Roush plane crashes in Wisconsin
Jack Roush has been hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries suffered from a crash that occurred as he attempted to land his plane Tuesday night at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis., according to a statement from Roush Fenway Racing and a statement posted on the website of the Experimental Aircraft Association.
The EAA’s annual AirVenture event is this week in Oshkosh.
The Raytheon Premier jet, registered to Roush Fenway Racing, was split in half during the landing accident, which occurred at about 7:15 p.m. ET.
According to the EAA, the National Transportation Safety Board and Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the two occupants on board were team co-owner Jack Roush and Brenda Stricklin, who each exited the aircraft following the accident. Both were transported to local hospitals. Roush was in serious but stable condition with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to the Roush Fenway Racing statement. Stricklin also was hospitalized with injuries not considered life-threatening, according to the EAA.
Jason McDowell, an aviation photographer who was at the airport, tweeted a photo of Roush exiting the plane with a bloody face.
Roush nearly lost his life while piloting a small plane near Troy, Ala., on his 60th birthday on April 19, 2002. He hit a power line and landed upside down in eight feet of water. The longtime NASCAR team owner was not breathing when he was rescued and sustained a broken leg, a collapsed lung and head injuries.
Daily podcast from Rowdy.com: July 27
On today’s show:
- Marcos Ambrose is leaving JTG Daugherty Racing at the end of the season.
- No, Jamie McMurray is not dating Chip Ganassi.
- Mystery fines from NASCAR.
The full Rowdy podcast feed can be found at http://www.rowdy.com/podcast.xml.
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Ambrose leaving JTG, could land at Petty Motorsports
Marcos Ambrose has decided to leave JTG Daugherty Racing at the end of the season, the team announced Tuesday.
Ambrose, in his second full year of Sprint Cup racing for the team, is a disappointing 27th in the standings after finishing 18th last year in his first full season.
Ambrose has been with the team for five years—one season in trucks, two in Nationwide and then two in Cup. Ambrose has recorded five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in his Cup career, which includes 11 races in 2008.
“After five years, I personally felt it was time for a change,” Ambrose said. “I have no firm plans of what will come next for me and my career.
“I would like to continue in NASCAR and finish off what I started, but I have not discounted returning to Australia. I’m grateful to JTG Daugherty Racing for giving me an opportunity to become a NASCAR driver and I wish them the best in the future.”
Even though he has “no firm plans,” Ambrose is a candidate to replace Kasey Kahne in the No. 9 or Elliott Sadler in the No. 19 at Richard Petty Motorsports, sources close to the situation said. Kahne announced he would leave RPM in April and that he had signed to drive the No. 5 car for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2012. Sadler announced earlier this month he would not return to RPM. Neither has announced plans for 2011.
With a career-best second at Watkins Glen last year, Ambrose nearly pulled off his first career Cup win at Infineon Raceway last month but accidentally stalled his car while trying to save fuel late in the race.
Ambrose has two Nationwide victories, both at Watkins Glen, driving for JTG Daugherty Racing.
JTG Daugherty Racing is an affiliate of Michael Waltrip Racing and is based at the MWR shop. Team co-owner Tad Geschickter made the move to Cup with Ambrose after several years in the Nationwide Series.
“Marcos is a friend, and he is a great talent,” Geschickter said. “He will be an asset to his next team. While we hate to see him move on at the end of the season, we will remain focused on winning races with Marcos.”
JTG did not say who would replace Ambrose in its No. 47 Toyota but said it would make an announcement in the “near future” concerning its driver for 2011.
NASCAR fining drivers for critical comments
According to a report by the Associated Press published Monday night, NASCAR has fined at least two top NASCAR drivers for making negative comments about the sport. The report said that multiple sources, who spoke anonymously, said that one driver was fined as much as $50,000.
NASCAR spokesperson Ramsey Poston confirmed that NASCAR has taken action behind closed doors, but refused to go further.
“It is the sanctioning body’s obligation on behalf of the industry and our fans to protect the sport’s brand,” Poston said in a statement to the Associated Press. “Any action taken by NASCAR has nothing to do with the drivers expressing an opinion — it’s focused on actions or comments that materially damage the sport.
