April 30, 2015
- Chassis selections for this weeks race: see the list of many teams [that report or post them] and what chassis were selected by the team to run in the GEICO 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on the Talladega Race Info page – Chassis selection area.
- Kroger steps up program with JTG Daugherty Racing: JTG Daugherty Racing announced that they are expanding their relationship with The Kroger Co. After six years of sponsoring the #47 Chevy in the Daytona 500, Kroger will have primary real estate for at least 24 races for multiple years. AJ Allmendinger, who has one victory, two pole awards, seven top-five finishes, 37 top-10 finishes and competed in The Chase last season, eagerly welcomes the new Kroger relationship. “I know that the folks at Kroger are so pumped up about being a part of this race team and they are just as excited as I am,” Allmendinger said. “Tad and Jodi (Geschickter) and Brad (Daugherty) have a longstanding relationship with Kroger through their Daytona 500 partnership and it is cool to see it grow into something so big. To get personal text messages from their executives, I know they are overjoyed about it. It’s neat to see firsthand how involved all of our sponsors want to be. Tying everything together will really help us take our race team to the next level. Kroger is really passionate about this sport and about our team. We look forward to making them a bigger part of the JTG Daugherty Racing family.”
“Kroger has a fully integrated ‘Race to Savings’ activation plan that will be world class,” JTG Daugherty Racing team owner Tad Geschickter said. “Obviously, expanding our relationship with the largest grocery retailer in America is huge for our team and our sponsors; but, is equally significant for the NASCAR industry. We are humbled that they chose us to fly their colors over the coming race seasons.”(JTG Daugherty Racing), see images of the car on the #47 Team Schemes page.(4-30-2015) - Golden Corral Returns to Talladega with Tommy Baldwin Racing: Golden Corral is continuing their sponsorship with Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) as it was announced they will be back for 2015. The three-race deal as primary sponsor on the #7 Chevy will cover both races at Talladega Superspeedway and the July race at Daytona. Also returning will be the ‘Top 10 Kids Eat Free’ promotion. Each time the #7 Golden Corral team finishes in the top-10 this season, Golden Corral will offer a one day “Kids Eat Free” promotion on the Monday immediately following the top-10 race finish. “We are proud to welcome back Golden Corral for another season with TBR,” said team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. “Their top-10 kids eat free promotion always is a fan favorite”
“Talladega is always exciting and we’re thrilled to be back with the #7 team. We’re pulling for some top-10 finishes this season so that we can share our ‘Top 10 Kids Eat Free’ promotion with race fans across the country,” said Shelley Wolford, Vice President of National Marketing at Golden Corral.(TBR/140Buzz), see an image of the scheme on the #7 Team Schemes page.(4-30-2015) - Erik Jones to drive the #18 JGR car starting at Kansas: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announced that Erik Jones will fill in for Kyle Busch in the #18 M&M’S Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) starting at Kansas Speedway on May 9, 2015. This will mark the 18-year-old Byron, Michigan native’s first official NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start. “I’m pretty excited and grateful for the opportunity to drive the #18 M&M’S Toyota Camry in the Sprint Cup Series and make my debut for Joe Gibbs Racing. This is a really good opportunity for me. We are going to try to manage our expectations and if we can go out and get a top-15 run and gain some experience, that would be a great day for us. I’m also excited about representing M&M’S, a great longtime partner at JGR and such a well-known brand. I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the M&M’S Toyota at Kansas.” At Kansas, Jones will be running a special paint scheme highlighting M&M’S support of Red Nose Day on the #18 M&M’s Toyota. Mars is proud to be a partner of Red Nose Day, a major charitable event that will be held on May 21, 2015. The M&M’S Brand is one of the world’s most beloved chocolate candies and a leader in colorful fun, so it’s a natural fit to leverage the M&M’S brand and humor to help raise money through this partnership. M&M’S is bringing Red Nose Day to NASCAR for the first time at Kansas and May 15 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Jones currently runs full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) for Kyle Busch Motorsports and a partial schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS). Kansas will mark Jones first official Cup Series start, but earlier this season he was able to make laps in the #11 Toyota Camry at Bristol Motor Speedway after Denny Hamlin was unable to continue the race following an extended rain delay. Jones finished the race in the 26th position (which was credited to Hamlin).(JGR)(4-30-2015)
- Talladega Goodyear Tire Notes:Teams in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series will run the same tire set-up at Talladega this weekend . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires that Sprint Cup teams ran at this track last October . . . for Xfinity teams, they ran this left-side tire code their last race at Talladega last May, but with a different right-side code . . . compared with what Xfinity teams ran a year ago, this right-side code features a compound change for better wear . . . earlier this season, teams in both of these series ran this left-side code at Daytona in February and this right-side code at Las Vegas in March . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Talladega . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.(Goodyear), see tire pressures, limites, sets and codes on the Talladega Race Info page – Tire Facts section.(4-30-2015)
- Gibson undergoes surgery to remove kidney stone: Two weeks ago, Tony Gibson, the crew chief to Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kurt Busch, thought he had successfully passed his second kidney stone in 33 days, an ailment that kept him from working the #41’s pit box during the rain-delayed race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Not so fast. Upon further review, the stone hadn’t been passed. Three days after he successfully directed Busch to his first win of 2015 at Richmond, Gibson tweeted Wednesday he was undergoing “little surgery” to have the stones officially removed.(NBC Sports)(4-30-2015)
- Busch-Gibson Combo Morphing Into Championship Contenders: Many predicted this. Dating all the way back to his championship season of 2004, Richmond winner Kurt Busch had excelled with a crew chief who could be defined as “old school” – one who made decisions with a healthy mix of modern engineering smarts and plain old gut. Busch won his title with a professor in old school ideals – Jimmy Fennig – calling the shots. Now, 11 years later, Tony Gibson — himself a ‘racer’s crew chief’ – takes his perch atop Busch’s pit box. And the resulting success is astounding. Since Gibson joined the #41 Stewart-Haas Racing team with three races remaining in the 2014 season, Busch has rattled off some of the best numbers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Here are a few, and their relation to the competition (Note: Due to his suspension to open the 2015 season, Busch’s stats span nine races, compared to 12 for other drivers)…
– His average finish with Gibson is 8.7, which ranks second only to Kevin Harvick’s 5.2
– Busch’s driver rating with Gibson is 111.8, second to Harvick’s 130.6.
