Rough Championship Battle Moves to the Smooth New Track at Pocono Raceway

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SM Archive

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August 1, 2012

The No. 6 Lofton Cattle Eddie Sharp Racing Team

Justin Lofton – Driver

Dan Bormann – Crew chief

Steve Dietrich – Truck chief

Jesse Brooks – Mechanic / suspension

Anthony Jilson – Mechanic / tire specialist

Kevin Kerr – Mechanic / gasman

Jason Taggart – Hauler driver

Jeff Keller – Shock specialist

Matt Beaver – Engine tuner

Pedro Martinez – Front tire changer

Anwar Parrish – Front tire carrier

Nick Sutton – Jackman

Jeremy Fuller – Rear tire changer

Jake Brzozowski – Rear tire carrier

Eddie Sharp – Owner / spotter

Justin Lofton Pocono Race Preview

No. 6 Millennium VIP Group Private Jet Services Chevrolet News and Notes

Rough racing on the new smooth track… Justin Lofton will join the other competitors in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) on the third annual trip to Pennsylvania for the Pocono Mountains 125 on Saturday, August 4. In his debut at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Lofton brought home a fifth-place finish and followed it up with a 16th-place finish in 2011. This year, drivers will be challenged with a new track surface after the 2.5-mile speedway underwent a major repave following last year’s race.

Flying around the track with Millennium VIP Group Private Jet Services… Lofton’s No. 6 Chevrolet will have a new sponsor on their hood this weekend at Pocono Raceway. Millennium VIP Group Private Jet Services, a premier charter service provider, will be featured on the hood of Lofton’s Chevrolet. Additionally, the Las Vegas-based company will serve as a secondary sponsor for Lofton at Michigan International Speedway and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway later this month. For additional information and to learn more about Millennium VIP Group’s product offerings, visit www.millvipgroup.com.

Exploring the desert… Like many drivers in the NCWTS, Lofton enjoyed a weekend away from the track last week, but just because he wasn’t on a speedway, doesn’t mean that he wasn’t going fast. Lofton joined his father, Bob Lofton, in a Jeep to take a three-day, 900-mile tour off-roading across Nevada. The duo joined seven other vehicles, including Lofton’s General Tire teammate Garrick Freitas, in an adventure to explore the “Wild West” including the many silver mines and ghost towns in the Nevada desert. The event started in Las Vegas, Nev., included stops for the evening in Ely, Nev. and Tonopah, Nev., and concluded in Goldfield, Nev.

Fore! … In addition to battling it out for the NCWTS championship, Lofton will take on the competition off the track at the Third Annual Onion Slice Open on Thursday, August 2. While teams are pushing their trucks through tech, many drivers will be enjoying a day on the golf course. Held at the Blue Ridge Trail Golf Course in Mountain Top, Pa., the Onion Slice Open is hosted by Todd & Janet Bodine. Lofton will join several other NASCAR drivers at the popular tournament, including NCWTS driver Matt Crafton who will play in Lofton’s foursome. The Onion Slice Open will kick off with a shotgun start at 12:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 2.

Meet Justin Lofton… Fans will have several opportunities to meet Lofton throughout the race weekend at Pocono Raceway. The driver of the No. 6 Millennium VIP Group Private Jet Services Chevrolet will participate in the NCWTS Autograph Session on Friday afternoon, August 3, from 1:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. in the fan midway. At 3:00 p.m., Lofton will join teammate Cale Gale at the Chevy Stage for a Q&A session. Later that evening, Lofton and Gale will make an appearance at Pocono Raceway’s Infield Concert Stage for another Q&A session from 6:20 p.m. until 6:35 p.m.

Follow Justin… Follow Justin Lofton, driver of the No. 6 Millennium VIP Group Private Jet Services Chevrolet Silverado, on twitter @jlracing and Facebook (facebook.com/jlracing), and check out the new loftonracing.com for the latest news and updates.

Get the inside scoop… Follow Eddie Sharp Racing on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook to get real-time updates and behind-the-scenes information: @TeamESR or facebook.com/teamesr.