“We have specifically discussed this in meetings with teams, drivers and stakeholders.”
Pit Road Scene requested comment from Poston late Monday night, but was not yet answered at press time.
The report from the AP did not name drivers, however many drivers, namely Denny Hamlin, have been critical of NASCAR throwing debris cautions at the end of the race to bunch up the field.
If the report holds true, NASCAR wouldn’t be the first sport to fine participants for negative comments and actions. The National Basketball Association recently fined Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, $100,000 for writing a controversial letter in response to LeBron James’ recent departure of the team.
For once, it’s time to focus on the little picture
Thanks to Jamie McMurray for reminding all of us where our focus should be.
Fundamentally, racing is about winning, about being first to the finish line, about taking home a gaudy trophy, about grabbing bragging rights from 42 other drivers.
If that seems pretty basic, contrast it with the cautionary phrase from crew chief to driver that’s often heard during a heated battle on the racetrack: “Big picture, big picture.”
What that means, of course, is, “Keep your eyes on the bigger prize.” In other words, weigh the potential risk of trying to win a race against the impact a wreck might have on a run at the series championship.
Since the introduction of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the 2004 season, our perception of the sport has undergone a paradigm shift. We have learned to view almost everything that happens on the racetrack through the filter of its effect on the standings.
In the afterglow of his Brickyard 400 victory, McMurray reminded us that the little picture can be just as satisfying as the big one—if not more so. McMurray has won NASCAR’s two most prestigious races in the same season—the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400. Despite three other second-place finishes, he’s 16th in points and a long shot to make the Chase.
So what?
“I don’t even really care where we’re at in points,” McMurray said. “I think you show up every week, do your job. If you make the Chase, that’s wonderful. Everyone wants to make the Chase. Getting to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 means more to me this year than making the Chase.
“This year or in 10 years, the guy that won that race one time everybody will talk about. The guy that finished third in the points—nobody cares. I would really like to be in the Chase, but I have no focus on that at all.”
Even if McMurray fails to make the Chase, no one will say he hasn’t had an exceptional season. If reports are accurate, his performance this year will earn a significant contract extension and strengthen his bonds with sponsors Bass Pro Shops and McDonalds. For McMurray, it’s more about winning the day than winning the season.
NASCAR could benefit from that perspective, too, when it comes to possible changes to the playoff format in the Cup series. In a series of meetings with drivers and owners, NASCAR has floated enough trial balloons to lift the pagoda out of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield. In recent weeks, we’ve been teased more often than a beehive hairdo.
In a news conference before Sunday’s race at Indy, NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France repeated that the sanctioning body is considering significant changes to the Chase. Moments later France added, “Not changing the Chase is definitely a viable option.”
The bottom line is that changes to the Chase—whether in the form of eliminations or resetting points once or more during the final 10 races—may be a short-term fix for TV ratings but may not promote the long-term growth of the sport.
Toward that end, we all need to look at the little picture and start with the essential element in the sport—a single race. A baseball season is 162 games long, and every win or loss affects the standings, yet each game has an integrity and intricacy of its own.
Each game contains enough subtlety of strategy and intrigue to captivate its audience. Each game is an event that thrives on its own merit. The same is true of a stock car race—if only we think that way.
McMurray reminded us Sunday that—as basic as it seems–the core element of the sport is the burning desire to win a race, and it would behoove us to pay attention.
TMS hires former NBA marketing executive Guthrie
FORT WORTH, Texas (July 26, 2010) – Veteran National Basketball Association marketing executive Bruce Guthrie has been hired for the newly created position of Director of Marketing, Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage announced today.
Guthrie arrives at Texas Motor Speedway with more than 25 years of marketing experience, with the majority coming with Spurs Sports & Entertainment of San Antonio, Texas. He served as Vice President of Marketing for 17 years (1992-2008) at Spurs Sports & Entertainment, a company that features several sports entities, including the four-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs.
Guthrie managed the strategic development and execution of all Spurs Sports & Entertainment marketing, advertising, creative services, direct response, research, database, web marketing, merchandise, corporate communication and game operation/entertainment for the Spurs, San Antonio Silver Stars (WNBA), San Antonio Rampage (AHL) and Austin Toros (NBDL).
