NASCAR News March 29 - April 8, 2006

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April 8, 2006:

• Toyota opens Checkbook, Jarrett among possibilities? The new NASCAR Nextel Cup Toyota operation that is being backed by Red Bull "has opened the checkbook," according to one top Ford man, who points to Red Bull's hiring of John Propst, a top Ford Motor Company vehicle dynamics specialist, and the hiring of a top Dodge engineer from the Ray Evernham camp for its new stock-car racing team. General Motors executives are anxiously watching their own key engineers for any similar defections. Elsewhere on the Toyota-NASCAR front, Toyota has made a bid to sign a two-year contract with Dale Jarrett, the tour's 1999 champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. Jarrett's contract with car owner Robert Yates is up at the end of this season. While it has been unclear for several months if Yates and Jarrett could come to new terms, Ford officials said Yates is offering Jarrett a contract similar to the Toyota deal. (Salem-Journal)

• Red Bull hires Sawyer: Elton Sawyer, who was working with Evernham Motorsports in its driver development program, has been hired by Red Bull Racing as its Director of Competition, a team spokesman confirmed Thursday. Sawyer is third all-time in Busch Series starts with 392. He finished fifth in points three times in the series. He also had 29 Cup starts. Red Bull Racing will field two teams as part of Toyota's Nextel Cup effort next season. The team is owned by the energy drink company. (NASCAR Scene Daily)

• NASCAR ratings not going down, Ratings on record pace: While the cars go round and round, the ratings continue to go up, up, up. NASCAR's television ratings are on a record pace. Again. The left-turn crowd on the Nextel Cup circuit set a ratings record last season. The average rating for a race was 6.1. Nextel Cup is on pace to top it this go-round. If this keeps up much longer, other sports may lobby Nielsen to slap restrictor plates on its monitoring meters. Going into Sunday's race on Fox at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR is cruising along at 6.5. "The really nice thing is that there has been a steady growth in the ratings," said Ed Goren, president of Fox Sports, which owns the rights to the first half of the season. "In today's TV environment, that's really impressive."  What can be more embarrassing than having split national games in March featuring Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James partnered with the Mavericks-Nets losing out to rainout coverage from Nextel Cup race in Atlanta. Final rating score: Rain 3.7, NBA 1.7. Ditto baseball's Game of the Week on Fox. Its ratings aren't in the same ballpark as Nextel Cup. For all the ink the NCAA Tournament gets, George Mason's overtime victory over Connecticut, the ultimate upset on the way to the Final Four, attracted fewer viewers than NASCAR's Bristol race. (In part from Dallas Morning News)

• FBI at Texas Motor Speedway: Bruton Smith, the Texas Motor Speedway owner, said the FBI will be here paying attention this weekend to see if NBC follows last weekend's NASCAR sting operation at Martinsville, where the network brought in Muslims for the Nextel Cup race and followed them around with hidden cameras to judge racism in the stock-car racing crowd.  (Salem-Journal)

April 7, 2006:

• Martinsville ratings sets record: Not only was the DirecTV 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway a sellout last Sunday afternoon, it was a huge hit on television. The race scored a 6.2 final national rating on FOX, up 22 percent over the 5.1 final national rating a year ago. The 2006 DirecTV 500 was the highest rated, most viewed NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event in the history of Martinsville Speedway, out-performing the previous record rating by 15 percent. The previous record had been a 5.4 on FOX for the 2001 and 2004 spring events. The 6.2 final rating meant that 9,766,000 people watched the race in 6,810,000 households. The Kroger 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Saturday also drew record television numbers for Martinsville Speedway. The Kroger 250 earned a 1.1 rating on SPEED, up 10 percent from the 1.0 rating for the 2005 race. (Martinsville PR)

• ISC sees quarterly profits go up: International Speedway Corp. reported a 7.3 percent gain in profit for its first quarter, driven, in large part, by a successful Speed Weeks in Daytona Beach. ISC's revenue for the December-February period increased to $193.9 million, compared to $179.4 million in the year-earlier period. Net income was $44.1 million, or 83 cents per share, up from $41.1 million, or 77 cents per diluted share, a year ago. "Increased broadcast rights revenue for NASCAR's Nextel Cup and Busch Series contributed to our record results, as well as higher overall sponsorship, hospitality and other motorsports-related revenues," John Saunders, ISC's chief operating officer, said Thursday in a conference call with investment analysts. Although the Bud Shootout was delayed a day because of rain, attendance for the Craftsman truck and Busch Series races was up more than 10 percent over last year, he said. The Daytona 500, as usual, sold out. "ISC posted record television statistics, with over 37 million viewers tuned in for the race," he said. The ratings were the highest ever for a NASCAR race, the company said. Susan Schandel, ISC's chief financial officer, said ticket sales for the quarter were relatively flat at $55.5 million. (Daytona News Journal)

