Grala Attempting To Make Truck Series Debut At Martinsville

From Jayski.

Kaz Grala

Seventeen-year-old Kaz Grala will attempt to make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in the No. 33 Chevrolet for GMS Racing. Grala takes the reigns of the No. 33 from Grant Enfinger, who was originally scheduled to race the whole season, but will now run select events.

Grala currently competes in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for Ben Kennedy Racing. In three NKNPSE starts this season, he has produced a top-five finish and two top-10 showings. The Westborough, Massachusetts native finished seventh in the NKNPSE standings in 2014 and 2015.

In January, Grala became the youngest driver to ever participate in the Rolex 24.

Also attempting to make their NCWTS debuts are Claire Decker, Natalie Decker and Spencer Boyd.

Boyd, 20, will pilot the No. 63 Go-Parts Dodge Ram for MB Motorsports. A veteran of the Whelen All-American Series, he earned the 2014 Super Trucks championship at Hickory Speedway in 2014.

“Growing up in St. Louis, MB Motorsports was the local NASCAR team, so I’ve followed them since I was a kid,” Boyd said. “This really is a dream come true. There are so many people to thank for helping me get to this point, now I just want to make them proud by putting on a good show for my family, my partners, and certainly Go-Parts who is also making their NASCAR debut.”

Sprint Cup and Trucks Tire Notes/Facts for Martinsville

Both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be heading to Martinsville Speedway for a full weekend of racing action, while the NASCAR XFINITY Series has the weekend off.

Here are some basic tire notes and facts for both series for Martinsville:

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES:
Tire: Goodyear Eagle Short Track Radials

Set limits:
Sprint Cup: 5 sets for practice/qualifying and 10 sets for the race;
Camping World Truck: 7 sets for the event

Tire Codes:
Left-side -- D-4588;
Right-side -- D-4468

Tire Circumference:
Left-side -- 87.44 in. (2,221 mm);
Right-side -- 88.70 in. (2,253 mm)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front -- 10 psi; Left Rear -- 10 psi;
Right Front -- 23 psi; Right Rear -- 22 psi
 

Full Schedule for Martinsville Speedway

This weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series head to Martinsville Speedway for a full weekend of short-track racing, while the NASCAR XFINITY Series has the weekend off.

Here is the full schedule for Martinsville:

NOTE: All times listed are in ET.

FRIDAY, APRIL 1:
ON TRACK
-- 10-10:55 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, FS1
-- 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FS1
-- 12:30-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, FS1
-- 3-3:50 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS1
-- 4:15 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1

SATURDAY, APRIL 2:
ON TRACK
-- 10-10:55 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, FS1
-- 11:15 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
-- 1-1:50 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, FS1
-- 2:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Alpha Energy Solutions 250 (250 laps, 131.5 miles), FS1

SUNDAY, APRIL 3:
ON TRACK
-- 1 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 (500 laps, 263 miles), FS1

Chase Elliott ' SunEnergy1 paint scheme revealed

By @GucciardoJoey

Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports released Elliott's new SunEnergy1 Sprint Cup paint scheme that Elliott will race in a few races this season.

The car will first take to the track in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 2, and will also be the primary sponsor when Elliott competes at Watkins Glen International on Aug. 7, Kansas Speedway on Oct. 16 and Phoenix International Raceway on Nov. 13 .

Patrick and Busch fined for Auto Club incidents

By @GucciardoJoey

Two NASCAR drivers were fined for actions that occurred this past weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

Danica Patrick was fined $20,000 for running up the race surface and making gestures at Kasey Kahne's No. 5 Chevrolet, and Kyle Busch was fined $10,000 and placed on probation fr the next four races for failing to complete media obligations after Saturday's XFINITY Series race.

Patrick was also placed on probation for the next four events.

NASCAR also issued warnings to six Sprint Cup Series teams for inspection issues at Auto Club.

