March 26, 2006
- Tragic News from Homestead: Driver Paul Dana died after a two-car crash Sunday during the warmup for the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The other driver, Ed Carpenter, was awake and alert at a Miami hospital, IRL officials said. The race will start as scheduled, officials announced. However, Rahal Letterman Racing co-owner Bobby Rahal announced that drivers Danica Patrick and Buddy Rice, teammates of Dana, will not race. “Obviously, this is a very black day for us,” Rahal said. “This is a great tragedy.” Dana is the first IRL driver killed since Tony Renna died in a crash during testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October 2003, and the third to die in the 10-year history of the series. Scott Brayton perished in a practice crash at Indianapolis in May 1996. The last NASCAR driver killed was Dale Earnhardt in February 2001, and the last driver to die in Formula One was Ayrton Senna in May 1994. It is the third racing death at the Homestead track — John Nemechek was killed in a NASCAR truck race in February 1997 and Jeff Clinton died in a Grand Am sports car event at the track in March 2002. Dana, 30, a former motorsports journalist with a degree from Northwestern, competed in three IRL races for Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing last year with a best finish of 10th in the race at Homestead.
Carpenter, the stepson of Indy Racing League founder Tony George, spun his Vision Racing car exiting Turn 2 of the 1.5- mile Homestead-Miami Speedway oval and hugged the outside wall before slowly creeping back onto the racing surface. It was nearly stopped when it was hit in the left-rear corner at nearly full speed by Dana’s car. Rahal said that there were no radio communication problems with Dana’s car and that he was informed by his spotter of the accident ahead. Dana cannoned into Carpenter’s crippled race car approximately six seconds after yellow lights were displayed around the track warning of Carpenter’s spin. Dana’s car nearly split in half. The chassis flew about 6 feet off the ground and pieces were strewn down the track. It nearly turned over, but landed on its wheels before sliding to a halt. It took track safety workers about 15 minutes to get both drivers out of their cars. The practice session did not resume. Dana and Carpenter both were airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. IRL officials said Dana died shortly before noon. In 2005 for Hemelgarn Racing, he broke his back in a practice crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Vision Racing team manager Larry Curry was more optimistic about Carpenter’s condition. “I’ve been told he is awake and alert and is going to be fine,” Curry said. “They want to check him out at the hospital, but he should be fine.”(ESPN.com/AP)(3-26-2006)
- Kurt Busch wins at Bristol: #2-Kurt Busch won the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, booting #17-Matt Kenseth out of the way with 4 laps to go to win his 1st race of 2006, his first in the #2 Dodge, his 5th at Bristol and 15th career win. It is the first win for the #2 Penske Racing Dodge since Rusty Wallace won at Martinsville in April 2004. #29-Kevin Harvick finished 2nd [his last top 5 was Richmond last May, 30 races ago], followed by #17-Matt Kenseth [the new points leader], #99-Carl Edwards and #43-Bobby Labonte [the first top five for the #43 in Bristol, May 2001 with John Andretti]. Points leader coming in, #48-Jimmie Johnson had a rough day and fell a couple laps down early and finished 30th, 13 laps down, falling to 3rd in the points, 19 laps behind new points leader #17-Matt Kenseth. #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th. #24-Gordon booted Kenseth, then Kenseth came back and booted Gordon, who spun and ended up 21st, last car on the lead lap. On pit road, Kenseth approached Gordon, Gordon got out of his car without even getting his helmet off and push Kenseth, then race officials got between the drivers.
Race Results on my Bristol Race Results/Awards Page.
Points Standings on my Drivers/Owners Points after Bristol page.
Race Rundown: see my Bristol Race Info/Rundown Page for my race rundown page, laps led, top 10, race notes, lucky dogs and more.(3-26-2006)
- Bristol Race Notes:
• Kurt Busch won the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, scoring his 15th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 189th career start.
• Busch’s last victory came at Richmond, 13 races earlier.
• It was his fifth Bristol victory in 11 races on the Tennessee short-track.
• Busch scored his eighth top-10 finish in 11 races at Bristol.
