At Monday's White House Easter Egg Roll, Jeff Gordon must also meet a #GimmeFive challenge

   Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson and tennis star Caroline Wozniacki will join the lineup of guests stopping by “Live with Kelly and Michael’s” special broadcast from the White House on Monday.

   

   For the first time, the full hour of the morning talk show will originate live from the White House, during the annual Easter Egg Roll. The show also includes a sit down with First Lady Michelle Obama and "Nashville" star Connie Britton.

   In addition to a sight-seeing tour of D.C. and his kids, Ella and Leo, participating in the Easter Egg Roll, Gordon has also been challenged to do five push-ups on the show as part of the #GimmeFive social media fitness challenge initiated by the First Lady.

   Watch the video below to see who challenged Gordon:

NASCAR levies heavy penalties to Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 team for altering tires

   NASCAR has levied unprecedented penalties to Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 Sprint Cup Series team for altering tires.

   Crew chief Luke Lambert has been fined $125,000 and suspended from the next six Cup races plus any non-points races during that span and placed on NASCAR probation through Dec. 31. James Bender, team tire technician, and Philip Surgen, team engineer, have been suspended from the next six Cup races, plus any non-points races, and placed on NASCAR probation through Dec. 31. 

   Driver Ryan Newman and car owner Richard Childress each have been penalized with the loss of 75 championship driver and championship car owner points. 

   “NASCAR takes very seriously its responsibility to govern and regulate the rules of the sport in order to ensure competitive balance,” said Steve O’Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer. “We’ve been very clear that any modifications to race vehicle tires is an unacceptable practice and will not be tolerated.”

NASCAR statement regarding Indiana's recently enacted 'religious freedom' legislation

Statement from NASCAR Senior Vice President

and Chief Communications Officer Brett Jewkes on the Indiana Legislation

   DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 31, 2015) – “NASCAR is disappointed by the recent legislation passed in Indiana. We will not embrace nor participate in exclusion or intolerance. We are committed to diversity and inclusion within our sport and therefore will continue to welcome all competitors and fans at our events in the state of Indiana and anywhere else we race.”

   To read more on the widely-criticized Indiana law, go here.

Joe Gibbs' full statement at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sunday

JOE GIBBS, Team Owner, Joe Gibbs Racing

Statement

   "I will address J.D.'s (Gibbs, president, Joe Gibbs Racing) situation. J.D. at our team meeting earlier this week, he got up and basically he said, 'I know God has a plan and God puts us through things for a reason.' I think J.D. gains his strength from the fact that he has a personal relationship with the Lord and I have to tell you that he's my hero. I kind of watch him and I don't know if anybody has ever dealt with anything as crazy as J.D. does. He went through a situation with his son Taylor having leukemia at two and we fought through that for about three or four years. By the way, appreciate all of you all's prayers for Taylor and Taylor's doing great today. Like I said, J.D. through his entire life has probably been the craziest person that I've ever been around or knew. Basically, his situation medically – there's very few answers. We've been dealing with this for about six months and basically what the doctor's say is that they really don't know. J.D. has lived a very active lifestyle. All the things that he's done in his life physically he's loved all sporting events and it's everything from football to snowboarding, racing cars, racing motor bikes – he's lived in a lot of ways for him, he loved all those things. We can't point to any one serious thing that happened to him, certainly any injury is a possibility that led us into some of the symptoms that he's experiencing now. I wanted to address the NASCAR community. I have to tell you that as a group, from all the contact that we've had, the people praying for us and the people reaching out to us, whether it was through Taylor's situation or now through 

   "J.D.'s situation, it's been just unbelievable for us as a family. I include the media in that. All of you have always treated us and J.D. in particular with such a caring attitude and you've always treated us fairly. Certainly everybody in the community out there, we've got so many different things and people praying for us right now, it's real encouragement for us and I think that's one of the thrills that we love about what we do and of being a part of your family. We've been dealing with this for about six months so as far as the management team for Joe Gibbs Racing, we have a senior management team and most of our people have been in place for the full 24 years – it's amazing really. I think very few people have noticed anything or any difference in the way we operate with the race team. The good thing there is that J.D. and I share the same responsibilities. If I'm not there for a particular reason, J.D. will be there and if J.D. is not there for some reason, I'll be there. As he goes through treatment, he will probably be doing less at the race track because he has a full week that demands quite a bit from him as he goes through treatment. You will probably see less of him at the race track, but he'll be there on a day-to-day basis with the race team and be in all of our meetings and all of the key decisions that we make, J.D.'s going to have a huge impact on that. 

   "So for our whole family, Coy (Gibbs), who's primary focus is the motocross team, but Coy also shares a lot with all of our big decisions with any of our racing and he'll have a huge impact on anything we do in the future and working with us and his responsibilities – he has a lot of them, but he's a very big part of our family and our race team and everything going forward. Coy will have a big input on that. I just want to kind of finish by saying this is a personal thing for us. We appreciate the way you guys handle everything and we certainly will appreciate all the prayers going forward. Thank you."

