May 6, 2013
- The Entry List for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway is posted, 44 teams/drivers [for 43 spots] are listed, including: #52-Brian Keselowski, #51-Smith, #19-Bliss and #11-Hamlin #52-Keselowski would had to get in by speed and be in the top 36 in speed as the team is too far down the owners points list to use a provisional.
For the 2013 qualifying rules and format, see my Qualifying Rules page
See the full entry list at my Jayski’s Darlington Entry List - Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week Celebrates Five Years In Las Vegas: NASCAR announced that the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards – the annual culmination of Champion’s Week – will be held on Friday, Dec. 6 at Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., for the fifth consecutive year. From 1981 until 2008, NASCAR held its year-ending premier series awards show in New York City. Starting in 2009, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards has been held in Las Vegas, a destination that has triggered an entertainment evolution for the fan-favorite show.
Last year’s show alone featured host Howie Mandel, Train, Phillip Phillips, Lifehouse with Natasha Bedingfield and Cirque du Soleil: The Beatles LOVE. Among other A-List entertainment acts who have performed since the move to Vegas include Reba, Kid Rock, Brooks and Dunn, David Gray, Rascal Flatts, Colbie Caillat, Martina McBride, Jersey Boys, Cirque du Soleil’s “Viva ELVIS” and Frank Caliendo.
“Every single week, NASCAR creates the big-event experience, so it’s fitting that our year-end celebration of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion takes place in a city built on major moments,” said Steve Phelps, NASCAR chief marketing officer. “Las Vegas has been home to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards for five years, and each year it grows bigger, better and more entertaining for our fans. Undoubtedly, this milestone Champion’s Week will continue – and heighten – that tradition.”
“Two of the world’s most recognizable brands, NASCAR and Las Vegas, have developed a strong and successful partnership that delivers unrivaled excitement to millions of loyal fans,” said Rossi Ralenkotter, president/CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. “We’re proud to celebrate this milestone as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards and its Champion’s Week return for the fifth year, proving that no destination matches the passion and energy of NASCAR like Las Vegas.”
A full lineup of events or activities during NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week will be announced at a later date.(NASCAR)(5-6-2013) - Front Row Motorsports Earns First Win in 1-2 Ragan-Gilliland Finish: Front Row Motorsports earned its first NASCAR victory Sunday night at Talladega Superspeedway when #38-David Gilliland pushed teammate #34-David Ragan to the checkers in a dramatic last-lap surge to cap off a wild and rain-interrupted race. Ragan earned Bob Jenkins’ young team its first Sprint Cup Series win and Gilliland finished second for the best – and most dramatic – finish in team history. The ending came in the form of a green-white-checkered finish, in which Ragan and Gilliland restarted in 10th and 11th respectively. In two laps, the pair freight-trained through the traffic in their Roush Yates-powered Ford Fusions to emerge at the front of the pack – seemingly out of nowhere and to the surprise and delight of the rain-soaked crowd.
The win is the second Sprint Cup victory for Ragan, and the runner-up finish ties Gilliland’s best career result. The milestone event put partners Farm Rich (#34) and Love’s Travel Stops (#38) in the spotlight in their first season working with Front Row Motorsports.
“This is a true David vs. Goliath moment here,” Ragan said. “This is special to get Front Row Motorsports their first win. It feels like I’ve never been in Victory Lane before, I’m so excited. We’re a small team. We build our own chassis, our own bodies, and it’s such a special moment for our team and all of our partners. This is big.” For Jenkins, whose passion for racing led him to purchase a small NASCAR team in 2004, the Victory Lane champagne was long, and patiently, awaited.
“I’ve got guys at the shop that have the heart to win races,” Jenkins said. “We just haven’t always had the resources. So the challenge for me is, as we build cars, to make them better every week and to put ourselves in a position to win a race and that’s really what happened (Sunday). It’s just so satisfying to see that over the last nine years, we’ve gotten a little bit better every single year, and I felt the progress and I knew it was just a matter of time before we’d win one of these things.”
“My crew chief, Frank Kerr, said, ‘You’ve got to have the restart of your life,’ and we had a good one,” remarked Gilliland. “It’s a huge day obviously for any team to get first and second, but for Front Row Motorsports and our little team, and what we do it with, we’re really proud of that.” Gilliland owned the team’s previous best finish, a third-place showing in the 2011 Daytona 500. #35-Josh Wise earned a commendable finish Sunday in his first full Sprint Cup race at Talladega, bringing home a top-20 finish after crossing the line 19th.(Front Row Motorsports)(5-6-2013) - Race and Commercial Breakdown of the 2013 Aaron’s 499: For those NASCAR fans that like stats and love to hate commercials, here is the breakdown for Sunday’s race. Began recording the times at the Invocation of the race at 12:47 PM, stopped at the rain delay at 3:10 PM, restarted at 7:04 PM, then stopped at the waving of the checkered flag at 8:12 PM. Fox was the broadcast team for this event.