• NASCAR to use smaller fuel cells at Lowes: NASCAR will require cars to use a smaller fuel cell at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May, NASCAR Vice President for Competition Robin Pemberton said April 7. The move is designed to make teams pit more frequently and give them a chance to check tire wear on the newly repaved surface on the 1.5-mile track outside Charlotte. Pemberton said the tire Goodyear has decided to use "is a great tire," but NASCAR wanted to enter the first weekend on the new surface cautiously. The fuel cell will be about 13 gallons, compared to the usual 22-gallon cell. Teams will be able to go about 35-40 laps on fuel instead of 60-70 with the bigger cell. Nextel Cup teams will test at the track May 1-3, and Busch Series teams will test there May 8-10.(NASCAR Scene Daily)

• Nemechek to back-up car: On the first lap of today's practice session at Texas Motor Speedway, Joe Nemechek spun and hit the concrete wall, forcing the 01 U.S. Army team to go with a backup Chevrolet for the rest of the weekend, including today's qualifying session, which begins at 3:40 p.m. CDT. Nemechek did manage to make a few practice laps in the backup car and was 29th fastest out of the 48 cars entered for Sunday's Samsung/RadioShack 500. After the practice session, the 01 team put the engine from the primary car into the backup car. "Once we get the primary engine in the backup (car), we should be fast," said Nemechek, who has qualified in the top 10 at the last four Texas races. "I am not really sure why the (primary) car did what it did. I was down low and the car was sticking, and then all of a sudden it was headed to the wall." (DMF Communications)

• Johnson to race Shamu paint scheme: Lowe's and SeaWorld announced today that Jimmie Johnson will feature a Shamu paint scheme on his Chevrolet when the Daytona 500 champion returns to the superspeedway on July 1. "The No. 48 Lowe's team has done some great family-themed paint schemes in the past few years," said Johnson. "This Shamu scheme is no different. All kids love Shamu. I know I did growing up in San Diego. Now, I'll be able to bring Shamu to the beaches of Daytona and hopefully introduce him to victory lane." Lowe's is the official Home Improvement Store of all the Busch Entertainment Corp. (BEC) theme parks, including SeaWorld. The paint scheme is part of SeaWorld's introduction of its all new Shamu show, called "Believe" at each of the SeaWorld parks this year. In addition to the Shamu paint scheme, a lucky race fan will have the opportunity to see the new show and watch as Jimmie Johnson races the Shamu No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet. Fans can log on to www.lowesracing.com, sign up for a free Team Lowe's Racing fan club membership, then race the specially designed No. 48 Chevrolet online. The fan with the fastest time will win a trip to Orlando to visit SeaWorld and Discovery Cove as well as the opportunity to watch Jimmie race. The Contest will run from April 7 to May 12. "Lowe's is pleased to offer this unique experience to our race fans," said Bob Gfeller, Lowe's senior vice president.  (GMR Live PR)

April 6, 2006:

• NASCAR outraged by 'Dateline' NBC's story: NASCAR's governing body called a network television news magazine "outrageous" on Wednesday, saying it tried to provoke anti-Muslim reactions from spectators at last week's race for a story about growing U.S. sentiment against Islam.  NASCAR said NBC's Dateline NBC confirmed it was sending Muslim-looking men to a race, along with a camera crew to film fans' reactions. The NBC crew was "apparently on site in Martinsville, Virginia, walked around and no one bothered them," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Wednesday. "It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news," Poston said. "Any legitimate journalist in America should be embarrassed by this stunt. The obvious intent by NBC was to evoke reaction, and we are confident our fans won't take the bait," he said. (AP/NASCAR.com)

• Roush hat auctioned off for charity:  NASCAR team owner Jack Roush wore his trademark fedora to the Texas Motor Sports Hall of Fame Gala on Wednesday night, but he left the Speedway Club Ballroom without it. Roush won the TMS Racer of the Year Award, but after accepting his award, Roush told TMS president Eddie Gossage to put his lid up for bids for the 800 patrons at the gala. Bids started a $1,500 and quickly escalating before the winner got the hat for $6,000. The money will go to Happy Hill Farm, an academy in Granbury for at-risk kids. Roush was asked if that was the only hat he brought to Texas: "It doesn't matter," he said. "I'll get another one on Sunday." (Dallas Morning News)

• Bank of America hires NEXTEL's NASCAR marketing executive: Bank of America, one of the world's largest financial institutions, today announced that Jill Gregory has joined the company as Senior Vice President and Strategic Marketing Executive for the bank's NASCAR sponsorship programs. In this new role, Gregory will oversee strategy and activation development for the company's expansive motorsports sponsorship platform, which includes title sponsorship of the Bank of America 500 and the Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America, as well as sponsorships at 10 tracks throughout the country. As part of the company's Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs organization, Gregory will be based in Charlotte, and will report to Ray Bednar, Senior Vice President and Sports Sponsorship Executive who leads strategy and activation development for the company's sports sponsorship portfolio. Gregory joins Bank of America after serving most recently as Director of Sponsorships and Sports Marketing at Sprint Nextel. In that capacity, she was responsible for developing and managing marketing and sales programs to support the company's title sponsorship of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR's premier racing series. .(Bank of America PR)

