April 24, 2014
- Swan Racing Restructures UPDATE Yeley in for Kligerman: Swan Racing announced it has successfully restructured the company by finding solutions for the #26 and #30 teams in an attempt to save the jobs of the crews, the drivers, and to keep those teams competing throughout the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. As a result, Anthony Marlowe has merged his ownership of the #26 team into BK Racing, effective immediately. Cole Whitt will remain behind the wheel of the #26. The #30 team has been sold to John Cohen of XxxTreme Motorsports, which will operate the team going forward and intends to compete with veteran driver J.J. Yeley. Stephen “Bones” Lane will serve as crew chief and be joined by several other former Swan Racing crewmembers. Driver Parker Kligerman remains under contract with Swan Racing, which will seek to identify options for him to get back on track. Team owner Brandon Davis issued the following statement:
“I want to first thank our employees, fans, and others in the NASCAR industry for their patience and understanding over the past several days while we work out the future of Swan Racing. As previously stated, the team is restructuring due to a lack of additional funding. However, over the past couple weeks we worked tirelessly to find an alternative to ending operations. Fortunately, we were able to find a home for the #26 team and the #30 team thanks to Anthony Marlowe and Jonathan Cohen respectively. “Anthony and Jonathan are both young and ambitious NASCAR enthusiasts. It is important to keep them in the sport for the long term. I am very relieved to know that the #26 and #30 teams will be in good hands and will continue to compete the remainder of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Most importantly, most of the team members have the opportunity to continue their employment in the sport and to support their families. This was critically important to me. Swan Racing is exploring any and all options to keep Parker Kligerman on track throughout the season. We are encouraged by the response we have received from interested parties. Parker continues to be one of the most talented young drivers in NASCAR. He brought this racing team one of its strongest results in his first race with us, and we are certain of his success in the future.(Swan Racing PR)(4-23-2014)
UPDATE: “It went from a lot of fun to a nightmare in a matter of months,” [Swan Racing owner] Brandon Davis told NASCAR.com by telephone Wednesday, after his race team farmed off both its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars to other organizations. “I’m not going to point my finger in any one direction. It was just the overall thing, probably adding two cars, etc. … There were challenges there.” Davis, whose Swan Energy oil and gas company has bankrolled the team for most of its brief existence. Davis was willing to dig into his pockets to get the team going last year, when it fielded one car. But he expanded to two entries for 2014 and had hoped to subsist on sponsorship dollars, and the pieces simply didn’t come together in time to keep the organization operational. Combine that with the time demands of Davis’ growing oil and gas businesses, and it added up to difficulty from the first weeks of the season. Davis added he’s retained a few people to help “wind things down” with Swan Racing, and can’t foresee the team returning to the track in any capacity in the immediate future. Although Swan lacked sufficient sponsorship dollars, money wasn’t the only issue — expansion to two cars took more of a toll than Davis expected, and the demands of his day job cut into the available time he had to help the race team grow. With two cars now in the stable, everything took double the time, money, and effort. The financial amount contributed to the team by Swan Energy, Davis said, was used up in a matter of weeks. Asked if expanding to two cars proved too much, he did not mince words. “Yes. Most definitely.”(NASCAR.com)
AND: Per Xxxtreme Motorsports Twitter, the team will run the #30 Chevy at Richmond, then switch back to the #44 starting at Talladega, and have the owners points / race attempts from the #30 team (4-24-2014). - Richard Petty expected back at Richmond: #43-Aric Almirola talked Thursday about Richard Petty’s planned return to the track this weekend following the death of his wife, Lynda:
WHAT WILL IT MEAN TO HAVE RICHARD BACK AT THE TRACK THIS WEEKEND?
Almirola – “I think he’s doing well. I think being back at the race track is gonna be good for our race team and good for him. I think it’ll be good medicine. When something like that happens you kind of want to hide a little bit and just get your feelings straight, but he’s been by the shop and been in good spirits and I think he’s doing very well considering. We’re looking forward to getting him back at the race track and getting him back into race mode. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with him over the last few weeks since Miss Lynda passed, and it’s gonna be great to have our leader back at the race track. He’s the name and the face of our company and all the guys on the race team, any myself included, look up to him and enjoy having him around at the race track and having him inside the hauler and talking to us after practice and getting his perspective on what he sees with other race cars and with our race cars throughout practice, so I’m excited about having him back at the race track and, like Trent said, I think it’s gonna be good medicine for him. He comes to about 95 percent of the races every year, so for him to take the two or three weeks off that he’s taken, I know he’s itching to get back to the race track. He’s been watching the practices and watching qualifying and watching the races and Dale Inman goes home on Sunday night and gives him the full report on what went down that weekend and how things went. He’s still heavily involved and he’s still been paying attention for sure, he just hasn’t been at the race track. He knows everything that’s been going on.”(Ford Racing PR)(4-24-2014) - AAA Insurance on the #15 at Richmond: AAA Insurance serves as the primary sponsor for #15-Clint Bowyer this weekend at Richmond International Raceway as well as Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 26. AAA serves as an associate sponsor on MWR’s Toyotas including Brian Vickers’ #55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota throughout the season. AAA has been serving its members and the community on the road and around the world for more than 100 years. AAA helps more than 50 million people across the U.S. and Canada any time with their Automotive, Travel, and Insurance needs.(Michael Waltrip Racing), see an image of the car on the #15 team paint schemes page.(4-24-2014)
