March 21, 2005
- Overnight TV Ratings for Atlanta down: Fox’s broadcast of Sunday’s Golden Corral 500 drew a 4.9 overnight rating and an 11 share from Nielsen Media Research, today’s Sports Business Daily reports. The rating is 8.2 percent lower than the 5.3 overnight figure the race drew in 2004, when it was contested a week earlier on the calendar and was not broadcast opposite CBS’s coverage of the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament. The Daily reported that CBS averaged a 7.1 overnight rating for its three broadcast windows of games Sunday, a 10.9 percent increase over last year.(NASCAR Scene Daily Newsletter)(3-21-2005)
- Edwards Drives Home too: After Carl Edwards drove 500 miles to victory he left Atlanta with his motor coach driver and spent all night behind the wheel 680 miles to his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. His sponsor Scotts had a private jet waiting for him where he then flew to New York City to help ring Monday’s closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. A long drive following a race win is nothing new to Edwards. After his first-ever dirt track victory in Godfrey, Illinois Carl drove home and was so happy that night he didn’t change out of uniform. He also drove back to Missouri from the Kentucky Speedway after his first Craftsman Truck Series win. Edwards said “To get behind the wheel of that motor home and drove home (from Atlanta) just made it feel right.”(PRN’s Garage Pass Radio Show)(3-21-2005)
- First time Cup and Busch wins same weekend? haven’t seen this anyplace, but during Speed Channel’s Speed News, it was mentioned that Carl Edward’s first time Busch Series and Nextel Cup Series wins, was the first time a drive had gotten his first career win in both series on the same weekend at the same track.(3-21-2005)
- NASCAR renews with radio company: NASCAR announced a renewal of its longstanding association with Atlanta-based Diversified Electronics/Racing Radios to provide two-way radio communications for all NASCAR officials and competitors in NASCAR’s three national series – the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, the NASCAR Busch Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The renewal runs through the 2013 season – coinciding with the terminus of the current NASCAR-Nextel Communications deal to sponsor NASCAR’s top series – and continues a 30-year relationship. Building on that tradition, Racing Radios, the first and only two-ray radio provider for NASCAR, is moving ahead boldly by partnering with Nextel Communications to provide state-of-the-art technology. Nextel is in its second year as title sponsor of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series.(NASCAR PR)(3-21-2005)
- Crew Chief Award Stays: Without a doubt, the greatest thing about NASCAR is its fans. It’s their passion and enthusiasm that makes racing the best sport in the world. So we appreciate you sharing thoughts on the Crew Chief Challenge. After all, that’s what this contest is all about – settling the hot debate of who really is the best crew chief in the Nextel Cup garage. Kyle Busch’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, was awarded the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief of the Race. Gustafson’s car met all specifications before the race, and it was an incident during the event that caused it to exceed the height requirement. WYPALL Wipers certainly does not endorse any kind of dishonesty. The voting panel, including Tony Eury Sr., the local media and a WYPALL Wipers representative, took into account several factors when picking the winner, including strategy, pit stop times, improvement throughout the day and overall performance. Given that criteria, the vote for Gustafson still stands.(SMC 500 PR)(3-21-2005)
- 13,975 new books donated First through Spoonfuls Of Stories: Jeff Green and the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge team didn’t have the type of finish they had hoped Sunday, but Atlanta children still had a big win. Green ran into handling problems, completed 321 laps of 325] and finished 28th in the race. Cheerios Spoonfuls Of Stories and First Book, a national non-profit organization, had agreed to donate 43 books to Atlanta children through the new Atlanta-area First Book chapter for every lap Green completed in the race. Cheerios and First Book made the maximum donation anyway – 13,975 new books. The books-per-lap donation is part of the ongoing Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories program, which gets books into the hands of children. More than 60 percent of low-income families have no books at all in their homes for their children. Racing audiences shared in the excitement by cheering on the #43 Dodge, which sported a special Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories paint scheme for the race.(Williams Company), see an image of the car on my #43 Teams Schemes page.(3-21-2005)
- Edwards Flip? Why? How? Where? For those wondering about the origin of the backflip Edwards did after winning Saturday’s Busch Series race and Sunday’s Cup race he learned it several years ago from Tyler Walker, a World of Outlaws driver now driving Busch. “I almost didn’t make it around on that one,” Edwards said of Sunday’s flip. “I was a little wore out and excited. I was definitely off, but I’ll make it up to them (fans) next time.”(The State)(3-21-2005)
- So where is the big blue bottle? been getting asked alot where the big blue Powerade Bottle is that caused such a firestorm in 2004 [Johnson fine, Gordon misses Indy’s victory lane, etc]. in 2003 and 2004, the pit crew award was called “McDonald’s Drive-Thru Pit Championship fueled by POWERade”. In 2005, McDonald’s dropped it sponsorship of the award and as the official fast food restaurant of NASCAR. In 2005 Checker’s now sponsors the award, called the Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge. Not sure of the rules or standings as I have gotten no PR’s on it, who is eligible and have seen no websites for it, just blurbs about who won the week before.(3-21-2005)