Guthrie, who joined Spurs Sports & Entertainment in 1982 as an account executive, also was a key member on the executive teams that designed two San Antonio sports/entertainment venues – the multipurpose Alamodome facility and AT&TCenter.
During his tenure, he served two terms on the NBA Marketing Advisory Board and contributed to the Spurs being recognized as one of the top three franchises in major professional sports for the past five years by ESPN The Magazine and top sports franchise of the last decade by Forbes Magazine.
“We have the very best people in American motorsports at Texas Motor Speedway and Bruce adds an incredible depth to a strong team,” Gossage said. “He has more than 20 years marketing experience in the NBA and that will help us as we rise to meet the desires of our fans. Bruce recognizes that the fans come first and that has always been the key to our success.”
In his new role with Texas Motor Speedway, Guthrie’s primary responsibilities will include developing and executing marketing campaigns for season tickets and individual ticket sales, and for planning and executing promotions prior to and during race weekends to enhance the fan experience.
“I am thrilled to be joining a first-class organization in Texas Motor Speedway,” Guthrie said. “Also, I am looking forward to working with my good friend (TMS Assistant General Manager) Kenton Nelson and learning the business from one of the most successful and respected executives in racing, Eddie Gossage.”
About Texas Motor Speedway: Texas Motor Speedway, with a crowd capacity in excess of 190,000, is among the largest sports stadiums in America and features an array of amenities that make it one of the premier venues in the world of sports. Known as “The Great American Speedway!,” the 1.5-mile superspeedway located in Fort Worth plays host to two races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series as well as one in the Indy Racing League IZOD IndyCar Series. The attendances for the NASCAR Sprint Cup events since the facility opened in 1997 annually rank among the largest sporting events in the United States. Texas Motor Speedway is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. a publicly traded company that is a leading marketer and promoter of motorsports entertainment in the United States.
Notebook: Earnhardt’s progress thwarted by Montoya’s crash
INDIANAPOLIS—Late in Sunday’s Brickyard 400, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Chevrolet came to life.
What Earnhardt felt was a top-10 car, however, didn’t get a chance to finish the race in one piece. On Lap 145, Juan Pablo Montoya slid into the outside wall in Turn 4 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and collected Earnhardt’s car on the way toward pit road.
“When he came off the wall, I guess he wanted to go to pit road, and I was under the 47 (Marcos Ambrose), and I couldn’t miss him,” Earnhardt said. “I drove into the door of Marcos and slammed into the back of the 42 (Montoya).
“I just wish he could have got his car farther off the racing line when he was heading into pit road. I just didn’t really have much I could do.”
Earnhardt came home 27th and dropped one position to 14th in the Sprint Cup standings, trading places with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin, who finished 11th.
“We had a great car,” Earnhardt said. “Right around 50 or 60 (laps) to go, we pulled a (spring) rubber out of the left rear, and, man, that thing was great. I was up there racing the 2 (Kurt Busch), the 9 (Kasey Kahne) and those guys and was faster than them. We could have run in the top 10, I think.
“We’re learning. But if we keep having this kind of luck, we’re not going to make the Chase, and that’s just something we’ll have to live with. But we’ll keep working to try to make it.”
Good speed for Biffle, but no win
Greg Biffle’s No. 16 Ford team brought a new car to the Brickyard—as did all of his Roush Fenway teammates. The car was fast, just not quite fast enough.
Biffle restarted eighth after taking four tires during a Lap 140 pit stop. Six drivers ahead of him took right sides only. Though Biffle worked his way up to third, he couldn’t pass race runner-up Kevin Harvick in the closing laps.
“My car was really, really fast all day,” said Biffle, who is 11th in points. “I could just cut to the bottom and lay the throttle to it.”
Biffle harried Harvick for the last 11 laps but found the going tough after his tires began to wear.
“I was a lot faster than Kevin,” he said. “I tried the top a little bit, which was probably stupid. I tried to get my fender outside of him a little bit on the top to see if I could get a run at it. I might have been able to make that work, but I didn’t want to wreck, so I gave up on that.”
