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Today In Nascar History
April 13, 1969
David Pearson, wins at Richmond to collect the 50th victory of his career and move into a tie with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson for third place on the all-time list. Pearson would go on to win 55 more races in a career that spanned from 1960 to '86. His 105 victories are second only to Richard Petty.
April 14, 1996
The final spring race is held at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Terry Labonte starts from the pole and leads the most laps on his way to winning the First Union 400 race.
NA$CAR Momma,
The results of the poll after Talladega race are as follows:
Out of the 159 votes 93, or 58%, said Little "E" did not deserve a black
flag for the pass on Matt Kenseth.
66, or 42%, voted "yes" that he should have been 'black flagged'.
The poll has been closed and voting is over on that issue.
Cannot wait until the next Talladega race! I always love the
racing there, and, at Bristol.
DE3FAN
Larry
from Melinda
Sorry, but I don't much care for your "signature" closing from Dale
Earnhardt. The guy's dead, right? Not really one to be giving
racing advice.
Well Melinda, since I’m the one putting this list together, I could really care less if you like my signature or not. There is an unsubscribe option if you don’t want to see it. Cuz I sure the hell ain’t gonna remove it just for you.
from Jeff24
With the way the 88 car has been doing and Robert Yates changing/firing
crew chief's, losing team members and still nothing, I wonder if he's thinking
maybe its the driver. I know I’d be thinking that if nothing else
is working.
Jeff24
Darby, Pa
Guess time will tell. I’m sure they are watching him, but I’ve gotta say it….and I’ll deny I did tomorrow. I like DJ, he seems like a class act. Now, if I could only get him in a chevy!
from Carl
As much b*tching as I've heard about the yellow line rule you'd think
people would thank nascar for getting it right this time.
Carl
LOL...well said Carl
from Trudy
Reckon why they didn't interview Elliott Sadler after his awesome finish?
Trudy
They did, I saw it on Nascar Victory Lane last night.
from David
Gee - I wonder who won the money? Could it have been
Michael? I gotta say, it was a great race.... Junior is definitely
growing up..... He is so composed and calm.... Definitely focused on the
big picture.... I was quite surprised when Fox talked to him after the
race.... Dale Jr was not upset with the Ricky Craven incident..... Can't
say the same for me..... Nascar ended up giving Ricky Craven a one lap
penalty due to the fact that he stopped at the top of the track and brought
out the yellow flag....
Now the big question - what the hell am I going to do next Sunday
with NO Winston Cup racing on TV..... Help...
Thanks,
David Robertson
LOL….I’ve been wondering the same myself….what will I do? I do have the Aaron’s 499 taped…hummm And by the way…yep, Michael won the money!
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JARRETT LOOKS FOR IMPROVEMENT
Dale Jarrett says he's looking to return to his winning ways of the
past in the wake of the shakeup in his Robert Yates Racing team that saw
crew chief Brad Parrott released this week. Jarrett and team manager Doug
Yates met with the media this morning at Martinsville Speedway to discuss
the changes that also saw competition director Todd Parrott take an indefinite
leave of absence. "I obviously have a lot of confidence that Doug and Robert
(Yates, team owner) are going to do the things that we need to do to make
this a winning team again," said Jarrett. Doug Yates said it was unclear
what role Todd Parrott might play in the future: "If something comes along
that we would like to go forward with, we'll let him know and, likewise,
if he wants to take another opportunity… We'll see. Thirty days down the
road, if we can't live without him, we may explore that option as well,
but right now we're going forward with our program."
Final Nielsen figures for Fox's broadcast of last Sunday's Aaron's 499 Winston Cup race from Talladega Superspeedway show the race drew a 6.2 rating and 15 share, according to MotorsportsTV.com. The figures show a solid jump from the 5.7/12 overnight figures but still left the race well short of last year's 7.0/16. Nonetheless, the race didn't drop nearly as much as they did for CBS's broadcast of the NCAA basketball tournament's semifinal games, which fell from 11.3 last year to 7.9 and 9.4 to 6.3, MotorsportsTV.com says. The major cause for the drops in the sports ratings continues to be the war with Iraq, the Web site and industry observers say.
