NASCAR Cup Series

On Monday, a thought-provoking announcement was made when nine multi-car Sprint Cup Series teams announced that they have formed a collaborative business association called the Race Team Alliance (RTA).

After rain cancelled night racing at Daytona International Speedway, Carl Edwards hit the two-and-a-half mile track Sunday morning, starting in the 11th-spot. The No.99 Subway Ford Fusion was running with a tight pack in three-wide formation and was caught up in a 16-car pileup on lap 20. The team worked hard in the garage to reassemble the mangled machine and the Roush Fenway driver would come back out, 45 laps down, to finish the day in 37th.

NASCAR announced today that the No. 41 NASCAR Sprint Series Cup team of Stewart-Haas Racing has been penalized for a rule infraction that was found during post-race inspection at Daytona International Speedway last weekend. NASCAR fined crew chief Daniel Knost $10,000 and penalized both driver Kurt Busch and car owner Gene Haas with the loss of 10 owner’s points.

Last week at Daytona International Speedway, Harvick finished 39th after sustaining significant damage as a result of a 16-car wreck at lap 20.

McMurray at NHMS: McMurray will be making his 23rd NSCS start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) this weekend. In his previous trips to the “Magic Mile”, McMurray has three top-five and five top-10 finishes, which includes a fifth-place finish in last fall’s race. McMurray has completed 6,177 of 6,570 (94%) of the laps run at NHMS and has led 32 laps of competition.

Over the last nine races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) a Chevrolet driver has hoisted the trophy at the races end six times. However, the Bowtie brand was unable to capture victory at the 1.058-mile flat track in 2013.

Hot off his first win, Aric Almirola is ready to tackle the one-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Now with a spot in The Chase for the Sprint Cup, the No. 43 team is focused on continuing to move up in the championship point standings and race for more wins.

For Marcos Ambrose and the No. 9 DEWALT Racing Ford Fusion team, points do matter. After three consecutive Top-15 finishes and two Top-10 finishes in that span, Ambrose has moved four spots to 19th in the championship standings and is closer to gaining a spot in The Chase.

Biffle on Loudon: “I can’t wait for Loudon this weekend. It’s a great track for us and we almost won in the fall. It would be great to get our first win of the season with NESN on the car this weekend.”

Few races change lives, but last year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway certainly altered the life and career of Brian Vickers.