Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway postponed due to rain
Due to persistent rain showers throughout the day, NASCAR officials were forced to postpone the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway to Monday April 7th at noon EST.
This marks the third Sprint Cup Series race affected by rain this year, but the first in which NASCAR was unable to run and complete it on the original scheduled date. The Camping World Truck Series did have their Martinsville event postponed from the Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening last weekend.
When the race goes green tomorrow, it’ll be Tony Stewart leading them to the green flag.
NASCAR BTS: Sgt. Harroff ‘Overwhelmed’ by NASCAR Experience
The weekend started off like any other for Sgt. Ralph Harroff and his family, that is until NASCAR driver Aric Almirola showed up at his local Kroger grocery store, revving his engine in the parking lot and inviting the Harroff family inside for shopping spree courtesy of Eckrich, in partnership with Operation Homefront and Richard Petty Motorsports.
“Our contact from Operation Homefront asked us to meet him and we had no idea what was going on,” Harroff said. “We met in the Kroger parking lot and here comes Aric in his car and pulls up, gets out and picks up my two year old daughter, put her in a shopping buggy, and we went on a shopping spree.”
“We got a lot of food, some diapers, and we loaded up on the Eckrich meats of course,” Harroff continued. “It was totally cool.”
“It has all been surprising and a bit overwhelming to be honest with you.”
Harroff was further surprised and overwhelmed, however, with the additional gift of being able to accompany Aric Almirola to the track at Texas Motor Speedway.
“I didn’t know that we would go to the race and I didn’t know what to expect,” Harroff said. “We’ve got all access passes and we got to eat lunch with Aric’s crew.”
“We were down in the garage area and all the drivers, the crews, everyone is really down to earth,” Harroff continued. “They are really nice people. Having all access and being able to do what these really die-hard fans would pay millions of dollars to do, the whole experience, I just can’t find the words to sum it up.”
“Everything has been so awesome.”
The VIP NASCAR treatment is especially meaningful to Sgt. Harroff as he has always been a big race fan.
“I kind of lost touch with everything going on in NASCAR with all my deployments,” Harroff said. “I’m an Almirola fan but I would get kicked out of my family if I didn’t like Earnhardt, Jr.”
“But I also follow Kasey Kahne and I kind of bounce around between drivers,” Harroff continued. “I’m older in age so a lot of the drivers that I used to follow are retired or gone now.”
“But this is just breathtaking. Watching all the pieces come together, wow, it’s just overwhelming,” Harroff said. “I’ve always wanted an experience like this and never had anything like it.”
Harroff served his country with the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade. He was injured in Afghanistan after losing his footing when getting off an Army helicopter.
“We were coming off a mission and I was getting off of a Black Hawk,” Harroff said. “I lost my footing and fell and messed up my back and shoulder. When I got to Germany, they found other things wrong with me.”
“I had a surgery that resulted in two cut nerves,” Harroff continued. “It was a very long healing process but now I’m back at the job before I had going into the Army.”
“Trying to make the transition back into civilian life is when I met the people from Operation Homefront,” Harroff said. “They helped me out in a time of need and are extremely good people. I can’t say enough about them.”
“This is a family that I can really relate with,” Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, said after meeting Harroff. “Growing up in a military family, and now being a father myself, I can understand the sacrifices the Harroff family has made.”
“It makes me feel good that I can work with Eckrich to help honor and give back to military families. I know we put a smile on their faces today and hopefully we helped them out with some of their needs.”
“This is really what ‘Operation Inspiration’ is all about,” Charles Gitkin, vice president, marketing, innovation and R&D for the John Morrell Food Group, said. “We heard the story of Army Sgt. Ralph Harroff and his family and it is families like these that inspire us to honor and assist them, and give them an experience they will never forget.”
While Harroff enjoyed every minute of his at-track experience, he unfortunately may not be able to return on Monday since the race was postponed by the rainy weather. But the precipitation did nothing to dampen the spirits of a very grateful service man.