Kyle Busch rallies for top 10
After the most inauspicious of starts, Kyle Busch rallied to finish eighth Sunday. In Turn 2 of the first lap, Busch spun and triggered a wreck that ruined the chances of six other drivers, among them David Reutimann, Reed Sorenson, Sam Hornish Jr. and Elliott Sadler.
Though Busch’s No. 18 Toyota slid into the grass, the damage was minimal.
“I just lost it, I guess,” he said. “It just went around. It didn’t really have any impact on the car, I feel like. Minor, maybe—straightaway speed. I felt like everything was fine.”
Busch restarted 32nd on Lap 8 and worked his way toward the front throughout the race.
“We fought all day,” he said. “We saved the day. It was just a mistake made early there that almost had us in big, big trouble. Fortunately, we came back.”
No three-peat for Johnson
Jimmie Johnson’s quest for an unprecedented three straight victories at the Brickyard ended when mechanical issues derailed the handling of his No. 48 Chevrolet.
“We had high expectations for the day,” said Johnson, the winner of three of the previous four Cup race at Indianapolis. “I just had a really bad understeer problem on the corner entering and into the center.
“We made some attempts during caution flags to make some big changes on pit road, but nothing really hooked the car up. So we’ll have to dig in and find out what happened.”
Johnson finished 22nd and dropped from third to fourth in the standings, 261 points behind series leader Harvick.
Another beard?
Team owner Rick Hendrick, typically clean-shaven, showed up at Indy sporting a beard. Hendrick blamed Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has been taking facial hair to new heights in the Cup series.
“Junior and I had a bet that I wouldn’t do it, so that’s why I had to do it,” Hendrick said. “He said I didn’t have a hair on my butt if I didn’t come to Indy with a beard after I had been on vacation, so I’m going down here to turn my hat around backwards and prove him wrong.”
NASCAR wrapping up schedule overhaul
NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said before the start of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday that the Sprint Cup Series schedule for 2011 is one or two weeks away from being completed.
According to France, the series schedule will undergo several changes for next season. However, he thinks fans will be good for NASCAR fans.
“There will be some changes as I look now, and that could not quite materialize, but I sense it will,” France said. “We’ll have some pretty impactful changes to the schedule that I think will be good for NASCAR fans.”
Putting together a schedule is not a simple process for NASCAR, especially when they add or remove tracks and shift dates around.
“When you agree on a schedule, then you have to have sanction agreements that are executed, everybody has to agree on that,” France said. “That process is simultaneous to the schedule.
“My sense is that will all be wrapped up here shortly. I don’t know how it will get released, but it looks like there are going to be some interesting, good changes for the schedule in terms of how fans get to events, which events they’ll attend.
“There’s been a big cooperation. Everybody has a slice of the pie that they want to make sure fits them perfectly. And so we’ve had to adjust that around where it fits everyone in the industry. That’s gone fairly well. Almost ready to announce something here shortly.”
Schedule changes that have been rumored include Kansas getting a second Cup date and Kentucky getting its first date in the Sprint Cup Series, after hosting races in NASCAR’s Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series for the past few years.
However, in order for NASCAR to maintain its 36-race schedule, other dates will need to be shifted to make room for the new additions.
“All the requests (for track and date changes) are in,” France said. “They all have lots of effects, as you can imagine. When anything moves around of significance on the Cup schedule, it has consequences for the second part, whatever part of the schedule you want to look at.”
It has also been rumored that NASCAR is contemplating adding a road course to NASCAR’s ten race Chase for the Sprint Cup, which is also under the magnifying glass for changes next year.
“Whatever we do, it will be with the industry having lots of chances to weigh in, and us in the end thinking this is something that we can build around that enhances winning, enhances the championship, gives us more of a playoff field than we currently have now, if that’s where we end up,” France said. “We haven’t made a decision. We may not think the timing is right. We’re doing some research. I’ll be in some focus groups myself on the 11th of August listening to fans directly as they hear the idea.”
McMurray wins Indy; Ganassi claims triple
Jamie McMurray celebrates his Brickyard 400 win. (Dan Helrigel/IMS)
“Honestly, I’m in shock right now.”