Total number of commercials: 123
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 72
Number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 115
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 71
Number of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during race broadcast (split-screen): 8
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 7
Number of times Fox utilized ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during this broadcast: 3
Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 40
Total amount of time these brief promos take during broadcast: app. 4 min. 10 sec.
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 12:47 PM
Time to stop for rain delay: 3:10 PM
Restart Time to record race/commercial periods: 7:04 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 8:12 PM
Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 211
Minutes of race broadcast: 143
Minutes of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 68
Minutes of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials (split-screen): 5
Number of missed restarts: 0
Number of ‘mystery cautions’ (debris not shown): 0
Total race brdcst time 164 Total comm. brdcst time 47
See past races on the 2013 TV Commercials page(5-6-2013) - Orchestrated exit nets Hamlin 10 extra points: The driver change planned and practiced by Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers worked to perfection. An opportune caution flag flew on Lap 23 of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Speedway when fluid gushed out of Trevor Bayne’s Ford and oiled the track. Hamlin, Vickers and the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing crew were ready. Recovering from a compression fracture of his first lumbar vertebra sustained during a last-lap crash at Auto Club Speedway in late March, Hamlin received medical clearance to race at Talladega but planned to exit the car during the first caution. On Lap 25 he brought the car to pit road where Vickers waited. Hamlin unbuckled his belts, disconnected the radio and popped out of a roof hatch in #11 FedEx Toyota as Vickers began to climb in the driver’s-side window. The crew buckled Vickers in and connected the radio. Vickers exited the pit stall less than a minute after Hamlin got there and had no difficulty staying on the lead lap. “The exchange went great,” Hamlin said. “Really, that was about as smooth as it’s went for us. Obviously, we’ve had a few repetitions at it. That was about the quickest that I was able to get out so everything went well. I had a checklist in the car with things that I needed to do before I got out to switch over for the next driver. Everything really went seamless and painless.” Unfortunately for Hamlin and Vickers, the afternoon didn’t continue that smoothly. On Lap 43, Vickers was an innocent victim of a 16-car wreck ignited by Kyle Busch’s tap of Kasey Kahne’s Chevrolet. The Hamlin/Vickers collaboration finished 34th, but by virtue of starting the race, Hamlin scored 10 championship points he otherwise wouldn’t have had.(NASCAR Wire Service)(5-6-2013)
- Air Titan track-drying system passes first major test: NASCAR’s new Air Titan track-drying system got its first major test of the season and had a substantial impact on the racing schedule at Talladega. Thanks to faster drying through the use of compressed air–and augmented by traditional jet dryers–Air Titan lengthened a hole between rain and darkness that allowed 110 of 117 scheduled laps to be completed in the Aaron’s 312 Nationwide Series race on Saturday. When Sunday’s Sprint Cup race was interrupted by rain, Air Titan went to work after two separate showers and dramatically cut the time need to dry the 2.66-mile superspeedway, NASCAR’s longest closed course, and the race went the distance.(NASCAR Wire Service)(5-6-2013)
- Kahne & Busch comments about the 1st ‘Big One” at Talladega: #5-Kasey Kahne and #18-Kyle Busch were racing for second when Busch tapped Kahne’s car on the right-rear corner, turning the #5 into the wall and collection twelve other cars. Kahne had a few comments:
Q) FIRST OF ALL ARE YOU OKAY AND WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
Kahne: “Yeah, I’m alright. I felt like I had a really fast Time Warner Cable Chevrolet. I just kind of got shot through the center there, just a lot of momentum coming from behind. Felt the No. 18 pushing me and next thing I know I was spinning. You just can’t push with these cars. We learned that at Daytona, he was pushing me and spun me in the wall and then happened again, so that is what it is.”
Q) HAVE YOU TALKED TO KYLE (BUSCH) AT ALL IN THE INFIELD CARE CENTER?
Kahne: “No, I didn’t talk to him. I think we both probably understand what happened and we will figure it out from there.”(Team Chevy)(5-5-2013)
Busch’s comments:
Q) Are you okay after the accident?
Busch: “Yeah, I’m alright. I don’t really know what happened. I know I got in the back of the 5 (Kasey Kahne) and I guess I was trying to go to the outside of him, but he just moved up in front of me and I wasn’t expecting it and I tried to go to the outside of him and before I could get to the outside of him I got in the back of him. I just hate that I caused a hell of a melee for everybody. I hate that. A lot of cars got torn up and it’s way too early in the race to be doing any of those sorts of moves whether he made it or I made it. Just I hate it that we all got crashed in that deal. I don’t know. I think our day is done.”
Q) How was your car up until the accident?
