NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Oral-B USA 500
Atlanta Motor Speedway Distance: 500.5 miles (325 laps)
Sunday, August 31 7:30 p.m. (ET) TV: ESPN, 7 p.m. (ET)
Radio: PRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
NASCAR Nationwide Series Great Clips 300 Benefitting Feed The Children
Atlanta Motor Speedway Distance: 300.3 miles (195 laps)
Saturday, August 30 7:30 p.m. (ET) TV: ESPN2, 7 p.m. (ET)
Radio: PRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chevrolet Silverado 250
Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Distance: 250 miles (163 laps)
Sunday, August 31 The Time: 1:30 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX Sports 1, 1 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
Statement from Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President
And Chief Racing Development Officer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 28, 2014) – “Tony Stewart has received all necessary clearances required to return to all racing activities, and therefore is eligible to compete this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. NASCAR has remained in constant contact with his race team, and we will stay very close to this situation as Stewart returns to competition.”
TONY STEWART STATEMENT TO THE MEDIA.
This has been one of the toughest tragedies I’ve ever had to deal with both professionally and personally. This is something that will definitely affect my life forever. This is a sadness and a pain that I hope no one ever has to experience in their life. With that being said, I know that the pain and the mourning that Kevin Ward’s family and friends are experiencing is something that I can’t possibly imagine.I want Kevin’s father, Kevin Sr., and his mother Pam, and his sisters Christi, Kayla, Katelyn, to know that every day I’m thinking about them and praying for them.The racing community is a large family, as you guys know. Everyone’s saddened with this tragedy.I want to thank all my friends and family for their support through this tough emotional time, and the support from the NASCAR community, my partners, all of our employees, it’s been overwhelming. I’ve taken the last couple weeks off out of respect for Kevin and his family, and also to cope with the accident in my own way. It’s given me the time to think about life and how easy it is to take it for granted. I miss my team, my teammates. I miss being back in the racecar. I think being back in the car this week with my racing family will help me get through this difficult time. I also understand that all of you have many questions and want a lot of answers, however I need to respect the ongoing investigation process and cannot answer and address the questions at this time. Emotionally I’m not sure if I could answer them anyway. We’re here to race this weekend, and I appreciate your respect. There will be a day when I can sit here and answer the questions. Thank you.
Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle and Kyle Larson are playing a high stakes musical chairs game of sorts. At the moment, Bowyer and Biffle sit in the final two seats to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with Larson standing on the outside looking in at 17th on the current Chase Grid. All three drivers need a win to assure themselves spots in the Chase – and avoid being bumped down from their respective perches with a win by a competitor currently ranked lower.
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Kyle Busch’s 66 wins are the most in series history and conquering 18 of the 23 active facilities on the schedule is no small feat either. But Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of the five active series tracks that have escaped Busch’s winning grasp – Atlanta, Las Vegas, Road America, Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen. In Busch’s 10 starts at AMS he posted six top fives and seven top 10s. … The defending race winner, Kevin Harvick will be driving the JR Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet this weekend. Harvick has two wins and hasn’t finished outside the top-10 in his 10 starts this season. … The Atlanta Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities located at Atlanta Motor Speedway works to care for children in “educational, financial, social and medical need in order for them to lead productive lives.” This Labor Day Weekend, Speedway Children’s Charities will be collecting funds through their Red Bucket Brigade and 50/50 Raffle campaign. For additional information regarding Speedway Children’s Charities, please visit https://atlanta.speedwaycharities.org.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Last season’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series visit to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario proved to be a battle of the sport’s young blood with Chase Elliot (17 years and nine months) shaking off Ty Dillon (21 years and six months) on the final lap to become the youngest winner in NASCAR national series history – a record broken two months later by NASCAR Next member Erik Jones (17 years, five months, nine days). Sunday’s Chevrolet Silverado 250 (1:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1) could make history once again as John Hunter Nemechek (17 years and two months) and NASCAR Next prospects Gray Gaulding (16 years and six months) and Cole Custer (16 years and seven months) have a shot to break the record for youngest race winner. Nemechek and Custer turned in strong performances at Bristol, finishing sixth and eighth respectively. Both drivers have placed in the top 10 in their last three truck appearances and seem poised to clinch their first national series victories. Gaulding has yet to record a top-10 finish in five truck series starts, but has flashed his potential on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East series where he ranks fifth in the standings.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chevrolet Silverado 250 Canadian Contenders
Canada will be well represented in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 (1:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1) as native drivers Alex Tagliani, Ray Courtemanche Jr., Cameron Hayley and
Andrew Ranger make their NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debuts on their home soil. The four will attempt to become the first Canadian driver to win a NASCAR national series event since Ron Fellows came up victorious in the 2008 NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Fellows, who also happens to co-own CTMP, boasts the only two victories from a Canadian driver in NCWTS action – his last coming in 1999 in the Bully Hill Vineyards 150 at Watkins Glen. With a checkered flag, one of the Canadians can join Fellows (six wins) and one-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race-winner Earl Ross as the third native driver to place first in a NASCAR national series event.
