March 28 – Today in Jayski’s NASCAR history - Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site

Saturday Practice and Happy Hour Practice at Martinsville Speedway have been cancelled due to rain.(3-28-2009)

Bristol Final TV Ratings: Fox’s broadcast of last Sunday’s Food City 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway earned a final Nielsen Media Research rating of 4.5 and a 10 market share, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily reports. The rating is 18.2% lower than the 5.5 Fox earned for the race last year.(SceneDaily), see TV Rstings on my 2009 TV Ratings page.(3-28-2009)

Trial continues for Johnson’s agent: #48-Jimmie Johnson says it’s business as usual with his agent, Alan Miller, even as Miller stands trial as a co-defendant with Helio Castroneves on federal tax evasion charges. “I’ve been in touch with Alan and asked him how things are going,” Johnson said here Friday while the Castroneves trial continued in Miami. “He’s given me some overviews that he feels very good about how things are going, and [he’s] just waiting for everything to come together. His general impression has been positive about how things are going.” #18-Kyle Busch dropped Miller as his agent in 2007, saying Miller’s shopping him to other teams contributed to his being squeezed out at Hendrick Motorsports to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. But, “I like Alan Miller as a person,” Busch said Friday. “He was a great guy to meet. His kid was always fun. His wife was great. So it’s unfortunate he’s in a little bit of a bind now.” Busch added, though, that “I am fortunate that I changed representation [he’s now with agent Jeff Dickerson of Motorsports Management Inc.]. It had nothing to do with Alan as a person. It was just his business ethic that I wasn’t quite up on.”(ESPN.com)(3-28-2009)

Allmendinger and Speed on USF1’s short list, Busch not: Sources tell AutoRacingSport.com that NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers AJ Allmendinger and Scott Speed are ‘definitely’ on the short list of the newly formed USF1 Formula 1 team that’s set to begin competition in 2010 while IndyCar star Danica Patrick and NASCAR Sprint Cup sensation ‘Kyle Busch are not. Ken and Peter (Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor-USF1 team Principals) are really looking for open wheel experience, and Scott and AJ (Speed and Allmendinger) fit that bill quite well, with AJ being a winner in Champ Car and Scott having F1 experience.’ our source informs us.(AutoRacingSport.com)(3-28-2009)

Jamie McMurray rebuffs Montoya apology: #42-Juan Pablo Montoya attempted to apologize Friday morning to Roush Fenway Racing’s #26-Jamie McMurray about an incident last week, but McMurray apparently wasn’t interested in what he had to say. Montoya, who got into the back of McMurray last Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, approached McMurary on Friday morning at Martinsville Speedway, and things apparently got a little heated, according to witnesses in the garage. “I wanted to clarify what happened last weekend because I didn’t want to have any trouble with anybody, but he didn’t want to listen, and at this point it doesn’t really matter,” Montoya said. “He didn’t act the way I thought he should have, and I’m above that.” “I’m not really sure what he was trying to say,” McMurray said. “It’s not that I’m not interested in talking to him, it’s just that I don’t know what there is to talk about.”(Scene Daily)(3-28-2009)

Soldier will be a VIP at Martinsville on Sunday: Sgt. Ashley Ayers of the Virginia Army National Guard will be a VIP at Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 at the Martinsville Speedway. Ayers, of the Carver community, was chosen to represent the local Guard units. Crown Royal Whisky, a sponsor of the #26 Ford driven by Jamie McMurray, will recognize Ayers as a VIP during the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500. She will represent the 1173rd Transportation Co. and the 116th Infantry, both of which are based at the Martinsville Armory. Ayers said she feels honored, but she wishes all local Guard members had been chosen to be VIPs. Choosing a VIP from the National Guard was Crown Royal’s way of honoring Henry County-Martinsville residents in service to their country as hometown heroes, according to Guard Master Sgt. Stephen Gill. The Guard chose Ayers to be the VIP because she is a model soldier, said Gill, a noncommissioned officer in charge of recruiting and retention efforts. On Sunday, Ashley Ayers will get a tour of the speedway’s pit and garage areas, have lunch with Crown Royal representatives and attend driver introductions before watching the race. Although she will be able to watch the race from the pit, Ayers is considering joining some of her friends from the National Guard in the grandstands.(Martinsville Bulletin)(3-28-2009)

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March 28 – Today in Jayski’s NASCAR history