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Gearwrench Returns To Kurt Busch's No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Camaro in 2020
Racing Notebook: Cindric To Attempt Daytona 500; Chase Elliott Gets A New Paint Job; Huset Added To DIRTVision and more
Racing Notebook: IndyCar And IMSA Testing At Sebring; Jamie McMurray To Run Daytona; A Female-Led Ownership Group Starts IndyCar Team and more!
Racing Notebook: Scott Dixon To Run IMSA Enduros For Ganassi; Marco Andretti's 2021 Plans and more
Racing Notebook: McIntosh Takes Qualifying Night 1 Win at Chili Bowl; Chase Elliott and Ryan Newman Sponsorship News plus Pocono Ticket Deal
Racing Notebook: Deegan to take sensitivity training; Ferrucci to NASCAR and more
Chase Elliott Wins NASCAR Cup Series Championship
Austin Cindric Wins Race And NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship
NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Championship Preview
Kurt Busch Eliminated From NASCAR Championship At Martinsville
Chase Elliott Races His Way Into NASCAR Championship 4 With Win At Martinsville
Indy Autonomous Challenge Race Car Unveiled
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Rescheduled
Aldo Andretti Passes Away
Racing Notebook: Kellett Returning to A.J. Foyt For '21; U.S. Motorsports Association Forms Leadership Council Plus Extreme E
Juan Pablo Montoya To Run Indy 500 For Arrow McLaren SP
Pennsylvania Racing Economic Impact Surveys Released
Western Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek Is Coming Back
RUSH Late Model Series Enhancing 'Track Pack' Program For 2021
The Pittsburgh Racing Now Podcast – Episode 20 – New Lernerville GM Mike Lysakowski and Robert Johnson of MCP
The Pittsburgh Racing Now Podcast – Episode 19 – Ross Chastain, Music City GP's Jason Rittenberry and Darin Gallagher
The Pittsburgh Racing Now Podcast – Episode 18 – Mid-Ohio's Craig Rust and Local Racer Ben Policz
The Pittsburgh Racing Now Podcast – Episode 17 – Rob Citrone and Logan Zarin
The Pittsburgh Racing Now Podcast – Episode 16 – Michael Norris, Eric Westendorf, James Hinchcliffe and Scott Dixon
Scott Stiller
APEX, NC (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – GEARWRENCH is returning to the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Camaro driven by Kurt Busch for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Busch will drive the GEARWRENCH car during four races on the 2020 schedule: Phoenix Raceway (March 8), Charlotte Motor Speedway (May 24), Dover International Speedway (Aug. 23) and Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 4).
GEARWRENCH celebrated in style by inviting Busch to the Apex Tool Group headquarters in Apex, North Carolina. Apex Tool Group—one of the largest tool manufacturers in the world—is the parent company of GEARWRENCH, which is a premier hand tool brand for automotive and industrial mechanics.
Employees at Apex Tool Group helped celebrate the upcoming start of the NASCAR Cup Series season alongside Busch, members of the Chip Ganassi Racing team, and the new-look GEARWRENCH® No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE Wednesday. Busch officially unveiled the new paint scheme for his GEAWRENCH car at what was dubbed 'The Green Flag event'.
"There's so much excitement around Kurt and we wanted to make sure our team members at our Raleigh facility knew that they were a part of it," said Rena Fiorello, director of brand management for GEARWRENCH. "It was fun to feel that team atmosphere and make sure that our colleagues understand that they're truly part of everything we do, and that includes our partnership with Kurt and Chip Ganassi Racing."
After unveiling his car's new look emblazed with GEARWENCH black and orange, Busch took turns driving employees around a track in the parking lot to give them a taste of what it feels like to be in a NASCAR race. Busch also took time to sign autographs, take photos, and gave a special shout-out to the employees who are military service veterans.
Busch is continuing the highly-successful VetTix KB100 program started last season. VetTix provides event tickets to our Military, Honorably Discharged Veterans and family members of troops killed-in-action. Busch donates 100-tickets to every NASCAR Cup Series race and took to Twitter because he wants to get more than 100 Veterans and their families to the races.
Time to pay up! Happy to announce another season of the @VetTix KB100 ticket program for veterans! And because of the demand last season, it's now the KB100+ as we're calling on all tracks, drivers and sponsors to help us add to my 100 tickets per event. No amount is too little! https://t.co/j0T2MdisOk
— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) January 28, 2020
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to the high-banks of Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 8th for Busch Clash final practice and Daytona 500 practice.
Related Topics:Apex Tool GroupChip Ganassi RacingDaytona International SpeedwayfeaturedGearwrenchKurt BuschNASCAR Cup SeriesVetTix
Racing Notebook – Thursday, January 30
Racing Notebook – Wednesday, January 29
Tony Kanaan Returning To Chip Ganassi Racing To Run Oval Races
Chip Ganassi Racing Returning To IMSA Competition In 2021 With Cadillac
Racing Notebook: Castroneves Joins Meyer Shank Racing; INDYCAR tests at Laguna Seca and more.
Racing Notebook: Formula E Invests In Extreme E; NASCAR Gearing Up For Championship
AVONDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 08: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, celebrates with his parents Cindy Elliott and NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale 500 and the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 08, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
AVONDALE, AZ (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chase Elliott knew he wanted to be a race car driver when he was growing up and on Sunday he followed in his Hall of Fame father Bill's footsteps by winning the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
Elliott passed Joey Logano for the lead on lap 270 and powered to victory in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway to fulfill a lifelong dream.