Watch and listen… The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series takes on The Tricky Triangle this weekend at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, August 4. Live coverage of the Pocono Mountains 125 will be aired on SPEED, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90, beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET.

From the Driver’s Seat

Justin Lofton Quotes… On racing at Pocono Raceway: “I’m looking forward to racing on the new surface at Pocono Raceway. I really enjoy the track, and we’re looking forward to continuing our battle for the championship with the Millennium VIP Group Private Jet Services team. Pocono is always challenging with its diverse turns, add a new surface into the mix and it should be a really fun, interesting race.”

From the Pit Box

Dan Bormann Quotes… Looking forward to Pocono Raceway with the No. 6 team: “All the guys on the Millennium VIP Group Private Jet Services team have been working hard at the shop. We’ve had our work cut out for us; we hoped to come out of Chicagoland a little bit better in the points. We know that this week’s race at Pocono is an important one for us, and we also know that Justin has been successful here in the past. We hope to have another strong run this weekend; our team is dedicated to contending for the championship.”

No. 6 Lofton Cattle Chevrolet Truck Information

The No. 6 Millennium VIP Group Private Jet Services Chevrolet team will compete with chassis No. 044 as their primary truck at Pocono Raceway. Originally acquired from Kevin Harvick Inc., it will be the first time that ESR competes with chassis No. 044.

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About Eddie Sharp Racing: Eddie Sharp Racing (ESR) (TeamESR.com) is a championship winning racing team housed in a 45,000 square-foot facility in Denver, N.C. After getting its start in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Racing Series, ESR has accumulated upwards of 20 race wins, the 2009 ARCA Racing Series Championship, and countless top-five and top-10 finishes in just five years of competition. By 2010, ESR began to make the transition into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) with a partial schedule before racing in the series full-time in 2011. By 2012, the team expanded to be a multi-truck team and secured its first victory in just the team’s 35th NCWTS race. Additionally, ESR continues to build its driver development program fielding various drivers in the ARCA Racing Series, the United Auto Racing Association (UARA) STARS Series and other late model events across the southeast.

About Millennium VIP Group Private Jet Services: World Class Jet Charters and Fleet Service since 2002. We are a privately owned, full service luxury executive Jet Charter Service, that offers 100% up time to our clients traveling to or from any airport in the world. MillenniumAire has a long history of luxury jet services to our loyal clients for 10 years now. We operate our own fleet of jets and our corporate headquarters are located in Las Vegas, NV, along with offices in Long Beach, Calif. and Aurora, Ore. Our jet charter professional, charter concierge, Pilots and jet maintenance crews are not only the most qualified, but the finest professionals you’ll encounter in the industry, bar none. MillenniumAire Jet Charters can be arranged for any city, on demand. Please call us toll free at (888) 891-5505.

About SPEED Energy: SPEED Energy is available in four flavors: Ethanol, Unleaded, Fuel and Octane, which provide the human machine with the fuel it needs to keep up with the SPEED of life. Each drink contains a potent blend of B-vitamins, caffeine, taurine and ginseng. SPEED, packaged in 16 ounce cans, is available in singles, 4 packs, and cases. SPEED Energy is available at major retailers, convenience stores, grocery stores, bars and nightclubs. For a retailer near you, please visit www.speedenergy.com.

Surprising and Not Surprising: Brickyard 400

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SM Staff

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August 1, 2012

[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”254″][/media-credit]At one of the most storied tracks on not just the NASCAR schedule but the motor sports circuit overall, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 19^th Annual Crown Royal Presents the Curtiss Shaver 400 at the Brickyard.

Surprising: It was surprising that the emerging points leader after the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway enhanced his proud team owner’s sleep habits.

Hendrick Motor Sports principal Rick Hendrick had just one thing to say about his driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who assumed the coveted lead by 14 points after a fourth place finish at the Brickyard.

“I will be able to sleep better tonight,” Mr. H. said simply after the race. His HMS driver has not led the point standings since September of 2004 after the race at New Hampshire.

