Biffle Gets a Fine

Greg Biffle has been fined $5,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31, for failing to fulfill his post-race media obligations this past Saturday night, following the NASCAR Busch Series race at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7079172

Stewart Fined (As expected)

Tony Stewart was fined $25,000 and penalized 25 driver championship points, as a result of using inappropriate (Was it really that innappropriate damnit!?) language during a post-race televised interview following his victory Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Fine

NASCAR race Team Mergers - A new type of Silly Season?

Car owner Rick Hendrick will merge his existing Busch team into JR Motorsports, the Busch team Earnhardt owns.

Kevin Harvick, meanwhile, strengthened the existing alliance between Richard Childress and Kevin Harvick Inc., which races in the Busch and Truck Series.

Steven Wallace survives Mugging

19 year-old Steve Wallace is OK following an attempted mugging Sunday evening in Indianapolis outside a convenience store.

While in the convenience store, three men were commenting on a watch Steven was wearing, a gift given to him by a sponsor after he earned his second career pole position at Nashville Superspeedway in June.

When he exited the convenience store, they jumped him as they TRIED to rob him of his watch. The men later fled the scene after being unsuccessful in robbing Wallace.

http://www.rustywallace.com/news/read_article.php?id=97

YO, Dipsh**'s, Dad Wallace is known as rubber head. The apple never falls far from the tree. And it took THREE of you to NOT get a watch.. LOL.
Way to go Steven!!

Allstate (Brickyard) 400 Notes

The Allstate 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a pretty good race to follow today.

Reed Sorenson led the pack to the green flag while Jeff Green blew a tire early on lap 14, and lap 20 saw a multi car wreck when Ryan Newman, who had been dropping back through the pack spun out on his own.

The early battle was between Tony Stewart and dale Earnhardt Jr., as Jr. had the car to beat.

When the ESPN camera looked down the straight-a-way, you can see the cars making defensive moves, dodging low to block potential passers, making it 3 and 4 wide in the front stretch during the restarts and when traffic got tight.

Lap 37 saw Earnhardt with a 1.7 second lead over Stewart, Sorenson, J. Burton and J. Montoya. But the next lap saw Kasey Kahne get loose in turn 1, tapping Tony Raines into a spin, ending their days.

Then a junk yard broke out as a big wreck hit at lap 45, which included the 48 and 99, 26, 88, 10, 21, 18 cars. It looked like Jamie McMurray got loose and collected the 10 & 48 cars, but then it was all collateral damage after that for everyone else trying to whoa up in time.

Johnson made a bunch of pit stops during the yellow flag trying to fix the damage, but by lap 69, the damage proved too much as his LF tire blew, and he slammed into the turn 3 wall, and the car erupted in flames. While the car is sliding along the wall, Jimmie drops the window net, and as the car comes to a stop, Jimmie springs out quickly, and ok, except for burnt eyebrows.
(Resized image, courtesy of Fox Sports)
That’s 2 races in a row Jimmie is a DNF.

Lap55 saw Casey Mears get loose and get into Johnny Sauter, collecting Elliott Sadler & Kyle Petty, finishing their days. The entire Evernham entry field is now out of the race.

Lap 69 let us see Stewart, Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Montoya, Martin in the top 5 as Stewart got the adjustments he needed to be competitive finally. There were 31 cars on the lead lap.

We were treated to a debris caution on lap 76, but damage was to follow as in the pits, the 07 car of Clint Bowyer pulled out his pit and forced the 2 car of Kurt Busch up into the 33 car of Scott Wimmer. Scott gets forced into the outer pit road wall hard, and his fender ends up tearing off the rear panel of the Miller Lite car. Wimmer eventually goes down 14 laps from this incident, though he was having a good day.

There was another debris caution on lap 90, but we didn’t see the green flag until lap 98 because David Reutimann’s engine quit, and decorated track with oil.

Earnhardt Jr had a good car most of the race until he blew a motor on lap 136, retiring the Budweiser car. Jr’s car came to a complete stop on pit road, but NASCAR still let the field pit. The first of a few mystery calls on NASCAR’s part.

The last 20 laps had some drama going on as we watched Tony Stewart close in on Kevin Harvick, hearing his (Stewart) in-car radio broadcast, “Here kitty kitty”, and prophetically passed Harvick in turns 3 and 4 with 11 laps to go. Harvick tried to get back in there, they rubbed fenders a bit, but Stewart was too strong and the fender rubbing proved fateful for Harvick as he dropped to a final finishing spot of 7th.

Tony Stewart won the Allstate (Brickyard) 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with over a 3.5 second lead!

He was followed by Montoya, J Gordon, Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Dave Blaney & Matt Kenseth rounded out the top 10 spots.

There were 21 cars on the lead lap.
Chevy wins. The top Dodge was Montoya in 2nd. The top Toyota came in 9th under Dave Blaney, and the top Ford was brought in by Matt Kenseth in 10th.

The entire Home Depot team climbed the fence!!

A TONY OOPS: During his TV inteview, Tony said "This one is for everyone of those fans in the stands who pull for me and take the bulls**t for it every week".. that's going to be a few grand for TV Station and Driver. WELCOME TO CUP COVERAGE ESPN.

After the race, we never saw a Kevin Harvick interview because it was said that Harvick has been in the NASCAR trailer, presumably from Kevin coming up and rubbing on Tony’s car after the checkered, but we don’t know yet what NACAR is over reacting about.

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/20/data/results_unofficial.html

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/data/standings_unofficial.html

For more coverage about Stewarts expletive, and more in depth coverage, check out
http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/5706.html, by David Poole

Allstate 400 Indianapolis Pole, Starting Lineup

Reed Sorenson has the pole and Montoya is sharing the front row with him for the start of Sunday's Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Speedway.

Weather had impacted activities on Friday, and delayed any events on Saturday, so NASCAR decided not to impound the cars after qualifying.

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/07/28/indy.qual.story.ap/index.html


Here's the race LINEUP for Sunday.

Leffler Wins at ORP - First Toyota Win in Busch Series

Jason Leffler, after slapping fenders on different cars throughout the race, passed up Greg Biffle in the closing laps with 40 or 50 lap fresher tires (ESPN reported he had 50 lap fresher tires in the last 5 laps, but 20 laps previous, they reported they were 40 lap fresher tires.. so you pick which ever number you like) to take the win. Biffle was 2nd, an unhappy David Reutimann was third (Leffler smacked him hard 2x in the closing laps, as Leffler would pass low and use the 99 car to stop his slide) Carl Edwards was 4th, (Carl used up his car a few laps earlier trying to pass Biffle) and Ron Hornaday was 5th. Ron had the good car in the beginning, but Leffler rubbed up into his left front fender hard, causing him to pit soon there after.