Warnings were given to the following teams for failing the Laser Inspection Station twice during pre-qualifying inspection: Richard Childress Racing No. 3 of Austin Dillon; Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 of Matt Kenseth; Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 pf Ryan Blaney; and Richard Childress Racing No. 27 of Paul Menard.

The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 of Carl Edwards failed the LIS twice during pre-race inspection.

The No. 20 team also received a warning, its second of the 2016 season, for failing template inspection twice during pre-qualifying.

The Circle Sport Leavine Family Racing No. 95 team of driver Michael McDowell was given a warning for a truck trailing arm that did not meet specifications. The issue was discovered during initial inspection on Friday.

Info from NASCAR.com was used in this report.

Shane Lee to make Truck Series debut at Martinsville

By @GucciardoJoey

Shane Lee will make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway in the Alpha Energy 250 on Apr. 2.

Lee will be piloting the No. 07 LeeBoy Toyota Tundra for Bobby Dotter and SS Green Light Racing. 

"I can't wait to get in the truck next Friday," said Lee. "It's going to be a busy couple weeks switching between the super latemodel, the ARCA car, and the truck but it wouldn't be possible without the support from LeeBoy, SS Green Light Racing, Toyota Racing, and White Gaulding Partners. I've talked with [crew chief] Jamie [Jones] a lot on what to expect during the race and if we play our cards right we will be racing for a top-10." 

Crew chief Jamie Jones will be overseeing Lee's truck in the race.

Lee will also compete at Gateway Motorsports Park on Jun. 25, and Michigan International Raceway on Aug. 27 in the series as well.

"I'm very excited to have Shane driving for us at Martinsville," said SS Green Light Racing's Bobby Dotter. "We have taken quite a few rookies to Martinsville for their first truck race and I feel Shane is one of our best."

Wallace Jr. fails post-race XFINITY Series inspection at Auto Club

By @GucciardoJoey

Darrell Wallace Jr. had to be in a good mood after his Top-3 finish at Auto Club Speedway in the NASCAR XFINITY Series this past Saturday.

Not, maybe not so much.

Wallace's Roush Fenway Racing Ford failed post-race inspection after the race, as the car failed to meet the minimum ride height requirement.

Penalties for the drivers

This weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California produced some amazing racing at the Xfinity race yesterday and the Cup race today. A lot of good clean passing and some beating and banging. Twice in two days, Kyle Busch failed to win after being a dominant car for much of the race. Saturday, Kyle Busch blew a tire and hit the wall which messed up his car pretty bad. Afterwards, he failed to speak to the media (required for all drivers) and made some derogatory comments towards NASCAR. NASCAR stated they may penalize him later in the week when penalties are announced. Today, Danica made a bad move walking up to the track to confront Kasey Kahne after Kasey wrecked her with 60 laps to go. NASCAR stresses in the drivers meetings to not walk onto the track to confront another driver when you're upset. So we should expect penalties for her as well coming this week. What did you think of the race?

Jimmie Johnson holds off Harvick for Auto Club 400 win

By @GucciardoJoey

Jimmie Johnson celebrates his NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series victory in Auto Club Speedway victory lane
after winning the 2016 Auto Club 400 on March 20,
2016.

(PHOTO: @MissSprintCup on Twitter)

Jimmie Johnson took advantage of a late restart to get the victory at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday.

Kevin Harvick basically had the race won at the end of the race,  but Kyle Busch brought out the caution with two laps to go. Johnson pushed Harvick on the restart and Johnson managed to pul away from Harvick. Denny Hamoin challenged the two drivers on the restart burt was not really a threat for the win.

The win was Johnson's 77th-career Sprint Cup Series victory, giving him sole possession of 7th on the list of most career Sprint Cup victory. Johnson went ahead of Dale Earnhardt, who had 76 career wins.

"It's a long year and we need to keep doing this all year long, especially late in the season."

