NASCAR bans flaring of fenders and side skirts during races

   NASCAR announced Monday teams will no longer be able to bend or manipulate fenders or side skirts during pit stops and if a team is caught doing so, it will be directed back to pit road to correct the issue and lose their track position. Additional penalties could also be imposed.

   Teams repeatedly turned to the practice to help gain an aerodynamic advantage last season.

    Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, said NASCAR needed to police the practice because NASCAR had no way to account for the added aerodynamic advantage in testing.

   “We know that when we go to the Goodyear tire test, the cars aren't tested (with changed fenders), so that is not something that is modeled (in our simulations) in any way shape or form,” he said. “To be correct with the entire garage area and our venders and suppliers, and other people that we work with, it is best to regulate that and keep it in the box if we can.”

   NASCAR was aware of the issue last season but did not want to make a rules change while the championship Chase was underway.

Jeff Gordon's NASCAR TV career will begin this season

   Jeff Gordon may not be quite done competing on the track but his career as a NASCAR TV commentator will get a head start this season with Fox Sports.

   As part of the new 10-year NASCAR TV deal, Fox will broadcast the first half of the season of the Xfinity, formerly Nationwide, Series and the network plans to rotate Gordon and a handful of other Sprint Cup Series champions as analysts in the booth during broadcasts.

   Joining Gordon taking turns in the Fox booth will be former champion Brad Keselowski and reigning Cup champion Kevin Harvick. Both Keselowski and Harvick have also won titles in the Xfinity Series.

   Gordon, 43, announced last week the 2015 season would be his last as a fulltime competitor and when asked if working in TV was in his future coyly told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, "I'd entertain it."

   Fox plans to officially unveil its talent lineup for the 2015 season on Monday, the first day of the annual Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour in Charlotte.

   Fox Sports 1 will televise 12 Xfinity races this season while the main Fox network will televise two - Phoenix and Talladega, Ala. Adam Alexander will do play-by-play for the races alongside NASCAR team owner Michael Waltrip and the rotation of Cup champions.

   Mike Joy, Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds will return to the booth for Fox's Cup series broadcasts this season. They will be joined on pit road by reporters Matt Yocum and newcomers, Jamie Little and Chris Neville.

Reaction in NASCAR to Jeff Gordon's announcement 2015 will be his last fulltime season

Mark Reuss, General Motors executive vice president

of global product development, purchasing and supply chain

   “Jeff Gordon is an incredible competitor, leader and ambassador for Chevrolet and motorsports. He has contributed so much – not only on the track with his 92 wins and four championships, but also away from the track as a businessman, with the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation, and more importantly, as a husband and father. He is a champion, and he has been a great friend. We are proud of our relationship with Jeff, and, just like all of his fans, we look forward to watching him compete for one more championship. We wish Jeff and his family – Ingrid, Ella and Leo – all of the best.” 

NASCAR Statement from Brian France, NASCAR Chairman

and Chief Executive Officer, on Jeff Gordon

   DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 22, 2015) – “Jeff Gordon transcends NASCAR and will be celebrated as one of the greatest drivers to ever race. We have all enjoyed watching his legend grow for more than two decades, and will continue to do so during his final full-time season. His prolonged excellence and unmatched class continue to earn him the admiration of fans across the globe. Today’s announcement is a bittersweet one. I’ll miss his competitive fire on a weekly basis, but I am also happy for Jeff and his family as they start a new chapter. On behalf of the entire NASCAR family, I thank Jeff for his years of dedication and genuine love for this sport, and wish him the very best in his final season.”

Darrell Waltrip, NASCAR on FOX analyst

  Four-time NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES champion Jeff Gordon announced today that 2015 will be his final, fulltime season behind the wheel.  Below, NASCAR on FOX analyst and Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds react to the news:

   “Jeff’s accomplishments off the track are impressive, but his numbers on the track are unbelievable.  I call him the ‘GOAT’ – the Greatest of All Time.  I believe he is the greatest NASCAR driver there has ever been. What he has done outside the sport has grown the sport’s popularity immensely.  I give Jeff a tremendous amount of credit for the youth movement in NASCAR.  A lot of people think NASCAR started in 1992, because that’s when he came on the scene and brought in a new, young audience because he appealed to the 18-35-year-old demographic.  We didn’t really have a driver at the time who could do that. 