• Busch scored his first top-10 finish this season. His best finish in the first four races of 2006 was 16th twice.
• Busch moved into 42nd on NASCAR’s all-time winners list, tied with Ernie Irvan.
• Busch finished 10th in the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. One year ago after five races he ranked seventh in the point standings.
• Busch climbed from 27th to 16th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings.
• Busch led three times for 33 laps, including the final five laps.
• This was team owner Roger Penske’s 58th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory. Penske has scored eight NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victories at Bristol.
• Dodge scored its first Bristol victory since Richard Petty won the Volunteer 500 in 1975, 31 years ago.
Notebook Items
• Kevin Harvick (second) has finished in the top-five in six of his 11 races at Bristol Motor Speedway. He scored his first top-10 finish of the season. The last top-five finish posted by Harvick was at Richmond in May 2005. Harvick climbed from 23rd to 13th in the point standings. One year ago Harvick ranked sixth after five races.
• Matt Kenseth (third) scored his sixth top-five finish in 13 races at Bristol Motor Speedway. He climbed from third to first in the NASCAR NEXTEL cup standings. The last time Kenseth led the point standings was leaving Bristol in March 2004. Kenseth has scored top-10 finishes in eight of his last nine races at Bristol.
• Carl Edwards (fourth) scored his first top-10 finish in four races at Bristol Motor Speedway. It marked his second top-five finish in 2006.
• Bobby Labonte (fifth) scored his third top-five finish in 27 races at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was his first top-10 finish in 2006 and first by the No. 43 when Jeff Green finished seventh at Martinsville in October 2004.
• Tony Stewart (12th) led the most laps (245) in the 2006 Food City 500. The last time he led the most laps in a race was at Martinsville last October nine races ago where he finished second.
• Denny Hamlin (14th) was the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contender in the 2006 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• All seven of the 2006 Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contenders have competed in all five races in 2006 and at least one has scored a top-15 finish in every race. This was the first race in 2006 that a rookie contender did not finish in the top 10.
• Joe Nemechek (28th) has been running at the finish in the last 37 races, a streak that began at Bristol last April, the longest current streak.(NASCAR Statistical Services)(3-26-2006)
- Rumblings – Bristol:
One good gauge as to how entertaining a race has been is by how many upset drivers we have at the end of the event. Today, we had 42 ticked off and one happy…..by all accounts, that makes this the best race of the year.
Kurt Busch put the “bump and run” on former teammate Matt Kenseth on lap 496 today (gee, we’ve never seen that type of move before at Bristol, huh?) and went on to win the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway for his 5th win at the short-track with the truth in advertising slogan “Racing the way it oughta be”! Career win #15 for Kurt moves him into a tie for 42nd on the all-time win list with Ernie Irvan and was victory #55 for Roger Penske (#58 if you count the three in partnership with Michael Kranefuss).
Busch, who had to come from two laps down after some early tire troubles (and we had a number of drivers who had those problems), took down $175,858 from the over $5.4M in posted awards and places the #2 car in the last vacant spot on this season’s Winners Circle plan.
Kevin Harvick (2nd) had his best finish since he won when we were here last April…..and you can’t bet he’s tired of following “Busch’s” this weekend.
Bobby Labonte (5th) got the Petty Enterprises #43 their first Top-5 today since John Andretti was runner-up here in March of 2001.
Jeff Green (15th) had his best finish since he was 15th at The Brickyard last August.
Sterling Marlin (17th) had his best finish since he was 13th at Kansas last October.
Stanton Barrett (39th) had his best finish since he was 34th at Dover last June (only 6 races).
STREAKIN….Mark Martin has 4 Top-10’s in a row. Kasey Kahne has 4 Top-10’s in a row.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Bobby Labonte (+25), followed by Scott Wimmer (+21). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Jamie McMurray (-27), followed by Jimmie Johnson (-25) and Brian Vickers (-20). Bobby goes from the bottom to the top of the “Shaft” in just six short days!
