April 12, 2004
- Final Texas TV Ratings Down: Fox’s broadcast of the April 4 Samsung/RadioShack 500 from Texas Motor Speedway drew a final Nielsen Media Research rating of 6.0, the Sports Business Daily reports. The figure represents a 4.8 percent drop from last year’s 6.3. A Dallas Morning News story says overall NASCAR ratings on Fox are down 5 percent this year.(NASCAR Scene Daily Newsletter). , The Nextel Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway scored a 6.0 in the national ratings. That’s down from last year’s 6.3. Overall, NASCAR’s ratings on Fox going into the Easter break are down 5 percent. In Dallas-Fort Worth, the local rating was up 32 percent from a 5.6 to a 7.4. The rating in Dallas-Fort Worth was 11th best in the nation. Three Carolina markets were 1-2-3. Greensboro, N.C. (17.3) topped the list, followed by Greenville, S.C. (14.1) and Charlotte (12.9).(Dallas Morning News) (4-12-2004)
- Double-Duty lets Fans join Robbie Gordon at Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600: Fans can attend both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on May 30 to watch Robby Gordon race in the two events by taking advantage of Gordon’s third “Double Duty Tour.” The specially designed one-day travel package provides round-trip air transportation, originating in Charlotte, as well as grandstand/suite tickets at both tracks and luxury motorcoach transport with police escort. Guests will also receive additional benefits, including a gift bag, which will contain a scanner programmed to Gordon’s radio frequencies and a commemorative “Double Duty” T-shirt. Gordon will be driving the Meijer/Coca-Coca Dallara-Chevrolet in the Indy 500 and the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing at Charlotte. Guests also will be invited to a May 29 BBQ at Robby Gordon Motorsports, in Huntersville, NC., where they can meet Gordon and tour the race shop. For more information and to make reservations, fans can call 704-949-1255 or visit Gordon’s web site, www.RobbyGordon.com.(4-12-2004)
- NASCAR Team joins in Support for U.S. Bobsledders: In an effort to support the United States bobsledding program, Whelen Engineering and Bill Davis Racing have a promotional opportunity in place that will allow fans to have their names inscribed on the trunklid of the team’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup #23 car that will be driven by Dave Blaney during the Coca-Cola 600, May 30 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte. For every $50 worth of Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, Inc. apparel purchased (excluding taxes and shipping), a single name will be added to the trunklid of Blaney’s #23 Dodge; 100 percent of the profits from the sale of the apparel will go to the bobsled project. The apparel can be purchased by going to Whelen’s web site (www.whelen.com) and clicking on MOTORSPORTS. Each contributor will receive a photo of the trunklid. The offer ends May 7. The Bill Davis Racing entry for the Charlotte race will have primary sponsorship from Whelen Engineering, a maker of emergency lighting and early warning sirens, based in Chester, CT. The Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project was founded in 1996 by NASCAR racer Geoffrey Bodine, who felt the World Cup and Olympic bobsled teams were competing with inferior equipment, manufactured outside of the United States. Bodine believed that American technology, especially race car engineering, could be successfully applied to bobsled fabrication to help make the USA team more competitive. He joined forces with Bob Cuneo of Chassis Dynamics out of Oxford, Conn. to form Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, Inc., a non-profit organization. Whelen Engineering, which also sponsors the #31 Marsh Racing Ford at select NASCAR Busch Series races, is a major corporate sponsor of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project.(DMF Communications PR)(4-12-2004)
- Ebay NASCAR Items being Auctioned for a cause: First Response K9 Recovery, an organization designed to utilize scent specific canines in the recovery of missing children are offering items on ebay to assist them in raising funds for their organization. Some of the items listed are NEXTEL CUP sheetmetal from Ryan Newman and Rusty Wallace. In the near future they will be posting other items so be sure to visit and return. For more information on their organization or to make a donation please visit www.firstresponsek9recovery.com.(Body Dynamics PR)(4-12-2004)
