Texas Motor Speedway to repave, alter turn banking

It was announced Friday that starting Monday, Texas Motor Speedway will repave and add new drains on the frontstretch and backstretch.

The 1.5-mile oval will also reduce banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 24 to 20 degrees.

Turns 3 and 4 will remain the same.

McDowell to return to Leavine Family Racing full time in 2017

CONCORD, N.C. (January 5, 2017) -- Leavine Family Racing (LFR) is excited to announce the return of veteran NASCAR driver Michael McDowell for the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. McDowell will once again pilot the No. 95 Chevrolet SS and is signed on to be the primary driver for LFR in all 36 races next season, making the team Chase eligible for the first time since its inception in 2011.

Additionally, LFR is excited to welcome back championship winning NASCAR crew chief Todd Parrott for the 2017 season. Parrott, who took on the crew chief responsibilities for the team full time in October of the 2016 season with only seven races remaining, led the No. 95 to earn six Top-25 finishes.

"With both Michael and Todd returning to the team this season we are looking to maintain the consistency we found towards the end of last year and continue to push forward and build off the positive momentum," said Jeremy Lange, Vice President of Leavine Family Racing. "We had great performances on the track last year and we're hoping that continuing in that direction will lead to more sponsorships for the team. We do have some partner renewals that we will be announcing soon and are excited to add more."

McDowell, who is entering his 10th year competing in NASCAR, earned his first NASCAR national touring series win last year at Road America in the XFINITY Series and recorded 16 Top-25 finishes with LFR in 2016.

"I'm excited to be returning full time with LFR for the 2017 season," stated McDowell. "I look forward to continuing to work with Todd as well and kicking off our season with a strong start at the Daytona 500 in February."

Crew Chief Todd Parrott echoed his driver's thoughts about the upcoming season.

"I can't wait for the 2017 season to get here and look forward to having a great year with Michael and the team," said Parrott. "I'm appreciative of the opportunity LFR has given me to once again assume the crew chief role for the team and am ready to get started on the upcoming season."

LFR will kick off the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season with the 59th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 26. For real-time updates on and off the track, fans can follow @LFR95 on Twitter and Leavine Family Racing on Facebook.

Harvick To Pilot No. 41 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang in NASCAR XFINITY Series

KANNAPOLIS, N.C., (Jan. 5, 2017) - Hunt Brothers Pizza, the No. 1 made-to-order pizza brand in convenience stores across the United States, is expanding its partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) to include a four-race sponsorship of Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

Hunt Brothers Pizza has been involved with SHR since 2014, serving as an associate sponsor of Harvick and the No. 4 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team while also being the official pizza of SHR.

As SHR expands its operation into the XFINITY Series for the first time in 2017, Hunt Brothers Pizza will be the primary sponsor of Harvick's No. 41 Ford Mustang April 8 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, May 27 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, July 7 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta and Sept. 2 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. Hunt Brothers Pizza will also serve as an associate sponsor of SHR's No. 00 Ford Mustang driven by XFINITY Series rookie-of-the-year contender Cole Custer.

"NASCAR has been a strong platform for Hunt Brothers Pizza thanks to the roles Kevin Harvick and Stewart-Haas Racing have played in representing our brand," said Keith Solsvig, vice president of marketing, Hunt Brothers Pizza. "NASCAR fans love to travel and visit convenience stores. We want to continue to show our appreciation to our store partners and their consumers. Having our own Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang on the racetrack with a partner like Kevin is a great way to showcase how we constantly strive for excellence

Prior to winning the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series championship, Harvick won two XFINITY Series titles in 2001 and 2006. The 41-year-old from Bakersfield, California, has 46 XFINITY Series wins to augment his 35 NASCAR Cup Series victories.

"I've always enjoyed competing in the XFINITY Series," Harvick said. "With Stewart-Haas Racing starting a new program, I'm excited to be a part of the building process because it will make us stronger going forward as a company. I'm proud to continue working with Hunt Brothers Pizza and seeing their colors on my Ford Mustang."

