NASCAR drivers to carry names of fallen service members in Coca-Cola 600

By Jerry BonkowskiMay 23, 2016, 1:13 PM EDT

(Matt Sullivan/NASCAR via Getty Images)

For the second consecutive year, all 40 drivers in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway will pay tribute to fallen members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

As part of “600 Miles of Remembrance,” the top part of the windshield on each driver’s car will carry the fallen service member’s rank and last name in place of where driver names are usually located.

Names of fallen service members also will adorn the pace car and grand marshal cars.

The tribute serves as the commemorative launch of “NASCAR: An American Salute,” an initiative within the industry to express collective respect and gratitude to members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Fans can follow the conversation on social media using #NASCARSalutes.

“Each of the names proudly displayed on these race cars tells a story of honor and sacrifice,” said Brent Dewar, NASCAR chief operating officer. “As the NASCAR industry reflects on Memorial Day Weekend, we’re proud to honor these and all fallen service members in a way that helps ensure their stories and lives are never forgotten.”

Many of the fallen members that will be remembered have direct links to individuals who work for NASCAR teams, including:

* Navy SEAL Denis Miranda, who was killed in a helicopter crash in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2010, trained in BUD/S alongside Graham Molatch, jackman for the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team. Miranda’s name will appear on Kyle Larson’s car during the Coca-Cola 600.

* Lance Corporal Scott Lynch served in the United States Marine Corps with Mark Singleton, tire changer for Chip Ganassi Racing, and will be honored on Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 car.

* Furniture Row Racing employee John Parks served in the Marines with Jeffrey Bohr, Jr., a gunnery sergeant who was killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom and whose name will be carried on Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 car.

In addition, Charlotte Motor Speedway will once again play host to and salute more than 6,000 active-duty military members and their families through the weekend.

Other activities scheduled for the weekend include:

* During Saturday’s Hisense 4K TV 300, NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers will display red, white and blue Xfinity windshield decals on their race cars.

* Goodyear will replace the “Eagle” sidewall design with “Support Our Troops” messaging on all tires used during the weekend.

* NASCAR, Coca-Cola and Mars will offer a sweepstakes to shoppers at more than 180 military commissaries who will have a chance to win a trip for two to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week in Las Vegas.

* Race fans can help assemble care packages for the troops in the midway at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The care packages will include Mars candy and be shipped following the Coca-Cola 600 to deployed military members.

* NASCAR and Honor and Remember, Inc. will display specially prepared Honor and Remember flags representing those who lost their life in service to our country from each of the 50 United States throughout the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

* During the Fox Sports broadcast of the Coca-Cola 600, the names and branch of all service members who have lost their lives in the past year will by displayed on a graphic scroll.

* SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90) will have a special military tribute Sunday at 1 p.m. ET., that will include interviews with drivers as well as service men and service women from different branches of the military.

Here’s the list of service members who will be honored with their names atop driver windshields in Sunday’s race:

2016 600 Miles of Remembrance
Car No.	Driver	Soldier	Branch	Soldier Hometown

1	Jamie McMurray	LCPL Scott Albert Lynch	Marines	Greenwood Lake, NY
2	Brad Keselowski	SPC Joseph T. Prentler	Army	Fenwick, MI
3	Austin Dillon	SOC Mark T. Carter	Navy	Fallbrook, CA
4	Kevin Harvick	LCPL Nathan Ross Elrod	Marines	Rockwell, NC
5	Kasey Kahne	LCPL Eric Levi Ward	Marines	Redmond, WA
6	Trevor Bayne	CW4 Jason William McCormack	Army	Enterprise, AL
7	Regan Smith	LCPL Cody Steven Childers	Marines	Chesapeake, VA
10	Danica Patrick	LCPL Benito “cheeks” Ramirez	Marines	Edinburg, TX
11	Denny Hamlin	SGT John Davis Harvey	Marines	Roanoke, VA
13	Casey Mears	SPC Christopher Shane Wright	Army	Tollesboro, KY
14	Tony Stewart	MSG Paul D. Karpowich	Army	Freeland, PA
15	Clint Bowyer	MSGT Tara Brown	Air Force	Long Island, NJ
16	Greg Biffle	SPC Joel A. Taylor	Army	Pinetown, NC
17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	SP4 James (Jim) H. Woolard	Army	Manchester, OH
18	Kyle Busch	PFC Robert Stephan Underwood	Army	O’ Fallon, MO
19	Carl Edwards	CPT Edmond Jablonsky Jr.	Army	Pasadena, TX
20	Matt Kenseth	PFC Christopher Neal White	Marines	Elizabethtown, KY
21	Ryan Blaney	SMSN Cherone L. Gunn	Navy	Virginia Beach, VA
22	Joey Logano	SPC Cindy Beaudoin	Army	Plainfield, CT
23	David Ragan	LT COL Paul Keith Mikeal	Air Force	Mooresville, NC
24	Chase Elliott	GYSGT Justin Martone	Marines	Bedford, VA
27	Paul Menard	SPC Zachary Lee Shannon	Army	Dunedin, FL
30	Josh Wise	SSG Robert A. Massarelli	Army	Hamilton, OH
31	Ryan Newman	SSGT Jason C Ramseyer	Marines	West Palm Beach, FL
32	Jeffrey Earnhardt	CPT Christopher Cash	Army	Old Orchard Beach, ME
34	Chris Buescher	SSGT Eric A. McIntosh	Marines	Indianapolis, IN
38	Landon Cassill	PVT Earl Platt	Army	Vestaburg, MI
41	Kurt Busch	SGT Nicholas Ray Gibbs	Army	Stokesdale, NC
42	Kyle Larson	SO3 Denis Christian Miranda	Navy	Toms River, NJ
43	Aric Almirola	SSGT Forrest B. Sibley	Air Force	Pensacola, FL
44	Brian Scott	PFC John G. Borbonus	US Army	Boise, ID
46	Michael Annett	PFC Jacob Henry Wykstra	Army	Thornton, CO
47	AJ Allmendinger	YN3 Wendell Williams	Navy	Cincinnati, OH
48	Jimmie Johnson	SFC Kyle B. Wehrly	Army	Galesburg, IL
55	Reed Sorenson	PFC Jason Hill Estopinal	Marines	Dallas, GA
78	Martin Truex Jr.	GYSGT Jeffery E. Bohr, Jr.	Marines	Ossian, IA
83	Matt DiBenedetto	CPL Jared C. Verbeek	Marines	Visalia, CA
88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	LCPL Aaron Howard Reed	Marines	Chillicothe, OH
95	Michael McDowell	PFC Andrew Mark Krippner	Army	Garland, TX
98	Cole Whitt	CPL Michael D. Anderson Jr.	Marines	Modesto, CA
	Pace Car	CAPT Matthew Rolland	Air Force	Lexington, KY
	Split Pace Car	1SG Kevin A. Dupont	Marines	Chicopee, MA
	Grand Marshal Car 1	SGT Bryan Paul Abercrombie	Army	Clinton, UT
	Grand Marshal Car 2	SPC Tony J. Gonzales	Army	Newman, CA

	Branch Breakdown
	Army	20
	Marines	16
	Air Force	4
	Navy	4

	Total Pairings	44

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Truck starting lineup at WWT Raceway: Ty Majeski wins pole

By Dustin LongJun 2, 2023, 7:45 PM EDT

Ty Majeski will lead the Craftsman Truck starting lineup to the green flag Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway after winning the pole Friday night.

Majeski claimed his fourth career series pole and first of the season with a lap of 138.168 mph around the 1.25-mile speedway.

MORE: Truck starting lineup at WWT Raceway

Ben Rhodes, who won last week at Charlotte, qualified second with a lap of 137.771 mph. He was followed by Christian Eckes (137.716 mph), Carson Hocevar (137.057) and Stewart Friesen (137.007).

The series races at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday on FS1.

Saturday Portland Xfinity race: Start time, TV info, weather

By Dustin LongJun 2, 2023, 1:00 PM EDT

There have been different winners in each of the last nine Xfinity Series races this season. Will the streak continue Saturday at Portland International Raceway?