“Unfortunately, where I work, I have to plan all the production and I had only planned to miss Friday,” Harroff said. “So, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to go to work.”
“But this has just been a totally awesome experience, starting Friday to being at the track,” Harroff continued. “Everyone has all been so good to us.”
“It’s hard to find words because it is just totally overwhelming.”
Chase Elliott continues to impress with “phenomenal night” in Texas
On Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott beat the likes of Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth to score his first career Nationwide Series win.
“It was just a phenomenal night and an honor to be racing with these guys and obviously these guys know how to get the job done. They’ve won a lot of races,” Elliott said. “To race, pass, Kevin for the win and hold off Kyle there at the end was really cool to me and hopefully I can do that in the future this year.”
While a lot of people have been critical of the Sprint Cup drivers running Nationwide Series races, Elliott is one of the drivers who has always been a supporter and says that it’s part of what makes the win that more special.
“I think it’s good for us racers and I think it’s good for the fans, too, in the stands and at home,” Elliott explained. “They’re at the level they’re at for a reason. They know how to get the job done and to be able to race around them and not even beating them but to be able to race with those guys and to have the honor to run around ’em and learn and get experience means a lot to me and to go beat ’em means the world to me, and to be able to have a fast race car and be able to do that, obviously those guys have fast race cars and they’re great drivers, but they gotta have good cars, too.”
Only being the second driver of the year to beat the Cup stars, Elliott credits that to crew chief Greg Ives’ work at the shop in building a good car so they would unload fast.
“We unloaded pretty fast and that allowed me to get used to the race track and not have to worry about the balance of the car right off the bat,” Elliott said. “It all goes back to the effort done at the shop and the race cars we’re bringing and hopefully we can do that in the future and hopefully we can roll with these guys throughout the year.”
Elliott ran inside the top 10 throughout the whole night, cracking the top five as the race got into the second half. After a late-race caution, Elliott would take the lead with 15 laps to go and begin to pull away from the field
“Kept trying to take a different line and Kevin kept taking my line away,” Elliott recalled racing for the lead. “I finally predicted what he was going to do on 3, 4, and I was able to get the nose in the clean air a little bit and able to get a pretty good run on him. So that was — and that worked out and we were able to get by him and get out front and hold Kyle.”
To many, it looked as if Elliott had the clear advantage, though the second-generation star says even while leading it didn’t take it for granted as there’s many variables that can happen – such as a caution.
“My main thing was hoping and praying there wasn’t going to be a caution coming out,” Elliott said. “My restarts were pretty terrible tonight and that’s one thing I gotta get better on, hopefully next week at Darlington, but definitely Kevin was — it looked like he was a little tight and I knew our car would be a little faster if I could ever get around him.”
Based on Elliott’s first six races this year, a lot of people knew that a win would be coming soon as Elliott finished in the top six at both Las Vegas and Fontana. However, that’s no surprise as coming up through the ranks, Elliott has shown talent along the way.
Perhaps what has been even more impressive before Friday’s night win was Elliott’s ability to handle adversity.When he got into the wall at Fontana, rather than turn it into a crappy day, the high-school student stayed calm and kept improving the car to finish sixth. Elliott credits his calm demeanor to the people that have been around him as he’s grown up.
Looking at his career at the age of 18, Elliott’s career highlights beats what some twice his age can claim in memorable wins – Snowball Derby, All American 400, ARCA race at Pocono and the Camping World Truck Series race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park last year. Ranking them together, there is no doubt where this one stands.
“For sure, I gotta put this one right at the top,” Elliott commented. “I don’t know — I definitely know this is an extremely special win to me and to do it at JRM with Napa Auto Parts and such a new deal that came together this off-season that I feel like just circumstances and being early in the season and whatnot I feel like this one’s got to be right up at the top.
“This one so far is hard to beat, getting your first win at anything is an honor and it’s a great feeling. I feel like this one for sure means a lot and it’s got to be right up there at the top.”
