April 13, 2009
- Prilosec returns to the #31: #31-Jeff Burton is scheduled to drive the purple #31 Prilosec Chevy colors at Richmond in May. See an image of the scheme on the #31 Team Schemes page.(4-13-2009)
- Morgan-McClure Motorsports set to return at Talladega: UPDATE: Morgan-McClure Motorsports is back. The team will return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Talladega Superspeedway on April 26 and will attempt to make the Aaron’s 499 with driver Eric McClure, sources said Friday at Nashville Superspeedway. The team will again field the #4 Chevy, with sponsorship from Hefty brand. If the Talladega race weekend goes well, a source said the team could attempt to make more races later in the season.(Scene Daily)(4-11-2009)
UPDATE: Having not competed in Sprint Cup competition since the 2007 season finale, Morgan McClure Motorsports (MMM) will make a return to the circuit in two weeks as they attempt the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. The 2.66-mile speedway is home to four of their 14 Sprint Cup career victories. Nationwide Series regular Eric McClure, will join forces with MMM, piloting the famed #4 Chevy for the Aaron’s 499 weekend. No stranger to MMM, the 30-year-old driver has competed in two Sprint Cup events and four Nationwide Series events for the organization, earning a best finish of 26th and 22nd respectively. The Hefty brand, featuring its Steel Sak waste bag, will serve as primary sponsor for the event and continue its relationship with McClure that began in 2006 and continues full-time in the Nationwide Series.(Eric McClure PR)(4-13-2009)
IMAGE posted: see an image of the #4 Hefty/Walmart Chevy that McClure will run at Talladega on the #4 Team Schemes page.(4-13-2009) - Hendrick plane crash trial could start later this month: More than four years after a Hendrick Motorsports plane crash that killed 10 people on the way to the NASCAR Cup race Oct. 24, 2004, at Martinsville Speedway, lawsuits over who was responsible for the crash could finally go to trial in the next couple of weeks. A final pretrial conference is set for Friday in cases involving Hendrick Motorsports, the estates of the pilots, the U.S. government and the widows of Hendrick Motorsports engine builder Randy Dorton, general manager Jeff Turner and Tony Stewart pilot Scott Lathram (a passenger on the plane). The trial could start as early as next Monday in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem, N.C. At issue is who is responsible for the accident – HMS Holdings (parent company of Hendrick Motorsports), the pilots themselves or the air-traffic controllers. According to court documents, the crash resulted when the pilots overshot the airport by five miles and failed to follow the missed-approach procedure for the Martinsville/Blue Ridge Airport, which requires a climbing right turn to avoid Bull Mountain. The plane, in heavy cloud cover, climbed without turning and crashed into the mountain, killing all 10 aboard.(Scene Daily)(4-13-2009)
- $10 Million, Just for Motor Oil: The most advanced piece of technology in a NASCAR vehicle these days isn’t its engine, its suspension or anything made of carbon fiber. It’s the motor oil. Joe Gibbs Racing has spent about $1 million a year over the past decade to perfect its motor oil. As a result, its engines have squeezed out an extra 10 horsepower, a roughly 2% increase that can be a serious advantage in NASCAR races.With NASCAR increasingly cracking down on the use of technology in the sport to cut costs, motor oil is one of the last places teams can innovate without restraint. Companies like Shell, Quaker State and Mobil also make special oils packed with synthetic lubricants, new polymers and experimental molecules for the teams they sponsor. All this has spawned a culture of secrecy. Shell was so worried about protecting its motor-oil formula that it recently refused to allow used race oil to be sold as a souvenir to NASCAR fans. The concern, a spokesman said, is that someone could “reverse engineer” the used oil to see what its properties are. Joe Gibbs Racing, one of NASCAR’s richest and most-successful teams, won’t say which company assembles its synthetic oil and will only identify the scientists who work on its formula as “William the chemist,” who’s in charge of formulating the oil, and “Douglas,” who used to work for NASA and is in charge of analyzing the team’s worn engine parts under a microscope. “I don’t want other teams trying to find out who these guys are,” says Lake Speed Jr., who runs the team’s oil program.(Wall Street Journal)(4-13-2009)
- Means honored by county hall of fame: NASCAR’s biggest star and the people of Huntsville, Ala., have something in common these days. They both recognize Huntsville resident Jimmy Means as a true American hero. Dale Earnhardt Jr. for years has been vocal and enthusiastic in his support of Means, a journeyman driver in the series now known as Sprint Cup but who now fields under-funded cars in the Nationwide Series. The Huntsville folks are making their affection official Monday, inducting Means into the Huntsville/Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame. Veteran Huntsville Times reporter Mark McCarter says Means is the first race driver inducted into the Hall.(Racin’ Today)(4-13-2009)