— Jamie McMurray
Team owner Chip Ganassi claimed NASCAR’s version of the Triple Crown on Sunday as his driver, Jamie McMurray, won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. With the win Ganassi became the first car owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year.
“I’m the luckiest guy on the planet,” Ganassi said. “You wouldn’t dare to dream this. You wouldn’t dare to dream this kind of year.”
McMurray became just the third driver in NASCAR history to win the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year. The last driver was Jimmie Johnson in 2006. Dale Jarrett was the first driver in 1996.
Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 IndyCar Series race earlier this year in Ganassi’s Target car.
McMurray took the lead from Kevin Harvick on the final restart with 11 laps to go and went on to win the race by 1.391-seconds.
“I’m running the last 10 laps of this thing and just praying every lap there isn’t going to be a caution and that my car was going to have the grip I need,” McMurray recalled. “It is remarkable to be put in this position. Honestly, I’m in shock right now.”
Harvick had just taken the lead when the caution came out on lap 167 to set up a double-file restart and an 11-lap shootout.
After the race Harvick, who finished second, said his car didn’t show the muster it had to pass McMurray before the caution.
“I got tight going into turn one there in the middle and just had to wait on my car and Jaime was able to carry the momentum around on the outside,” Harvick said. “The first restart my car actually took off and we were able to get by him but my car never acted like that again but it was a good day for our Shell-Pennzoil Chevy and everybody did a great job just putting us in position. I felt like we had a top-five car but we didn’t have a winning car and we had a chance to win there at the end but just came up a little short.”
Harvick, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five finishers as Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch filled in the rest of the top-ten positions.
Kyle Busch was involved in a seven-car accident in turn two on the opening lap of the race. However, he sustained only minimal damage to his No. 18 Toyota and drove his car up through the field through the race.
“I don’t know what happened there on the opening lap,” Busch said after the race. “I just lost it, I guess. It just went around. I had trouble every restart really trying to get going, especially through (turns) one and two. I had trouble getting going on restarts. All in all, we came back and bounced back solidly, so that was good. We needed a good run — it’s been a while.”
Mark Martin finished 11th and was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver to finish inside of the top-20 at Indianapolis. Jeff Gordon, who was looking for his fifth Brickyard 400 victory, finished 23rd after battling with a tight-handling car throughout the race.
Jimmie Johnson, who was running for a third-consecutive Indy victory and the fourth of his career, started off the race strong and ran in the top-five for the first 47 laps of the race. Johnson was tenth when the caution came out on lap 66. On lap 69, Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus decided to keep Johnson on pit road for a long stop to make adjustments to the car, leaving Johnson to restart 22nd on lap 70.
Johnson continued to drop after the stop and spent more time on pit road during the fourth caution of the race on lap 120 to change shocks. He would later go a lap down while on pit road.
Johnson later finished 22nd, but made it back to the lead lap.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running the top-15 before he was involved in a crash with Juan Pablo Montoya. Earnhardt was an innocent bystander when Montoya got loose off of turn 4 on lap 147.
“The car was really good,” Earnhardt said. “Right in the middle of the race, it got real tight, then we fixed it. I felt like we were pretty good coming up through there. Right at the end, I felt like we had a good car, a good top-ten car. Montoya got in the fence there and just kind of pulled down and stopped in front of us. I was side-by-side with somebody (Marcos Ambrose).
“I didn’t even see him hit the wall, I didn’t even know there was a car in the wall until he came across the No. 47 (Ambrose) hood and there he was, I ran right in the back of him. Nowhere to go.”
After leading a race-high 86 laps, Juan Pablo Montoya lost the lead on pit road on Lap 140. Six laps later, he lost control of his car and was involved in an accident that ended his day. (Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images)
Montoya would head straight to the garage and would go on to finish 32nd after leading 86 laps. Earnhardt did receive major damage to his left front, but continued and finished 27th, two laps down.
Montoya had the dominate car for the second year in a row only to finish outside of the top-ten. Last year, Montoya led 116 laps but picked up a pit road speeding penalty from NASCAR in the closing laps to finish 11th.
It was a call for four tires for the then race leader Montoya, as his teammate and a handful of other cars took two tires that put Montoya further back in the pack.
“Bad call,” Montoya’s crew chief Brian Pattie said. “Crew chief error. We should have taken two tires.”
