Recap of Ryan Blaney's debut with Penske Racing

   Ryan Blaney, the 18-year-old son of NASCAR veteran Dave Blaney, made his debut with Penske Racing in Saturday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway. He finished 10th, his second series top-10. He finished seventh earlier this season at Richmond, Va., driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing.

   Blaney was asked about how his race went.

   "It was and up and down night for this Discount Tire Dodge tonight. We just really couldn’t get going. After pit stops it took us a while to get going and get with everyone else. Once we did get going our car was fast towards the end of the runs," he said. "Our last run was great. We were running down guys and were really fast. A few tough breaks there at the end kept us from bringing home a top-seven or better.”

   Was it tough to gauge how fast your car was running mid-pack?

   "Yeah, track position is important here and it’s tough to get going. You couldn’t really drive around the outside of guys and you had to be really patient. Track position was tough," he said. "We had decent track position one time, took two tires and we just didn’t run well initially after the pit stop. That was our issue most of the race. We’ll go get them at Richmond.”

   Assessment from crew chief Jeremy Bullins:

   "It was a solid night for the Discount Tire Dodge. It’s just about learning what Ryan needs and likes inside the race car. Coming out of here with a top-10 is a solid night. We had to overcome some things on pit road. It’s so important to get out front and get track position here and when you lose a few spots on pit road it’s tough to get them back," he said. "Ryan battled and got us some of those spots back. Our car was really, really good on long runs. At the end of the run we had a car as fast as a top-five car. We just didn’t have what we needed on the short run.”

Charlotte Motor Speedway welcomes "Parade of Power"

   The "Parade of Power" returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday. The speedway will kick off the fall season of speed with race cars, pace cars, a top fuel dragster and a giant Monster Truck rolling down Bruton Smith Boulevard from Concord Mills at noon on Wednesday.

   NASCAR’s Joey Logano and NHRA drivers Erica Enders and Doug Herbert will be on hand for a fan forum and autograph session for the first 100 fans to pick up a wristband Wednesday morning.

   In addition, there will be live music, $1 hot dogs and the Powerade Play Zone with a bounce house, face painter and video game fan van for kids. There will also be free Monster Truck rides.

   The ticket office will also be giving away driver diecasts or speedway camp chairs as a special gift with purchase of race tickets on Wednesday.  For more info, go to CharlotteMotorSpeedway.com or call 800-455-FANS.

Shell statement on release of driver A.J. Allmendinger

   The following statement is attributable to Shell Oil Company:

   Shell and Pennzoil fully support NASCAR’s substance abuse policy and Penske Racing’s decision to release A.J. Allmendinger as driver of the No. 22 Dodge Charger following his indefinite suspension by NASCAR.

   We wish A.J. the best as he participates in NASCAR's Road to Recovery program.

   Shell and Pennzoil will continue to work closely with Penske Racing to determine plans for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Michigan tire test gets good reviews

   Twenty-eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams and two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams participated in a day-long tire confirmation at Michigan International Speedway on Monday.

   Michigan International Speedway became NASCAR’s fastest race track in June. Marcos Ambrose's speed of 203.241 mph for the Quicken Loans 400 was the 11th-fastest pole-winning speed in Cup series history and the first time the pole winning speed was faster than 200 mph at a track other than Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway.

   But NASCAR driver Greg Biffle thought the speeds, though slower, would lend themselves to exciting racing at NASCAR’s fastest racetrack.

   “Since the speed is down just a tiny bit I think you will see that groove continue to widen out. I have even floored it down lower on the race track and the car has some turn in it down there. I think we are going to see some good racing,” Biffle said. “We were all fearful that this tire would be really low on grip and the car would be hard to drive and it would chatter out from under us. That is certainly not the case.”

   Michigan son Brad Keselowski agreed.