- Jeff Burton to RCR #31? Rumors swirled last week about Johnny Sauter being released from the #30 AOL Chevy team, which is 24th in the standings, and getting replaced by Johnny Benson or Dave Blaney. Another garage rumor: Jeff Burton’s #99 Ford, which is 30th in the standings, will shut down if sponsorship is not found by the end of May, and Burton will move to the #31 Cingular Chevy driven by Robby Gordon. However, anyone who knows Richard Childress, the owner of the #31, realizes Childress left after the Texas race for Canada’s Northwest Territories to go hunting.(FoxSports)(4-12-2004)
- No Cup for Hamilton: Most racers would jump at the chance to compete at the Nextel Cup level, but Craftsman Truck driver Bobby Hamilton isn’t one of them.”I left Winston Cup because I wasn’t in a car that was capable of winning every week,” says Hamilton, who’s third in truck series points. “Right now, racing in Cup would take away from my truck effort, and unless Ray Evernham or Chip Ganassi calls with a ride, I won’t be going back.”(FoxSports)(4-12-2004)
- Stock Car Fans – Ramblings – Offweek: Here’s a bunny basket full of useless info and stats for ya… We’ll start off with our first update on everybody’s favorite driver, Mr. Lead Lap. For you new subscribers, a little summary. LL is the guy who runs all the laps, but always finishes last on the lead lap. He’s where your favorite driver would finish if that yo-yo hadn’t spun in front of him, or if he hadn’t gotten into the oil from that blown motor up ahead. Thus far, it’s been pretty much hit or miss for our hero. He’s in 15th place in the points (809), so he’s still in the hunt for the “Chase for the Championship” (how embarassing would that be for NASCAR, huh?). He’s had one Top-10 (Rockingham), and an average finish of 15.9. It’s not as good as he was this time last year, but the season pretty much went downhill for LL late. He finished 17th last year with an average finish of 18.9! Tho he’s 37 points shy of last year, with the new caution rules that could help our man as the season progresses.
We’ve got 26 drivers currently eligible for the “Chase” (versus 24 last year at this time), and a spread from 1st to 10th this year of 198. Last year (which was supposedly a disaster) we had a spread of 288 from 1-10, but the lead 1st to 2nd was a whopping 155. BTW, the present leader (Kurt Busch) has 58 points less than our leader at this time last year (Matt Kenseth) had…..and this is a season where you get an extra 5 points for winning. And, of couse, all that makes the racing a whole lot better, doesn’t it?
We move next to Martinsville Speedway, so let’s take a look at short-track [S/T] points….and the man at the top may suprise you. These numbers are the points earned at the six short-track races from last year along with Bristol from this season. Kevin Harvick is eating ’em up at the shorties, and when you consider he’s never won one of those, to say he’s due would be an understatement! Since Chevy won both events here last year (Jeff Gordon), and the top three (as well as the four of the top five) are Monte Carlo drivers, you may want to consider those as players this week. Here’s the Top-10 in S/T points for the last 7 races [2003 and Bristol in 2004]:
Car#-Driver Name, S/T Points
#29-Harvick Kevin, 1037 (0 S/T Wins)
#8-Earnhardt Dale Jr., 1015 (0)
#24-Gordon Jeff, 1004 (2)
#17-Kenseth Matt, 1003 (0)
#48-Johnson Jimmie, 961 (0)
#97-Busch Kurt, 918 (3)
#18-Labonte Bobby, 861 (0)
#2-Wallace Rusty, 852 (0)
#40-Marlin Sterling, 843 (0)
#12-Newman Ryan, 838 (1)
(in part from the StockCarFans.Com Nextel Cup Newsletter)(4-12-2004) - Waltrip to test at Daytona UPDATE: #99-Michael Waltrip Racing will participate in a one-day test session at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the Friday night, July 2 Winn-Dixie 250 presented by PepsiCo Busch Series race. The test session, scheduled for Monday, April 12th from 9:00am – 5:00pm/et is free and open to the public with access to the Oldfield Grandstand through the lobby of DAYTONA USA.(DIS PR)(4-10-2004)
