April 30, 2007
- Talladega Overnight TV Ratings down: Fox’s broadcast of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 Nextel Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway earned the highest Nielsen Media Research overnight ratings of any weekend sports event but significantly trailed the figures of the most recent spring Sunday races there. The SportsBusiness Daily reports that Sunday’s race earned a 5.1 overnight rating and a 12 market share. Rain forced last year’s spring race at Talladega to be run on a Monday, when it was carried on Fox’s FX cable station, so direct comparisons aren’t possible. But the 2005 race on Fox earned a 6.1/14 overnight, and the 2004 race garnered overnight figures of 5.9/13. The Daily also reports that ABC earned a 2.1/5 for Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 Busch Series race at Talladega, making it the fifth-rated weekend sports program behind the Cup race, two NBA playoff games on ABC and the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball game on Fox.(SceneDaily.com), for more on TV Ratings, see my 2007 TV Ratings page.(4-30-2007)
- DEI to buy RYR? UPDATE 4: It was reported on SPEED’s NASCAR Raceday that Dale Earnhardt Inc (DEI) is interested in buying Robert Yates Racing (RYR) and RYR is interested in joining forces with DEI. It was also reported that the teams would end up being in the Chevy camp.(4-29-2007)
UPDATE: In attempts to strengthen its teams and expand to four cars, Dale Earnhardt Inc. [#’s 1,8,15] has had preliminary discussions with Robert Yates Racing [#38, #88] about a partnership, as well as Ford Motor Company and another manufacturer, DEI executive team member John Story confirmed Sunday morning. While the company also is in the midst of contract negotiations with NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., DEI is working toward trying to solidify its future. That means getting the finances and the technological support it needs from a manufacturer and working toward fielding a fourth team by 2008 or 2009, said Story, who oversees sales, marketing and communications activities at DEI. What would be more startling would be the potential move to Ford or another manufacturer considering Chevrolet’s long relationship with team founder Dale Earnhardt. The Chevrolet deal is not contingent on Earnhardt Jr. remaining at DEI, Story said. Yates said his team would remain Ford. Story said that talks with Yates could continue even if DEI remains with Chevrolet.(in part from SceneDaily.com)(4-29-2007)
UPDATE 2: With Robert Yates Racing and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. discussing a potential merger, how would that affect Yates-Roush Engines, which makes the motors that power all of the Ford NASCAR Nextel Cup teams? RYR co-owner Doug Yates was adamant that his team will not switch to Chevrolet power no matter what, and Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith said he hopes any deal will build up the Ford NASCAR Nextel Cup effort. “We’re aware that he’s marketing his teams,” Smith said of Robert Yates prior to Sunday’s Talladega race. “We have a joint engine business that’s affected by the number of customers that we have. We want to see the Ford number of teams remain at least at its current level for the benefit of the engine business and for the competitive benefit for Ford Motor Co.”(SPEEDtv.com)(4-30-2007)
UPDATE 3: Dale Earnhardt, Inc., [DEI] will move to four Nextel Cup Series teams by 2009, be it through the acquisition of another team or the addition of a fourth team in-house, team executive John Story said Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. Story said DEI has been in discussions with Robert Yates Racing for four-to-six weeks about a partnership, but cautioned that those talks are preliminary and that no documentation has been exchanged between the teams. If DEI were to acquire Yates, one of the two teams would have to forsake its manufacturer. Yates, a Ford flagship team for nearly two decades, would move to Chevrolet; or DEI, whose founder, Dale Earnhardt, won seven championships in Chevrolets, would move to Ford. “The only proposal we have right now for a manufacturer next year is from Chevrolet,” Story said. “Teresa [Earnhardt] has been tremendously loyal to Chevrolet for a lot of years. We’ve had some conversation with a couple other manufacturers. They’ve called to inquire what our contract situation was. We told them, in fairness, we are going to sit down and exhaust our options with Chevrolet first, and if the opportunity came up we’d talk to somebody else. We haven’t seen anything in writing from anybody else.” RYR president Doug Yates said they’d rather stay in Fords, and that Ford Racing officials see a DEI merger as a way to get Ford back to prominence in Nextel Cup. But he didn’t rule out a manufacturer switch. How this impacts Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s contract negotiations isn’t known, but Story said a deal with Ford and RYR isn’t contingent on Earnhardt Jr. staying at DEI. Earnhardt Jr. wants controlling interest in DEI, but Chevrolet officials want to keep him.(ESPN.com)(4-30-2007)
