JACOB Companies renews with Rick Ware Racing for 2019 season
JACOB Companies, a “multifaceted nationwide construction firm with a focus on construction, development, management, design-build and technology services”, is returning to Rick Ware Racing for the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season after originally joining the team in August of 2018.
“We are thrilled to welcome Don Perry [president of JACOB Companies], his family and JACOB Companies back to our sponsorship portfolio this year,” said Rick Ware Racing team principal Rick Ware in a team release. “JACOB Companies came aboard last August and since then we’ve grown our partnership swiftly and effectively. We have big plans for 2019 and we’re excited to have JACOB Companies apart of it.”
Perry stated that part of the reason they decided to renew with RWR for the 2019 season was due to the success of the business-to-business aspect of their company upon becoming a sponsor.
According to the team release, JACOB Companies specializes in high rise structures, universities, hotels, automotive dealerships, athletic facilities, and parking structures.
Ware fielded the No. 51 and No. 52 cars in the Cup Series last season, and saw 16 different drivers make starts for the organization. The team’s best finish was a 12th-place run in the season-opening Daytona 500 with driver Justin Marks.
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Long-time NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass finds home at Fox Sports
After then-ESPN reporter Bob Pockrass tweeted that the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series awards banquet would be the last event he covered for the sports behemoth, there were many in the industry who bemoaned his release and hoped he would land another job in the industry.
It appears as though Fox Sports heeded that call.
Fox Sports announced that Pockrass would join their media conglomerate as a “FOX NASCAR insider”, beginning with the 2019 Daytona Speedweeks.
“I love reporting on the sport for the fans, and I cherish the opportunity FOX Sports has given me to play a role in its NASCAR coverage,” Pockrass said in an official release. “I look forward to working with everyone at FOX Sports to provide insight on what is happening both on and off the track.”
Pockrass has covered NASCAR since 1991 and has won multiple awards during his career, including two “Writer of the Year” awards by the National Motorsports Press Association (2009 and 2013).
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Wayne Taylor Racing takes the victory in a rain-shortened Rolex 24 at Daytona
While NASCAR fans know that rain is the ultimate enemy of any race weekend, road racing fans don’t typically share the same amount of anxiety and worry when it comes to precipitation. Generally speaking, the tire manufacturer of the weekend can provide wet weather tires and the race continues on as normal.
Unfortunately, this was not the case for the Rolex 24 at Daytona this year, as the prestigious endurance race was stopped not once, but twice under red flag conditions due to rain for the first time ever in the event’s history.
The trying weather conditions eventually led to IMSA race control making the decision to end the race at 23 hours and 50 minutes, meaning Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Konica Minolta DPi Cadillac had been declared the winner.
Drivers Jordan Taylor, Renger van der Zande, Kamui Kobayashi, and two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso celebrated the victory, giving WTR its second victory in three years.
Alonso joins Mario Andretti and Phil Hill as the only F1 champions to win an endurance race at Daytona. The 37-year-old driver took the overall win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans just last June.
In second place was the No. 31 Cadillac DPi driven by Pipo Derani, Eric Curran, and Felipe Nasr. The pivotal moment of the race came when Alonso passed Nasr in turn one right before the final caution of the day (and, eventually, red flag) was flown.
In third place was the No. 7 Acura DPi driven by current IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, and Ricky Taylor.
Fourth was the No. 54 Nissan DPi piloted by Loic Duval, Romain Dumas, Jon Bennett and Colin Braun.
Rounding out the top five was the No. 85 Cadillac DPi with drivers Rubens Barrichello, Mikhail Goikhberg, Tristan Vautier, and Devlin DeFrancesco.
The No. 18 DragonSpeed ORECA took the win in the LMP2 class with drivers Pastor Maldonado, Roberto Gonzalez, Sebastien Saavedra, and Ryan Cullen. Saavedra crashed only a few minutes before the final red flag flew, but with a four-lap gap to the next LMP2 car, he was able to nurse it back to the pits and hold onto the lead.
The No. 25 Team RLL BMW M8 GTE earned an emotional victory in the GTLM class with drivers Connor de Phillippi, Augusto Farfus, Philipp Eng, and Colton Herta. Just a few days prior, BMW Team Schnitzer’s Karl “Charly” Lamm passed away at the age of 63.
Finally, the No. 11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 earned the victory in the GTD class, with drivers Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Rik Breukers, and Christian Engelhart.
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Changes to Snowball Derby spark debate on Twitter
Over the weekend, Five Flags Speedway announced that the 52nd Annual Snowball Derby — the most prestigious asphalt Super Late Model race in the United States — will be run with controlled caution periods rather than the live pit stops the race has traditionally seen.
The move was made in an effort to save teams money, with Snowball Derby and Five Flags Speedway promoter Tim Bryant saying this:
“We know that the Snowball Derby is a costly event for the teams to participate in. We are in constant search of ways to make it less expensive for competitors. On-track competition has gotten increasingly more competitive over the years. The importance of length of time on pit road has gone to the extreme. The cost of a high-paid pit crew was never intended for this level of racing. Given the competitiveness of this event and the importance of the event, guys will take any measure necessary to get an edge on the others. For that reason, we’ve decided to go to the controlled caution format for the 52nd Snowball Derby. It’s simply in an effort to save teams the money of high-team pit crews.”
What this means is that the field is essentially frozen when the controlled caution period begins, as no car can lose a lap or position to other cars that pitted under the caution period.
Other major Super Late Model events such as the All American 400 and the Winchester 400 have used this format as well.
2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch won the event as a driver in 2009 and 2017 and as an owner with Noah Gragson in 2018. Busch took to Twitter to criticize the idea:
Fellow MENCS driver and former Snowball Derby winner Chase Elliott responded to Busch, saying he agreed with the decision to utilize the controlled cautions format.
Many others within the racing industry — from short track racing to big-time NASCAR — joined the conversation and weighed in with their own take …
The Snowball Derby will be run from December 4th through December 8th, 2019.
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Jeff Gordon inducted into NMPA Hall of Fame, Harvick named ‘Driver of the Year”
Jeff Gordon was already set to become a Hall of Famer later this week when he is officially inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but was able to enjoy being inducted into a different Hall over the weekend.
The four-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame on Sunday, having already won the NMPA’s Richard Petty Driver of the Year Award twice previously during his driving career.
Gordon is third all-time in MENCS victories with 93 and has since transitioned into a broadcasting role with NASCAR on Fox since retiring from a full-time driving career at the end of 2015.
“I love motorsports and NASCAR is my favorite form of motorsports,” Gordon said. “I always want to give back to the sport that has been so good to me. Being on television, I feel, allows me to do that.”
Three-time Late Model Sportsman Division champion Red Farmer was also inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, 2014 champion Kevin Harvick was voted the 2018 “Driver of the Year”, having won eight races last season and finishing third in the final championship standings.
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