NASCAR 2012 Thread
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Suspended Allmendinger released by Penske
Suspended NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger was released from Penske Racing on Wednesday, opening a seat in the organization's No. 22 car for the second time in as many years.
The Penske team announced the firing in a statement, which came after Allmendinger and team owner Roger Penske met face-to-face. Allmendinger is suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for failing a random drug test, and must complete a mandatory recovery program before he can hope to be reinstated.
Dodge to quit NASCAR at the end of 2012
Chrysler's head of motorsports, Ralph Gilles, announced today that the automaker will end its Dodge-branded NASCAR racing program at the end of the 2012 season.
In the wake of losing its top team, Penske Racing, Gilles said the company was unable to find a partner that would allow it to "go forward with a structure that met our standards."
The decision to pull out of the racing series was made on Friday.
Allmendinger says he tested positive for Adderall
Suspended driver AJ Allmendinger says he tested positive for a prescription drug typically used to treat attention deficit disorder.
Allmendinger said in an interview that he took Adderall a couple of days before the race at Kentucky Speedway on June 30 because he was tired. He does not have ADHD or a prescription for the drug.
A friend gave him the pill and said it was a workout supplement that would give him energy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxddwWcbBVs
Awesome finish to the Watkins Glen race, Sunday, August 12th. Kyle Bush, Brad Keselowski, Marcos Ambrose all vying for the win.
Sponsor Office Depot departing Stewart's team
The primary sponsor on the car of reigning Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart will not return next season, a Stewart-Haas Racing spokesman has confirmed.
Office Depot, which was one of the team's first sponsors and adorned Stewart's car when he clinched last season's title in a tiebreaker over Carl Edwards in the final race, will not renew its contract as primary sponsor on the No. 14 team, SHR spokesman Mike Arning said Sunday.
They have fallen victim to the economy. When they entered a contract with Rousch in 2005...their stock was at more than $25 a share. In 2008 when they signed on with Tony and SHR, they were at $20 a share. This past Friday they were at $1.53 at closing bell. They have said they may sponsor three races, but those details need to be worked out. It is a possibility they may pull out of NASCAR 100% like Staples Office Supply did for the exact same reasons.
I actually see Office Depot closing stores and laying off employees down the road.
Kenseth's move to JGR becomes official
Upon his introduction as the newest driver in the Joe Gibbs Racing stable Tuesday at the organization's shop, Matt Kenseth walked into the room and yelled, "Surprise!"
No one was surprised, and most in attendance laughed. Denny Hamlin, the JGR driver who will become Kenseth's teammate in 2013, even gave Kenseth a one-man standing ovation.
In making one of NASCAR's worst-kept secrets of 2012 official at a news conference, Kenseth... said it's now official...
Gibbs team couldn't keep Penske-bound Logano
The 22-year-old Logano, who is in his fourth full-time season at the Sprint Cup level, signed a multi-year contract, according to the team.
Penske president Cindric: "Logano is a very talented driver who has already achieved a lot of success at a young age. Joey is a great fit for our organization and we look forward to building on his success as he takes his place behind the wheel of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford."
Pemberton In For Eury Jr. At JR Motorsports
JR Motorsports has released Tony Eury Jr. from his duties as crew chief for Danica Patrick and the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Nationwide Series team.
“They’re trying to fix the competition of the cars, “ Eury said. “They thought they could do better without me there. They hired Ryan Pemberton and Ryan’s their guy.”
Eury remains part of the ownership group of JRM.
“We’re still in discussions about that," he said.
And Brad Keselowski, driving the Roger Penske Team Miller Lite Dodge, #2, is the championship leader, after the first race of the chase. Nine more races left this season. Did you know that 28% of NASCAR Sprint Cup races in one season are in the championship playoff category. No other sport has so many competition events in their championship playoff role.
