By Joseph Wolkin Michael Lira began a new journey this past weekend at Iowa Speedway. The Florida native piloted the No. 15 car in the Xfinity Series, taking a giant leap from the ARCA Racing Series. For Lira, who just turned 19 years old, the chance to move up into the NASCAR realm is one his family has worked hard for after starting an ARCA program in hopes of starting something special. How difficult has it been for you to work through the rankings and make a name for yourself? “It’s definitely not an easy fight to make it to the top…

Chris Miko, the second transport driver for Joe Gibbs Racing and driver Matt Kenseth, hadn’t even heard of NASCAR before a golden opportunity came his way to attend a Sprint Cup Series event. It proved to be the path to a new career. “I saw my first NASCAR race in 1997 at Pocono Raceway,” Miko said. “I was living in New York at the time and I went with a bunch of friends. We actually were in a bowling league and we got some free tickets to the race. I’ve been hooked on NASCAR ever since. It was a July race I…

When Ross Chastain joined JD Motorsports last year, he never imagined the team would have enough money to compete weekly for top 10s – let alone buy a show car. After earning four top 10s last year, the watermelon spokesman is attracting more sponsors as the small team gains momentum. How would you evaluate how the year has gone thus far? “We haven’t gotten the finishes we probably wanted or sometimes deserved. We’ve had more speed than where we’ve been finishing, which is a good problem to have.” What do you feel like you need to do to get those better finishes? “It’s…

By Keith Waltz Richard Petty celebrated in victory lane on Aug. 4, 1974, when NASCAR’s premier stock car series visited Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway for the first time. Built as an eastern showplace for American open-wheel racing, the 2.5-mile triangular track was designed with input from two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rodger Ward and features three distinctly different turns that connect three straightaways of various lengths. It opened for business in 1971. While the 1974 Purolator 500 was the first NASCAR-sanctioned event in the resort area of the Pocono Mountains, it was not the track’s first stock car race. In fact, just a year…