With NASCAR on a temporary hiatus, news is going to be slow in the coming weeks. To help fill the NASCAR void, we plan on taking you on a daily trip down memory lane spanning the years since the Jayski’s site inception. Using our news archives pages, here’s a look back at what’s happened on this date through the last 23 years in NASCAR:
This day in NASCAR history: March 27
Years we have pulled today’s main items from: 2018, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2006, 200, 2003, 2002, 2000, 1998
Top see everything from this date over previous years: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
Note: Many links on older stories don’t work. There’s not a lot of the same websites around anymore.
To see previous articles covering “Today in History”, click here.
2018:
- Monster close to extending Cup sponsorship: Monster Energy is close to extending its title sponsorship of NASCAR’s premier series, according to nearly a dozen sources close to the deal. It could not be determined whether the renewal would be for one or two years, but an extension would of course be a shot in the arm for NASCAR, which did not want to be out on the market looking for a new title sponsor to take over at the start of ’19. With only eight months remaining in the current deal, NASCAR and its partners need an answer, and signs indicate that Monster is coming back. [More](3-27-2018)
2013:
- France takes responsibility for decision to fine Hamlin: [NASCAR CEO Brian] France has been busier than usual to start the season. He met with reigning champion Brad Keselowski in late February to discuss questionable comments the Penske Racing driver made in a newspaper article. Then came a suspension of Nationwide Series driver Jeremy Clements for using a racial slur in front of an MTV reporter, followed by a $25,000 fine to Hamlin for criticizing the new Gen-6 car and the quality of racing at Phoenix. France acknowledged it was primarily his decision to penalize Hamlin, and he stood by that decision. “There’s always going to be, when we make decisions that are not black and white per se, we’re always going to have people all over the organization that may not have made that call,” France said. “But I did. I’m crystal clear with everybody about where the line is, what we can accept, and about how the sport is going today. And that is we give more latitude than any professional sport to criticize, speak their mind and say whatever they want. We encourage it, actually, including criticism that gets directed at us. But when the driver . . . begins to call out the quality of the racing or the rules packages, we have to make that call or opinions will shape what may not be reality.” France met with Hamlin, who dropped his right to appeal the fine, and believes they are on the same page now.(ESPN)(3-27-2013)
2012:
- Ty Dillon making first Martinsville truck start: Saturday’s 250-lap affair will mark Ty Dillon’s [#3 Bass Pro
Shops Chevrolet] first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the half-mile speedway. The 20-year-old racer has one previous start at Martinsville Speedway. In 2010, the Dillon took the wheel of a NASCAR K&N Pro Series East car for Team Dillon Racing where he started in the ninth position and finished 22nd. Dillon has participated in three test sessions with his #3 RCR team since Daytona. The group has traveled to Nashville Superspeedway, Caraway Speedway in Sophia, N.C., and Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va. With five weeks off between the season opener in Daytona and this weekend’s Kroger 250, Dillon found a way to keep his driving skills sharp by dirt racing. The Welcome, N.C., native competed in nine dirt races with Team Dillon Racing. He is slated to make numerous other appearances in the #41 car from the TDR camp throughout the season.(Richard Childress Racing PR)(3-27-2012)
2011:
- Austin Dillion to make Cup debut: The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation’s Centennial Celebration and the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma will be the primary sponsors when Austin Dillon makes his Sprint Cup Series debut later this season in the #98 Curb-Agajanian Performance Group Chevy.
The Ronald Reagan Centennial is a historic, year-long celebration to commemorate the 100th birthday of the 40th President of the United States of America. A series of substantive and celebratory events, partnerships, and initiatives sponsored by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation are planned throughout 2011.
