{"id":15854,"date":"2018-04-06T16:35:06","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T21:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=15854"},"modified":"2018-04-06T18:19:30","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T23:19:30","slug":"nascar-friday-texas-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/06\/nascar-friday-texas-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Texas Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, <\/em>NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cNew Kids on the Track\u201d really are new<\/b><\/p>\n

FORT WORTH, Texas \u2013 A large banner on the broadcast center at Texas Motor Speedway<\/a> loudly touts the \u201cNew Kids on the Track,\u201d<\/strong> an homage to the 20-somethings who will propel the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/strong> into the future.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo by Mike Haag \/ Raceday San Antonio<\/p><\/div>\n

Pictured on the banner are likenesses of Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, William Byron and Alex Bowman, who collectively make up more than 15 percent of a typical Cup series starting field.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the slogan derives from the Boston-based boy band New Kids on the Block, whose first incarnation was active during the 1980s and 1990s. That being the case, most of the \u201cNew Kids on the Track\u201d weren\u2019t around during the band\u2019s heyday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were actually just talking about it in the hauler, and I don\u2019t know the New Kids on the Block,\u201d Jones said after Friday\u2019s opening practice for Sunday\u2019s O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts 500 at the 1.5-mile track (2 p.m.  ET, FOX,  PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). \u201cI was born in 1996, and the last year they were a group was 1995.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo by Mike Haag \/ Raceday San Antonio<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThey asked me what New Kids on the Block was, and I was like \u2018Man, I\u2019ve got to be honest with you, I have no idea.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones said he liked the banner, but not as much as the small one hung on the railing beside it, citing three-time winner Kevin Harvick\u2019s pointing out that the average age of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series winners this season is 38.5, with the hashtag \u201cold guys rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked the sign they put next to it better,\u201d Jones said. \u201cAt first I thought Harvick actually put it there. I was like \u2018That\u2019s pretty funny,\u2019 but then I realized the track did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And for the record, the New Kids on the Block has reunited and has toured periodically since 2013. Donnie Wahlberg, perhaps the best-known member of the group, is now 48 years old.<\/p>\n

DANCIN\u2019 CHRIS BUESCHER CELEBRATES EVENTFUL OFF WEEK<\/b><\/p>\n

Native Texan Chris Buescher may not be able to dance the Texas Two Step, but he took one very important step in his life during the Easter break in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule.<\/p>\n

Buescher got married to long-time girlfriend Emma Helton.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Chris Buescher poses for a photo during the NASCAR Media Tour at Charlotte Convention Center on January 23, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe went and got married over Easter weekend, so that was really good,\u201d Buescher said. \u201cEmma and I started planning last year before there was a schedule out for this season, and that made it very difficult because she didn\u2019t want a winter wedding, and we didn\u2019t know our off-weekends yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we wouldn\u2019t be racing on Easter. And then it threatened to rain out Atlanta and threatened to snow out Martinsville. It seemed like Easter weekend was always the fill-in date. So it definitely had us nervous through all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a wedding meant a wedding dance, and that\u2019s what really had Buescher nervous.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took dance lessons,\u201d Buescher said. \u201cWe did two lessons. The woman that did it did a fantastic job. We met up with her in uptown Charlotte, and she asked what we wanted to know and first off, what you already know.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anything. I can\u2019t sway. I can\u2019t even do that. I can\u2019t sit here and act like I know what I\u2019m doing. And she\u2019s like okay, what do you want to learn?  I said, \u2018The Dirty Dancing lift at the end.\u2019 And she said \u2018All right, we\u2019re going to back that down a bit.\u2019 We compromised, and it actually came out really good. We were able to at least look like we had some clue of what we were doing out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

DANIEL SUAREZ RELISHES RACING FOR KIDS IN FRONT OF A \u201cHOME\u201d CROWD<\/b><\/p>\n

Texas Motor Speedway isn\u2019t Daniel Suarez\u2019 home track, but it\u2019s close enough that friends and fans from his native Monterrey, Mexico, can road-trip to watch him race.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Daniel Suarez. Photo by Michael C. Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cTexas is the only race track that I can have family, friends and all kinds of people from my hometown driving to this place,\u201d Suarez said. \u201cSo this is a special place for that as well, because it\u2019s not my home track, but it\u2019s very close, so I can call this one of my home tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a throng of supporters weren\u2019t enough to motivate Suarez to earn his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs racing Toyota has additional incentives. He\u2019s racing in support of sponsor Stanley Tools\u2019 \u201cRacing for a Miracle\u201d program, which supports the Children\u2019s Miracle Network Hospitals.<\/p>\n

Stanley has pledged $100,000 to the hospitals. Should Suarez win the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts 500 on Sunday, the $100,000 becomes $1 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope that we do a very good race for these kids,\u201d said Suarez, who visited the Cook Children\u2019s Medical Center in Fort Worth on Thursday and met the four children who designed his car\u2019s paint scheme for this weekend. \u201cIt would be a dream come true for me to bring these kids with me to Victory Lane.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be something amazing, just like winning a championship, because when you get the opportunity to meet these kids, it brings a big smile to your face, and you can see that excitement that they bring to the car, to the race track and hopefully to Victory Lane.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service   \u201cNew Kids on the Track\u201d really are new FORT WORTH, Texas \u2013 A large banner on the broadcast center at Texas Motor Speedway loudly touts the \u201cNew Kids on the Track,\u201d an homage to the 20-somethings who will propel the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series into the future. Pictured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,413,21],"class_list":["post-15854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-oreilly-auto-parts-500","tag-texas-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/image1.jpeg?fit=4032%2C3024&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-47I","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15854"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15862,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15854\/revisions\/15862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}