March 20, 2014
- Congrats to Paul Menard: and his wife Jennifer on the birth of their daughter, Remi Barbara Christine Menard. Remi was born Tuesday night.(3-20-2014)
- NASCAR ok with Fox moving Bristol race to FoxSports 1: Fox Sports didn’t break any agreements with NASCAR in moving the rain-delayed race at Bristol to Fox Sports 1 Sunday night. Once the Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway went past 7:00pm/et, Fox had the option of moving the remainder of the event to Fox Sports 1, according to NASCAR. Fox elected to use that option instead of keeping the telecast on network television and pre-empting its Sunday night lineup. The race started about 90 minutes late because of rain and then had a delay of 3 hours, 18 minutes because of more rain that pushed the final 376 laps to after 7:00pm. According to the SportsBusiness Journal, the last three-quarters of the Bristol race on FS1 drew a 1.8 overnight rating. According to the website TV By The Numbers, Fox’s rating for ages 18-49 were 1.1 for Bob’s Burgers, 1.4 for American Dad, 1.9 for the The Simpsons, 2.3 for Family Guy, and 2.0 for Cosmos. “We would prefer to start and finish race coverage on Fox,” Fox Sports spokesman Erik Arneson said in an e-mail Wednesday. “Moving an audience from one channel to another is a disruption to fans, which we take very seriously.”
“It’s great to have broadcast partners who have multiple options so that we have a way to service the fans,” NASCAR spokesman Scott Warfield said.(Sporting News)(3-20-2014) - EcoPower joins Roush; will sponsor Stenhouse, Jr.: Fresh off its one-two finish at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend, Roush Fenway Racing announced a multi-year team-wide partnership with Safety-Kleen and its premium re-refined motor oil brand, EcoPower. EcoPower will serve as the official oil partner of NASCAR’s winningest team, as well as the primary sponsor for multiple races with the #17 Sprint Cup Ford and driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The #17 EcoPower Ford Fusion will make its debut at Michigan International Speedway in June. EcoPower re-refined oil helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%. And it requires up to 85% less energy to produce than oil made from virgin crude, because it has already been refined. It also helps reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. Safety-Kleen is a founding partner of NASCAR Green; an initiative focused on making NASCAR the greenest sport. Safety-Kleen collects all used fluids from the tracks during race weekends – and from most team facilities year round – and then recycles or responsibly disposes of those fluids. The used motor oil collected from all of these sources, including RFR’s race cars, will find its way back into EcoPower.(Roush Fenway Racing)(3-20-2014)
- Brooke Werner steps down as Miss Sprint Cup: Miss Sprint Cup Brooke Werner announced Wednesday on her Facebook page that she is resigning as Miss Sprint Cup due to personal reasons. Werner posted the following message on Facebook on Wednesday.
“Hey fans, difficult decisions are always tough to communicate to people you love so much…like you guys. I recently made the hard decision to resign as Miss Sprint Cup for personal reasons (all good!) and hang up my firesuit. It’s been one of the greatest times of my life and I have you all to thank for that. I’ll miss you all very much but I know that you’ll all be excited to meet the new Miss Sprint Cup soon!”
Werner, a former Miss Vermont USA, had filled the role of Miss Sprint Cup with Kim Coon and Madison Martin. This is Martin’s first year in the Miss Sprint Cup program, while it’s Coon’s fourth. Werner was beginning her second season on tour. Miss Sprint Cup serves as the representative for Sprint, entitlement sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.(Autoweek)(3-20-2014) - “Spring is Calling” on the #48: To commemorate the first day of spring, March 20, Johnson’s #48 Lowe’s Spring Is Calling Chevy SS will have some additional character during the next three NASCAR Sprint Cup weekends. The Lowe’s marketing campaign bird and green accents will adorn the #48 Chevy SS for the races in Fontana, Calif., Martinsville, Va. and Fort Worth, Texas.(Hendrick Motorsports), see an image of the car on the #48 team paint schemes page.(3-20-2014)
- Gordon starts year with top 10s: #24-Jeff Gordon finished seventh at Bristol on Sunday, giving him top-10 finishes in each of the first four races of the season. Gordon had never started the year with such a streak until this year.(Motor Racing Network)(3-20-2014)
- Wurth debuts on #2 at Auto Club: The #2 Wurth Ford Fusion will make its competition debut this weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Wurth is entering its third year as a partner with Team Penske. The leading supplier of top-quality automotive chemicals, fasteners, hand tools and electrical supplies will be a primary sponsor at a total of four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events this season. (Team Penske), see an image of the car on the #2 team paint schemes page.(3-20-2014)
- Time Warner Cable on Kahne’s car at Auto Club: Time Warner Cable will adorn the hood of Kahne’s #5 Chevy SS this weekend at Fontana, Calif., and will be the primary sponsor on the car for four more Sprint Cup Series races this year: Texas Motor Speedway on April 6, Charlotte Motor Speedway’s All-Star Race on May 17, Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27 and New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 21.(Hendrick Motorsports), see an image of the car on the #5 team paint schemes page.(3-20-2014)
- Chassis selections for this weeks race: see the list of many teams [that report or post them] and what chassis were selected by the team to run in Auto Club Speedway on the Auto Club Race Info page – Chassis selection area.
