WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Expecting a little bit of a breather from the non-stop NASCAR silly season announcements and rumors, this week has been anything but a breather.
While silly season has taken somewhat of a backseat to announcements from the sanctioning body and Dale Earnhardt Jr’s final paint scheme at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, the sport has remained in the headlines vast approaching its end of the regular season.
Let’s take a quick glance at the headline, in case you missed it:
• Kurt Busch’s option not renewed at Stewart-Haas Racing: Motorsport.com’s Lee Spencer first reported Tuesday afternoon that Daytona 500 champion Kurt Busch could be looking for a new ride in 2018.
The Las Vegas, Nevada’s option at Stewart-Haas Racing was not picked up for next season leaving his status at the Cup level in limbo. SHR had until midnight, Aug. 2 to reverse its decision, but that never happened.
SHR tweeted shortly after the news broke that “We don’t comment on contract status, but we expect @KurtBusch back in our @MonsterEnergy / @Haas_Automation Ford in ’18. Just sayin’.” The “statement” from the team generated an explosion of opinions on what may actually happen on social media.
That tweet leaves the door open that the organization owned by billionaire businessman Gene Haas and former Cup Series champion Tony Stewart can offer Busch, 38, a new contract for perhaps less salary.
Busch was recruited by Jack Roush in 2000 and moved to the Cup Series in 2001. He won the Cup title in 2004 before moving to Team Penske in 2006. He then landed at SHR in 2014 as the team’s fourth driver.
Since then, Busch has earned four wins, five poles, 21 top-five and 51 top-10s.
• Furniture Row Racing remains in headlines following Pocono Raceway infractions: For the second consecutive week, Furniture Row Racing has received the off-track attention that they are not accustomed to seeing.
Last week, two members of their No. 78 pit crew were suspended by Joe Gibbs Racing (who supplies the pit crew for Martin Truex Jr.) after a confrontation in their pit box with Kyle Busch’s crew chief Adam Stevens after the two cars wrecked early in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
This week, it was Furniture Row Racing’s other team, the No. 77 driven by rookie sensation Erik Jones who received backlash after the team was penalized severely after components of their rear suspension did not meet NASCAR guidelines.
The infraction was described as: Truck Trailing Arm Spacers/Pinion Angle Shims. Spacers/pinion angle shims must conform to the following drawing: A-008-01016d-16 REV. A. Notes: 6 The Truck trailing arm spacer / pinion angle shim mating surfaces must be planar and must be in complete contact with corresponding mating surfaces at all points and at all times.
Because of the infraction, NASCAR slapped Chris Gayle with a two-week Cup Series suspension, a $50,000 fine and the loss of 25 car owner and driver championship points.
The penalty all but puts former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Erik Jones in a must-win scenario should he hope to make the NASCAR playoffs in his rookie year.
The team elected not to appeal.
“We understand and accept NASCAR’s penalty to our No. 77 team,” the team said in a statement. “We will not appeal the unintentional infraction with the rear suspension and will move on with team engineer James Small taking over as the interim crew chief for the next two races.”
• NASCAR moves the placement of overtime line, effective immediately: Two weeks after controversy broke out about the overtime line influencing the outcome of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, NASCAR announced last Wednesday afternoon that they were moving the overtime line to the start-finish line effective with Sunday’s I Love NY 355 at the Glen.
The line, which signifies the point at which no additional overtimes will take place once the race leader crosses it, has typically been located on the backstretch of tracks or entering the Turn 3 area.
“NASCAR has been looking at the overtime procedure for quite some time,” Steve O’Donnell, executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said in a statement. “After many discussions with key figures throughout the industry, we recognize that having the start-finish line serve as the standard overtime Line position will benefit the race – and, most importantly, our fans.
“We are implementing this immediately, starting with this weekend’s races at Watkins Glen International.”
Overtime in any of NASCAR’s top three national series comes into action if a caution flag is displayed before the race leader receives the white flag in the race, signaling the start of the final lap of the event.
In overtime, the leader much now reach its new location under green-flag conditions following the restart. If the leader does that, the next flag (checkered flag or yellow) ends the race.
Should a caution come out before the leader reaches the start / finish line, the field is restacked and the overtime rule will be attempted again.
• NASCAR puts further limit on Cup driver participation in lower series for 2018 season: As expected, NASCAR unveiled new participation rules on Tuesday further liming the participation of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers in lower series’ race.
Starting with the 2018 season, Cup drivers with more than five years of full-time experience will be limited a maximum of seven races in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and five races in the Camping World Truck Series.
Any drivers who receive points in the Cup Series will be ineligible to compete in the regular season finale, all playoff races in each series, as well as the Dash 4 Cash races in the XFINITY Series.
“Fans have made it clear that they want to see the future stars of the sport racing against their peers in the XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series,” said Jim Cassidy, senior vice president of racing operations.
“These guidelines achieve that and preserve limited opportunities for developing drivers to compete against the best in motorsports.”
This year, NASCAR limited Cup drivers with five years of full-time experience to 10 XFINITY races and seven in Trucks – the sanctioning’s first attempt at reducing the involvement of Cup drivers in the lower series’ races.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. resurrects old colors for Homestead finale: Jr Nation will have a special treat for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s final race as a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.
Earnhardt announced on the shopping network QVC earlier this weekend that he’ll bring back his famed red, white and black “Budweiser” colors that he introduced in 1999, but hasn’t been seen since his final race at Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2007.
Even though the sport’s most popular driver will resurrect the car colors that brought him notoriety and instant fame, Axalta will sport their decals on the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the 36th race of the year.
Sam Bass, NASCAR’s first officially licensed artist designed Earnhardt’s ride for his 631st Cup Series start.
Earnhardt, 42, will retire from full-time Cup Series racing at the end of the 2017 season, but will make limited NASCAR XFINITY Series starts for his JR Motorsports team next year. He shares ownership of JRM with sister Kelly Earnhardt Miller and his current Cup car owner Rick Hendrick.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