• ISC Official says no plans to move races from speedway:  International Speedway Corp. Chief Operating Officer John Saunders says the company has no plans to move any of its NASCAR Nextel Cup races from Martinsville Speedway and California Speedway. Answering questions during a conference call with financial analysts to discuss the company's first-quarter financial results, Saunders today said that overall weekend attendance was down at California for February, but ISC remains bullish on the Los Angeles market. He said that the move of a race from North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham for a second California event beginning in 2004 has resulted in increased ticket sales and sponsorship revenues but has not met the company's expectations.   "While the Southwest is an underdeveloped region for NASCAR racing, we believe it is strategically important to have two major Cup weekends in the nation's second-largest media market," Saunders said. "As part of our long-term growth efforts. We are changing ticket pricing and packaging strategies, as well as adding amenities designed to enhance the fan experience. "We remain confident in the long-term success of the California Speedway." (NASCAR Scene Daily)

April 5, 2006:

• Goodyear officials optimistic at LMS: NASCAR officials are "guardedly optimistic'' that the latest tire developed by Goodyear will prevent a repeat of last year's caution-marred Nextel Cup races at newly paved Lowe's Motor Speedway.  "I believe this tire will be unique to anything else that we've seen,'' said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition. Goodyear tested the tire on Tuesday, less than a week after initial tests showed more severe tire wear than there was at the October race in which there were an event-record 15 cautions, mostly for blown tires. Pemberton said the new tire is made of a harder compound that seems to wear better on the higher-than-normal speeds that are the result of the new surface. "They turned the factory upside down to answer the call of duty,'' he said of Goodyear. "They came back and designed a tire that was pretty tough. The drivers were happy. The speeds were still pretty good.'' (NASCAR.com)

• Boris and Stoddard partners with Roush for 4-5 races:  Veteran driver and Nextel Cup semi-regular Boris Said and veteran crew chief Frank Stoddard have formed their own Nextel Cup team, Yahoo! Sports has learned. They are partnering with long-time Said associate and former driver and team owner Mark Simo. The team, which is slated to run four or five races this season, will work with Roush Racing, which has offered to supply the team with cars, engines and technical expertise. Stoddard recently left MB2 Motorsports and speculation was that he was set to rejoin Roush. But Stoddard, who used to be crew chief for Roush's No. 99 car when Jeff Burton was behind the wheel, instead has been working with Roush officials on forming the new team. Said has been frustrated with his inability to find a regular Cup ride this season after running nine races with MB2 in 2005 with Stoddard as his crew chief. After Simo's No Fear clothing company purchased a building adjacent to Roush Racing headquarters in Concord, N.C., for a planned East Coast distribution center, Said, who has been working as a consultant for Roush's teams, began talking with Roush about possibly starting a team. "When I first talked to Jack, he suggested the idea and I immediately brought it to Mark," Said explained. (Yahoo! Sports)

• NASCAR Fines & Suspension: NASCAR has announced that one member of the No. 07 Chevrolet team has been suspended and another has been fined, as a result of rule violations during this past Sunday's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event at Martinsville Speedway. Crew member Clint Almquist has been suspended from NASCAR until April 19, 2006 and placed on probation until June 7, 2006 for violating Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series rule book. During Sunday's race, Almquist on one occasion did not place racing fuel in the designated collection area. Crew chief Gil Martin was fined $2,500 for violating Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 9-4-A (crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of his team members). (NASCAR PR)

• Robby Gordon delivers 10 millionth meal in Tarrant County: Robby Gordon will make a special delivery to a homebound person on Thursday, April 6 in Ft. Worth, TX in his #7 Harrah's Chevy via police escort. He will assist Carla Jutson in delivering the 10 millionth meal served in Tarrant County since Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County began meal deliveries in 1973. In 2002, Harrah's became a national prime sponsor of the Meals On Wheels Association of America's "March For Meals" campaign, committing $1 million over three years and an additional $1 million from 2005 to 2009. Since 2004, Harrah's Entertainment and Gordon have teamed up to aid Harrah's nationwide efforts to drive public awareness for the association's campaign. This is the first of six deliveries in race markets this season. (Robby Gordon  PR)

