Casey Mears signs contract extension with Germain Racing

UNB! Network Staff Report

Casey Mears, who has been with Germain Racing since 2010, has signed a contract extention to keep him at the team until the end of the 2016 season.

The 37 year old has one Top-5 finish and 5 Top-10 finishes, all of them coming at restrictor plate tracks.

Mears only has one win, and that came in the 2007 Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, when he was driving for Hendrick Motorsports.

"I'm really happy to announce that Casey Mears is back in the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS next year," said Bob Germain Jr., who owns the team, in a release provided by the team. "He's been an integral part of the team's growth and success over the past 5 years and I am confident he can continue to help is move forward and reach our goals. We've come a long way as a team, and assembled a group of extremely talented people who enjoy working together. As the team owner, that's really the thing I'm most proud of. And, of course, the long term support of GEICO has given us the stability we needed to make it all happen."

"It's really exciting to drive the No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS again in 2016," said Casey Mears. "I think that it's been a long time in the making here at Germain Racing, being competitive at the Cup level. It's been a long process to get the GEICO program to where we are now. We are finally starting to see some of the benefits from all the hard work from the last four or five years. I'm very excited to carry on the GEICO relationship and to be a part of Germain Racing's continued growth.

Timmy Hill taking Josh Wise's place for NHMS

UNB! Network Staff Report

Premium Motorsports announced that Timmy Hill will drive the No. 98 car for the team at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend.

Josh Wise just recently left the team after driving that car.

Reed Sorenson will be Hill's teammate in the No. 62 car.

Josh Wise leaving Premium Motorsports

UNB! Network Staff Report

Josh Wise has announced via Twitter that he is leaving Premium Motlrsports.

WISE'S TWITTER STATEMENT: "I have parted ways with Premium Motorsports. The team and I did not share the same goals moving forward. I wish them the best and look forward to what the future holds.

Wise has 121-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts. He scored his 1st-career Top-10 at Talladega Superspeedway this past May. He is currently 36th in Sprint Cup Series points.

Wise was driving for Front Row Motorsports in 2012 and 2013. He switched over to Phil Parsons Racing in 2014. He stayed there when Premium Motorsports bought Phil Paraons Racing during the 2015 season.

Wise released the statement in two Twitter tweets. We guess that Twitter's 140 character limit wasn't enough to contain Wise's statement in only one tweet.

But, all joking aside, we wish Josh Wise luck to whatever the future leads him to.

ChicagoLand Testing

UNB! Network Staff Report

A dozen NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams are testing at ChicagoLand Speedway this week.

TESTING IN MONDAY AND TUESDAY'S TIRE TEST

--Dale Earnhardt Jr.

--Martin Truex Jr.

--Sam Hornish Jr.

--J.J. Yeley

Joining them in the open test later this week will be Kyle Larson, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, and Brad Keselowski.

Steve O'Donnell, Exectuive Vice President and Cheif Racing Development Officer of NASCAR was asked on Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Bout possible aero package changes for chase races.

"We're going to stick with our plan," O'Donnell said. "This was something that we developed with the garage area. What are the specific races we can target together? Everybody feels really good about the plan that we have in place so we'll continue on that path. We're learning a lot this week as well as we take all the data from Kentucky." 

Kyle Busch gets win #2 of the season.

By @GucciardoJoey

View image | gettyimages.com

Unbelievable, what a fight for the lead until the very end!

All the way to the end of the race, ANYBODY was in contention to win.

Kyle Busch reigned victorious and got his second win of the season. This was Busch's second win in three races, and he's inning closer on securing a spot in the chase.

Remember, Busch was injured in the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series opener at Daytona International Speedway on February 21st, 2015. I think Busch has rebounded from that incident TREMENDOUSLY.

"That right there is what we've got to do," said Busch in victory lane. "Just to score as many points as we possibly can. To score those wins, that's what's going to get us to where we need to be. We led the most laps and we won the race, so that's all you can score. We'll just continue to push on and thrive."

Last night, Joey Logano finished 2nd, Denny Hamlin in 3rd, Carl Edwards in 4th, Matt Kenseth in 5th to round out the Top-5.

Brad Keselowski, who won the XFINITY Series race the night before, finished 6th. Jeff Gordon finished 7th, Kevin Harvick finished 8th, Jimmie Johnson finished 9th, and Kurt Busch finishing 10th.

Kurt Busch actually had an incident where he had spun out on the tri-oval grass, but received no damage to his car. He rebounded for a 10th place finish.

At one point, Danica Patrick was turned and spun out by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Let's just say that Danica wasn't happy.

