Sporting the red #711 that her grandfather made famous in the 1960s, and with her two-time Daytona 500 champion dad coaching her over her radio headset, Sutherlin Marlin chased down her destiny Saturday night. Sutherlin, 19, finished 8th in a 40-lap Supertruck feature at Fairgrounds Speedway, the track on which her grandfather, Coo Coo, won four championships in the 1960s and her father Sterling added three more in the 1980s.”I cant wait to go again,” said Sutherlin, a student at Columbia (Tn.) State who spent months practicing for her first race.”I was a little nervous at first, but after the race started it went away. It was fun and Im definitely going to keep racing.” The Fairgrounds season runs through the fall and Sutherlin plans to be a regular competitor in the truck series, the tracks second-tier division. Sterling and son Steadman raced in Saturday nights premier Late Model division. Both were involved in crashes and finished back in the field. Sterling this year is running a partial schedule in NASCARs Sprint Cup Series and will attempt to qualify for Sundays Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis [in the #09 Dodge].(Racin’ Today)(7-21-2009) Ragan the odd man out at Roush? Who will be the odd man out at Roush Fenway Racing? According to published reports, Roush Fenway president Geoff Smith is putting together a sponsor package that would keep #26-Jamie McMurray in the fold. McMurray, whose contract expires after this season, has been speculated as the most likely to be moved to satellite team, Yates Racing, to get Roush to four teams. If McMurray stays then #6-David Ragan becomes the top candidate to leave because #17-Matt Kenseth, #99-Carl Edwards and #16-Greg Biffle signed new deals within the last year. A decision on restructuring should come by September at the latest. Roush has until next season to move from five to four teams as NASCAR mandated when it put a cap on teams.(ESPN Insider)(7-21-2009) Cautions on par with the 2008 season: This season, ServiceMaster Clean became the first-ever official sponsor of caution periods at the 19 International Speedway Corporation (SC) and Speedway Motorsports Incorporated (SMI) tracks as well as Dover International Speedway. When there was a problem on the track, the ServiceMaster Clean yellow flag was displayed and the companys familiar yellow vehicles were dispatched to clean the track. The July 4th race at Daytona International Speedway marked the halfway point of the 36-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. At 17 (Pocono is not a part of the program) of the 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, there was little change in the number of cautions compared to the previous year. There were only three more cautions, 157-154, in those 17 events compared to 2008. For all 18 events, there have been 162 cautions in 2009 compared to 164 in 2008. In 17 races this year, 760 laps have been run under caution (780 in the 18 events). Last year, there were 666 caution laps in the 17 events (705 in 18). In 2009, three races (Atlanta, Bristol and Infineon) have been extended beyond the scheduled distance for a green-white-checkered finish and three (Daytona, Lowes and New Hampshire) have been stopped short of the scheduled distance due to inclement weather. ServiceMaster “By The Numbers (*Pocono is not a participant in the ServiceMaster program) Topic, 2008 stats, 2009 stats Cautions (18 races), 164, 162 Cautions (17 races*), 154, 157 Caution Laps (18 races), 705, 780 Cautions Laps (17 races*), 666, 760 Laps Run (18 races), 5425, 5194 Miles Run (18 races), 7397.452, 7015.405 Most Caution (18 races), 18 (Martinsville), 17 (Darlington) Fewest Cautions (18 races), 5 (Dover), 3 (Michigan) Most Miles Under Caution (18 races), 97.5 (Pocono), 99.72 (Darlington) Race Length Extended Due to Caution, 6, 3 Race Length Shortened Due to Weather, 1, 3 In 2008, only New Hampshire was shortened due to inclement weather while late-race cautions extended the scheduled distance for a green-white-checkered finish at six tracks (Bristol, Texas, Richmond, Michigan, Infineon and Daytona). In racing, a yellow flag means its time to clean up the track. Debris removal and track drying must be done quickly and professionally in order to get back to racing. In homes and businesses across North America, a yellow ServiceMaster Clean van means cleaning and restoration is being done quickly and professionally by Americas number one cleaning team.(ServiceMaster)(7-21-2009) Mayfield Attorneys: NASCAR hasn’t proved case: Attorneys for Jeremy Mayfield filed papers on Monday arguing NASCAR has not shown sufficient reason that the court should overturn the decision to lift the Sprint Cup driver’s suspension for violating the substance-abuse policy. The papers filed in U.S. District Court are a counter to NASCAR’s request on Wednesday asking for an immediate stay of the injunction after Mayfield tested positive for methamphetamine for a second time. The counterclaim did not address the second test. Mayfield has since claimed the governing body spiked the July 6 test to get the desired results. His attorney, John Buric, released results of another test taken on the same day but performed by LabCorp, an independent laboratory not hired by NASCAR, that came up negative for methamphetamines and amphetamines. NASCAR officials argue that the LabCorp test should not be recognized because there is no evidence that the sample is legitimate or that proper procedure was used. Asked for specifics about the test, such as whether Mayfield was directly observed giving the sample, Bill Bonello of LabCorp said, “LabCorp does not comment on drug testing results.”(see full story ESPN)(7-21-2009) Sad News – Gramma Gilly: (aka: Inez M. Gilliland) 87, mother of 1997 Winston West Champion, Butch Gilliland, and NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, [#71 Chevy] David Gilliland passed away on July 16, 2009. She was a great inspiration to those that ever had the privilege to truly know her; she was a remarkable woman, and as a Matriarch of the Gilliland family, she will be greatly missed. Services for Gramma Gilly are on July 25, 2009, at 10:00am at the: Nampa Funeral Home — Yraguen Chapel, 415 12th Ave South, Nampa, Idaho 83651.(208-442-8171)(7-21-2009)