• Tony Eury Jr. Wins Wypall Crew Chief of the Race Award: Martinsville Speedway delivered 500 laps of incensed racing excitement in this weekend's DIRECTV 500. Pushing, bumping and shoving were the norm at the half-mile bull ring, leaving the garage littered with numerous torn up vehicles by the event's end. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. weren't exempt from the action, as the #8 Budweiser Chevy was involved in two separate incidents on the race track, forcing lengthy pit stops to fix the damage after each episode. Still, with Eury Jr.'s guidance, Earnhardt Jr. was able to climb back and finish inside the top-five. Eury Jr.'s comeback earned him the Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Race. Earnhardt Jr. suffered extensive damage to the right side of his Monte Carlo after getting collected in a multi-car accident during the opening stages of the DIRECTV 500. Eury Jr. ordered vast repairs to the #8 Chevy and worked his driver inside the top-10 following the maintenance, but contact wit the #12 car on lap 318 forced another unscheduled stop. Despite the two setbacks, the Earnhardt Jr. and Eury Jr. combination fought to a fourth-place finish. A panel of voters; including Robbie Reiser, Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal and a Wypall Wipers representative; unanimously agreed that Eury Jr.'s comeback deserved Crew Chief of the Race accolades. For winning the Crew Chief of the Race award, WypAll Wipers gave Eury Jr. $1,000. At the end of the season, the crew chief with the most weekly wins will receive $20,000 and be crowned the Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Year. This was Eury Jr.'s first Crew Chief of the Race award in 2006, which ties him with Darian Grubb, Kenny Francis and Roy McCauley for second-place in the standings. Robbie Reiser is in the lead with two wins. (Wypall PR)

• FOX Collision sponsors Front Row Motorsports: Front Row Motorsports announced today that FOX Collision Center will sponsor the Front Row Motorsports #92 Chevrolet driven by Chad Blount at Texas Motor Speedway, for the Samsung/RadioShack 500. "I look forward to driving the FOX Collision Center Chevrolet at Texas," commented driver Chad Blount. "Our team is ready to build on our effort from Martinsville and we're excited about our chances this weekend." FOX Collision Center, Inc., with 11 full service body shops is owned and operated by Kansas native Todd Fox, an industry veteran with over 20 years experience in collision repair. He began his collision repair business in Wichita and operated four facilities before moving onto Tulsa, Oklahoma in spring of 2001. After just a few short months, FOX quickly became Tulsa's premier Collision Center. There are currently four FOX Collision Centers in Wichita, one in Kansas City, Kansas; four in Tulsa and one in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. FOX Collision launched in Arkansas last week with the opening of their newest shop in Springdale. "Our partnership with Front Row Motorsports in 2005 provided a tremendous amount of exposure for our Collision Centers and was a wonderful experience for everyone involved," said Todd Fox owner of FOX Collision. "This gives us the chance to connect with the core of our customer base. We look to strengthen our relationship with our existing customers while exposing our business and the services we offer to new people and potential customers." "We appreciate the support of FOX Collision Center for the Texas race," said team owner Bob Jenkins.  For more information about Fox Collision please visit www.foxcollision.com (Front Row Motorsports PR)

April 4, 2006:

• Sprint/NEXTEL undecided on timeline of name change:  Sprint Nextel executives said on Tuesday it would be mid-season before a decision would be made on a possible name change for NASCAR's top series. Nextel merged with Sprint in August 2004, but the Nextel Cup Series name has remained unchanged. Sprint executives were initially scheduled to meet with NASCAR in February to discuss a possible name change, but that meeting won't happen until later in the year.  "It was not the right time to consider a change and we have agreed to a new timetable which is the middle of this year," said Mark Schweitzer, Chief Marketing Officer of Sprint Nextel. "We want to make sure that if we were to make a change, it would not be detrimental to the equity we have built up. "That is not the same as saying the name needs to change. We have an agreement with NASCAR to revisit it." Sprint Nextel said that NASCAR itself would have a "lot of input" in the name. Only one name change can occur over the 10-year contract period. Jill Gregory, the director of Nextel's NASCAR marketing since 2004, left the company to head motorsports marketing for Bank of America. Gregory's boss, Michael Robichaud, has announced he also will be leaving the company, sparking speculation about the future of Sprint-Nextel in NASCAR's top series. But Sprint Nextel executives pointed out that selling the deal with NASCAR, which began in 2004 and runs through 2013, is not an option. (NASCAR.com)

• NEXTEL Cup Richmond testing: After more than 40 NASCAR Busch Series drivers tested at Richmond International Raceway last week, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series drivers will take their turn for three consecutive days starting next Tuesday, April 11. Testing each day will run from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and the grandstands will be open for fans each day. Admission and parking are free and concessions will be available from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. each day. (Richmond Int'l Raceway PR)

• McMurray to be designated driver for the night: Everyone wants a reliable designated driver and you would be hard pressed to find a better driver than a NASCAR star. Some lucky bar patrons will experience that very scenario on Thursday night, April 6, leading up to the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. That's when NASCAR's Jamie McMurray will lead a fleet of 10 #26 Crown Royal Ford Fusions as they provide free, safe, rides home to Dallas / Ft. Worth area nightlife revelers. Crown Royal's annual "Safe Rides Home" initiative to help promote responsible decision making has provided rides for hundreds of patrons and NASCAR fans since its inception in 2003. Bar patrons can sign up for free rides home at a specially decorated taxi kiosk at Rodeo Plaza in downtown Fort Worth as part of Crown Royal's "Be a Champion. Drink Responsibly." program that promotes responsible drinking. Crown Royal is the primary sponsor of McMurray's #26 Ford, and the purple and gold colors will run again in the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. (Alan Taylor Communications)