Junior echoed his team owner’s sentiments of pride, while reiterating that he not only wants, but needs more wins to keep that top spot.

“I’m proud of that because it says a lot about our body of work,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “I have felt that way about our position in points all season long.”

“But we need to win more races,” Junior continued. “If we want to win the championship, we have to.”

“We’d like to step it up just a little bit more.”

Not Surprising: While making history with his fourth Brickyard win and tying teammate Jeff Gordon and idols Al Unser, A.J. Foyt and Rick Mears for four victories, it was not surprising to see this driver’s little girl Genevieve steal the show during the post-race ceremonies.

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, simply could not convince his daughter to kiss those hot, gritty bricks in spite of his intense coaxing.

“I don’t really think she knew what was going on,” Johnson said. “The asphalt was pretty hot, so she got her hands down on it and I think that scared her.”

“She’s a very cautious girl and that is going against everything we’re trying to teach her,” Johnson continued. “She just wasn’t in to it.”

Surprising: It was most surprising that the second place finisher was so ecstatic about his finish that he wanted to do his own ‘victory’ burnout after the race.

Kyle Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota, posted his career best finish at the Brickyard and his best finish of the season since his third place finish at Charlotte in May.

“It feels so good to actually run well and finish well,” Busch said. “We’ve been needed to do this for so long.”

“It felt like a win to us,” Busch continued. “I wanted to do a burnout, but I’ll save that for when we really do collect the checkered flag.”

Not Surprising: Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford, proved one NASCAR adage true, that loose is fast. Biff came in third, his sixth top-10 finish in ten races at Indy.

“We were pretty loose all day long,” Biffle said. “It was unfortunate we were that free and we couldn’t fix it.”

“We were too loose to get it done so we came in third.”

Surprising: With a great qualifying run, an outside pole starting position and a brand new crew chief in Chad Norris on the box, it looked like nothing could derail Carl Edwards from finally pulling out a decent finish and a good day in the points race for the Chase.

But a surprising mechanical problem forced the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford to go laps down early in the race and finish 29th.

“We didn’t know what was wrong with the engine and we were kind of points racing but also racing for the win,” Edwards said. “We stayed out there with seven cylinders or so and then got caught up on pit road again and went another lap down.”

“That was pretty much the death knell for the whole thing.”

Not Surprising: As is so often the case, being at the back of the pack leads to trouble. And that’s just what Matt Kenseth experienced on lap 134 when Joey Logano lost control, slid into Trevor Bayne, Bobby Labonte and ultimately Kenseth.

“The farther that we went back, the dumber people drove,” Kenseth said after exiting his fiery No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford. “You could see it was just a matter of time before the wreck happened.”

Kenseth finished the race in the 35^th position and, not surprisingly as a result, fell to second in the point standings.

Surprising: Jeff Gordon surprisingly has not posted a top-3 finish in his last 23 races and he continued the longest stretch of his career in that mode with a fifth place finish at Indy.

“I’m pretty disappointed really,” the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet said. “It’s always nice to finish in the top five but at this point in the season, I feel like it was a little bit of a missed opportunity.”

Not Surprising: So much uncertainty continued to reign for the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Penske race team, even at the Brickyard. Although Sam Hornish, Jr. was still behind the wheel, finishing 16^th, the cloud of the A.J. Allmendinger indefinite suspension for the failed drug test continued to hang over the proceedings.

“There are so many questions,” Roger Penske, team owner said after the drivers’ meeting at Indy. “Our phone is ringing off the hook with people who are interested in the ride in the No. 22.”

Penske has since made the decision to release Allmendinger as their driver and have named Hornish Jr. the driver for the remainder of the 2012 season.

Surprising: Only one driver could compare the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway to a junk yard but Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet, did just that, at least when it came to his 13^th place car.

“We were junk all weekend,” Harvick said. “No matter if we were turning left or going straight.”

“That pretty much summed up today.”

Not Surprising: Stewart Haas racers Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman showed their Midwestern pride by scoring top-10 finishes at the Brickyard.