The one other thing that has been noticed is that of the twelve drivers in the Chase...there are 7 teams which are:
Hendrick Motorsports
Stewart-Haas Racing
Michael Waltrip Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing
Penske Racing
Richard Childress Racing
Rousch Fenway Racing
Childress looks forward to working with Kurt Busch
Kurt Busch revealed this week that next season he will be driving the No. 78 Chevrolet for Furniture Row Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, replacing current driver Regan Smith. Furniture Row, owned by Barney Visser, has a technical alliance with RCR for 2013 -- and Childress said he welcomes Kurt to the extended RCR racing family with open arms.
So now I have to wonder, does this mean that Smith's current pit crew that was hired and trained by SHR will be fired or transferred to Patrick's team in 2013 when she moves to Cup Series full time.
Avid angler Stewart reels in biggest Bass yet
Friday at Talladega Superspeedway, Stewart showed off an even bigger catch -- Morris' company, Bass Pro Shops. The NASCAR sponsorship staple will become the primary sponsor on Stewart's No. 14 race car beginning next season. Next season we will adorn Stewart's vehicle for 18 races, including the Daytona 500.
Mobil 1 will take 11, leaving nine races to fill. It's the first time Stewart's car will rotate between at least three primary sponsors.
The "BIG ONE" Talladaega ,to fast to little traction spoiled a GREAT RACE for Stewart !
The WWF of motorsports!!!!!!!
Stewart ruined his own race all by himself,
and he also ruined quite few other drivers' days.
He purposely blocked and turned into the 55 car, which was going much faster than he realized.
(And he apologized.)
As usual yesterday was one of the three days all year that I bother to watch NASCAR and in the case of the two Talladega races - just the last twenty or so laps. The Daytona 500 is the other one. Thought I was going to be disappointed but as usual they came through on the last lap!! An additional challange yesterday was trying to watch those last laps while trying to monitor the Patriots game.
Did anybody notice that the upper deck of the grandstand was pretty much empty.
Stewart: a very expensive turn to the left. Kind of like politics!
No No Magoo of course it wasn't noticed! After all one wouldn't want to acknowledge that there are other ways of boring oneself cheaper !
Earnhardt Jr. to miss Charlotte and Kansas races
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not compete in the upcoming Sprint Cup Series Chase events at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway after being diagnosed with a concussion following the Oct. 7 race at Talladega, Ala.
Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 Chevrolets for Hendrick Motorsports, was diagnosed Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte. Regan Smith will be the team's substitute driver at Charlotte and Kansas.
While the COT has been a safer car in most respects there is a down side to this. The COT is able to survive horrendous crashes. However it still transmits to much force to the driver in a crash. While tracks have made improvements w/ safer barriers etc.(which dissipate energy in a crash when hit crashes like Sundays' do not ,the car and ultimately the driver absorbs energy.
This was the point after Dale Srs. death that Bill Simpson was trying to make and NASCAR attempted to blame that event on Simpsons' seat belts he makes.
Simpson wanted more crush zones built into front of car which would absorb energy and dissipate it away from driver.
This works and is a proven design you see in open wheel racing Indy etc.. A crash happens and things fly off car,energy being absorbed and dissipated! but tub around driver remains intact.
This next to impossible to do with a rigid chassis as used in NASCAR.
No car is totally safe but there are ways to minimize these accidents . I believe plate racing is a major cause of the increased risk. While NASCAR is afraid of the increased speeds,knowing the cars will not handle it as well
they would be better off letting the cars race and get spread out vs. a crash like Sunday.
I watched Jrs'. news conference and give him credit for doing what he has done. It must be real hard to step aside for two races but I think he knows he is right. I think he knows plate racing has to be changed
the question is does the France family who own both tracks . They should have mandated the Hahns' device and Dale Sr. would still be w/us , will they do something doubtful , evenb the decrease in attendance hasn't been understood yet!
Oxford Plains racetrack has a new owner
Oxford Plains Speedway is being sold to former racer and veteran motor sports promoter Tom Mayberry.