• Sadler's M&M's Crew Captures Pit Crew Win In Martinsville: Elliott Sadler's M&M's pit crew claimed its first win of the season in the weekly Checkers® / Rally's® Double Drive-Thru Challenge competition, helping boost the Robert Yates Racing driver to a sixth-place finish in Sunday's (April 2) Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. "I'm so proud of my guys," offered Sadler. "Martinsville is the toughest pit road we visit during the season. It is just so tight to maneuver. I think track position is the key to being successful at Martinsville. It is a tough place to pass and I think we picked up spots every time we came on to pit road." Sadler's over-the-wall team edged out other participating crews by spending the least amount of time in the pits during the DIRECTV 500. Sadler's No. 38 Ford spent 279.774 seconds on pit lane. "You've got to have good pit stops and my guys were definitely on it on Sunday," continued Sadler, whose crew earned $10,500 for the win. "This M&M's team needed a good run. I think we are definitely back on track." Sadler's over-the-wall crew consists of: Rodney Fetters (jackman), Ryan McCray (front-tire carrier), Mike Lingerfelt (front-tire changer), Lance Hanna (rear-tire carrier), Dave Smith (rear-tire changer), Brian Dunaway (gasman), Frankie Good (catch can) and Toby Mellott (windshield). The team's crew chief is Tommy Baldwin Jr. and the pit crew coach is Andy Ward. After the sixth race of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season, Jimmie Johnson's and Tony Stewart's pit crew are tied in the Checkers/Rally's Double Drive-Thru Challenge standings with two victories each. The season champion will receive a $105,000 bonus. The Checkers/Rally's Double Drive-Thru Challenge is in its second season with the Nextel Cup Series. (DMF Communications PR)

• Change in Crew Chiefs for PPI: PPI Motorsports announced today that Gary Putnam, the team's competition director, will now assume the role of crew chief of the No. 32 Tide/Downy Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS driven by Travis Kvapil in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. The position is effective immediately as he has begun preparing for this weekend's Cup event, the Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, James Ince, who has served as team manager as well as crew chief at PPIM since September 2005 has been released to pursue other opportunities. "It is time to go in a new direction with this Tide/Downy race team and Gary Putman is the person I have chosen to take the lead," said Cal Wells III, owner of PPI Motorsports. "I appreciate his willingness to step up and take on this new challenge. It was never our intention to move Gary into this role when he was originally hired. However, it is evident in our current position of 41st place in points that we are not providing the tools needed for Travis to succeed on the race track. I feel fortunate to have the kind of depth on this team to be able to call up a person of Gary's caliber to assume this new responsibility. I credit that to James Ince since he recruited Putnam to join PPIM in January. "I truly need to thank James Ince for everything he has done for this organization," continued Wells. "He has worked extremely hard to rebuild this Tide/Downy race team as well as assemble a quality group of people. Unfortunately, we have not met the objectives set forth at the start of the season and therefore, we both felt it would be in the best interest of the team as well as for James to make this change. He is extremely talented and I know he will be successful in whatever he chooses to do in the future. I wish him nothing but the best."  (PPI Motorsports PR)

April 3, 2006:

• NASCAR COT testing at Martinsville: For the second straight week, NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow tested on a short track as preparations continue for next season's debut of a safer, more competitive and cost-efficient stock car. On Monday at Martinsville Speedway, #29-Kevin Harvick of the Richard Childress Racing team, along with NASCAR's Brett Bodine, tested the new car. While early morning rain delayed the start of the test, the results were extremely positive. "We went through our normal aero changes here today, just to back up what the wind tunnel has been telling us, and were able to get some quality laps on the track," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president for competition. "The wing continues to give us positive results. It is going to provide the teams with a lot of advantages when it comes to competition. We'll even get more evidence of that when we test the Car of Tomorrow next month at Lowe's Motor Speedway." For Harvick, it was his first time driving the Car of Tomorrow and he was encouraged with his initial test run. "When you get in the driver's seat, it feels like just another race car," said Harvick. "We got a lot out of today's test, because it helps us determine what kind of package we will need when we run the car next season. From everything I've heard about the wing, it should be a big help in helping the car behind you get some air on its nose. That seems to be what we're fighting all the time; the aero push on the bigger race tracks." Monday marked the second straight week for RCR to test its Car of Tomorrow, as #31-Jeff Burton participated in the session a week ago at Bristol. Harvick says that the RCR team has made a commitment to develop its Car of Tomorrow program. "We didn't go to the Car of Tomorrow test at Daytona (held in January), so we came out of there saying that since we had a clean sheet of paper, we needed to work to get ahead of the game and come out of the gate strong with this car next season," said Harvick. "Richard (Childress) has made a commitment to do that and we've assembled a team to take this car around and we should have a couple of more cars done by Charlotte." The next NASCAR Car of Tomorrow test is scheduled for May 30-31 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord. (NASCAR PR)

