Latest news with #Roval
NBC Sports
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Long: Is it time for North Wilkesboro to host a NASCAR Cup points race? Here's an idea
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Talk started this weekend and grew after 250 laps of the best racing on a short track that NASCAR Cup fans have seen this year. Is it time for North Wilkesboro to host a points race and move the All-Star Race to another venue? Brad Keselowski suggested this weekend that NASCAR do so. He said the All-Star Race should move to Charlotte Motor Speedway. And then, he said, get rid of the Roval race. Ryan Blaney said after Sunday night's All-Star Race that he liked Keselowski's idea. Dustin Long, But let's hold off just yet on moving the All-Star Race. This was the second year since a repave. The track widened Sunday and the racing showed with an All-Star record 18 lead changes. The track should continue to get better. 'I thought the race tonight was really, really good,' Kyle Busch told NBC Sports. 'Put on a good show. There was actually a pass for the lead in the final 30 laps.' Busch would like to see the All-Star Race remain at North Wilkesboro. 'I think it's good right now,' he said. 'Let's leave it good for as long as it is.' Nate Ryan, So, here's a thought. Keep the All-Star Race in North Wilkesboro another year. NASCAR can then give this historic track in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains a points race in 2027. That could allow NASCAR to move the All-Star Race to Bowman Gray Stadium, giving that track an event in May the week before the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NASCAR then could move the season-opening Clash to another location, possibly an international destination. With no races before the Clash and a weekend off between it and the Daytona 500, NASCAR would have the flexibility to move the Clash outside the United States, a concept series officials want to do. Also, making this change in 2027 gives NASCAR an additional year to figure out what track would lose a points race to North Wilkesboro. Much work has already gone into next year's schedule at this point. Let's be honest, a short track should host the All-Star Race. The fans are close to the track and provide an energy and vibe that is harder for bigger tracks to replicate even with more people in the stands. The All-Star Race is about energy. Drivers are introduced to fans while a DJ plays music and flames shoot skyward. At North Wilkesboro, drivers and their pit crews walk to the stands, high-fiving fans and throwing hats into the crowd. North Wilkesboro is legendary for its fan interaction, whether it was fans tossing chicken bones after they finished eating to cheering local hero Junior Johnson's drivers. 'Man, they show up, and it's just absolutely incredible,' All-Star Race winner Christopher Bell said of the North Wilkesboro crowd. 'We go out for driver intros and the place was packed. … We need more events like this, more races like this. I love that we revived this racetrack, and now with Rockingham getting revived and had an amazing Xfinity race. I think just continuing to go to different racetracks, that's the key for success. 'You can't just beat the same racetracks up over and over and go to them twice a year. I think continuing to diversify the schedule, get to where we're going to every venue one time a year, and I think you're going to see the crowds engage and have awesome electricity throughout the races. And yeah, it really is awesome to be a part of.' Imagine what it could be like for a points race.
NBC Sports
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Brad Keselowski: NASCAR should run a points race at North Wilkesboro, move All-Star Race
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Former Cup champion Brad Keselowski said Friday that North Wilkesboro Speedway should host a points race and that the All-Star Race should return to Charlotte Motor Speedway. Keselowski said such a move could mean the end of the Roval race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 'I'd like to see the All-Star Race most likely return to Charlotte,' he said after winning the pole for Sunday's All-Star Race. 'That's my only personal opinion. Nate Ryan, 'I think the Charlotte racetrack, particularly since it only has one race on the oval, I think that's a miss for our sport. 'It's a great racetrack, puts on some of the best racing. So, it would make sense to me if we were to revert back to that, make this (North Wilkesboro) a (points) race and probably get rid of a race like the Roval or something like that.' Dustin Long, When asked why get rid of the Roval, noting the event has had some memorable moments, Keselowski said: 'Has it? Really? I look at the stands and there's more (fans) that come to the oval race. Better ratings, too. I thought's that what we judge the sport by.' Charlotte Motor Speedway had two points races and the All-Star Race in 32 of 33 years from 1985-2017. The Roval debuted in 2018 to offset shrinking attendance in Charlotte's playoff oval race. The Roval will host a playoff race for an eighth consecutive year. It has been a cutoff race each year. The Roval will end the second round again this year. The All-Star Race left Charlotte after the 2019 season. It was held at Bristol in 2020 and Texas in 2021-22 before moving to North Wilkesboro in 2023, highlighting the track's revival. Kyle Larson won the event on 2023. Joey Logano led all but one of the 200 laps in winning last year's All-Star Race. North Wilkesboro last hosted a Cup points race in 1996.