California Speedway is offering a new Party Zone hospitality package for its April 25-27 NASCAR weekend that will feature driver appearances, video games, music, food and beverages. Drivers scheduled to appear include Greg Biffle, Jeremy Mayfield, Jerry Nadeau, Dave Blaney, Robby Gordon and Ricky Craven. Tickets are $75 on Saturday, $100 on Sunday or $150 for both days, in addition to race tickets. Autographed memorabilia will also be auctioned to raise money for the Victory Junction Gang Camp started by Kyle and Pattie Petty. To purchase Party Zone tickets, call 1 (800) 944-RACE (7223). Additional details are available at www.californiaspeedway.com.
Racing organization announces expansion at facility near airport
ADAM BELL
Staff Writer
CONCORD - NASCAR says it plans to invest $100 million over the next decade in its new Concord research and development center -- welcome news for a sour local economy.
"Having the NASCAR research and development facility here is like having a Johns Hopkins or Mayo Clinic. That's the kind of impact it'll have," said John Cox, chief executive officer of the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce.
By JIM UTTER
ThatsRacin.com Writer
MARTINSVILLE, Va. - In response to a wheel and tire that went sailing over the wall at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last weekend, NASCAR issued a technical bulletin Saturday revising its policy on tethering wheels in the Winston Cup series.
Under the revised guidelines, distributed to teams Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, two fiber cables must be used on each front spindle of the car on all tracks 1¼ miles or more in length, excluding the two road courses.
In addition, steel cables will no longer be permitted. The new guidelines go into effect April 23.
"... We have determined that two fiber cables would add more than double the strength of one steel cable," said Gary Nelson, NASCAR's managing director of competition.
Last weekend, Ryan Newman lost the left-front wheel of his No. 12 Dodge during a 27-car accident on Lap 4.
The entire wheel assembly sailed over the Turn 2 wall and landed in a parking lot. It was later recovered by NASCAR officials.
By JIM UTTER
ThatsRacin.com Writer
NASCAR released a statement Saturday advising participants in all of its series to seek guidance from their personal physician before taking any supplemental product labeled as containing ephedra/ephedrine.
The statement referred to a study released Feb. 23, 2003, by the Rand Corp. which concluded that supplemental products containing ephedra/phedrine may increase the incidence of such side effects as nausea, vomiting, jitteriness and heart palpitations.
NASCAR plans to continue to monitor reports regarding health-related concerns with ephedra/ephedrine and will issue further advisories as warranted.
Ephedra, which is extracted from an Asian plant, is banned in college sports, the Olympics, the NFL and minor league baseball. Supplement manufacturer Stacker 2 sponsors the Winston Cup car of Kenny Wallace and Busch series car of Scott Wimmer.
By TERESA M. WALKER
The Associated Press
GLADEVILLE, Tenn. - Much-heralded 17-year-old Kyle Busch set a track qualifying record in the afternoon, then backed it up Friday night at Nashville Superspeedway to win in just his second start on the ARCA circuit.
Busch, the younger brother of Winston Cup star Kurt Busch, led 83 of 113 laps and held off four-time ARCA series champion Frank Kimmel by 2.406 seconds despite several restarts down the stretch.
The performance impressed Busch's boss, team owner Rick Hendrick.
"He just showed a lot of poise for someone his age, and Frank Kimmel is a heck of a race car driver," Hendrick said. "All those restarts late in the race, you would expect someone with no more experience than Kyle has to make a mistake. He was right on the money every lap."