- Nationwide COT could be pushed back to 2011: Work on the NASCAR Nationwide Series car of tomorrow is proceeding, though the sanctioning body’s ban on nearly all testing for 2009 could push the introduction of the new car back to 2011. Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway that Toyota’s version of the car, the Camry, will return to the wind tunnel for testing this week. The other three manufacturers who take part in the series have all had their versions certified aerodynamically. The car has been officially tested on the race track twice, but both tests were last year. And given the struggling U.S. economy, many in the Nationwide garage want NASCAR to hold off another year before rolling the car out. Balash said the sanctioning body will listen to opinions of teams before making a decision. The original introduction was planned for August of this year, but that was pushed back to 2010. Now the car could be held off until 2011.(Scene Daily)(4-13-2009)
- Racing Resources Says…
* Joey Logano won the Nashville 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. Logano scored his second Nationwide victory in his 24th start — his other win came at Kentucky (20 starts between). * Logano led nine times for a race-high 95 laps, including the final 10. It’s the first time he had led the most laps in his 24 Nationwide races. * Both of Logano’s series wins came with crew chief Dave Rogers, who has 16 career wins. * Kyle Busch, who finished second, gave Joe Gibbs Racing its third 1-2 finish in the series. Busch finished second all three times. * Toyota posted its 25th Nationwide victory and first at Nashville. It is its third win of 2009. * Joe Gibbs Racing scored its 31st series victory and first at Nashville. The win is JGR’s third win in the first six races of 2009. JGR led 172 of the 225 laps in Saturday’s race. JGR has led 670 of the 1,204 laps run in 2009 (56 percent). * Kelly Bires, who finished fourth, scored his best career finish in the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. car. It ties the best finish for KHI at Nashville (Tony Raines finished fourth in June 2005). * There were a record-tying 19 lead changes — 15 between Logano and Busch. * Four drivers made their Nationwide debut: Brian Scott (25th), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (23rd), Tim Andrews (33rd), Benny Gordon (36th). * Scott Lagasse (10th) was the highest-finishing rookie contender among the seven rookies in the race. * The top 10 consisted of four Toyotas, four Chevys and two Fords. The highest-finishing Dodge was Dennis Setzer in 20th. * Carl Edwards, who finished fourth, continues to lead the points by 23 over Kyle Busch.(ESPN.com)(4-13-2009) - Nationwide Series Under the Lights at Phoenix on ESPN2: The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to the desert this weekend for an event Friday night at Phoenix International Raceway, and ESPN2 will have a live, high definition telecast of the 200-mile race on Friday, April 17, at 9 p.m. ET. ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season, with selected races on ESPN and ABC. The race re-airs Saturday, April 18, at noon on ESPN Classic. Dr. Jerry Punch will be the lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage from Phoenix, joined in the booth for analysis by Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Mike Massaro, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch will report from the pits, while Tim Brewer will be in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage. Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by Jarrett in the ESPN pit studio.(ESPN PR)(4-13-2009)
- Means honored by county hall of fame: NASCAR’s biggest star and the people of Huntsville, Ala., have something in common these days. They both recognize Huntsville resident Jimmy Means as a true American hero. Dale Earnhardt Jr. for years has been vocal and enthusiastic in his support of Means, a journeyman driver in the series now known as Sprint Cup but who now fields under-funded cars in the Nationwide Series. The Huntsville folks are making their affection official Monday, inducting Means into the Huntsville/Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame. Veteran Huntsville Times reporter Mark McCarter says Means is the first race driver inducted into the Hall.(Racin’ Today)(4-13-2009)
- Bodine & Austin to throw out first pitch at Royals game: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers Todd Bodine and Chase Austin are scheduled at the Kansas City Royals game on Tuesday, April 14. Both drivers will throw out the first pitch prior to the game. They are in Kansas City to promote the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 on April 25 at Kansas Speedway. Bodine is the 2005 winner of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway, and was also named NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion in 2006. Austin drives the #32 truck and is a 19-year-old rookie from Eudora, Kansas. He will start his first race at Kansas Speedway this April 25 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250.(Kansas Speedway PR) [For more info on the Kansas City Royals game, visit the Driver Appearances Page.](4-13-2009)
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