   “I think Jeff has something left to prove in 2015. I think he’d like to win 100 races, but he knows that might be a stretch. It’s hard to win four in a season, let alone eight.  And of course, he’d like to another championship. A part-time Jeff Gordon behind the wheel isn’t a bad thing, either.  When I was at the end of my career, there were some tracks I still enjoyed competing on – and even would today.  Jeff has stayed with Rick his entire career and has been committed to that organization.  Their relationship has paid huge dividends.  Jeff has driven the same number with the same team for his entire career, a continuity that reminds me a lot of the Petty era.”

 Larry McReynolds, NASCAR on FOX analyst

   “I applaud the fact he is going out as a competitive race car driver.  He won’t be out there just riding around to finish out his career. We all know Jeff Gordon well enough to know he wants to win more races and maybe another Daytona 500 and another Brickyard 400.  As close as he came last year in the championship, you know he wants to be a player in the championship when we get to Homestead this year.

   “Jeff changed the personality and perception of a race car driver in NASCAR.  Before he came along, the perception was more about the good old Southeastern boy wearing blue jeans, big belt buckles and boots.  But he created a new buzz in our sport because he looked like he stepped off the cover of a GQ magazine.  Dale Earnhardt was a huge watershed in our sport because he showed everyone that while NASCAR is what he does on the track, it’s also a big business because people wanted to buy his merchandise. Then Jeff Gordon came along and created a new mark as far as the perception of what a driver is. He has made so many strides outside the race car for this sport, not the least of which is his charitable work over the years.  That part definitely won’t stop when he gets out of the car. Nor will his tremendous legacy.”

   

STATEMENT FROM TMS PRESIDENT GOSSAGE ON GORDON'S NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENT

   FORT WORTH, Texas (Jan. 22, 2015) - Statement from Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage on the announcement that 2015 will be Jeff Gordon's last season as a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. 

   "I've known Jeff since he was a teenager with a really bad mustache. It has been thrilling to watch him develop from a promising Busch Series driver into perhaps the greatest professional our sport has ever seen. Jeff showed last season that he still has a burning desire to win races and championships. You won't find a finer professional, person or charitable athlete.  We have been fortunate to be associated with him for all of these years. I'm sure all fans, even of the other drivers, will want to show their appreciation to Jeff this year."

Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell

   “I think with the announcement of 2015 being Jeff Gordon’s last full-time year behind the wheel, we all need to stop and say ‘thank you Jeff’. His contributions to this sport are so numerous it would be a blanket ‘thank you’ for everything.

   “Primarily he helped to take NASCAR to another level. He was a young kid from the Midwest with a lot of potential, coming in here in 1993, starting his career when our “King” was winding his up. He arrived on the scene at a perfect time.

   “I looked at his stats here at Martinsville and was truly shocked. I knew he was good here but not until I saw his record did I realize just how good he is here. Forty-four starts, eight wins, 35 top 10s, 28 top 5s, no DNFs and out of the 44 starts he led in 34 of them. That is an amazing record. Jeff Gordon is a class act and I wish him the best this year as well as whatever the future holds for him.”

 Sonoma Raceway President and General Manager Steve Page

   “As promoters we are supposed to be neutral observers, but given his local roots and the tremendous success he’s had at our track, I must admit Jeff Gordon has always been looked upon as the home team around here.  If he were to win our race in June on his way to his fifth Sprint Cup Series championship, it would likely be a huge cause for celebration among our local race fans.  We look forward to helping Jeff celebrate the culmination of a remarkable sports career.”

 

MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY PRESIDENT ROGER CURTIS

    "Not only is Jeff one of the greatest drivers to ever race, he's one of the classiest guys in the sport. I will always remember having dinner with him one night in Jackson, just talking about our families and swapping racing stories. Even for me, as a 20 plus year veteran in the sport and a track president, it is a memory I will never forget. He embodies everything that's right in NASCAR and a true champion. I wish him and Ingrid the very best as they plan the next chapter, and look forward to one last season with him before he retires."

Brian Vickers medically cleared to race beginning in early March; granted Chase waiver

Team press release

Doctors have medically cleared Brian Vickers to return to full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup racing in early March, three months after corrective heart surgery.

Vickers will make his season debut in the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 8.

MWR co-founder and two-time Daytona 500 champion Michael Waltrip will drive the No. 55 in the 57^th annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 22. MWR will name a substitute driver for the March 1 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway later.

