May 6, 2011
- Montoya, Newman fued continues at Darlington: Tempers were still raging Friday between #42-Juan Pablo Montoya and #39-Ryan Newman, who had a heated discussion at Darlington Raceway about an extended on-track feud. Newman, asked if he hit Montoya during what sources called a heated session inside the NASCAR hauler, said, “That’s speculation.” Asked the same question Montoya said, “I don’t know. Ask him.” Both drivers tried to downplay their latest flare-up in their morning media sessions, but a later meeting moderated by NASCAR did not go well. The two were called in to discuss their actions last Saturday night at Richmond, where Newman wrecked Montoya early in the race, and Montoya later retaliated by intentionally crashing Newman. “We did have a meeting with both Ryan and Juan relative to their incident, and we made it clear to them that this is their final warning. We also made it clear to them that we will be watching them very closely,” NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said. “The meeting did not go as well as we had hoped it would.” NASCAR told the two drivers the discussion is not finished.(Associated Press/ESPN.com)(5-6-2011)
- Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Showtime Southern 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway have been made.
Pole sitter #4-Kahne chose pit stall 1 [as do most pole sitters].
Outside pole sitter #39-Newman took pit stall 8, the next stall with an opening in front of it.
#11-Hamlin, who starts 3rd took the 7th pit stall, thefirst stall with an opening behind it.
The 43rd and final pit stall was taken by #14-Stewart, who starts 9th.
To see where the drivers/teams pit stall is, see the pit selection chart on the Pit Stall Selection chart.(5-7-2011) - Kahne wins Darlington pole: #4-Kasey Kahne won the Coors Light pole for the Showtime Southern 500 Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway with a speed of 181.254mph, a new track record.
It is his 1st pole of the season and the 21st of his career. #39-Newman starts 2nd followed by #11-Hamlin, #99-Edwards, #24-Gordon, #9-Ambrose, #43-Allmendinger, #83-Vickers, #14-Stewart, and #22-Keselowski.
The go-or-go homers who made the race (8): #38-Kvapil, #46-Yeley, #50-Bell, #60-Skinner, #37-Raines, #30-Stremme, #66-McDowell, and #87-Nemechek.
The go-or-go homers who failed to qualify for the race (3): #81-Riggs, #71-Lally, and #92-Keselowski.
See the starting lineup, qualifying speeds and notes on my Darlington Starting Lineup/Qualifying Results page.(5-6-2011) - Qualifying Fast Facts – Darlington:
Kasey Kahne won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 62nd Annual SHOWTIME Southern 500 with a lap of 27.131 seconds, 181.254 mph a new track record. The previous record was held by Jamie McMurray 180.37 mph (05/08/2010).
This is his 21st pole in 262 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and fifth top-10 start in 2011.
This is his fourth pole in nine races at Darlington Raceway.
Ryan Newman (second) posted his fourth top-10 start of 2011 and his 10th in 13 races at Darlington Raceway.
Denny Hamlin (third) posted his fourth top-10 start at Darlington Raceway. It is his third in ten races this season.
Andy Lally (45th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.(NASCAR Statistics)(5-6-2011) - Qualifying Order for the Showtime Southern 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway is posted. 46 cars/drivers are listed. Go-or-go homers will qualify at the end of the session, once the top-35 drivers are done.
The first of the top-35 drivers scheduled to go out is #7-Gordon.
The final top-35 driver scheduled to go out is #39-Newman
The first go-or-go homer scheduled to qualify [36th] is #71-Lally with the final driver scheduled to qualify being #46-Yeley.
Qualifying order is set by practice speeds, with the top 35 drivers going out from slowest to fastest, then the non-top 35 drivers go out, slowest to fastest from practice.