The specific race will be announced at a later date.(RCR)(3-27-2011) - Earnhardt Jr. has no plans to tweet: Many NASCAR drivers have gotten involved with Twitter, some extensively, tweeting practically from the moment they wake up in the morning. #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn’t one of them. Certainly, he understands Twitter’s usefulness and his team’s use of it, but he just can’t get into it. “I used to have a Myspace.com page and I used to have a Facebook page, (but) I don’t anymore because it was just too much responsibility,” he said. “I felt like you had to plug in and be involved with it so much and I thought personally I don’t need to do it. I understand we use it on the business side of it and how it works for JRM, but personally, you know, it would be fun for about a month and then I would start to feel like it was a job where people expected me to do it.”(Associated Press)(3-27-2011)
2006:
- COT and the Wing: One item that is expected to be missing in the final version of the car of tomorrow [COT] will be the customary rear spoiler, which NASCAR has used for decades as part of its aerodynamic package. In its place
will be a single-element rear deck wing, which was first track-tested at Daytona earlier this year. Monday’s session at Bristol will be used to test different wing designs. The wing will represent a dramatic change in the look of NASCAR’s stock cars, but according to Brett Bodine, a former driver who now serves as NASCAR’s test driver and is heavily involved in the development of the new car, the wing is more in tune with today’s modern race cars as well as new showroom models. He added that using a wing will allow teams to build a more symmetrically shaped car rather than the current models, which are cut and bent to shape to permit them to run better on ovals. According to Bodine, the wing will be a bolt-on piece that will be given to teams each race weekend by NASCAR, thus preventing any cheating. The wing will most likely include a small wickerbill/Gurney flap – a right-angle piece of metal rigidly bolted or riveted to a wing’s trailing edge – which will offer an additional level of downforce or drag to be produced by the wing. Monday’s session also will test the design of the new air splitter located below the bumper on the front of the new car. The splitter is designed to keep the front of the car on the ground. Both the wing and the splitter are items that have been used successfully for decades in sports car racing worldwide.(Yahoo Sports)(3-27-2006)
2004:
- New Jersey Native Martin Truex Jr. Wins at Bristol for first Busch win: #8-Martin Truex Jr.’s first NASCAR Busch Series victory was dominating and clear-cut [a NJ native with NJ native Jayski in attendence]. The remainder of the finishing order in Saturday’s Sharpie Professional 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway, however, was
determined only after myriad replays, complaints and discussions in the NASCAR hauler. After a wild final three laps in which first #32-David Stremme, and then #27-Johnny Sauter, were involved in accidents without a caution being displayed, Truex Jr. claimed a win under caution when the yellow finally came out for #1-Johnny Benson’s wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 249 of 250. Even then, rather than sort out the many issues, including cars passing under yellow and another driver – Mike Bliss – failing to take the checkered flag, NASCAR stood with its initial finishing order. Series points leader #21-Kevin Harvick was credited with second, rookie #5-Kyle Busch third, pole-winner #60-Greg Biffle fourth and #37-David Green fifth. Truex Jr., in his 20th start, took the lead on Lap 117 after running down Biffle, who decided against stopping for fresh tires with the rest of the lead-lap cars under caution on Lap 71. He never lost the lead after that. “Martin Truex Jr. What can you say?” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who co-owns Truex Jr.’s Chance 2 Motorsports team with his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt. “These guys deserve all this success.” Truex Jr. had come close to victory before in his short series tenure, with three second-place finishes. “We’ve had things not go our way and today, I swear, I thought they weren’t going to go our way at the end there. But we pulled it together,” Truex Jr., 23, said. “I can’t wait for the rest of the year. I think we can win the championship. These guys are that good and these cars are that good every week.” The race was slowed eight times by caution for 49 laps. Truex Jr.’s pass of Biffle was the only lead change of the race. The drama didn’t end with the checkered flag. Mike Bliss, who was running second when the caution came out, failed to take the checkered flag [and drove onto pit road]. When he realized his mistake, he ended up 17th [after going back on the track and taking another lap]. Harvick apologized for starting the late-race incident with Stremme. The crews of Stremme and Benson got into a shouting match on pit road and then the garage, as it was Stremme who hit Benson on the next-to-last lap.(ThatsRacin.com report)