Hunt Brothers Pizza became involved in NASCAR as a team partner in 2008 when the company sponsored Haas CNC Racing, the precursor of SHR. Hunt Brothers Pizza aligned with Harvick in 2011, and 2017 marks its seventh year with the veteran driver.

For more information about Hunt Brothers Pizza or to locate a store near you, visit HuntBrothersPizza.com. Follow Hunt Brothers Pizza on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for news and current promotions.

About Hunt Brothers Pizza:

With more than 7,300 locations in 28 states, Hunt Brothers Pizza is the nation's largest brand of made-to-order pizza in the convenience store industry. Prefect for today's on-the-go lifestyle, Hunt Brothers Pizza offers original and thin crust pizzas with All Toppings No Extra Charge, breakfast pizzas, cheesebread and marinara dipping sauce, plus Hunt Brothers Pizza Wings and WingBites. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Hunt Brothers Pizza is family-owned and operated and for more than 25 years has offered all of the food products, marketing programs, equipment and training convenience stores need to operate their own turnkey pizza program.

About Stewart-Haas Racing:

Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR team co-owned by three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation - the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The organization fields four entries in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series - the No. 4 Ford Fusion for Kevin Harvick, the No. 10 Ford Fusion for Danica Patrick, the No. 14 Ford Fusion for Clint Bowyer and the No. 41 Ford Fusion for Kurt Busch. The team also competes in the NASCAR XFINITY Series by fielding a full time entry - the No. 00 Ford Mustang for Cole Custer - and one part-time entry - the No. 41 Ford Mustang. Based in Kannapolis, North Carolina, Stewart-Haas Racing operates out of a 200,000-square-foot facility with more than 300 employees. For more information, please visit us on the Web at www.StewartHaasRacing.com, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/StewartHaasRacing, on Twitter @StewartHaasRcng and on Instagram @StewartHaasRacing.

NASCAR Season Review: Austin Dillon

Austin Dillon recorded four Top-5's, 13 Top-10's, two poles, a 14.0 average start and a 15.9 average finish. He also earned two wins, 11 top-fives, 16 top-10s and one pole in 19 Xfinity Series starts.

Dillon also made the Sprint Cup Series Chase for the first time in his three-year Sprint Cup career, although he was eliminated after the second round on a tiebreaker with Denny Hamlin after Talladega.

However, Dillon only led 17 laps, less than half of the amount of the 39 laps he led in the 2015 season. He also had three DNFs for the second season in a row.

Dillon finished the season 14th in points.

NASCAR Season Review: Kasey Kahne

Kasey Kahne started the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season with a 13th-place running in the Daytona 500. What would follow would be a 23rd-place finish at Atlanta, and then a bit of a bounce back 10th-place running at Las Vegas.

But by the time the Sprint Cup Series went to Texas, Kahne only had one Top-10 finish, the 10th-placer at Vegas. Kane would record his second Top-10 of the season at Texas, finishing eighth.

Kane would finish the season with three Top-5's and 13 Top-10's, failing to record a win in 2016. He had 26 Top-20's.

Kahne completed the most laps of any driver in the series with 10,355 and also improved his average finish (15.6) from last season (18.1).

For the first time in his career, Kahne failed to lead a lap during the season and had two DNFs.

2017 will be Kahne's seventh season at Hendrick Motorsports, and he is still seeking his first-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

NASCAR's Charter Teams

NASCAR.com Staff Report from Dec. 21, 2016.

NASCAR revealed in February 2016 a landmark new ownership structure, awarding 36 Charters that guarantee entry into every points event in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Since then, some leasing and buying of Charters has occurred. The table below shows the Charters (which were awarded following the 2015 season) for 2017.

Teams listed alphabetically.