Also... Roush Gets Suprise Gift: Last week at Talladega, Roush was reunited with two of the other men who saved his life, doctors Stephan Moran and John Kirkpatrick. Moran was the Alabama hospital contact who told Roush's brother to prepare the family for bad news, that Jack probably wouldn't make it through that first night. Kirkpatrick did the surgery on Roush's badly broken legs - ``with all the hardware from his son's erector set, screws and plates and tubes,'' Roush joked. A birthday party for Roush last week at the Moran family's home in Alabama produced yet another surprise. ``When I was 8 years old, I wrote my name in a library book that they had given me at school,'' Roush said. ``It was something about personal safety and health. He [Moran] found that book on eBay that had my name in it, and it was just right because it was about being careful and not hurting yourself.'' - The Tampa Tribune
Also... Tire Problems For Craven: Ricky Craven's crew apparently got the left-side tires on the right and the right sides on the left on the last stop.
Also... Toyota's NASCAR Tundra Racer Is Well Underway: Things have been pretty quiet on the Toyota front lately, but work on the Japanese company's new NASCAR Tundra racer is well under way. The two NASCAR teams expected to play a big role in Toyota's truck venture next season are the ones owned by Chip Ganassi and Bill Davis, although neither is willing to confirm anything. Davis' suspected Toyota truck operation, according to team sources, is being run at a secret shop that is being called Area 54, a take-off on the U.S. government's top-secret flight base, Area 51. Where might that shop be? According to sources, it's probably at Davis' old Busch shop in Thomasville.
Also... Todd Parrott Rejoining Rusty Wallace? No, Says Penske South Representative: Walt Czarnecki, of Penske South, says that Todd Parrott won't be rejoining the Rusty Wallace team... - The Winston-Salem Journal
Also... Around The Garage: By taking 10th, Ken Schrader earned his first top-10 finish since September 2001 at Darlington Raceway. . . . Jeff Gordon became the ninth driver to triumph in nine races this season. The Winston Cup record for the number of races to begin a season without a repeat winner is 10, which was set in 2000. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended that streak when he followed his first career win at Texas with a victory at Richmond International Raceway in May 2000. - The Richmond Times-Dispatch
By Chris Jenkins, USA TODAY
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — That slow dripping sound? It's saliva landing on
mouse pads in NASCAR's marketing department. At least for one afternoon
only nine weeks into a 36-week season, a 2003 championship chase starring
Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't seem far-fetched.
Gordon beat Bobby Labonte to win Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway,
and Earnhardt finished third. Gordon and Earnhardt combined to lead 385
of 500 laps, and they head into a rare off weekend second and third in
the standings behind points leader Matt Kenseth.
Of course, Earnhardt's 2002 season demonstrated that the points standings don't mean much in April. Earnhardt was near the top at this time last season, only to see his season fall apart because of an injury and inconsistency. "I'll believe it when we win it," said Earnhardt, who finished in the top five for the third consecutive time at Martinsville.
Although Gordon, a four-time Winston Cup champion, knows it's too early to start looking at the standings or zeroing in on one competitor, he acknowledges that Earnhardt's team has been strong. "They're definitely running good at a lot of different tracks," Gordon said. "I think the team has matured; I think Junior has matured."
By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- For once, a NASCAR Winston Cup race didn't end in controversy. After Texas and Talladega, the sanctioning body had to be thankful.
But there were some questions after Sunday's Virginia 500 at Martinsville
Speedway, notably
about what is fair game when racing for the lead. Jeff Gordon and Bobby
Labonte were racing hard for the victory Sunday when Gordon leaned on Labonte,
getting him sideways.
Once past, Gordon went unchallenged. But was it a fair move? How much of a bump is too much?
Gordon, who has been involved in more than one late-race bump-and-run, said he learned his tactics from Dale Earnhardt.
"There are certain things you can do out there, just like Bobby was doing," Gordon said. "He wasn't really hitting me, but he was definitely making it close to impossible for me to get by him.
