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Cup Series start times, TV/Radio info for 2018 announced

By Daniel McFadinNov 6, 2017, 1:24 PM EST
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NASCAR has released the full 2018 Cup Series schedule with start times and TV/radio broadcast information.

The schedule includes new start times for select races, including the 60th running of the Daytona 500 and the exhibition Clash that is held the week before.

No race next season is scheduled to begin before 2 p.m. ET. All times below are Eastern.

The Clash is set to start at 3 p.m. on Feb. 11 on Fox Sports 1. This year it was originally scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. on Feb. 19 before weather rescheduled it to the following afternoon.

The start of the Daytona 500 has been pushed back 30 minutes to 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 18 on Fox.

The Feb. 25 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway will start at 2 p.m., moving it up from 2:30 p.m.

The April 8 race at Texas Motor Speedway will start at 2 p.m after beginning at 1:30 p.m. this year.

The April 21 race at Richmond Raceway is set for 6:30 p.m. on Fox. It returns to a night setting after starting at 2 p.m. this season.

The spring race at Dover International Speedway will be run on May 6 after previously being held in early June. The race is set for 2 p.m. after previously starting at 1 p.m. ET.

The May 12 event at Kansas Speedway will now begin at 8 p.m., a change from 7:30 p.m. this season.

The start times of the June races at Pocono and Michigan have been moved up one hour to 2 p.m.

The NBC networks begin airing the Cup schedule on July 1 at Chicagoland Speedway. The race is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. on NCBSN.

The following week, the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway begins at 7 p.m. on NBC, a move up from 7:30 p.m.

The July 22 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will start at 2 p.m. after starting at 3 p.m. this season.

The July 29 race at Pocono will begin at 2:30 p.m., a move up from 3 p.m.

The Aug. 5 race at Watkins Glen International and Aug. 12 race at Michigan will start 30 minutes earlier at 2:30 p.m.

The Sep. 9 Brickyard 400, which now concludes the regular season, will start 30 minutes earlier at 2 p.m. on NBCSN.

The postseason begins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 3 p.m. on Sept. 16 on NBCSN.

The first race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course is set for 2 p.m. on Sept. 30 on NBC.

The Oct. 21 race Kansas will start at 2 p.m., a move from 3 p.m.

The start time for the Oct. 28 Martinsville race has been moved up 30 minutes to 2:30 p.m.

The Nov. 4 race at Texas Motor Speedway has been moved back one hour to 3 p.m.

The championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway is set for 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 18 on NBC.

Below is the full schedule.

 

Date
Location
Network
Race Start
Radio
2/11
Daytona 500 Qualifying at
Daytona International Speedway
FOX
12 p.m. ET
MRN
2/11
The Clash at
Daytona International Speedway
FS1
3 p.m. ET
MRN
2/15
The Duel at
Daytona International Speedway
FS1
7 p.m. ET
MRN
2/18
DAYTONA 500 at
Daytona International Speedway
FOX
2:30 p.m. ET
MRN
2/25
Atlanta Motor Speedway
FOX
2 p.m. ET
PRN
3/4
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
FOX
3:30 p.m. ET
PRN
3/11
Phoenix Raceway
FOX
3:30 p.m. ET
MRN
3/18
Auto Club Speedway
FOX
3:30 p.m. ET
MRN
3/25
Martinsville Speedway
FS1
2 p.m. ET
MRN
4/8
Texas Motor Speedway
FS1
2 p.m. ET
PRN
4/15
Bristol Motor Speedway
FOX
2 p.m. ET
PRN
4/21
Richmond International Raceway
FOX
6:30 p.m. ET
MRN
4/29
Talladega Superspeedway
FOX
2 p.m. ET
MRN
5/6
Dover International Speedway
FS1
2 p.m. ET
MRN
5/12
Kansas Speedway
FS1
8 p.m. ET
MRN
5/19
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Open at
Charlotte Motor Speedway
FS1
6 p.m. ET
MRN
5/19
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at
Charlotte Motor Speedway
FS1
8 p.m. ET
MRN
5/27
Charlotte Motor Speedway
FOX
6 p.m. ET
PRN
6/3
Pocono Raceway
FS1
2 p.m. ET
MRN
6/10
Michigan International Speedway
FOX
2 p.m. ET
MRN
6/24
Sonoma Raceway
FS1
3 p.m. ET
PRN
7/1
Chicagoland Speedway
NBCSN
2:30 p.m. ET
MRN
7/7
Daytona International Speedway
NBC
7 p.m. ET
PRN
7/14
Kentucky Speedway
NBCSN
7:30 p.m. ET
PRN
7/22
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
NBCSN
2 p.m. ET
PRN
7/29
Pocono Raceway
NBCSN
2:30 p.m. ET
MRN
8/5
Watkins Glen International
NBC
2:30 p.m. ET
MRN
8/12
Michigan International Speedway
NBCSN
2:30 p.m. ET
MRN
8/18
Bristol Motor Speedway
NBCSN
7:30 p.m. ET
PRN
9/2
Darlington Raceway
NBCSN
6 p.m. ET
MRN
9/9
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
NBCSN
2 p.m. ET
IMS
9/16
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
NBCSN
3 p.m. ET
PRN
9/22
Richmond International Raceway
NBCSN
7:30 p.m. ET
MRN
9/30
Charlotte Motor Speedway
NBC
2 p.m. ET
PRN
10/7
Dover International Speedway
NBCSN
2 p.m. ET
MRN
10/14
Talladega Superspeedway
NBC
2 p.m. ET
MRN
10/21
Kansas Speedway
NBC
2 p.m. ET
MRN
10/28
Martinsville Speedway
NBCSN
2:30 p.m. ET
MRN
11/4
Texas Motor Speedway
NBCSN
3 p.m. ET
PRN
11/11
Phoenix Raceway
NBC
2:30 p.m. ET
MRN
11/18
Homestead Miami Speedway
NBC
2:30 p.m. ET
MRN
 

