TC Daily Pit Stop: Kyle Busch Crashes at Brickyard Tire Test; Berry and Childers Want to Stay Together; Cindric Perservered; Weatherman Fined; Butterbean is Back; In Memoriam Parnelli Jones
TC Daily Pit Stop: Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Kyle Busch Crashes in Goodyear Tire Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
In preparation for next month’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first NASCAR Cup Series race on the IMS oval since 2020, Goodyear is holding a tire test to hone in on a tire compound for the event.
On Tuesday, Kyle Busch, the Chevrolet representative at the test, suffered a crash into the outside wall in Turn 2. From photos following the crash, it appears Busch collided with the wall with his driver’s side door.
Fortunately, Busch was evaluated and released from the infield care center following the crash. Goodyear has confirmed that the crash was not due to a tire failure. Denny Hamlin and Todd Gilliland, the Toyota and Ford representatives, are expected to test further on Wednesday.
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Josh Berry and Rodney Childers Hope to Continue Working Together After 2024
After years of clawing his way through the ranks in American motorsport, Josh Berry finally got his shot at a full-time ride in the NASCAR Cup Series at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024. A few months into his rookie season, the team announced that they will close their doors at season’s end.
While it’s not an ideal scenario, Berry said at a media availability on Tuesday that he would still sign with SHR even if he knew then what he knows now, and says the chance to work with crew chief Rodney Childers and the No. 4 team was too good to pass up. And if the driver and crew chief have their way, they’ll be paired together again next season.
"That's 100% our goal," Berry explained. "But I think for my side of things, and Rodney's side of things, too, if that's going to be possible is yet to be seen. If that's going to be realistic or not, but I think wemost definitely want to continue that path. We feel like we've really had a strong last month, month and a half maybe. I think we've gotten a lot better and we're learning each other, and continuing to grow. And I think we've had some really solid runs. So, I think, for us, we want to be able to continue on that trajectory and keep working with each other. If that's going to be possible or not has yet to be seen, but that's certainly the goal."
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Austin Cindric Perservered Through Mental Anguish of 85-Race Losing Streak
Austin Cindric is a winner. He always has been, and likely always will be. But after notching a win in the 2022 Daytona 500, the first race of his NASCAR Cup Series rookie season, Cindric slipped into a drought.
That drought lasted all the way through the 15th race of the 2024 season, where he picked up an opportunistic win as his teammate’s fuel tank ran dry on the last lap at Gateway. While he was struggling on the track over the 85-race winless streak, Cindric was also struggling mentally with the lack of victory lane trips. The gravity of his downturn hit him especially hard when he was preparing a special gift for his supporters at the end of the 2023 season.
“I commish art work every year to send out to all of my supporters, family, friends, it’s kind of a collage of all the race cars I drove. I started it back in 2015 when I was racing in IMSA and Rallycross and stock cars and to kind of just illustrate, literally, the different experiences I got to do throughout the year. Usually, the centerpiece of this artwork is the most prominent race win I have, and last year I called my guy, Steve, and I’m like, ‘Dude, I don’t even know what to do. This is a tradition. Everybody expects this every year and I want to do this, and I want to have these to line them up throughout my career, but I don’t even know what to put in the center of this,’” Cindric recalled.
But he stuck with it, and when opportunity knocked at Gateway, he was there to answer the door.
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Kyle Weatherman Fined $25,000 for Contact with Another Car on Pit Road
Kyle Weatherman was fined $25,000 by NASCAR on Tuesday for making contact with Ryan Sieg’s No. 39 car in anger on pit road following Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Portland. Following the announcement of the fine, Weatherman issued a statement video on social media, where he apologized for his actions and stated that he will be better in the future.
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Brenden “Butterbean” Queen Back for Two More Truck Starts with TRICON
After a successful NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut, where he finished fourth at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Brenden Queen, affectionately known as “Butterbean” by his fans, will get two additional Truck Series starts in the No. 1 Toyota Tundra for TRICON Garage.
Queen will contest the upcoming events at Nashville Superspeedway on June 28 and at Kansas Speedway on September 27.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Kevin Harvick Entering Late Model Events at Five Flags, North Wilkesboro
Ben Rhodes Enters Yard Gear 250 at Speedway 660 on September 1
Parnelli Jones, Versatile Racing Legend, Dies Aged 90
The world lost one of the most versatile racers in the history of automobile racing on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 as Parnelli Jones passed away at the age of 90.
Born Rufus Parnell Jones in 1933 in Texarkana, Arkansas, Jones grew up in Torrance, California. At the age of 17, Jones began racing Jalopies five miles from home, and in an effort to hide his dangerous hobby from his parents, Jones adopted the name “Parnelli” which was suggested by his friend Billy Calder.
Eventually, the legend of Parnelli Jones would grow to the point, where he’d never be able to dream of hiding his auto racing career from his parents. Jones would win three NASCAR Cup Series events between 1957 and 1959, and he would score Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors in 1961, despite finishing the race with a bloodied face after being hit with a piece of debris.
Jones would win the Indy 500 in 1963.
Whether it be a late model, a NASCAR stock car, an IndyCar, a Sports Car, or an off-road truck — whatever Jones got behind the wheel of, he typically won in it. Jones was a true legend, and he’ll be missed.