April 21, 2008
- Jon Wood in the #21 at Talladega: Jon Wood will make his 2008 Sprint Cup Series debut in the Wood Brothers Racing #21 Honey Buns Ford in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 27th. Since the race was not a scheduled event for Bill Elliott, the team felt that Jon was a logical choice given his experience in the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series on superspeedways. Jon has a busy schedule this week as he is also entered to drive the #21 Air Force Ford in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 CTS race at the Kansas Speedway on April 26th. The team is making every effort to make sure Jon participates in both events. An alternative driver is being considered to practice, qualify and possibly race the truck if arrangements cannot be made to get Jon to the Kansas Speedway.(Wood Brothers PR)(4-21-2008)
- No Blank Car For Sponsor-Seeking #01: The #01 DEI Chevy of Regan Smith may be short on sponsorship, but don’t expect a blank car to show up at the track resembling Yates Racing entries. Instead of running a plain scheme to highlight the need to find more sponsorship, DEI Vice President of Motorsports Operations John Story said the team has decided instead to “sweeten” its deal with Principal Financial Group, who initially just signed as a full-season associate sponsor with a handful of races as the primary. “We’ve discussed, do you leave the car blank, do you do what Yates has done and say, ‘SponsorYates.com and call us,’ and we believe it can actually work against you in many ways,” Story told the Press. “If you left the car white, a sponsor may in fact say, ‘Hey, that’s a great car and they’ve got space available, let’s call.’ Or they may say, ‘Nobody else is sponsoring that car. Why should we? Is there something wrong with them?’” Recently, the car has run with the DEI logo on the hood, but with the Principal signage on the rear quarterpanels and back. In addition, Smith has worn the Principal firesuit and referred to the company in interviews as if it’s any other primary sponsor. Story doesn’t believe that DEI is devaluing the sponsorship long-term by giving Principal more than it’s paying for. He also doesn’t think the No. 01 is missing out on the opportunity to attract new sponsors by not running a blank car, saying that DEI is in discussions with companies about sponsorship for this year and beyond.(Long Island Press)(4-21-2008)
- Jamie Little wins Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race: ESPN pit reporter Jamie Little held off Craftsman Truck Series driver Mike Skinner by .324 seconds in race-modified Scion tCs to win the 32nd Annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on Saturday. “When you interview a winning driver after the race, they always tell you how they just try to get through that last lap,” said Little after beating Skinner, a repeat winner in the Pro Category. “Well, now I know exactly what they’re talking about.” In a last-lap duel, Skinner made contact with Little coming out of the hairpin turn on the 1.97-mile street circuit through the downtown streets of Long Beach to pull side-by-side, Little was able to get back on the gas and pull in front of Skinner as the two came to the finish line. “You go into the event with everyone out here wanting to help raise money for charity and have fun,” said Little, who will give the $5,000 from Toyota to UCI Reeve/Irvine Center in California for spinal cord injury research. In the Professional category, Skinner never gave up the lead. After starting 30 seconds behind, he quickly made up ground and caught up with the tail end of the celebrities by lap 3. He then maneuvered through traffic, catching the leaders with just two laps remaining.(SceneDaily.com)(4-21-2008)
- Second Day of Central European Rally Tougher for Robby Gordon:The second stage of the Central Europe Rally proved to be quite the challenge for Team Dakar USA. The mountainous tracks on the outskirts of Baia Mare proved to favor the four-wheel drive vehicles today. Recent snow storms left the tracks muddy in places and made the rocky course very slippery. Approaching the stage the Hummer team conceded the disadvantage and vowed to fight back on the upcoming specials but for today and possibly tomorrow they will take their lumps. The day was to be comprised of two identical specials each 76km in length. After the first special Robby Gordon found himself 4:43 back from special winner Stephan Peterhansel. He posted the 11th fastest time. BJ Baldwin lost 8:14 and finished 15th on the special. After the motorbikes, cars and trucks grooved up the course the organizers decided to shorten the second special to just 34km. The shortened special allowed Gordon to limit the damage on the second special. He finished just 39 seconds back of winner Al Attiyah, which secured a fourth place finish on the special. BJ Baldwin was not so lucky. A small rock managed to work its way up into the throttle cable housing and prevented Baldwin from getting full power. The freak occurrence cost Baldwin 6:22 and relegated him to a 30th place finish. At the end of the day Robby Gordon is 7th in the overall classification, 4:03 back while Baldwin’s Vanguard Hummer is 18th overall, 22:17 back. Tomorrow’s stage will be a repeat of today’s events and then the rally returns to the site of the first stage, which was more suited for the Hummers.(Robby Gordon PR), earlier updates about the rally are available on the #7 Team Page.(4-21-2008)