Those nine different winners have been: Sammy Smith (Phoenix), Austin Hill (Atlanta), AJ Allmendinger (Circuit of the Americas), Chandler Smith (Richmond), John Hunter Nemechek (Martinsville), Jeb Burton (Talladega), Ryan Truex (Dover), Kyle Larson (Darlington) and Justin Allgaier (Charlotte).

Details for Saturday’s Xfinity race at Portland International Raceway

(All times Eastern)

START: The command to start engines will be given at 4:38 p.m. … The green flag is scheduled to wave at 4:46 p.m.

PRERACE: Xfinity garage opens at 10 a.m. … Practice begins at 11:30 a.m. … Qualifying begins at 12 p.m. … Driver introductions begin at 4:15 p.m. … The invocation will be given by Donnie Floyd of Motor Racing Outreach at 4:30 p.m. … The national anthem will be performed at 4:31 p.m.

DISTANCE: The race is 75 laps (147.75 miles) on the 1.97-mile road course.

STAGES: Stage 1 ends at Lap 25. Stage 2 ends at Lap 50.

STARTING LINEUP: Qualifying begins at 12 p.m. Saturday

TV/RADIO: FS1 will broadcast the race at 4:30 p.m. ... Coverage begins at 4 p.m. … Motor Racing Network coverage begins at 4 p.m. and can be heard on mrn.com. … SiriusXN NASCAR Radio will carry the MRN broadcast.

FORECAST: Weather Underground — Sunny with a high of 73 degrees and a zero percent chance of rain at the start of the race.

LAST TIME: AJ Allmendinger won last year’s inaugural Xfinity race at Portland by 2.8 seconds. Myatt Snider finished second. Austin Hill placed third.

NASCAR Friday schedule at WWT Raceway, Portland

By Dustin LongJun 2, 2023, 7:00 AM EDT

Craftsman Truck Series teams will be on track Friday at World Wide Technology Raceway to prepare for Saturday’s race. Cup teams will go through inspection before getting on track Saturday.

Xfinity Series teams will go through inspection Friday in preparation for their race Saturday at Portland International Raceway.

Here is Friday’s schedule:

World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (Cup and Trucks)

Weather

Friday: Partly cloudy with a high in the low 90s.

Friday, June 2

(All times Eastern)

Garage open

1 – 8 p.m. — Craftsman Truck Series
4 – 9 p.m. — Cup Series

Track activity

6 – 6:30 p.m. — Truck practice (FS1)
6:30 – 7:30 p.m. — Truck qualifying (FS1)

Portland International Raceway (Xfinity Series)

Weekend weather

Friday: Mostly sunny with a high of 77 degrees.

Friday, June 2

(All times Eastern)

Garage open

6-11 p.m. — Xfinity Series (no track activity on Friday)

Friday 5: NASCAR’s $1 million question is can the culture change?

By Dustin LongJun 2, 2023, 6:00 AM EDT

NASCAR Cup teams have paid nearly $1 million in fines this season, more than triple what they paid last season for inspection-related infractions.

The money — $975,000 after just 14 of 36 points races — goes to the NASCAR Foundation. While the fines help a good cause, it is a troubling number, a point that a senior NASCAR official made clear this week.

Stewart-Haas Racing was the latest Cup team to be penalized. NASCAR issued a $250,000 fine, among other penalties, for a counterfeit part found on Chase Briscoe’s car following Monday’s Coca-Cola 600. The team cited a “quality control lapse” for a part that “never should’ve been on a car going to the racetrack.”

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said this week that if violations continue, the sanctioning body will respond. NASCAR discovered the infraction with Briscoe’s car at the R&D Center. Series officials also discovered a violation with Austin Dillon’s car at the R&D Center after the Martinsville race in April.

“If we need to bring more cars (to the R&D Center), we’ll do that,” he said. “Our part of this as the sanctioning body is to keep a level playing field for all the competitors, and that’s what they expect us to do and that’s what we’ll continue to do. … Whatever we need to do, we will do that.”

Sawyer also noted that the “culture” of race teams needs to change with the Next Gen car.

“From a business model and to be equitable and sustainable going forward, this was the car that we needed,” Sawyer said. “To go with that, we needed a deterrent model that would support that.