• Petty/STP Classic Paint Scheme: On Friday, April 7, 2006 around 2 p.m. at the Texas Motor Speedway, Richard Petty and Bobby Labonte will unveil a special No. 43 retro paint scheme that pays tribute to STP -- one of the longest running sponsors in the history of stockcar racing. The retro ride will race in the Aaron's 499 in Talladega at the end of April. Petty and Labonte will also discuss future plans concerning the historic partnership of Petty Enterprises and STP and make a special announcement regarding STP donation to Victory Junction Gang Camp. The Victory Junction Gang was founded in memory of Richard's grandson, Adam Petty, and is designed to enrich the lives of children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses. (Ketchum Sports Network PR)

April 2, 2006:

• Stewart wins Martinsville race: ony Stewart won a paint-trading duel with Jimmie Johnson and overcame Hendrick Motorsports' long domination at Martinsville Speedway. Stewart and Johnson dueled nose-to-bumper and side-by-side for four laps Sunday, bringing the 65,000 fans to their feet. After being rebuffed three times, Stewart finally got around Johnson with 27 laps to go and held on to win the DirectTV 500. "I knew we were a little quicker than him. There was no way he was going to give it away, so we were going to have to take it away. We didn't turn him around. We didn't spin him out. We just got the position that we were after," Stewart said. The victory was the 25th for the defending and two-time series champion, and second at Martinsville, where he led 530 of 1,000 laps last year but came away without either victory. He also once said the track should be converted to a bass fishing pond. (ABC News - Points - Results)

• Smaller fuel tanks at Lowes? Smaller fuel tanks might be a way to deal with excessive tire wear at tracks like Atlanta Motor Speedway and the newly paved Lowe's Motor Speedway. The idea is that if drivers ran out of fuel after 30 laps or so, they'd make pit stops before tires could wear to a dangerous point. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said it's too soon to tell whether the smaller tanks, which are used at Daytona and Talladega to add pit stops and therefore break up big packs of cars, will be used elsewhere. "Our primary focus in preparing for the upcoming races at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May is testing the tires and getting them right," he said. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

April 1, 2006:

• Ward in Martinsville Garage: Ward Burton was back in the garage at Martinsville Speedway on Friday wishing he were wearing a driving suit instead of jeans. "I've been carrying on some communication, seeing what kind of dominoes need to fall to get back in," he said, adding that he no longer is as insistent on getting a Nextel Cup ride as he was last year. "I'm getting a little more open-minded to the possibility of another series," he said, indicating that he'd be willing to make a comeback in the Craftsman Truck or Busch series. Burton, a five-time Cup winner who hasn't raced since the fall race at Phoenix in 2004, said he enjoyed his year layoff, but he's ready for it to end. "I had a whole year to get a good breather, and I probably needed it," he said. "But when it got close to Daytona and I wasn't testing and doing appearances, I started having a longing, like I had lost a friend in my heart." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

• Evernham named All-time Best Crew Chief by the media: Ray Evernham, who won three NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championships in the 1990s as crew chief for Jeff Gordon, has been selected as NASCAR's top all-time crew chief in a vote by a national motorsports media contingent. Evernham's selection was announced Friday at Martinsville (Virginia) Speedway, in conjunction with the announcement of the new NASCAR DIRECTV Crew Chief of the Race contingency award for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. The $5,600 per-race award will go into effect with Sunday's running of the DIRECTV 500 at Martinsville. It will be presented weekly to the crew chief whose team has the lowest combined start/finish numbers. A year-end award of $102,400 will also be presented to the crew chief with the most victories. (Eligibility is based on a team's participation in the DIRECTV Crew Chief of the Race contingency program.) Evernham, heading a first-rate pit crew that became known as the "Rainbow Warriors" because of their brightly-colored uniforms that represented the team's sponsor, DuPont, guided Gordon to NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championships in 1995, '97 and '98. Evernham left the team late in the 1999 season to head Dodge's 2001 return to the series. He continues in that role, via his Evernham Motorsports operation with drivers Kasey Kahne, Jeremy Mayfield and Scott Riggs. "I'm blown away," Evernham said. "I've never thought of myself as anyone special. All I did was have a great team, a great driver and did my job the best I could. I thank the media for their recognition."  Evernham was one of 10 crew chiefs nominated for the all-time award. Over several days of voting on NASCARMEDIA.com, Evernham amassed a total of 1,187 points to edge eight-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion crew chief Dale Inman by only 24 (1,163) points. Leonard Wood, who is credited with helping to revolutionize the approach to pit stops in the 1960s, finished third with 1,079 points. Media participating in the voting ranked the 10 nominated crew chiefs. A first-place ranking was worth 10 points, a second-place ranking nine points, etc. Evernham received 46 first-place votes, while Inman had 47 and Wood 19. Rounding out the results: In fourth place was Harry Hyde with 1,051 points, followed by Bud Moore (937); Kirk Shelmerdine (908); Ray Fox (748); Lee Petty (737); Gary Nelson (643); and Herb Nab (512). "To me it's an honor to be mentioned with those other people," Evernham said. "Those guys are the heroes that I've looked up to. If you were a baseball player, it's like winning an award above Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth, great people like that." (NASCAR PR)

