A trailer carrying a NASCAR racing team’s car was stolen overnight in Morrow, GA, according to the driver of the vehicle hauling the trailer [NJ plates]. The driver says the unmarked white Xtreme Racing trailer had the #44 car inside and was stolen from a hotel sometime overnight. Local authorities have been notified.kfvs12.com.
AND A spokeswoman for Team Xtreme (#44 car) confirms Atlanta car and trailer were stolen from outside the team hotel.(Jeff Gluck/USA Today twitter)
MORE Travis Kvapil’s car for this weekend’s Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway has apparently been stolen. A spokeswoman for Team Xtreme confirmed a Missouri TV station’s report that the #44 car and its hauler disappeared from outside the team’s hotel [Drury Inn & Suites] in Morrow, Ga. overnight. KFVS reported the trailer was white and unmarked and said the hauler driver reported it missing. Team Xtreme, owned by John Cohen, qualified for the Daytona 500 last week and finished 32nd with driver Reed Sorenson. But Kvapil is in the car this week with Sorenson driving for another [#29 RAB Racing] team. NASCAR teams tested at Atlanta on Thursday, meaning all the other cars are already secured inside the track (USA Today)
UPDATE: Sgt. Larry Oglesby of the Morrow (Ga.) Police Department told ESPN.com that they are treating the car’s disappearance as a stolen vehicle after a report was filed at 5:50am/et at the Drury Inn. Team owner John Cohen, who was not at the track, told ESPN.com by phone that the team will have to withdraw from the race and was still trying to gather information as to what had happened. The first practice for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 is scheduled for 1:00pm/et Friday, and teams typically must present a car for inspection an hour or two prior to the start of Sprint Cup practice.(ESPN.com)
UPDATE2 Statement by Team Xtreme Racing: Team Xtreme Racing can officially confirm that we have withdrawn the #44 entry from the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The #44 hauler was sent ahead of the bad weather that hit the Charlotte area on Wednesday night and parked at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With minor work remaining on the #44 Chevrolet, the car was brought separate from the hauler, in an enclosed 26-foot trailer pulled by a pickup, which arrived at the team hotel in Morrow, Georgia on Thursday night at 11:00pm/et. Hotel surveillance video shows the theft occurred at 5:32am/et. According to the police report a silver or grey Jeep Cherokee was spotted leaving the hotel at the time of the theft. “While this is obviously a setback for this weekend, our plans remain to compete in the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season,” said team owner John Cohen. “We are working closely with the Morrow police in hopes that our truck, trailer and race car are safely returned”.(2-27-2015)
UPDATE3: The Team Xtreme #44 Chevy that had been stolen from a Georgia hotel parking lot was found early Saturday morning. Gwinnett County police found the car in Loganville, Georgia “ northwest of Atlanta, according to Team Xtreme Racing. The team tweeted several photos of the #44 car Saturday, one day after it was stolen from a hotel parking lot near Atlanta Motor Speedway, the site of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Cohen told ESPN.com that the car was located off Lenora Road in Loganville. Only the car was found; police did not recover the other contents of the trailer, which included a spare engine valued at $100,000 and racing equipment valued at $17,500. Cohen was relieved that at least the car, which he said is the most consistently fast in his fleet, was found. “You can’t buy that back or time put into it,” he said. The recovery of the car will help the low-budget team go forward with its plans to race at Las Vegas next weekend.(ESPN)(2-28-2015)
