Robert Yates, a NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee, began treatment for liver cancer Monday, his son, Doug Yates,revealed in a tweet.

“Thank you for the thoughts and prayers!” Doug Yates tweeted.

Robert Yates, 73, built a distinguished resume. He began his racing career in 1968 building engines at Holman-Moody Racing, then joined forces in 1971 with Junior Johnson, a future Hall of Famer.

Yates would eventually launch his own team, Robert Yates Racing. The team's signature seasons included 1992, when Davey Allison won the Daytona 500 and finished third in points, and 1999, when Dale Jarrett won the series title. Jarrett also won the 1996 and 2000 Daytona 500s with the team.

In 21 years as a team owner, Yates won 57 races and 49 poles.

Junior's view: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is out for the season, which means he does what most other race fans do on weekends:

Takes to social media and engages with friends and the occasional enemy.

“Tweeting is always fun,” he said during a media availability at Martinsville. “Following on Twitter is fun because all these folks in here are obviously plugged in and tweeting from the event.

“There are conversations that are going on outside of the broadcast on social media that are fun to be a part of. I'm always a little bit of a smart aleck so I kind of pick and play and enjoy poking fun at what is going on. I much more enjoy being at the races, watching live, and being in the booth is a real thrill.”

Kid-friendly: If the voices in the next episode of the Nickelodeon series “Blaze and the Monster Machines” sound familiar, your instincts would be correct.

Danica Patrick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Chase Elliott all return as guest voices in the episode entitled “The Hundred Mile Race,” which airs on the network at 11:30 a.m. Friday. The series follows the adventures of the monster truck Blaze and his 8-year-old driver, AJ.

It is lauded as the first preschool TV show to comprehensively cover all areas of STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Math — in every episode. “Blaze and the Monster Machines” airs regularly weekdays on Nickelodeon and ranks as the No. 1 show with preschoolers.

In “The Hundred Mile Race,” Rally (Patrick), Dash (Johnson) and Fender (Kahne) compete in VelocityVille's longest race ever. Mark Set-Go (Elliott) appears as the city's sensational starter.

— George Diaz