UPDATE 4 Toyota denies talks: Toyota’s Lee White says his company was not involved in any talks with DEI: “We have not had any conversations with Dale Earnhardt Jr. “There is a tremendous amount of both equity and liability involved with Dale Earnhardt Incorporated and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet has such equity built into Dale Earnhardt Jr. and that particular race team – that equity is great for the bigger picture and the health of our sport. Right now Toyota is not ready to take on the liability that would come with that scenario.”(Winston Salem Journal)(4-30-2007) - NASCAR considering tweaking qualifying: NASCAR is considering changing its qualifying procedures in response to complaints about the restrictive system. With at least 50 drivers vying for 43 spots in the field, seven or more cars fail to make the race each week. Because NASCAR assures a spot to the top 35 drivers in points, only eight positions are actually up for grabs. The policy has crippled several drivers this season, particularly #55-Michael Waltrip, who missed his eighth consecutive race Sunday. Waltrip spent the past week lobbying for a variety of changes that could help him get into the field. NASCAR is apparently listening. “We’re looking at a lot of different scenarios,” competition director Robin Pemberton said. “There’s things that we’re looking at and we’re listening to the competitors. If we were to make a change we’d have to put our own twist on it, to make it fair for all competitors.”(Alabama Live)(4-30-2007)
- VA Tech Student attends race, thanks NASCAR: Clark Ruhland, the outgoing associate sports editor of the Virginia Tech student newspaper, The Collegiate Times, was among the visiting dignitaries introduced during Sunday’s drivers meeting. He addressed the crowd briefly, expressing appreciation for the support the drivers have given in the campus’ time of healing. The cars Sunday carried VT stickers above the driver’s nameplate. Denny Hamlin wore the distinctive “VT” last week at Phoenix. Ward Burton toured the campus, visiting the engineering department that felt a heavy toll of the tragedy. The circuit goes to Richmond next week and Ruhland, who graduates in two weeks, expects the outpouring to be over the top. “It’s going to be amazing,” he said. “It’ll be like a Tech football game, half the stands will be orange and half will be red. I’m sure 4-5 times as many drivers will be wearing Tech (colors). It’ll mean a lot to the students and alumni. It’s Richmond. Half the alumni base is either in the Richmond or D.C. areas, and they all come to the races.” Ruhland, a big race fan with aspirations of being a journalist, couldn’t let the visit to Talladega pass without doing some networking. He dropped his resume off to NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter, which everyone said wasn’t a bad move.(Anniston Star)(4-30-2007)
- Sadler Foundation Helmet Auction starts: In an effort to promote Autism Awareness Month, #19-Elliott Sadler has been wearing a special autism awareness helmet at the races at Texas, Phoenix and Talladega. The auction started today and will run thru May 7th. The winning bidder will receive a Certificate of Authenticity from Elliott Sadler on Elliott Sadler Enterprises letterhead. All proceeds from the online auction will benefit the Hermie and Elliott Sadler Charitable Foundation. The helmet, which was donated by Impact Racing, sports the multi-colored puzzle piece logo of the Autism Society. The complex design was painted by Ryan Young of Indocil Art, who handles the majority of helmet paintings for Evernham Motorsports. See more and to bid on my Racing Charities page.(4-30-2007)
- New Wind Tunnel to break ground Tuesday in Concord NC: Windshear, Inc. has broken ground for the first 180-mph rolling-road wind tunnel in North America. Construction on the 40,000-square-foot facility began April 5, and is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2008. Official groundbreaking ceremonies for the world-class facility are scheduled for May 1, 2007, at the project site in Concord, NC. Ceremonies begin at 9:30am/et. When completed, the $40 million Windshear wind tunnel will be the only one of its type in North America, and only the third of this scale in the world. Windshear Inc., which is owned by Haas Automation owner Gene Haas [also owner of the Haas CNC Racing Cup and Busch], has contracted Jacobs Technology to build the wind tunnel on the 5-acre site near Concord Regional Airport. Slated as the most advanced racing wind tunnel in the world, it will provide a 180-mph rolling road under the vehicle’s tires to accurately simulate actual racing conditions. Windshear, Inc. will ultimately operate the one-of-a-kind facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a staff of 25. The tunnel will be available for all motorsports teams and auto manufacturers to rent, complementing other nearby research-and-development facilities in the heart of NASCAR country.(Haas CNC PR)(4-30-2007)
