March 23 – Today in Jayski’s NASCAR history

March 23, 2007

• Sad News – Eric Medlen: NHRA Funny Car driver Eric Medlen died Friday, four days after he suffered a severe closed-head injury in a test session crash at Gainesville, Fla. He was 33. Medlen’s family elected to have him taken off life-support systems, which they said was Eric’s wish for this type of situation. Medlen’s Mustang Funny Car crashed head on into the right concrete barrier after it blew a tire on a test run the day after the Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. Medlen was one of four drivers for John Force Racing. The other three JFR drivers — Force, Robert Hight and Ashley Force — stayed in Florida with Medlen’s family. Eric’s father, John Medlen, said, “On behalf of the family, I want to thank the medical staff at Shands not just for giving Eric the very best care he could have received, but for the compassion it showed for Eric and all those close to him. I also want to thank the thousands of people who offered their prayers and support to us during this very difficult time.” More at ESPN.com, NHRA.com and Ford Racing.(3-23-2007)

• Dale Jr./DEI conracts on hold while sister is in hospital UPDATE:Negotiations to re-sign with the company his father built isn’t #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s top concern at the moment. The health of his sister is. Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, who has been negotiating the new deal at Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) with her brother, is scheduled to undergo surgery Friday. “My sister is in the hospital right now, so we’re going to have to put everything on hold for a while,” Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday at Bristol Motor Speedway. “She’s going to be in the hospital for a couple of days. We’ll be watching that pretty closely. Everything in life is on hold until that gets better.” Representatives of DEI would not discuss specifics of the surgery, only to say that the family was concerned. A source close to the situation said a benign cyst was discovered on Elledge’s pancreas last week. Elledge’s situation has forced the postponement of several negotiation meetings the past week and a half. But sources close to the situation said the meetings prior to that had gone well and that Teresa Earnhardt, Earnhardt Jr.’s stepmother and the owner of DEI, was actively involved. “Our No. 1 priority right now is for Kelley to have a speedy recovery,” said Max Siegel, the vice president for Global Operations at DEI.(ESPN.com)(3-22-2007)
  UPDATE: Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, who handles brother Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s business affairs and is general manager of JR Motorsports, is resting comfortably after surgery earlier today, said JR Motorsports Director of Motorsports Steve Crisp. Crisp would not disclose the exact nature of the surgery. “She’s good,” Crisp said. “Everything went as expected. She’s resting right now. … Everything was a success. All indications are that everything is all taken care of.” Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday that his contract negotiations with Dale Earnhardt Inc. were on hold until Earnhardt Elledge could return to the negotiating table. Earnhardt Elledge is married to Jimmy Elledge, crew chief for #41-Reed Sorenson in the Nextel Cup Series at Chip Ganassi Racing. Jimmy Elledge was not at the track Friday, with Busch Series crew chief Brian Pattie helping fill that role. Jimmy Elledge is expected to be at the track Sunday to call the shots.(SceneDaily.com)(3-23-2007)

• NHL Owner meets with Evernham UPDATE; George Gillett Jr., the owner of the Montreal Canadiens National Hockey League team and co-owner of the Liverpool soccer team in England, has talked with NASCAR teams, including Evernham Motorsports, team owner Ray Evernham confirmed Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I’ve talked to a lot of people,” Evernham said. “George is one of the people I’m talking to. When I said I was looking for a partner [earlier this year], the phone has been ringing and ringing. I met George. He is a really cool guy. But we don’t have anything done.” Evernham has invited Gillett to come to Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 this weekend.(SceneDaily.com)(3-10-2007)
  UPDATE: Ray Evernham may be getting closer to finding a business partner for Evernham Motorsports. George Gillett Jr., the owner of the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL and co-owner of the Liverpool soccer team in England, will be at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday. Gillett also met with Evernham at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago. “We’re still talking,” Evernham said on Friday. “It’s a matter of getting the right partner and getting the right timing. It’s not about the money. I need the right partner. I want to win a championship.” Evernham said he hasn’t discussed how much of EMS will be sold. “I just need somebody that’s going to come in and bring people that are interested in providing technology and sponsorship to the race team,” he said. Evernham would like to find a partner that could take over some of his business duties, such as dealing with sponsors. “I want to work on race cars again,” said Evernham, who won three championship as the crew chief for Jeff Gordon at Hendrick Motorsports. “That’s what I do, work on the cars with my guys and go fast. I need a partner who can do his side and I can do my side.”(ESPN.com)(3-23-2007)