- America’s Incredible Pizza Company Sponsoring CJM for Remainder of Year: MORE INFO CJM Racing team owners, Tony and Bryan Mullet, announced that the team has secured primary sponsorship on a full-time basis, by signing on America’s Incredible Pizza Company as a sponsorship partner. “Everyone has bought into this program and has worked very hard to make it a success. The guys have done an incredible job on the track, which allowed us to accomplish our goal of providing a long-term sponsor. I am excited about the partnership we are forming with the AIPC management team,” explained Tony. America’s Incredible Pizza Company made their first appearance on the #11 CJM Racing entry at Las Vegas. Since the initial meeting, the two parties have had lengthy discussions on how to make a successful partnership and they have come to a mutual business-to-business agreement. The long-term goal with America’s Incredible Pizza Company is to build the program from a successful Nationwide Series team to a winner in the Sprint Cup Series over the next six years. America’s Incredible Pizza Company will serve as the primary sponsor of the #11 entry in 2008. CJM Racing will only be seeking sponsorship in 2008 that can help strengthen this program. The 2008 season will enable the new partnership to build on the already solid foundation.(CJM PR)(3-31-2008)
UPDATE: Incredible Pizza Co. is racing ahead with its latest multistore franchise deal and getting some invaluable brand exposure in the process. The Springfield-based pizza parlor and family entertainment company announced March 31 that it had signed a 20-franchise deal with North Carolina investors Tony and Bryan Mullet. The deal is not the largest the company has signed – Houston-based French Investments Inc. plans to open 30 stores by 2018, while Mexican franchisee Gonzalo Barrutieta is opening 20 stores south of the border. But the deal with the Mullet brothers, who also own NASCAR racing team CJM Racing, may be Incredible Pizza’s most complicated. Per the agreement, Incredible Pizza owner Rick Barsness and partners are investors in CJM’s franchise locations, which carry an estimated total price tag of $100 million. The investors will take up to half of their profits from the stores and use the money to sponsor CJM’s NASCAR Nationwide Series vehicle, driven by Jason Keller. Incredible Pizza Co. also has a management deal to run the stores and a construction management agreement to build them. CJM, in return, has agreed to take half of its profits and donate them to the Incredible Pizza Charitable Foundation, which funds Christian ministries around the world.(Springfield, MO Business Journal)(4-21-2008) - Nationwide Series Live from Talladega on ABC: Racing at Talladega ( Ala.) Superspeedway is always fast and unpredictable, and the Nationwide Series will be live on ABC Saturday, April 26, as the series makes its annual visit to the 2.66-mile track. High definition, flag-to-flag coverage of the Aarons 312 at Talladega begins at 2:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown. ESPN2 is the home of the Nationwide Series all season, with selected races on ESPN and ABC. Dr. Jerry Punch will be the lead announcer for ABC’s coverage, joined in the booth for analysis by Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake will report from the pits, while Tim Brewer will be in the ESPN DISH Tech Center. Allen Bestwick will host NASCAR Countdown with analysis by Jarrett and Brad Daugherty in the ESPN pit studio.(ESPN PR)(4-21-2008)
- Postal Service on the #27 at Talladega: Brad Coleman’s #27 will carry the United States Postal Service banner into the race at Talladega, where Coleman won the pole and earned a Top 10 finish his first time at the famed superspeedway last year. (Brad Coleman PR)(4-21-2008)
- Chrissy Wallace signs deal for 2009; to run for ROTY? On Sirius Radio’s Morning Drive program, it was reported that Chrissy Wallace has signed an agreement with Germain Racing for the 2009 season and will run for Rookie of the Year.(4-21-2008)
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