Stewart-Haas Racing

Ryan Ellis Embarks a Part-Time Schedule at BJ McLeod Motorsports

by Mike
Ryan Ellis Embarks a Part-Time Schedule at BJ McLeod Motorsports

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (January 20, 2021): BJ McLeod Motorsports announces today that Ryan Ellis to drive the No. 99 car on a part-time NXS schedule with BJ McLeod Motorsports (BJMM) in 2021.

For the first time since 2016, Ellis will run a multiple-race schedule with the NXS team. Ellis is no stranger to BJ McLeod Motorsports. In 2018, Ellis first stepped in the No. 78 Xfinity car at Daytona International Speedway. The next year, Ellis also ran for the team at Iowa and Elkhart Lake, where he finished 17th, his career best in the BJMM car. (more…)

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Vinnie Miller Runs Part Time Schedule at BJ McLeod Motorsports in 2021

by Mike
Vinnie Miller Runs Part Time Schedule at BJ McLeod Motorsports in 2021

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (January 19, 2021): BJ McLeod Motorsports (BJMM) announced today that Vinnie Miller will return to the team with a part time schedule in the No. 99 NASCAR Xfinity Series entry in 2021.

Miller, who is no stranger to BJMM, signed with the team entering the 2019 season and had his career-best finish of 11th that year at Daytona International Speedway. (more…)

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Stewart-Haas eSports Announces Drivers for 2021 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series

by Mike
Stewart-Haas eSports Announces Drivers for 2021 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (Jan. 12, 2021) – Stewart-Haas eSports, the simracing extension of Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), has named its two drivers for the 2021 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series – Dylan Duval and Graham Bowlin.

Duval returns to Stewart-Haas eSports for a second straight season. The 25-year-old from Halifax, Nova Scotia, is the first Canadian iRacing winner in series history, taking the checkered flag at virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2016. Duval has made 93 starts in his eight-year career, scoring nine top-five and 25 top-10 finishes while earning a best points result of fifth in 2016.

“I’m extremely proud to be back with Stewart-Haas eSports,” said Duval, who is a graphic designer when not competing in iRacing events. “It meant the world when they picked me last year and it’s really encouraging to know that this team has my back. They believe in my ability to run up front and I’m ready to show they made the right decision in having me return for a second season.”

New to Stewart-Haas eSports is Bowlin, a Texas native who was a rookie in the 2020 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The 18-year-old from Houston finished 11th in the championship standings for Joe Gibbs Racing. He earned two poles and notched two top-fives and six top-10s with 90 laps led. Bowlin also scored a non-points victory in the All-Star Race at virtual North Wilkesboro Speedway.

“I’m genuinely excited to join Stewart-Haas eSports,” said Bowlin, a senior in high school. “I have high expectations for this season and I think that being paired with Dylan makes our team really strong.”

Bowlin will race Stewart-Haas eSports’ No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang and Duval will pilot the team’s No. 41 Ford Mustang.

Smithfield has increased its involvement with Stewart-Haas eSports in 2021. The American food company with a global reach will be prominently featured on Bowlin’s No. 10 Ford Mustang for every race and will be the presenting sponsor of Stewart-Haas eSports LIVE, the team’s exclusive, in-race onboard stream. Smithfield will also present a weekly track overview that will be shared across the Stewart-Haas Racing and Stewart-Haas eSports social media accounts.

“To amplify our 10th consecutive year of sponsorship within the sport, Smithfield is expanding its involvement by becoming more active in the esports space through our overall partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Tim Zimmer, Chief Marketing Officer, Smithfield. “We’re proud to support the emerging esports initiative within the industry and are thrilled to take this next step with Stewart-Haas eSports and Graham Bowlin.”

The 2021 season marks the 12th year of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series and it is the only officially sanctioned esports series of NASCAR. The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series features the top-40 paved oval simracers in the world competing in racecar replicas engineered from the ground up in cooperation with real-world race teams, applying accurate mechanical and dynamic models on exact copies of NASCAR’s greatest venues.

The schedule for the 2021 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will be released at a later date.

(more…)

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Clint Bowyer 2nd in Bristol

by Mike
Clint Bowyer 2nd in Bristol

Late Surge Propels No. 14 ‘Built Ford Proud’ Mustang

 

Date: May 31, 2020

Event: Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 (Round 9 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval)

Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)

Start/Finish: 23rd/2nd (Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)

Point Standing: 12th with 232 points, 138 out of first

 

Race Winner:       Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner:  Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 2 Winner:  Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-125):

● Clint Bowyer started 23rd and finished 12th.

● The No. 14 “Built Ford Proud” Mustang held its position early in the race before stopping at the lap 20 competition caution.

● Bowyer moved from 29th to 19th before pitting during the second competition caution on lap 60.

