Text of Sen. Chris Murphy's letter to NASCAR regarding NRA sponsorship

   This is the Connecticut Democrat's full letter to NASCAR Chairman Brian France:

   Dear Mr. France,
 
   On Monday, it was reported that NASCAR and the Texas Motor Speedway had just completed a deal to make the National Rifle Association (NRA) the title sponsor of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on April 13th—the NRA 500. As a U.S Senator representing the community of Newtown, Connecticut, I write to you today to ask that you reconsider this decision.
 
   After the horrific mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six educators, the NRA has taken an unprecedented extreme position in the debate over the proper response to this tragedy, placing themselves at odds with the overwhelming majority of the American people, and even their own members. Given the emotional state of the national conversation, I believe it would be imprudent for NASCAR to step into such a heated political debate and take sides in this debate by allowing the NRA the title role in the race.
 
   NASCAR has a long history of supporting our troops, our children, and our communities, and your racing events attract fans from across Connecticut and the country. I also know how deep your own commitment to the Newtown community runs—your donation of $50,000 to Sandy Hook School Support Fund is the very example of NASCAR’s commitment to community. And less than two weeks ago, one of the cars at the Daytona 500 advertised a way to donate money for the Newtown community, and was dubbed #26 for the number of lives lost on December 14th.
 
   But by giving the NRA sponsorship of a major NASCAR race, NASCAR has crossed a line – you have decided to put yourself in the middle of a political debate, and you have taken a side that stands in opposition to the wishes of so many Newtown families who support common sense gun reform.  Whether or not this was your intention, your fans will infer from this sponsorship that NASCAR and the NRA are allies in the current legislative debate over gun violence.  By announcing this new partnership at the very height of Congress’s deliberations over gun reform, NASCAR has inserted itself into a political debate that has nothing to with the business of NASCAR.  To me, this seems an unwise break with precedent.
 
   This tragic event has led many individuals and organizations to re-evaluate their views towards guns.  Millions of Americans, including responsible gun owners, have resolved that our nation must do more to protect our children and citizens from gun violence. Reasonable measures that are being considered in Washington have widespread support.  Consider that 92 percent of Americans, 91 percent of gun owners and 74 percent of NRA members support proposals to require background checks for all gun purchases. Yet, instead of playing a constructive role in this debate, the Washington-based leadership of the NRA has become more radicalized.  For example, in 1999, after the horrific shooting at Columbine High School, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre gave a full-throated endorsement of universal background checks.  Yet, after Newtown, the NRA reversed their position, testifying recently before the Senate Judiciary Committee and the organization now opposes this proposal.
 
   Furthermore, over the past two months my office has released a series of reports looking at the NRA, its sources of funding and its agenda on the state and federal levels.  The findings may surprise you and make you reconsider their sponsorship.  The NRA increasingly relies on support from the firearms industry, including manufacturers of military-style assault weapons that have been used at Newtown and other mass shootings. The NRA also pushes an extreme agenda in state capitols across our nation.  Defying common sense the association has backed laws that allow gun owners to bring concealed weapons into bars, restaurants and sports stadiums.  In possibly the most egregious example, the NRA supported an Indiana law that proscribed when an individual can use force, including deadly force, against a police officer.

   NASCAR has historically been careful not to insert itself, and its hard-earned good reputation, into political and legislative fights.  Why then, start now?  Why take sides against the families of Newtown, Connecticut, by teaming up with the NRA in the middle of an intense legislative fight over gun laws?
 
   In light of your extensive charitable work and generosity to the Newtown community, I hope that you will reconsider affiliating with the NRA at this time. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
 
   Sincerely,
 
   Christopher S. Murphy
   United States Senator

Daytona 500 champ Jimmie Johnson races 1-on-1 with Ellen Degeneres

  
   Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson took part in another big race recently but not in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition.

    This race took place in the parking lot of the Warner Bros. studio in California.

    And his opponent was talk show host Ellen Degeneres.

    Check out the winner.

What the Fox Sports 1 change means to NASCAR fans

   Fox Sports Media Group made official on Tuesday its plans to change the current Speed Channel over to Fox Sports 1, a new, national, multi-sport network. The change will take effect on Saturday, Aug. 17.

    Currently, Speed hosts an abundance of NASCAR-related programming. Some of that will change, but many of the bigger changes won't take effect until after 2013.

    The following are "programming highlights" Fox provided for NASCAR coverage on the new Fox Sports 1:

    - Select NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races as soon as 2015 (the exact number was not disclosed).
    - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
    - NASCAR Sprint All-Star race.
    - All Daytona Speedweeks events leading up to the Daytona 500 including: Daytona 500 qualifying, Sprint Unlimited at Daytona (2014, 2017-22) and the Budweiser Duel, now in prime time; Cup and Truck series practice and qualifying sessions.
    - NASCAR RaceDay, providing pre- and post-race coverage.
    - NASCAR Victory Lane, a weekly wrap-up show.
    - Race Hub, a daily mid-day studio show with the latest from drivers, owners and garages.

Reed Sorenson to sub for injured Michael Annett at RPM

   Reed Sorenson will fill in for NASCAR Nationwide Series team driver Michael Annett, who was injured in a crash at Daytona International Speedway and had to undergo surgery for a fractured and dislocated sternum.

    Sorenson will race the No. 43 Pilot Flying J Ford beginning this week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and remain the driver until Annett is healed and cleared by NASCAR officials to race. Sorenson made his Nationwide Series debut in 2004 and has four wins, 38 top-five and 85 top-10 finishes.