• Final Atlanta TV ratings: Fox’s broadcast of last Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 Nextel Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway earned a 5.2 final Nielsen Media Research Rating and a 12 market share, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily reports. The 2006 race was carried on cable station FX on a Monday, so comparisons aren’t possible, but the 2005 race on Fox earned a 5.5/13.(SceneDaily.com), see TV Ratings for the season on my 2007 TV Ratings page.(3-23-2007)

• Latest on the #36 team rumors UPDATE: been told that members of the #36 Bill Davis Racing team were told that if the team were shutting down, they would find out from team owner Bill Davis and not thru the media and that BDR is contracted with Toyota to field two teams even if the sponsor were to leave the team or not pay the bills. See past news on the #36 rumors on my #36 Team News and Links page.(3-23-2007)
  UPDATE: The #36 Bill Davis Racing Toyota team is not shutting down, team manager Tommy Baldwin told ESPN.com Thursday. “By no means are we slowing down with that team,” Baldwin said. “But reality is reality. You don’t make races you’re going to be out of business. Any team. Not just the 36. We’re certainly not in that position right now.” Driver Jeremy Mayfield has yet to qualify for a race this season, spawning speculation that the team was in peril. “The reality of it is we’ve missed the first four races,” Baldwin said. “It’s been a hard thing to swallow as a race team. We’ve just got to keep working with the 36, figure out what Jeremy really wants [in the car].” Baldwin explained that Mayfield’s driving style is vastly different than that employed by Dave Blaney, driver of BDR’s #22 Toyota. As a result, what he wants to feel at the wheel is also quite different. “Jeremy’s a finesse driver,” Baldwin said. “He feels a lot of things in the steering wheel. Some things he doesn’t like compared to Dave — Dave can just drive through the situation where Jeremy is feeling a lot of things and it’s making him uncomfortable. “The team is close. The people working on it are doing a really good job. The car is prepared really well. The car is built right. But I don’t know if it’s being they’re built to Jeremy’s liking. Being associated with Jeremy in the past [at Evernham Motorsports], there were some differences we had to do back then between the two drivers. It’s pretty much the same here, we’re finding out.” To combat the situation, Baldwin said cars dedicated to Mayfield are being cut up and rebuilt. He said they went to the wind tunnel Thursday and will go twice more in the coming two weeks. Baldwin said Toyota is doing everything it can to assist BDR’s development, and that Mayfield is fully engaged and handling it well. What about him? Is it time for a full time return to crew chief? “I don’t want to,” Baldwin said. “I want to keep working on the future of Bill Davis Racing as well as what’s going on today. I’ve had to stop a lot of things, change my focus because of this role. But until we get into making the races and the direction we need to go there’s no sense in bringing someone else into the company just yet.”(ESPN.com)
  AND: been told by sources at the track, the #36 has 360 OTC decals on the car.(3-23-2007)

• Cowher, other stars part of NASCAR Reality show: Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher will star in an ABC-TV reality show about NASCAR that begins filming this week and is set to air in June. Cowher will compete against John Elway, Tony Hawk, William Shatner, Laird Hamilton and his wife, Gabby Reese, Serena Williams, Jewel and others, reports WTAE-Channel 4, Pittsburgh’s ABC affiliate. Participants will compete in speed, driving from zero to 100 mph, braking and pit crew skills.(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)(3-23-2007)

