CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The 34th annual Charlotte Motor Speedway Media concluded on Thursday, drawing to a close the three-day media event featuring the top teams and drivers in NASCAR as they gear up for the upcoming 2016 season-opener at Daytona just one month away.
Day Three of the tour was Chevy Thursday, with Chip Ganassi Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Hendrick Motorsports representing the 39-time NASCAR Manufacturer’s champion at in the final day of media events at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte, NC.
First up for the morning session were Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson from Chip Ganassi Racing, who were both looking forward to trying to improve on their performance from 2015.
Although neither driver scored a victory in 2015, McMurray did make the Chase, but was eliminated after the first round. Larson finished the year 19th in points – two positions below his rookie performance in 2014.
Larson cited a lack of horsepower as one of the reasons for his poor performance in 2015, but hopes the new rules package will play more to his strengths in the coming season.
“What were my biggest issues was last year was the rules changes didn’t really work out for our team,” said Larson. “In 2014 I thought the rules package really suited our team well, we were always really fast on the mile-and-a-half’s, then NASCAR cut the horsepower down a lot which definitely doesn’t suit my driving style, and I think we got to the smaller racetrack and that’s where I struggled the most .
“This year I think with the lower downforce, it’ll suit my driving style a little bit better, I wish we had more horsepower, but we don’t, so we gotta get the hang of it.”
McMurray, too, has high hopes for the new aero package. As one of the 10 drivers who participated in a “drivers counsel” in discussions with NASCAR about the new rules packages, McMurray says he actually believes taking away even more downforce would improve the racing on the track.
“From my perspective, when you look at the amount of green flag passes the way the racing was, it was definitely better at the lower downforce tracks,” said McMurray. “The goal in my mind what the drivers would like to see is to stay with the lower downforce we have but continue to take even more off, the challenges you’re faced with is that it’s not just about cutting spoiler off to taking more splitter away, they’re going to have to find other way to get rid of the downforce, but I think was a group, the drivers, we all feel like if we can get rid of more downforce next year it would be better yet.”
Following the Ganassi event was Richard Childress Racing, bringing back their returning Sprint Cup driver lineup of Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Austin Dillon.
For the second straight season, Newman made the Chase in 2015 without recording a victory, making the field on points. But unlike the previous year where he advanced all the way to the championship round, Newman was out after round two.
Teammate Paul Menard also made the Chase, but didn’t fare as well, losing out after the first round.
For Newman, the solution to their lack of success in the Chase is simple: win more races and build some momentum.
“We’ve got to win. That’s the biggest thing,” said Newman. “You have to win for the Chase, but you got to win for momentum on your team, your organization and everyone involved. We saw it last year….with the 78 car how big that momentum really is when you do get that victory. After finishing second two years ago, we really expected it to happen last year and it didn’t. We were close several times, but we didn’t lead enough laps to put ourselves in position to win, and that’s what we need to work on is just putting ourselves in a better position to win.”
Following Furniture Row Racing’s departure to Toyota, RCR has entered into a technical alliance with Circle Sport Racing and Leavine Family Racing.
As part of the agreement, LFR will switch manufactures from Ford to Chevrolet and will receive engines from ECR engines as well an engineering support. The relationship with Circle Sport and LFR will also allow Ty Dillon to pilot entries for both teams in 2016.
RCR team owner Richard Childress says maintaining these technical alliances benefits all three organizations in competing with other manufactures like Toyota and Ford, who share information among all of their factory supported teams.
“It’s really important for us to be able to keep alliances that we’ve built over the years. The Levine family have been a great family to work with. We’re a family organization, theirs is a family organization. Bob (Leavine) wants to go out and run really well, he wants to build his team and that’s one of my personal goals is to help him build that race team.
“A technical alliance for RCR is huge, because that gives us an opportunity to bring in so many more of our engineering a lot more technical equipment, parts, pieces and people so that’s a big deal. It just helps us become a strong organization.”
“The manufacturer and alliance switch provides our team with the best opportunity to improve on-track performance and to create long-term sustainability,” said Leavine. “This was the right time for us to make this change. We have been turning over every stone looking for the right plan for our team and our people in 2016, and we’ve finally found a great fit that’s going to help us continue to grow both on the track and as an organization.”