NTSB releases final report on Dale Jr. plane crash

NTSB
Photo: Dustin Long
By Dustin LongSep 23, 2020, 8:54 PM EDT
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Pilot error played a key role in the August 2019 crash of a plane carrying Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his family, a final report by the National Transportation Safety Board stated Wednesday.

Earnhardt, wife Amy and daughter Isla were on board the plane, which crashed after a hard landing at Elizabethton (Tennessee) Municipal Airport on Aug. 15, 2019. The report stated all three suffered minor injuries. 

The NTSB listed the probable causes of the accident as: “The pilot’s continuation of an unstabilized approach despite recognizing associated cues and the flight crew’s decision not to initiate a go-around before touchdown, which resulted in a bounced landing, a loss of airplane control, a landing gear collapse, and a runway excursion. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to deploy the speedbrakes during the initial touchdown, which may have prevented the runway excursion, and the pilot’s attempt to go around after deployment of the thrust reversers.”

A “go-around” occurs when a pilot pulls out of a landing and gains altitude to make another landing attempt.

The report stated that “the flight crew made several comments about the airplane flying too fast and allowed the airspeed to increase well above the reference speed for the approach.”

The report stated that “the pilot did not extend the speedbrakes upon touchdown, which landing checklist required, but instead attempted to deploy the thrust reversers immediately after touchdown, which was a later item on the landing checklist.”

Earnhardt’s Cessna 680A Citation Latitude bounced twice upon landing as it traversed the 5,001-foot runaway.

After the fourth touchdown, the right main landing gear collapsed. The plane went off the road and through a 400-foot long area of grass. It went down an embankment, through a creek and a chain-link fence. It continued up an embankment. The plane came to rest about 600 feet beyond the runway at the edge of a four-lane highway.

The passengers and two pilots escaped as the plane burned.

The full report can be read here.

Champion or not, Chase Briscoe won’t let Xfinity title define season

By Daniel McFadinSep 23, 2020, 8:00 PM EDT
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Like the 11 drivers he’ll compete against in the Xfinity Series playoffs, a championship is the endgame for Chase Briscoe.

However, with the Stewart-Haas Racing driver one win from matching his preseason goal of at least eight victories, Briscoe wouldn’t be too disappointed if he failed to claim the title at the end of the seven-race playoff.

“I feel like to this point if we don’t get to eight (wins) … I feel like I accomplished or proved what I was trying to say at the beginning of the year,” Briscoe told NBC Sports on Tuesday. “There’s still no reason why we can’t get to 10 wins. I feel 100% confident in my team that we’re going to have the cars capable of doing it, I just need to do my job. If we do that, hopefully we can get to Phoenix and then (whoever’s) the best team once we get there wins.”

As he prepares to open the playoffs Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN), Briscoe is wary of not letting “the championship define you and define your season. … Winning races is a big deal. That’s what you get paid to do is go win races and obviously win championships as well, but today’s format anything can happen in that final race.”