Busch: “I thought we had a strong car. I thought our car was really fast and I thought we could get up to the front and I thought I was the guy that was making the outside lane go a little bit and anybody that ever got in front of me kind of slowed it down and our progress went the wrong way. I felt like we were really fast with the M&M’s Toyota.”(Toyota Racing)(5-6-2013) - Entry List:There are 43 cars on the preliminary entry list for Saturday’s VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway. A few notes:
Michael McDowell returns to the #00;
Stanton Barrett makes another attempt in the #15;
Chris Buescher returns to the RFR #16;
Tanner Berryhill is entered in the #17;
Matt Kenseth will drive the Gibbs #18;
Harrison Rhodes will drive the RB3 #23;
Ty Dillon is back in the RCR #33;
The #55 Viva Motorsports team is not entered;
Joey Gase returns to the Jimmy Means #52;
Derrike Cope is entered in his #73;
Kyle Fowler will drive the #79 for Go Green.(5-6-2013)
See the complete list on the Darlington entry list page. - Viva Motorsports looking for additional driver: Viva Motorsports is looking for drivers to fill out the rest of the season. Fresh off their 12th place finish at Talladega, Viva Motorsports has a full fleet of #55 Chevy Camaros and is looking for the right partner to put in the driver’s seat for selected races throughout the remainder of the 2013 season. The team currently has plans to run approximately half of the remaining races, but the equipment and the personnel are in place to run more races if funding can be found.(Viva Motorsports)(5-6-2013)
- Atlanta Offering Buy One, Get one Frontstretch Seats for one week: For one week only, Atlanta Motor Speedway is making an unbelievable discount offer available to fans for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 on Sunday, Sept. 1. Starting Sunday, May 5 at 6:00pm/et, race fans can purchase buy one, get one Lower Champions Grandstand seats located at the start/finish line. This offer represents at 50 percent discount off the normal value, allowing purchasers to get two fronstretch tickets for only $99. This promotion is only available while supplies last for up to one week, and will end at 11:59 pm/et on Sunday, May 12. Tickets available for the special promotion are in limited supply, and fans are strongly encouraged to act quickly before supplies run out. One of the best areas to watch the race from at AMS, start/finish line seats in the Lower Champions Grandstand allow fans to have an amazing view of the 1.54-mile facility. A clear look at the pits will give fans the chance to watch pit strategy unfold before their eyes, with many races often won or lost in the pits. AdvoCare 500 tickets are on sale now and adult tickets start at just $39. Student tickets cost just $19. Other specials are available while they last. For more information, visit www.atlantamotorspeedway.com or call the AMS Ticket Office at (877) 9-AMS-TIX or (770) 946-4211.(AMS)(5-6-2013)
- Speed Street announces music acts in Charlotte: Three acts with either No. 1 songs or “Song of the Year” honors will headline this year’s Food Lion Speed Street festival later this month in Charlotte’s uptown. The celebration, tied to the two weekends of major NASCAR events at Charlotte Motor Speedway, will take place May 23-25. Once again, it offers free admission. Featured acts on the three nights are SWV (Sisters With Voices) on May 23; Jamey Johnson on May 24; and Survivor on May 25. While Speed Street will stretch along South Tryon Street and several other uptown thoroughfares, the music portion of the entertainment will take place at the Coca-Cola Stage, on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near the NASCAR Hall of Fame. SWV, a trio of New York-based soul and R&B singers, had a No. 1 single in the 1990s with “Weak” and followed with a No. 2 pop hit with “Right Here/Human Nature.” The group disbanded in the late 1990s but reformed several years ago and has been touring and making frequent television appearances. Jamey Johnson is a country artist, with several Grammy nominations to his credit. His “Give It Away” was named the Academy of Country Music’s Song of the Year in 2007, and he followed that with the same award in 2009 with “In Color.” Survivor became one of music’s biggest acts in the 1980s, perhaps best-known for its No. 1 single “Eye of the Tiger,” which gained secondary fame as the theme song in a “Rocky” movie. Survivor also had a big hit in 1985 with “Burning Heart.” Also on the Saturday card is the Florida-based rock group Sister Hazel.(Charlotte Observer)(5-6-2013)
- Pocono Completes Extensive Road Course Upgrades: Pocono Raceway has completed their extensive road course renovation project. This includes the resurfacing of all infield road courses, the addition of multi-directional curbing and upgraded participant amenities. Each of the 17 track layouts can be run in either clockwise or counter clockwise directions, allowing for a total of 34 configurations. The courses range in distances from a technical half-mile layout to a 2.53-mile national circuit. FIM multi-directional curbing was added to all the corners and the run-offs were smoothed and leveled. All available configurations can be found by visiting www.poconoraceway.com/roadcourses.
Two new structures were added that include meeting rooms, classrooms, the Garage Grill Cafe and modern restrooms and showers for both competitors and guests conveniences. Additionally, 100 Infield RV spots have been opened for use. Complete with power, water and sewer hookups, these spots are available for both competitors and guests to enjoy while utilizing the road courses. For track rental availability, rates and RV Reservations, please contact Pocono Raceway’s Operations Department at 570-646-2300. Pocono Raceway is the world’s largest solar powered sports facility. The Raceway developed a 25 acre, three megawatt solar farm that provides the energy needs of the Raceway as well as adding electricity to the local power grid.(Pocono Raceway)(5-6-2013)
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