DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Fans will again decide the format of the exhibition Sprint Unlimited exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway. The race Feb. 15 will allow fans to vote on three major elements via NASCAR.com and the use of the NASCAR Mobile application. Voting for each element will close at different times on race day. Fans will vote...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — NASCAR is replacing longtime Sprint Cup Series director John Darby with Richard Buck. The move comes four years after NASCAR first announced it was seeking a successor to Darby so he could take a managerial role. Buck spent last year as vice president of racing operations for the International Motor Sports Association and managing director...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske have both tweaked their team names headed into the 2014 seasons. Ganassi has dropped “Earnhardt” from the formal name of his NASCAR organization. His team will now be known as Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, the name it used before a late 2008 merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc. The...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — NBC Sports Group will formally introduce Dale Earnhardt Jr. crew chief Steve Letarte on Friday as the final member of its broadcast team. Letarte is under contract to Hendrick Motorsports and the No. 88 team through the 2014 season. He will become an analyst for NBC Sports beginning in 2015 when the network begins coverage....

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Fans will again decide the format of the exhibition Sprint Unlimited exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway. The race Feb. 15 will allow fans to vote on three major elements via NASCAR.com and the use of the NASCAR Mobile application. Voting for each element will close at different times on race day. Fans will vote...

Former NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield has been convicted on charges of possession of stolen goods and drug paraphernalia.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Bobby Labonte will attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 for Phoenix Racing. The 2000 NASCAR champion will be making his attempt in a second entry for the team recently acquired by Harry Scott from long-time owner James Finch. Scott is fielding one full-time car for Justin Allgaier. No car number was announced for the Labonte...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — NASCAR has selected Jimmy Small the new president of the Iowa Speedway The appointment of the 28-year-old Small, a senior marketing manager for NASCAR, was announced Thursday at a press conference in Des Moines detailing NASCAR’s purchase of the track last month. NASCAR bought the seven-year old track from Featherlite Inc., founder Conrad Clement and...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Winning rookie of the year honors required Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to beat his girlfriend on the track. At least twice, the on-track battles between Stenhouse and Danica Patrick led to wrecks. Stenhouse acknowledged Thursday that competing against his girlfriend wasn’t always easy — and joked that he learned quickly to always accept blame. The two-time Nationwide...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — NASCAR continues to work on improving its on-track product, an endeavor chairman Brian France takes so seriously he plans to attend Monday’s test at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The test at Charlotte will be the second as NASCAR continues to seek a rules package that could enhance the competition. Once that’s complete, a focus could be turned...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — NBC Sports Group has made driver Jeff Burton its first hire for the broadcast booth for when the network resumes covering NASCAR in 2015. The multiyear hiring of Burton was announced Tuesday in Las Vegas. Burton’s career as a full-time driver is ending this season. Michael Waltrip Racing said Monday Burton will be a test driver...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tony Stewart says ExxonMobil has renewed its multiyear sponsorship of both the three-time NASCAR champion and Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart made the announcement that Mobil 1 will continue its relationship with him and his team while hosting the year-end edition of “Tony Stewart Live” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Mobil 1 will be the primary sponsor on Stewart’s...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The 2014 racing calendar will have Formula One and NASCAR racing deep in the heart of Texas on the same day. The FIA, international motorsports’ governing body, released its 2014 calendar Wednesday, placing the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin on Nov. 2. That’s the same day as the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — NBC Sports Group has named Rick Allen lead race announcer for its coverage of NASCAR. Allen will join driver Jeff Burton in the booth. The third member of the broadcast team has yet to be announced. NBC Sports executive vice president Sam Flood cited Allen’s “energetic delivery, great voice, and ability to bring the best out...

Richard Petty Motorsports has hired Trent Owens to crew chief Aric Almirola in 2014. Owens is a longtime Nationwide Series crew chief and the nephew of Richard Petty. His hiring Monday for the No. 43 Ford is his first full-time crew chief job in the Sprint Cup Series. Owens replaces Todd Parrott, who was fired in October when he failed...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Texas Motor Speedway won’t sell tickets on the backstretch for its two NASCAR Sprint Cup races next year. TMS officials say part of the reason for that decision is the scheduled debut in April of a new high-definition video board being built in the middle of the backstretch at the 1½-mile track. The board, which...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Phoenix Racing has named Steve Addington as competition director of the team recently purchased by Harry Scott Jr. Addington will also be crew chief of the No. 51 Chevrolet. Addington spent the last two seasons as crew chief for Tony Stewart, but was let go earlier this week. Scott has not named a driver for 2014...

Stewart-Haas Racing and Roush Fenway Racing have reorganized their competition departments.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Austin Dillon has won the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship, holding off Sam Hornish Jr. in a wild season finale Saturday. Sprint Cup regular Brad Keselowski won the race after moving up 10 spots in the final few laps. Dillon, driving the famed No. 3 for his grandfather, Richard Childress, held off Hornish by three points in...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Kyle Busch said he is closing his Nationwide Series team because of a lack of sponsorship. Parker Kligerman ran the entire season for Busch in the No. 77 Toyota and had 13 top-10 finishes. Busch drove the car in 2012, when he went winless in the Nationwide Series. He went back to driving Joe Gibbs Racing’s...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — The greatest driver to never win a NASCAR championship is treating the season finale as if it’s the last race of his career. Mark Martin has no plans to compete beyond Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. If he follows through, it will end a career that began with his 1981 Cup debut. He has won 40...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Roger Penske and Sam Hornish Jr. have been together for nearly 300 races over the last decade. They have celebrated an IndyCar championship as well as wins in two series across nine states. They have been dominate and disappointed. They have turned a working relationship into a lifelong friendship. So parting ways won’t be easy. Hornish...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Matt Kenseth has won the pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sunday’s season-ending and championship-deciding race. It was a massive turnaround for Kenseth following his worst performance of the season last week at Phoenix. He finished 23rd to fall 28 points behind championship leader Jimmie Johnson leading into the finale. Now he’s got his third pole of...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Matt Crafton has won the NASCAR Truck Series championship, his first in 13 seasons. Crafton only needed to start the 200-mile season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday night to win the title. So when his engine fired and he took the track, it was official even before the green flag dropped. Crafton essentially wrapped up...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Jimmie Johnson is up almost every day by 5:30 a.m., the easiest time of day to do his training. He runs five days a week, logging up to 40 miles on foot. He also swims two days a week and cycles two days a week. Johnson has completed half marathons, multiple triathlons and now has his...