NASCAR Features – Page 3 – Inside Circle Track

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Kasey Kahne plans to race more on dirt following NASCAR retirement

Kasey Kahne announced earlier this week that the 2018 campaign would be his final season as a full-time driver on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The Enumclaw, Washington native who has taken 18 checkered flags at NASCAR’s highest level cited a desire to spend more time with his family and to seek other business opportunities as reasons for his departure. After leaving industry powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the 2017 season, Kahne has spent this year piloting Leavine Family Racing Chevrolets with limited success. One top-5 finish in the July event at Daytona International Speedway along with…

Do Ford teams have reason to worry about the switch to Mustang?

This past week the performance arm of the Ford Motor Company unveiled the Mustang that will be used in competition by its teams on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2019. The announcement, made at Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, was well timed with the series heading to the heart of American auto industry for the Consumer Energy 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. Former MENCS champion and current co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing(a Ford team) Tony Stewart drove the new Mustang onto the stage where it was greeted by a host of Ford drivers, owners and other dignitaries. Needless…

Jeremy Clements looking forward to Xfinity Series hitting road courses

Last year Jeremy Clements shocked the NASCAR world, or better yet the entire racing world, when he pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory by winning the Johnsonville 180 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. It was the first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win for the driver whose family-run team operates out of a shop in Spartanburg, SC. The victory not only provided those who enjoy rooting for the Davids of the world in their perpetual battles with the Goliaths a reason to cheer but it also allowed the 33-year-old racer to achieve one of his…

Blake Jones looking to achieve big goals following first NASCAR Cup start

Sometimes it takes a lifetime to realize a dream. And sometimes those dreams are never realized at all. This past Sunday at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway racer Blake Jones realized one of his lifelong dreams. Even while growing up as a small child in Sevierville, Tennessee Jones wanted to be a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver and when the command to start engines was given after a persistent New England rain shower delayed the start of the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, the 21-year-old racer had accomplished that goal as he fired the No. 23 BK Racing Toyota to…

Brett Moffitt looking forward to first Eldora CWTS start

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will make its sixth appearance at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway on Wednesday night but it will be the first visit to the half-mile dirt facility for one of the series top drivers. Brett Moffitt has won three CWTS races so far in 2018 and currently resides in the third position of the series standings. However, he will be touring the famed clay surface in Rossburg, Ohio for the first time in his racing career when he pulls his No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota onto the banking later this week. But the 25-year-old driver…

Michael McDowell using faith in Christ to stay on NASCAR track

In the high speed, high pressure world of auto racing there are always going to be ups and downs. No matter who the driver or what team that racer competes for, there are going to be moments of joy and moments of disappointment. For Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series campaigner Michael McDowell, those highs and lows are made easier to deal with by his deep faith in God’s plan for his life. The Glendale, AZ native decided to make racing his profession at an early age. Then as a young adult he made the decision to follow Christ when he…

Jeremy Clements Racing working harder and working smarter

It has been said that working hard is not necessarily to key to success. Instead, some argue that working smart is actually the way to go when one wants to come out on top. Jeremy Clements Racing is actually trying to work both harder and smarter within the cozy confines of their Spartanburg, SC shop in order to keep pace with the powerful opponents they go up against on a regular basis. In 2017 driver Jeremy Clements pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent NASCAR history when he and his single-car team that has no affiliation with any…

Chad Finchum looking forward to Bristol Xfinity Series start

*This is the second of a two-part series of stories based on an interview with racer Chad Finchum. The first of these pieces was posted on August 2, 2017. Here is that story–> Chad Finchum working hard to climb the NASCAR ladder Racer Chad Finchum has already made three starts on the NASCAR Xfinity Series during the 2017 season. Although racing at places such as Dover International Speedway, Kentucky Speedway and the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been great, the Knoxville, Tenn. driver is perhaps most excited about his next start coming this Friday night in the Food City 300…

Chad Finchum working hard to climb the NASCAR ladder

Chad Finchum is an accomplished racer who can count his victories by the hundreds. Those wins have come in go-karts, Legends cars, asphalt Late Models, and the NASCAR sanctioned K&N Pro Series. And now, the Knoxville, Tenn. native is working hard to realize his dream of racing at the highest level of the sport in NASCAR’s top divisions. Finchum has started three NASCAR Xfinity Series events in 2017 for veteran car owner Carl Long. The most recent of those starts came at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway where the 22-year-old driver successfully completed the race and gained significant experience on…

Jeremy Clements: From Dirt to Daytona

This is the second of two pieces based on an interview done with NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Jeremy Clements. This driver, himself a former dirt racer, comes from one of the most noteworthy engine building families in the sport of Dirt Late Model racing. Jeremy Clements taking on powerful Cup teams with solo Xfinity effort The Clements family of Spartanburg, SC is one of the most noted clans in all of dirt racing. Their engines are used with great success in Dirt Late Model race cars all over the country. So it would seem logical that a young man growing…