Briscoe can attest to importance of winning races. He enters the playoff with a series-leading seven wins, which has helped him start the postseason with 2,050 points and ties him with Austin Cindric.

Briscoe’s impressive numbers come a year after he had just one win in a season where Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer combined to win 21 of 33 races.

Briscoe believes the perception of his abilities as a driver are “way different” from last year as he struggled to chase those three drivers now competing in Cup.

“Personally, I felt like I could win races, and I think a lot of it was learning,” Briscoe said. “Last year, there were still a lot of tracks I had never been to before and didn’t even have 100 pavement starts in my entire career, and now I have that experience. I have the confidence to go with it and all of those things are totally different, and when I said what I said at the beginning of the year (about winning eight races) I felt like I was capable of doing that.

“If I could back it up, it would look even better. … I think I’ve proven my worth in this sport. I feel like if I do get the opportunity to move up, I feel like I’m ready, but I also feel like I could get a lot of benefit out of coming back to the Xfinity Series and running again.”

Briscoe, a Ford development driver, says he still doesn’t know what’s in store for him in 2021.

He said the uncertainty of his future is a “little bit easier” to handle compared to last year because of the wins he’s racked up.

Regardless of not knowing his NASCAR fate, if Briscoe can “somehow get to 10 wins this year and win the championship, then that would just make it, I feel like, a lot easier for the decision-makers.”

Mike Wallace’s appeal of indefinite suspension denied

NASCAR suspends Mike Wallace
Mike Wallace
By Daniel McFadinSep 23, 2020, 5:57 PM EDT
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Mike Wallace‘s indefinite suspension by NASCAR was upheld by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel on Wednesday.

Wallace, who has made three Xfinity Series starts this season, was suspended Sept. 10 for violating Sections 12.1; 12.8; 12.8.1.e of the rule book.

According to the rulebook, a violation of section 12.8.1.e is any “Public statement and/or communication that criticizes, ridicules, or otherwise disparages another person based upon that person’s race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, or handicapping condition.”

As part of the suspension, Wallace is required by NASCAR to attend sensitivity training.

The three-member appeals panel was made up of Dixon Johnston, Bill Lester and Kevin Whitaker.

Wallace has the right to appeal the decision to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer.

Wallace wrote the following on Facebook shortly after his suspension was originally announced:

“You know as I fly across the United States today I’m ready various people’s political views and I have to say a famous four star Military General that I spent time with in the MidEast told me Mike let me give you some advice don’t ever get in a conversation about politics or religion unless you are really smart. I said why do you say that comment His response it’s like being balanced on a single edge razor blade if you slip you will get cut!

Think about that before we all make foolish uneducated post! Moral of this story is most of use just repeat what we have heard we really don’t know.
Have a great positive day!”

Bubba Wallace to receive Stan Musial award for extraordinary character

By Daniel McFadinSep 23, 2020, 1:33 PM EDT
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Following months of speaking out in support of racial justice and inclusion in NASCAR, Bubba Wallace‘s work has been recognized by The Musial Awards.

The Richard Petty Motorsports driver has been selected as the recipient of its Award for Extraordinary Character.

The award honors “an individual who demonstrates remarkable poise, perseverance and overall sportsmanship.”

The Musial Awards – presented by Maryville University in St. Louis – is named after Stan Musial, a former St. Louis Cardinal baseball player. St. Louis is also the home to one of Wallace’s sponsors, World Wide Technology.

More: Michael Jordan excited for NASCAR future with Denny Hamlin

In the wake of the death of George Floyd in May, the 26-year-old Wallace has been active in helping lead NASCAR through social changes, including the banning of the Confederate flag at series events and tracks.

He also drove a Black Lives Matter car at Martinsville Speedway in June.

“Bubba Wallace exemplifies what the Stan Musial Award for Extraordinary Character is all about,” Frank Viverito, president of the St. Louis Sports Commission, which produces the Musial Awards, said in a press release. “He has overcome much to be where he is, and he has courageously stepped forward to take an important stand for change. He is most deserving of an award that stands for sportsmanship and character, and is named for Stan Musial, whose own actions promoted racial acceptance and unity.”

Wallace joins baseball legend Hank Aaron as a 2020 Musial Awards honoree. Aaron is receiving the Stan Musial Lifetime Achievement Award for Sportsmanship.

The Musial Awards will air nationally on CBS on Saturday, Dec. 26.

After three full-time seasons in Cup racing for RPM, it was announced earlier this week that Wallace would compete in 2021 for a Cup team co-owned by Denny Hamlin and basketball legend Michael Jordan.