia and the setting of Darlington, South Carolina and what it means for our sport. With all that mixed in together, I’d love to win that race. It’s a tough track because it changes dramatically with rubber and you have to have tire management there. You have to balance a lot of things over 500 miles.” 

Are these 500 miles at Darlington the most difficult in all of NASCAR?

“Yeah, it’s flat out the most difficult. I think 500 miles at Darlington is tougher than 600 miles at Charlotte because you are up on the wheel all race long and you’re right on the edge and, when you slip over that edge, you get that Darlington stripe and usually you get a fender rub and then you’re working out of a hole. Attrition usually wipes out a few guys and you don’t want to be one of those, and so you’re just right on that edge all night long.”

What makes Darlington unique? 

“Darlington demands so much attention and respect. It’s similar to a Bristol like that. It’s hard to get the setup perfect because both ends of the racetrack are so different.”

What do you think of the retro feel of Darlington?

“It’s really a fun weekend. It feels like a field trip experience when you’re a kid. It’s like when you go out with your friends and you all get dressed up together. The first year, it was about the cars. The second year, it seemed like the crew guys took over and they had all their outfits. There are diecasts that are made just for that race. Chip Wile (former president of Darlington) hit a grand slam with throwback weekend and I think all of us look forward to that. And I think the fans do, as well. It definitely helps bridge the past to the present and overall just creates a fun weekend.”

Do you remember your first race at Darlington? Your first stripe?

“My first race and first stripe – that place chewed me up and spit me out. I think I wrecked 20 times, kept bouncing off wall. I wore out the tires but kept going. I probably finished 40^th my first time there. It really was an eye-opener on how tough NASCAR was going to be.”

Other than the finish with Ricky Craven at Darlington, do you have any other memorable moments that stand out? 

“The biggest moment at Darlington I ever had was finishing second to Ricky Craven in 2003 – everyone knows that race. It’s one of the best finishes in NASCAR history. But, probably the next-biggest moment would be during my championship run in 2004. I had an ill-handling car and still managed to finish sixth with it due to good pit stops. That was a perfect moment because it was our championship to lose, with where we finished that day in 2004. That was back when Darlington used to be in the playoffs.”

Event:               Road America 180 (Round 23 of 33)
Date:                 Aug. 25, 2018
Location:          Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Layout:             4-mile, 14-turn road course

Cole Custer Notes of Interest

• The Road America 180 will mark Cole Custer’s sixth NASCAR Xfinity Series road-course start and second at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
• In his 2017 Xfinity Series start at Road America, Custer ran inside the top-10 for the majority of the race and finished eighth to earn his best road-course finish of his debut Xfinity Series season.
• Custer’s second-place finish on May 26 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway is his best finish in 22 races this season.
• Custer owns 10 top-10 finishes, four top-fives, two poles and led 80 laps in 15 road-course starts.
• Custer has earned four poles, eight top-five finishes, 18 top-10s, and has led 237 laps in the 2018 Xfinity Series season.
• Custer’s four pole awards this season leads all Xfinity Series regulars.
• Custer’s 18 top-10 finishes is tied with Elliott Sadler for most among Xfinity Series regulars.
• Custer is fourth in the Xfinity Series driver standings with 791 points, 19 behind series leader Christopher Bell.
• Custer is competing for his seventh consecutive top-10 and second consecutive top-five this weekend.
• Last weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Custer battled in and around the top-10 for the majority of the race before finishing fourth.
• There are only four races left until the Xfinity Series playoffs begin Sept. 21 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The winner of the regular-season points championship will earn an additional 15 playoff points – equivalent to winning three races.

Cole Custer, Driver Q&A

What are the challenges of running a road course?  

“In road-course racing, the competition is more on the driver’s shoulders compared to your traditional oval-styled track. You’re on the edge of your seat for the entire race and even the smallest mistake could take you out of the race. I enjoy road-course racing and challenging my skills as a driver. This is our last road-course race of the season, so I’m hoping to drive my Haas Automation Ford Mustang to a solid finish.”

With the playoffs approaching, has your strategy changed at all?

“Jeff (Meendering, crew chief) did a great job last weekend putting us in a position to earn as many points as possible. That’s the goal. We need to get stage wins and points to either win the regular-season championship or earn playoff points going in. A win is what we’re after but, if we don’t have the car to do it, we need to be focused on points. We had the car to win in Bristol and I think we’ll have a big shot at it at Road America.”

Jeff  Meendering, Crew Chief Q&A

Are you happy with where your road-course program is heading to Road America? 

“We have certainly improved. We’ve had better equipment and notes to go off of, so we’re happy with where we’re at. Cole has learned a ton at these road courses and he’s getting much better. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s able to wheel the Haas Automation Ford up front the whole race. Road America was actually our best road course last year and we’ve already had great cars this year. Really looking forward to this weekend.”