Last December, it was unknown what Elliott would be doing in 2014. Though the beginning of January, the pieces came together as Rick Hendrick, Kelley Earnhardt, Bill Elliott and Chase were able to land NAPA Auto Parts as a sponsor for the entire Nationwide Series schedule. Six races into the year, NAPA’s gamble is certainly paying off.
“We had a meeting with them toward the end of last year and they were not 100% sure what they were going to do and we were able to have a good meeting with them and Mr. Hendrick and Kelley and myself and my dad, and we all went and had a meeting and I felt like the meeting went really well,” Elliott commented. “And it was about a few weeks later we got a call back and they said, hey, everything was going to go through and we were going to be able to go race and Mikey said going into the off-season last year I wasn’t sure what I was going to be doing and we knew that Aaron’s was leaving us and we were going to be on the hunt to find something different.
“Fortunately I had a birthday coming up that was going to allow me to run some of these other race traction and move if the opportunity was there and fortunately Napa Auto Parts came along and those guys were interested and they wanted to help us out and take a chance on us. You know, it’s been a great relationship so far and hopefully we can keep doing that and make it better for ’em.”
Thanks to NAPA’s gamble, the siren in Dawsonville, Georgia got to ring again on Friday night. Throughout Bill Elliott’s career, Gordon G. would sound a siren at the Dawsonville Pool Room for each of his wins. The tradition was continued on Friday night as the siren sounded again.
“It’s really, really cool that they kept that going for me, and hopefully they can ring that bell some more this year,” Elliott commented. “That would be really good. It is really loud, it’s extremely loud! I think the cops came out on ’em last time. They didn’t know what was going on. Hopefully that happened again to ’em tonight. That would be real good.”
RACEDAY: Greg Biffle Shaking Cobwebs; Starts 4th Today
Anger and anguish describe Greg Biffle’s season-to-date, perfectly. The Roush Fenway Racing (RFR) veteran driver remains winless through 2014, and has only notched one top-10 finish in February at Daytona International Speedway. Now, after a dismal season beginning, Biffle is in desperate need of a good showing at Texas Motor Speedway to help keep his name on the ballot for a Chase berth.
“As a team we are looking to gain momentum, get back on track and get a good run at Texas,” Biffle explained prior to this weekend’s event. “A win is important for us at this stage in the game, but so is a top-five finish and to run competitively. I feel really good where we are at; leading laps at Martinsville was great for us. We just need to close the deal and (Texas) is one of our best tracks.”
Biffle, 44, has already visited victory lane in the lonestar state two prior times, including a triumph at this racetrack during the 2012 season – which was celebrated greatly, as it was crew chief Matt Puccia’s first win in the Sprint Cup Series.
“Texas has always been a good track for us,” Puccia expressed about running at Texas. “We got our first win as a team back in 2012 at Texas, so it is a very special place for me. It was my first Cup win, so it’s always a little more special going back to that race track.”
However, Puccia doesn’t expect the track to be in the same condition as that win two seasons ago, and he also explained how much of a challenge this track will be on Sunday.
“The track its self is starting to show its age,” Puccia alluded to on Friday afternoon. “As a crew chief you have to deal with bumps and mechanical grip, while maintaining a good aero platform. It’s a challenge we are looking forward to tackling this weekend.”
Biffle qualified his No. 16 ‘Give Kids A Smile’ Ford in the fourth position, which marks his best starting position this season.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Biffle expressed about his qualifying run. “We definitely had a car that could have qualified on the front row, but I missed turn one by a little bit. I don’t know if it was enough to beat (Tony Stewart) or not on that last (segment), but we’re really happy that we’ve got a decent car we can work with this weekend.”
Biffle, who has 20 Cup Series starts in Forth Worth, Texas, has an average finish of 12.7 and is currently second in most laps led at the historic 1.5-mile speedway.
This weekend appears to be an intriguing opportunity for Biffle as he looks for his first appearance in victory lane this weekend that will all but clinch him a berth in the Chase.