- No injuries, some arrrests at Talledega: Talladega Superspeedway officials said no injuries were reported from the postrace beer-can barrage. Less than 10 people were detained, but hundreds of cans littered the track. NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter and Talladega Superspeedway president Grant Lynch released statements three hours after the Aaron’s 499, which Jeff Gordon won to earn his 77th career victory and pass Dale Earnhardt on the all-time list. “We warned our fans about throwing debris on the racetrack and the consequences of such actions,” Lynch said in the statement. “Additional security was brought in for the grandstands. We had a plan in place. I was in the grandstands at the conclusion of the race, and as promised, we enforced our policies and took appropriate action on individuals we were able to accurately identify. We aren’t going to let less than one percent of out fans spoil a record-setting weekend,” Lynch added in the statement. Hunter’s statement echoed Lynch’s comments. “It’s very unfortunate a few unruly fans can ruin things for a lot of people,” Hunter said in the statement. “The track put a lot of effort into preventing this type of behavior. Our fans are passionate, but this type of behavior doesn’t represent the majority of our fans.”(ESPN.com)(4-30-2007)
- Commercial breakdown for the Aaron’s 499:
Total number of commercials: 142
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 70
Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 36
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 2:00 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 5:38 PM
Total minutes: 218
Minutes of race broadcast: 157
Minutes of commercials: 61
See full report on CawsnJaws.com.(4-30-2007) - Roush hopes to complete separation deal with Ameriquest soon: Roush Racing officials are in talks with Ameriquest to finish a separation arrangement. Ameriquest had requested to be replaced as sponsor of Greg Biffle’s #16 car this season. That could be completed by Darlington in two weeks.(Roanoke Times)4-30-2007)
- 80% of Owners favor COT in 2008: NASCAR’s Robin Pemberton said about 80% of Nextel Cup team owners are in favor of accelerating the Car of Tomorrow’s three-year phase-in to a full debut in 2008. “It’s close to 100% from mechanics, crew chiefs and engineers,” Pemberton said.(USA Today)(4-30-2007)
- Red Bull in it for the long run: Team Red Bull [#83-Vickers, #84-Allmendinger] director of competition Guenther Steiner reassured me [Yahoo Sports Bob Margolis] this weekend that despite his team’s difficult entry into Nextel Cup competition, they were “in it for the long run. If [Red Bull owner] Dietrich Mateschitz had wanted to do it the easy way, he would have just sponsored one of the Hendrick cars,” Steiner said.(Yahoo Sports), also on the SPEED Report Sunday, Bob Dillner mentioned that since #44-Dale Jarrett is now out of champions provisionals for the season, 1988 Cup Champ Bill Elliott is a wanted driver, supposedly Red Bull Racing is one team interested, but supposedly Elliott is not interested in a situation like that.(4-30-2007)
- Kenny Wallace to test at the Rock: #78-Kenny Wallace said on SPEED’s Victory Lane show, that he and the #78 Furniture Row team are testing a COT at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, NC on Monday, April 30th in preparation for Darlington on May 12th.(4-30-2007)
- Dodge to Be Presenting Sponsor of Montreal Race: Stock-Car Montréal l.p., promoter of the NAPA Auto Parts 200, the first-ever NASCAR Busch Series race in Canada, announced that Dodge will be the presenting sponsor of the August 3-4, 2007 race event at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. This sponsorship gives Dodge cars and trucks exclusive promotional presence at this milestone racing event, and makes Dodge the official supplier of the cars and trucks of the event. The race and the race weekend will be officially known as the NAPA Auto Parts 200, Presented by Dodge.(Stock Car Montreal PR)(4-30-2007)
- Seymour Paint Sponsoring Braun Racing & Bill Elliott at Lowe’s: SEYMOUR of SYCAMORE, inventor of aerosol spray paint and producer of Seymour Paint, has partnered with Braun Racing to field a car in the Busch Series. The #32 SEYMOUR Paint Toyota will make its debut at the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Bill Elliott will climb behind the wheel for his first Busch Series start since 2005.(Braun Racing PR)(4-30-2007)