– His average running position is 7.0, second to Harvick’s 4.5
– Despite three fewer races, he ranks fourth in fastest laps run (217) and second in laps led (536)(NASCAR)(4-30-2015) - Pedigree featured on the #18 at Talladega; start 300 for Ragan: Sunday’s race at Talladega will be the first of two this season with Pedigree as primary sponsor of the #18 Toyota, the other coming in September at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. David Ragan, an avid animal lover and dog owner, would like nothing more than to bring the dogs riding along on the Pedigree Toyota back to victory lane at Talladega, a place he’s quite familiar with. The Talladega race will coincide with the launch of a new tastier and meatier PEDIGREE Dry Dog Food recipe that delivers the variety that pet parents are looking for. The new recipe is loaded with whole grains and protein accented with vegetables, providing a nutritious and delicious difference that pet parents will see and their dogs will taste. On top of his solid track record and Talladega race win, Ragan will be celebrating a career milestone Sunday regardless of the outcome. He’ll be making his 300th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 17th Sprint Cup start at Talladega. Ragan will be filling in for the ninth and final race in the #18 Pedigree Toyota for regular driver Kyle Busch. After Talladega, Ragan will move over to the #55 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing (JGR), see images of the car/scheme on the #18 Team Schemes page.(4-30-2015)
- Talladega Superspeedway Notes & Facts – Thursday – history:
· Construction began on what was then known as the Alabama International Motor Speedway on May 23, 1968.
· The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held on Sept. 14, 1969 – won by Richard Brickhouse.
· The name changed to Talladega Superspeedway in 1989.
· Fourth repaving completed on Sept. 19, 2006.
(NASCAR)(4-30-2015 - Tracks could lose more seats: Executives from Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns eight tracks that host NASCAR Sprint Cup races, suggested Wednesday that they might reduce seating capacity at some of their facilities. SMI reduced seating capacity last year by 41,000 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and 17,000 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. When asked during a conference call with investor analysts about any further reductions, SMI hinted more could be made. “In my thoughts, we probably have two or three or maybe even four of our speedways where we have some extra seats, and we are working on some plans to adjust that excess capacity,” said William Brooks, vice chairman and chief financial officer and treasurer for SMI.(NBC Sports)(4-30-2015)
- Honorary Officials, National Anthem Performers Named for GEICO 500: Talladega Superspeedway announced the Honorary Officials for the GEICO 500 on Sunday, May 3, the 10th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the 2015 schedule.
Senior Airman James A. Sottile, a Biomedical Equipment Technician, from Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, AL, will serve as the Grand Marshal by giving the most famous command in motorsports – “Drivers, Start Your Engines.”
Waving the green flag and serving as the Honorary Starter will be Technical Sergeant Jason D. Floyd, also of Maxwell Air Force Base.
The 313th United States Army Band will perform the National Anthem.
As previously announced, Ole Miss Head Football Coach Hugh Freeze will serve as the race’s Honorary Pace Car Driver, and lead the field during warm-up laps prior to the start of the GEICO 500.
The invocation will be given by Allen Singley, volunteer for Alabama Raceway Ministries and Student Pastor at Grandview Baptist Church in Dothan, AL.
For ticket information, call 1-877-Go2-DEGA or visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com.
All seating along the fronstretch grandstands and towers are equipped with roomy and comfortable 21- and 22-inch wide chair back seats. Large High Definition Sprint Vision video boards that were implemented in 2014 will be back – three are permanent – and placed along the frontstretch to provide views of the whole track to every seat in the house. The video boards, three of which that are now permanent, are an initiative that is planned to be implemented at all International Speedway Corporation (ISC) tracks in the coming years.(TSS)(4-30-2015) - Ford Championship Weekend Tickets on sale Friday: Since 2002, Homestead-Miami Speedway has been the place where championship dreams have been made. Once again, Homestead-Miami Speedway will be home to the championship races for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series during Ford Championship Weekend, November 20-22. Tickets to Ford Championship Weekend will officially go on sale to the public on Friday, May 1. Ford Championship Weekend. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.HomesteadMiamiSpeedway.com or by calling (866) 409-RACE (7223) or locally at (305) 230-5255.(HMS)(4-30-2015)
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