Nationwide's "Dash 4 Cash" is Back!

Hey, if you were wondering when NASCAR's "Dash 4 Cash" (D4C) contest is coming back, wonder no more.  Look for it at the June 28th race at Kentucky, and if you're extremely lucky, (I'm never lucky), one fan will be going home with one hundred grand in their pocket!

OK, well, maybe not literally in their pocket, what with electronic deposits and all these days.

Press release below:

There will be more on the line June 28 during the NASCAR Nationwide Series Feed the Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway than most races.

This year, the Kentucky race will be the qualifier for the “Dash 4 Cash,” the beginning of the popular NASCAR Nationwide Series program that could result in a $1 million payout to one talented driver. Kentucky will determine the four eligible drivers that could win one of the four $100,000 payouts that make up the program beginning July 5 at Daytona.

Following Daytona, the next three series races are Dash 4 Cash (D4C) events: July 13 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, July 21 at Chicagoland Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27.

Last August, Sam Hornish Jr. was the highest-finishing points-eligible driver in the final D4C race at Iowa Speedway – which paid him and his fan partner, Tammy Altieri, $100,000 each.

“We had a lot of good races throughout that stretch last season,” said Hornish Jr., currently second in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings. “We were finally able to win the Dash 4 Cash bonus at Iowa. For us, it is great because it is a nice bonus, but at the end of the day to be able to give the fan a $100,000 as well was awesome. She was so excited and it was truly life changing for her. Nationwide Insurance and their commitment to this series is unprecedented.”

Here’s how the Dash 4 Cash (Twitter – #Dash4Cash) program works:

·         The top-four finishers in the Kentucky race who are eligible to receive NASCAR Nationwide Series championship driver points will qualify for the first D4C race at Daytona International Speedway.

·         The highest finisher of those four drivers at Daytona – he or she does not have to win the race – will win the first $100,000 D4C award and automatically qualify for the next event at New Hampshire. Additionally, the top-three finishing points-eligible drivers at Daytona will also qualify for the race at New Hampshire.

·         Those rules will apply for the remaining three events. If one driver wins the first three D4C awards and then wins the Indianapolis race outright, Nationwide Insurance will award the driver an additional $600,000 bonus, bringing the total payout to $1 million.

Fans can apply to be a part of the action by entering the NASCAR Nationwide Series $100,000 Sweepstakes at 
www.nascar.com/Dash4Cash. 
Four lucky individuals and a guest will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the final D4C event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during Super Weekend at the Brickyard. The four fans will be randomly paired with the four eligible D4C drivers for that race, and the fan whose driver wins the D4C award will also go home with a check for $100,000, like Altieri did last year.

“The Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash program is something that is unique to the racing community in general,” said top-five points contender Justin Allgaier. “I have not seen a title sponsor develop a program quite like this is. The money part is really cool, but the prestige and the want to win it is the biggest part. We’ve been fortunate to qualify for it several times, but I have also been on the outside looking in. Hoping this year we can qualify for all four races and go for the big bonus at the end.”

The next NASCAR Nationwide Series race will be the DuPont Pioneer 250 at Iowa Speedway on June 8 at 8 p.m. ET, broadcast on ESPN, Motor Racing Network Radio and Sirius XM Satellite Radio with additional coverage on NASCAR.COM.

-Bruce

Nationwide Stand Alone Season Commences

What in the blazes are we at NBAP's talking about, a stand alone Nationwide season?

Nashville Superspeedway hosts the traditional start of what is referred to as the stand-alone season, the first of nine such races on the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule.

The race at Nashville brings a bit more to the table, too.

It’s Nationwide’s inaugural “Dash 4 Cash” race where eligible drivers (full time series regulars and part-time or limited series-only regulars) can pocket a $25,000 bonus with a win.

Other Dash 4 Cash tracks are Kentucky Speedway, Iowa Speedway and Memphis Motorsports Park.

Image: Brad Kesolowski practicing at Nashville. Photo Credit: Dak Dillon for NASCAR

Nationwide Series Driver: Alex Garcia

ALEX GARCIA is the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver of the No. 98 Transnet Racing Chevrolet.

The team has been a part time team in '07 and '08. He thought they had a full time sponsor this year, but things are up in the air right now. He's hoping to debut at California though if they skip Daytona.

we should be able to debut. So I'm looking at the possibility of skipping Daytona and starting with California on. And we'll see how it goes. But that's where I'm at. It's just been interesting, a little bit of up and down. I was very excited about the opportunity to go full time, and now it's a little bit up in the air.

But we're hoping that it'll come together for us.

Even a sponsor that has been with him for six years is having a tough time committing to what they agreed to initially, and it's understandable.

Getting creative to stay in a car, he has an opportunity to do the road courses in the Cup Series.

Despite the issues abound, he's got a great attitude as he looks at any opportunity to go full time, regardless of the series. A real racers heart if you ask me.

His team will be similar to what he's had in the past. Despite his opportunistic eye, his focus is on the Nationwide series if that is what in the cards for him in '09.

