NASCAR Rocks

Roger Penske finally got the Daytona 500 victory that had been eluding him for so long. Ryan Newman gave the captain his first Daytona 500 victory in 24 years of race trying driving, a frustratingly long time for someone who in most other cases has always managed to dominate big events.

He has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 14 times and wants to add one more to the bounty. Penske said that the win topped the charts as the team is used to the open-wheel style that is prevalent in the Indianapolis 500 and that they would try to get back to back victories with one in May too. He said that his next big challenge was to win the Indy 500.

The win came in a thrilling fashion when Newman teamed up with Kurt Busch for a last lap past which ended in Daytona glory.  This ended an 81- match winless streak for him. Penske finally got his win in the 50^th edition of the Daytona 500 and when he made his way to Victory Lane he was met by Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR’s most powerful owner.

For 199 of the 200 laps the Penske cars were very unnoticeable and allowed Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Stewart and Kyle Busch race each other in a battle of the Toyotas and with one lap left it seemed that Stewart would finally win his first Daytona 500 in what was his 10^th attempt at it.  He held of the Penske cars while running out front in the high line but as the Penske teammates closed in on him he felt the need to have his own allies.

At the last second he dropped low on the track and line up in front of Kyle Busch. Joe Gibbs has always stressed on the importance of teamwork and Stewart thought he would need Busch to make it to the checkered flag. But he couldn’t coordinate with Busch in time and the Penske cars went past him to the top.

The stage was set for a battle with Hendrick Motorsports who never challenged anyone with both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson out, Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t have much of a chance alone.

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Hendrick Motorsports is one of the biggest teams in the NASCAR and boasts of drivers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. who recently made the move from Dale Earnhardt Inc.  The team in owned by Rick Hendrick and with Jeff Gordon also owning a portion.

It is one of the premier organizations in racing having won seven Cup Series Championships, three Craftsmen Truck Series titles and one Nationwide Series Crown among others. The company employs more than 500 people in its 15,000 square foot store for various functions including managing the team’s website, marketing, public relations, the museum and store, licensing, merchandising, show cars etc.

All the cars of the company are created start-to-finish at the company’s 250,000 square foot complex in Concord in North Carolina and more than 700 engines are built and re-built each year. Some of these are leased out to other NASCAR teams.

The most popular cars in the team are the #5 car, # 17, # 24, #44, # 48, #25 and # 88. The team won six of their first nine races in 2007 and have shown considerable success in the test runs at the Daytona International Speedway this season.

There have been certain doubts however that the dominance of HMS over NASCAR is a bad thing which could slowly lead to the fan base of NASCAR disappearing.  The team manufactures the best engines and also seems to win the most number of races. The fans now want an even playing field and this has become evident from recent events including when Jeff Gordon won his 77^th NASCAR race and instead of celebrating the moment, fans hurled beer cans, toilet paper and almost anything at his #24 Chevrolet instead. 

However the team at the top of the NASCAR tables seems unperturbed by it all.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. is arguably the most popular race car drive today. But the man himself wants to be more than just popular. He wants to be considered one of the best drivers like his father, Dale Earnhardt and others like his team mates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

He sells more merchandise than anyone else and has a massive fan base. But he wants more. And that is why he made the move from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Hendrick Motorsports so that he could be with the best possible racing team.  Although it can’t be said yet how he will do at HMS which is known to have superior equipment, his tests at the Daytona International Speedway and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway have been good.

His team mates Gordon and Johnson seem to be very pleased with Earnhardt Junior’s personality and his knowledge of his car.  For both Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Eury Jr. the crew chief who made the move with Earnhardt Jr. the championship will be a test of skill and character. They both know that they must perform and meet the standards that have come to be expected of HMS with Gordon and Johnson at the wheel for many years.

His team mates are impressed from his tests and must be aware at the same time of the competition that he will prove to them. During the tests at the Daytona International Speedway Earnhardt Jr. clocked the second highest speed, second only to his team mate Jeff Gordon.  For Earnhardt to one day have statistics that match his popularity he will need to continue proving his mettle.

For the time being Earnhardt fans and NASCAR enthusiasts will hope that the man who is so immensely popular continues to make improvement and brings better results to his new team.