New York Times
19-02-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
Chase Briscoe on his Daytona pole, a bad queso/racing mix and more: 12 Questions
Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Chase Briscoe, who last week won the pole position for the Daytona 500 and finished fourth in his first points race for Joe Gibbs Racing. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast. 1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid and what do you remember about that moment? (It) was at Bloomington Speedway, our home track (in Indiana). It was always the Fourth of July race. They would have all the drivers come to the frontstretch. I remember getting Dave Darland's autograph, my dad (Kevin Briscoe), Dickie Gaines, Derek Scheffel, Kevin Thomas — all these guys who were the local guys to beat at Bloomington. I had a Bloomington Speedway shirt, and I had the whole field running for the championship that year sign the back of it. I was probably 5 or 6. I vividly remember standing in line at each driver's little area to get their autograph. They all knew who I was because I was always running around the track. Advertisement I also remember having all these hero cards up on my wall. My dad used to be a tire guy in NASCAR when I was 3, 4 and 5. He would go to the racetrack and get me hero cards, having guys sign them. I had a Jeff Gordon one because Jeff and my dad grew up racing together. I had a Tony Stewart one, a Jack Hewitt one — all these people with connections to Indiana or my family's racing. I had them all over my wall, right where I slept. But the Bloomington Speedway one is the first one I remember getting myself. 2. This is the question you suggested for the 12 Questions this year: What is the most miserable you've ever been inside a race car? Two stand out, both from 2018. The first was the 2018 Chicagoland weekend. It was like 115 degrees outside, and inside the car, it was around 145 degrees. I ran the Xfinity race — the hottest I've ever been inside a race car. I was supposed to run the winged and non-winged sprint car race across the street at the dirt track afterward. I got out of the Xfinity car, went and got IVs and still felt like crap. I didn't even race the sprint car because I felt that bad. The second was the 2018 Roval race — which I won. Right before the race, I was at the Ford trailer meeting with the executives. They had a buffet set up with chicken tenders, chips, salsa, queso — all this stuff. I had like nine chicken tenders dipped in queso. I don't know what I was doing. I was just starving. It was a great idea — I wasn't hungry anymore — until about 20 laps to go in the Roval, and then I was struggling. My stomach was so sick. I thought I was going to throw up. Obviously, I ended up winning, so I kind of forgot about how sick I felt, but those last 20 laps were a struggle. 3. Outside of racing, what is your most recent memory of something you got way too competitive about? The only thing competitive I do is racing. I would love to golf more, but I'm not very good. I'd enjoy getting better at it, but with three kids now, it's super hard to find time. I could see myself getting competitive about golf if I had more time. Advertisement I enjoy fishing, so I'm always trying to catch a bigger fish, but that's not really competing against someone. I recently got back into video games with some buddies from back home. They play Call of Duty, Fortnite, all that. I'll get on like twice a month. I'm not very good anymore, which is frustrating because I used to be decent. It's fun, but it's not fun because I'm so bad at it. 4. What do people get wrong about you? I would say people sometimes think I'm not super competitive. It ties back to my attitude and demeanor. People think I don't take things seriously because I'm so nonchalant. It's not a huge issue, but people sometimes ask if I'm taking racing as seriously as I should. But that's just my personality. There are way worse things than running eighth on a Sunday. It's not the end of the world. I try to keep that perspective. But sometimes, people misread it as if I don't care about winning. I'm definitely competitive; I just show it differently than other guys, and that can cause some misconceptions. 5. What kind of Uber passenger are you, and how much do you care about your Uber rating? It depends on the day and the driver. Sometimes I'll talk their ear off. I always have a list of questions I ask every Uber driver: How long have you been doing this? What's the farthest you've ever had to drive someone? And what's the craziest thing you've ever seen? I'll ask all three every single time. Sometimes, I start talking right when I get in. Other times, I stay quiet until five minutes before the ride ends, and then I'll ask them. It depends on my mood. The last Uber I took, I put my bag in the back seat and the driver started yelling at me because I didn't put it in the trunk. So I didn't talk to him until about 30 seconds before the ride ended because I figured he didn't want to talk to me. My Uber rating (is) like a 4.92 or 4.94 — something like that. I don't know where I lost that 0.6 or 0.8, but somebody wasn't a fan. Advertisement I think some of it comes down to how fast you tip. I always tip them, but sometimes you're at the airport, right? You get out, go right to your boarding gate and then three weeks later, you open Uber and it's like, 'Do you want to tip so-and-so?' And I'm like, 'Oh, shoot, I never tipped that guy.' 6. I'm asking each driver a hot-topic question. I have to ask about the Daytona 500 pole. We know about your remarkable journey and how you have fought so hard to get here. How do you process winning the pole for the Daytona 500? Yeah, it's pretty wild. You try not to make it more than it is — it's just a pole — but leading the field to green at the Daytona 500 is crazy. I've watched this race since I was a kid. Even this week, with the President coming, it reminds you how big a deal this is. In victory lane, there were more photographers for that than when I won the Southern 500. After I took the checkered, James (Small, his crew chief) told me I got the pole, and as I rolled around on the apron, I looked at the scoreboard and just said out loud to myself, 'I'm on the pole for the Daytona 500? Are you kidding me?' I don't even feel like I should be racing the Daytona 500. I defied the odds. It's something I never really pictured myself doing. 