Notes: The 16 laps led by McMurray were the second-least amount led by an eventual Brickyard 400. Jarrett led only 11 laps in his 1996 victory. … The race saw 14 lead changes among 10 drivers. … The race had six cautions for 25 laps. Four of those cautions were for debris, on laps 16, 67, 118 and 139. The other two were for accidents, one on the first lap and the other on lap 147. … Harvick leads Gordon by 184 points heading into Pocono with six races left until the chase cutoff at Richmond.
Busch holds off Edwards for 8th Nationwide win
CLERMONT, Ind.—This time, there was no controversial finish.
For the second NASCAR Nationwide Series race in a row, Carl Edwards went side-by-side for the lead on the final lap. But Saturday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park, Kyle Busch held Edwards off to win the Kroger 200 at the 0.686-mile track—his eighth victory of the 2010 season.
Last week at Gateway International Raceway, Edwards dumped Brad Keselowski coming to the checkered flag, triggering a multicar accident and forcing NASCAR to penalize both drivers.
This time, Edwards raced Busch cleanly, and Busch grabbed his 38th career Nationwide Series victory, second only to Mark Martin on the all-time win list. Martin has 48 wins in the series.
Busch said the thought of Edwards roughing him up for the lead on the green-white-checkered did enter his mind, and he did all he could to avoid trouble.
“You’re so vulnerable running the top side like you do here that people can dive-bomb you on the bottom and slide up into you. I knew it was there, but if I could just keep enough momentum and just keep my car rolling, then I felt like any time he’d lay a bumper to me, he’d get sideways, too,” Busch said. “… Carl was right there. He could’ve used me up more than he did, but it could’ve cost us both time instead of him just being able to get by. You’ve got to have a really, really methodical way of going (around) it here. There just wasn’t enough time for him to do it in two laps.”
As it turned out, Edwards, who lost 60 points and is on probation for the rest of the season as a result of last week’s actions, wasn’t about to put the leader in jeopardy this week.
“I wasn’t going to move Kyle out of the way,” Edwards said. “I inadvertently got into him just a little off of (Turn) 4 one time. Fortunately, it didn’t cause damage to either of our cars. But, no, I couldn’t move him out of the way. We’ve raced really well together. We’ve had one of the best races I’ve ever had in my life last year here (Edwards came from 42nd starting postition to beat Busch). This probably feels like a better race to him because he won, but the one I won last year, that was one of the coolest races I’ve had. It seems like we’ve really raced well together the last couple years, and I enjoy that.”
Edwards and some others on the lead lap pitted for fresh tires on Lap 162, with Edwards restarting 11th with 28 laps to go. Edwards sliced through the top 10 to get to second, and a caution came out with six laps to go.
“I thought it was an opportunity, but (Busch) got me on the restart. His tires were 30 laps older, and somehow he was able go as fast as he was going,” Edwards said. “I think if we didn’t get the caution, it was going to be really interesting with lapped traffic. But my hat’s off to those guys.
“We didn’t have any chance of winning that race without those new tires. (Crew chief) Drew (Blickensderfer) took the tires, and it gave us a shot to win. I can’t complain about that.”
“It was good, hard, clean racing,” said Busch, who led four times for 144 of the 201 laps. “That’s what happens when you race guys cleanly over time and race each other with respect—you get respect back.”
Ron Hornaday, who won Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series race here, ran in the top five for most of the race until he and the lapped car of J.C. Stout got together in Turn 2 on Lap 161.
“Lapper just turned left,” Hornaday said after he drove his damaged car behind the wall.
Aric Almirola finished third, with polesitter Trevor Bayne fourth and Reed Sorenson fifth. After the race, the left-front shock of Almirola’s No. 88 car wouldn’t rebound, and it was to be sent to NASCAR’s research and development center for evaluation.
Truex Jr fastest in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Indy
Michael Waltrip Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest driver in final practice for the Brickyard 400 on Saturday. Truex turned in a lap of 51.245-seconds, averaging 175.627 mph, to jump to the top of the board.
Jeff Burton, who was fastest in the third practice earlier Saturday afternoon, was second quickest, with a lap of 51.273-seconds.