On pit road, she and Jr. made plenty of car contact.

NASCAR Talk: CatchFences Secure? I Say Yes

By @GucciardoJoey

Over the past week and a half, NASCAR has seen its fair share of damaged CatchFences.

Austin Dillon hit the CatchFence in DAYTONA this past Monday in the wee hours of the morning after a long rain delay. Fans were injured, but no serious injuries were sustained. No drivers were injured however.

Then, Ben Kennedy hit the CatchFence in the NASCAR Camping Workd Truck Series race at KENTUCKY Speedway this past Thursday night. The race ended 5 laps early due to the amount of time it would take to repair the fence. Matt Crafton was declared the winner. No fans were injured or hurt in this incident. No drivers were either.

I'm asking if the CatchFence is safe.

I think it is, and really safe.

Trust me, that CatchFence makes NASCAR safer altogether.

I can't remember the last time a fan died at a NASCAR race due to a wreck in a race.

In 2013, Kyle Larson flew into the fence at the end of he XFINITY Series opener at DAYTONA. Fans were injured, more seriously than the recent DILLON incident. But still, no deaths occurred.

But I'm not just saying that the CatchFence is safe because no one's died. That wouldn't be an accurate opinion if that was my reasoning.

I'm saying it's safe because I think it's made injuries to fans much less major and much more minor. Also, the fans think it's safe as well.

Pam Manning of Bell, Florida told a local DAYTONA Beach newspaper after Dillon's wreck that the fence held up excellently.

"Most of it [the debris] stayed down on the other side of the fence," Manning told the DAYTONA Beach News Journal.  "I've seen other accidents where a lot more debris came through."

"I think the fence did a fantastic job," Manning went on to say. "With that kind of a force and weight hitting it, I would have expected a lot more debris to come through though."

I agree with Manning 100 percent. I would have expected a lot more debris to go through the fence. That CatchFence is a life saver. I'm amazed by how well it's held up overtime.

That concludes this edition of NASCAR Talk. I hope you enjoyed it!

Brad Keselowski Wins KENTUCKY 300 For First XFINITY Series Win OfSeason; Buescher Remains Points Leader

By @GucciardoJoey

SPARTA, KENTUCKY--- What cost Erik Jones the victory in last night's NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Kentucky Speedway?

Brad Keselowski doing a victory burnout after winning the
Kentucky 300 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky.
(Photo CREDIT: @NASCAR_XFINITY)

A lapped car, that's what.

In the closing laps, Jones was catching cup series regular Brad Keselowski. Jones probably had a great run, but got caught up with a lapped car that Keselowski caught easily. I still have to tip my hat to Jones for still being able to catch up to Keselowski and try to fight for the win. Great job and effort by Erik Jones!

Chris Buescher finished 11th, extending his points lead over 2nd place Chase Elliott to 36 points.

There were 21 green flag passes for the lead. That is the most for a NASCAR XFINITY Series race since the XFINITY Series started racing at Kentucky in 2005, which was the stat's inception.

The win was Keselowski's first victory in the NASCAR XFINITY Series this season.

"It's been a good ride for sure," said Keselowski, who won the jukebox trophy for winning the race. "and to be part of Team Penske is everything I ever dreamed of and more."

Matt Crafton wins UNOH 225 after race was called early

By @GucciardoJoey

SPARTA, KENTUCKY--- Last night's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was ended 145/150 laps through due to damage to the catch fence.

Ben Kennedy had a hard hit right on a restart where we had just been on a red flag.

When Kennedy was okay and climbed out of his literally destroyed truck, NASCAR threw the red flag.

We would never go green in the race again.

Matt Crafton, who seems to be dominant at 1.5-mile tracks (Like Kentucky), was in 1st place at the time that the race was called, so he won the race.

FINAL RESULTS:

Nascar is family

The Coke Zero 400 that ended in the wee hours of Monday morning was nothing short of spectacular. I enjoyed the huge act of sportsmanship demonstrated by Dale Jr, Casey Mears & Kasey Kahne's pit crews in assisting Austin Dillon. As a fan, seeing Austin Dillon's car upside down near the start/finish line was a terrifying couple seconds. I enjoyed Austin's Lane Frost (Bull Rider) tribute in the waving of his hands after he exited his car. But now there are people who have never watched NASCAR that are screaming for more safety enhancements & a safer fence. Honestly, all the safety devices & enhancements in the world WILL NOT prevent a racecar from flipping around in the car. What do you think? What's your view on safety when it comes to fans getting injured at NASCAR tracks?