● Bowyer began turning “crazy fast times” according to the crew driving from 17th to 12th before the end of the stage.

● During the stage break, Bowyer pitted for adjustments to help the car’s rotation in the turns.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 126-250):

● Bowyer started 10th and finished sixth to earn five bonus points.

● The No. 14 “Built Ford Proud” Mustang faded to 16th by lap 180 with Bowyer reporting the car was “really tight.”

● Bowyer pitted for major adjustments to fix the issue during a caution on lap 200.

● The changes helped as Bowyer clawed back to 10th by lap 230 when a nine-car accident stopped the race for 11 minutes.

● Bowyer restarted the race in 10th with just 15 laps left and moved to eighth before another caution slowed the field.

● Bowyer jumped from eighth to sixth in the seven-lap green flag run to end the stage.

.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 251-500):

● Bowyer started 14th, finished second.

● The No. 14 “Built Ford Proud” Mustang moved to eighth by the caution on lap 360.

● Over the next 70 laps, tight handling issues plus cars with fresher tires shuffled Bowyer back to 15th.

● Bowyer pitted for adjustments and restarted the race in 14th with 61 laps remaining.

● Things got worse as Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman made contact sending Newman into Bowyer causing significant left-side damage to the No. 14.

● Bowyer restarted the race in 13th with 37 laps remaining. Immediately after the restart Bowyer deftly avoided a seven-car accident in front of him.

● Bowyer restarted ninth with 30 laps to go and used fresh tires to drive to fifth before the next caution flew with 10 to go.

● The race restarted with just five laps remaining and it didn’t take long for the leaders Joey Logano and Chase Elliott to start beating and banging.

● Bowyer never lifted as the pair collided and slid into the wall to claim second place.

● There weren’t enough laps to chase down Keselowski for the victory.

 

Notes:

●  Bowyer earned his second top-five and third top-10 of the season, and his eighth top-five and 16th top-10 in 29 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.

●  This is Bowyer’s fifth straight top-10 at Bristol and his seventh top-10 in the last nine races at Bristol.

●  Since joining SHR in 2017, Bowyer has only finished outside the top-10 once at Bristol.

●  Keselowski won the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 to score his 32nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Bristol. His margin of victory over second-place Bowyer was .471 of a second.

●  This was Ford’s series-best fifth win of the season and its 691st all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory.

●  This was Ford’s 38th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol. The last Ford driver to win at Bristol was Kurt Busch in August 2018 while a member of SHR.

●  There were 17 caution periods for a total of 102 laps.

●  Only 22 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  Kevin Harvick remains the championship leader after Bristol with a 24-point advantage over second-place Joey Logano.

 

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 ‘Built Ford Proud’ Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“Wow what a finish. That got wild. The boys hung in there and just kept digging. The old girl said “Built Ford Proud” when she probably should have said “Built Ford Tough” because she had all four corners knocked off it. We actually struggled pretty bad with our setup. I don’t know, it was floating the nose really bad up off the corner all day long. I could gain and make some ground up in the center of the corner in, and in the middle, but if I had to pass somebody and turn underneath of them I didn’t have the real estate. The outside was no man’s land for me. I couldn’t get my front end to turn at all.”

 

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Folds of Honor 500 on Sunday, June 7 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Custer Finishes 35th at Bristol

by Mike
Custer Finishes 35th at Bristol

Accident Ends Rookie’s Day Prematurely

 

 

Date: May 31, 2020

Event: Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 (Round 9 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval)

Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)

Start/Finish: 22nd/35th (Accident, completed 228 of 500 laps)

Point Standing: 24th with 140 points, 230 out of first

Race Winner:      Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner:  Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsport (Chevrolet)

Stage 2 Winner:  Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsport (Chevrolet)

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-125):             

● Cole Custer started 22nd and finished 26th.

● Throughout the first two cautions, Custer remained on the track in his HaasTooling.com Mustang even though he was tight to the center and off of the turns. He restarted 13th on lap 29.

● At the lap-62 competition caution, Custer pitted from 20th for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help with his tight handling condition. He restarted 24th.

● During the Stage 1 break, the 22-year-old pitted from 26th for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help with his tight-handling HaasTooling.com Mustang.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 126-250):

● Custer started 20th and finished 35th.

● The caution was thrown on lap 198 and the California native reported his car was improving and would like more of the previous adjustment. After visiting pit road, he restarted 21st on lap 207.

● Next caution was displayed on lap 211 with Custer in the 19th spot. He didn’t visit pit road and restarted 18th on lap 216.

● On lap 217, the caution was once again displayed with Custer in 17th.

● Custer restarted 17th on lap 221 after not pitting.