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With a lot of youngsters taking to professional racing there is a concern as to whether these drivers are old enough to handle the profession as yet. NASCAR in the face of all this is contemplating whether to raise the minimum age requirement to 21 as opposed to the current age of 18.  Mike Helton the president of NASCAR said that the decision would be taken based on how well it was felt that young drivers could cope with the pressures and the stress of such a high profile job.  He said that nothing had been decided as yet and there were only talks as of now.

J.D. Gibbs the president of Joe Gibbs is not very happy about the whole thing as the team has two under 18 drivers who are all set to make it to the big league very soon.  Gibbs said that the plan was that Joey Logano would race as soon as he turned 18 and that they hoped to get in a few races by the end of the season which will not happen if the age bar is raised.  Gibbs said that he felt that the system that is in place is good and that there is no need to tinker with it. He also said that a lot of investment had been put into Logano and the other young driver Marc Davis and that from their point of view it is a bad move.

There are however supporters of this too. Former racer Richard Petty feels that he began driving at 21 and that it is the ideal age to begin.  He said there is a huge discrepancy between people who are 40 and the younger ones and at 18 that isn’t that easy to deal with. His son Kyle Petty disagrees with him though.

So there are people positioned on both sides of the argument and we’ll be keeping a keen eye on this issue.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. reached the top of the speed charts on Tuesday morning at the Daytona International Speedway in an attempt to bring his crew chief’s predictions true. On Monday Tony Eury Jr. predicted that Earnhardt Jr. would drive the Hendrick Motorsports car No 88 to the four victories in the coming season. This is the first time Earnhardt will captain the No. 88 Chevrolet for the first time in February. Eury Jr. had a pretty rough year with Dale Earnhardt Inc. as one after another some of NASCAR’s superstars left the team in search of better avenues. He too moved to Hendrick in the beginning of this year. He sounded very upbeat when speaking about the team’s chances in the year.

“I’d be very disappointed if we don’t win at least four, to be honest,” he said. “I mean, I just look at the races that we had problems with last year, and we were running in the top three and in contention.”

Earnhardt Jr.’s lap which clocked a speed of 185.820 mph made him the fastest single-lap driver in the test drive session at Daytona in the past two weeks.  It is also the highest overall single lap time in the Sprint Cup series. The drivers will now begin in multi-car drafting from the afternoon.

If the rain stays away on Wednesday there will be two more drafting sessions but if the day is washed out Thursday is scheduled as an additional day but on that day the weather doesn’t look too promising.  The Toyotas are right at the top of the leader board on Tuesday with Michael Waltrip, Brian Vickers,Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart being the others in the Top- 5.  With three powerhouses- Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Eury Jr. and Hendrick Motorsports coming together we can’t disregard them right now.

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Because of certain safety concerns it has faced NASCAR has amended two of the pit rules for the 3 national touring series in 2008. This change was announced by Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby at the Daytona International Speedway which is where each of the series will begin.

The first change that has been brought in is that in over-the-wall pit crews shall not be allowed to push start their stalled vehicles for more than three pit stalls beyond their areas. Darby said that the reason behind this was that as a car entered its pit stop, if it ran out of fuel the crew might have to push it the entire length of the road. At the same time others would be entering and leaving their respective pits after refueling and the crew being out there was a safety hazard. After this change, if a car does not start working within three boxes, then it would have to be taken back to the pit box assigned to it and attended to.

The other change that has been brought about is that after the tyres have been changed they were being rolled over to the pit wall. Now after the changes they have to be rolled by hand or carried and dropped inside the pit box. Darby said that if the person’s aim was good and there was no one in the way it was fine, but in the event of something going wrong a serious problem would occur.

With the increase in accidents on the NASCAR circuit, the officials at NASCAR have done well to amend the existing rules to make the circuits safer for drivers and crews. If followed strictly the rules will definitely go a long way in reducing the number of accidents on the circuit.

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Dollar General Corporation is now going to support Braun Racing in 2008. Earlier it only used to support single teams but now it will be a major sponsor of the No. 38 Great Clips Toyota which is driven by Jason Leffler. Leffler got Toyota its first victory in NASCAR when he won at the O’Reilly Raceway Park. He finished the standings at third with seven top five and eleven top ten finishes which have really improved Braun’s performance and standing in the recent past.

Dollar General will be the entitlement sponsor of the No. 32 in the 11 Nationwide Series Race and will also sponsor No. 10 for one race and be the associate sponsor of both the cars in the remaining races.