7. The wild-card question from this year is going back to a question from my first 15 years of doing the 12 Questions interviews. I want to revisit something from 2017. Back then, I asked you: 'What is your middle finger policy on the racetrack?' You told me you'd never flipped anyone off on the track. Now that you're in Cup, has that changed? I've still never given one. I've gotten a lot more, but I've still never given one out. I just feel like it's such a disrespectful thing. It makes me mad when I get one because I'm like, 'Why are you mad we're racing hard? That is the whole point of why we're out here.' It blows my mind people get that mad to flip somebody off. My dad definitely instilled that to me at a young age not to do that. It goes back to the earlier question about how I am after a loss. He was like, 'Somebody is always watching.' Even if a camera is not on you, don't be a sore loser. If you want to get back home and be mad, then be mad. You never know who could be watching — a car owner, a sponsor. 8. Outside of your teammates, who would you be most excited to congratulate in victory lane if they won a race? Probably Noah (Gragson). We were teammates last year, and I got to know him better. I had raced against him a lot but never really knew him. Plus, over half of my sponsors are on his car this year. Rusty Rush (from Rush Truck Centers) is a great example. We're great friends, and Rusty has sponsored cars since 2013 and has never won a Cup race. So if they won a Cup race, I would honestly be super pumped for Rusty more than anything. The amount of money he's spent in this sport and has never got to experience victory lane. 9. How much do you use AI technology in your life or for your job? I use it every now and then. Madden has a feature where you can create your own team, so I tried using AI to design one called the Indianapolis Racers, but it didn't work. The last thing I did on AI was generate an image of what Dale Earnhardt would look like today, and I got a pretty sweet picture out of it. Advertisement 10. What's a time in your life that was really challenging but made you proud of how you handled it? The miscarriage (in May 2020) with Marissa stands out. We talked a lot about whether to go public with it, and how it turned out, it wouldn't have turned into as big of a deal publicly if I didn't win Darlington a day later. I'm proud we came out with it publicly, because still to this day, almost every single weekend, people come up to me and say, 'Hey, my wife and I went through that. You don't know how much that moment meant to us.' Or, 'We had one recently and we've rallied around that.' … Without sharing it, I think my demeanor at the racetrack would have been different. Everything would have been different. But the community rallied around us, and people I didn't even know cared about me reached out. That's something I'm truly grateful for. 11. What needs to happen in this sport to take NASCAR to the next level of popularity? We've talked about F1 and how people go there and it's literally for an Instagram post. It's bougie, right? We need to have that atmosphere to a certain extent, but you also can't price out our fans who are loyal. You want it to be affordable where people can come, and F1 is not affordable; it's outrageously expensive. But from a racing product, our racing is the best in the world. We have incredible races. Look at the Atlanta race last year. Our racing product is night and day better than what they have. But they make it feel like an event, and their drivers are superstars. Making the drivers superstars here would make it a bigger deal. I remember growing up and people all over America could name middle-pack Cup guys. Jeff Gordon was on 'Saturday Night Live.' There's nobody in the Cup field right now getting invited to go on 'Saturday Night Live.' We're just not that big of a deal. Where F1 guys I could see going on 'Saturday Night Live' because they're considered superstars. 12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. The last one was with Joey Logano, and his question is: What did SHR do better than JGR does? The one that sticks out for me is the parking situation at the shop. At SHR, the parking was like 10 feet from the door no matter where you parked. At JGR, the parking is not as ideal. My other answer is the shop layout. I still don't know my way around JGR at all. It is the biggest maze of mazes I've ever seen. A lot of it is it started as one shop, and it just keeps expanding. They just keep adding on. SHR was just this one building and everything funneled to one spot, so it was super easy to navigate. And I'm sure if I was at JGR for seven years, I would feel like it's pretty easy. But being the new guy, the shop layout and parking at SHR was definitely better to me. The next interview will be with Connor Zilisch, who is making his Cup Series debut next week at COTA. Do you have a question I can ask him? One, does he realize how similar our autographs look? Some fan tweeted at me last year, and they said they couldn't tell, and I looked at it and was like, 'Holy smokes, it is kind of close.' Advertisement Second, does he feel like he's going to wear out the Cup field at COTA? I could honestly see it happening. And what's it like to be 18 and already considered one of the greatest drivers? I was watching the Rolex, and they talked about him more than anyone else. What's that like for an 18-year-old? I couldn't imagine. GO DEEPER Daytona 500 takeaways: Superspeedway woes, NFL encroaches and Pitbull is out (Top photo of Chase Briscoe before Sunday's Daytona 500: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