See the full qualifying order on the Darlington Qualifying Page.(5-6-2011) - Friday’s first practice: for the Showtime Southern 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway is over after being cut short by rain. Final practice was also washed out. The top five, slowest and any notes:
#39-Newman 176.816
#99-Edwards 176.296
#22-Busch 175.654
#11-Hamlin 175.516
#4-Kahne 175.509
slowest: #92-Keselowski 167.779 & #71-Lally 166.919. No speed: #7-Gordon
incident:
#18-Busch got the first Darlington stripe of the session early. Just a little sheetmetal damage that the team will repair. #50-TJ Bell also scraped the wall and will have to have the car repaired. #22-Busch cut down a tire going into turn 1 and hit the wall. He will have to go to a backup car.
See speeds, laps run, aveage speed, best ave 10 laps on the Darlington Practice Speeds Page.(5-6-2011) - Practice rank for the non top-35 drivers:
if things stay the same, these eight drivers would make the race:
#46-J.J. Yeley, 18th
#66-Michael McDowell, 25th
#50-T.J. Bell, 28th
#30-David Stremme, 31st
#60-Mike Skinner, 32nd
#37-Tony Raines, 33rd
#38-Travis Kvapil, 36th
#81-Scott Riggs, 37th
these drivers would miss the race if the order stayed the same:
#87-Joe Nemechek, 40th
#92-Brian Keselowski, 44th
#71-Andy Lally, 45th - Congrats: Carl Edwards’ wife Kate gave birth Wednesday to their second child, a son named Michael. He weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces. Mother and baby are doing well.(5-6-2011)
- Need more SAFER at Richmond? UPDATE: #24-Jeff Gordon was involved in a multi-car accident on lap 302 at Richmond Saturday night and slammed into the inside wall, which had no SAFER barrier protecting the drivers, sone of Gordon’s comments after the race:
Q) WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE:
Gordon: “It knocked the wind out of me. I just saw the corner through my mirror, a car come into my left rear, and around I went in a hurry. I was hoping that I spun quick enough that I wasn’t going to spin to the inside wall. And then I hit really, really hard. I’m just so proud of these guys on the DuPont Chevrolet. We had an awesome race car tonight. I don’t know if we had a car capable of winning, but we were certainly going to give it a heck of a try and we certainly had a top-five car pretty easy. So, I hate it with the pit sequence and the pit strategy that was going on there that we lost all that track position. With 100 (laps) to go and everyone was just getting so impatient; you had to dive in there three-wide. I don’t know what happened behind me but somebody shot up and got my left rear and around we went. I must have hit the corner of that inside wall. Again, I wish they had a Safer barrier there. I seem to be able to find the ones without the Safer barrier. But what a shame, man. That DuPont Chevrolet was so strong tonight. I’m so proud of Alan (Gustafson) and these guys. I hate that we lost that track position there, you know, with all the pit sequences and pit strategies that were going on there. You know, with 100 to go, everybody is losing their patience, including me. We were all three-wide. I don’t know what happened. I just know that somebody got into my left rear and around I went.”
Q) YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO FIND THE SPOT WHERE THERE IS NO SAFER BARRIER:
Gordon: “I know. I don’t know what it is. I’m not trying to teach anybody anything. I really am not. I think it is pretty well known we need safer barriers everywhere. You think it is a short track and everything but man, I hit a ton and hit right on the corner where you don’t want to hit. It definitely got my attention. That is for sure. It rang my bell
AND Richmond International Raceway President Doug Fritz Statement on SAFER Barriers at America’s Premier Short Track. “The safety of all who attend our events, including the drivers, is of the upmost importance at Richmond International Raceway. We along with NASCAR and the developer of the Safer Barrier at the University of Nebraska, review the performance of the barrier and its locations and have made improvements from time to time based on recommendations from the University of Nebraska, and will continue to look at being able to improve upon it.”(RIR)(5-3-2011)
UPDATE: Members of Jeff Gordon’s team were informed that Gordon’s crash last week at Richmond registered a G-force spike of about 40, which would be high enough for NASCAR to recommend that a SAFER barrier be added along at least part of the inside backstretch wall at Richmond.