"Basically there at the end, I had a fender right inside his left-rear bumper, and when he turned in the corner I just didn't turn. That's usually a good way to, either, loosen them up or sometimes you're going to touch them a little bit. And on the short track, it usually takes a little more than just air to move them around.
"I try to not do anything to where I'm going to send the guy off to the wall or spin him out. I try to work him over, race him, and try to pass him as clean as I can -- then, you start going to other motives."
Labonte, whom Gordon and third-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. acknowledged as one of the most respected drivers in the garage, wasn't upset at all.
"He didn't move me up the race track," Labonte said. "We were racing pretty hard. We ran a lot of laps side-by-side and never touched. All that racing was good. This is Martinsville, and I thought it was good racing."
The lines between a nudge, a bump and a hard knock are pretty blurry, but drivers seem to be able to police themselves.
"There are some guys that you won't knock out of the way, for respect reasons, and there are some guys that you disrespect and you want that opportunity to knock them out of the way for the win," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I can't say if that was a factor today. But I think Bobby is probably one of the most respected guys on the race track, and I saw Jeff lean on him.
"But that's all Jeff could do. Jeff had to muscle him. Jeff didn't just send him up the race track. But it was pretty good racing from where I was sitting. There was a little bit of bumping and carrying on, but I guarantee you that three-quarters of the field would have done a whole lot worse."
A brief flare-up
There was a lot of bumping and banging outside the top three in the closing laps. First, Jeff Burton got into Jimmie Johnson. Then on the last lap, Elliott Sadler and Tony Stewart tangled, enabling Burton to get past both.
Sadler and Stewart got together again after the checkered flag, but the consensus seemed to be no harm, no foul.
"We should have finished fourth, but they just leaned on us and knocked us out of the way," said Stewart, who ended up sixth. “They got a run on me down in the corner and just used us up. It didn't matter to them whether we were there or not."
Stewart didn't name any names, but he was clearly talking about Sadler.
"(Stewart) was trying to block both of us, and he left the inside lane open, so I stuck it in there," Sadler said. "I wanted to get these guys a top-five. They deserved it, and I did whatever I had to do. Tony would have done the same thing. I didn't spin him out, I just moved him up a little bit."
Johnson, who ran in the top five for a long portion of the race, slipped back to ninth in the closing laps. While his car got loose on the final set of tires, Johnson was also a bit miffed at Rusty Wallace.
"It was getting out of control," Johnson said of the late-race battling. "But what do you do? Everybody is beating on one another, and then the 2 car races me back to the caution. Gentlemen's agreement -you think it's there, and it's not. I guess that's just part of it."
Gordon's glad streak stopped
Gordon ended a 15-race losing streak Sunday, which was nothing compared
to his lengthy slide last year. The four-time champion went 31 races without
winning until he went to victory lane at
Bristol last August.
So stopping the 15-race skid was a "big relief" to Gordon.
"There are so many sweet things about getting a victory early in the season," Gordon said. "In the first third of the season, I think it means so much. It just takes that weight off your shoulder. We don't have to go each weekend going, 'OK, it's been 18, 20, 30, 40, however many races it's been since we won.'
"Plus, we go into an off-weekend, so we get to enjoy it for a little bit longer than just a regular win. Any win is special. It was awesome, and it was great to be able to do it from the pole.
"This team, I think they've been right there week in and week out to get a win. We've been close and let it slip away, and it's awesome to finally get it -- especially early on."
BAM's big day
Ken Schrader and BAM Racing had an historic day at Martinsville, as Schrader posted the first top-10 finish in the team's brief history. Plus, Schrader got his first top-10 since the 2001 season-finale.
BAM Racing, in its second season in Winston Cup, needed 26 races to get its first top-10.
"We weren't bad," Schrader said. "It was a good day. We could have finished better, but that last pit stop really hurt us. I think we could have been a bit higher. I didn't get a top-10 last year, so I'll take it. The neat thing is that no one expects us to do this. We'll just keep showing them each week. I've got to thank (crew chief) Scott Eggleston for giving me a great car all day."