- Auto Club Speedway Goodyear Tire Notes: Teams in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series will run the same tire codes at Fontana this weekend . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires that these teams have run at this track since 2012 . . . this right-side tire code (D-4408) has been run at Fontana since 2011, while this left-side tire code (D-4522) was introduced the following year . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Fontana . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.(Goodyear), see full notes, tire pressures, tire codes, set limits on the Auto Club Race Info page – Goodyear section.(3-20-2014)
- Carter 2 Motorsports ends relationship with Bobby Hamilton, Jr.: Carter 2 Motorsports announced today that the relationship between the ARCA Racing Series team and driver Bobby Hamilton, Jr. has been terminated, effective immediately. Hamilton, Jr., acting on behalf of Precision MotorSports Limited, had signed a contract to drive for the team in February 2014, but was unable to uphold the financial terms of the agreement. Hamilton, Jr. along with his sponsor, St. Louis based Cherokee Charcoal, were equal partners in Precision MotorSports Limited. Carter 2 Motorsports has been in negotiations with representatives of Cherokee Charcoal this week in hopes of modifying the original agreement. Those negotiations were terminated and Trussville, Ala. native Dustin Knowles has been named to drive the number 40 Carter 2 Motorsports Dodge Charger at the March 22nd “ARCA Mobile 200” at Mobile International Speedway (Ala.).(Carter 2 Motorsports)(3-20-2014)
- Shakey’s Pizza Parlor on board with Earnhardt: Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, one of the country’s most popular pizza restaurants, has joined JD Motorsports with Gary Keller and driver Jeffrey Earnhardt for Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Shakey’s will be prominently displayed on the team’s #4 Chevy for the TreatMyClot.com 300, the fifth race of the Nationwide season. Shakey’s, based in Alhambra near Los Angeles, has 60 locations, most in southern California. Shakey’s also has restaurants in Washington, Hawaii and Alabama. The restaurant, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, is sponsoring a NASCAR team for the first time.(JDM)(3-20-2014)
- K1 Speed joins JDM: K1 Speed, which operates the nation’s leading go-kart racing facilities, has joined JD Motorsports with Gary Keller as a key sponsor for Nationwide Series races at Auto Club Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. K1 Speed colors will debut on the team cars, driven by Landon Cassill and Jeffrey Earnhardt, in Saturday’s TreatMyClot.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway in the fifth race of the Nationwide season. K1 also will be a team partner for the Nationwide race at Texas April 4. K1 operates 20 kart racing locations, with more scheduled to open this year. K1 has tracks in California, Texas, Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Florida and plans expansion into Indiana, North Carolina, Colorado and Georgia. K1, which is based in Irvine, Calif., has a track in Ontario, Calif., near Auto Club Speedway. The company’s tracks are indoors, and the karts are 100-percent emission-free electric vehicles. Saturday’s race will mark K1’s first association with a national-series NASCAR team.(JDM)(3-20-2014)
- Texas unveils “Big Hoss” TV: Talk about a Texas-sized TV. Texas Motor Speedway unveiled the world’s largest high-definition video board Wednesday night, with the flip of a switch on a huge remote control setting off fireworks before the screen lit up with highlights from past races and events at the track. The screen is 218 feet wide and about 95 feet high. It is about 125 feet above ground level in the middle of the backstretch at the 1 1/2-mile track. The screen measures 20,633 square feet, surpassing the size of a 200-foot by 85-foot board at Charlotte, another SMI track owned by Bruton Smith. Both video boards are a partnership with Panasonic. About 8,000 people sat in the infield on a chilly night for the free public debut, which included showing of the new episode of “Duck Dynsasty.” The board weighs 108 tons. Panasonic executive Richard Ballard said construction of the video board and its support structure were completed in a condensed four-month schedule. While not being specific, TMS president Eddie Gossage said there were other potential developers attending Wednesday night as they consider such boards. He also said the Texas board could open the door to other kinds of events outside of racing at his track. Asked how much the screen cost, Gossage would only say, “a lot.”(Associated Press)(3-20-2014)
- Pia Toscano to sing National Anthem at Auto Club 400: Critically-acclaimed recording artist Pia Toscano, will sing the National Anthem prior to the start of the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, March 23 at Auto Club Speedway. Toscano will also perform ‘God Bless America’ during Auto Club Speedway’s “Tribute to Unions and the American Worker” during pre-race festivities. Toscano has made a name for herself as a vocalist with a rich, emotionally transparent voice, clearly influenced by the likes of Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Etta James and Luther Vandross. Performing since the age of four, Toscano was widely considered one of American Idol’s Season 10 frontrunners thanks to her powerhouse vocal ability and dark-haired beauty. She has performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Ellen, The White House, Dancing With The Stars, So You Think You can Dance The Disney Channel, and is currently known as the “Voice of the LA KINGS” singing the National Anthem at their home games at the Staples Center.(ACS)(3-20-2014)
- Iowa Legislative panel approves tax breaks for Speedway: A plan to extend a tax break provided last year to the Iowa Speedway at Newton has moved forward in the Iowa House. The proposal received preliminary approval Wednesday from a House Ways and Means subcommittee. It will now be subject to committee-level review. The racetrack in Newton receives a state sales tax rebate under current law, but the rebate is limited to sales occurring before January 1, 2016. The proposal seeks to extend the rebate by 10 years to sales occurring before January 1, 2026. Racetrack officials say the tax break extension is needed not only to grow auto racing in Newton, but also to shine a spotlight on what central Iowa has to offer. The Iowa Speedway, which opened in 2006, was bought by NASCAR last year.(KCRG)(3-20-2104)
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997