Each competitor brings plenty of NASCAR experience to his first race. Calgary native and former NASCAR Next member Hayley ranks second in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East driver standings, while Montreal resident Tagliani has two NASCAR Nationwide Series starts this season. Courtemanche, also from Montreal, is a familiar name in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series with five starts on the circuit this year, including the season-opener in Bowmanville. The 27-year-old Ranger, who calls Quebec home, has the most NASCAR national series experience among the four with 17 Nationwide appearances and one Sprint Cup start. In 2014, he’s been racing a full NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule, sitting third in the points standings.
Last season marked the NCWTS’ inaugural visit to Canada – its first road course event since 2000. “It’s always been a dream of mine to run in one of NASCAR’s top-three series, and I can’t believe I’m finally getting the chance to live that dream,” Hayley said.
“Having my first truck series start in a place I consider ‘home’ is everything I could’ve ever hoped for.”
At Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Jones will take a crack at his first road race and gun for his second win of the season (his first came at Iowa in July).
“I’ve been looking forward to making my first start on a road course for a long time and now that I’m finally getting the chance, I think it is going to be pretty fun,” Jones said. “It’s always tough going into a new situation in a race car, but I attended the Ron Fellows school and that helped out a lot.”
NASCAR Next alumnus Cameron Hayley will make his national series debut in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Canadian Tire
Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, becoming the 22nd driver in the program’s four year history to race in one of NASCAR’s three national series. Hayley, a Calgary, Alberta, Canada, native is currently second in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship standings. For the second consecutive year, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 will compete in a combination weekend with the Camping World Truck Series when it runs the Pinty’s Presents the Clarington 200 at CTMP. Current points leader L.P. Dumoulin is the defending winner of this event and J.R. Fitzpatrick won the season-opener for the series at CTMP in May.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will make its second visit to Kern County Raceway Park this weekend for the Bakersfield 150 presented by GPS. Points leader Greg Pursley
won the spring race from the pole and returns to the track with a 25-point advantage over second-place NASCAR Next driver Dylan Lupton. Pursley also won the inaugural event at Kern County last year.
Starting Line Up by Row
Atlanta Motor Speedway
55th Annual Oral-B USA 500
Provided by NASCAR Statistics – Fri, August 29, 2014 @ 08:20 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Dale Earnhardt 11/12/95 03:03:03 163.633
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1:
1 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John’s Chevrolet 29.118 190.398
2 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 29.170 190.058
Row 2:
3 42 Kyle Larson # Target Chevrolet 29.197 189.883
4 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 29.272 189.396
Row 3:
5 20 Matt Kenseth Home Depot Husky Toyota 29.334 188.996
6 78 Martin Truex Jr. World Vision Chevrolet 29.346 188.918
Row 4:
7 43 Aric Almirola Eckrich Ford 29.391 188.629
8 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 29.409 188.514
Row 5:
9 24 Jeff Gordon Panasonic Chevrolet 29.419 188.450
10 5 Kasey Kahne Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet 29.440 188.315
Row 6:
11 99 Carl Edwards Subway Ford 29.480 188.060
12 14 Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 29.504 187.907
Row 7:
13 3 Austin Dillon # Dow Chevrolet 29.308 189.163
14 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 29.318 189.099
Row 8:
15 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna Chevrolet 29.358 188.841
16 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 29.363 188.809
Row 9:
17 11 Denny Hamlin Sport Clips Toyota 29.389 188.642
18 16 Greg Biffle Ortho Fire Ant Killer Ford 29.410 188.507
Row 10:
19 55 Brian Vickers Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 29.422 188.430
20 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard Chevrolet 29.509 187.875
Row 11: 21 15 Clint Bowyer SpeedDigital.com Toyota 29.536 187.703
22 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 29.590 187.361
Row 12:
23 47 AJ Allmendinger Hungry Jack Chevrolet 29.604 187.272
24 13 Casey Mears Geico Chevrolet 29.655 186.950
Row 13:
25 7 Michael Annett St. Jude Children’s Rsrch Hsptl/Pilot Chev 29.489 188.002
26 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fifth Third Bank Ford 29.505 187.900
Row 14:
27 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 29.529 187.748
28 37 Mike Bliss(i) Accell Construction Inc. Chevrolet 29.571 187.481
Row 15:
29 33 Ty Dillon(i) Realtree Chevrolet 29.595 187.329
30 23 Alex Bowman # Dr Pepper Toyota 29.597 187.316
Row 16: 31 51 Justin Allgaier # Auto-Owners Insurance Chevrolet 29.665 186.887
32 9 Marcos Ambrose Stanley Ford 29.704 186.642
Row 17:
33 27 Paul Menard Duracell/Menards Chevrolet 29.808 185.990
34 77 Joe Nemechek(i) Fochler Veterans Law Ford 29.816 185.940
Row 18:
35 66 Brett Moffitt Royal Teak Collection Toyota 29.833 185.834
36 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 29.844 185.766
Row 19:
37 38 David Gilliland Love’s Ford Owner Points
38 34 David Ragan Farm Rich Ford Owner Points
Row 20:
39 83 Ryan Truex # Burger King Toyota Owner Points
40 26 Cole Whitt # Rinnai Toyota Owner Points
Row 21:
41 32 JJ Yeley(i) Southern Pride Trucking Inc. Ford Owner Points
42 40 Landon Cassill(i) Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet Owner Points
Row 22: 43 36 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet Owner Points
Did Not Qualify: # 95 Michael McDowell.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 23 0 Toyota 9 0
Ford 11 1
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html