UPDATE: Michael Waltrip’s NASCAR Busch Series team didn’t get too much time to celebrate their victory in Saturday’s Busch Series race at Nashville, Tenn. With test driver Matt Crafton, the #99 team participated in a one-day test session at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for both the upcoming Aaron’s 312 Busch Series race on April 24 at Talladega Superspeedway and the Winn-Dixie 250 presented by PepsiCo Busch Series race on Friday night, July 2. “We had a good time for a few minutes after the race (on Saturday),” said crew chief Jerry Baxter. “We did our tear down and inspection and made it back to the shop about 8 a.m. Sunday morning. We switched out the cars from Nashville and put in our Daytona test car. We sent it out (Sunday afternoon) and flew down here 5 a.m. this morning.” Most of the crew completed their work at the shop by Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the Easter holiday with their families. “I hate it that they couldn’t spend all day, but we needed to get (this test) in,” Baxter said. “Michael is pretty darn good at these speedway races and I like to be as good as we can possibly be. I didn’t want to pass up this opportunity.” The Chevrolet Monte Carlo being tested by Crafton was rebuilt after Speedweeks 2004. Waltrip was involved in an incident during “Happy Hour” before the Hershey’s Kisses 300 and the team was forced to use a backup car in the race. The Chevrolet damaged in “Happy Hour” has been rebuilt and the team wanted to shake down the car before the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway. “It’s all fresh, new body,” Baxter said. “It’s a new car basically. You have to shake them down and get the fenders to the clear the tires and all that stuff.” With Waltrip unable to participate in the test, the team tapped Crafton, who wheels a Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. “He’s just really consistent,” Baxter said. “He’s a good little driver. Michael was busy with a deal today he had to do. Matt just works out well. He can fit in the car and he’s real consistent on his laps. That’s the thing you’ve got to have at these speedways — somebody that hits the mark every time. He seems to do a really good job.”(DIS PR)(4-12-2004) - Why #30 for Stremme instead of #32? Stremme’s team is listed a #332 in owners points as three others team applied for the #32 before the team changed from #19 to #32 for TrimSpa, so if any of those three teams run they get to use it first. Garvey’s team had the request for the #32 in sooner. Stremme’s team still gets owners points for the #332 even thou it used #30. Had thought the number would be used by the team higest in owners points or as it was years ago, to the highest qualifier.(4-12-2004)
- Mikey wins at Nashville in a wild finish: #99-Michael Waltrip won the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway, in a wild finish. With 2 laps to go, #5-Busch led #21-Clint Bowyer, with #55-Gordon and #1-Benson all in a bunch. Busch either slipped up or Bowyer got a great run and nipped Busch’s left rear, which started Busch in a spin, Bowyer slowed, Benson was right behind Bowyer and didn’t have time to slow and hit Bowyer, Gordon then had no place to go and hit someone, all four spinning thru the grass, #27-Sauter was running 5th, but slowed and Waltrip who was 6th at the time, went by Sauter BEFORE the yellow light lit and the yellow flag flew. #38-Kahne got by the four spinning drivers, who then all got back on track and up to pace car speed. So NASCAR ruled Waltrip the winner, and an unhappy Sauter 2nd [thought he won], Kahne 3rd, followed by Bowyer, Gordon, Busch and Benson. #20-Bliss was on the tail end of the lead lap cars and ended up 8th, the last car on the lead lap. Whew…I think I got it.
#8-Martin Truex Jr., the pole sitter in a backup car and the points leader coming in, ended up 23rd six laps down. Waltrip takes over the points lead and says as long as he is in championship contention, he plans to run all the Busch races.
See UNOFFICIAL Results at:
(these three have the finishing order FX posted which were supposedly correct from NASCAR)
ThatsRacin.com/AP – results
BGNRacing.com
MotorsportsOne
(the OFFICIAL RESULTS from NASCAR.com 4-12-2004)
NASCAR.com(4-10/12-2004) - #40 Team Closing up?: hearing the #40 Key Motorsports team and driver Joey Clanton has parted way and the team may be suspending operations? The will not be at Martinsville, after that…..??(4-12-2004)
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