April 13, 2015
- Texas TV Ratings: NASCAR on FOX continues to struggle on Saturday nights. NASCAR Sprint Cup racing from Texas drew a 2.9 overnight rating on FOX Saturday night, down 17% from 2013 (3.5) and down 19% from 2012 (3.6). Last year’s Texas race was postponed due to rain, earning a 2.3 overnight in its scheduled Sunday afternoon window. Excluding rainouts, the 2.9 overnight is the lowest ever for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race on FOX (dates back to 2001), falling below the previous mark of 3.0 for coverage from Richmond last year. Nine of the ten lowest rated NASCAR on FOX telecasts in the metered markets have taken place on a Saturday night. The 2.9 is also easily the lowest ever for NASCAR from Texas, again excluding rainouts. The previous low was the 3.5 in 2013. Saturday’s record-low overnight continues a recent stall in NASCAR’s momentum. After the season’s first three races had increases in overnights compared to last year, the past four (including one on Fox Sports 1) have either been flat or declined.(Sports Media Watch via Sports Business Daily)(4-13-2015)
- Entry List for the Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up To Cancer Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway is posted, 45 teams/drivers [for 43 spots] are listed, including: #30-Hornaday, #32-Bliss, #33-Kennedy, #34-Buescher, #55-Moffitt.
Drivers who need to be in the top-36 in speed and have no provisional available to them (lowest in owners points): #62-Gaughan (45th in owner points), #30-Hornaday (49th)
Drivers who would miss the race if qualifying is canceled (least race attempts): #95-McDowell (4 attempts) #30-Hornaday (3 attempts)
See the full entry list at my Jayski.com’s Bristol Entry List - Three drivers start season with top-ten streaks UPDATES: #78-Martin Truex Jr.’s 7th place finish at Martinsville marked his sixth consecutive top-10 finish. That’s the longest top-10 streak to open a season since Greg Biffle scored six top-10s to begin the 2010 campaign (finishing 6th in the standings). Truex isn’t the only one though. Points leader #4-Kevin Harvick and #22-Joey Logano also have opened the season with six consecutive top-10s to open the season. The NASCAR record for most top-10 finishes to open a season is 10 set by Lee Petty in 1955 (finished 3rd in the standings) and James Hylton in 1972 (finished 3rd in the standings).(NBC Sports)
UPDATE: the record is actually held by Morgan Shepherd, who opened the 1990 season with 11 consecutive top-10 finishes in the #15 Motorcraft Ford owned by Hall of Famer Bud Moore. Shepherd finished with 16 top-10 finishes in 29 races during the 1990 season, finishing 5th in the Championship.(3-31-2015)
UPDATE 2: #4-Kevin Harvick, #22-Joey Logano, and #78-Martin Truex, Jr. all continued their top-10 streaks Saturday night at Texas. The streaks are the longest in each driver’s career.
Logano has 2 previous streaks of 6 races — Indianapolis to Atlanta in 2013 and Richmond to Charlotte in the fall of 2014.
Truex, Jr’s previous streak is 5 races — Bristol to Kansas in the spring of 2012.
Harvick has now finished in the top-10 in the last 10 races, starting at Texas last November. Previously he had top-10 streaks of 9 races — Pocono to Kansas in 2008 and Darlington to New Hampshire in 2013.(4-13-2015) - Passenger dies at Richard Petty driving experience UPDATE: A 36-year-old Davenport man died [Sunday] after a Lamborghini in which he was riding lost control at the Richard Petty Driving Experience at Walt Disney World. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the driver failed to maneuver the high-powered sports car through one of the course’s curves, and the vehicle’s right side struck a guardrail. The passenger was pronounced dead at the scene, according to FHP’s Sgt. Kim Montes. The male driver was taken to Celebration Hospital with minor injuries. Neither the driver nor the passenger were identified. The incident took place at about 3:30pm at the Exotic Driving Experience at Walt Disney World Speedway, according to the FHP report. The track is operated by Petty Holdings, which has other Exotic Driving Experience attractions at speedways in Atlanta, Daytona Beach, Charlotte, New Jersey, Kansas, New Hampshire and Texas. The Richard Petty Driving Experience, where fans can drive NASCAR cars or ride shotgun at speeds up to 165 mph, opened in 1997. Four years ago, Petty Holdings introduced the exotic-car experience, where people can drive Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porsches. The crash remains under investigation, according to the FHP.(Examiner)
AND The Florida Highway Patrol said that Tavon Watson, 24, of Kissimmee, failed to maneuver the sports car through one of the road course’s curves. The car’s right side struck a guardrail. His passenger, Gary Terry, was pronounced dead at the scene. Terry was the operations manager for the track. Terry competed in NASCAR’s Southeast, Southwest and Midwest Series from 1999-2002. In 36 starts he scored two top-5 finishes. He was the head driving instructor for the RPDE at the Walt Disney World Speedway from 2001 to 2013 when he became the operations manager.(Examiner)(4-13-2015)
UPDATE Comments from Richard Petty, “The entire Petty family, and everyone associated with Petty, is deeply saddened by the passing of Gary Terry yesterday. Our prayers go out to his family and everyone affected by this tragedy. We are all thinking about the family and friends of Gary and all the employees of the Exotic Driving Experience.”(Richard Petty Motorsports)(4-13-2015) - XFINITY Entry List:There are 39 cars on the preliminary entry list for Saturday’s Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 at Bristol Speedway. A few notes:
Jeff Green is back in the #10 for TriStar;
Derek White will drive the #13;
The Rick Ware #15 is TBA;
Ryan Blaney will drive the #22 for Penske;
Carl Long will be back in the #40;
Brenna Poole remains in the #42 for HScott Motorsports.(4-13-2015)
See the complete list on the Bristol entry list page. - Shepherd to attempt Bristol race: #89-Morgan Shepherd and Shepherd Racing Ventures announce that King’s Tire will be the sponsor of the XFINITY #89 Chevy for Bristol’s 33rd Annual Drive To Stop Diabetes 300 on April 18, 2015. Shepherd Racing Ventures welcomes Tony Furr as Crew Chief for the weekend.(Shepherd Racing Ventures)(4-13-2015)
- Chase Rice to perform at Talladega: Country music maverick and Columbia Nashville recording artist Chase Rice, who has NASCAR ties, will be the featured artist for Talladega Superspeedway’s traditional Saturday Night Infield Concert, May 2, during an exciting weekend that will feature the Winn-Dixie 300 and GEICO 500. Rice will take the stage at NASCAR’s “Party Capital” just hours after the conclusion of the Winn-Dixie 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race, and the night before the GEICO 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event, in which the winning driver will all but be guaranteed a spot in the season-ending Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. In what has become a Talladega tradition with top music acts, the Saturday Night Concert will feature Rice, whose edgy music will match perfectly with the rowdy infield crowd of the biggest and baddest racetrack on the planet. With hits like “Ready Set Roll” and his current single “Gonna Wanna Tonight” on the set list, Rice will have the intersection of Eastaboga and Talladega Boulevards rocking well into the night. The best part about the concert is that admission is FREE with the purchase of a Sunday race ticket for the GEICO 500. A former linebacker at the University of North Carolina, Rice has worn many different hats so far in life. In the sport of NASCAR, he served as a part of the Hendrick Motorsports team pit crew before moving to Nashville to pursue music full-time.(TSS)(4-13-2015)
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