Deac McCaskill News

LAS VEGAS — Rick Hendrick remembers the stress-filled days in 2001 when he was trying to launch a new team with an unproven driver.

Rick Hendrick remembers the stress-filled days in 2001 when he was trying to launch a new team with an unproven driver.

Jimmie Johnson makes a pit stop during a victory lap on the Las Vegas Strip during NASCAR Champions Week on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, in Las Vegas.

During the "NASCAR After the Lap" event Thursday at Wynn Las Vegas, drivers talked about going into the hauler, especially as a young driver.

To say 2013 was a tough season for Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin would be an understatement: he finished a career-worst 23rd in points thanks to missing four races early in the Sprint Cup Series season, winning just one race - the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway - and earning just eight top 10 finishes.

During the long plane flight from North Carolina to Las Vegas on Tuesday night, a NASCAR fan named Louise Groomer tweeted Kevin Harvick and politely asked if the driver would follow her on Twitter.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is NASCAR's most popular driver again -- and this time, it's a record.

Darlington Raceway has a reputation as the "Track Too Tough to Tame," and the 1.25-mile track is NASCAR 's original superspeedway.

Mason Mingus of Brentwood set the fastest time in testing for the 46th Snowball Derby, set for this weekend in Pensacola, FL.

It was a good IndyCar Series season in Southern California in 2013 with thrilling races at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

Editor's note: This report has been changed from the original to correct the name of the organization that encouraged the larger-than-usual grant to the Mary Crowley Cancer Research Center.

Parker Kligerman, aged 15 at the time, drives a go-kart at Norwalk Kart Association in 2005.

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 in Fort Worth, a three-hour drive from Austin.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is transitioning from the end of the regular season to the beginning of a crazy offseason, called "the Silly Season."

The Atlanta chapter of Speedway Children's Charities distributed $140,000 in grants to 29 metro Atlanta non-profit and children's charitable organizations today.

The 2005 Porsche Carrera GT that Roger Rodas and Paul Walker were in when they died on Nov. 30, 2013, in Valencia is seen in an image from Graham Rahal's Facebook page.

Motorsports 101 provides 24/7 obsessive sports coverage of Motorsports as a part of Sports Media 101 .

Parker Kligerman on pit road during qualifying for the Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013.

AMA Pro Racing announced the complete AMA Pro Flat Track schedule for the upcoming 2014 season; an agenda that includes 16 rounds of the AMA Pro Grand National Championship and AMA Pro Singles classes.

Last year Erik Jones entered the gates of Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla.