Nextel Cup| Jayski's Cup Series News | |
| Some Pocono schemes added | |
| - | #1 TomTom, #7 Pittsburgh Paints, #39 Haas Demo Day, #44 Stanley Tools, #51 LiveWire and #64 Silver Toyota, see my Paint Scheme Gallery. |
| Commercial breakdown, driver focus, and links related to the Pocono 500 | |
| - | Start time to record race/commercial periods: 2:00pm End time to record race/commercial periods: 5:57pm Total number of commercials: 141 Total number of companies or entities advertised: 73 Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 20 Total minutes: 237 Minutes of race broadcast: 170 Minutes of commercials: 67 Number of missed restarts: 0 Number of mystery cautions (no debris shown): 2 Total race brdcst time 170 Total comm. brdcst time 67 See report and link on my TV Commercials page.(6-8-2009) Comment here |
| Long speaks to Dave Despain on Wind Tunnel: | |
| - | Part-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Carl Long (Carl-long.com - donation info there) joined Dave Despain in-studio Sunday night on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain to discuss his recent NASCAR penalty for an oversized Cup engine during NASCAR Sprint All-Star weekend. Long's appeal was heard but the penalties, including his suspension and $200,000 fine, were upheld. Dave Despain: You've been vocal in criticizing the penalty here. What do you think should have happened? Had you been NASCAR, what would you have done? Carl Long: "Kept the engine. Some infraction but not near what we got from this deal." Despain: Less penalty? Long: "Yeah, I've been vocal. It was an All-Star Race and in no other All-Star event in any sport does it affect the regular season, so I asked them to change the rules. That didn't work out too well, either." Despain (reading NASCAR statement): Nothing has changed. There have always been severe penalties for attempting to manipulate engine, tires or fuel. Do you have any reaction to that? Long: "Somewhat. I think that when Richard Petty won the race, he won the race when Bodine did what he did. They were in competition. This was in practice and anyone in the garage area knows my circumstances and why I'm there. The rules are written for what they are but the bottom line is it always has 'at NASCAR's discretion.' There's a few things - 'Hey, get this fixed before you come back through tech. Fix this before next week.' So, I was wrong by expecting to get something out of it. A rule is a rule - that's what they said. That's the way it's got to be. There's no other game in town, so what do you do?" Despain: Richard Petty, when he won his 198th race, I think it was, with a huge motor at Charlotte, got a $35,000 fine, which was a record at the time, and they took away 104 points. So, there's that. When you appealed it, did you think something was going to happen? Long: "I expected a reduction. I expected the suspension to be dropped or at least the four weeks like Geoff Bodine and Junior Johnson had. I thought about a lot of things but none of them seemed to happen except the infraction got rolled over to a Sprint Cup Series rule and that was the first time I'd seen that happen." Despain: They took your original NASCAR suspension, which was 12 weeks, and applied it only to Sprint Cup, meaning you can still work in Truck and Nationwide. How does that change in the suspension affect your life? Does it help? Long: "A little. It will allow me to go with our Nationwide team but at the same time, if I'm spotting for our Nationwide team, are they going to kick me out of the flagman's stand if I'm spotting for the Cup team when they change practice sessions? It's been pretty tough because when I go to the race track, if I was going cheated, I was going to go 'big cheated' and if I got kicked out I had every opportunity to load up and go the house and we didn't. So, here I am and we can't pay the fine, so we're just out of NASCAR." Despain: Does Ernie Elliott have a role in this? Does the engine builder have any responsibility in your mind? Long: "I tried to see if NASCAR, when I lobbied the hearing, would make engine builders responsible, and that's not a part of it. Ernie basically cut me a deal - he had a lot of extra Ganassi engines, he cut me a deal on one. Why it's big and how it got big I have no idea. His part was as much as it overheated, it melted the head gasket into the cylinder head and he said that's why it got big." Despain: It was a crew chief's fine ... does it revert to you if he can't pay it? Long: "Yes, at the end of the year, section 12 of the rulebook basically states any fines not settled goes back to the owner, which my wife was listed as the owner. So, typically, you could say I'm off the hook. But how do I go back to the race track without my wife when it's my team?" Despain: Have they run you off? Long: "I hope not. David Reutimann has started cheerleading and trying to pool up some money and make things happen for us. This penalty is probably at least 300-percent more than what we make. I don't know how I go forward with it. You want to race. You want to be a part of it. Yes, I can be in the Nationwide Series garage and so forth but at the end of the year, my license is not in good standing. I've never seen anything to compare it to in the past."(SPEEDtv), past news about Long and the penalty on my #46 Team News and Links page.(6-8-2009) Comment here |
| 4th team for Penske? UPDATE denied: | |
| - | hearing Penske Racing could run a 4th team car this season, running the #22 Dodge with Justin Allgaier as the possible driver. Allgaier is currently 10th in the Nationwide Series Points for Penske Racing and won the ARCA championship in 2008.(5-25-2009) UPDATE: (Roger Penske) added that there are no plans to expand Penske Racing's three-car organization of #2-Kurt Busch, #77-Sam Hornish Jr. and #12-David Stremme. There have been reports he would move to a fourth team with Justin Allgaier, a rookie in the Nationwide Series. "We've made some good progress this year and we've got to maintain that," Penske said. "We're not in the silly season at all. ... We've got plenty of time."(ESPN)(6-7-2009) Comment here |
| Penske may make bid for Saturn UPDATE 2 no move to NASCAR: | |
| - | Roger Penske says he is contemplating a bid for the Saturn automotive brand that General Motors Corp. plans to sell or shut down. While Penske has not yet made an offer, he said Friday a decision would have to come soon and that a number of unidentified details need to be worked out. Penske has a vested interest in the automotive industry. He owns the second-largest U.S. automobile retail chain in terms of sales, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Penske Automotive Group Inc. He also owns heavy-duty engine manufacturer Detroit Diesel and has race teams in the IndyCar, NASCAR and Grand-Am series. But Penske denied that he has made a deal and said published reports are ahead of the process.(ESPN.com/AP)(5-8-2009) UPDATE: General Motors Corp. has struck a tentative deal to sell its Saturn brand to former race car driver and auto dealer Roger Penske. Penske, who owns the Penske Automotive Group dealership chain, told reporters on Friday that he plans to offer all 350 Saturn dealerships new franchise agreements. He says Saturn's 13,000 employees will stay on with the company for at least the immediate future. He declined to name the price for the deal. Penske says GM will continue to produce Saturn vehicles, though he is in discussions with manufacturers worldwide about building the vehicles going forward.(AP/ESPN)(6-5-2009) UPDATE 2: Team owner Roger Penske has no plans to move Saturn into the Sprint Cup series, saying Sunday he plans to stick with Dodge for at least the remaining three years of his contract with the manufacturer. General Motors Corp. announced on Friday an agreement for Penske to purchase the Saturn brand. Penske said he would like to get Saturn involved in motorsports, perhaps at the Grand-Am level, but not NASCAR's top series. "We have three more years with Dodge, they have not let us down," the owner of Penske Motorsports said before the Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway. "We see that continuing. They are current with all the obligations they have. I don't expect anything different." Richard Petty, the co-owner of Richard Petty Motorsports, said last weekend at Dover that RMP's cash flow from Dodge has ceased since Chrysler filed for bankruptcy. "I don't know what he means by cash (flow)," Penske said. "They paid the bills we submitted to them and they're on time. I don't know what he's talking about." As for Saturn, Penske said the key was saving 13,000 jobs and keeping 350 retailers in business. He said the plan is to provide them with products that will make them stronger going forward. "We'll be sourcing products from General Motors for at least two years," he said. "We will not be a manufacturer. We'll be a distributor." Penske did say the Saturn Aura is "tailor-made for NASCAR," but that any such plans would be 200 miles down the road.(ESPN)(6-7-2009) Comment here |
| NASCAR's Robin Pemberton explains new restart rules: | |
| - | NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton gave an explanation Friday of the new double-file restart rules. Here are excerpts of the conversation with the media and his answers to some questions ask. SD: What is the procedure for double-file restarts? Pemberton: "When the caution comes out, the field will be frozen as it is today. The free-pass car will be identified as it is today and it will be the same format. As the cars are gathered behind the pace car, the pit road is opened for leaders, the second time by it will be open for the lap-down cars, and that is how it is today. And when we come to the one (lap)-to-go (until the green drops), the cars that have elected not to pit that are lap-down cars that will be in front of the lead-lap cars that have pitted, will be waved around to join the field at the tail end. The lineup will be on the double-file restart, lead-lap cars to the front, lap-down cars, ... then it will be the free-pass car, then it will be the cars that have been waved around and then it will be the penalty cars. SD: If a guy on the lead lap opts not to pit, he's the leader? Pemberton: Correct. Still P1 (the leader). SD: Is there an option for the lead car to select which lane? Pemberton: When we give the 1-to-go, the leader throughout the entire race will get lane choice, high or low. He has to make that choice when we come to the 1-to-go at the stripe. One other thing we have added is the free pass will take place from start to finish throughout the entire race.(see fulls post at SceneDaily)(6-7-2009) Comment here |
| Stewart finishes 6th at Eldora: | |
| - | #14-Tony Stewart raced at his track, Eldora Speedway Saturday night and finished 6th in the15th annual Dirt Late Model Dream, won by Jimmy Owens.(6-7-2009) |
| Truex's brother wins at Watkins Glen: | |
| - | NASCAR Camping World Series East rookie Ryan Truex passed race leader Patrick Long between Turns 10 and 11 on the last lap and took the checkered flag in the Tioga Downs Casino 125 Saturday at Watkins Glen International. Truex, in the #00 NAPA Toyota, who was making just his fifth career start in the series for Michael Waltrip Racing, ran in the top three throughout the day.(WGI)(6-7-2009) |
| Carpentier in the #55 for road course? | |
| - | hearing that Patrick Carpentier will drive the #55 NAPA Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing at the two road courses: Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen.(6-7-2009) Comment here |
| Robby wins Baja 500: | |
| - | haven't seen much yet, but Robby Gordon won the Baja 500 in the #77 Chevy Trophy Truck per PlanetRobby.com. Gordon missed practicing the #7 Pittsburgh Paints Toyota at Pocono Raceway Saturday to run the Baja 500. Travis Kvapil practiced the car for Gordon, who will run the Pocono 500 on Sunday.(6-7-2009) |
| Logano wins ARCA race at Pocono: | |
| - | Joey Logano turned his test and tune day Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway into an ARCA RE/MAX Series triumph. Logano, in the Venturini Motorsports-prepared Home Depot Toyota, entered the Pocono ARCA 200 to get seat-time for the next-day Pocono 500 Cup race. The Middletown, Connecticut driver got that and plenty more as he led the most laps en route to his second series victory in his fourth series start.(ARCARacing.com)(6-7-2009) |
| Gordon discusses his back, no surgery planned: | |
| - | #24-Jeff Gordon met with media about his back, the transcript: HOW IS YOUR BACK AND HOW WILL IT HOLD UP HERE AT POCONO VERSUS A TRACK LIKE DOVER?: "I think this track is probably one of the easier tracks. You get a lot of resting period on those long straightaways. About the only place that it might be an issue will be under braking getting into turn one. I had to do a test at Road Atlanta this week - that was one of the real tests and I was surprised that we got through it pretty good. Especially after the wreck last Friday during qualifying. I was pretty sore from that. I think the road courses and Martinsville, Bristol - those are the toughest tracks on it. This one should be pretty easy." HOW IS YOUR BACK FEELING?: "Right now I'm feeling pretty good. It's always nice to have an extra day of rest - kind of got that today. I know there's a lot of people that this didn't work out so well for. For us, it worked out well - we got an extra day of rest, got a great starting position, great pit stall and now we can go focus for the race on Sunday. We'll get out there tomorrow with the car in race conditions." DO YOU KNOW WHETHER YOU WILL HAVE TO HAVE SURGERY ON YOUR BACK?: "Surgery really hasn't been an option looking at my condition and the options of surgery is really too invasive. I don't necessarily think it's necessary. I might do another treatment of what I did a couple weeks ago. We have to wait four to six weeks. They say the second treatment you usually have a lot better results than the first one. I really haven't seen any big effects from the first one so I wasn't really thrilled about doing a second one. Anytime they talk about sticking needles in your back it's not something I'm looking forward to. It wasn't so bad though and I'm certainly willing to give it a shot so we'll do that when the time's right and it fits in the schedule. Until then, my focus is on the training and just stretching. It's strengthening the area, my whole core area and that's been great for me in a lot of ways because it's got me in better physical shape. From a cardio standpoint especially, when I'm in the car everything feels better. I don't feel as hot in the car, I don't feel as winded and it's just dealing with the spasms - just the muscles getting really tight and causing some pain there. Other than that, we're getting through it." DO YOU HAVE A ROUTINE BEFORE EVERY RACE?: "One thing we started this year was just incorporating an individual that comes to the track - it takes usually about an hour a day. They do ultrasound, massage and then some stretching. Then usually after the day is over I dosome ice on my back. It's just a routine. It doesn't happen overnight or just flip a switch - just gradually getting used to the stuff going on in the car and getting stronger and getting better. I try to get in some stuff with my doctors when I'm at home that is a little more intense than that and then training as well. Being a Dad too - all those are great training."(Chevy Racing)(6-6-2009) Comment here |
| Changes coming to improve the car-of-tomorrow? | |
| - | Drivers says NASCAR officials are telling them now changes are coming with controversial car-of-tomorrow, but no one seems to know what NASCAR might do, or when. "I think they're going to go look into the engines -- to maybe reduce horsepower," Denny Hamlin says. "Maybe do something to the cars...but it's tough to say whether they're going to add downforce or take it all away. But I think they are going to make changes to the car. And I think it's going to be after a lot of meetings with team engineers and finding out what we need to do to make them better." Two of the biggest problems with the new COT is --- that it doesn't want to turn in the corners, so teams are doing really farout things with the chassis to help it turn (once reason apparently for some of the Dover tire issues); and that it has such a high center-of-gravity and so much right-side weight that it eats up right-side tires. Kyle Busch says "I'd like to see NASCAR do something to help these cars - either by taking 100 pounds out of these cars, or taking some right-side weight out. We've all gotten smarter in building these cars, and now we all have maybe 200 pounds of lead, or rather tungsten, in the car (as ballast)."(mikemulhern.net)(6-6-2009) Comment here |
| ESPN's Jamie Little Appearing on Food Network's Iron Chef: | |
| - | Jamie Little, pit reporter for ESPN's coverage of NASCAR, will step out of her element as a guest judge on the popular Food Network program Iron Chef America. The program airs Sunday, June 7, at 10pm/et. The program pits a challenging chef against one of the network's star chefs in a one-hour contest staged in "Kitchen Stadium." The chefs must make a multi-course meal using a "secret ingredient" that they only learn about moments before the contest begins. Their work is then judged by a three-person panel to determine a winner. Little taped her appearance in New York City nearly a year ago and was sworn to secrecy. "I even had to sign documentation that I would not reveal what the secret ingredient was," she said. The program re-airs June 11 at 8 p.m., June 13 at 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. and Sept. 12 at 10 p.m.(ESPN)(6-6-2009) |
| NASCAR countersues Mayfield: | |
| - | NASCAR filed a countersuit against Jeremy Mayfield on Friday, accusing the suspended Sprint Cup driver of willfully violating the substance abuse policy, breach of contract and defrauding competitors of earnings. The suit stated that Mayfield knowingly participated in sanctioned competition using a combination of drugs in violation of the substance abuse policy that he agreed to follow. "And in doing so violated his contract with NASCAR and the standards of care for other drivers," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said from Pocono Raceway. "You will see in (the lawsuit) he competed in a number of races that had we known he had been on a medication he was on and certainly known there were illegal substances involved we wouldn't have allowed him to compete," Poston said. According to Poston, drivers are required in their contract with NASCAR to notify Dr. David Black, who runs the drug testing program at AEGIS Lab in Tennessee, of any prescription drugs they are taking. The suit alleged that Mayfield did not notify anybody with NASCAR that he was on a prescription drug until the May 1 drug test, and that Mayfield already had participated in two races while on the drug. The suit said that Mayfield crashed in three of the five races in which he competed this season, including races in which he was under the influence of the drug he failed to report to NASCAR, a combination of drugs and the illegal drug that was blacked out in the suit. The suit also said Mayfield earned more than $150,000 in those races that would have gone to other competitors.(see more at ESPN.com)(6-5-2009) See FULL story and past news on my #41 Team News and Links page or/and Drug Policy page.(6-2-2009) |
| NASCAR's Drug Policy: | |
| - | in a PDF form at the Charlotte Observer. |
| Final Dover/Season TV Ratings: | |
| - | A challenging season of NASCAR on Fox came to an end this weekend with a 4.0/10 (6.1 million viewers) for racing from DOVER. Sunday's 4.0/10 is down -11% compared to last year's 4.5/11 for the same race, making nine straight regularly scheduled races that have been down double-digits compared to 2008. The 2009 season of NASCAR on FOX concludes with an average rating of 5.1/11 (8.5 mill.), down -11% compared to last year's 5.7/12 and a new low in the nine-year history of NASCAR On FOX. Despite the poor year-to-year trend, NASCAR remains the dominant player in February-June sports. FOX's 5.1/11 for NASCAR more than doubles ABC's rating for regular season NBA (+113% vs. 2.4/6). It's also +46% better than ABC's NBA Playoff average (3.5/8) and NASCAR nearly matched the viewership of the complete NCAA Tournament on CBS (8.5 million vs. 8.7 million). FOX's NASCAR season suffered from a trio of negative on-track trends: more cautions, fewer lead changes, and lower average speeds. 649 laps were run under caution on FOX this season, a +15% increase over last year. Put another way, there was one caution flag for every 40 miles of racing this season. Last year it was one every 45 miles, in FOX's first NASCAR season (2001) it was one every 63 miles. Ten years ago it was one every 72 miles. Lead changes were down this year, with one coming every 20 miles compared to last year's once every 17 miles. That's at least one extra lap between lead changes, sometimes more. Average speed, which is obviously tied to number of cautions, was also down this year. This year's average speed during FOX races was 118mph. Last year it was 124mph. In 2001 it was 128mph, and in 1999 it was 130mph.(Fox), see race-by-race TV Ratings and chart on my 2009 TV Ratings page.(6-5-2009) Comment here |
| Richard Childress Elected to NRA Board of Directors: | |
| - | NASCAR championship-winning team owner Richard Childress (#'s 07,29,31,33) realized a long-time dream when he was recently elected to the board of directors of the National Rifle Association.The NRA Board of Directors is elected by the Association's four million members and has a broad spectrum of constituents with varying backgrounds, from law enforcement to competitive shooting, political activists to elected officials. Notable NRA Board members include Lt. Col. Oliver North, Karl Malone, Ted Nugent and Tom Selleck. The Board of Directors oversees the policies and programs developed by the organization. Childress, of Clemmons, N.C., is a lifelong supporter of the Second Amendment, a big-game hunter and an outdoor conservationist. The 12-time NASCAR championship-winning team owner is a Life Member of the National Rifle Association, Safari Club International, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Grand Slam Club/Ovis (Grand Slam #901). He was named a Board Member of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation in 2008. Childress works with local, state and national agencies on wildlife/outdoor conservation efforts and many related charities. He worked with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in 2000 to reintroduce an elk herd into North Carolina for the first time in 200 years. His family recently teamed with Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center to create the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma.(RCR)(6-5-2009) |
| NASCAR's Most Valuable Teams: | |
| - | To date, all 13 races have been won by five of the sport's most valuable teams; six have come from Hendrick Motorsports, which tops Forbe's list this year. No. 2: Roush Fenway Racing. Richard Childress Racing is third. Since Forbe's valuations last year, four of the top 15 most valuable teams have disappeared, either through mergers or an exit from the sport, leaving a bigger divide between the haves and have-nots. Forbe's estimate the average top 10 team fell in value by 6% to $148 million in 2009 from $158 million last year. Partly to blame: Sponsors renewing deals with teams now have more leverage than ever to negotiate a better deal. Hendrick Motorsports is ranked #1, worth $350 million followed by Roush Fenway Racing ($270m), Richard Childress Racing ($167m), Joe Gibbs Racing ($144) and Richard Petty Motorsports ($131). See full story and top 10 list at Forbes.com.(6-5-2009) Comment here |
| NASCAR Now Nation: | |
| - | Have something to say about a story on this week's ESPN2's NASCAR Now? Get out your videocam and tell ESPN what you think. Your video may be seen on an upcoming NASCAR Now. Choose a video file on your hard drive, then click the upload button. More info at ESPN.com. |