Up next was Stewart-Haas Racing and team co-owner Tony Stewart, who will be marking his final year running in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2016.
The 2015 season was a contrast of highs and lows for the Stewart-Haas team. Stewart went winless for the second straight season and missed the Chase, ending the year 28th in points – just one position better than his finished din 2013, where he only ran 21 races. Danica Patrick also went winless, and wound up 24th in points.
Kurt Busch missed the first three races of the season after NASCAR suspended him amid allegations of domestic abuse, but rallied to make the Chase with two victories during the regular season.
On the bright side, 2014 Sprint Cup Champion Kevin Harvick had a banner year in 2015, but unfortunately came up just one position shy of a second consecutive championship, losing out to Kyle Busch.
Harvick’s numbers in 2015 were impressive: three wins, 23 top-fives, 28 top-10’s, ranking him right alongside Joey Logano. Although second place in the title hint wasn’t want he and his team wanted, he’s happy to be in the hunt at all.
“You always want to win, but it wasn’t frustrating,” said Harvick. “I’m a realist, and understand that this is hard to do – just to be in that position to be in that final four for two years in a row. We overcame a lot but in the end we didn’t run like we needed to at Homestead to win that race and ultimately win the championship.
“Over the last two years, I don’t complain about anything, just because we’ve run so well and I’ve been on the other side of that where you haven’t run as well. And about the time you start complaining about running second you’ll figure out that you can run 20th pretty easy.”
After a 17-year career that includes 48 wins and three championships, Stewart will step away from Sprint Cup racing at the end of the season, but he’s not hanging up his driver’s helmet just yet.
“I’m just ready to do different things,” said Stewart. “It’s just the right time. I think more than anything, the true change in all this and what sparked it is just that I want to have some time to do other things that I haven’t had the time to do, like go to an F1 race. That’s why I’m doing this – I got things on my bucket list that I want to cross off.
“I still love what I do, I still love the sport. That’s why I’m excited to be an owner in this series. I’m going to get to do everything I’m doing, I’m just not driving the car.”
For his 2016 campaign, Stewart will have new crew chief Michael Bugarewicz calling the shots for the No. 14 Chevy, while former Michael Waltrip Racing crew chief Billy Scott will take over atop the pit box for Patrick’s team.
There will also be some new colors on several of the Stewart-Haas Chevrolet’s in 2016, with Busch Beer taking over as primary sponsor of Harvick’s No. 4, while Nature’s Bakery will sponsor Patrick’s No. 10 car for 28 races. Monster energy signed on as primary sponsor for 18 races in 2016 in a new multi-year agreement with Busch, who signed a contract extension with SHR back in October.
Drawing the curtain on the final day of the media tour was Hendrick Motorsports, who welcomed new driver Chase Elliott into the fold alongside returning veterans Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Kasey Kahne.
For the first time since in 23 years, the field for the Daytona 500 will take the green flag without Jeff Gordon strapped into the No. 24 Chevrolet. Instead, it will be Elliott behind the wheel as he wades into the Rookie of the Year battle looking to build on the legacy left to him by Gordon as well as Elliott’s father – 1988 NASCAR Cup Champion Bill Elliott.
“I think it’s a great honor to drive the no. 24 car, obviously Jeff has made it to be what it is, but I’m excited to have an opportunity to drive it and do the best job that I can do in it, and that’s all you can ask for. I just plan on being myself and hope for the best.”
Team owner Rick Hendrick, who has been instrumental in guiding Elliott’s success through the lower NASCAR series, believes Elliott could succeed just as quickly as Gordon did.
“I’m excited about watching Chase race. He’s very mature for his age, got a lot of talent,” said Hendrick.
“Anybody going into the 24 car, that’s going to bring pressure anyway. I’m seen Chase handle pressure so well, not make any mistakes, I don’t think he gets rattled. There’s no pressure other than what he puts on himself. Chase is a little bit different driver, I think he’s more like his dad than probably Jimmie or Jeff.
“I really think he could win a race this year, that’s how confident I am. I would never put him in the car if I didn’t think he could do it.”