   “Michigan is a lot different track with the repave, and we saw that here with the spring race. So we’re all still just trying to get a grip on that, literally, and trying to figure it out,” he said. “So Goodyear has us here to kind of reconfirm some things that we saw and hopefully improve the racing another notch here at Michigan International Speedway. So we’re just trying to help out here as we can and also make our cars better at the same time. So it’s a good process for all.”

NASCAR issues final approval for 2013 Cup cars

   NASCAR has issued final approval all four manufacturer's 2013 entries in the Sprint Cup Series - the Chevrolet SS, Dodge Charger, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry. Manufacturers can begin making parts and pieces for the new models.

   The 2013 Cup car is the result of more than two years of collaborative efforts between the manufacturers and NASCAR. The cars more closely resemble their respective manufacturer models on the showroom floor.

   “We commend the manufacturers and our team at the R&D center on all the hard work they’ve put into this new car,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. “With all the designs and surface areas of the car now approved, manufacturers can now move forward with building the components needed to outfit their cars.

   "The wind tunnel testing we’ve had with the manufacturers over the past several months has given us the timely and necessary data we needed to come to this confirmation. We believe the new car is going to be a milestone opportunity for our sport, one that our fans will embrace."

Humpy Wheeler's qualifying fix: Let 'em race!

   Humpy Wheeler, president of The Wheeler Company and former president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, offered his thoughts on NASCAR's recent announcement it was looking at changing its Top 35 rule in qualifying. He also offered his own idea to make qualifying relevant again.

   "It is interesting that NASCAR is looking at qualifying and they certainly should. Up until a decade ago qualifying at many tracks was a big deal. Years ago qualifying took place as early as Wednesday to bolster ticket sales. That was eliminated and most places it was shoved to Friday and sometimes Saturday. It has become a nonentity for a track as far as revenue is concerned," he said.

   "Just 15 years ago at the height we sold more than 30-40,000 tickets for the pole. We ran four laps and made a big deal out of it and then had a race afterwards. It gave a lot of less fortunate race fans a chance to go the speedway because ticket prices were low. There was also a lot of cheap betting on the pole. Indy 500 pole day drew in excess of 100,000. Last May there were probably less than a tenth of that. Track operators and the sanctioning bodies let the competitors talk them into late qualifying and one lap and guaranteed starting positions. This took all the drama out of it.

   "Can it become what it once was? Like many things in racing we have lost, it will take a lot of creativity and work…along with time to ever bring it back. What we should do is qualify  in four 15 minute sessions. Ten cars are given 15 minutes to hit the track. They can all go out together or by themselves. Fastest car wins the session. At the end of the four sessions let the four fastest either race each other four laps or qualify again to determine the pole. Let 'em race…that would bring it back!"

Keselowski's take on Sadler's NASCAR penalty

   Elliott Sadler grabbed the lead on a late-race restart in Saturday's inaugural Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis but NASCAR soon black-flagged him for jumping the restart. His chance at the win and another $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus disappeared. As did most of his lead in the series standings over teammate Austin Dillon.

   Brad Keselowski was the race leader on that restart. He spun his tires on the restart and was getting a push from behind by Penske Racing teammate Sam Hornish Jr. and Sadler crossed the line before he did.

   Keselowski's take on the incident:

   “It happened really fast and I don’t have a complete picture of what happened. So, it’s hard for me to make a statement about it. I can tell you my perception of it was I got a push from Sam and it was a little more than I could take. And certainly I wasn’t going full-throttle but I was not in the zone when Elliott (Sadler) took off. It appeared that Elliott got a push from behind as well and maybe he just couldn’t slow down, I don’t know. I don’t know how it all played out," he said. 

   "I think NASCAR has made it a point to say that they’re not going to measure down to a millimeter on who beats who to the restart line. They just want it to be close and fair. It was obvious that Elliott beat us by more than that. That’s NASCAR’s call as far as how it all worked out in the box and so forth. It’s very difficult to say from my view and I’d like to see a full replay to kind of verify some of the things that I saw. Obviously, NASCAR saw something they didn’t like and made a call accordingly. That’s their job.”