"I'm not sure I could have sat down and drawn it up any better, you know?," said Elliott. "So for me, it's unbelievable. It's something that I'm not sure — well, I know I haven't let it sink in yet."
Elliott, 24, started racing go-karts as a kid and slowly moved up the short track ranks when NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick signed him to a driver development deal at the age of 14.
"Just so grateful for the opportunities and the things I've had over the years, great people," said Elliott. "My mom (Cindy) and dad (Bill) and their support obviously has been from the beginning. Mr. Hendrick came in and really changed my life when he wanted to help. Not to sound like a NASCAR driver, but NAPA Auto Parts, too, coming in when they did. 2014 wouldn't have happened without them and the championship that came that season. And man, they've been a champion partner for years. Now they have a championship to go with it."
Elliott and his father Bill are just the third father-son duo to win NASCAR Championships, joining Lee and Richard Petty and Ned and Dale Jarrett.
"You know, heck, this is as big as it gets," said Elliott. "I mean, my goodness. I mean, a champion in the Cup Series? Are you kidding me? It's nuts. It's absolutely nuts."
Elliott's championship came on the same day that 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson ran his last race, signaling a changing of the guard at Hendrick Motorsports.
"Certainly appreciate his support," said Elliott. "He's been a great support system this week. I've talked to him multiple times. He's reached out on a couple occasions, which is very cool. Very thankful. He's a hero of mine. I think he'll go down as the greatest to ever do this."
Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
AVONDALE, AZ (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Austin Cindric passed Justin Allgaier on the final lap of NASCAR overtime to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Desert Dimond Casino West Valley 200 at Phoenix Raceway and capture the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
The victory was Cindric's sixth of the season and his first in six starts at the one-mile Arizona speedway and his 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series start.
"This was an amazing effort by Brian Wilson and everybody back at the shop," said Cindric. "There was a lot of work put into this Ford Mustang. I've got to thank Roger Penske and everyone from Team Penske plus the Menards family who put so much support into racing itself. It's awesome to get them a championship in NASCAR, to be a champion in NASCAR, and do it in front of all these great people cheering us on at championship weekend. Thanks to Ford Performance, Doug Yates, and everybody at Roush Yates Engines. I'm speechless. I'm pretty humbled by the effort for sure."
Allgaier took the final green flag from the outside of the front row with Cindric behind him and Ross Chastain on the inside. Allgaier's teammate Noah Gragson was inside of Cindric. Allgaier cleared Chastain with Cindric in tow coming off turn four. Gragson was on the inside of Cindric and could have helped his teammate but elected to dive low heading into turn one. That gave Cindric room to get around Allgaier, who was helpless to hold him off.
"I'm disappointed; this racetrack for me lost a lot when we put PJ1 down, and I felt like if we had been able to run the bottom like normal and not run stuck in that high groove, I felt like we definitely would have had the best car," said Allgaier. "So I'm disappointed in that, but at the end of the race today we were on old tires. I knew it was going to be sketchy at best. To be honest with you, to finish the race, it actually really surprises me that we were that close. Austin got that pass and ran through the middle of 3 and 4, and my teammate did a great job of trying to pull up and obviously race for the win. That's what he needed to do. He needed to end the season strong. But I thought if he could have just got up a little bit in front of the 22 and been able to block that run, we may have had a little bit more of a shot, but it just wasn't meant to be."
Gragson finished second followed by Brandon Jones. Michael Annett finished fourth followed by Allgaier.
AVONDALE, AZ (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – NASCAR's Championship 4 Weekend gets started Friday night with the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series title fight.
Four drivers (Sheldon Creed, Grant Enfinger, Brett Moffitt and Zane Smith) are eligible for the Championship in the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway.
Sheldon Creed (No. 2 GMS Racing Chevrolet):
Creed is tied for the series lead with 4-wins this season. Creed also has 8 top-five and 12 top-ten finishes. Creed also has a series-high 11 stage wins. Creed locked himself into the Championship 4 with a victory at Texas Motor Speedway two weekends ago. Creed has two NGOTS starts at Phoenix with a tenth place finish in 2018 and a 12th place finish in 2019 where he led 16-laps.
Grant Enfinger (No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford):
Enfinger is tied with Creed for the series lead with 4-wins in 2020. Enfinger also posted 8 top-five and 13 top-ten finishes this season to go along with a stage win. Enfinger locked himself into the Championship 4 with a win last week at Martinsville Speedway. In three NGOTS starts at Phoenix Raceway, Enfinger has two top-five finishes (4th 2018; 5th 2019) and has led 10-laps (2018).
Brett Moffitt (No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet):
Moffitt has one win in 2020 (Kansas Speedway). Moffitt has also posted 10 top-fives, and 15 top-tens, 2nd best in each category for the series. Moffitt is looking to become just the fifth driver in series history to win multiple NGOTS championships, joining NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. (1996, 1998, 2007, 2009), Matt Crafton (2013, 2014, 2019), Jack Sprague (1997, 1999, 2001) and Todd Bodine (2006, 2010). Moffitt has two series starts at Phoenix posting a win in 2018 en route to his championship and a 10th place finish in 2019.
Zane Smith (No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet):
Smith is looking to become just the second rookie to win the championship joining Erik Jones, who accomplished that feat in 2015. Smith captured two wins, 6 top-fives and 12 top-tens in 2020. Smith will be making his NGOTS debut this weekend at Phoenix.
The race starts at 8 p.m. ET on Friday. Television coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on FS1. The race can be heard on Motor Racing Network affiliates and on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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