WATCH LIVE: NASCAR America at 5 pm ET — Tony Stewart recap, Chase eliminations, Allmendinger, Almirola

By Sep 25, 2014, 3:35 PM EDT
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On Thursday’s edition of NASCAR America (live from 5 to 5:30 pm ET), Dave Briggs, Kyle Petty and Bobby Labonte host from our Charlotte studios.

And what a busy show it will be:

* We recap Wednesday’s news, as Tony Stewart was cleared by a grand jury and will not face criminal charges in the death of Kevin Ward Jr. Our NASCAR contributor, Nate Ryan, calls in to give us the latest on the NASCAR community’s reaction to the decision and what it means for Tony Stewart and Stewart-Haas Racing moving forward.

* The first elimination race of the 2014 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is this weekend at Dover. After the race, four drivers will be eliminated from championship contention and the 12 remaining will advance to the Contender round. We examine which drivers are in the most danger of not advancing.

* Part of the recently announced changes for the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season is a ban on team-initiated testing. This places even more emphasis on preseason wind tunnel tests. Marty Snider gives us a behind-the-scenes tour of what goes on at these aerodynamic testing facilities and what data it can provide the race teams.

* One driver who was not expected to advance, but is in good position to do so, is Aric Almirola. Our Kelli Stavast caught up with the driver of the legendary No. 43 car at the Richard Petty Motorsports Shop in Concord, N.C., to get Aric’s take on what he and his team need to do at Dover to secure a solid enough finish to get them through to the next round.

* Another Cinderella Chase driver who is currently above the cut line is AJ Allmendinger. Kelli Stavast caught up with the driver of the JTG Daugherty No. 47 car at the single-car team’s race shop in Harrisburg, NC, to ask the Watkins Glen winner what his team’s strategy will be at Dover and how he feels about his chances of advancing into the next round of the Chase.

* Parker Kligerman uses the NBC Sports iRacing Simulator to show us the fastest way around the Dover International Speedway track.

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Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”