Show notes:

Random discussion:

• Harvick says NASCAR should have a wildcard race

• Chase Elliott to drive the 9 next season in Cup
  • Byron will take over the 24
  • 5 goes bye bye
  • Do we care? Is this a big deal?

• Truck Series/Xfinity Series.
  • Is there a problem?
  • How do you fix it?

Silly Season Discussion

• Furniture Row Racing says “really good drivers” are interested in the #77 ride. http://www.nascar.com/news-media/2017/08/23/furniture-row-racing-77-car-silly-season/
• Changes coming at RPM: https://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-richard-petty-motorsports-2018-945503/
  • Moving from current shop
  • Maybe switching to Chevy?
  • Bubba Wallace’s name has been thrown around.
• GMS will not go Cup racing in 2018 – Pockrass
• 95 Team looking at a new driver for 2018, Kahne Rumored – Adam Stern

Preview the Bojangles Southern 500 from Darlington S.C.

• We have a post on the site of all of the paint schemes NASCAR has released so far. Go check them out and let us know which ones are your favorites.
• What is our favorite scheme so far this year?
  • James: #43
  • Eric: #5
• What are our expectations for the race?
• Has NASCAR got a winner in the throwback weekend?
• How will the stages affect Darlington?
• Weather could be an issue?
• Picks:
  • James: Erik Jones
  • Eric: Martin Truex Jr.

Don’t forget the truck series

• The trucks run at Canadian Motorsports Park
• Some excellent finishes there over the years
  • Chase Elliott with the dump and run to win his first truck race.
  • John Hunter Nemecheck runs Cole Custer off the road and out of the playoffs for the win
  • How important is this race being that it’s in Canada?
    • Do we miss Montreal?
    • Should the Cup Series have a race in Canada or Mexico?

Shout outs

• James:
• Eric:

Close show

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chase Elliott is changing numbers next season.

Hendrick Motorsports announced today that the number 9 will move to Hendrick Motorsports next Season with Chase Elliott at the wheel.

“I wasn’t sure I’d ever drive the 9 again,” Elliott said in a news release from Hendrick. “It’s a huge deal to my family and everyone back home, and I hope all of our fans will be pumped to see it back on the racetrack. There’s a legacy attached to that number, and I want to carry it on. I think it’s awesome that Hendrick Motorsports and NAPA wanted to do this. It’s impossible not to be excited.”

The no. 5 will no longer be on a car at Hendrick next season, as the 9 will replace it. William Byron, who joins Hendrick Motorsports next season in place of Kasey Kahne, will drive the 24, formerly driven by Jeff Gordon.

“Jeff and Jimmie (Johnson) are the drivers I’ve always watched most closely and tried to learn from,” Byron said. “I didn’t think I could be more motivated, but when Mr. Hendrick called to tell me, it took things to another level. I have so much respect for all the people who have contributed to the success of the 24. I know it’s rare to have the chance to be part of something like this. I’m going to make the most of it.”

Jimmie Johnson will continue to drive the 48 car, and Alex Bowman will take over the 88 currently driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will retire at the end of the season.

The 9 was most recently piloted by Marcos Ambrose for Richard Petty Motorsports.

Elliott took to Twitter Tuesday to say how excited he was about the number change next year.

#Comin9Home pic.twitter.com/vWFGyE8Eq3

— Chase Elliott (@chaseelliott) August 29, 2017

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

DARLINGTON, S.C. — After a week off, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers return to the track this weekend for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Sunday.

Since the Southern 500 returned to Labor Day weekend, a new tradition has been born — NASCAR Throwback Weekend. It has become one of the most anticipated events of the year, as the sport honors its past and the drivers run paint schemes from throughout the history of NASCAR.

This weekend will be no different, and while the tradition began with the Cup Series, many teams in the NASCAR Xfinity Series have jumped on the bandwagon and are running throwback schemes this weekend as well.

Below are the ones we’ve seen so far — we are sure there will be some surprises as the weekend arrives. Enjoy a trip down memory lane, as we look forward to seeing these cars on the track this weekend.

All photos courtesy of NASCAR Media.

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BRISTOL, Tenn. — Get out the brooms, Rowdy did it again.

For the second time in history, a NASCAR driver has swept all three races in a weekend at a track, and for the second time that driver was Kyle Busch.

Busch won the Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday night, the NASCAR Xfinity race Saturday and finished it off with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Cup win was Busch’s 40th career victory in NASCAR’s premier series. It was also Busch’s sixth win at the half mile track.

“That one was a lot harder,” Busch said after climbing from the car on the frontstretch to cheers and boos. “That was all I had. I was running with my tongue hanging out, arms are jello, my throat hurts.”

Busch led 156 of the 500 laps Saturday night. Erik Jones led the most laps with 260, coming home second after chasing Busch late in the race. Denny Hamlin finished third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.

Busch said Jones was strong racing him, but raced him clean.