Stewart, who qualified his No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot in the 28^th position, rallied to finish tenth and teammate Newman, in the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, finished seventh.

“We just were a little bit tight in the center of the corner and that’s kind of what we fought all day,” Smoke said. “So, I was proud of the gains we made.”

“I’m from the Midwest and so is Quicken Loans so it was nice to get a top-10 finish,” Newman said. “We just didn’t have quite the speed we needed.”

This was Newman’s sixth top-10 finish of the season and his second top-10 finish in 12 starts at the Brickyard.

The Cup Series will next take on the ‘Tricky Triangle’ at Pocono Raceway.

Nationwide Series points battle is heating up as they head back to Iowa

By

SM Staff

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August 1, 2012

[media-credit id=2 align=”alignright” width=”210″][/media-credit]The march to the 2012 Nationwide Series championship begins its stretch drive this weekend at Iowa Speedway and somewhere Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is smiling. If there ever was a driver who has a track on lock down it would be Stenhouse at Iowa.

Since May 2011, Stenhouse has been nothing short of dominant on the 7/8th mile track located in Newton, Iowa. Stenhouse has posted three consecutive wins at the track and looks to score his fourth straight when they take the green flag on Saturday night. In his last three starts at Iowa, Stenhouse has led 275 laps which includes a race high 209 laps in the May race as he held off Elliott Sadler by 1.465 seconds.

Four drivers head into Saturday night’s race separated by just 28 points. Sadler leads his Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammate Austin Dillon by one point while Stenhouse sits 13 points back and Sam Hornish Jr. is just 28 markers behind the leader. If the race in May was any indication then we should see these four guys running up front by race end on Saturday as they all finished inside the top-12 with Stenhouse, Sadler and Dillon all recording top-5 finishes.

Looking at the remaining NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) schedule in 2012, it should remain to be a four car battle all the way to the checkers at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. Sadler has been rock solid pretty much the entire season posting victories at Phoenix, Bristol and Chicago. Then you have Stenhouse who posted dominant wins at Las Vegas and Iowa before finding issues at Charlotte, Dover and Michigan.

Which leads to the kid, Dillon who leads the NNS in top-5 and top-10 finishes in 2012 and who also posted in first NNS win at Kentucky in June. Dillon who is a rookie in the series captured the Camping World Truck Series title last year and has put himself in strong position to add the NNS title to his trophy case.

Hornish Jr. could be considered the dark horse but has been as consistent as the three main front runners this season and has posted 12 top-10’s in 19 starts. Hornish also won at Phoenix last November, so if any or all of the top-3 hit any problems coming down to Homestead he could be the one left standing holding the trophy.

Should be an exciting race coming up on Saturday night and a very exciting last 14 races of the 2012 NNS schedule. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the championship comes down to the final lap.

Penske Racing has released Almendinger

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SM Staff

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August 1, 2012

NORTH CAROLINA- AJ Almendinger was tested at the Kentucky race last June. It ended up that Almendinger failed his drug test and they found out two hours before the race at Daytona.

With very little time on there hands hey had to replace Almendinger with Sam Hornish Jr. They contacted Sam Hornish Jr two hours before the green flag dropped.

Roger Penske sent out his private jet to pick up Hornish Jr. in North Carolina and that gave Sam very little time to get ready for the race. However, Hornish Jr. made it on to pit road before the race was started. Hornish Jr. finished 32nd in that race.

After Almendinger was tested positive, he requested to have a B sample test. Allmendinger got the sample B test results and they were also positive. Those results have resulted in Allmendiinger being suspended indefinably from NASCAR unless he completes NASCAR’s road to recovery program.

Today Roger Penske announced that Allmendinger will no longer drive for Penske Racing and that Hornish Jr will race the rest of the season in the Penske Dodge No.22 car.

“AJ is a terrific driver, a good person and it is very unfortunate that we have to separate at this time. We have invested greatly in AJ and we were confident in his success with our team. The decision to dismiss him is consistent with how we would treat any other Penske Racing team member under similar circumstances.”