• Fox’s DW and Hammond honored with Emmy Nominations: During their legendary on-track careers, driver Darrell Waltrip and crew chief Jeff Hammond saw Victory Lane 43 times as a team. Now, as members of the NASCAR on FOX team, they still run circles around the competition. Earlier today, both men were honored with their first-ever Emmy Award nominations – Waltrip for “Outstanding Event Analyst” and Hammond for “Outstanding Studio Analyst”.
  “On a race team, the driver gets all the glory, but he knows it’s really about the people behind him who are helping him and pushing him,” said Waltrip. “I am blessed to be with the greatest team in racing covering our sport.”
  “I’ve been fortunate to be side-by-side with Darrell Waltrip when we have won races and championships together,” said Hammond. “Receiving our first nomination together is one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me!”
  NASCAR on FOX, already the recipient of nine Emmy Awards for its coverage from 2001 to 2005, also received 2006 nominations from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for “Outstanding Live Event/Audio,” and “Outstanding Technical Team Remote,” an award the series has taken home for three consecutive years. The 28th Annual Sports Emmy Awards will be presented on Monday, April 30, in New York.(Fox PR)(3-23-2007)

• Chevy Aims for 600th NASCAR Cup Series Win: Chevrolet will have the opportunity to achieve several historic milestones at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. With Jimmie Johnson’s back-to-back wins in Las Vegas and Atlanta, Chevrolet has 599 NASCAR Cup wins as Team Chevy heads to Bristol, Tenn. where the Impala nameplate will make its return to NASCAR racing. If a Chevy driver wins in Bristol this weekend, it would be the 600th all-time victory for Chevrolet and the 61st win for Impala. This weekend’s Food City 500 in Bristol is the first event featuring NASCAR’s next generation of race cars including the Chevy Impala SS. Forty-eight years after the nameplate was introduced to NASCAR racing, Impala returns to NASCAR competition in 16 Nextel Cup events this season. When it takes the track at Bristol, Impala will have already achieved consecutive NASCAR titles in 1960 and 1961 as well 60 race wins including the inaugural Impala race in 1959 at Daytona International Speedway [Bob Welborn, the first race was a 40 lap qualifying race for the Daytona 500, back then it was an official points paying race]. In addition to Impala’s success, Chevrolet’s history of NASCAR racing accolades includes 23 driver titles, 30 manufacturer championships and 599 victories. Chevrolet’s closest competitor for all-time NASCAR victories trails by the equivalent of a full-season of race wins (22).
  Total All-time NASCAR Cup Wins (by corporation): 1949-present
  General Motors Corporation = 933
  (Chevy: 599, Pontiac: 154, Olds: 115, Buick: 65)
  Ford Motor Company = 676
  (Ford: 577, Mercury 95, Lincoln: 4) Chrysler Corporation = 444
  (Dodge: 194, Plymouth: 191, Chrysler: 59)
  (GM Racing PR)(3-23-2007)

• NASCAR giving team ‘wiggle room’ at Bristol: Nextel Cup teams are going through the car of tomorrow inspection process slowly today [Thursday] at Bristol Motor Speedway. And what is good today might not be good in the future. NASCAR is trying to work with the teams and educate them about the car, said Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby, and that education could mean giving teams some wiggle room if they are off on a template that would have no bearing on the high-banked concrete half-mile track this weekend at Bristol. That’s why NASCAR opened the garage a day early. About eight of the 50 [49] cars entered were through the templates and scales after nearly three hours of inspection Thursday as part of the first car of tomorrow weekend. From start to finish, it was taking 80-90 minutes for a car to go through the templates and scales before getting the engine and safety inspections done while teams are working on their cars in the pit stalls. “We don’t relax on our safety inspection and we don’t relax on the things that are competitively driven, but if a guy has got a template here that is a 16th [of an inch] off that the whole world knows is not going to make a difference at all when it’s out on the race track, we’ll let them work toward getting it right [in the future],” Darby said Friday about two hours into the inspection process. Teams are going underneath the big claw-looking master template for the first time under real “race” conditions. In the past, templates were placed on the car one at a time. Now many of those templates are in one, big interlocking template. When the cars go through the initial template inspection, they don’t have wings on them. NASCAR issues the wings after the cars are through that section. One of the big parts of the learning process is how much a car changes from week to week and if a piece moves or gets bent whether it will be illegal the following week.(SceneDaily.com)(3-23-2007)