- Axe Peace on the #42: Kyle Larson will trade in the familiar Bullseye paint scheme this weekend for that of the Axe Peace brand. This will be Larson’s second time this year in the Axe Peace car. Although he has not driven the car in a race, he acted out some racing scenes while shooting a commercial for the brand back in January.(Chip Ganassi Racing), see an image of the car on the #42 team paint schemes page.(4-24-2014)
- Toyota’s Laukes Named to TRD, USA Board of Directors: Effective immediately, Ed Laukes, vice president, marketing- performance and guest experience at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., has been named to the TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development) board of directors. As part of this change, David Wilson, president and general manager of TRD, will now report directly to Laukes. “This change will better align our technical racing programs directly to the marketing department and their various initiatives,” said Bob Carter, TMS senior vice president of automotive operations. Prior to his current role, Laukes was most recently responsible for managing advertising for all Toyota cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles, as well as motorsports public relations and marketing operations. He will continue to oversee the company’s motorsports activities, including strategy, research, sponsorship, advertising and merchandising activation (Toyota Racing)(4-24-2014)
- Safety-Kleen renews Official partnership with NASCAR: NASCAR announced it has reached a multi-year agreement to renew its official partnership with Safety-Kleen, and is among several companies renewing their commitment to NASCAR in 2014. The company will continue as the Official Environmental Services Supplier of NASCAR. The news comes amidst NASCAR’s second-annual NASCAR Race to Green initiative, which is galvanizing teams, tracks, drivers, Official NASCAR Partners, and fans around the theme of protecting and preserving the environment. Richardson, Texas based Safety-Kleen is owned by Norwell, Massachusetts based Clean Harbors, Inc. Safety-Kleen, an Official NASCAR Partner since 2004, provides onsite trackside support with its cleaning products and through its oil recycling and re-refining services at more than 200 NASCAR-sanctioned races a year. This ensures all cleaning solvents, oil, fluids and lubricants used in NASCAR racing are recaptured and re-used into useable products. A major contributor to NASCAR’s recycling efforts; Safety-Kleen became a founding partner of NASCAR Green at the inception of the platform in 2008. Since entering the sport, Safety-Kleen has collected enough race-used oil to power the Empire State Building for more than an entire year. In 2013, Safety-Kleen collected and re-refined more than 200,000 gallons of NASCAR oil at tracks and team shops.(NASCAR)(4-24-2014)
- Milestone starts at Richmond: AJ Allmendinger, driver of the #47 Chevy for JTG / Daugherty Racing, will make his 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start this weekend, at Richmond. His best career finish is second, on April 1, 2012, at Martinsville Speedway – like Richmond, a short track. Marcos Ambrose, who drives the #9 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports, will also make his 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start on Saturday night. He has two wins in his career, both at Watkins Glen.(NASCAR)(4-24-2014)
- Richmond Goodyear Tire Notes: Teams in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series will run the same Goodyear tire codes at Richmond this week . . . this is the first time NASCAR teams have run on either of these two codes . . . this right-side code (D-4610) is one of Goodyear’s multi-zone tread tires, which combines two distinct tread compounds on the same tire . . . the outboard 10 inches of tread surface (traction zone) is the same compound run on the entire right-side tire at Richmond last season . . . the inboard two inches of tread surface (endurance zone) features a slightly tougher, more heat resistant compound . . . compared to what was run at Richmond last year, this new left-side code (D-4608) features a compound change to give the cars more grip . . . this tire set-up came out of a Goodyear tire test at Richmond last October 22-23 . . . as on most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, teams will not run inner liners in their tires at Richmond. (Goodyear PR), see full notes, tire codes, tire pressures, set limits on the Richmond Race Info page – Goodyear Section.(4-24-2014)
- Chassis selections for this weeks race: see the list of many teams [that report or post them] and what chassis were selected by the team to run at Richmodn International Raceway on the Richmond Race Info page – Chassis selection area.
- Buescher fastest in happy hour: #99-James Buescher was quickest during happy hour for the ToyotaCare 250 with a speed of 121.792mph. He was followed by: #6-Trevor Bayne, #60-Chris Buescher, #16, Ryan Reed, #9-Chase Elliott, #31-Dylan Kwasniewski, #42-Kyle Larson, #2-Brian Scott, #43-Dakoda Armstrong, and #5-Kevin Harvick. 40 drivers participated in the session. See complete results on the Richmond practice 2 speeds page (pdf).(4-24-2014)
- Blaney fastest in first practice: #22-Ryan Blaney was fastest during opening practice at Richmond International Raceway with a speed of 122.421mph. #7-Regan Smith was second, followed by: #6-Trevor Bayne, #42-Kyle Larson, #3-Ty Dillon, #9-Chase Elliott, #99-James Buescher, #2-Brian Scott, #43-Dakoda Armstrong, and #5-Kevin Harvick. 38 drivers practiced during the session. See complete results on the Richmond practice 1 speeds page (pdf).(4-24-2014)
- Tim Dugger to perform during Aaron’s Dream Weekend at Talladega: Everyone knows NASCAR and country music go hand-in-hand, and no one personifies this combination more than singer-songwriter Tim Dugger, who will be performing as part of the free Saturday Night Infield Concert at Talladega Superspeedway during the Aaron’s Dream Weekend. The singer behind NASCAR anthem “You Know Who We Are” will be rocking the infamous Talladega infield on May 3, opening for country star Randy Houser. The Saturday Night Concert has become a tradition at Talladega Superspeedway with top music acts playing on a stage next to the rowdy and infamous Talladega Blvd. Fans with tickets to Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 receive free access to the concert. Headlining clubs along the NASCAR circuit for years, Dugger has amassed a loyal following of race fans, drivers, and crew chiefs. Songs of his like “Sunday Drive” and “You Know Who We Are” speak directly to the sport of NASCAR and the energy and excitement found on the track and in the stands each week. Houser will be hitting the stage after Dugger and giving race fans a taste of his powerhouse vocals, playing hit songs “Runnin’ Out of Moonlight” and “Goodnight Kiss.”(TSS)(4-24-2014)
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