March 31 – Today in Jayski’s NASCAR history

March 31, 2005

• Dale Jr. Comments: Even though he pulled off the Bristol sweep last fall, Dale Earnhardt Jr. says winning the Busch and Nextel Cup races like Carl Edwards did at Atlanta will be a tough act to follow. He said “I don’t know man, the way Carl did it at Atlanta I thought he topped me there so that was pretty impressive. The passes that he made to win in both races I think he topped all of us. It’ll be a while before anybody can do it like he did it.”(PRN’s Garagepass Radio Show)(3-31-2005)

• Paul Tracy to NASCAR rumors heat up…again: Champ Car World Series driver, Paul Tracy, 36, told The Toronto Sun yesterday that if NASCAR comes to Canada in 2006, he wants to be part of that series. Tracy’s Champ Car contract with Forsythe Championship Racing ends this season and he said he wants to explore other avenues. “I haven’t got any irons in the fire so to speak,” Tracy said yesterday while in Toronto to help promote this year’s Molson Indy race. “(But) there are a lot of things happening in Canada right now with NASCAR.” Tracy said that for the first time in his Champ Car career he is looking around at possibly changing series next year. Tracy always has worn his Canadian identity on his sleeve and a NASCAR presence in Canada would be a huge draw for him as a driver. At the end of 2003 — the year he won the Champ Car driver’s championship — Tracy was offered a test with Richard Childress Racing, one of NASCAR’s top Nextel Cup organizations. But Tracy chose to stay in Champ Car to defend his title. Last season, Tracy was approached again by RCR to run in the Nextel Cup race at Infineon Raceway in California in a one-time deal, but he turned it down on the advice of his Champ Car team. It’s a decision that those close to Tracy say he now regrets.(Toronto Sun)(3-31-2005)

• So who to the #6 car in 2006? UPDATE: Carl Edwards, driver of the #99 Roush Racing Ford, is no longer is slated to replace Mark Martin [retires from Cup at end of 2005] in the #6 after this season. “It’s pretty obvious he’s found a home in the 99,” [Roush Racing president Geoff] Smith says. “We’re going to have to fill the 6 with someone else, and we don’t know who that someone else might be.” Smith says they will look at current Roush truck series driver Ricky Craven, a former Cup veteran, for the ride. But he expects other drivers in the garage to be interested: “That’s a fantastic ride that’s going to be available.”(USA Today)(3-22-2005)
  UPDATE: “I’m hoping by the first part of May we’ll have a better handle on who’s going to drive,” Smith explained. So is Ricky Craven is a candidate, as was recently reported? “Ricky is a candidate,” Smith said. “Jack (Roush) feels that Ricky has something in him left to show people, but he’s only one candidate at one point in time. We’ll have to see how the season unfolds a little bit before we end up designating somebody.”
  But Smith said Wednesday that Pfizer, the sponsor of Martin’s Ford since 2001, likely won’t return to the hood of the No. 6 in 2006. “We’re not expecting them to return in a capacity as primary sponsor after this year,” Smith said. “As of this moment in time, there hasn’t been any expression of continuing on in a primary sponsorship, although there have been some discussions about continuing an endorsement arrangement with Mark.” Not to worry. The #6 won’t be tooling around the track stark-white like the #99 did last year. According to Smith, several sponsors are standing in line, the rarest of luxuries for Nextel Cup Series teams these days.(see full column at NASCAR.com)(3-31-2005)

• Interesting take on the #3: NASCAR’s red-hot collectible industry could be fueling one of the hottest rumors on the sporting landscape. Richard Childress Racing might bring the #3 car back for a couple of races next season. It hasn’t been driven in a cup race since Dale Earnhardt Sr., died on the final lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001. If the car returns, Dale Earnhardt Jr. could be behind the wheel. It is the stuff of which die-cast legends are made. Or is it? Because NASCAR has chosen not to retire numbers, speculation about the 3 has continued in the grandstands.(Knoxville News) NOTE: Childress has said in the past he has NO plans to run the #3 and Dale Jr. is signed with DEI thru 2007.(3-31-2005)

• Busch to run special scheme at Bristol: Kurt Busch and the #97 Sharpie team aim to make a mark on racing history by earning a fourth spring race victory in a row at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) April 3. Busch is also putting his autograph on education during the Food City 500, driving a special Sharpie Retractable “Autographs for Education” paint scheme featuring the signatures of students from his former middle school in Las Vegas and students from Bristol. At a BMS autograph session April 1, Busch and fifth grade students from Bristol’s Valley Pike Elementary will be putting the finishing touches on the paint scheme, signing the back of the car for a “ride along” during the race. Earlier in March, Busch collected autographs from students at a special assembly for his former middle school in Las Vegas. The signature paint scheme is part of Sharpie’s nationwide effort asking for one million autographs from everyday people in exchange for $1 million in supplies and funds to schools. As the Sharpie Retractable “Autographs for Education” tour stops in Bristol, the Sharpie team is inviting the students, teachers, parents and the community in general to put their autograph on education by visiting its displays at BMS. Sharpie is elevating its pledge to the nation’s schools throughout 2005, recognizing essential needs resulting from funding challenges schools face. Complete entry methods for the signature collection effort can be found at retailers nationwide and at www.sharpie.com.(Roush Racing)(3-31-2005)