“We’ve been very clear. We’ve been very consistent with this … and we will continue to do that. The culture that was in our garage and in the race team shops on the Gen-6 car was more of a manufacturing facility. The Next Gen car, that’s not the business model.

“The race teams, they’re doing a better job. We still have a lot of work to do, but they have to change that culture within the walls of the race shop.”

While NASCAR has made it clear that single-source vendor parts are not to be modified, teams will look for ways to find an advantage. With the competition tight — there have been 22 different winners in the first 50 races of the Next Gen car era — any advantage could be significant.

Twelve races remain, including Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway, before the playoffs begin. The pressure is building on teams.

“Some race teams, at this stage in the game, their performance is not where they would like for it to be and they’re going to be working hard,” Sawyer said. “If they feel like they need to step out of bounds and do things and just take the risk, then they may do that. That’s not uncommon. We’ve seen that over the years.

“The one thing that we have to keep in mind is we’ve raced the Next Gen car for a full season. We’re in year two, just say 18 months into it. So last year, they were just getting the parts and pieces, getting ready, getting cars prepared and getting to the racetrack.

“Now they’ve had them for a year. They’ve had them for an offseason. It’s given their engineers and the people back in the shop a lot more time to think, ‘Maybe we could do this, maybe we could do that.’

“By bringing these cars back (to the R&D Center) and taking them down to basically the nuts and bolts and a thorough inspection — and we will continue to do that — I believe we will get our message across. We’ll have to continue to do this for some period in time, but I have great faith that we will get there.”

A similar message was delivered by Sawyer to drivers this week when NASCAR suspended Chase Elliott one race for wrecking Denny Hamlin in retaliation for being forced into the wall.

Sawyer told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that “in the heat of the battle things happen, but (drivers) have to learn to react in a different way.”

Sawyer also noted that the message on how to race wasn’t just for those in Cup.

“We have to get that across not only to our veterans, guys that are superstars like Denny, like Bubba (Wallace) and like Chase and all our of national series Cup drivers, but also our young drivers that are coming up through the ranks that are racing in the Northeast in modifieds and in short tracks across the country,” he said. “That’s just not an acceptable behavior in how you would race your other competitors.

“There are a lot of things you can do to show your displeasure. That’s just not going to be one of them that we’re going to tolerate.”

2. Special ride

Corey LaJoie gets to drive a Hendrick Motorsports car this weekend due to Chase Elliott’s one-race suspension.

“It’s a far cry difference from when I started my Cup career six years ago,” LaJoie said on his “Stacking Pennies” podcast this week. “There was a Twitter page “Did Corey crash?” … Going from that guy just trying to swim and stay above water and trying to learn the ropes to filling in for a champion like Chase Elliott for Hendrick Motorsports, it feels surreal.”

It was a little more than three years ago that LaJoie gave car owner Rick Hendrick a handwritten note to be considered to replace Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 car after the 2020 season.

“This was the first time I’ve gotten a letter from the heart,” Hendrick told NBC Sports in February 2020 of LaJoie’s letter. “I’ve gotten letters and phones calls, usually from agents. It was really a heartfelt letter and it was really personal.

“I was impressed with him before and am more impressed after.”

LaJoie admitted on his podcast this week that he wouldn’t have been ready to drive the No. 48 car then.

“I wouldn’t have been ready, whether it be in my maturation, my game, my knowledge of the race cars,” he said. “The person that I was wasn’t ready for the opportunity like that.”

Now he gets the chance. He enters this weekend 19th in the season standings, 38 points behind Alex Bowman for what would be the final playoff spot at this time.

“It’s an opportunity to hopefully show myself, as well as other people, what I’ve been thinking (of) my potential as a race car driver,” LaJoie said on his podcast. “But I also think you have to just settle in and be appreciative of the opportunity.”

3. Special phone call

With Corey LaJoie moving into Chase Elliott’s car for Sunday’s Cup race, LaJoie’s car needed a driver. Craftsman Truck Series driver Carson Hocevar will make his Cup debut in LaJoie’s No. 7 car for Spire Motorsports.

Once details were finalized this week, the 20-year-old Hocevar called his dad.