“Erik Jones put up a whale of a fight,” Busch said. “I just can’t say enough about that young man. He’s a great kid, and I have a lot of respect for him. He raced me awesome out there like a great teammate and gave me the room when necessary, and raced me hard when necessary.”

Busch said the key was keeping up with adjustments.

“Adam Stevens and these guys never quit working on it,” he said. “Every single pit stop, we kept working on it, kept adjusting on it.”

When asked about the boos he heard when getting out of his car, Busch shrugged it off.

“I don’t care,” he said. “Make the noise, who cares?”

He expounded on that in victory lane, saying the win was for his fans.

“This is for Rowdy Nation,” Busch said. “Rowdy Nation is what fuels us to get around and get along. All the noise is good noise, that’s how I feel about it.”

He had even more to say when questioned about it in the post-race press conference.

“It don’t matter what I do or what I say or how much I try to change, you don’t change perception,” Busch told media after the race.

He said he received some motivation from a “fan” earlier in the day.

“There was this guy that was at one of my hospitality appearances today and he was giving me the bird the whole time, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I know I’m number one. I’ve been number one the past two nights,'” Busch said. “So then he gave me two and I was like, ‘Whelp, you know what? All you’re doing is solidifying that I already know.’ So it’s pretty awesome to be able to go out there, and I’m sure they’re still booing and whining and crying all the way home tonight. So they’re driving home mad, so people be careful.”

Michigan winner Kyle Larson looked strong early, leading 70 laps on the night before coming home ninth.

Jones said following the race the car tightened up at the end, and the lack of a late-race caution made it to where the team couldn’t get back ahead of it.

“It’s fun to have a night where you’ve got a really fast racecar and you’re up front leading laps,” Jones said. “It’s also a burden at the same time, because you’re letting all those guys be behind you and get better and better and improve on their cars to gain up on you. It’s hard to get your car better when you’re out front. You don’t really know what you need.”

“We had gotten a bit snug on the last run, and unfortunately didn’t have another stop to work on it,” Jones continued. “So I think that’s kind of what put us behind the eight ball at the end of the day.”

Jones said he was disappointed coming up one spot short.

“You don’t want to sound like you’re whining or being a sore loser by saying it sucks to run second, but it’s a bummer,” Jones said. “It hurts. You know, you want to win every race you’re in. This was the first shot that I really had to come really close to it in the Cup Series. Bristol is a really good racetrack for myself. Thought we had a shot at it all night. Led a ton of laps.”

“That good of a car, that’s Kyle Busch,” Jones said. “He won all three races here this weekend. So I feel like I’m close to him here, just trying to find that last little bit.”

BROOKLYN, MI — Below is a collection of additional photos from the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — NASCAR is planning to live-stream in-car cameras on Twitter during the 10 Monster Energy Cup Series playoff races in 2017.

Starting at Chicago, the feeds can be accessed via NASCAR’s official Twitter feed @NASCAR or NASCAR.twitter.com, according to a release issued Thursday. There will also be a real-time curated timeline of tweets that capture the best of the NASCAR live conversatio, the release reads.

“Through the in-car camera live stream on Twitter, our fans will have another compelling vantage point of the NASCAR Playoffs, where the energy and intensity of stage racing will be elevated to a whole new level,” said Steve Phelps, executive vice president and chief global sales and marketing officer for NASCAR. “To provide this level of access on Twitter throughout the 10-week playoffs is a fantastic way to complement the viewing experience on NBC Sports and the NBC Sports app.”

The live stream will be accessible for free for all users in the U.S.

Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the #99 Maestro’s Classic Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series LTi Printing 200 at Michigan International Speedway on August 12, 2017 in Brooklyn, Michigan. Sean Gardner/Getty Images

BROOKLYN, MI — He still gets to keep the trophy, but Darrell Wallace Jr.’s victory at Michigan International Speedway in Saturday’s LTi Printing 200 has been deemed encumbered after his No. 99 truck failed post-race inspection.

Wallace received an L1 penalty because “vent holes at the bed top must be configured for air intake only” according to the penalty report issued by NASCAR Wednesday. As a result of the penalty, Crew Chief Shane Huffman has been fined $5,000 and suspended for one race and the team has lost 10 owner points.

The No. 98 team of Grant Enfinger also received a couple of penalties issued Wednesday, including an L1 penalty because post-race heights did not match NASCAR tolerances and a safety violation for weight affixed improperly. Crew Chief Jeff Hensley and Truck Chief Josh Hankish have been suspended from the next two truck series post events, and the team was assessed with a 10-point penalty in both the drivers’ and owners’ championships.

Kyle Larson celebrates in victory lane after winning the Pure Michigan 400. Eric Young — The SuperSpeedway

BROOKLYN, MI — Kyle Larson joined some elite company when he took the checkered flag in Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400, becoming only the third driver in history to win three in a row at Michigan International Speedway, joining David Pearson and Bill Elliott.

“That’s some awesome company for sure,” Larson said. “We kind of struggled all day. I felt like I was good when I could find clean air on my car. But any time I would get any dirty air or wake from the car in front of me I’d get extremely loose.”

