April 24, 2010
- Sprint Cup qualifying & Nationwide race canceled for Saturday: “In the interest of fan safety, all activities scheduled at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday have been postponed due to the significant threat of extended periods of severe weather. This decision was made based on advice from the National Weather Service and the Talladega County Emergency Management Agency. Fans are strongly encouraged to take necessary precautions to ensure their safety, especially those guests camping on speedway property.
The Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series race scheduled for Saturday will now be held Sunday following the Aaron’s 499 Sprint Cup Series race. Any ticket for the Aaron’s 312 or Aaron’s 499 will be honored at the gate on Sunday. All Aaron’s 499 ticket holders have priority seating and should proceed to their assigned ticket area. Aaron’s 312 ticket holders will be directed to open seating by speedway staff.
Gates open at 8:00pm/ct and the Aaron’s 499 will begin at 12noon/ct as originally scheduled. Fans who want to witness more than 800 miles of back-to-back, high-speed action at Talladega but who have not yet purchased their tickets can still do so by calling 877-Go2-DEGA or visiting one of our ticket booths on property.(Talladega Superspeedway), so the two drivers who will miss the race are #46-Terry Cook and #35-Aric Almirola.
LINEUP: so the starting lineup for the Aaron’s 499 Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway was set by the rules book with the top-35 in owners points starting 1-35. So #48-Johnson will start 1st [not awarded the pole or award] followed by #17-Kenseth, #16-Biffle, #29-Harvick, #24-Gordon, #18-Busch, #88-Earnhardt Jr., #31-Burton, #2-Busch and #5-Martin. #26-Stremme and #09-Bliss make the race due to past car owner wins in 2009 and start 36th and 37th. Then the field is set by race attempts [all with 8], so #7-Gordon, #36-Sauter, #13-Papis, #87-Nemechek, #66-Blaney & #55-Waltrip. Missing the race were #46-Cook and #35-Almirola.
See my Talladega Starting Lineup page.(4-24-2010) - Phoenix Racing team for sale: James Finch, the defending winner owner [#09 Chevy in Cup, #1 Chevy in NNS] of this weekend’s Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway, is putting his Phoenix Racing operation up for sale. For a price, the new owner would acquire a 70,000 sq. ft. building complete with 35 race cars, all the machinery and two houses on nine acres in Spartanburg, S.C. “I’ve had a real good time,” Finch said. “But it’s time to do something else. Offer me a fair price — then give me half and we’ll have a deal.” Finch fielded cars for a variety of drivers in NASCAR’s Cup and Nationwide Series as well as ARCA. He won 12 NNS races with six different drivers on nine different tracks. But his most coveted win came at Talladega last year as Finch provided rookie Brad Keselowski with an opportunity to earn his first Sprint Cup victory. Finch took his entire share of the $312, 075 purse and offered it to Keselowski for his parents, lifelong racers who campaigned in ARCA and NASCAR with their family-owned operation. Keselowski made his NASCAR debut behind the wheel of the K Automotive Ford truck in 2004 at Martinsville. “I did some cool things for my parents with that,” Keselowski added. “That was something I was proud to be able to do — to help them out financially because they’re going through some hard times. It’s cool to be able to be there for them.” James Buescher is Finch’s latest protégé. The 20-year-old from Plano, Texas, finished the last two races of the season for Finch in the NNS and is currently 19th in the point standings. His best finish this season was eighth at Daytona.(FoxSports)(4-24-2010)
- Restirctor Plate size could change at Talladega UPDATE no change: NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Friday morning that a decision on the size of the restrictor-plate that will be used in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 will be made after practice this afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. Sunday’s race will be the first at Talladega with a blade rear spoiler instead of a wing on the new-generation Sprint Cup car at a restrictor-plate track. With the new aerodynamic package, it remains to be seen what speeds the cars will run at on the track. If the cars lap the 2.66-mile superspeedway at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour in the draft, NASCAR will mandate the use of a smaller restrictor-plate during Sunday’s race. Conversely, if speeds are slower than anticipated, a larger plate could be used. Pemberton said that NASCAR has adjusted plate size between practice and the race before, so this is not setting a precedent. “The good news is, it’s a beautiful day, so we should be able to get plenty of drafting in,” said Pemberton. There will be two rounds of Sprint Cup practice today, a 45-minute session beginning at 2:00pm/et, and a one-hour session at 3:30 pm/et. Both will be televised live on SPEED.(SPEED)(4-23-2010)
UPDATE: NASCAR will continue using the 15/16th-inch restrictor plate that teams used in the first two practice sessions Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. Sprint Cup Series officials met to discuss the plate size after the final practice, where the top lap speed was Jeff Burton’s 199.467 mph, but decided to keep things the same.(FoxSports)(4-24-2010)
UPDATE no change: NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Friday morning that a decision on the size of the restrictor-plate that will be used in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 will be made after practice this afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. Sunday’s race will be the first at Talladega with a blade rear spoiler instead of a wing on the new-generation Sprint Cup car at a restrictor-plate track. With the new aerodynamic package, it remains to be seen what speeds the cars will run at on the track. If the cars lap the 2.66-mile superspeedway at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour in the draft, NASCAR will mandate the use of a smaller restrictor-plate during Sunday’s race. Conversely, if speeds are slower than anticipated, a larger plate could be used. Pemberton said that NASCAR has adjusted plate size between practice and the race before, so this is not setting a precedent. “The good news is, it’s a beautiful day, so we should be able to get plenty of drafting in,” said Pemberton. There will be two rounds of Sprint Cup practice today, a 45-minute session beginning at 2:00pm/et, and a one-hour session at 3:30 pm/et. Both will be televised live on SPEED.(SPEED)(4-23-2010)