See the finishing order at
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/busch/results

Truck Results from Indy

Power Stroke Diesel 200 saw Ron Hornaday get himself another win, followed by Johnny Benson, Travis Kvapil, Rick Crwaford and Kenny Schrader!

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7068600
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/truck/results

Busch Series to get Rain Tires!

The NASCAR Busch Series will compete in the rain, if necessary, in its two upcoming road-course events, Busch Series Director Joe Balash confirmed Friday.

Goodyear will bring rain tires to both the Aug. 4 event in Montreal and the Aug. 11 event in Watkins Glen.

Balash said the series is committed to getting both of those events completed on their scheduled race date. All cars will be equipped with windshield wipers, defrosters and rear lights.

(If I remember correctly, running in the rain ain't the best thing for the cars. Look at the Indy 500 this year!)

http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2007/07/23/scene_daily71.html

DEI Merger & Dale Earnhardt Jr

For those of us wondering, Earlier merger wouldn't have changed anything, Junior says.

Even if the merger had occurred two months ago, Junior insisted he might not have stayed.

“I didn’t leave because I didn’t have the seven post (shaker machine), and it didn’t have anything to do with whether it was a two-car, three-car or four-car team,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

“The things that are happening now, I believe, are good things for the company, but I don’t think any of that would have changed my decision.”

http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/5660.html

Rain at Indy

Rain at Indianapolis has put a damper on Cup practice and Truck qualifying.

Evernham and Crocker

Ray Evernham thinks his relationship with Erin Crocker has hurt her career! (YA THINK?)

Team owner Ray Evernham says the best thing for developmental driver Erin Crocker is to find a new race team because if he tells someone else she has talent (Driving that is), they think it's a biased statement. Thus he thinks she needs to find another race team to develop in her own shadow.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=99&id=2951523

RYR and NHLR have partnered up.

NHLR? No, it's not the NHL and a spurious letter on the end!

Robert Yates Racing (RYR) and Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) have entered into a letter of intent for a partnership in NASCAR’s Nextel Cup and Busch Series. The team will be named Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing effective immediately.

Wow, that is one long name for race team!!

http://www.ryr.com/details.aspx?id=201

San Jose Grand Prix

Well, I'm a NASCAR man through and through, but I'm headed out to watch the practice runs of the San Jose Grand Prix tomorrow. (It's the closest I've been to racing in a while, free tickets, the math just adds up - I can't help myself.)

http://www.sanjosegrandprix.com/

Ryan Newman Contract Issues/

According to this link, Ryan Newman's contract is in the air:
www.journalnow.com

Greg Biffle on Michael Vick

by Bruce Simmons

Michael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, was indicted last week on federal charges related to a dogfighting operation he allegedly ran out of a home he owns in rural Virginia. According to reports, a home he specifically purchased for this purpose.

When Greg Biffle was asked about the situation, The founder of the Greg Biffle Foundation for Animals said Vick deserves the stiffest punishment possible.

"Just put him in prison and tell the general public, just give them all the details of what they do with those dogs," Biffle said. "How they steal people's dogs out of their front yards and use them for bait dogs and let other dogs kill them. There's all the horrifying stories. You look at all the pictures on the Internet of the dogs, just maimed, mangled. It's horrible."

Biffle's foundation donates to local Humane Societies, no-kill animal shelters, spay and neuter clinics and the Animal Adoption League.

Thank you Greg for speaking up. People like Vick should be ..... well, what goes around, comes around, as I'd like to think and hopefully, Vick gets exactly what he deserves. If we don't do something, god will sort it out later.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7061984

Does DEI now become a Museum?

by Bruce Simmons

I jokingly stipulated in a previous post that with Dale Earnhardt Jr. gone, DEI would become a museum.

It was a sound bite that Jeff Gordon had tossed out in an interview and I conjectured on it a bit. Now, with DEI and Ginn Racing merging, and DEI looking to move their operation into Ginn's existing, (and apparently superior?) shop, (As I heard on Sirius Radio this morning) what becomes of the original DEI shop that Dale Earnhardt Sr. worked so hard to build?

Snippets and quotes:
"There are three huge benefits to us - the real estate, Mark Martin and an ability to work with Bobby Ginn on strategic development projects that Teresa has been planning for years," Max Siegel said.

DEI's teams will continue to operate in the DEI shop as well as the nearly 180,000-square-foot facility that houses Ginn's teams. The buildings are less than five miles apart in Mooresville, N.C.

As David Poole of Thatsracin.com observes, "If the “new” Dale Earnhardt Inc. moves most of its Cup operations to the former Ginn Racing shop, could what’s now the DEI headquarters become a sort of interactive Dale Earnhardt museum/attraction? If so, I’ve got the absolutely perfect name – “3 Flags Over Mooresville.” "

http://www.thatsracin.com/247/story/5626.html

What do I always say? Time will be the telling ingredient here.

Newman-Haas bids to buy RYR

Lee Spencer is ON TOP of the stories!! you go girl!

Seven-time Champ Car champion owners Carl Haas and Paul Newman have offered to purchase Robert Yates Racing, sources told FOXSports.com. An announcement could come as early as Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7059678

DEI / Ginn Merge

DEI officials on Wednesday said that it has merged with Ginn Racing and will immediately become a four-car team for Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Now it's been reported.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2948742

Kyle Petty MileStone

Did you know that Kyle Petty will be making his 800th career NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend? Wow!

http://www.racingone.com/article.aspx?artnum=36981

Tony Stewart Pic

This is a pic I snagged from the NASCAR.com news page.

Tony Stewart looks like he's saying to Zippy: "What the heck did you just call me?"

Earnhardt Jr Licensing

The future licensing rights to Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be negotiated by Earnhardt’s own company, JR Motorsports, not Hendrick Motorsports, for whom he’ll drive next season. It’s yet another indication of the way the popular driver is maintaining control of his name and brand, as his father had more than likely taught him.

Earnhardt will be the only NASCAR driver whose personal company controls the licensing of his team’s merchandise and apparel. And that's how you keep control of your own destiny, as I'm sure he's learned from being at DEI.

Read the rest of the interesting facts and numbers at SportsBusinessJournal

DEI and Ginn

According to Lee Spencer on Fox Sports.com, the merger between Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Ginn Racing has been completed.

Here's how it's going to pan out: 4 cars will run as DEI entries, the No 1, No 8, No 15 & No 01.
Bobby Ginn will be listed as the owner of the Nos. 01 and 15 cars.

With Ginn as the 15 car's owner, the 15 car acquired the points of the 13 car, making the 15 car in the top 25 in owners points.

Also, DEI acquires the Ginn Racing properties in Mooresville, N.C., that include a state-of-the-art shop and 7-post machine. All four teams will work out of the facilities formerly known as Ginn Racing.

Gee, wouldn't that have been nice when Jr was there?