For race results, see ThatsRacin.com, BGNRacing.com, Motorsports One or NASCAR.com.(3-27-2004)
2003:
- The Two Leagues ‘Rumor’: Bruton Smith’s proposal of forming multiple leagues or conferences to expand the NASCAR Winston Cup Series continues to strike out. Smith first offered his “trial balloon” in the mid-1990s and has resurrected it in response to NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr.’s realignment plan for Cup schedules starting as early as 2004. “Create an American League and a National League, where you run two [races] every Sunday,” said Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc. “You’ve got a West and an East [presence]. If NASCAR wants to tackle that, it’s going to be tough to do, but it can be done. I’ve studied it to death, and it could be done.” NASCAR officials acknowledge they are pushing the limit with the current Cup schedule that fits 38 races, including two non-points events, into a 41-week calendar. But France rejected the two-league system as unworkable in February, and little support for it has surfaced since.(more at Fort Worth Star Telegram)(3-27-2003)
2002:
- Wallace [Kenny] full time Cup in 2003? In an online chat on racers-chat.com Monday, Kenny Wallace said he will be in the Winston Cup Series next year. Running full-time in the BGN [#48 Stacker 2 Chevy] and the former replacement for #1-Steve Park, it appears Wallace is just waiting his time. “I will tell you the truth, I am 100 percent positive I will be full WC next year,” Wallace wrote. “As of right now, I will try to win BGN races and the championship, because as we speak DEI will not let me drive any WC cars. We are still on standby for Steve. I am very excited about the years ahead of me. Things look good.” (Daytona Beach News Journal)(3-27-2002)
2000:
#50 for Rusty: #2-Rusty Wallace wins at Bristol for the 2nd spring race in a row and hos 50th career Winston Cup win, tying him with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson for 8th on the all time list and putting him one in front of Jeff Gordon. Lee Petty is next in line with 55. For results of the Food City 500 see NASCAR Online, That’s Racin’ or the Racin’ Network(3-26-2000)
UPDATE: the win also extends Wallace’s streak of having a win in each of the last 15 seasons(3-27-2000)- Petty Debut: Adam Petty is scheduled to make his Winston Cup debut at Texas this coming weekend in the #45 Sprint Chevy. Petty tested there a few weeks ago. See story at the TMS site: Adam Petty Bids for First Winston Cup Race in Texas. See an image of the car on the Paint Scheme Gallery(3-27-2000)
1998:
- It’s Official: Three of auto racing’s most prolific names joined forces Friday when Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Pennzoil announced that three-time Winston Cup Champion Darrell Waltrip will drive the #1 Pennzoil Monte Carlo until Steve Park returns from injuries suffered March 6 at Atlanta. The Pennzoil Monte Carlo Waltrip will drive this weekend at Bristol was built by Darrell Waltrip Motorsports and is the same car Waltrip drove here last August. This weekend it will be maintained by a mixed crew of employees from both Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Darrell Waltrip Motorsports. The Pennzoil crew will resume fielding the car next week at Texas Motor Speedway. See more of the story at DW’s Official Page: Darrell Waltrip’s Hot News(3-27-98)
- Some type of merger may be in the works between Penske Motorsports and Bill France’s International Speedway Corporation, according to sources close to the situation. The two public stock companies haven’t been generating a lot of thrills on Wall Street lately, despite the bull market. The France family owns about 62 percent of ISC.(JournalNow)(3-27-98)
From the Tribute to the Labontes Page: Terry Labonte will be running a different paint scheme in the #5 Kelloggs Chevy, starting in Texas, and in 6 other random events during the rest of the season. The car is mostly yellow, with red, white, and green pinstripes slashing up the of the car, and that only Cornelius the rooster will be on the hood and quarterpanels. Also there will be Fruit Loops car to run in Charlotte, not sure if it will be The Winston, Coke 600, or the UAW-GM 500. The car will be very similar in color to the Spooky scheme, but would feature Toucan Sam, rather than Frankenstein.(3-27-98)
Click a link below for a full listing of news from each year:
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997