Eric McClure, whose family has three Daytona 500 victories plus two more in the 400-miler in July, will attempt to add another this month. McClure, a veteran Nationwide Series driver with three Sprint Cup starts, is set to drive the No. 35 Ford for Front Row Motorsports, where he will be teamed with David Ragan and David Gilliland, who finished 1-2 in last year’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. McClure, whose best Nationwide finish of eighth came at Daytona last year, brings along sponsorship from Hefty/Reynolds Wrap. “It’s very exciting for me personally,” he said. “For our family, there is nothing bigger than Daytona and Talladega, but as far as we’re concerned, growing up, the Daytona 500 is the biggest race in the world.” McClure acknowledges that he’s not been as successful as he would have liked over the years, and he said running the Daytona 500 will make up for some of that. “As a competitor, we’ve found a home in the Nationwide Series and plugged along and improved and been fairly competitive there, but as we looked at all of our options, both from the driving standpoint and from the sponsorship side, we’ve tried to introduce new and exciting opportunities for our sponsorship partners that have been with us for a long time,” he said. “As we evaluated those, and I eval-uate my career and phase out of the driving aspect, there are certain things I’ve wanted to accomplish, certain things I’ve dreamed about since I was a little boy, and the Daytona 500 is the biggest thing that there is. “It’s something I’ve never done and would love to have the opportu-nity to compete in that event. It’s just been a perfect storm of things for us.” He said Front Row Motorsports, owned by Bob Jenkins, reminds him of his family’s old team, Morgan McClure Motorsports, which won at Daytona three times with Sterling Marlin, including back-to-back Daytona 500s, and twice with Ernie Irvan. “As I’ve watched his team grow it reminds me a lot of my dad’s team and his brothers,” McClure said. “They built something really great out of nothing, and to watch Bob where he started to where

he’s at now, you look at the quality of people he has, the drivers he has, the sponsorship partners that are starting to join with him — they’re respected brands — and for us to bring Hefty and Reynolds Wrap over there and just join what they’re building is really exciting from both aspects.” And McClure indicated that a good Daytona finish might be a fit-ting way to end his driving career, which in recent seasons has seen him battle several health issues, including injuries from a crash at Talladega in 2012, a bout with the Epstein-Barr virus and kidney problems. “As a driver, I’m at the point now I can sit back and I’m trying to take all of this in — the anticipation of getting down there and really having a lot of fun,” he said. “I want to finish my career with enjoyment and if we can go down there and qualify for the race, that would be a really big accomplishment for us.”

Wood Brothers to run 12-race schedule in 2014 Trevor Bayne and the Wood Brothers are set to run a 12-race schedule in 2014 with their iconic No. 21 Ford, but if the Woods had their way, they’d be running a lot more. “We would really love to be back full time,” team co-owner Eddie Wood said. “With so much emphasis on the championship and the Chase and the changes that are coming with the points and all that stuff, we work towards getting back to full time all the time.” Wood said his son Jon and daughter Jordan spend lots of time trying to find new sponsors to add to what the team receives from longtime backer Ford Motor Co. and its Motorcraft/Quick Lane brand. And he said his team would be open to bringing in drivers other than Bayne for extra races, if that driver could bring along the sponsor-ship needed to run additional races. Wood emphasized that the Ford people have gone above and beyond to help keep his family’s team afloat. “They’ve kept us in business and actually kept us going when things got tough for us,” he said. “So they’ve done their part. It’s kind of up to us to find extra funding and find someone to partner up with Motorcraft/Quick Lane to finish it off — at least to get more races and then work towards finishing to where we can run all of them.”

Grant Lynch receives Joe Littlejohn Award Talladega Superspeedway chairman Grant Lynch received the Joe Littlejohn Award during last week’s annual conven-tion of the National Motorsports Press Association. The award is for outstanding service to the NMPA. “Helping the media is something I’ve loved doing since the beginning of my career,” said Lynch, who came to Talladega after 11 years with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., where he managed the company’s involvement in NASCAR’s Winston Cup, now the Sprint Cup Series. Joe Littlejohn was a pioneering race driver and promoter. He worked with NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. to locate the track at Talladega and organized the NMPA. He died in 1989 at age 81.

Rev Racing announces NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Class of 2014 Last year, NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity saw two of its graduates, Kyle Larson and Darrell Wallace Jr., score major victories in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series. Now a new class has been selected from a group of 100 hopeful drivers from 14 states and Mexico who tried out for a slot with Rev Racing, which handles NASCAR’s D4D program. This year, Rev Racing will field cars in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series for Daniel Suarez, Ryan Gifford, Jay Beasley and Sergio Pena. Suarez, from Monterrey, Mexico, finished third in the K&N Pro Series East points standings last year and was runner-up in the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series. He won a K&N race last year at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway. Gifford, from Winchester, Tenn., also returns to the K&N Series, where he won at Richmond International Raceway. He also made his Nationwide Series debut last August at Iowa Speedway, where he finish-ing ninth in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Beasley, from Las Vegas, won the Whelen All-American Series Super Late Model track championship at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And Pena returns to the K&N Series, where he has three previ-ous victories. Competing in the Whelen All-American Series, which races mostly at the historic Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina, are Paige Decker, a 20-year-old Late Model driver from Eagle River, Wis., and Devon Amos, a 22-year-old Legends driver from Rio Rancho, N.M.