Mont Bailey, the General Manager of motorsports at Dollar General said that they were excited and looking forward to this new alliance. He went on to say that what Braun Racing has achieved being a single team is remarkable and that he was hopeful that the collaboration would lead to even more victories.

Braun Racing has been racing in the Nationwide Series Race since 2003 and they have had more than one car in competitions. The owner of Braun, Todd Braun also seemed upbeat about the collaboration saying that it was an honour to have Dollar General who have sponsored some of the best teams and that they would do them proud.

The new collaboration will only boost Braun’s morale as the team has been doing well in the past few seasons. The additional sponsorship will hopefully further improve Braun’s competitiveness. The diverse support system is a first both for Dollar General Corp. as well as for Braun and here’s hoping it is a collaboration both will benefit immensely from.

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NASCAR team Petty Enterprises has moved shop from Level Cross, N.C to Mooresville, N.C a place where most of the top shops from N.C are located.  Owner and legendary car driver Richard Petty said that of the entire move which is taking part in stages, the most difficult is the decision to move. All the belongings of Petty Enterprises have been moved out of its current home over the past few weeks now. He has been born in the house and has lived there for more than 60 years.  The move is set to be complete by the 8^th of January with the major chunk of it already having been completed. It took many years for the think tank at Petty Enterprises to finally decide to pack their bags and move.

Though the new centre is not very far it is the thought of leaving a place that has been home since the beginning that is causing employees at Petty Enterprises to reluctant to move. The cars that are going to the first week of testing at Daytona will leave the old Read more »

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NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne is to face civil and criminal charges on charges of injuring a security guard during an altercation. He is to appear on the 8^th of January in a court in Miami to answer to the charge. The suit has been filed by the 62 year old track guard Archibald Hutchinson who says Kahne shoved him onto the ground, an act which caused him severe back injuries. In his suit Hutchinson is claiming in over $ 15,000 in lieu of medical bills, loss of wages and compensation.  He claimed that since the incident occurred on the 16^th of November he has not been able to report for work. His lawyer Russell Dohan said that Hutchinson had suffered a tear in his lumbar spine and is now under orthopedic treatment.

Friends and members of Kahne’s team are surprised at the allegation because it is said to be out of character as Kahne is a very quiet and mild mannered person. Kahne is said to be an important member of his team at Gilett Evernham Motorsports and the president of the team Rick Russell issued a statement saying that Kahne had the support of the entire team. He said that the act is unlike the Kahne that they all know and said that it was unfortunate that things had reached this stage.

The story behind the incident is that Hutchinson after a warning from his superior refused to allow drivers to enter their motorhomes without identification and when Kahne did not produce the necessary identification Hutchinson didn’t allow him to pass. An altercation ensued during which Kahne assaulted Hutchinson. A different version is however being given by Kahne’s brother, Kale.

Kasey Kahne was then taken into custody following the incident but was released on the condition that he agreed to appear at a trial. Different versions exist of the same story but only the lawsuit will determine the end of this.

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Jill George who is an extremely multi faceted person wants to add yet another facet to her personality. This chiropractor who is a mother of two and has also been a Golden Gloves Boxer now wants to add race car driver to that long list of accomplishments. She recently was invited to compete against 23 other aspiring racers at the Drive for Diversity Combine held in Virginia where members of the NASCAR industry look for and pick promising drivers. Only 8 out of the 24 aspiring drivers will be selected for the 2008 Drive for Diversity class. She is obviously hoping to be one of the lucky eight.

Jill has only 4 years of experience while all the other contestants have practically grown up racing and driving cars. This lady played basketball and then went on to becoming a doctor.

She had no interest in racing until her husband sent her to a race in Iowa where she decided she did not want to be a spectator, she wanted to be in the sport. While practicing as a chiropractor as also working as a basketball referee, George worked at various pits in Iowa and she finally worked on her own car and in 2004 drove in a race for the first time. 

This mother of two takes her son to the race tracks and continues to multi task. Racing is just one of the many things she does. She is hoping to become the woman race car driver NASCAR is looking for.

Hope this multi tasking mom gets to add that much vaunted achievement to her kitty and hope we see her zooming around the tracks in the U.S and doing the other stuff she does so well. Now this is what we call wonder woman.

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