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 9
Years we have pulled today’s main items from: 2018, 2013, 2005, 2004, 2002, 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.
2018:
- Felix Sabates no longer bidding for Carolina Panthers: Charlotte businessman Felix Sabates, who has been working for months to pull together a local group to potentially buy the Carolina Panthers, says he now won’t be involved with any bids. The Observer reported last month that Sabates, a long-time fixture on the Charlotte sports scene, was looking to partner with another bidder, rather than assemble his own group. Now he is dropping plans to invest in the NFL team at all.[More](4-9-2018)
2013:
- Austin Dillon in the #51 at Texas: Nationwide Series driver Austin Dillon will drive the #51 Chevy for Phoenix Racing Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway. The car will be sponsored by Bruce Lowrie Chevy and Realtree. See an image of the car on the #51 team paint schemes page.(4-9-2013)
2008:
- Firestone interested in NASCAR: If Goodyear were to leave NASCAR, the executive director of Firestone Racing says his company would be interested. Goodyear is NASCAR’s exclusive supplier through 2012. “There’s a lot of people in our organization that would love to be running NASCAR,” Firestone’s Al Speyer says. “Our engineers can do a very good job there.” Although Firestone has been the exclusive supplier of Indy car racing for several years, stock cars are part of its history. Speyer says the company won many races in NASCAR’s first decade (1948-58) before leaving the sport in the late 1960s.(USA Today)(4-9-2008)
2005:
- Hmiel to appeal fine/penalty Statement: NASCAR driver Shane Hmiel, who runs all three of NASCAR’s top series, will appeal the $10,000 fine and the 25 points the sanctioning body took away for his nationally televised one-finger salute of Dale Jarrett during Monday’s Busch Series race at Bristol. Now that the situation has had time to cool off Hmiel explains “I don’t race to make friends but I don’t race to make enemies either. I really hate
that it happened and I hate Dale Jarrett’s car got torn up and I hate that we got fined 25 points and stuff like that so we’re going to appeal it and see what happens and it’s already over with…I’m ready to go to Martinsville and run the truck. I respect Dale Jarrett for all he’s done as a racer. I’m sorry that the fans had to see that on television and their kids and everybody who enjoys NASCAR as much as I do but there’s two sides to every story and I’m not gonna be threatened by anybody or back down from anybody. I’ve got a great sponsor and a great owner that’s been behind me and Dale Jarrett knows that wasn’t anything personal…it’s five laps to go and it ended up being a wreck and it tore his car up and I’m sorry for that…it’s nothing I did on purpose. We’re just gonna go to Martinsville and let this pass and I’m sure they’ll be somebody’s as big a jerk as I am this week next week.”(PRN’s Garage Pass Radio show)(4-7-2005)
STATEMENT: FROM SHANE HMIEL REGARDING BRISTOL NASCAR BUSCH RACE
QUESTION: UPON REFLECTION, IF YOU HAD IT TO DO OVER AGAIN, WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT AFTER MONDAY’S BUSCH RACE IN BRISTOL? HMIEL ANSWER: Of course I would. I want to apologize to the fans watching on television, especially the children, that they witnessed the post race on live TV. Every driver builds so much adrenaline at Bristol that it isn’t easy to shut it down immediately when your car rolls to a stop but it doesn’t make up for the fact that everyone watching live TV witnessed the incident.
QUESTION: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT DALE JARRETT? HMIEL ANSWER: I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dale. He has proved he is a great race driver. He has won a championship, three Daytona 500s and numerous other races. There is no way I meant to hit him; it was simply five laps to go at Bristol. Things happen so fast and with everyone wrecking in front of us, it played out that Dale ended up with a torn up race car. I hate that happened. I am very passionate about my racing and I am a hard racer. I love racing and there is nothing more I want to do. But part of what makes our sport is as strong as it is are drivers like Dale who have built the fan base and earned the respect on and off the track of their fellow drivers.
QUESTION: WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE? HMIEL ANSWER: First, I would like to personally assure the fans that I have the utmost respect for all of the drivers who have built this sport to the level it is today, especially Dale Jarrett. I intend to speak with Dale and apologize to him for the comment I made after the race in the heat of the moment. I am sure Dale and I are going to race against one another several times this season and I want us to both be confident that this was an isolated incident and we are starting with a clean slate. I would like to put this all behind us so we can all go forward in a positive manner. We have filed an appeal with NASCAR regarding the penalties that were assessed and will make the best presentation we can. Whatever the decision is, we will respect and move on to the next race.(GM PR)(4-9-2005)
2004:
- So….What’s Up with Dave Marcis? from the marcisracing.com site: Dave “Marcus” continues to prove that “retirement” is a relative term. So far this year he’s been occupied with running the race team in North Carolina, Camp 28 in Wisconsin, testing Crown Royal IROC cars, and even a polar bear jump! Dave jumped in a lake frozen with a 2 foot layer of ice to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters. This took place in January in front of Camp 28 in Rib Lake, WI. A total of $8,500 was raised that day. What do you wear for a sub-freezing polar bear jump? Well if you’re Dave Marcis, a Goodyear hat of course. Rumor is that pictures of this event exist, but they’re closely guarded from this website… so far. With activities like this, Dave may have been safer when he was racing!(4-9-2004)
2002:
A 5th Hendrick team? UPDATE: been told that Hendrick Motorsports BGN driver, Jack Sprague, will drive the #60 Haas Chevy in the Coca Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway in May and possibly up to six more Cup events. See an image of the car on my Paint Schemes Gallery.(3-19-2002)
UPDATE: Dr Jerry Punch interviewed Jack Sprague on ESPN2’s RPM 2 Night and it was mentioned that the team just got the new #60 car in the shop and plans to test at Charlotte/Lowes Motor Speedway in a few weeks. Other races include New Hampshire, both Lowes races and Homestead. Rick Hendrick will be part owner of the team.(4-9-2002)
1998:
- There was published report(AP) this week that Ricky Rudd was interested in selling his team. Well, Rudd says not so fast. “What I said was, I see the writing on the wall. It seems as though to be competitive these days you have to be in a multi-car team or have an owner that has millions of dollars to spend, I don’t. You either have to start a second team or sell your team. We’re looking at both but I wouldn’t mind doing another team.”(MRN-Marty/http://www.mrnnet.com/marty.htm)(4-9-98)
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