    "It's an unfortunate situation for the team and Michael," said Sorenson. "I have been to the hospital to see him, and he will be fine, but it's going to take some time to heal. As a friend for a long time, my initial reaction was concern. I'm glad that he's recovering now.

    "It was very unexpected to get the opportunity to step in. The best part is that my friend, Michael, will be cheering for me and the whole 43 Pilot Flying J team. I talked to him about it, and he really wants to see me do well. This is a big deal for me, and I am going to make the most of it."

Kasey Kahne, driver of the No.  5 Great Clips Chevrolet, Danny Efland, driver of the No.  4 Flex Seal Chevrolet, Jamie Dick, driver of the No.  55 Viva Motorsports Chevrolet, Michael Annett, driver of the No.  43 Pilot Ford, Johanna Long, driver of the No.  70 Foretravel Chevrolet, Mike Bliss, driver of the No.  19 G-Oil Ford, and Hal Martin, driver of the No.  44 American Custom Yachts Toyota, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 23, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Fla. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

TRD on its engines: "It's our responsibility" to get them right

   David Wilson, Senior Vice President of Toyota Racing Development, joined co-host Danielle Trotta on Monday night's edition of NASCAR Race Hub on Speed to talk about the recent engine trouble hampering Toyota’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race teams.

   He talked about some of the early season difficulties and how the manufacturer, working with the teams, is remedying the situation.

   Danielle Trotta: You’ve described the problems that we’ve seen in the first two races as an emotionally charged issue, what has the past few weeks been like for you and TRD?

   David Wilson: Certainly, the last thing you want to do is start off the season by digging a hole for any of your drivers. It’s our responsibility to give them enough trouble-free weekends and build that confidence back up. I feel the most for Kyle (Busch) because purely by circumstance, purely by misfortune, he’s suffered the most amongst all of our drivers in the past couple of years. We likely cost him (Kyle) a shot in The Chase last year. We all know how well he ran during those last 10 races, and we’ve all done the math there. First a foremost, is to first ‘man up’ and take responsibility, and try and give them the confidence that we are going to get this sorted, and we are going to put them in position to win races, which we know our equipment is capable of.

   Trotta: When you experience problems like this in the first two weeks of the season, I know you are already at the track; do you increase personnel at the track or back in California in any way, when you’re going through something like this?

   Wilson: Absolutely, it’s a great question. We typically do (have more people) at Daytona anyway because it is our Super Bowl. Coming there, with the new ‘Gen 6’ Toyota Camry, it is all hands on deck, so we staffed up specifically for that. Given the fact that we did have some issues at Daytona, we did bring out a couple more engineers, a couple more technicians, which was made a lot easier because we are out here on the West Coast. We have plenty of hands and plenty of resources at the race tracks to handle these issues as they come up.

   Trotta: Moving forward to Vegas, you’ve said that you’ve got enough performance, but what (you) don’t have enough of is margin and safety. That’s where your focus is. Could you explain more about that?

   Wilson: As we take our engines to the race track, one of the most important things that we do in developing those engines, is making sure that they do have the reliability and the durability because clearly, if we’re not seeing failures here at the shop, but we’re seeing them at the race track, then we’re not pushing the engines hard enough. Based on what we saw at Phoenix, our engine configuration heading to Vegas is essentially the same as we ran this past weekend. We’re quite comfortable that we’ll not just have some good performances, but good reliability for all of the Toyota teams in Vegas.

If only the air wasn't so clean in NASCAR

   Several NASCAR drivers, including Denny Hamlin and reigning champion Brad Keselowski, in Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix expressed frustration with the difficulty in passing.

    After the race, Keselowski was asked how important 'clean air' was with the new model Cup car. His answer sounded strangely familiar.

    "I think it’s probably more important than ever. I think these cars probably drive easier than any race car I’ve ever driven in my life by themselves, and probably the hardest to drive of any race car I’ve ever driven in traffic," he said. "I think we can get that a little bit better and probably make them a little more difficult to drive by yourself, but a little easier to drive in traffic, we could have even better races than what we had today."

NASCAR fans, can you hear your phones now?

   If you have paid a visit to Daytona International Speedway during Speedweeks, you may have noticed a better cell phone signal – even if you are not a Sprint customer.

    It won’t be the last time.

    When Sprint signed its contract extension with NASCAR to sponsor its Sprint Cup Series, it allowed – for the first time – other cell carriers to boost their respective signals at race tracks as long as they did not engage in any marketing.

    Many fans have long incorrectly believed Sprint’s sponsorship allows the carrier’s signal to block those of other cell carriers. Instead, its sponsorship simply allowed it to be the only carrier to boost its signal at the track.

    That has now changed.

   "Sprint understands our desire to enhance the at-track connectivity for all our fans," said NASCAR Chief Marketing Officer Steve Phelps.  

   “Enhancing the event experience is a key plank in our Industry Action Plan, and they were immediately supportive of making a change moving forward when we discussed it with them more than a year ago. Sprint subsequently has provided great input and assistance in the roll out of improved connectivity at tracks this season.”
    The contract extension – and the change – was to go into effect in the 2014 season but NASCAR and Sprint worked out an arrangement to make the change effective this season.
  
   All NASCAR tracks will now be able to offer Wi-Fi to all fans in attendance and can offer other cell carriers the option to provide the necessary equipment to boost their signal on property.

    Sprint service customers will continue to enjoy several premium benefits – many for free – unavailable to other customers of other carriers.