NASCAR XFINITY Series:
Dakoda Armstrong Has New Leadership For 2015: Richard Petty Motorsports’ Dakoda Armstrong will have a new crew chief when he returns to the wheel of the No. 43 Ford Mustang at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February.
Lee Spencer of Motorsport.com reported Monday that former Front Row Motorsports crew chief Frank Kerr joined the organization on December 15 and inherits the role that Philippe Lopez had in 2014.
Armstrong will begin his second season of NASCAR XFINITY Series competition in 2015. While the New Castle, Indiana native had a slow start to his rookie season, the three-time ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards winner gained traction late in the season.
Three top-10s all in the final 11 races of the season, including a personal best of seventh at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway propelled the 22-year old to 13th in the overall standings.
According to Spencer, Kerr is a former Sprint Car champion who began racing quarter midgets at the age of six and retired in 2000 at the age of 39.
In addition to his role of crew chief for David Gilliland at Front Row Motorsports, Kerr also led Australia’s Marcos Ambrose during his early tenure in NASCAR. The two enjoyed some success, including six top-fives and 12 top-10s and two XFINITY Series all for JTG / Daugherty Racing.
Cale Conley Bails On Richard Childress Racing; Joins TriStar Motorsports: In a surprising move, Vienna, West Virginia native Cale Conley will join TriStar Motorsports for a full 33-race NASCAR XFINTIY Series schedule in 2015.
Conley, a winner in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East competed in 11 NASCAR XFINITY (Nationwide) races this past season for the potent Richard Childress Racing immediately attracting attention with an impressive 11th place finish in his series debut at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
The highlight of Conley’s short tenure with the Welcome, North Carolina-based team came at Kentucky Speedway in September, where the 22-year old maneuvered a sixth-place finish in the race won by his RCR teammate Brendan Gaughan. In all, the former USAC competitor racked in five top-15 runs.
“I am looking forward to working with people that are excited to work with me and help me mature as a driver and competitor in this series,” said Conley. “I am grateful to Mark Smith and TriStar Motorsports for being willing to take a chance with me and let me race weekend after weekend after weekend, so I can get “one step closer” to my ultimate dream of being a NASCAR Sprint Cup champion!”
Sponsorship nor a car number has been announced for Conley, but CATCHFENCE.com has learned that currently the team does not have a primary sponsor for the 2015 season-opener at Daytona on Feb. 21.
CATCHFENCE.com will have more on Conley’s unique move in the coming week.
Chip Ganassi Partners with Harry Scott To Form HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi: With the dissolution of Turner Scott Motorsports, late last week, officials from both Chip Ganassi Racing and HScott Motorsports announced that the two will partner to form a new entity in 2015.
HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi will field a NASCAR XFINITY Series entry for a full-season shared by drivers Kyle Larson and Dylan Kwasniewski in the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro. Sponsorship nor the drivers’ exact schedule have been ironed out.
Mike Shiplett, a former crew chief and car chief at Richard Petty Motorsports, as well as Turner Scott Motorsports and Gillett Evernham Motorsports will lead the team in 2015. The team will be housed out of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team shop in Concord, North Carolina.
Larson won two NASCAR XFINITY Series races at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway and Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway respectively, while Dylan Kwasniewski hoisted a career-best finish of eighth twice.
The back-to-back (2012 and 2013) NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and East champion finished eighth in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, after earning the pole and later bolted to an eighth place outing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the final road course race of the season.
NASCAR To Grant XFINITY And Truck Teams Extra Practice In 2015: While testing has been banned exclusively for the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS), NASCAR will try and help the team with additional practice time during certain event weekends in 2015, NASCAR.com reported.
Presently, the only Goodyear test for the two series is scheduled at Iowa Speedway on May 5. The test, however, will not be open to all the teams. Currently, only Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing from the XFINITY Series and Kyle Busch Motorsports and ThorSport Racing of the Truck Series have been given clearance to participate.
For the others, the length of the extended practice sessions will vary, depending on at-track activities, with a maximum of three hours of track time. In NASCAR’s eyes, the move is a cost-effective measure.
“We’re giving those two series where cost is a bigger concern extends practice sessions, which we will fit into the race-schedule weekends,” said NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Innovation and Racing Development Gene Stefanyshyn.
“We’re not going to add days (at the track) and all that; we’re going to figure out how to stuff it in there.”