• Woman killed at JGR Construction site: A woman was killed Wednesday afternoon while helping finish construction on an addition to a race team’s facility. Authorities were called about 2:30pm/et about an injury at Joe Gibbs Racing on Reese Boulevard in the Huntersville Business Park, about 15 miles north of uptown Charlotte. The woman, whose identity was being withheld until authorities notify her family, died on the scene. Although officials with the company and the police released few details, preliminary reports suggested a joist had struck the woman, said Juan Santos, a N.C. Department of Labor spokesman. The woman worked for the general contractor at the site, not the race company, according to a statement released by Joe Gibbs Racing. Officials with Precision Walls Inc. declined to comment as they left the site, while officials from Shelco Inc., the general contractor, could not be reached. Huntersville police and state officials are still investigating the incident.(Charlotte Observer)(3-31-2005)

• NC License Plates Now Available: NASCAR fans across North Carolina now have 33 new ways to express their love of racing as the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Division of Motor Vehicles (NCDMV) has given the NASCAR license plate series the green flag. The new NASCAR-themed plates are the latest additions to NCDMV’s specialized license plate program, which includes over 90 special license plates that allow citizens to express their common interests and civic affiliations. The NASCAR series features a general NASCAR plate in addition to plates highlighting 32 of the sport’s most popular drivers. Requests for specialized license plates are approved by the General Assembly. Primary sponsors of the bill approving the NASCAR plate series were Senator David W. Hoyle and Representatives Wayne Goodwin, Linda Johnson and Karen Ray. Each plate has a checkered-flag background design, which substitutes for the “First in Flight” design on standard issue plates. The left side of the plate features an image representing a NASCAR driver while the right side has the identification letters and numbers. Motorists also have the opportunity to personalize the letter combinations on the plate.
  In addition to the NASCAR series, NCDMV is introducing two other new plate designs, “Friends of the Appalachian Trail” and Virginia Tech. The “Friends of the Appalachian Trail” plate is currently being manufactured and should be available soon to the public while Virginia Tech plates are already available. Motorists should start seeing the NASCAR series plates on the road in just a few weeks. Applications are currently available by calling NCDMV’s Specialized License Plate Office at (919) 861-3575. Motorists may request the plates online and at license plate agencies throughout the state in about two months. For more information on NCDMV’s specialized license plate program visit www.ncdot.org/dmv and click on specialized license plates.(NCDOT site)(3-30-2005)
  AND why no #3 or #8? That leaves one question for many fans: When can I get my Dale and Dale Jr. tags? The answer: Well, you can’t. So why no plates for Dale Earnhardt, the Kannapolis racing legend who died in a wreck four years ago, or for his son, who is one of the sport’s most popular drivers? Essentially, the plates are too tacky. Okay. They didn’t say that. But Joe Hedrick, vice president for licensing at Dale Earnhardt Inc., said the tags don’t look right. “Those plates don’t reflect the image of the North Carolina plate,” Hedrick said, adding that he would want them to look more like the state’s traditional “First in Flight” plates, but with Earnhardt’s No. 3 or Junior’s No. 8 emblem on one side. If you look at it, it looks like a very commercial plate,” he said. Hedrick said he’s sure DEI and the state could work something out. It’s the company’s obligation, he said, to give the state options for a different-looking tag. Hedrick also said to tell fans “we’re not abandoning them. We just want to go through the process to have a more authentic plate.”(Charlotte Observer)(3-31-2005)

• Testing at Texas: Eight NASCAR teams tested Tuesday and Wednesday at Texas Motor Speedway, preparing for the upcoming Samsung/RadioShack 500 race week. The flurry of testing activity marks the second straight week NASCAR teams trekked to Texas in search of speed. Drivers putting their NEXTEL Cup machinery through the paces were #91-Bill Elliott, #9-Kasey Kahne, #36-Boris Said and #7-Robby Gordon. Busch Series teams included defending champion #8-Martin Truex Jr.; #87-Joe Nemechek; #11-Paul Menard and #21-Brandon Miller.
  Wednesday’s speeds: NEXTEL Cup: Elliott, 188.416 mph; Said, 187.500 mph; Kahne, 186.657 mph. Busch: Nemechek, 185.886 mph; Menard, 182.432 mph, Truex and Miller, no speed reported. Miller was uninjured after late afternoon contact with the turn four wall.
  Tuesday’s speeds: NEXTEL Cup: Gordon, 189.474 mph; Kahne, 186.981 mph; Said, 186.207 mph; Elliott, 185.440 mph. Busch: Truex, 185.249 mph; Nemechek, 184.300 mph; Miller, 183.175 mph; Menard, 182.432 mph. Kahne was not injured after making contact with the second turn wall in the morning.
  Testing continueson Tuesday, April 5 with #2-Rusty Wallace, #38-Elliott Sadler and #21-Ricky Rudd, NASCAR Busch Series testing with #66-Greg Biffle. Tickets are on sale daily at the speedway ticket office, by calling (817) 215-8500, online at www.texasmotorspeedway.com and at Ticketmaster locations.(TMS)(3-31-2005)