Mayberry, 51, said he plans to make the speedway into multi-use facility with more major events, including bringing a monster truck and motocross -- think acrobatic dirt bike -- shows to the track.
Mayberry also plans to bring back racing with cars that have bigger tires, bigger motors and travel at faster speeds.
Glad to see this happen.
It is a shame that in years past town was not smart and missed out on New Hampshire speedway being Oxford Speedway instead.
Hope he succeeds and expands offerings.
Earnhardt Jr. set for Martinsville return
Earnhardt Jr. has been cleared to drive this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, according to a statement issued Tuesday afternoon by NASCAR officials.
Earnhardt sat out the past two races while recovering from a concussion he suffered in a last-lap crash at Talladega Superspeedway. On Monday, he climbed into a car at Gresham Motorsports Park for a closed test session attended by neurosurgeon Dr. Jerry Petty and ran 123 laps without incident.
Harvick To Join Stewart-Haas Racing In 2014
Multiple NASCAR industry sources confirmed to ESPN.com on Friday that Harvick has signed a multiyear agreement to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing beginning with the 2014 season.
Under Stewart-Haas' plan, sources said, Harvick will drive a fourth SHR Chevrolet, teaming with Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Danica Patrick to form a four-car stable.
Gordon, Keselowski fined, placed on probation
Jeff Gordon was fined $100,000, docked 25 driver points and put on probation until Dec. 31 for his on-track altercation with Clint Bowyer...
Brian Pattie, crew chief of No. 15 car driven by Bowyer, was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until December 31...
Brad Keselowski was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31... (cars and drivers will no longer be permitted to carry automated electronic recording devices,... electronically actuated devices, recording devices...).
Keselowski had a cell phone.
Rick Hendrick was docked 25 owner points.
This past weekend of racing in Phoenix brought viewers or listeners some very exciting action. In the Nationwide series, Eliot Sadler, contending for the title, wrecked, most likely putting him out of contention. It is likely Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will be the Naionwide series champion, for the 2nd season in a row. He steps up to the Sprint Cup Series with a fulltime ride next year.
In the Sprint Cup series, there were 3 drivers in contention for the championship. Jimmy Johnson, odds on favorite, crashed, and is now 20 points behind Brad Keselowski. The championship is Brad's to win...or lose. Third place contender Clint Boyer, a long shot, was taken out in a purposeful crash by 4 time champion Jeff Gordon. The wreck also took out Joey Logano and Aric Almirola. The day was topped off by a melee in the pits between Boyer's Crew and Gordon's Crew, and a next to last lap wreck of Danica Patrick that put oil on the track, with no yellow flag, piling up several cars on the last lap coming out of turn 4.
Homestead, FL, next weekend, is the finale for the season for both series. Should be a bell ringer!
Dale,
I think you need to look at all the replays and sound bites. You will hear how that oil came from Bowyer's car and was not cleaned up properly during the red flag. There were too many people concentrating on the actions of what was going on in the pits.
You'll get no argument from me...how ever the oil arrived on the track, it should have been evident to NASCAR spotters and called in for a yellow flag or should have continued the earlier yellow flag. T'was an interesting race, nontheless. Looking forward to Homestead!
As a friend of mine who works in NASCAR was quick to point out when I sent him a couple of these off this same link...he said that these are proposed because the final car appearances for 2013 have not been released and this also includes all the changes to aero package as well. The changes are not due to be released until the beginning of December.
The vehicles being used are the 2012 models and some are the street model cars they are demonstrated on as they have no idea what the 2013 body style NASCAR is going with.
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Ya NASCAR but they are not talking about it much ( Another sport where TV revenues will kill it, those are down also).
The problem is multi faceted. Cars aren't as exciting as used to be( new fake body style next year).Economy.
Indianapolis is tradition based for indy cars( that is lacking for NASCAR).
But on the bright side(or fan appeal to many) we had the last 30 or so lap "Big One" !