Burton’s teammate, Clint Bowyer was third fastest as Carl Edwards and Mark Martin rounded out the remaining top-five fastest drivers. They joined Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin to complete the top-ten fastest drivers in single-lap runs.
Johnson was the fastest drivers in ten-lap averages in the session. He ran ten straight laps to average 172.358 mph.
Burton leads third Cup Series practice at Indy
Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton broke up Juan Pablo Montoya’s weekend domination Saturday afternoon in the third Sprint Cup Series practice of the weekend. Burton turned a 51.221-second lap to be the fastest driver in single lap runs.
Teammate Clint Bowyer was second fastest with a lap of 51.292-seconds with the other RCR driver, Kevin Harvick completing the top-three fastest driver sweep, clocking in with a lap of 51.375-seconds.
Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five fastest drivers in single-lap runs. Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Mark Martin joined Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle to round out the top-ten fastest.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued his improvement on the weekend, finishing practice 12th quickest.
After leading Friday’s two practices and qualifying on the pole Saturday morning, Montoya was 14th quickest.
Hamlin held the fastest ten-lap average speed of 172.254 mph. Montoya was the second-best with a 172.010 mph average while Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five fastest drivers in 10-lap runs. They were the only drivers to complete ten consecutive laps in the session.
The Sprint Cup Series will practice again at 3:30 p.m. ET for the final time of the weekend.
Notebook: Kahne staying out of 2011 discussions
INDIANAPOLIS—Kasey Kahne wants no part of discussions about his future.
Kahne’s former team owner, Ray Evernham, stirred the pot Friday by suggesting that Mark Martin will step aside at Hendrick Motorsports to make room for Kahne, who is the heir apparent to the No. 5 Chevrolet that Martin currently drives.
“In my opinion, listening to everything that’s going on, I think you’ll see Mark at some point realize that Rick Hendrick’s been very good to him, and they’ve had good success together, and probably the best thing for Hendrick Motorsports is for Mark to make room for Kasey Kahne to come over there,” Evernham, an ESPN analyst, said Friday during a press conference promoting ESPN’s coverage of the final 17 Sprint Cup races.
Martin reacted angrily when reporters questioned him Friday about the substance of Evernham’s remarks. Martin said he felt disrespected and insisted he will drive the No. 5 in 2011.
Kahne said Saturday he had no knowledge of the origin of his former boss’ opinion—and didn’t want to.
“I don’t really care what Ray says,” Kahne said. “I don’t really care what anybody says. (Owner) Rick (Hendrick) told me to stay out of it, and he’ll take care of it, and that’s what I’m doing. Still doing the same thing I was prior to the off week.
“He (Evernham) may know what he’s talking about. He may not. I haven’t talked to Ray. I haven’t talked to Ray in a while. So I don’t know. I just kind of do my thing, and then he does his.”
GORDON HAS SUBS LINED UP
Jimmie Johnson made it through his recent baby watch without having to use standby driver Aric Almirola. But Almirola is back in the mix as a possible replacement for Jeff Gordon, whose wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, is expecting in early August.
Almirola will be ready at Pocono next weekend, should Gordon get the call. And road-course ace Scott Pruett will standing by at Watkins Glen in two weeks if the baby hasn’t arrived by then.
VILLENEUVE MAKES THE SHOW
Jacques Villeneuve hasn’t competed in a Cup race since 2007, but the former Indianapolis 500 winner and Formula One champion found enough speed—barely—to qualify for Sunday’s Brickyard 400.
“We found the missing speed,” said Villeneuve, who is driving Braun Racing’s No. 32 Toyota. “The car was a little nervous, but it was quick enough to get in the show.”
Villeneuve will start 43rd, the final spot. In contrast, one of the other two drivers with a chance to add a Brickyard trophy to an Indy 500 win—Juan Pablo Montoya—starts from the pole. Sam Hornish Jr., who won the 2006 Indianapolis 500, qualified 25th.
Up-And-Comer Jonathon Gomez Is a Winner Both On and Off the Track
Some of NASCAR’s best finishes not only occur in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide, or the Camping World Truck Series, but they also take place at the many local tracks, which are usually run on a Saturday night.