Kyle Larson crosses the line to win the Pure Michigan 400. Eric Young — The SuperSpeedway

Larson took the lead on an overtime restart, starting on the outside second row and diving to the middle, taking the field four-wide to get the win. Martin Truex Jr. was the lead car on the restart, leading 57 laps of the day and dominating much of the tail end of the race, though differing pit strategies allowed Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch to lead laps late.

Brad Keselowski was the guy at the start of the race, leading 105 laps on the day.

Larson’s win was the fourth of his career out of 134 starts in the premier series. It is also his third victory in 2017, with his other wins coming in June at MIS and at Auto Club Speedway, MIS’ sister track. He led just two laps — the last two.

“It played out exactly how I’d hoped,” Larson said. “The win, it feels amazing to steal one in a way. In my other wins I had the first or second best car. Today I think we were a top-10 car.”

Larson returned to Michigan early Sunday morning after racing in the Knoxville Nationals sprint car race the night before where he finished second. He said he feels like racing in other series has helped him be successful this season.

“I think anytime I get to race any type of car, whether it be a go-kart or a sprint car, any time I’m getting laps, I feel like it’s helping me be a better racecar driver,” Larson said. “Especially when I can get in that stuff and win. It helps my confidence when I get into the Cup car. I get to race quite a bit throughout the year and this year I’ve had a really good year in everything really, especially the dirt stuff, and I feel like for sure that carries over to Sundays.”

Team Owner Chip Ganassi said when Larson was running in the middle of the pack earlier in the race, he was starting to regret his decision to allow Larson to race in Knoxville.

“We didn’t have too good of a start,” Ganassi said. “We were sort of mired in the top 10 there. I had concerns. I was getting ready to take a lot of heat in the media for that if we didn’t have a good day.”

“It’s easy to break that star athlete, easy to break them and slow them down,” Ganassi said. “It’s a lot harder to speed him up. I don’t want to do something that’s going to slow him down. You run the risk of that when you have a talent like that that wants to go out and drive other kinds of cars and things.”

So would Ganassi let Larson run in the Indianapolis 500?

“See what you do to me?” Ganassi said to Larson, laughing. “That’s a great question. Anybody else have any other questions?”

“I don’t know, we’ll see,” Larson said. “The Indy 500 is definitely on my bucket list. I just don’t know if it is right now.”

Truex wound up second, and was visibly frustrated after the race.

“I’m just angry,” Truex said.

He said Larson’s move was expected — Truex said he even held back a little bit hoping Larson would push him ahead, but he spun the tires and that cost him the race.

“I did everything right,” Truex said. “It caught me by surprise … I hadn’t spun the tires all day long, did not expect to have an issue with it, and when I did, there was nothing I could do. I was just helpless, and he had the momentum and did what everybody else would have done. It’s just my screw-up that gave him the win, basically.”

Truex won the second stage of the race, claiming yet another playoff point as the regular season winds down. It was his ninth top-10 finish in 24 races at MIS, and his 16th in 2017.

Michigan Native Erik Jones finished third, his first top-10 finish at his home track. He was the top finishing rookie on the day, and challenged for the lead late in the race.

Jones continues to improve as the season goes on, and credits returning to tracks for a second time as part of the reason for his added success. He said preparation for each weekend is what has differed the most between the truck and Xfinity series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

“In trucks and Xfinity, I didn’t really have to prepare at all,” Jones said. “It kind of worked out most of the time. You get to the Cup Series and you do that and you kind of feel a little bit out to lunch when you show up and you’re off like that.”

Truex was asked if, when he was leading and Jones was in second, if he had considered letting Jones go by since Jones needs a win to make the playoffs.

“No,” Truex said. “We don’t have team orders. Nobody lets each other win. He’s going to win some races. His turn will come.”

He said Jones will get his win in the future.

“That’s not how we race,” Truex said. “Nobody out there races that way. Nobody’s going to give a Cup win up. They’re too hard to get.”

Fourth place went to Ryan Newman, with fifth going to Trevor Bayne.

Overall the race was clean, with only five cautions for 28 laps. Two of those were for stage finishes, but on Lap 140 Kasey Kahne and Daniel Suarez got together, with both cars collecting the wall and ending their day.

The last caution of the day came on with just three laps to go after Michael McDowell and Paul Menard got together in turn two. The race was red-flagged for a five and a half minutes to clean up oil before an overtime restart. The official race distance was 202 laps after overtime.

Also leading laps on the day were Hamlin with 16, Kyle Busch with 14, Jones with five and Suarez with three.

Kyle Larson’s crew celebrates after Larson wins the Pure Michigan 400. Eric Young — The SuperSpeedway

Kyle Larson lights up his tires during his victory celebration. Eric Young — The SuperSpeedway

Larson’s car is barely visible, buried in confetti after his win at Michigan Sunday. Eric Young — The SuperSpeedway