UPDATE: NASCAR will continue using the 15/16th-inch restrictor plate that teams used in the first two practice sessions Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. Sprint Cup Series officials met to discuss the plate size after the final practice, where the top lap speed was Jeff Burton’s 199.467 mph, but decided to keep things the same.(FoxSports)(4-24-2010) - Daytona to repave track for 2011 season: For only the second time in its history, Daytona International Speedway will be repaved following the Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola in July, track President Robin Braig announced. “This is a historic moment for NASCAR’s most storied race track — Daytona International Speedway,” Braig said. “Daytona was originally repaved in 1978 and the time has come again to put new asphalt on this legendary race track.” Since the conclusion of the 52nd annual Daytona 500 in February, International Speedway Corporation’s team of engineers and asphalt specialists have conducted a thorough evaluation of the entire track, and upon completion of that analysis, the results were delivered to the ISC Board of Directors where the decision was made to repave the race track following the 2010 Coke Zero 400. Daytona International Speedway’s entire 2.5-mile tri-oval will be repaved as well as the skid pads, apron and pit road. Concrete will be used for the pit stalls. All of the existing asphalt will be removed down to the original 52-year-old lime rock base, which will be leveled and then paving will begin. The repaving of Daytona International Speedway will remain true to Bill France Sr.’s original vision, layout and geometry of the track that was constructed in the late 1950s. The repaving project will begin immediately after the Coke Zero 400 Weekend on Sunday, July 4 with a target completion date of Jan. 1, 2011. Speedweeks 2011 will kick off with the 49th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race on Jan. 29-30 and conclude with the 53rd annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 20, the prestigious season-opening event to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Lane Construction, which repaved other ISC race tracks including Talladega Superspeedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and Darlington Raceway, has been contracted to repave Daytona International Speedway. Due to the repaving project, the October motorcycles races, Richard Petty Driving Experience dates, testing sessions and other track rental events will be cancelled for the rest of the year. Daytona KartWeek presented by Cometic Gasket World Karting Association races on Dec. 28-30 will continue as scheduled with the sprint and dirt track events only as those two series do not utilize the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
If race fans want to claim a piece of history, they can renew their 2011 Daytona 500 tickets and each account holder will receive a portion of Daytona’s track surface representing over 50 years of memories. The Daytona 500 ticket renewal process begins today. Race fans will be able to view all the progressions of the historic repaving project from a section of the Oldfield Grandstands, which will open free to the public. Track tours will also be available through attraction admission to Daytona 500 Experience. For tickets and more information on Daytona International Speedway events, visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or call 1-800-PITSHOP.(DIS)(4-24-2010) - Phoenix Racing team for sale: James Finch, the defending winner owner [#09 Chevy in Cup, #1 Chevy in NNS] of this weekend’s Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway, is putting his Phoenix Racing operation up for sale. For a price, the new owner would acquire a 70,000 sq. ft. building complete with 35 race cars, all the machinery and two houses on nine acres in Spartanburg, S.C. “I’ve had a real good time,” Finch said. “But it’s time to do something else. Offer me a fair price then give me half and we’ll have a deal.” Finch fielded cars for a variety of drivers in NASCAR’s Cup and Nationwide Series as well as ARCA. He won 12 NNS races with six different drivers on nine different tracks. But his most coveted win came at Talladega last year as Finch provided rookie Brad Keselowski with an opportunity to earn his first Sprint Cup victory. Finch took his entire share of the $312, 075 purse and offered it to Keselowski for his parents, lifelong racers who campaigned in ARCA and NASCAR with their family-owned operation. Keselowski made his NASCAR debut behind the wheel of the K Automotive Ford truck in 2004 at Martinsville. “I did some cool things for my parents with that,” Keselowski added. “That was something I was proud to be able to do to help them out financially because they’re going through some hard times. It’s cool to be able to be there for them.” #1-James Buescher is Finch’s latest protégé. The 20-year-old from Plano, Texas, finished the last two races of the season for Finch in the NNS and is currently 19th in the point standings. His best finish this season was eighth at Daytona.(FoxSports)(4-24-2010)
- Turkey Bubba Burgers for Wallace at Richmond: Kenny Wallace and the Turkey Bubba Burger will combine forces to “kick off the grilling season” in the Bubba Burger 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Richmond International Raceway next Friday night. Wallace will be driving the #28 Turkey Bubba Burger Chevy for Jay Robinson Racing in the event.(Jay Robinson PR)(4-24-2010)
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