In that all-important quest to be in the Top-35 in Owner Points to get an exempt spot for qualifying next week, Scott Riggs in the Evernham #10 Dodge holds down position #35…..but his teammate (and two-time Chase combatant) Jeremy Mayfield is only nine points ahead of him. Some of the drivers on the outside looking in (and having to qualify on time next week) are Sterling Marlin in 36th, Kevin Lepage in 37th, and David Stremme in 38th. We’ve got our first change at the top of the point standings this season as Jimmie Johnson’s troubles dropped him from the top-spot to 3rd in the run down. Kurt Busch (27th to 16th) made the best move forward today, while Jamie McMurray (16th to 24th) fell the most spots.(Stockcarfans.com)(3-26-2006)
- Wood expects to be in #21 car in 2007 UPDATE – no, but a 2nd car: Busch Series regular Jon Wood [#47], third-generation member of NASCAR’s Wood Brothers Racing, said Wednesday he is “90 percent sure” he will drive the #21 Ford full time in the Nextel Cup Series in 2007.(Fort Worth Star Telegram)(3-23-2006)
UPDATE: Jon Wood said Saturday that he expects to be behind the wheel of a Wood Brothers/JTG Racing Nextel Cup car full-time in 2007, but not the #21 currently driven by Ken Schrader. Published reports last week had the driver in the #21 next year. “The plan all along was to have two Nextel Cup Series teams in 2007 if we can find appropriate sponsorship for a two-car operation,” Wood said. “Right now, I plan to compete in as many as seven Cup races this year in preparation for running full time in Cup in 2007 as the second driver on a two-car Cup team.”[#47 Ford](Speed Channel)
AND – Schrader back in 2007? Jon Wood fully expects to move to a full-time NASCAR Nextel Cup ride next season with his family’s Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team. But it won’t be in the team’s #21 Ford Fusion, as was reported last week by a Texas newspaper. If all goes according to Hoyle, a second full-time sponsor will be lined up, Schrader will stay in the #21 and Wood will campaign a second team car, the number [#47?] of which is to be determined.(Ford Racing)(3-26-2006)
- Rudd named Virginian of the Year: Ricky Rudd, who retired from NASCAR racing in November after 31 years and a record 788 consecutive starts in stock car racing’s premier series, was honored Friday as the Virginian of the Year by the Virginia Press Association. Rudd, a Chesapeake native, received the award during The Associated Press dinner at the VPA/AP Winter Conference, held this year at the Hotel Roanoke. Rudd, who lives near Charlotte, N.C., made his NASCAR debut in 1975 and completed his first full season two years later, winning NASCAR’s 1977 rookie of the year.(Richmond Times Dispatch/AP)(3-26-2006)
- Kyle Busch considering cutting back Busch Series starts? #5-Kyle Busch says he may reconsider his plans to run both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series. Busch has run well in the Cup series, currently sitting eighth in points, but his other effort has been less stellar. He’s 18th in the standings in the Busch Series entering today’s race [he ended up winning the Busch Series race at Bristol]. Asked if there had been any discussion of cutting back his Busch schedule, the driver said it hasn’t been talked about yet – but that such a change would not surprise him.(SceneDaily.com)(3-26-2006)
- Hylton Leaves Fitz-Bradshaw: UPDATE: Butch Hylton has resigned his position as crew chief for the #12 Dodge effective immediately to seek other opportunities in racing. (BKB2 PR)(3-26-2006)
- Bowyer and Miller to drive for Greenlight Racing at Martinsville UPDATE: Scheduled to drive for Greenlight Racing at the Truck Series Race in Martinsville are Clint Bowyer in the #07 truck (sponsor tba) and Butch Miller in the #08 sponsored by ASI Limited, a company who specializes in building enclosures.(Green Light Racing PR)(3-22-2006)
UPDATE: SS Racing President, Ken Smith has announced that three time ASA Champion, Butch Miller, will again pilot the #08 ASI Limited/Spectrum Metal Finishing/CBO Glass truck for the April 1st Kroger 250 race at Martinsville Speedway in an alliance with Bobby Dotter and Green Light Racing. (SS Racing PR)(3-26-2006)
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997