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7056284

Edwards in Late Model Bang up

Carl Edwards, involved in a crash in a dirt late model race Sunday night at I-80 Speedway in Nebraska, is not testing today at the Milwaukee Mile and will not test a Busch Series car Tuesday at Bristol Motor Speedway but likely will race this weekend in the Busch and Nextel Cup events in Indianapolis.

http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2007/07/23/scene_daily1.html

Race to the Chase - Winding Down

An Observation by Bruce Simmons

The race to the championship is winding down, and it's time to perform for the outsiders, looking in.

13th is Ryan Newman, 30 points out of 12th.
14th is Kurt Busch, 47 points behind Newman.
And Jamie McMurray is 15th, 34 points behind Kurt.

TheAs for the remaining seven tracks in the Race to the Chase, Kurt Busch has nine career wins at the upcoming tracks. It's time for Newman's car to get very wide, and very fast!!

Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr, in 11th and Dale Earnhardt Jr in 12th looking over their shoulders, need to have consistent performances, good luck, and maybe a little bit of bad luck on other drivers cars to keep their spots.

Gateway 250

Reed Sorenson wins the Gateway 250 at Gateway International Raceway.

Steven Wallace had a brake problem on lap 5 and slammed the wall.
Scott Wimmer had cut a tire on lap 53.
Only 26 cars finished the race, and 14 of those were lead lap cars.

Reed was followed by Scott Wimmer, David Reutimann, Jason Leffler & David Ragan.
Carl Edwards finished 6th with a wrecked car.

Carl now has an 852 point lead on 2nd place!

http://www.nascar.com/
http://www.nascar.com/races/bg/2007/data/standings_unofficial.html Busch Point Standings
http://www.nascar.com/races/bg/2007/21/data/results_unofficial.html Race Results

Hornish Considering the Move to NASCAR

It's been said all over the media that Sam Hornish is looking at NASCAR. Here's a quote:

“One of the main reasons that I would even consider doing a stock-car program is again getting to the point that it’s racing but it’s still not the same thing,” Hornish said while sipping a diet drink in the coffee shop of his hotel. “It’s a different discipline you have to learn, the tools you have to use are different. There’s a lot of little things that you need to consider and adjust yourself for to be able to be competitive in that series.”

No sooner were those words out of his mouth than he added, “Just because someone is good in one thing doesn’t mean that they’re going to be good in another.”

And ain't that the truth. I have not seen anything even closely resembling great potential out of Hornish, but then again, look at Montoya. With a little patience, and driver development, maybe, just maybe, he can make it work in the Cup circuit!

Read the whole article at http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/5566.html

Kenny Wallace in a Childress Car

Now is the time to shine Kenny. He's driving the Childress #2 Busch Series car this weekend at Gateway!! Go Kenny!! Show 'em what you got!!

No Sleep for Jeff Gordon

Came across this PEOPLE magazine tidbit about Jeff Gordon and his newly acquired status of fatherhood!

Schrader Gets to Drive Again!!

BAM Racing has announced that former crewchief David Hyder will return to the fold this week, reuniting with former driver Kenny Schrader.

After being sidelined by the Woods brothers for jon Wood, and then Bill Elliott, Kenny gets to drive again!! Let's all cross our fingers that he gets good luck, great timing, and just a little bit of show for his efforts back at BAM.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007941512

Update: it's been noted that Ken Schrader is not confirmed to drive any races for the #49 at this point and BAM is talking to several drivers and plans to make an announcement next week.

Terry Labonte Subs for Waltrip

Terry Labonte, will drive the No. 55 NAPA Toyota in the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis instead of owner and regular driver Michael Waltrip.

nascar.com

Smith to Replace Marlin

Regan Smith will replace Sterling Marlin in the No. 14 car next week at Indianapolis, and Busch driver Aric Almirola will split time with Mark Martin in the No. 01 car as Ginn Racing continues its ongoing restructuring, NASCAR.COM has learned.

Read the rest at NASCAR

DEI & Ginn Merger

Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Ginn Racing are working on a merger agreement that, if finalized, would meld the two NASCAR organizations into a single company, multiple sources close to negotiations told ESPN.com on Monday.

The deal is not done, but a decision will be made soon. Both organizations hope, sources said, to firm up outstanding details and announce a partnership immediately.

See the rest of the story at espn

Evernham Racing Article

Came across a great, in-depth article on the state of the sponsors and interesting insights here, at http://www.speedtv.com/articles/nascar/nextel/38749/.

Here are some paragraph headers from the article:

-Evernham’s partnership agreement with Canadian investor George Gillett, Jr., is expected to close next week;
-The sale of Chrysler Group to investment-banking firm Cerberus Capital Partners
-Cerberus, an investor known for sharp cost-cutting of the companies it acquires
-There are other options for Kahne beyond Budweiser.
-Another sponsor said to be looking closely at Kahne’s car is Coca-Cola
-As far as Sadler’s No. 19 car, the leading candidate is candymaker M&M’s

Kyle Busch to be Released Early?

Hendrick Motorsports is considering letting Kyle Busch out of his contract with the team as early as Monday…essentially firing him.

And basically, after statements like: “I’m not helping anybody but myself and this team for winning races,”, what can one expect? See the article at AutoRacingSport.com

Almirola to Join Ginn Racing

Aric Almirola is set to join Ginn Racing next season to split the 2008 season in the organization’s No. 01 Chevrolet team with veteran Mark Martin, the Observer has learned.

See the article at: http://www.thatsracin.com/247/story/5495.html

Tony Stewart Wins at Chicagoland

TONY STEWART won the USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagloland Speedway.

This is his first win of the season, his 30th career win.
The other nine cars rounding out the top 10 are:17, 99, 29, 25, 2, 31, 12, 24 & 07.
Jr was the last car on the lead lap, in 19th after some power steering problems erupted in the later half of the race. Jimmie Johnson blew a tire and wrecked his car.

See the whole field finsihing spots at
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/19/data/results_unofficial.html

For points standings, see
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/data/standings_unofficial.html

DEI's New Driver

During the USG Sheetrock 400, TNT reported that DEI will be announcing in the next week and half or so, their new driver.

Hendrick Officials not Happy with Busch

To put it simply, the end of the article I read had this quote:

Duchardt said the words will soon have to stop.

"Obviously you can't continue the way it's going with his comments," he said. "Our goal was to finish out the season working just like we had at the beginning of the season. And if he's choosing to not be a teammate, then we're going to have to address how his role is going to be within the team and what he's going to need to do.

"It's a difficult situation being made more difficult than it needs to be."

See the whole article at SceneDaily

Kyle Busch - Making Himself so Desirable

It's one thing to be on the out, it's another to actually get hostile about it. We've all learned at one point or another that it is not productive to bash your soon to be ex employer, but we all have to learn that someday, and Kyle Busch will be learning it soon, I would assume.

