March 23, 2009
- Bristol Overnight TV Ratings: Fox’s broadcast of Sunday’s Food City 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race earned a 4.1 overnight rating and a 10 market share from Nielsen Media Research, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily reports. The rating is 18% lower than the 5.0 Fox earned for the race in 2008.(SceneDaily)(3-23-2009)
- Testing at the Rock: six Sprint Cup teams tested at the Little Rock 1/2 mile track at Rockingham Raceway on Monday: #2-Kurt Busch, #42-Juan Pablo Montoya, #8 Aric Amirola (two cars), #39-Ryan Newman, #07-Casey Mears and Justin Allgaier in the #77 Dodge. Seven ARCA Teams tested the one mile track in prep for the Carolina 200 in April.(3-23-2009)
- Joe Gibbs Racing teams up with IMG: Joe Gibbs Racing is finalizing a broad-based relationship with IMG that will give the NASCAR team access to the agency’s full range of sponsorship sales, measurement and activation capabilities. The agreement between JGR and IMG will not preclude the race team from working with other agencies and their clients, said JGR President J.D. Gibbs. It simply gives Gibbs Racing the ability to tap into IMG’s resources, most notably the agency’s return-on-investment tools. “You reach a point over the years that you either need to increase what you have in-house and make yourself a lot larger or you need to tap into someone else,” said Gibbs, whose father, Joe founded the race team in 1992. JGR’s front office includes five employees under Dean Noble, the team’s vice president of business, and four under Dave Alpern, the vice president of marketing. Noble and Alpern will be JGR’s day-to-day contacts with IMG. IMG will take a team approach that includes Tom Knox, who runs the motorsports-heavy Charlotte office, newly hired Mark Dyer and Jim Tucker, who previously has sold for NASCAR, the NFL and Gillett Evernham Motorsports. It’s uncertain if IMG will eventually embed a salesperson in the Charlotte-based Gibbs Racing headquarters, as it did with the NHRA and typically does with its college clients. There is not an ownership stake for IMG, and IMG Sports and Entertainment President George Pyne has said ownership is not in IMG’s plans. Neither side revealed details of the arrangement, but typically they involve a retainer fee and a percentage of sales. “This adds a lot of value to JGR,” said Gibbs, who credited a lengthy relationship with Pyne for driving the deal. Pyne formerly was the chief operating officer at NASCAR, where he worked for 11 years. Gibbs said the decision wasn’t driven by the current economic climate, but rather a need for JGR to better assist its sponsors. The more information the team can present to its sponsors, the smoother those renewal discussions typically go, he said.(Sports Business Journal)(3-23-2009)
- Race and Commercial Breakdown of the Food City 500
Total number of commercials: 127
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 67
Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 82
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 2:00 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 5:10 PM
Total minutes: 190
Minutes of race broadcast: 137
Minutes of commercials: 53
Number of missed restarts: 0
Animated Digger sightings: 7
Digger still shots: 28
See more and a link to the full report on the 2009 TV Commercials Page.(3-23-2009)
- Did Not Finish Streak and stats: #33-Bowyer has been running at the finish in 78 consecutive races, the longest current streak, only 3 races behind the modern era record of #29-Harvick who had 81 until DNFing at California in Feb 2009, next up is #48-Johnson at 29 consecutive races. The all-time record for the longest streak of NOT having an DNF is 84 races held by Herman Beam from April 30, 1961 thru March 10, 1963 [Beam didn’t run all the races, but didn’t DNF in 84 straight consecutive races that he ran]. Kevin Harvick holds the modern era (1972-present) record at 81 [he also has the 2nd longest at 58], then Jeff Gordon at 56 and Dale Earnhardt at 53 [Indy in 1996 thru Martinsville in the spring of 1998.(3-23-2009)
- 250 top 5’s for Gordon: #24-Jeff Gordon made his 550th career start at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 500, with his 4th place finish, Gordon now has 250 top-five finishes, which is 7th best all time. Next up is Cale Yarborough at 255. Richard Petty has the most with 555.(3-23-2009)
- TRG Motorsports Heads to Martinsville 35th in Owner Points: David Gilliland soldiered through a tough day at Bristol Motor Speedway to finish the #71 Capital Window/TRG Motorsports Chevy in 36th position in the Food City 500. The team leaves Bristol 35th in owner points assuring that they are locked into next weekend’s race at Martinsville.(TRG Motorsports PR)
For the owner points standings, see my Drivers/Owners Points Standings page.(3-23-2009) - Townley to compete is ASA at SGMP: John Wes Townley of Watkinsville, Ga. will return to his racing roots in the ASA Late Model Series this weekend when he competes in the South Georgia 100 at the half-mile South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, Ga. on Saturday night March 28. The 19-year-old Townley, a Raybestos rookie of the year contender in the Nationwide Series, posted a pair of career bests last weekend in NASCAR’s junior circuit when he qualified 12th and finished 16th in the Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.(ASA PR)(3-23-2009)
- Racing Resources Says…
…Kevin Harvick won the Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, posting his first victory for Kevin Harvick Inc. He became the fourth different race winner in four races this season.