• Nerves helped Raines qualifying: Tony Raines admittedly scared himself into a 12th-place qualifying spot Friday in his on-track debut with Hall of Fame Racing. Raines toured the flat, 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway in 19.760 seconds/95.830 mph during a session topped by DirecTV 500 pole sitter Jimmie Johnson at 19.575 seconds/96.736 mph. Raines' hot lap marked only the second time in six NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races that the No. 96 Chevrolet -- driven by native Texan Terry Labonte for the first five events -- qualified on speed. Labonte, a two-time Cup champion, posted a best start of 35th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "I'm still shaking, and not that it was a scary lap. It's just the first race out of the box," said Raines, who will drive the Monte Carlo SS co-owned by former Cowboys quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman for the majority of the season. "I kind of overdrove it just a little bit," said Raines, the 1999 NASCAR Busch Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year. "If [crew chief ] Philippe Lopez is happy and the team is happy, it's good for me." (Fort-Worth Star Telegram)

• Second Goodyear test at Lowes Tuesday: Goodyear is planning to do a second tire test at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Dale Jarrett and Kevin Harvick will test there Tuesday. (Roanoke Times)

March 31, 2006:

• Edwards to appear on FOX's "24": NASCAR driver, Carl Edwards will be making his much anticipated debut on Fox's, "24" next Monday, April 3rd. Edwards hasn't spoken much about his role on the show over the last two months, as just like the show, it remains confidential information. Look for Edwards Monday night at 9:00 PM (EST). "First I have to thank California Speedway for setting this up, this is a lot of fun," said Edwards. "I definitely think acting is something I'd like to do more of. I had such a blast being on the set of '24'. Everyone was just awesome. Jon (Cassar), the director, and Kiefer (Sutherland) have been great to work with, really everyone is just so nice and really made me feel at home. The best part was they gave me a line to read. The cameras started to roll and as I was walking over to shake the other character's hand I realized my palms were a little sweaty which doesn't happen very often." Look for Edwards to make his 55th start in the Nextel Cup Series this Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. After a great run last weekend in Bristol, Edwards moved up eight spots in the point standings - landing him in the 22nd position. Edwards looks to further improve his position with another great short track run in the DirecTV 500. (Roush Racing PR)

• Memorial Services today for RIR's Campbell: The family of Kenneth Campbell will hold a memorial service for him tomorrow, Friday, March 31 at 5:00 p.m. The service for the longtime VP of Public Relations at Richmond International Raceway who passed away last Friday will be open to friends, family and business associates of Mr. Campbell and his family, and not the general public. The service will take place in the media center in the Richmond International Raceway infield. Upon Mr. Campbell's retirement in 2001, the building was renamed the Kenneth Campbell Media Center in his honor. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in his name to the Victory Junction Gang Camp at 4500 Adam's Way, Randleman, SC 27317. (Richmond Int'l Raceway PR)

March 30, 2006:

• NASCAR unsure if they will slow Charlotte speeds:  Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, was at LMS monitoring the situation. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said no decision will be made on whether the sanctioning body will step in to lower speeds until after a full Cup test session in early May. Wheeler said nobody will know all the answers until after the May 28 Coca-Cola 600. "That's what NASCAR racing is all about, adjusting to the track conditions that are there,'' he said. "You put them out in the parking lot and they're going to figure out how to get around it. You put them on the moon and they can figure out how to get around the moon. "When you challenge them with new pavement that is when you really are asking for some creativity, particularly in the handling area. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.'' (NASCAR.com)

• NFL official to attend Texas race: NFL director of officiating Mike Pereira is heading to the races. Pereira will attend next week's NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway to examine Fox TV's coverage, specifically its high-definition cameras. Pereira is looking into the feasibility of using HDTV replays in NFL games. (Gainesville Sun)

• Darlington Tickets selling fast, maybe more seats?: Fewer than 8,000 seats remain for the Dodge Charger 500, and the strong sales have Darlington Raceway leaders thinking of expanding faster than they had imagined. Track president Chris Browning said he expects tickets for the Nextel Cup event to be gone in two weeks and that construction on a 6,300-seat grandstand in Turn 1 should be complete by next week, more than a month ahead of the May 13 Dodge Charger 500. The additional seats push the capacity at NASCAR's oldest superspeedway to about 63,000. Demand for this year's race has Browning itching to spring forward. "We've been running so far ahead for so long," Browning said. "It's got us considering and looking at our options." (News Observer)