• Morgan-McClure Marketing Alliance: Cory Gierman, MuzikMafia Godfather (www.muzikmafia.com) and Larry McClure, president and team manager of #4-Morgan-McClure Motorsports (www.morgan-mcclure.com) announced today a co-marketing alliance. As part of this alliance, Rachel Kice of the MuzikMafia will be attending the Food City 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway to capture in artistic form, the energy and emotion from 500 laps of competition on the world’s fastest half-mile track. This painting will serve as the basis for the MuzikMafia themed paint scheme on the #4 Lucas Oil Chevrolet later in the NASCAR Nextel Cup season. Rachel will begin painting at the start of the green flag at Sunday’s race.(Morgan-McClure Motorsports)(3-31-2005)

• Darrell Waltrip, Junior Johnson To Tell Tales: Darrell Waltrip and Junior Johnson invite you to join them for supper, sit a spell afterward and listen as they tell some tales of their championship racing seasons. Waltrip and Johnson, who teamed for three NASCAR Winston Cup Championships in the 1981, ’82, and ‘85, will spin some yarns of those days on Thursday, March 31, at a Bristol Motor Speedway benefit dinner for the International Storytelling Center. The International Storytelling Center attracts thousands of people to Jonesborough, Tenn., to celebrate the ancient storytelling traditions so popular in the Appalachian region and beyond. The town about 20 miles from Bristol Motor Speedway holds the distinction as the birthplace of a storytelling renaissance, which took place 30 years ago at the first National Storytelling Festival. The event now draws more than 10,000 each October to Jonesborough. More at the Bristol Motor Speedway site.(3-3/31-2005)

• ‘Roam for a Home’ a Success: Terry Labonte’s fourth annual “Roam for a Home” charity motorcycle ride was a rousing success over the holiday weekend. Hosting more than 100 motorcycles and 150 riders, the 650-mile trek served as a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House of Corpus Christi, Texas, and concluded with a free concert by country music star Blake Shelton.
  AND For every Kellogg product purchased in April at a Texas-based Albertson’s grocery store, Kellogg’s and Albertson’s will donate 10 cents to the Hendrick Marrow Program (up to $15,000). If a Hendrick Motorsports driver wins a NEXTEL Cup event in the month of April, the contribution will be doubled.(HMS)(3-31-2005)
• Plattenberger new crew chief at the #58: Glynn Motorsports has named Steve Plattenberger to be the crew chief for its #58 Dodge driven by Brent Sherman in the Busch Series. Plattenberger joins the team after serving as crew chief for Tim Fedewa in FitzBradshaw Racing’s #12 Dodge.(NASCAR Scene Daily Newsletter), Mark Green has served as the interim crew chief and is now driving the #7 Chevy.(3-31-2005)

• New Busch Team: Indiana native Chris Evans has found success in ventures including coal mining, natural gas and real estate. And with his ever-curious business mind at full speed, Evans has shifted gears into another pursuit. Evans has become a team owner on the NASCAR Busch Series, with hopes of someday owning a full-fledged Nextel Cup team. But like any other business, Evans’ Christine Marie Motorsports is taking it one lap at a time. Evans has teamed with driver Chris Cook, a racing instructor from Phoenix, and Nextel Cup series driver Joe Nemechek to form a team that will compete at least four times this season on the NASCAR circuit at each of its stops at road courses. The team made its debut on March 6, when Cook, 33, placed 26th at the Busch race in Mexico City. The next scheduled race is with the Nextel series June 26 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.. Cook will then compete in a Busch-Nextel doubleheader on Aug. 13-14, at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. The pair struck a deal with Nemechek last December to form the team, which is named Christine Marie Motorsports, after Evans’ youngest daughter. He names all of his businesses after his three daughters. Nemechek has supplied the team with four cars and the use of his top-of-the-line equipment at his garage in Mooresville, N.C. Cook, who continues to instruct drivers at his own school, ShiftintoGear, Inc., said the relationship between he and Evans is what fuels the team. Evans has bankrolled most of the team’s expenses for the four races and wouldn’t say how much that costs, other than, “it’s near the seven-figure mark.” But he’s hoping to pick up additional sponsors and be able to race at a few oval tracks with the Busch series this season. On the ‘Net: www.christinemariemotorsports.com.(Indiana Gazette)(3-31-2005)

2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997