Gordon was uninjured when his car slammed driver side into the inside wall at Richmond. He was outspoken after the crash, questioning why there wasn’t a SAFER barrier on the inside backstretch wall at Richmond in particular and elsewhere at other tracks. NASCAR officials would not reveal the g-force spike in Gordon’s crash but said it was among the hardest hits in Cup this season.(Virginian-Pilot(5-6-2011) - Red Bull Racing: no drivers set for 2012, no Chevy? Red Bull Racing team manager, Jay Frye, says he’s comfortable letting things play out elsewhere in the NASCAR garage over the next month or so before he needs to start pushing on the 2012 lineup. #4-Kasey Kahne is on only a one-year contract and moving to Rick Hendrick at the end of the year. That’s one seat Frye needs to fill. #83-Brian Vickers is the final year of his contract, is just eight races into his comeback, after sitting out most of 2010 recovering from blood clots. Mark Martin could be the wild card. He’s quite happy with Hendrick, though Martin says he has no specific plans for 2012, when he’s to turn his Cup team over to Kahne. But Martin and Frye have worked together before and have a good comfort level; Frye, who is bringing along 20-year-old newcomer Cole Whitt (a part-time Nationwide schedule this season), might like Martin as mentor and part-time driver (as Martin did for Frye when they ran Bobby Ginn’s team in 2007)…though Red Bull itself might prefer a different marketing demographic than Martin, at 52, might provide.
“Everybody knows who the players are,” Frye says of the landscape. “And over the next month we’ll just be watching and listening…before we have to start making moves and hard pitches. What we have to do right now is run well. When Kasey runs well, he helps us in ‘selling’ that seat, because that shows everyone what we’ve got to offer, shows everyone ‘Hey, these guys are for real.’”
Is a Chevrolet deal in the works for Team Red Bull for 2012? That’s not new; it keeps cropping up, in part because Frye has worked with General Motors in the past, and in part because Red Bull is a good co-promotional sponsor. Again Frye is shooting it down: “That’s been going on for about three years now. There is no truth to that.” [Supposedly Red Bull is signed with Toyota thru 2012](in part from Mikemulhern.net)(5-6-2011) - Cope withdraws from Darlington: Derrike Cope posted on his Facebook page, “I had entered the 75 Sprint Cup car for Darlington this weekend…but after running the car on the engine dyno we found that the horsepower was not where it need to be to really have a chance at qualifying for the race. So, we will address the issue of trying to look at an alternative engine source and hopefully be at the Showdown at Charlotte on All-Star weekend to shake the car down and look at future races later in the year.”(5-6-2011)
- Speed to attempt Indy 500, Vegas: Dragon Racing will field NASCAR and Formula One veteran Scott Speed in the Indianapolis 500 and also in the Izod IndyCar Series finale at Las Vegas. Speed would be eligible to compete for a $5 million bonus posted by IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard for any driver for another series who wins the race. As a teammate to Ho Pin Tung, Speed would be sponsored by Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka, American Racing Wheels and Vizio in his attempt to make the Indy 500 for Dragon. If he makes the field of the centennial running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, it would mark the IndyCar debut for Speed. Dragon Racing owner Jay Penske, son of 15-time-winning Indianapolis 500 car owner Roger Penske, recently returned to IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix with Paul Tracy after a sponsorship shortage forced his team to close during the offseason. Speed will test at Chicagoland Speedway on May 9th and begin practicing at Indy on May 14.(USA Today)(5-6-2011)
- SMI reports first quarter loss: Beset by falling revenues and rising fuel prices, Speedway Motorsports Inc. reported Wednesday that it lost $1.5 million for the first quarter of this fiscal year. The company said revenues were hurt by the country’s ongoing economic troubles and the fact that two major races were moved back from this quarter to other dates. Total revenue for the three months ending March 31 fell to $87 million, down from $118 million during the same period last year. Admissions from revenues fell nearly $13 million, to $24.5 million. Company officials said they weren’t surprised by the news, and said they still expect the company to earn profits of between 90 cents and $1.20 per share for the fiscal year.(Charlotte Observer)(5-6-2011)