• DIS signs news lease: The first family of racing signed a new lease Wednesday giving this community the biggest bang for its buck of any major pro sports facility, according to a consultant's report. Bill France Jr., Jim France, Lesa France Kennedy and Brian France said the deal shows their commitment to stay and invest here. Members of the Racing and Recreational Facilities Commission, landlord of Daytona International Speedway, unanimously approved the lease Wednesday. Racing will continue here through 2054 under the lease. Annual rent payments by the Speedway for 447 acres of public land jumps from a token $10,000 established in 1957 to help get the racetrack built to $500,000, with regular increases in future years. Efforts in the 1950s to pay for construction of the racetrack by selling bonds had failed when family patriarch Bill France Sr. stepped forward with his plan to take over. "I classify this as the greatest public-private partnership in America," said Bill France Jr., International Speedway Corp. chairman. "We took land that had a value of $4,500 and developed it with the help of a lot of people in the area." (Daytona News-Journal)

March 29, 2006:

• Goodyear testing at Lowes leads to record speeds, Johnson wrecks in AM:  A flat tire caused Jimmie Johnson to wreck Wednesday during an important test at Lowe's Motor Speedway, sending Goodyear officials searching to find the right rubber to use on the freshly paved surface. Johnson had completed about 20 laps when he felt his right rear tire rapidly losing air. He couldn't finish the lap before the tire went flat, sending Johnson into the turn four wall. "We're still looking at the tire and trying to find a concrete determination as to why the tire went down," said Rick Heinrich, product manager for Goodyear. "We don't know if it was a puncture or wear-related at this point." Johnson, who has won four in a row and five of the last six races at Lowe's, left the track after his accident because his car was damaged beyond repair. He was not injured.  It could take weeks for Goodyear to decide what tire will be best because the track surface will continue to change as more and more cars drive on it. Increased speeds is the danger on any repaved track. When Lowe's was last resurfaced in 1994, the qualifying record jumped from 177.352 to 181.439. So Goodyear and NASCAR will both work to find a proper way to control the speeds. Although using horsepower-sapping restrictor plates is an option, no one really wants to use them. "It's going to be fast, but fast enough that we need restrictor plates? Absolutely not," Riggs said. "That would be a horrible decision. We always set a new track record every time we go to a new surface. We expect the speeds to be faster. That's just how it is."  (AP/WCNC)

• Lester and Wife has second son: Barely a week after the excitement of racing in his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bill Lester and his wife Cheryl had another major event to celebrate ... the birth of their second son, Austin Richard Lester, who arrived on the starting grid at 1:56PM on Tuesday, March 28, at 9lb Ooz and 20.5" tall. Following the introduction ceremony and command to start your engines, he immediately posted competitive nap times. Mom, dad, baby and brother Alex are doing fine. (Atlanta Motor Speedway PR)

• McMurray Tire Change, Kruschek OK: Joe Kruschek, rear tire changer for the No. 26 Roush Racing Ford Fusion, was injured in last Monday's race in Atlanta during a routine pit stop. Kruschek sustained injuries to both hands when the jack was released while he was still in the process of tightening lugnuts. Kruschek suffered a broken left thumb, a broken right middle finger and a cut right index finger. He successfully underwent surgery on Tuesday, March 21st, in a local hospital in Griffin, Georgia, and was transported back to the Charlotte, North Carolina area by Roush Racing. Kruschek will be in a cast and will undergo physical therapy for at least a couple of months, but the prognosis is good for a satisfactory recovery. Upon welcoming Kruschek back to the Charlotte area, team owner Jack Roush contacted Dr. Jerry Petty, a Charlotte neurosurgeon, to further evaluate Joe and refer him to a hand specialist. "We're going to see that Joe Kruschek has the best possible care and that the most appropriate specialists are consulted and brought on board. Joe is a racer and I know that more than anything he wants to get back to work at the race track, but first and foremost we want him to be healthy," commented Jack Roush. This is Kruschek's first year with Roush Racing. (Roush Racing PR)

• Mark Martin Adds Seven More NASCAR Truck Series Races

• Glitch  occurred the reason behind language, Manion not fined: FOX Sports used the same excuse for profanity creeping into Sunday's broadcast of the Nextel Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway as CBS did for Janet Jackson's breast being exposed during halftime of Super Bowl XXXVIII. Equipment malfunction. "We've talked to FOX Sports and they told us there was a malfunction, that it wasn't deliberate,'' NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said Tuesday. "They told us there's some sort of system in play where there's a delay. For whatever reason, it didn't work. They assured us they're looking at ways to make sure that doesn't reoccur.'' The incident occurred when the in-car radio conversation between crew chief Kevin Manion and his driver, Martin Truex., Jr., was broadcast. Manion was caught using the same word that earned driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. a $10,000 fine and the loss of 25 points two years ago at Talladega Superspeedway. Hunter said Manion was not fined because "this was a glitch that occurred.''(NASCAR.com)

• 5 Kellogg's testing: #5 Crew chief Alan Gustafson has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 263 for Sunday's race at Martinsville. The Kellogg's team tested the car, which saw action in both Martinsville events in 2005, on March 22 at Caraway Speedway, a .455-mile oval in Asheboro, N.C. (Hendrick Motorsports Weekly Release)