Notes: 
*Premium Motorsports sold this Charter to Furniture Row Racing for its second team, the No. 77. In 2016, the Charter was leased by the No. 46 team of HScott Motorsports.
**Richard Petty Motorsports is leasing the No. 44 Charter to the No. 32 team of Go Fas Racing in 2017.
***Roush Fenway Racing will lease the No. 16 Charter to JTG Daugherty Racing's newly formed second team (No. 37) in 2017.
Near the end of the 2016 season, Tommy Baldwin Racing sold its Charter to Leavine Family Racing.
HScott Motorsports' No. 15 Charter was sold to Premium Motorsports.
&Go Fas Racing is leasing the No. 32 Charter to the No. 21 team of Wood Brothers Racing.

Editor's Note: Circle Sport has a Charter that originated from the No. 33, but that car was not run in 2016. Instead, Circle Sport partnered with Leavine Family Racing to field the No. 95. The organization's 2017 plans are unknown at this time.

2017 NASCAR CHARTER TEAMS

2016 CAR #	2017 CAR #	ORGANIZATION WITH CHARTER FOR '17
23	23	BK Racing
83	83	BK Racing
1	1	Chip Ganassi Racing
42	42	Chip Ganassi Racing
34	34	Front Row Motorsports
38	38	Front Row Motorsports
46	77	Furniture Row Racing*
78	78	Furniture Row Racing
13	13	Germain Racing
44	32	Go Fas Racing**
5	5	Hendrick Motorsports
24	24	Hendrick Motorsports
48	48	Hendrick Motorsports
88	88	Hendrick Motorsports
11	11	Joe Gibbs Racing
18	18	Joe Gibbs Racing
19	19	Joe Gibbs Racing
20	20	Joe Gibbs Racing
16	37	JTG Daugherty Racing***
47	47	JTG Daugherty Racing
7	95	Leavine Family Racing^
15	TBD	Premium Motorsports#
3	3	Richard Childress Racing
27	27	Richard Childress Racing
31	31	Richard Childress Racing
43	43	Richard Petty Motorsports
6	6	Roush Fenway Racing
17	17	Roush Fenway Racing
4	4	Stewart-Haas Racing
10	10	Stewart-Haas Racing
14	14	Stewart-Haas Racing
41	41	Stewart-Haas Racing
2	2	Team Penske
22	22	Team Penske
32	21	Wood Brothers Racing&

NASCAR Season Review: Dale Earnhardt Jr./Jeff Gordon/Alex Bowman

It was an odd season for Hendrick Motorsports' No. 88 Sprint Cup entry.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. started the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season with a rough outing in the Daytona 500, finishing 36th.

Junior's best finish this season was second, at Atlanta, Texas, Bristol and Pocono. But after Kentucky, where be finished 13th, he was diagnosed with a concussion, and wound up missing the rest of the Sprint Cup season.

Jeff Gordon and Alex Bowman alternated rides in the No. 88 to fill in for Junior, who is expected to be back to racing by the 2017 Daytona 500.

Gordon raced eight races in the No. 88 in 2016, putting up only two Top-10s. Bowman raced 10 events in the No. 88 and put up three Top-10s.

"Thanks to the staff at Darlington for hosting our team and to NASCAR for giving us the opportunity to put a car on the track," Earnhardt said after testing at Darlington Raceway in December. "I'll do more testing in January to help knock the rust off. When it's time to go to Daytona, I’ll be ready."

Earnhardt will be 42 when he's back in a race car for the 2017 season, the final year of his five-year contract with Hendrick Motorsports. He is expected to sign another contract with the No. 88 team, but after that, his racing career is unclear.

"Dale is one of the hardest-working patients I've ever encountered," Dr. Mickey Collins, Junior's doctor thrpugh 2016, said in a Hendrick Motorsports release. "He's done everything we've asked, and we believe he is ready to compete at a professional level again and can withstand the normal forces of a race car driver. Dale has been very open with us, and we've had plenty of time for his treatment, so we feel very good about his long-term prospects and how this has been managed by everyone involved."