Quotes from the Shrub, Kyle Busch:
-“I'm not helping anybody but myself and this team for winning races,”
-“And I'm not helping Jeff Gordon. I'm not helping Jimmie Johnson or Casey Mears. They are able to go back and see what I run and that kind of stuff. But for me, it's just to go out there and to try to win races and keep winning with my name.”
-"I don't even really talk about what my car does [ in meetings ] because they all seem to talk amongst themselves. I'm sort of just sitting there in the corner.”

Asked if he was concerned about how this could hurt his reputation with fans, Busch said, “My perception has been horrible since I came into this sport, so it doesn't really even matter any more.” (Ya know, you could at least try?)

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/nascar/nextel/38735/

Joe Nemechek Uncertain for 2008

With Joe Nemecheks contract with Ginn Racing set to expire at the end of this season and nothing in place for 2008, Joe Nemechek says he could soon consider himself a free agent.

"If I'm not [a free agent], time's getting pretty close," he said Saturday. "But I'd love to stay right where I'm at. We've got a great group of people over there. We've just had a tough year."

..... http://www.tbo.com/sports/autoracing/MGBW2HYY44F.html

NASCAR tracks in Google Earth

Info brought to you by Bruce Simmons:

To all you NASCAR fans who have mastered the ways of Google Earth, or barely figured out how to use it, I found an interesting link where someone has put together a file that loads all the tracks of NASCAR into Google Earth.

See the rest of this article at my new location at NBaP... NASCAR Tracks in Google Earth.

Busch Series USG Sheetrock 300

Kevin Harvick won the Busch Series USG Sheetrock 300 at Chicagoland today, followed by Kenseth, Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer & Kyle Busch. Here's the unofficial results at NASCAR

There were a few strong cars in the race, but Carl Edwards had issues with a loose wheel, then got a pit stop penalty from the loose wheel stop, relegating him to 20th.

Jeff Burton's car was the car to beat in my opinion, but on the last pit stop under caution, he didn't come in for tires like others did.

Here are some other race details:
http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2007/07/09/scene_daily1302.html
Here's a good write up also:
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=3&id=2936729

Oh, Carl Edwards lost points in this race, so he only leads the pack by 716 points. It must be nice to have that buffer!! Busch points

Stewart and Hamlin Finally Talk

Tony Stewart and Denny Hamline finally chatted during the final Cup practice at Chicagoland.

Here are some precious quotes from Denny:

“We just came to the realization that he’s wrong in a lot of areas and I’m wrong in some areas,” Hamlin said

Hamlin said the disagreements between the two began prior to Daytona. “He thought there were a lot of things that led up to it that kind of set him off and I questioned him,” Hamlin said of Stewart. “The end result is we got it all solved and resolved and I think we’re probably going to be better teammates than we were before.”

See the article at: Speed TV

Dale Earnhardt Jr. & Budweiser - No More?

As posted by Bruce Simmons

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he will not have a personal services agreement with Budweiser next season as originally planned.

Friday morning, Hendrick Motorsports announced that the beer company will not sponsor Earnhardt Jr.'s car in 2008. Later Friday at Chicagoland Speedway, Earnhardt Jr. said there was simply no room at Hendrick for the company that has adorned his NASCAR Cup cars since he began racing in the series in 1999.

Now, he'll end all association with Budweiser at the end of this season - but he doesn't plan to cut off the company.

See the entire article at

http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2007/07/09/scene_daily1286.html

This writer is shocked. I didn't see this coming!

Chicago - Race Line Up

Casey Mears wins another pole as he will lead the field in the USG Sheetrock 400 Chicagoland Speedway race to the green on Sunday.

Casey is followed up by
Martin Truex Jr., (No surprise?)
Ryan Newman, (Now can he take advantage of this spot?)
Mark Martin, (You go Mark!)
Dale Earnhardt Jr., (Motivated by Pepsi Products?)
Kyle Busch, (No plates here Kyle!!)
Clint Bowyer, (The ever quiet, always present black #7)
Jimmie Johnson, (He's in position to win from here!)
John Andretti & (Whoa!! Where'd he come from?)
Matt Kenseth (Another quiet, effective driver!!)

See the rest of the field at NASCAR.com

Budweiser and Evernham

It may seem, according to Ray Evernham, that the rumors of Evernham Motorsports being close to signing a deal with Budweiser for next season are unfounded.

"We have talked to Budweiser, but they have also spoken to five or six other teams in the Nextel Cup garage."

See DaveMoody's blog for the entire snippet.

Hamlin Taking the High Road

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin says he's trying to put his crash with teammate Tony Stewart in Saturday night's Pepsi 400 behind him and focusing on the future for both teams.

Despite the incident at Daytona, Hamlin, for his part, didn't assign blame or question his teammate following the incident or since. (He didn't have to, Stewart kept it alive himself!)

Hamlin noted: "[It] doesn't really matter how or why it happened, and there is no use pointing fingers. It's behind us now, we'll get back to do what this team does best, run consistently each weekend."

SceneDaily

Budweiser will not by Primary for Jr

brigning you the latest updates in the NASCAR world - by Bruce Simmons

Budweiser will not be Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s primary sponsor next year, Hendrick Motorsports confirmed Friday morning.

"We have agreements in place with sponsors for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season which prevent us from having a relationship with Budweiser," team owner Rick Hendrick said in a statement.

Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch, said Budweiser will remain "an active sponsor" in NASCAR.

"Budweiser has sponsored Dale Jr. for nearly a decade, and we wish him the very best," Ponturo said. "We look forward to building upon the legacy of the iconic Budweiser red car in 2008 and beyond."

And the fan crowd hangs it's head in despair. It is going to be an odd sight to see Jr in a car that is not all red with Budweiser as the primary sponsor on the sheet metal.

Read the whole article by David Poole at:
http://www.thatsracin.com/247/story/5431.html

F1 bails on U.S.

OK, maybe they didn't bail intentionally on us - -

Formula One’s attempt at extending into the United States has been put on hold because the U.S. Grand Prix won’t be back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next year.

Speedway CEO Tony George and F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone agreed not to schedule the event for 2008. The only U.S. race on the F1 schedule had a troubled eight years, including a 2005 fiasco when most drivers didn’t start the race. (THAT WAS A TIRE ISSUE, if I remember correctly) It drew by far the smallest crowds of the speedway’s events.

ThatsRacin

Aaron Fike Suspended

Aaron Fike, driver of the No. 1 Toyota in the Craftsman Truck Series, has been suspended indefinitely from NASCAR for violating Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the 2007 NASCAR Rule Book. The violation occurred July 7.

