March 30 – Today in Jayski’s NASCAR history

March 30, 2015

• • • Superspeedway Qualifying Format Updated for Talladega, Daytona: NASCAR unveiled modifications to the qualifying format at superspeedways across all three national series. The updated format will take effect at Talladega Superspeedway for the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series next month. Qualifying for May’s Talladega Superspeedway races, as well as the July events at Daytona International Speedway, will consist of the following:
      · Two rounds of qualifying, with the top-12 posted lap speeds advancing to the second round
      · Race vehicles taking one, timed lap in each round of qualifying
      · Each race vehicle will be released in a predetermined timed interval as determined by NASCAR, with the sanctioning body reserving the right to have more than one vehicle engaging in qualifying runs at the same time
      · Qualifying order for the first round will be determined by a random draw; final round qualifying order is determined by slowest to fastest speeds from the first round
      · A 10-minute break will occur between the first qualifying round and the final round
      · Upon completion of the first qualifying round, the field will be set with positions 13 and beyond determined from first round qualifying speed
      · The 12 fastest vehicles from the first round will have their speeds reset for the final round with starting positions 1-12 determined by the fastest laps in the final round
      · NASCAR will impound race vehicles following each qualifying lap; vehicles advancing to the final round will be allowed to adjust tape and utilize a cool-down unit during the 10-minute break only
      The NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be at Talladega Superspeedway May 1-3. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying will air live May 2 on FOX at 1:00pm/et. The Winn Dixie 300 and GEICO 500 will air live on FOX on May 2 (3:00pm/et) and May 3 (1:00pm/et), respectively.
      The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will utilize the format for the first time when the series returns to Talladega Superspeedway with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in October. Qualifying procedures for the 2016 Daytona 500 will be announced at a later date.(NASCAR)(3-30-2015)
  • • Latest on Kyle Larson: #42-Kyle Larson watched Sunday’s NASCAR race on a laptop in a hospital after failing to get medical clearance to drive after fainting during an autograph session. Larson was in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was taken for further testing. “He’s good. No change since he woke up from fainting,” team owner Chip Ganassi said from the IndyCar Series season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Florida. All tests have come back negative, and the team maintains Larson feels fine. But doctors at Carolina’s Medical Center, where Larson traveled to by helicopter Saturday night after leaving Martinsville Memorial Hospital, are giving him a battery of tests. Larson is also seeing a neurologist in North Carolina as a precaution. “You are trying to do the right thing and you want to be safe, and you want to err on the side of safety,” Ganassi said. “I want to respect the professionals and respect what they are saying, but we want to be realistic, too.” Dr. Jerry Petty, a neurosurgeon who works closely with many NASCAR teams, has visited Larson. A member of NASCAR’s care center team also has assisted.(Associated Press)(3-30-2015)
  • • Patrick ties most top 10s by a woman: Danica Patrick knows sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. On a long Sunday afternoon at Martinsville, she was both lucky and good. Patrick enjoyed a seventh-place finish in the STP 500 with a little luck, good driving and a good car. One off her career best of sixth set in August at Atlanta, this marked her fifth top-10 finish, which ties her with Janet Guthrie for the most top-10s by a woman in the Sprint Cup Series. The finish was by far her best of the season — she hadn’t finished in the top 15 this year — as she moved up seven spots in the standings to 16th. It was the first race this year where it appeared she and crew chief Daniel Knost made significant gains in getting the car better.(ESPN.com), see more stats on the Female NASCAR drivers page.(3-30-2015)
  • • Ragan would like to be in the #18 until Busch returns: David Ragan accepted a congratulatory handshake and pat from team owner Joe Gibbs and then turned to face the news media with a broad smile. In his fifth start in the #18 Toyota, he finally had a result to justify his contention that the team wasn’t struggling as much as it seemed since he took over for injured Kyle Busch. But he persevered to score his first top five since his May 5, 2013 victory at Talladega Superspeedway. Even more importantly, it came after a stretch of four consecutive finishes of 18th or worse since moving into the JGR car on an interim basis from Front Row Motorsports. Ragan said multiple times in postrace interviews that he believed he could win during his stint in Busch’s car. There still is no timetable for Busch’s return, nor has it been announced when Ragan will return to Front Row. In the wake of Busch’s Feb. 21 crash at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR Talk has reported the plan was for Ragan to drive nine races before turning Busch’s car over to Erik Jones at Kansas Speedway. “It’s kind of week by week on how Kyle is feeling,” Ragan said. “Certainly that’s a Kyle Busch decision and a Coach Gibbs decision. There are probably a lot of different scenarios that could play out. Obviously, I hope I’m in the car until the transition for Kyle comes back. That’s what the team and everybody wants. They don’t want to have to put a third or fourth or fifth driver in, so hopefully Kyle can heal well, and he’ll be back sooner than later, and we would have won a race, and I can go back to Front Row Motorsports and carry a Chase ticket back home. That’d be cool.”(NBC Sports)(3-30-2015)
  • • Another top 10 for Truex, Jr.: A strong team effort propelled #78-Martin Truex Jr. and the Furniture Row Racing team to a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s STP 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. It was the sixth straight top-eight finish to start the season for Truex, who set a career best of six consecutive top-10 results. He remains third in the driver point standings as the NASCAR circuit heads into an off weekend for Easter. The top-10 finish also surpassed the five top-10s that Truex posted in 2014, his first season with the single-car Furniture Row Racing team.(Furniture Row Racing)(3-30-2015)
  • • Martinsville Race and Commercial Breakdown: For those of you NASCAR fans that like stats and love to hate commercials, here is the breakdown for Sunday’s race. Began recording the times at the Invocation of the race at 1:00 PM, and stopped at the waving of the checkered flag at 5:07 PM (all times are EST). FS1 was the broadcast team for this event.
      Total number of commercials: 112
      Total number of companies or entities advertised: 51
      Number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 107
      Total number of companies or entities advertised: 50
      Number of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during race broadcast (split-screen): 5
      Total number of companies or entities advertised: 4
      Number of times Fox utilized ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during this broadcast: 1
      Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast (including company logos ‘floating’ in corners of the screen): 78
      Total amount of time these brief promos take during broadcast: app. 3 min. 55 sec.
      Start time to record race/commercial periods: 1:00 PM
      End time to record race/commercial periods: 5:07 PM
      Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 247
      Minutes of race broadcast: 200
      Minutes of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 47
      Minutes of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials (split-screen): 3
      Number of missed restarts: 0
      Number of ‘mystery cautions’ (debris not shown): 0
      Total race brdcst time 200 Total comm. brdcst time 47
      See full reports, sponsor links, much more details at CawsnJaws.com.(3-30-2015)

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