A 'read bad' day for Kenseth
On the other end of the spectrum is Matt Kenseth. The Winston Cup points
leader never was a factor Sunday, especially after going down a lap early
on. Kenseth got a little better as the day
progressed, but he still finished 22nd, one lap down.
"We got to the tail end of the lead lap one time, but we never really got our lap back," Kenseth said. "We just ran real bad. Everybody worked on it hard, and we got it respectable at the end if we could do a real, real long run, but it just wouldn't go anywhere. That's all we had."
Kenseth kept the points lead, but he lost ground. Earnhardt Jr. is only 51 points out of the lead, with Gordon 139 back. Sunday's result was Kenseth's worst of the season.
"You do the best job you can do every week," Kenseth said. "You never want to run bad, so you just go and do the best job you can do every week, and that's all you can do."
Traffic earns McMurray's ire
Rookie Jamie McMurray had a stellar run going for half the race, running in the top 10 on a track he had never competed before Sunday. But it all went for naught as McMurray's Dodge blew an engine.
"For my first time here, I was probably doing better than I expected," McMurray said. "This is a really hard race track, and I told the guys before the race that our car was probably better than I was here. I had a top-10 car. That's all that I could ask for my first time here."
But he did have one complaint.
"The lap cars are horrible," McMurray said. "There were a few of the lapped cars that I thought 'Man, get out of the way' but they told me that it was going to be that way. I was really patient. I probably called them every name in the book in the car."
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Jeff Gordon is the most accomplished driver in Winston Cup racing and one of the sport's biggest names.
But when Gordon glances at the point standings after eight races this
year, he sees a star
emerging that he believes no one else can touch: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“If he wins the championship, game over for everybody else," said Gordon, who has won 61 races, 43 poles and four titles. "We're not even going to exist out there."
Earnhardt, in his fourth full season in NASCAR's top series, enters Sunday's Virginia 500 second in the points race, second to Gordon on the starting grid and coming off a controversial victory last weekend.
Trailing points leader Matt Kenseth with four laps to go at Talladega Superspeedway, Earnhardt drove below the yellow line to grab the lead and won his fourth consecutive race at the track.
Already treated like a rock star because of his champion bloodline, and ability to drive fast and live fast, too, Earnhardt is only enhancing his profile this year by racing better than he has before.
"I don't know if I ever had that kind of popularity. He has certainly
earned it over the last couple
of years," Gordon said.
In his first three fulltime seasons, Earnhardt finished 16th, eighth and 11th in the points race. This year, he trails Kenseth by 129 points and already has one victory, four top-five finishes and five top 10s.
"I'm real dedicated to trying to gain points this year," Earnhardt said. "Last year or any other year, for that matter, we just kind of raced one week after the other. I think the falter there is that you don't prepare well enough for the duration of four or five weeks in a row -- what that can do to your energy level and your drive and determination.
"You open the door each Thursday or Friday, on each new weekend, and the preparation is just not there."
This year, he's learned that taking care of things before going to the track improves your chances of winning.
"It's more enjoyable on my end and it's also more enjoyable on each of the crewmember's ends to have good finishes and something to be glad to come home to, to talk about with your wife or whatever," Earnhardt said.
Gordon has noticed the change, too, but isn't ready to say he and Earnhardt have developed into rivals.
"They seem to really have their act together," he said. "They've been good pretty much everywhere they've gone this year. If he continues that and I can keep up with what I've done in the past, then there might be something to talk about."
Following his victory at Talladega, and the pass that many felt might have drawn a penalty for another driver, Earnhardt enjoyed being at the center of a controversy. Even more, he enjoyed what he'd accomplished.
"Win or lose, black flag or not, I felt really proud of my effort personally -- what I've done and what I saw and what I was accomplishing inside the car," he said. "It was something that gave me emotions I haven't experienced too often in this sport."
Your
Momma
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt – 1998
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