Cassandra Davidson, a crew member for the No. 1 team, has also been suspended indefinitely from NASCAR as a result of this same violation.

NASCAR.com

Kyle Busch Boat Troubles - False Report

There was a report earlier today that there was a BWI involving a boat owned by Kyle Busch....
UPDATE: Hendrick Motorsports reports Busch was NOT on the boat and it was not his boat.
The story was not double checked by the sources we all quoted. Arg...

New Driver for JR Motorsports

Brad Keselowski will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet, replacing Shane Huffman, in the next three Busch Series races for JR Motorsports, starting Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway. Keselowski will also pilot the car at Gateway International Raceway and O'Reilly Raceway Park.

If you remember, Keselowski ran real well in the last Craftsman Truck race, was leading until he got punted for the win by Kvapil.

"I've watched Brad for a while and he's shown a lot of promise in the few Busch races he's run," Dale Earnhardt Jr., said. "He became available at a time when we were looking to make some changes to our program and everything just lined up

RacingOne

Fike Released from Jail

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike and his fiancee were released Tuesday after spending the weekend in jail on drug charges, Fike's attorney said.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7009718

Gordon doesn't Call it Cheating

During an event in Florida, Jeff Gordon made the statement that when a pass rusher is caught for holding, they're penalized 10, 15 yards, but are not called cheaters.

The quote is:

"If a lineman holds a guy from getting to the quarterback, they give him a 15-yard, a 10-yard holding penalty. They don't call him a cheater," Gordon said. "That's the thing that upsets me. In racing, it's always been about trying to push the limits and, yes, sometimes you push it too far and NASCAR pulls you back.

"But, in this case, they're putting such harsh penalties out there and suspensions that it's making it look like we're the cheaters out there, and it's not the case at all. Everybody out there just pushes the envelope, and it shouldn't be considered cheating."

PittsburghLive

Stewart and Hamlin have yet to Talk

From what I hear, Stewart had an open invitation to Hamlin to call in on his Sirius Satellite show on Monday, but Denny apparently could not make it.

Stewart, according to articles, still seems to be pointing the finger in Hamlins direction, though he is not being so harsh about it now, and has declared his love for Denny, "Like a little brother", that is.

Here's what pickles me: Stewart says it's Hamlins fault.
Stewart says that for the 3 laps previous, he was catching him faster and faster in the mid part of the turn. (A clue maybe?)
Stewart says he could not stop, without gettig hit. (Though everyone else was able to avoid the sheet metal introduction between the 11 & the 20. Steel enima?)

And Tony keeps reiterating that Denny can be a better team mate! Does Tony want brake lights installed on the 11 car??

I just am not sure that when you punt the leader of the race, that it's not the 2nd place's car fault, but that's just my opinion.

SceneDaily

Marty Snider

Who is Marty Snider?

A Profile By Bruce E. Simmons

I've heard numerous complaints on air, or bulletin boards. I've also seen people praise his efforts. On occasion, I've heard his radio co-host, David Poole drop the hint that he's a very busy man and I've implied from other subtle statements that he's got his fingers in more than we know about up front. I wanted to know more about Marty, this guy I listen to on the radio every morning on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, or pit reporting on TV and so I dug around on the internet and came up with some info and wanted to share this with you.

See the rest of this profile on Marty Snider over at NASCAR Bits and Pieces.com.

Earnhardt, Budweiser, Kahne

Over on ESPN, Terry Blount and David Newton put together an article addressing the issue that Budweiser is possibly looking at Kasey Kahne's red #9 car to sponsor next year.

On top of that, it would seem (Or expected, as they write) that PepsiCo Inc., possibly with the Mountain Dew brand or a combination of Pepsi products, will sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr. next season in the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick.

The Dodge dealers, Evernhams sponsor would have to sign off on the move to allow Budweiser to move to Kahne's car.

One source close to the negotiations told ESPN.com that it's still possible Budweiser could stay at Dale Earnhardt Inc., depending on whom DEI signs to replace Earnhardt.

Budweiser officials now have targeted four other drivers they would consider sponsoring next season, including Kahne. The other three drivers are not known.

The aritlce, in it's detailed enirety is here on ESPN, because this writer is taking this with a grain of salt.

Kyle Busch Not Getting It?

Observation by Bruce Simmons

I came across an AOL SPORTS article touching on Kyle Busch's expectant perspective that his team mates should have been pushing him to the win on Saturday night, when in fact, maybe, they were driving for their own win, being the individual racers that we all expect them to be when flag end is in sight! (Go figure)

As the article's writer puts it about the last lap of the Daytona (Or any restrictor plate) race, ... the moonshiner, pulling out all the stops to outrun the revenuer, emerges when the checkered flag beckons?

But yet, there were gentlemen in the crowd, as they didn't break ranks in the rush, was Carl Edwards, who graciously assisted teammate McMurray en route to a win while Carl drove to fourth place, and Kurt was there for his brother, but as I've heard too many times in interviews with Kyle, he was pretty intent on catching the side draft from McMurray, and I add - rather than staying in front of his brother and letting him push him to the win. (At least in my humble opinion.)

Here's the article, at AOL SPORTS, and there's a survey asking your opinion on who you think is the worst team mate, and it turns out that we all think..... oh, you'll see.

Husband of ISC exec killed in Plane Accident

A small plane carrying the husband of a NASCAR executive crashed into a neighborhood while trying to make an emergency landing Tuesday, killing five people and starting two house fires that seriously burned three other people, authorities said.

NASCAR confirmed that Dr. Bruce Kennedy, a Daytona Beach plastic surgeon and husband of International Speedway Corporation President Lesa France Kennedy, and NASCAR Aviation pilot Michael Klemm were among the dead. via Fox Sports

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/breakingnews/crash071007.htm

Our prayers go out to everyone involved. ~ Bruce Simmons

Fike Being Held

NASCAR is investigating an incident where Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike was arrested over the weekend on charges for possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia while at Kings Island, an amusement park in Ohio.

Fike, 24, is being held without bond at the Warren County Jail in Lebanon, Ohio, and will be arraigned at 9 a.m. ET Tuesday. Meanwhile, NASCAR is making arrangements to have the driver drug tested by an independent laboratory.

The article goes on to talk about how NASCAR handles drivers with substance issues, and that they try to work with people, but they only get 2 shots at it. 3 strikes, and they're gone, much like Shane Hmeil back in early 2006.

Other drivers who have been suspended from NASCAR for substance abuse issues are Brian Rose, Sammy Potashnick and Kevin Grubb. Rose and Potashnick never returned to the track. Grubb did return, but was suspended indefinitely on Sept. 12, 2006, after refusing to take a drug test. It was his second suspension.