• PRN at Bristol Motor Speedway: Schedule of Events:
  March 23: Food City 500 Qualifying broadcast begins at 3:30pm/et
  March 24: Sharpie Mini 300 Busch Series broadcast begins at 2:30pm/et
  March 25: Food City 500 Nextel Cup Series broadcast begins at 1:15pm/et
  PRN’s Crown Royal Post Race Talk show begins immediately after the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race. PRN’s broadcast crew consists of co-anchors Doug Rice and Mark Garrow; pit reporters Brett McMillan, Steve Richards and Brad Gillie and turn announcer Rob Albright. PRN’s broadcast will be heard on more than 465 stations nationwide, SIRIUS NASCAR Radio channel 128 and on NASCAR.com. The events can be heard locally on WMEV-93.9 FM and WFHG-980 AM.(PRN PR)(3-23-2007)

• Gordon wins pole at Bristol: #24-Jeff Gordon won the Budweiser Polefor the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway with a speed of 125.453mph for his 2nd pole of 2007 and 58th of his career. It is Gordon’s 5th pole at Bristol. The rest of the top-10 are #9-Kahne, #19-Sadler, #20-Stewart, #26-McMurray, #48-Johnson, #22-Blaney, #10-Riggs, #66-Green and #11-Hamlin. #01-Regan Smith will make his first career start, starting 12th. The non-top 35 teams that made the race were: #4-Burton, #49-Bliss, #14-Marlin, #36-Mayfield [1st start of 2007]. #83-Vickers, #78-Wallace, #44-Jarrett [1st of 2007 in on speed] and #84-Allmendinger [1st race of 2007 and career]. See the qualifying results, order and starting lineup on my Jayski’s FREE Semi-Live Qualifying Page.(3-23-2007)

• Six do not qualify at Bristol: #37-Lepage, #00-Reutimann, #55-Waltrip, #13-Nemechek [first race missed in 175 races], #70-Sauter [had made all 4 races of 2007] and #15-Menard.(3-23-2007)

• Ramblings – Bristol Qualifying Notes: Jeff Gordon captured the Bud Pole today at Bristol Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Food City 500 with a speed of 125.453 (15.295 sec) for his second top-spot of the season (he’s the first repeater, btw) and the 58th of his NextelL Cup career…..and that’s pretty significant. He’s now tied with the legendary Bobby Allison for 5th on the all-time pole list. Kasey Kahne will join Gordon in the Uecker seats.
  Jamie McMurray (5th) has his best starting spot since he grabbed the outside pole at Infineon last June.
  Dave Blaney (7th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 6th at Martinsville last October. This is also Toyota’s best starting spot thus far….their previous best was when Blaney started 11th at Las Vegas.
  Jeff Green (9th) has his best starting spot since he timed in 8th at Martinsville last October.
  Welcome Regan Smith (12th). This is his first Cup start ever….no pressure, huh? Not like this car has been any good or anything.
  Ward Burton (14th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 4th at Martinsville in October of 2004 (only seven starts).
  Ken Schrader (15th) has his best starting spot since he timed in 10th at Martinsville last October.
  Tony Raines (17th) has his best starting spot since he qualified 11th at Martinsville last October.
  Jeremy Mayfield (23rd) makes his first Cup race of the season and has his best starting spot since he timed in 15th at The Brickyard last August (only two races).
  Dale Jarrett (30th) makes the field this week for the first-time this season on speed. He still has two more Champion Provisionals avaiable for the rest of the year.
  Robby Gordon (34th) has his best starting spot since he timed in 9th at Texas last November.
  Welcome A. J. Allmendinger (43rd)…..we’ve been waiting for you. This is his first Nextel Cup start….you can bet he’ll be wide-eyed on Sunday!
  STREAKIN….Elliott Sadler has 3 Top-5 starts in a row.
  The Trouble Train had a few new faces amongst it’s six cars today. Kevin Lepage, David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip, Joe Nemechek, Johnny Sauter, and Paul Menard are the dnq’s this weekend, and it’s crucial for a couple teams. Nemechek should be okay to still make the Top-35 in Owner Points (they were 19th coming into this week and will get 22 points as a dnq), but Johnny Sauter’s status could be iffy. They came out of Atlanta in 28th in Owner Points and get 19 markers this week, so it’s gonna be close.(Stock Car Fans)(3-23-2007)

