With NASCAR on a temporary hiatus, news is going to be slow in the coming weeks. To help fill the NASCAR void, we plan on taking you on a daily trip down memory lane spanning the years since the Jayski’s site inception. Using our news archives pages, here’s a look back at what’s happened on this date through the last 23 years in NASCAR:
This day in NASCAR history: April 1
Years we have pulled today’s main items from: 2015, 2012, 2010, 2006, 2004, 2001, 1998
Top see everything from this date over previous years: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
Note: Many links on older stories don’t work. There’s not a lot of the same websites around anymore.
To see previous articles covering “Today in History”, click here.
2015:
- Texas Motor Speedway to place tire packs at five locations: Texas Motor Speedway will present additional safety devices when its racing season begins next week with a NASCAR doubleheader. Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns TMS, began reviewing its facilities after Kyle Busch’s hard crash into an unprotected concrete wall at Daytona International Speedway in the season-opening Xfinity race. Busch incurred a broken right leg and left foot and has not returned. SMI assigned a group of consultants and engineers review TMS’ 11/2-mile track on Sunday. They recommended adding 244 linear feet of tire packs in five locations. That includes spaces of 33 feet in Turn 1 and 29 feet in Turn 4. TMS immediately went to work implementing the suggestions, at its expense. The track expects the tire packs to be installed in time for the first events of the season: the Xfinity O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 on April 10 and the Sprint Cup Duck Commander 500 the following evening. The tire packs are a short-term answer. In the off-season, when the material is available, TMS is expected to replace them with the more advanced and more expensive SAFER barrier.(Dallas Morning News)(4-1-2015)
2012:
- Newman wins at Martinsville: #39-Ryan Newman won the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 Sprint Cup Series race at
Martinsville Speedway for his 1st win of the year, his first at Martinsville, and 16th win of his career.
#22-Allmendinger finished 2nd (his career best finish) followed by #88-Earnhardt, Jr., #17-Kenseth, #56-Truex, Jr., #11-Hamlin, #14-Stewart, #43-Almirola, #2-Keselowski, and #15-Bowyer.
The race ended after a second green-white-checker attempt. #24-Gordon and #48-Johnson led the race on the first restart, but had stayed out on old tires. #15-Bowyer got a good jump on the start to move up along Gordon in turn one, pinching the cars together and setting off a spin by Gordon and Johnson. Gordon then ran out of gas before the final restart and finished 14th. Johnson finished 12th.
The pole sitter, #5-Kahne, didn’t lead a single lap and spent numerous laps behind the wall before falling out of the race with a blown engine. He finished 38th.
There were 7 cautions for 56 yellow flag laps. There were 19 lead changes among 10 drivers. The estimated attendance was 63,000, up from 60,000 in 2011.(4-1-2012)
2010:
- Richard Petty and John Andretti to run Indy 500 again: Andretti Autosport announced it will work in a joint effort with racing legend Richard Petty and Window World, Inc., to field a fifth IZOD IndyCar Series entry for
veteran driver John Andretti, first at Kansas Speedway on May 1 and then in the 2010 Indianapolis 500 on May 30. After his debut run at Kansas, John will attempt to make his 11th Indianapolis 500 start behind the wheel of the #43 Team Window World car. A successful qualifying attempt for John on May 22 or 23 will deepen the Andretti family legacy at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as he drives for the team owned by his cousin, Michael.
Window World will enjoy its second-consecutive Indy 500 as primary sponsor of the #43. Window World and Petty first teamed together with the #43 driven by John for last year’s Indy 500. The car will once again feature Petty’s traditional “Petty Blue” and “Day-Glo Red” color scheme made famous by “The King” during his unparalleled career.
The car will also sport the marks of Window World Cares, the charitable foundation of Window World, Inc., which supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Petty, a racing icon and one of the most-recognizable figures in NASCAR history, will be participating in his second-straight Indianapolis 500. A 200-time NASCAR race winner and seven-time NASCAR champion, Petty witnessed the Indianapolis 500 in person for the first time in 2007 and participated as a co-owner for the first time last year.(Andretti Autosport/Breaking Limits)(4-1-2010)
2006:
- Ward Burton looking to race again: Ward Burton was back in the garage at Martinsville Speedway on Friday
wishing he were wearing a driving suit instead of jeans. “I’ve been carrying on some communication, seeing what kind of dominoes need to fall to get back in,” he said, adding that he no longer is as insistent on getting a Nextel Cup ride as he was last year. “I’m getting a little more open-minded to the possibility of another series,” he said, indicating that he’d be willing to make a comeback in the Craftsman Truck or Busch series. Burton, a five-time Cup winner who hasn’t raced since the fall race at Phoenix in 2004, said he enjoyed his year layoff, but he’s ready for it to end. “I had a whole year to get a good breather, and I probably needed it,” he said. “But when it got close to Daytona and I wasn’t testing and doing appearances, I started having a longing, like I had lost a friend in my heart.”(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)(4-1-2006)
2004:
- Driver Survey:The Dallas Morning News asked questions to the Nextel Cup competitors who were asked to answer a set of 10 questions anonymously in order to get honest responses. Fifteen drivers didn’t respond or refused to participate, but 23 agreed to answer some of the questions. The only stipulation was they couldn’t vote for themselves or a teammate. The leaders of the survey:
BEST ACTIVE DRIVER
Matt Kenseth – 9
MOST INTELLIGENT DRIVER
Matt Kenseth – 7
MOST UNDERRATED DRIVER
Jamie McMurray – 4
MOST PROMISING ROOKIE
Kasey Kahne – 14
MOST OVERRATED DRIVER
Brian Vickers – 4
DRIVER WHO TREATS YOU FAIRLY
Mark Martin – 4
MOST AGGRESSIVE DRIVER
Ryan Newman – 4
MOST DANGEROUS DRIVER
Robby Gordon – 6
WORST TEMPER
Tony Stewart – 7
BEST DRIVER IN HISTORY
Dale Earnhardt Sr. – 10
Richard Petty – 7
(see the full lists at the Dallas Morning News – What do drivers think of other drivers?)(4-1-2004)
2001:
- Boycott Unlikely, but…: A comment made by reigning Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte last weekend at Bristol has mushroomed into reports that drivers are considering a boycott of the April 22 race at Talladega. Labonte said last week that he had heard talk that some sponsors had told their drivers they would support them if they didn’t want to go to Talladega because NASCAR plans to use the same rules there that were used there last fall and at Daytona in February. There is virtually no chance any such boycott could materialize, of course. Late last year, before a return trip to New Hampshire International Speedway where Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin had died earlier in the season, drivers floated the same kind of suggestions to put pressure on NASCAR to change the rules(see full story at That’s Racin’)(4-1-2001)
1998:
- Texas GM Eddie Gossage has printed ‘Shut Up and Race’ T-shirts to sell to everyone at the Texas 500. I guess that all of the talk surrounding the driver’s opinions of the track has gotten on his nerves. As you have already heard, the drivers are not looking forward to racing at Texas due to their opinions that the track is a one groove race track and that the race will either be uneventful or accident filled.(Go200mph)(4-1-98)
Click a link below for a full listing of news from each year:
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997