…Harvick scored his 33rd Nationwide victory in his 218th race; his last win came at Texas in November 2007. Harvick went 27 races since his last series victory. Thirty-two of Harvick’s 33 Nationwide wins came with Richard Childress Racing.
…Harvick climbed from seventh to second in the points standings, 114 behind leader Carl Edwards. Harvick remains second on NASCAR’s Nationwide all-time wins list behind Mark Martin, who has 48 series victories.
…Harvick scored his fifth Nationwide Bristol victory in his 18 races. He last won at Bristol in March 2005.
…Harvick led twice for 46 laps, including the final 45.
…Carl Edwards (who finished second) has posted 13 consecutive top-5 finishes.
…Justin Allgaier (fifth) posted his career-best finish. He was the highest-finishing rookie contender.
…Chevy scored its 29th victory in 54 Bristol races.
…The race featured 10 cautions for 62 laps.
…The 16 lead changes were a record for Bristol.
…Pole winner Brendan Gaughan finished 21st in his first Nationwide race at Bristol.
…Kyle Busch, who led three times for 156 laps, had a tire violation on Lap 254 and restarted as the last car on the lead lap. He recovered to finish sixth.
…Scott Speed (eighth) scored a top-10 finish in his second Nationwide race.
…The top 10 consisted of two Fords, four Toyotas, three Chevrolets and one Dodge.(ESPN.com)(3-23-2009)
- What’s up with Landon Cassill? Landon Cassill and High Performance Motorsports have announced that they have teamed up to race the “Short Track Nationals Georgia 100” at South Georgia Motorsports Park. Cassill will compete in the #61 LS3 powered Chevy Impala SS. Cassill has had some success at SGMP, in 2007 Cassill won the ASA Late Model South race to become the first ever to win a race in all division of ASA Late Model competition (ASA Late Model North, Challenge and South).(ASA PR)(3-23-2009)
- Raybestos Rookie News and Notes – Martinsville: Tayler Malsam was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the March 7 American Commercial Lines 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Malsam scored a 13th-place finish and claimed Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the first time this season. J.R. Fitzpatrick leads Ricky Carmichael by three points (33-30) in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the March 28 Kroger 250 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Donny Lia was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the 2008 Kroger 250 at Martinsville, scoring a ninth-place finish. The best finish by a Raybestos Rookie at Martinsville Speedway is second, shared by Travis Kvapil (2001), Carl Edwards (2003 fall) and Todd Kluever (2005 fall race). Two Raybestos Rookies have won a pole at Martinsville in the Camping World Truck Series: Greg Biffle (1998) and Carl Edwards (2003).(Raybestos PR)(3-23-2009)
- Busch/Ballew look for three in a row: Kyle “Rowdy” Busch will take to the track at Martinsville Speedway Saturday, March 29, 2009 for the running of the Kroger 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event in the #51 Miccosukee Resort Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota Tundra. Busch is coming off back to back Camping World Truck Series wins at Auto Club Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway looks to make it three in a row for the independent team owner on the .546-mile paper-clip shaped racetrack. He has 14 NASCAR Series starts at the Martinsville, Virginia track without a victory but posting five top-five and seven top-10 finishes.(Billy Ballew Motorsports PR)(3-23-2009)
- Longhorn returns as sponsor; Hornaday has yet to win at Martinsville: Longhorn/Swedish Match returns as primary sponsor the #33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevy with driver Ron Hornaday Jr. Longhorn/Swedish Match adorned the #33 previously at the season opener in Daytona. Hornaday is the all-time leader in career wins in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. There are only nine venues on the current Truck Series schedule that Hornaday has yet to notch a victory. After 13 starts, Martinsville Speedway remains one track where Hornaday has yet to record a victory. The closest he has come to victory lane at the half-mile track are three third-place finishes (’98,’05 and ’07).(Kevin Harvick Inc. PR)(3-23-2009)
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997