• Bristol Qualifying Notes: #24-Jeff Gordon won the Bud Pole for the Food City 500, posting a lap of 15.295 second at 125.453 mph – scoring the first Bud Pole in the Car of Tomorrow.
  .. It is Gordon’s 58th Bud Pole 478 career Nextel Cup races.
  .. This is his second Bud Pole and third top-10 start in 2007 – all also top-fives.
  .. This is Gordon’s fifth Bud Pole at Bristol – breaking a tie with Fred Lorenzen for the fifth most Bud Poles here.
  .. Gordon moved into a tie with Bobby Allison for fifth on the all-time Bud Pole winners list.
  .. Ward Burton (14th) was the quickest of the drivers required to qualify on time.
  .. Jeremy Mayfield (23rd) and AJ. Allemendinger (35th) qualified for their first race this season. It will be Allmendinger’s career-first Nextel Cup start.(NASCAR Stats)(3-23-2007)

• Bristol Rookie News and Notes: Juan Pablo Montoya was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the March 18 Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Montoya scored a fifth-place finish, his best finish in five career Nextel Cup Series races. His previous best effort was 19th in the February 18 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway (race #1). Montoya took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the second consecutive race and for the second time this season. He holds a one-point edge over David Ragan (47-46) in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the March 25 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Montoya is the only driver to simultaneously lead the Raybestos Rookie standings in both the Nextel Cup Series and the Busch Series since the rookie program was created in Busch in 1989. The most recent Raybestos Rookie to lead a lap at Bristol is Kevin Harvick in the 2001 Food City 500. Harvick led three times for 137 laps, more than any other driver. Montoya is 15th in the Nextel Cup Series championship standings, best of any Raybestos Rookie. He is trails 14th-place Kyle Busch by just six points. Tony Stewart is the only Raybestos Rookie to win the pole at Bristol in his rookie season. Stewart took the top spot in the 1999 Sharpie 500 (August race). He is also the only Raybestos Rookie to lead the most laps in a race at Bristol, leading once for 225 laps. Only once since 1975 have Three Raybestos Rookies finished in the top-10 at a race in Bristol: 1979. Dale Earnhardt scored his first career win in the Food City 500 and was joined in the top-10 by Terry Labonte (seventh) and Joe Millikan (eighth).(Camp and Assoc/Raybestos PR)(3-23-2007)

• Bristol Goodyear Tire Notes: Both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series will run the same tire codes at Bristol this weekend . . . this is the first time Goodyear has brought this specific combination of left- and right-side tires to the track . . . both the left- and right-side codes feature different mold types, construction and compounds from what Goodyear brought to Bristol last year . . . unlike on other NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, teams are required to run inner liners in their right-side tires only at Bristol . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire. Estimated Pit Window is every 120-130 laps, based on fuel mileage.(Goodyear PR), see full notes on my Bristol Race Info/Rundown page.(3-23-2007)