NASCAR

Ginn Racing Scrambling

Mark Martin went on board with Ginn Racing. And he's made quite the impact there.
Ginn Racing has doubled their # of employees.
But now they're scrambling, it seems, to get sponsorship for their 3rd car, and think they have a sponsor lined up for Sterling Marlin for the rest of the year.
Jay Frye, the CEO of Ginn Racing keeps hearing that they are in trouble, but denies the reports. (Nevermind the staff layoff a few days back, huh?)
In an interesting sales pitch, he says his team is a great place for sponsors to be, as they don't gouge people. (Ouch, what are you saying Jay?)

You can read all the details at ESPN

Bill Elliott Backs out of Arrangement

Riverside International Speedway regrets to announce the cancellation of Bill Elliott's appearance at this year's heavily anticipated IWK 250 Pro All Stars Series (PASS) race, scheduled for Saturday, July 21 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

Riverside Speedway received in writing the cancellation notice from Mr. Elliott late Friday. In his statement he said, "There is no way I am going to Nova Scotia to race that weekend…I am too busy."

(Well, Bill doesn't mince words!)

This comes after Riverside secured his appearance on April 27, 2007 with an extra-cost no-cancellation guarantee. (Oh boy!) See the rest at
http://www.riversidespeedway.ca/bill%20elliott%20cancels.html

Kyle Busch Front Springs OK

NASCAR has determined the springs it confiscated from the No. 5 Busch Series Chevrolet of Kyle Busch after last Saturday's race at Daytona International Speedway are legal.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7007194

And that's good because he's got enough going on in his days.

David Green to Drive the Red Horse Truck

Red Horse Racing announced today that Kentucky’s own David Green will be behind the wheel of the No. 1 RFMS/Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra for the Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers on Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway.... redhorseracing

Red Horse Racing statement regarding Aaron Fike arrest
redhorseracing

Aaron Fike Arrested

It's been reported that Aaron Fike has been arrested in Cincinnati, Ohio, charged with possession of heroin and drug abuse instruments.

Fike drives the No 1 truck, the Toyota Red Horse Racing truck.

Of course, pending a NASCAR investigation, he may be suspended, or what ever action is deemed necessary, Ramsey Poston, of NASCAR, stated on July 8th.

If true, if this pans out to what it seems, what a shame. See the article at scenedaily
or here, at wcpo. There are some down right gritty pics of Aaron and his associate.

Kyle Busch Springs Confiscated

I was listening to Sirius today and in the background, (I admit it, the radio was on, but I was lolly-gagging about) I heard that springs from a Hendricks car was confiscated after a race.

Not sure if it was the Busch race or Cup race. Will let you know if I find anything out!

Ahah!! found it -

Following postrace inspection, NASCAR inspectors confiscated the front springs of Kyle Busch's winning No. 5 Busch Series car and dispatched them to NASCAR's Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C., for further evaluation . . .

It's at the bottom of the boston.com page: boston

Bruce

Notes on the TNT Coverage

by Bruce Simmons, July 8, 2007

Well, I tried to embrace it, and I appreciated it, but the TNT full time coverage drove me a little nuts.

For one, the 3 required breaks by cable providers:
So much for commercial free, which is what I thought I was going to get.

Ads in the corner, out of the way while we continue to watch the race:
I liked that, but there was the Toyota ad that showed the making of one of their newer commercials, and there was a lot of text to read, and, well, you could not read it. Yep, I tried, and actually wanted to read it, but it is what it is. I hope Toyota isn't too miffed.

The Action in the background:
Not bad, to be able to see the race all the time, but during a break where we are hearing the ad, but on a few occassions, it was maddening, to watch Jr pull down to the inside and fall off the pace, or to watch Jamie McMurray to pull down to the inside and make an unscheduled pit stop, and not know why until the ad words were over.

The running order off to the side:
It was great to see the running order scroll by and not have it obscure part of the racing action.

The picture format:
It worked for me.

Overall, it was good to see the whole race most of the time, and on occassion, a little maddening to see something happen and not know why, but we got a lot more racing coverage than normal, and that, I apprecaited.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 4.

Series Title Name Change Announced to Sprint

Well, in 2008 the Cup series will have yet another name once again.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

It was announced Saturday at Daytona that this name change will be effective January 1, 2008.

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/07/07/sprint.cup/index.html

DEI, the #8, Number Legacy

By Bruce Simmons, July 8, 2007

Over on NASCAR.com, there's an article stating that DEI has re-signed Bass Pro Shops to the #1 car, and later on in the article, it touches on the number 8 scenario.

Max Siegel says the issue isn't a simple one. "It's more complicated than people give it credit for."

"There's a lot of history, there's a legacy, there's emotion, there's commercial value to everyone involved. The one thing that I know is that, throughout every process we've had, everyone's been committed to doing the right thing."

Maybe I'm winding up over nothing, but the history of the number is that is was used by an Earnhardt driving it. Jr has driven in the #8 for DEI, but his father drove the eight under a different car owner, and so did his grandfather. And Siegel, I hope isn't counting when Joe Weatherly used the number.

The legacy Siegel quotes is what I just noted. It's been driven by the family, known by fans as the number on the Earnhardt side. But it's an emotional legacy. The number 8 legacy has been on the side of multiple drivers through the years.

2000 - 2007: Dale Earnhardt Jr.;
1998: Morgan Shepherd, Buckshot Jones & Hut Stricklin;
1996-7: Hut Stricklin;
1994-5: Jeff Burton;
1993: Sterling Marlin;
1992: Dick Trickle & Rick Wilson;
1991: Rick Wilson;
1983 - 1990: Bobby Hillin, Jr;
1982: Dick Brooks & Bobby Hillin, Jr;
1981: Jimmy Means, Dick May, Rick O'Dell & Kirk Shelmerdine;
1980: Kevin Housby & James Hylton;
1979: Ed Negre;
1978: Ferrel Harris, Ed Negre, Skip Manning, Dick May;
1977: Ed Negre;
1976: Ed Negre & Gary Matthews;
1975: Ed Negre, Dale Earnhardt, Dick May & Dean Dalton;

What legacy are we talking about Max?

Here's where I get spinning up: "there's emotion, there's commercial value to everyone involved." The commercial value I see is the strong association of the number to the color red, to the sponsor Budweiser, and to the driver, Dale Earnahrdt Jr. with the fans.

Now mind you, I'm no marketing guru or image spin master, but I'm thinking the only imaginable commercial value to DEI the number would hold, would be to draw new fans who have heard of the #, to the teams fan base, or as a commodity to be bartered for with Hendrcik Motorsports. If DEI retains the 8, it will be a cost value for them while it's still a flash in the pan, but it will fade, and with it, any form of appreciation of the team known as DEI.

Like I said, there may be more to it, but that's what I'm seeing as I read the article I came across. Here's the article: nascar

Did Kyle Busch have no Team Help?