NASCAR driver Kyle Larson sits out Sunday's race at Martinsville, doctors checking 'heart area'

  

   Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson will sit out Sunday's STP 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and will undergo more tests at Charlotte's Carolinas Medical Center after suffering a fainting spell Saturday afternoon during an autograph session at the track.

   A statement from Larson's Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team on Sunday morning said Xfinity Series regular Regan Smith would drive Larson's No. 42 Chevrolet in Sunday's race.

   "Although all tests came back negative and Larson feels completely fine, the doctors felt he should be held for more testing today," the statement said. Larson, 22, was scheduled to start seventh in Sunday's race.

   In an interview prior to the race with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio's Claire B. Lang, team part-owner Felix Sabates said doctors were "checking the heart area" although he said "nobody thinks it's anything serious because his blood pressure has been pretty normal."

   John Olguin, the team's vice president of communications, told The Observer that Larson fainted during an autograph session and was taken to the track's infield care center. Doctors at the care center suggested Larson go to a local hospital for further evaluation, Olguin said.

   Doctors at Martinsville Memorial Hospital thought Larson should see a neurologist but the hospital did not have one available so he was eventually taken to CMC. 

Dale Jr. on NASCAR safety: 'You never can be safe enough'

   NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was asked during his media availability on Friday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway to assess the safety initiatives by NASCAR and if he were surprised there were still spots at tracks where there was nothing but concrete.

   Here is his complete response:

    “I think that the changes that were made in the last 10 to 15 years to help safety have been great. We put barriers where we felt like were common places the cars hit. But as we found out over the last couple of years, specifically, we’ll find all the empty spots where there aren’t any barriers. And I think that NASCAR is taking some steps to make it right. The tracks are taking some steps to move it along. You never can be safe enough. You never can do enough to be safe and keep the competitors safe and keep the fans safe. You never can do enough. So you shouldn’t ever stop trying. But unfortunately, it takes an accident like that to wake everybody up and make things happen. I know that NASCAR was very disappointed that there wasn’t a SAFER barrier on the wall at Daytona and that Kyle (Busch) was injured. And it’s real unfortunate to have to go through that whole process to really fire this thing kind of back up and get people moving on it," he said.

    “But, at the same time, I appreciate the things that they’re doing. And I know that the tire stuff is temporary. The tires are better than the concrete wall, but at the same time those tires can be a problem when you get into those. There’s no telling what direction that car is going to go when it hits a tire barrier. It’s better than the wall, for sure, but nothing’s better at this point than a SAFER barrier. So I guess their intent, over time, is to get SAFER barriers where they feel like they need it. And until then, we’ll have these tires in those areas. I’m happy with the things the tracks are doing. You look back at the cockpit of these cars when I first started driving them, and look at the advances we’ve made inside the cars and outside the cars, and when I was racing in 1998 and ’99 and 2000; and when I was racing Late Models without headrests and neck restraints, I never once was worried about anything ever happening to me. You get complacent, I think.

   “You look back at how stripped down safety was inside the cars years ago, and we didn’t worry about it then. And I think over time, you kind of get a little complacent. You do a lot to get better and get safer and then maybe you get complacent and you think you have enough. And there’s just never enough, you know? You just always keep trying. It’s evident, unfortunately, when someone is injured. But we’ve done a ton of stuff over the last several years that we need to be proud of and thankful for and appreciative of. But it’s weird how just looking back over time and I never got into a car worried about my safety. And we’ve come a long, long way. We’ve got headrests wrapped around us, and harnesses and six, seven, nine-point harnesses. We’ve got straps going everywhere. We can hardly be comfortable in the cars with so many damn straps down there. But you’ve just got to keep trying, I guess, is the message that we are all learning. We’ve got to keep trying to improve all the time and never really let it plane out; and always keep trying to improve.”

Could single-car qualifying runs return to restrictor-plate tracks? It's possible

   NASCAR officials confirmed Tuesday that they have not settled on a format for qualifying at the next restrictor-plate race weekend, scheduled May 1-3 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

    A more traditional single-car qualifying format, but run at a much quicker pace, is currently under consideration for the spring Talladega races, multiple sources confirmed to The Charlotte Observer.  

   NASCAR has experienced several problems over the past year adapting its new group qualifying format to restrictor-plate races and used the format for the first time at this year's Daytona 500.

   Since "drafting" at Daytona and Talladega can produce faster speeds, teams have tried to time their appearances on the track together during the different rounds in order to maximize speed. The result has been some wrecks and other teams failing to register a speed during the time limit.

   After the Daytona qualifying event for the Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR made some tweaks to the format for qualifying for the Trucks and Xfinity races - including increasing the number of groups and eliminating waits on pit road - in hopes of preventing some of the issues.     

   Following the Daytona weekend, NASCAR Executive Vice President Steve O'Donnell said the sanctioning body would continue to review the format for future superspeedway events.