• Motorsports This Week on ESPN and ABC: The Busch Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway, this weekend and ESPN on ABC will have live coverage of Saturday’s 250-lap race. The Bristol event is the first short track race of the season for the Busch Series and one of six select Busch Series races this season that will air on ABC, with the other 29 to be televised by ESPN2. Coverage will begin with the pre-race NASCAR Countdown show at 2:30pm/et, with the race to start at 3:00pm/et. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who runs only a handful of Busch Series races, will compete in the Bristol event, seeking his second Bristol Busch Series win. Rusty Wallace, who was a nine-time winner at Bristol during his NASCAR Cup driving career, will lend his knowledge of the track to ESPN’s coverage as analyst, working alongside two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree in the booth with lead announcer Jerry Punch. ESPN’s pit reporter team will have a new face at Bristol as Shannon Spake, who has been reporting for ESPN’s SportsCenter, NASCAR Countdown and NASCAR Now this season, will join the telecast team working with Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro as regular pit reporter Allen Bestwick has the weekend off. Brent Musburger will host the telecast and studio analysts Tim Brewer and Brad Daugherty will join Musburger in the ESPN Pit Studio. ESPN2 will have live coverage of practice and qualifying for this weekend’s NASCAR Busch Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday and Saturday, March 23-24. Live coverage of Friday’s one-hour final practice session for the series will be aired from 2:30-3:30pm/et. Qualifying will be televised from 11:00am 12:30pm/et on Saturday. Calling the action from the booth will be Jerry Punch with analysts Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree. Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake will report from the pits and garage, while Tim Brewer will be in the ESPN Pit Studio with host Brent Musburger. ESPN2 will have live, primetime coverage of the 2007 IndyCar Series opener from Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday night at 8:00pm/et. ESPN’s Marty Reid will call the race, joined in the booth for expert analysis by former IndyCar Series driver Scott Goodyear. Jack Arute, Vince Welch and Brienne Pedigo will report from the pits.(ESPN PR)(3-23-2007)
• Arizona Police Searching for former NASCAR Owner Scott Glynn: Chandler [Arizona] police still were searching Thursday for a Gilbert businessman and one-time NASCAR team owner who eluded capture as SWAT officers surrounded his home, police said. Scott Glynn, 42, who has owned Lariat Construction, Inc. in Gilbert and a majority of the #58 NASCAR Busch Series team in 2005, was involved in a domestic violence incident Tuesday afternoon at his estranged wife’s home, police said. His wife, Diana, ran out of her home around 2:30 p.m. and contacted a nearby officer, police said. She was distraught and asking for help. Police said Glynn also came running out of the home and got into his pickup truck and left the area. Officers soon learned Glynn also has two felony warrants for his arrest, police said. Within 10 minutes, a Chandler police detective spotted Glynn in front of his Gilbert home police said. SWAT officers surrounded his home and believed he was inside alone, but when officers searched the residence, he wasn’t there, police said. In 2005, Glynn purchased the #58 Busch Series team from Akins Motorsports and began fielding a Craftsman Truck Series team, with plans to own a Nextel Cup Series team by this year. Glynn is suspected of unlawful imprisonment, burglary, assault, disorderly conduct, criminal damage, and driving with a revoked license. He also has two felony warrants, one from Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office on theft on a $72,000 bond and one from North Carolina for assault and fraud.(Arizona Republic)(3-23-2007)
• S&M Brands, Peters & MDM team up for Martinsville/Bristol: Timothy Peters has been tapped to pilot the #46 Bailey’s Chevy fielded by Morgan-Dollar Motorsports in the Kroger 250 for the Craftsman Truck Series The March 31 event will mark the return of Bailey’s as a primary sponsor in the Truck Series. His entry at Martinsville Speedway will mark Peters’ first appearance in the series since Bristol Motor Speedway in August 2006. Peters will team with MDM teammate, Kraig Kinser, #47 Ginn Resorts Chevy. Eric Phillips, full-time MDM crew chief for the #46 Silverado team, will be atop the pit box calling the shots for Peters. S&M will also be on board as primary sponsor of #46 Chevy at the O’Reilly 200 at the Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 22.(MDM PR)(3-23-2007)

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