“I don’t know if he really believed it,” Hocevar said.

He told his dad: “Hey, this is actually happening.”

His father owns a coin and jewelry shop and is looking to close the store Sunday and have someone watch his two puppies so he can attend the race.

For Hocevar, it’s quite a turnaround for a driver who has been at the center of controversy at times.

Ryan Preece was critical of Hocevar’s racing late in the Charlotte Truck event in May 2022. Preece said to FS1: “All you kids watching right now wanting to get to this level, don’t do that. Race with respect. Don’t wreck the guy on the outside of you trying to win your first race. It doesn’t get you anywhere.”

NASCAR penalized Hocevar two laps for hooking Taylor Gray in the right rear during the Truck race at Martinsville in April.

Hocevar acknowledged he has had to change how he drives.

“Last year was really, really tough for me and that’s no excuse,” Hocevar said this week. “I just was mentally wrong on a lot of things, had the wrong mindset. I wanted to win so badly that I thought I could outwork stuff and it kind of turned some people away. … I wasn’t enjoying the time there. I was letting the results dictate that.

“I was taking results too personal. If we were going to be running seventh, I took it as I was a seventh-place driver and I wasn’t good enough. So I started making desperate moves. I did desperate things at times, even last year, that I’ve been able to calm down and look myself in the mirror and had a lot of heart-to-heart conversations.”

He called the Martinsville race “a turning point” for him and knew he needed to change how he drove. He enters this weekend’s Truck race with three consecutive top-five finishes.

4. Moving forward

In a way, Zane Smith can relate to what Carson Hocevar will experience this weekend. Smith, competing in the Truck Series, made his Cup debut last year at World Wide Technology Raceway. Smith filled in for RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, who missed the race because of COVID-19 symptoms. Smith finished 17th.

“That one that I got for RFK Racing was a huge opportunity,” Smith said of helping him get some Cup rides this season. “I was super thankful for that. I think that run we had got my stock up and then, honestly, getting the Truck championship helped that rise as well.

“I think just time in the Cup car is so important, and I think once that new Cup car came out, people realized that you don’t have to do the route of Truck, Xfinity, Cup. The Cup car is so far apart from anything, though it does kind of race like a truck, so I don’t think you need to go that round of Truck, Xfinity, Cup. I think a lot of people would agree with me on that.

“I’m happy for these Cup starts that I’m getting. I’m happy for that one that I got last year at a place like Gateway. I think every time that you’re in one you learn a lot.”

Smith has made five Cup starts this season, finishing a career-best 10th in last week’s Coca-Cola 600 for Front Row Motorsports. The former Truck champion has two Truck series wins this year and is third in the season standings.

5. Notable numbers

A look at some of notable numbers heading into this weekend’s Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois:

5 — Most points wins in the Next Gen car (William Byron, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott)

7 — Different winners in the last seven points races: Christopher Bell (Bristol Dirt), Kyle Larson (Martinsville), Kyle Busch (Talladega), Martin Truex Jr. (Dover), Denny Hamlin (Kansas), William Byron (Darlington), Ryan Blaney (Coca-Cola 600).

17 — Points between first (Ross Chastain) and sixth (Christopher Bell) in the Cup standings

88 — Degrees at Kansas, the hottest temperature for a Cup race this season (the forecast for Sunday’s race calls for a high in the low 90s)

100 — Consecutive start for Austin Dillon this weekend

500 — Cup start for Brad Keselowski this weekend

687 — Laps led by William Byron, most by any Cup driver this season

805 — Cup start for Kevin Harvick this weekend, tying him with Jeff Gordon for ninth on the all-time list.

MORE: Truck starting lineup at WWT Raceway

Read more about NASCAR

Details for Saturday’s Xfinity race at Portland International Raceway

(All times Eastern)

Read more about NASCAR

World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (Cup and Trucks)

Weather

Friday, June 2

(All times Eastern)

Portland International Raceway (Xfinity Series)

Weekend weather

Friday, June 2

(All times Eastern)

Read more about NASCAR

2. Special ride

3. Special phone call

4. Moving forward

5. Notable numbers

Read more about NASCAR