"[The car] was the worst it's taken off on the restarts," Harvick said after the race.

Kyle Larson had a scary issue mid-race where his car careened into the inside wall on the backstretch and the car actually went airborne. He was able to get out of the car and was released from the infield care center.

Danica Patrick had a similar incident to Larson on the front stretch. She was also fine, but showed her dissatisfaction with Kasey Kahne by walking up the track towards Kahne's car. Patrick was upset with Kahne because she felt that Kahne forced her into the wall.

"Just a lot of mistakes on my part early on," Hamlin said after the race, who had to deal with two pit  road penalties before the end of the race.

FINAL RESULTS FROM NASCAR.COM

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MANUF	DELTA	LAPS	LAST LAP	BEST TIME	BEST SPEED	BEST LAP
1	48	Jimmie Johnson		Leader	205	39.183	39.183	183.753	205
2	4	Kevin Harvick		0.772	205	39.742	39.193	183.706	2
3	11	Denny Hamlin		0.258	205	39.770	39.216	183.599	2
4	22	Joey Logano		0.262	205	39.725	39.443	182.542	2
5	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		1.217	205	40.387	39.909	180.410	2
6	24	Chase Elliott #		0.003	205	40.552	39.630	181.681	2
7	19	Carl Edwards		0.095	205	40.895	39.142	183.946	2
8	47	AJ Allmendinger		0.043	205	39.973	39.784	180.977	55
9	2	Brad Keselowski		0.119	205	41.035	39.485	182.348	33
10	1	Jamie McMurray		0.390	205	40.161	39.880	180.542	2
11	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.		0.197	205	40.427	39.989	180.050	132
12	44	Brian Scott #		0.010	205	40.690	40.416	178.147	33
13	14	Brian Vickers		0.137	205	40.728	39.995	180.023	86
14	31	Ryan Newman		0.378	205	40.937	39.622	181.717	2
15	27	Paul Menard		0.284	205	40.436	40.104	179.533	33
16	38	Landon Cassill		0.361	205	40.929	40.639	177.170	87
17	13	Casey Mears		0.093	205	40.609	40.326	178.545	85
18	15	Clint Bowyer		0.208	205	40.990	40.385	178.284	86
19	20	Matt Kenseth		0.141	205	40.575	39.236	183.505	55
20	6	Trevor Bayne		0.023	205	41.095	39.828	180.777	2
21	43	Aric Almirola		0.200	205	41.517	40.022	179.901	2
22	23	David Ragan		0.106	205	41.304	40.360	178.394	86
23	7	Regan Smith		0.077	205	41.268	40.524	177.672	86
24	3	Austin Dillon		0.077	205	41.111	39.507	182.246	2
25	18	Kyle Busch		0.201	205	40.776	39.579	181.915	2
26	98	* Cole Whitt		0.282	205	41.278	40.818	176.393	3
27	83	Matt DiBenedetto		2.065	205	42.239	40.668	177.043	178
28	5	Kasey Kahne		2.012	205	42.879	39.949	180.230	38
29	46	Michael Annett		3.001	205	44.611	40.652	177.113	87
30	41	Kurt Busch		0.270	205	44.532	39.875	180.564	17
31	95	Michael McDowell		0.384	205	45.201	40.599	177.344	88
32	78	Martin Truex Jr.		-	204	41.743	39.381	182.829	132
33	34	Chris Buescher #		-	204	42.220	40.134	179.399	88
34	32	Jeffrey Earnhardt #		-	200	44.726	41.105	175.161	44
35	21	* Ryan Blaney #		-	195	1:32.949	39.503	182.265	2
36	30	* Josh Wise		-	195	43.782	41.196	174.774	2
37	16	Greg Biffle		-	146	59.688	40.178	179.203	3
38	10	Danica Patrick		-	120	41.746	39.927	180.329	85
39	42	Kyle Larson		-	46	42.637	40.626	177.226	3