- NASCAR Busch Series at Richmond Live in Prime Time on ESPN2: The NASCAR Busch Series was born on short tracks racing under the lights and will make a return to its roots Friday night at Richmond International Raceway. ESPN2 will have live primetime coverage of the 250-lap race from the .750-mile Virginia track beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown. The race will start at 8 p.m. Dale Jarrett will join Andy Petree in the ESPN booth for analysis during the telecast. ESPN’s Marty Reid will handle play-by-play duties. Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro will serve as pit reporters. In addition to the telecast on ESPN2, ESPN’s signature broadband service, ESPN360.com, will deliver a live online simulcast of the event, and a Spanish-language version of the race will be televised on ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s domestic Spanish-language network.(ESPN PR)(4-30-2007)
- Raybestos Rookie Notes for Richmond: David Ragan was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega. Ragan finished fourth, his second top-five and second top-10 finish of the season. He took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the third time this season. Ragan holds a two-point edge over Juan Pablo Montoya (101-99) in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the May 4 Circuit City 250 at Richmond. Ragan is seventh in the Busch Series championship standings, best of any Raybestos Rookie standings. He is 23 points behind sixth-place Matt Kenseth and leads eighth-place Kyle Busch by nine.Raybestos PR)(4-30-2007)
- Benson to run Exide colors at Lowes: Johnny Benson’s #23-Toyota will display the Exide colors the next time the Craftsman Truck Series competes Friday, May 18 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.(Bill Davis Racing PR)(4-30-2007)
- Test sessions scheduled at Lowes: Testing sessions for the Craftsman Truck Series teams have been scheduled at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in preparation for the track’s calendar of May races. The trucks will participate in a two-day testing session on May 10-11, 2007 with a third day reserved in case of rain [5/12] Sessions will run from 9am-12pm; 1-5pm; 6-9pm.(Lowes Motor Speedway PR)(4-30-2007)
- Benson, Wyler Racing enter Richmond Cup race: UPDATE: Johnny Benson is scheduled to drive a Wyler Racing Toyota in next weekend’s Nextel Cup race at Richmond International Speedway, Benson said this week. Benson, who drives a Bill Davis Racing Toyota [#23] in the Craftsman Truck Series, will be entered in the #46 Camry at Richmond. Wyler Racing fields the #60 Tundra for Jack Sprague in the Craftsman Truck Series. Wyler and Benson tested a car of tomorrow at Richmond earlier this month. “I think that Dave Wyler and his father are doing everything they can to try to run some races this year. Whether I’ll be a part of that, I don’t know. I just know that I’m a part of the Richmond deal for sure and hopefully I’ll be able to run some more races,” said Benson.(Scene Daily)(4-28-2007)
UPDATE: In preparation for the race, the Wyler Racing participated in a two-day test session at the .75-mile short track and posted impressive lap times. Benson was among 51 drivers testing the new “Car of Tomorrow” and posting the second fastest time overall during the first day’s session. “We didn’t plan to run a Nextel Cup event until we knew we could be competitive, and after the test at Richmond earlier this month, we feel we can go there and run competitively,” said Wyler. Benson, who is the 1996 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, hasn’t raced a Cup car at Richmond since 2003 but he is excited about the opportunity to race for the Wyler’s in the Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400 on Saturday, May 5th. Benson has six top-10 finishes at Richmond, has logged 5,601 laps around the short track, and has led 36 laps.(Wyler Racing PR)(4-30-2007) - Pit road mishap for Gale crew member: George White, crew member [from 5 on 5 off] for the Kevin Harvick Inc. #2-Chevy driven by Cale Gale, got quite a scare on lap 75. Gale entered the pits under caution, and as he turned into his pit stall, spun his truck, sending crew members scrambling. Gale ended up briefly pinching White between the truck and the wall. White, who waved off immediate medical attention, was taken to the infield care center for precautionary reasons.(kansascity.com)(4-30-2007)
- Cook scores first top-10 with HT Motorsports: Terry Cook steered his #59-HT Motorsports Toyota to a ninth-place finish in the O’Reilly 250 Craftsman Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway Saturday. It was the first Top-10 finish of the season for Cook and his new team in five NCTS events this season.(HT Motorsports PR)(4-30-2007)
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