After the Pepsi 400, Kyle Busch, in his ever usual, quiet, reserved commentary (NOT!!) noted that it looked like "We just didn't quite have the teammate situation worked out [Saturday night]".

And further statements made by Kyle:
"Walking down pit road, saying congratulations to Jeff Gordon, I got blown off," Busch said. "I guess I'm the outsider looking in now and I'll probably not be invited to the team meetings next week."

While I was watching the race, I got caught up in the whole front pack dealing spots out with the draft and missed it, but as I read the article, it seems that, like with Vickers, it's possible the Hendrick Motorsports cold shoulder may be coming his way.

If you remember, Vickers was ousted from team meetings near the end of his contract, and I'm wondering if it's possible that Kyle may start seeing that also. HMS quoted the premise of protecting proprietary information for the reason Vickers was not admitted to the team meetings.

"There were a few opportunities for them to get behind me at the end," Busch said. "[Gordon] especially, we were running there behind him and he got passed by [McMurray].

"I was on the inside lane and Jeff was clear a lap later and could have helped us and gotten three Hendrick cars in a row but chose not to do so. He chose to stay up high and help a Roush car.".

See the entire Kyle article, by Mark Aumann at nascar

Point Standings After the Pepsi 400

The top 12 did not change and in fact, the only changes in the top 12 were amongst 6 through 10.

Here are the too 15 in points:
Pos, change, Name, Points, Pts Behind Leader
1--Jeff Gordon, 2773, Leader
2--Denny Hamlin, 2496, -277
3--Matt Kenseth, 2390, -383
4--Jimmie Johnson, 2366-407
5--Jeff Burton, 2345-428
6+1Carl Edwards, 2308-465
7-1Tony Stewart, 2234-539
8+2Kyle Busch, 2190-583
9-1Kevin Harvick, 2172-601
10-1Martin Truex Jr., 2157-616
11--Clint Bowyer, 2142-631
12--Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2040-733
13+1Jamie McMurray, 1991-782
14-1Ryan Newman, 1979-794
15--Kurt Busch1919-854

See the whole list at http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/data/standings_unofficial.html

Stewart and Hamlin at Daytona

With Denny Hamlin leading the pack for 10 laps, on lap 14 of the race, it looked like Tony Stewart got a run on Denny and in passing him, snagged his fender and into the wall they both went, taking them both out of contention.

In ensuing interviews, Tony Stewart railed on Denny saying "The 11 car decided to stop in turn 4 in front of 42 other cars. He tried wrecking me earlier this week and finished us off tonight. Hamlin doesn’t know the definition of team right now."

In a subsequent interview with Denny Hamlin, Denny said he wasn't doing anything different than any other lap, as he was getting tighter as the laps went on.

So Tony Stewart, yet again, drives through another car with tire issues, (Hey Denny, call David Gilliland... you can be in the same club!!), and blames the other guy. Dude, I know you're good, but you have got to put a restrictor sole on your driving shoe and quit driving through people.

But then, it's never his fault, is it?

UPDATE: Here's the NASCAR.com article about the incident: nascar

Pepsi 400 Notes, Results, Recap

The Pepsi 400, at Daytona International raceway started, and this writer watched with intrepidation, worried about any chance of rain, Jeff Gordon led the field of 43 cars across the start finish line for July night racing, under the lights, sparks flying, paint schemes swapping fenders, for 160 laps.

Early on, the fan favorite to win, Tony Stewart took out his team mate, and of course, blamed Denny Hamlin for running through him. This incident also took Dale Earnhardt Jr out of contention as he got caught up in the crash splatter.

On Lap 34, Jamie McMurray was black flagged for passing someone with his left side tires ON or below the yellow line!

On Lap 56, Juan Montoya slid up into Kevin Harvick, taking him into the wall, and out of contention.

With 29 to go, Reutimann slid up into the wall, and as Bobby Labonte ducked below him, Juan Montoya drove through Labonte, taking him out of the race.

With 20 to go, I thought I saw Kyle Busch do the same thing passing someone the way Jamie McMurray did when he got black flagged, but no penalties. No mention. I could have seen wrong.

In the last 30 laps, we saw 3 yellows. The top 10 in the pack were all over each other, as Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle were like one big mass in those closing laps, and in the end, with Jamie and Kyle side by side for the last couple of laps.

IN a last lap push, side by side, Kyle moved up into Jamie to suck the draft off of him coming off of turn 4. I thought Jamie was done, but in so doing, Kyle lost his brothers push draft for just long enough, and Jamie McMurray, with Carl Edwards behind him, drove to the 2nd closest finishing win in NASCAR history (Since they started electronic timing in the 90's. BTW, Kurt was involved in the closest timed finish ever, losing to Ricky Craven at Darlington. The Busch brothers are officially in the record book!)

These last few laps were as intense a set of laps this writer has ever watched, with so many cars at each others throats, all of them, a potential winner in a few laps.

Jamie McMurray, recovering from his pass through penalty, wins the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer (On his wheels this time!), Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top 10 unnofficial spots!

The time span between 1st and 29th was 2.7 seconds, with 30 cars on the lead lap! This was a great restrictor plate race, the last one, for this era car. An excellent closing statement for this body type.

Here are the unofficial results:
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/18/data/results_unofficial.html

by Bruce Simmons, the Fan Reporter.

Win Dixie 250 Busch Daytona Race

Wow, was I snoozing at the wheel!! I missed the race itself, but here's the tidbits for Winn-Dixie 250:

Kyle Busch Wins - followed by Kevin Harvick, Dave Blaney, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Reed Sorenson, Casey Mears, Jason Leffler & David Gilliland rounded out the top 10.