Good luck Alex.

Image: Getty Images for NASCAR

Nationwide Driver: John Wes Townley

In a recent interview, John Wes Townley, a Nationwide driver who will be competing for Rookie of the Year this year.

He'll be competing in the ARCA Race at Daytona, being that he's currently not approved to drive in the Nationwide Series Race at Daytona but he will be starting his season at California.

Some inside info is that he just went through some LASIK surgery and is recouping from the process. His outlook on the year is a good one. After the ARCA race, all his other official events will be in the Nationwide series, starting at California.

From moving up in the ranks, he credits the ARCA series for his developing skills that are applicable to NASCAR because they race on a lot of the same tracks NASCAR does. That's valuable track time.

He realizes this year will be a big learning curve. The process will involve keeping the car out of trouble while he competes for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year.

In addition to his NASCAR schedule, he'll be running one or two ARCA Races and maybe some late model races.

He thinks they have a fair chance to be competitive for the rookie award. He'll be driving for RAB Racing in the Zaxby's sponsored No. 209 car.

Good luck this year John.

Nationwide Bits And Pieces

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Brad Keselowski Primed To Snag A Championship Of His Own

Last year in his first full-time season in the Nationwide series, Brad Keselowski posted his first two wins, first pole, 11 top fives and 20 top-10 finishes and was voted by the fans as the series' Most Popular Driver.

Keselowski ended the season third in the final standings.

Now with Brad in the mix, there will almost certainly be a repeat of the great late-season battle – with a seasoned Keselowski in that mix.

Do you think he can do it?


Do You Think 2009 Will Be The Best Owner Championship Battle Ever?

The series recently has become known for its split championships among drivers and owners and that streak could very well run to three consecutive shared championships in 2009. Over the last two seasons – and three times overall – there have been split titles.

The No. 20 GameStop Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing, the present reigning owner champion, will have drivers Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Brad Coleman representing! Gibbs racing will also have Kyle Busch's No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota in the fray.

While Carl Edwards is determined to "unify" the title for the first time in three years, the No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet, (2007 owner champion), is a big favorite. Jeff Burton will join forces with Bowyer and Stephen Leicht to try and bring Richard Childress his second series owner championship.


Now Introducing …

Full-time newcomers in 2009 include a pair of 22-year-olds.

Justin Allgaier moves from ARCA to Penske Racing.

Michael Annett is helming his first full-time opportunity with Germain Racing.

John Wes Townley, another ARCA alum who turned 19 on New Year's Eve, announced a full-time schedule with RAB Racing.

Erik Darnell and Brendan Gaughan, move to the NASCAR Nationwide Series from the Camping World Truck Series. Darnell will share the No. 6 Ford with David Ragan while Gaughan will join young veteran Steve Wallace as a teammate with Rusty Wallace Racing.

The series will have a new venue this season when it hits up Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa for the inaugural series event Aug. 1.

source: NASCAR Media

Nationwide and Truck News From Saturday, the 9th of August

NATIONWIDE:
STP Gets Back to Victory Circle!!
Wow, when I think of Watkins Glen, I think of road course. Makes sense, doesn't it. I mean, it is a road course. But by the end of the Nationwide "road course" race, the Zippo 200, I thought I had just finished watching a Bristol race!

We had drivers dumping drivers, NASCAR warning drivers to temper it, NASCAR putting drivers to the back of the field for not tempering it, cars in the air after ramming other cars, fenders flapping in the breeze on three cars after the car ramming incident and at the end of the race, if you get your browser on some pics of the race, some of the cars look like they've been through the tumble dry setting of a very angry clothes dryer. Yea, this was fun. Heck, the right side of the 59 car looked like the Hulk was mad at the puny human inside the car!

In the end, "In his 59th Nationwide Series start in the No. 59 Ford, Ambrose won." Too cool... followed up by Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick & Dario Franchitti who all survived the gas mileage gambit of the race.

(BTW: Joey Logano finished 7th.)

The one item that got me curious was Ryan Newman driving the Fitz #22 entry. The reports say he just wanted seat time for Sunday, but heck, the last time someone drove another teams car, he ended up going to that team! (Dale Earnhardt Jr. driving Kyle Busch's beat up car.) But I can't see Newman headed to Fitz. It makes no sense.

Clint Bowyer retains a 128 point lead over Keselowski in the driver points standings after yesterday's race.

See more details over on NASCAR.com
Results
Standings

TRUCK SERIES
After passing Erik Darnell in the closing laps of the Toyota Tundra 200, Johnny Benson put another notch in the records book, becoming the 5th driver to win three races in a row. He joins Mike Skinner (1996 and 2007), Ron Hornaday (1997), Greg Biffle (2000) and Todd Bodine (2005) with this win.

Behind Benson for the top 5 were Erik Darnell, Todd Bodine, Jack Sprague & Ron Hornaday.

This puts Benson 45 points up on Hornaday in the point standings, for now.

For details on the race, check our NASCAR.com.
Results
Standings