- MRN to broadcast Hall of Fame Induction: The Motor Racing Network will provide live coverage of the 2011 induction ceremony for the NASCAR Hall of Fame later this month as the cornerstone of its May schedule. The Hall of Fame induction will air live at 7 p.m. (EDT) on Monday, May 23, capping a busy four-day stretch of broadcasts by the network that will include the Camping World Truck Series race May 20 and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on May 21 – both originating from Charlotte Motor Speedway.(MRN)(5-6-2011)
- BB&T returns to the #33: #33-Clint Bowyer’s Chevy will sport the maroon and yellow paint scheme of BB&T this weekend under the lights. The Winston-Salem, N.C., corporation has three bank branches within a 12-mile radius of the historic track.(RCR), see an image of the car on the #33 team paint schemes page.(5-6-2011)
- Book: Funny Dan the Race Car Man: Headline Kids, a division of Headline Books, has released Funny Dan the Race Car Man [32 pages, Retail $15.95] by award-winning writer Tim Packman this week. The book is part of the NASCAR Library Collection and is illustrated by talented artist Brendan Sellaro, a student at West Virginia University. Funny Dan is a NASCAR driver who competes for the pure joy of being involved in something he loves. His passion for racing is the one thing that motivates him to compete and, despite the fact he’s never been to victory lane, he’s still a winner to his family, friends and fellow competitors. More info on my Book News page.(5-5-2011)
- Congrats: Richard Coleman the front tire carrier on the #56 MWR team that Martin Truex Jr. drives for, and his wife Jessica Coleman welcomed their first born son Sunday [May 1st] afternoon at 4:45 pm. Richard Edward Coleman III was 8.1 lbs 21.5 in. Both Mother and baby doing well.(5-5-2011)
- Mother’s Day Special at Pocono: Pocono Raceway is celebrating Mother’s Day with a ticket sale. Show you mother how much you appreciated her by sending her to a live NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Pocono Raceway has slashed their prices on grandstand tickets for both the Pocono and Pennsylvania 500’s during this special offer! Concourse tickets are only $22.50 each and Terrace tickets are only $60 each. Tickets are limited to six (6) per order, per customer. Get yours today by clicking here and entering promo code “MOM11” or you can speak to one of our ticket representative at 1-800-RACEWAY!(Pocono Raceway)(5-6-2011)
- Alex Kennedy to drive #23: Alex Kennedy will drive the St. Baldrick’s Foundation “Racing to Conquer Kids’ Cancer” #23 Dodge next week at Dover International Speedway on May 14th for R3 Motorsports. Alex will also drive the #23 at Road America, Watkins Glen, and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. More races will be added to the “Racing to Conquer Kids’ Cancer” campaign if additional marketing partners are signed. Aztec, New Mexico’s Alex Kennedy made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut last season with a career best 16th place finish at Watkins Glen. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation hosts “Shave Events” where volunteers raise money by shaving their heads in solidarity with kids fighting cancer. The organization has raised over $23 Million in 2011 and pays out more in grants for kids cancer research than any organization other than the Federal Government. (Race Talk Radio)(5-6-2011)
- Benson signs on with Super Late Model series: A new racing class featuring a star-studded lineup is scheduled to make its debut at Berlin Raceway on Saturday [May 7]. Former NASCAR Sprint Cup driver and 2008 Camping World Truck Series champion Johnny Benson has signed up for the summer points chase of the Premier Boyne Machine Super Late Model series. The series will compete six more times throughout the year at Berlin Raceway. They will also make an appearance at Kalamazoo Speedway at the Kalamazoo Klash XVIII.(HollandSentinel.com)(5-6-2011)
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