- Driver Suspensions? Jimmy Spencer, co-host of SPEED Channel’s NASCAR This Morning, reported on Atlanta’s Nextel Cup driver meeting. It was a really important drivers meeting, and (NASCAR president) Mike Helton talked about fitting in the box. In ’01 and ’02, they escalated the fines to just money. Then it was not enough. And then at Dover in June (last year), he warned it would escalate higher in reaction to the points. One month later, they issued money and points. Today, with what happened last week at Vegas, Mike says that’s it. What (NASCAR’s) going to do, he’s heard about all of the car owners and crew chiefs talking this stuff, the car has to fit in the box. Don’t make (NASCAR) react. “What I wanted to do today was to address you, as we have in the past, to give you the heads up that NASCAR will do whatever it feels like it has to do to maintain the confidence of everybody in the garage that everyone is playing on the same playing field,” Helton said. “Whether it’s intentional or whether it’s not intentional, there is a box that you have to fit in, and it’s our responsibility to react when it doesn’t work right. My assumption of what he said is, “Boys, you could be missing a week. Maybe more.”(FoxSports/Speed Channel)(3-21-2005)
- France and the NFL rumor resurfaces: Brian France’s on-and-off plans to get into the National Football League as part-owner of a proposed new Los Angeles franchise may be back on again, according to sources who say France is working with Magic Johnson on various NFL-NBA angles. Johnson is on the NASCAR business roster to help this sport’s diversity program. The latest thinking on France-to-the-NFL is that he will complete NASCAR’s current round of TV renegotiations before making any big moves. France has insisted he’s not planning on leaving NASCAR anytime soon, though he has left the door open.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-21-2005)
- Speeding Penalties at Atlanta: More speeding tickets: NASCAR’s pit road crackdown continued at Atlanta. During the drivers meeting, it was announced there will be no more 15-second penalties for speeding on pit road. Instead, drivers will serve drive-through penalties for speeding or driving through three or more pit boxes when pitting. Dale Jarrett (three times), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (twice), Michael Waltrip and Kurt Busch were busted for speeding Sunday.(FoxSports/Sporting News)(3-21-2005)
- Engine of the Future: NASCAR’s proposed “engine of the future” for 2007 would be sized down to 325 c.i., about 100 horsepower smaller than the current 358 c.i. design, which has been stock-car racing’s staple since 1975. NASCAR’s goal is an engine that produces 700 horsepower at the flywheel (about 680 horsepower at the rear wheels). NASCAR has had three major meetings with Detroit car makers over specs for the new engine, which is being stalled by Ford Motor Company. In part of the engine discussions, NASCAR officials are looking for ways to create a secondary in-sport market for old engines. Currently there is no such hand-me-down market for slightly used, or last year’s NASCAR equipment.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-21-2005)
- Latest on Toyota to Cup: One reason for the engine talks is Toyota’s planned step up to Nextel Cup racing and worries the Japanese giant – now the world’s second biggest car maker – may come in with a significant technological edge. Toyota’s NASCAR Cup plans remain a hot button issue in the NASCAR garage, and now there is word that Toyota may have already tested a NASCAR Cup car with one of its NASCAR Truck engines, and that Toyota’s racing division is only awaiting word from upper management to launch the program. However, Toyota has just undertaken a massive Formula One effort that could be draining potential NASCAR resources. The Toyota F-1 project could run from $400 million to $700 million a year. While much speculation has been that Honda would follow Toyota into NASCAR racing, there are reports Nissan, instead, might be the second Japanese car maker to make the move into this brand of racing.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-21-2005)
- New Racing Magazine: Racing Fan, a flashy magazine with loose ties to Sports Illustrated, will hit newsstands March 28. Published in an oversized format (like ESPN The Magazine and Rolling Stone), the magazine is photo- and graphic-driven and targets “the 75 million fans that have made NASCAR the fastest- growing sort in America.” Two issues will be produced, and if they’re well-received, the magazine will publish monthly, editor Scott Mowbray said. The publisher is Times 4 Media, a subsidiary of Time Inc., parent of Sports Illustrated.(Tampa Tribune)
AND The first of two issues of RACING FAN, a big, bold, photo-driven magazine, debuts this month. Celebrating NASCAR fans, their heroes, their passion for the sport and the NASCAR lifestyle, RACING FAN gives the people who love everything about NASCAR information they can use, whether they collect memorabilia, are planning a trip to the track, or want to win their next trivia argument. The second issue of RACING FAN will be on newsstands nationwide May 16th. Each includes an up-front section full of driver, sponsor, and track news; feature stories on the events that have shaped NASCAR history; and “Racing Nation,” a back section dedicated to the fans themselves. It’s all delivered in an oversized, easy-to-read format combining the visual staying power of magazines with the unique excitement and spectacle of NASCAR racing. “The fans deserve a magazine as big and loud as the sport we all love. This is it,” says Scott Mowbray, editor of the two issues.(PR)(3-21-2005) - Testing at Kentucky: NEXTEL Cup teams from Evernham Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing are scheduled to test March 23 and 24 at Kentucky Speedway. Evernham teams will be on the track on March 23. Bobby Labonte will turn laps in his Joe Gibbs Racing #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet on March 24. Fans can view testing from the designated area near the Fan Center at no charge. Testing begins at approximately 9:00 a.m. and ends at approximately 5:00 p.m.(Kentucky Speedway)(3-21-2005)
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