Short track racing is where most of the big name drivers such as the Earnhardt’s, Petty’s, Waltrip’s, Allison’s, and a host of others got their first taste of what it’s like to bang and bump their way around these asphalt-covered gladiator rings.
While most of NASCAR’s upper-tier series’ closest finishes are watched over and over again, a lot of times that’s not the case at the local level, since the majority of the races are not televised.
Instead, the finishes are talked about amongst the fans that were in attendance, and they have been known to be the center of conversation for weeks after the race was run.
Last Saturday night, once again the fans were treated to a very exciting finish when Jonathon Gomez of Twin Falls, Idaho, flew in from Portland, Ore., to compete in the Spears SRL Southwest tour series at Toyota Speedway of Irwindale.
Gomez who was practicing for Sundays K&N Pro series race at Portland International Speedway on Saturday morning, barely made it in time to qualify his No. 22 Century Boatland Chevrolet Impala SS in the No. 7 spot for Saturday night’s 100-lap main event.
Gomez, who led 81 of the 100 laps that were run for the night’s main event, left nothing on the table when he and fellow driver Derek Thorn, who took the lead with two laps remaining, drag raced down the front stretch on the final lap, with Gomez taking the win by a mere 0.012 seconds.
“One way or another, I was gonna win, and those were the toughest two laps I ran the whole race,” said Gomez who had an airplane waiting for him to fly back to Portland after his win at the speedway.
Gomez also added that, “I wasn’t gonna lead 81 laps and not win. Derek Thorn is a great competitor, and to race other drivers that hard for that long and to win it means so much to be able to compete in this series.”
“These are top-notch teams and top-notch drivers, and half of these drivers are just as good as the Cup drivers but never got the chance to move into Cup,” said Gomez when asked about the competition level in the series.
The race itself was run on a very warm and humid night, which could have been a factor in all the cautions that transpired throughout the night.
It almost seemed as if Gomez led more laps under caution, then the actual race itself, and the reasoning behind the cautions could have been the drivers qualified with the sun still shining down on the speedway.
“The first five laps after restart it took a while to get going, but once it got going, the car ran great,” said Gomez when talking about the slew of restarts he had to endure throughout the night.
Gomez also added, “We had to be defensive for the first five laps until the car got going. We used up a lot of the car trying to stay ahead of everybody after the restarts.”
Restarts were not the only obstacles Gomez faced on his way to his second victory in the series so far this season. During one of the cautions, NASCAR black-flagged Gomez while he was leading the race.
Gomez explained, “The officials thought I was leaking oil, and brought me in as a safety precaution. They saw I wasn’t leaking any oil and they let me go back out and keep my position.”
Along with the victory, came the feeling of redemption since this was not the first time Gomez has visited the speedway.
Bad luck seemed to plague the 27-year-old driver whenever he raced here at Irwindale, and back in January while participating in the All-Star showdown, he was involved in an accident for the second straight year.
Even though in both instances, his night ended early, not once did Gomez ever complain about his on-track misfortunes.
After Saturday night’s race, I had the chance to talk with his team owner, which also happens to be his father.
Jon Gomez talked about how proud he was of his son, along with how much he has seen him improve in the last couple of years.
He not only talked about his attitude behind the wheel, but also once he finishes a race and the positive attitude that shines while he is around the rest of the team.
With this comment after Gomez’ latest victory, its easy to see why his father spoke so highly of him.
“The team did a great job, and it was a lot fun, and I’m glad to have two wins in the series. My team worked so hard on the car out in the heat; the win means just as much to them as it means to me.”
Keselowski leads opening Nationwide practice
The No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge of Brad Keselowski was the fastest driver in opening Nationwide Series practice at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind. Saturday morning. Keselowski ran a lap of 22.898-seconds, averaging 107.852 mph.
Ron Hornaday Jr., who won the truck race at ORP Friday night, was second fastest in the No. 33 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet.
Morgan Sheppard, Jason Leffler and rookie James Buescher were the remaining top-five fastest drivers in single lap runs in the session. Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne, Michael Annett, David Starr and Shelby Howard rounded out the top-ten.
No drivers completed ten-consecutive laps.