http://www.nascar.com/races/bg/2007/19/data/results_unofficial.html

~~~~

6 cars did not complete the entire race, but since they did not all go out at the same time, I can only assume there was no real big wreck.

Your author is pretty ticked he missed this.. arg....

Ah, I couldn't find a write up on nascar.com, but I did find this:

Kyle Busch held off a late charge by Kevin Harvick in a green/white/checkered finish to win Saturday's rain delayed Winn-Dixie 250 NASCAR Busch Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Despite having the dominant car, Busch was made to work in the final restart by Harvick. After the final caution of the day, due to a spin by Juan Pablo Montoya on Lap 97, Busch restarted from the lead and kept his line while Harvick stepped out in an effort to make a pass. Unable to get the momentum needed, Harvick settled behind Busch.

See the entire write up on http://www.racingone.com/article.aspx?artnum=36662

(Of course, at the moment, my comcast cable went down and I can't post now.. so much for early information for you folks.. arghh.)

Rain Rain go Away

Cup Qualifying was canceled, the field was set by points.
The Busch race was postponed until Saturday.
(My usual, optimistc self is expecting rain tomorrow too)
Arg.

SPRINT Sponsor News

Well, here's one for you that might make you worry about our lead sponsor:

One of the most frequent complaints levied against wireless provider Sprint is the lengthy waits experienced when calling into its customer service department. Sprint is taking a strong stance and making a major change to solve the problem, though perhaps not in the way you might be expecting. The company has decided to cancel the accounts of subscribers who it feels call customer service too frequently. According to BetaNews, letters were sent out on June 29 to 'problem' subscribers notifying them of the termination of their service, which goes into effect at the end of this month. It's not known how many customers received Sprint's Dear John letter, which read, "The number of inquiries you have made to us during this time has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs."

See the entire article at switched.
Now that's how you endear customers to you!! NOT!

An Observation from Bruce about the COT and Robby Gordon

I don't know if anyone has noticed or not, but Robby Gordon's team seems to appreciate the COT, being as how they run a whole lot better in the COT races than in today's car (TC) races.

In some way, this could be a testament to the COT leveling the playing field, but it could also just be that Robby's team just took to it better and Robby can demonstrate his "Up on the Wheel" skills.

I did say earlier on this season that the COT will bring the real "wheel men" to the surface, and this may be just that.

Cup Series New Name

According to David Poole of The Charlotte Observer, A new name for the Nextel Cup Series will likely be announced at a news conference Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com reported in March (ESPN reported it June 21) that Sprint Nextel would likely change the name of NASCAR's top series to Sprint Cup.

See the article at http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/5275.html

Ginn Racing Woes

I'm surprised to see this, considering how much effort they are putting into Mark Martins track time, and how willing they were to throw money at Jr to get him to their shop, (According to news sources) but it seems that maybe they've thrown too much money at Martin as Ginn Racing has layed off some shop staff!!

Several in-shop employees were laid off this week from Ginn Racing as part of a re-evaluation of its organization, team officials confirmed Thursday.

Team manager Jay Frye said last week the organization may have grown too fast and a re-evaluation was in order, particularly since two of its three Cup teams lacked full-time sponsors this season.

See the rest at http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/5300.html

Crew Chiefs banned from Tracks

I think the title says it all, but in my meager little world, that's what I thought these suspensions meant to begin with. Eh, what do I know?

NASCAR vice president for corporate communications Jim Hunter said on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway that suspended crew chiefs should stay away from the racetrack, or risk further sanctions.

...

Hunter said no further announcements were forthcoming on the subject, but that Knaus and Letarte, who are suspended for four more races after Saturday night's Pepsi 400, should take heed.

(In my mind, chiefs still being at the track while "suspended", are just them thumbing their noses at NASCAR in complete disrespect.)

See the whole article at nascar.com

More Penalties for Hendrick

If NASCAR can determine that the Hendrick crew chiefs that were suspended a week previous, were actually at the track, (New Hampshire) for the race, running things from their motor coaches, they may look at taking more action in regards to such a bone head move.

We'll see.... ocregister.com

Earnhardt Jr and Adidas

According to ESPN site write Marty Smith, and his sources, Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Friday will announce a personal services agreement with clothing manufacturer adidas.

The sources said adidas will manufacture Earnhardt's fire retardant driving suits and shoes, and the Nextel Cup star will be involved in promoting specific consumer apparel.

This is the 2nd big endorsement, as Sony was the first.

No word on his primary car sponsor yet.. but we're waiting, patiently.. right?

sports.espn.go.com

Penalties for Busch and Sauter

NASCAR issued penalties and fines to the No. 5 and No. 70

Both cars -- the No. 5 Chevrolet driven by Kyle Busch and the No. 70 Chevrolet driven by Johnny Sauter -- were found to be in violation of a much quoted, little seen rule book, Sections
12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing);
12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules); and
(So what happens when they hit 12-4-Z? Do we go to 12-5 or 12-4.1x?)
20-12.8.1B, COT Technical Bulletin #3, dated 4/10/07 (failed to meet the minimum front car heights) of the 2007 NASCAR rule book.

The violations were found during post-race inspections after the New Hampshire race.

Both drivers have been penalized 25 driver points.
Their crew chiefs -- Alan Gustafson and Robert "Bootie" Barker -- have each been fined $25,000 and placed on probation until Sept. 19.

Busch drops from ninth in 10th in the point standings as a result.

In addition, Rick Hendrick, owner of the No. 5, has been penalized 25 (more) car owner championship points as has Joe Custer, the owner of the No. 70.

Each driver's finish in Sunday's race -- 11th for Busch and 14th for Sauter -- will stand.

Bruce's Note:
And now it begins. Is this consistent with NASCAR's stance about COT penalties or is this realistic with the type of infraction? And why do finishing positions stand? In recent years, have we ever seen a position taken from a driver? Of course, has it ever been warranted? I can only hope that the day comes that they do find something serious after a race, that the position is taken away from the driver. That would then validate their web postings of "Unnofficial" results and point standings that they so diligently state after each event.

Weather for Pepsi 400

So far, it does not look good, per the weather channel as they are predicting for Friday through Sunday, a high of 89 degrees, and scattered thunderstorms. Grr.

www.weather.com

Transformers Movie Review

What? Why would I put a movie review of the new movie Transformser, here in my NASCAR site?

I have only one (OK, maybe two) excuses.

An awesome movie for the fun, and Optimus Prime looks like Jeff Gordon's paint scheme.

My review is short and to the point, and gives absolutely nothing away, so if you're looking for that, this ain't it.

See it here, at: transformers-review

NASCAR considering Stiffer COT Penalties

It looks like they've been reading my blog finally!!

OK, all joking aside, NASCAR has not ruled out suspending drivers as a deterrent for cheating on the Car of Tomorrow.

Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were all docked 100 points from failed COT inspections. Their crew chiefs were fined $100,000 and suspended six races a piece, but the drivers have been allowed to compete and all three are in contention for the Chase for the championship. (In which is where I say, how's this impacting the teams for "cheating"?) And it was reported that the Hendricks chiefs were AT New Hampshire in motor coaches.. how the heck does that deter teams??

France said they don't want to get to the stage of suspending drivers, but they are still looking at how to make the penalties more of a deterrent, and it seems they may be willing to suspend drivers as an option.'

(You could always take my idea and run with it Brian: Not allowing the first string pit crew members from competing.)

For more of this article, go to: nascar.com

JRM - Huffman Out, Jr In

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive his own race car Friday night when he replaces Shane Huffman in the Busch Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Earnhardt will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet and said Tuesday he is searching for a permanent replacement for Huffman.

"Upon a midseason evaluation of the performance of this race team, we decided we needed to make a change, and right now we have a window to do that," Earnhardt said Tuesday. "Because of the short notice, I am going to drive the Navy car Friday night at Daytona."

See the rest at nascar.com