“The doctors gave me a clean bill of health and said I will be better than before,” said Vickers, the 31-year-old Thomasville, N.C. native whose health issues interrupted his racing seasons in 2010 and again in 2013.

NASCAR Statement from Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President & Chief Racing Development Officer on Brian Vickers Participation in 2015 Season

   DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 21, 2015) – “With the clearance from his physicians, Brian Vickers has satisfied all necessary NASCAR requirements to resume racing on March 5. Further, NASCAR has reviewed the circumstances surrounding his situation and has determined that he will maintain Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup eligibility despite neither entering nor attempting to qualify in the first two championship events, provided he meets all other necessary eligibility requirements.”

Kevin Harvick will retain Tony Stewart's pit crew permanently

   An official with Stewart-Haas Racing on Wednesday confirmed a late-season pit crew swap made between the teams of eventual 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick and teammate and co-owner Tony Stewart has been made permanent for the start of the 2015 season.

   The move was first made early last September in time for the 10-race Chase playoff after Harvick's team had several documented struggles during the course of the season. At the time, however, the change was announced as a temporary one. 

   Stewart first mentioned the move being made permanent on Tuesday at a USO visit with troops and military families at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.

   "There really wasn't that much difference in terms of their times on paper, it was within a tenth of a second. We just felt like that chemistry worked really well," Stewart told NASCAR.com.

   Harvick won three of the Chase playoff races, including the penultimate race at Phoenix, which gave him the opportunity to compete for the championship at the series finale at Homestead, Fla, which he also won.

Kenseth, Keselowski thankful for Las Vegas test

   Sprint Cup Series drivers Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and A.J. Allmendinger took part in a Goodyear tire test Monday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in preparation for the March 8 race this season.

   The test was the first on-track test drivers had of the new changes this season, including a reduction in horsepower and a modified aero package.

   With a new ban on private testing, Kenseth and Keselowski said any chance to test on the track is a welcome one.

   “I think any track time you get is really important with the new testing rules, banning all off-season testing, which I think we all like, but you’ve really got to take advantage of the tests when you get them and try to gather as much information as you can – hopefully useful information that you can use down the road,” Kenseth said.

   “For us, we didn’t run particularly well last year and we’ve got a new nose on the Camry this year and new rules changes and aero package and all that stuff, so we’re just trying to get it sorted out and try to find a baseline and hopefully find something that drives good so we’ve got something decent when we come back here."

     Keselowski, the defending winner of both the Cup and Xfinity series races at Las Vegas, agreed.

    “More so than the changes to the car, the testing ban makes every test you do have that much more critical because you have so much less,” Keselowski said. “In that light, a lot of what testing is isn’t always developing the car, but you’re developing your people, developing your techniques. We added two or three more people to our team so we’re trying to develop them and get them up to speed, so it’s really a great time for us as a team to have a test.”

    Paul Wolfe, Keselowski’s crew chief, said the lone test before the teams head to Daytona was a productive one but didn’t answer all of his questions.

   "It’s still hard to tell (how the changes will impact us). It’ll take some different style tracks and different style tires because that’s one of the big factors for us in how our car handles," Wolfe said. "There are certain tracks and tire combinations that favor us and that we run really well with and there are others where you could say we’re not as strong. It’s hard to say, just based off this one test, if we feel like we’re where we need to be.”

Tragic accident claims life of Dover (DE) International Speedway employee

Track press release

   Dover International Speedway is mourning the loss of a dedicated employee who died yesterday from injuries sustained during a multi-vehicle collision on I-476 in Broomall, Pa.

   Jason Anderson, 33, senior director of ticket sales and operations for Dover International Speedway, died in the accident. Jason was a dedicated husband, father, employee and friend. He will be greatly missed.

   “Jason’s death is a tragic loss for all of us who considered him a close friend as well as a loss for Dover International Speedway,” said President Mike Tatoian. “He was an exemplary employee who always put customers and co-workers first. Our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family during this very difficult time.”

   Anderson was a member of the Dover Motorsports, Inc. team for six years, and moved to Dover, Del. after operations were ceased at Memphis Motorsports Park. He worked at the New Orleans Saints prior to joining the Dover team. He was a proud Syracuse University graduate and recently received his master’s degree in Sports Management from Ohio University.

   Memorial services will be announced when more information is available.

   You can read a news report of the accident here.