● On lap 228, Custer was collected in a multi-car accident, which ultimately ended his day and relegated him to a 35th-place finish.

 

Notes:

● Custer made his 12th career NASCAR Cup Series start and his first at Bristol.

● Brad Keselowski won the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 to score his 32nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Bristol. His margin of victory over second-place Bowyer was .471 of a second.

● This was Ford’s series-best fifth win of the season and its 691st all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory.

● This was Ford’s 38th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol. The last Ford driver to win at Bristol was Kurt Busch in August 2018 while a member of SHR.

● There were 17 caution periods for a total of 102 laps.

● Only 22 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● Harvick remains the championship leader after Bristol with a 24-point advantage over second-place Joey Logano.

 

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“Well, that stinks. We were getting our car a lot better and then caught up in the wreck. Just so little time to react so you get caught up in them pretty easily here at Bristol. That’s just how it is here. I thought our HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang was getting a lot better. I felt like we could’ve run in the top-10. We were a lot better than where we were running. We were going forward, but our pit stall wasn’t helping us either. We were getting blocked in about every time and that hurt us too. We’ll move on to the next one, but man, I thought we were going to have a good day here.”

 

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Folds of Honor 500 on Sunday, June 7 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Almirola Finishes 29th at Bristol

by Mike
Almirola Finishes 29th at Bristol

Smithfield Ford Driver Races as High as Second; Involved in Lap-464 Accident

 

Date: May 31, 2020

Event: Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 (Round 9 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval)

Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)

Start/Finish: 2nd/29th (Accident, completed 470 of 500 laps)

Point Standing: 11th (240 points, 130 out of first)

 

Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 2 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-125):

●  Aric Almirola started second and finished fourth, earning seven stage points.

●  The Smithfield Ford driver started on the bottom groove and fell to sixth before a caution on lap six.

●  Almirola drove to fourth before the competition caution.

●  He restarted fourth and drove the No. 10 Ford to second-place before the second competition caution.

●  Almirola pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments to restart third.

●  Starting on lap 110, Almirola tapped the No. 2 car’s bumper multiple times to ultimately make the pass. He noted tight-handling conditions during the run and held the No. 10 Ford inside the top-five.

●  He pitted at the end of the stage for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 126-250):

●  Almirola started sixth and finished 21st.

●  Almirola raced the No. 10 Ford to fourth by lap 177.

●  He was scored second after a caution on lap 199. He said his car was good on the long runs and tight on the restarts.

●  Almirola pitted for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments to restart fifth.

●  After a red flag on lap 229, Almirola was scored eighth. On the restart, he said he may have a tire going down and pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments.

 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 251-500):

●  Almirola started 10th and finished 20th.

●  Almirola advanced the Smithfield Ford six positions on the restart before a caution on lap 269.

●  He raced to third before a caution on lap 329. He pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and adjustments to restart third.

●  After another caution on lap 355, Almirola reported a loose wheel and pitted for four tires, fuel and chassis adjustments to restart 10th.

●  Almirola was contacted by the No. 2 car on the restart and dropped to 13th.

●  He rejoined the top-10 on lap 393.

●  Almirola pitted under caution on lap 433 from eighth-place for four tires, fuel and more chassis adjustments after noting loose-handling conditions. He came off pit road in seventh.

●  Another caution was called with 43 laps to go. Almirola opted not to pit with 19 laps on his tires.

●  During the restart, Almirola was involved in an accident and hit the outside wall. He was forced to pit to repair damage and returned to the track two laps down. He retired the No. 10 Smithfield Ford on lap 470 due to unrepairable damage.

 

Notes:

● Brad Keselowski won the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 to score his 32nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Bristol. His margin of victory over second-place Clint Bowyer was .471 of a second.

●  This was Ford’s series-best fifth win of the season and its 691st all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory.

●  This was Ford’s 38th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol. The last Ford driver to win at Bristol was Kurt Busch in August 2018 while a member of SHR.

●  There were 17 caution periods for a total of 102 laps.

●  Only 22 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  Kevin Harvick remains the championship leader after Bristol with a 24-point advantage over second-place Joey Logano.

 

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“Man. We had such a good car today. We would have had a shot at a top-three finish. That’s Bristol. I felt like I had a tire going down at one point, so we pitted and even came back to the top-10 from that pretty quickly. We had a loose-wheel later and had to pit under caution that put us 10th. We were definitely making our way back towards the front and had a promising finish if we didn’t get caught up there. It looked like the 19 got into me. The car just took off towards the wall and we were done. I hate it for this Smithfield Ford team. We’re flirting on the edge of some really good runs. The good news is we came to Bristol with a setup that can win, so we’ll have confidence coming back.”

 

Next Up: 

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Folds of Honor 500 on Sunday, June 7 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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