NASCAR Season Review: Joey Logano

Following a slow start to the 2016 season, Joey Logano made some noise at Martinsville Speedway after earning his first Coors Light Pole Award of the year -- and 15th first-place start of his career.

The Sprint All-Star Race may not have counted for points but a win is a win. Logano came on strong late, catching Kyle Larson in the closing laps to score the victory in the exhibition event that was run with a different rules package than the one that was used for most of 2016.

It wasn't long after that the Team Penske wheelman found Victory Lane again but this triumph helped get him set for the Chase. Logano topped the Michigan weekend after winning from the pole position and leading the main event for 138 of the 200 laps. His wife, Brittany, helped celebrate. The win was also a milestone moment for Roush Yates Engines, which savored its 100th premier-series victory. 

In the series' second trip to Michigan, Logano made some more magic at the 2-mile track in qualifying to make it a season sweep of pole positions at MIS.

Logano made some XFINITY Series appearances for Team Penske in the No. 22 Ford and stormed to Victory Lane twice -- Watkins Glen and Charlotte -- in just 13 races.

The Ford driver locked in a spot in the Round of 8 after winning at the always unpredictable Talladega -- his second win at the superspeedway. Logano pretty much had to win the elimination race after scoring an unfortunate 36th-place finish in the round's opener at Charlotte and he didn't disappoint. This was his second straight Chase race victory at Talladega.

Logano copied his Round of 12 performance by winning the Round of 8's elimination race, but this time in the desert at Phoenix. The win kept his championship hopes alive, advancing him to the Championship 4 -- Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch completed the title-seeking quartet.

Info taken from NASCAR.com.

NASCAR Season Review: Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch entered the 2016 season in a position he had never been in before in the sport's top series: The defending series champion. He also was set to return to the Daytona 500 after missing the race in 2015 due to a leg injury suffered the day before the "Great American Race." He scored a win in the second Can-Am Duel and went on to lead 19 laps en route to a third-place run in the season's opening race.

A day after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville, Busch completed the weekend sweep with a dominating win in the Sprint Cup race. Busch led 352 of 500 laps for his first premier series win at the 0.526-mile track.

A week later, Busch completed another weekend sweep -- this one of the XFINITY and Sprint Cup variety at Texas. Busch surged late to lead the final 33 laps for his second win of 2016. The win was his second at the 1.5-mile track and marked his fourth straight win in a NASCAR national series race.

There aren't too many tracks that can say they have gotten the best of Kyle Busch and up until 2016, Kansas was one of those venues. That changed in May when "Rowdy" scored his first premier series win there -- leading 69 laps -- including the final 37 for the victory. Pocono and Charlotte stand as the only premier series tracks Busch has yet to win at.

A late spring-early summer swoon produced four straight finishes of 30th-or-worse for the defending series champion. Two crashes and a blown engine occurred during this stretch but Busch would find his mojo after the June off weekend.

Busch put on a dominating show at Indianapolis for his second straight win at The Brickyard. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led 149 of 170 laps for his fourth victory in the sport's top series in 2016. Busch completed another weekend sweep as well taking the XFINITY race a day earlier.

In his quest to defend his championship, Busch displayed tremendous consistency over the course of the 10-race Chase. Busch finished in the top eight in nine of the 10 races (a 30th-place showing at Talladega not withstanding -- in which Busch and two JGR teammates rode in the back to protect their Chase position). That consistency guided Busch into his second straight Championship 4 appearance.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Kyle and Samantha Busch-owned Kyle Busch Motorsports scored the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owners' championship. KBM has been a powerhouse in that series, contributing to the development of Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Christopher Bell.

Busch came up short of back-to-back titles with a sixth-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway to finish third among the Championship 4. Busch overcame a mid-race tire issue to get back in the mix but a rash of late yellows foiled his bid to repeat as Jimmie Johnson took home his seventh title.

Info taken via NASCAR.com.