In a move that many people, including Atlanta Motor Speedway president Ed Clark, described as “one of the boldest ever for NASCAR,” series offi-cials have dramatically altered the format for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The Chase field has been expanded from 12 drivers — actually 13 in 2013 — to 16, and four drivers will be eliminated after every three races until there are just four left to run for the championship in the sea-son finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The new format is being billed by NASCAR as one that places a heightened importance on winning races, but an overlay of the rules on the 2013 season would have led to a champion-ship by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who did not win a race last year. That’s because Earnhardt would have advanced to the final round based on the points he accumulated during the regular season and in the Chase. And he was the highest-finishing driver in the finale. On the other hand, the 2013 season’s leader in race wins — Matt Kenseth, with seven — would not have made the finale due to a poor finish at Phoenix International Raceway in Chase race No. 9. In addition to the elimination format for the Chase, the new rules essentially guarantee Chase spots to drivers who win a race in the first 26 events of the season. That’s a big plus for promoters like Atlanta’s Ed Clark, whose track hosts the next-to-last race before the Chase field is set. “With our event being two races before the Chase begins, Labor Day weekend becomes a critical pressure point for drivers who have not won in 2014,” Clark said. “As it should be, Sprint Cup Series competition will be all about winning. The days of being content with a good points day are gone.” And winning a race in the Chase assures that a driver will advance to the next round. Then, in the finale at Homestead, there will be no bonus points available, so the

highest-finishing driver is the champion. It has been argued for years that no matter what the rules or incentives are, drivers and teams still try as hard as they can to win races. But, as Kyle Busch pointed out, the new Chase rules likely will lead to some gambling on pit strategy as teams try to leapfrog their way to the front of the pack and win a race that would put them in the Chase. “Let’s say you’re on your second-from-the-last run of the race — do you stay out and not pit or do you short-pit, do you grab tires now and wait for everybody else to pit and kind of jump over them?” Busch said. “There are so many different things that you weigh every single minute of the race … “There’s going to be a lot more risk-takers with this strat-egy than maybe what there had been in the past, but you’re also going to have to weigh that risk and know what conse-quences it has for you, too.” The new rules also contain provisions that would allow a driver to sit out a race or two for medical reasons and still make the Chase. To qualify, a driver must be in the top 30 in points and have attempted to qualify for all of the first 26 races. But the qualifying provision can be waived as long as the driver remains in the top 30.

NASCAR CEO and Chairman Brian France announces the new Chase grid format for the 2014 Sprint Cup championship.

NASCAR announces major rules changes for Chase; new ‘grid’ format to put emphasis on race wins

Nationwide driver Eric McClure hopes to end career with strong finish in Daytona 500

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The NASCAR Hall of Fame officially expanded its list of inductees to 25 last week with a ceremony in which Maurice Petty, Jack Ingram, Dale Jarrett, the late Tim Flock and the late Fireball Roberts were inducted. The late Chris Economaki, the unofficial dean of American motorsports, received the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence. Economaki, who died in 2012 at the age of 91, was the publisher of National Speed Sport News for more than 60 years, and his notes column was a must-read for anyone involved in motorsports. He also was a TV broadcaster for much of his career.

Five racing legends named to 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame

Eric McClure crashed in the Nationwide Series race at Darlington in 2013.

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owner Rick Hendrick.

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Hendrick’s current driv-ers: Jeff Gordon, 88; Jimmie Johnson, 66; Dale Earnhardt Jr., 19; and Kasey Kahne, 16.

Career Sprint Cup victories for

Stewart-Haas Racing: 15 by Tony Stewart and four by Ryan Newman.

Career Sprint Cup victories for Stewart-Haas’ current driv-

ers: Tony Stewart, 48; Kurt Busch, 24; Kevin Harvick, 23; and Danica Patrick, 0.

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Ryan Blaney, who has emerged as one of the rising stars of NASCAR, will run 15 Nationwide Series races and at least two Sprint Cup races this season for Team Penske in addition to a full Camping World Truck Series schedule. Blaney, 20, is the son of veteran driver Dave Blaney and already has three major NASCAR victories — two in the Camping World Truck Series and one in the Nationwide Series. Team Penske announced last week that Blaney would run the team’s No. 12 Ford in the Sprint Cup Series at Kansas Speedway in May and at Talladega Superspeedway in October. His first Nationwide race of 2014 will be at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 15. “I’m really looking forward to racing more in the Nationwide Series and it will be a dream come true for me to race in the Sprint Cup Series,” Blaney said. “I want to thank Roger Penske, our team sponsors and everyone at Team Penske for this opportunity and for believing in me.” Blaney will continue in the Truck Series in a Ford owned by Brad Keselowski. “We believe Ryan is one of the most promising young drivers in NASCAR, and we want to continue his growth and development with Team Penske,” team owner Roger Penske said in a team release. “Ryan’s win at Kentucky in the No. 22 car last year showed what he is capable of, and we hope to experience many more moments in Victory Lane with him in the coming seasons.”

Truck Series Rookie of the Year Ryan Blaney to run partial Nationwide and Cup schedules in 2014

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