NASCAR: "We want our athletes and our sport to look like America."

   NBA veteran Jason Collins has come out as first openly gay male athlete player still active in a major American professional sport. Other gay athletes, including former NBA center John Amaechi, have waited until retirement to divulge their sexuality publicly.

   Collins has received mostly positive reaction, from teammates, friends and even former President Bill Clinton.

   Collins' decision sparked discussion on Monday to whether participants in other sports - or the sanctioning bodies themselves - would react in a similar fashion is faced with the same issue.

   NASCAR was asked to provide a statement in that regard. Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR Vice President of Public Affairs and Multicultural Development, responded:

   "NASCAR is a recognized leader in diversity and inclusion initiatives in professional sports and home to the best drivers in the world. We want our athletes and our sport to look like America, and exclusion or intolerance of any kind - whether behind the wheel, on pit road or in the garage - is not a part of that formula."

   In addition, in a published interview last month, reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski said what matters in NASCAR is if someone can win.
 

    When asked if an openly gay driver would have more trouble earning acceptance from the fans or their fellow drivers, Keselowski said, "I can't speak for the fans, I can only speak for myself, but in this garage, if you can win, people will want to be a part of what you can do."

Charlotte Motor Speedway launches its version of "American Idol"

 

  Fans across the Carolinas should start practicing their rendition of the national anthem or “God Bless America” because this May the Charlotte Motor Speedway “Speedway Superstar Tour” presented by Coca-Cola is looking for performers to headline at the 10 Greatest Days in Racing.

    The Speedway Superstar Tour presented by Coca-Cola is open for talented performers to try out May 1 through 15 at a mobile audition studio, as it visits 10 cities throughout North and South Carolina. For the audition, contestants (ages 18 or older) will be allowed to perform an a cappella rendition (without music or instrumental accompaniment) of either the national anthem of the United States or “God Bless America.” Performances will be limited to 60 seconds and videotaped for use on a contest voting website.

“We have thousands of talented race fans and want to get them more involved in being part of the 10 Greatest Days in Racing,” said Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway. “We look forward to seeing some great performances around the Carolinas and then having our winners perform at Charlotte Motor Speedway during our spectacular pre-race activities.”

Fans will have an opportunity to vote on their favorite performances from May 1 through May 22 online. For official rules and details, go here.
Five winners will be selected to perform at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the 10 Greatest Days of Racing, including “God Bless America” at the N.C. Education Lottery 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race; “God Bless America” at the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race; the national anthem or “God Bless America” at the HISTORY 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race; or “God Bless America” at the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. All winners will also receive two tickets to the race at which they perform.

The Speedway Superstar Tour kicks off on May 1 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and will then travel to Pineville, N.C. that day. The tour will visit Greenville and Spartanburg, S.C., on May 2; Columbia, S.C., on May 3; Myrtle Beach, S.C., on May 5; Wilmington, N.C., on May 6; Fayetteville, N.C., on May 7; Raleigh, N.C., on May 9; Durham, N.C., on May 10; Greensboro, N.C., on May 11; Winston-Salem, N.C., on May 13; and return to Charlotte on May 14 and 15.

Ten years ago was Jerry Nadeau's last weekend as a NASCAR driver

  It was 10 years ago this race Jerry Nadeau suffered what turned out to be a career-ending head injury in a wreck during a Sprint Cup Series practice session at Richmond. Nadeau, then 32 years old, spent 22 days at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center before being transferred to the Charlotte Institute of Rehabilitation for further therapy.
   He had one career victory to his credit (Atlanta, 2000) and would never race in NASCAR again. Nadeau currently lives in Davidson, N.C., with his wife and daughter.

NASCAR's Pemberton: "We're here to regulate the rulebook"

   Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, addressed the media Friday at Richmond International Raceway about the penalties NASCAR handed down to Matt Kenseth's No. 20 Toyota team earlier this week.

 

   Here is Pemberton's opening statement:

 

   "Over the last two or three weeks as everybody knows, we've had some significant penalties and they're in all areas of the rule book.  We're here to not judge these penalties, whether they are performance enhancing, but we're really here just to regulate the rule book.

 

   "We've got the rules in play. They're put there a lot of times by NASCAR, but with input from the teams, manufacturers and outside experts, and it's our job to manage those rules and manage that rule book as it relates to the garage area. The emphasis, as everyone knows, it's about safety, it's about competition, and it's about cost‑containment.

 

   "So moving forward it's our job to just regulate the rule book. In the rule book there are different facets and we've put parameters in that are weights, measures, heights, dimensions coordinates to build chassis and bodies, and it's in quite detail. So the teams know where they can and can't go, and there are areas that they can work in. Those are the areas between the measurements where we do give both ends of it, whether it's high or low or heavy or light.

 

   "That being said, it's like I said, we're not here to judge the performance on any of these.  We are strictly here to regulate the rule book and keep a level playing field for the garage area in which to work and make sure everybody gets a fair chance at competing."

 

Ryan Gifford earns latest victory for NASCAR's diversity program

 

    Ryan Gifford converted a little patience into his elusive first NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory Thursday night at Richmond International Raceway.

 

   The 24-year-old from Winchester, Tenn., drove away from runner-up Brandon Gdovic and third-place Cole Custer on a late-race restart to take the win in the Blue Ox 100. It was redemption for Gifford, who was in contention last year at Richmond until a cut tire in the closing laps ended his night.

   This time, Gifford qualified 11th, conserved his tires and methodically worked his way to the front.

   Gifford became the fourth different driver to win a race in the series for Rev Racing since the organization began to field cars for NASCAR's Drive For Diversity in 2010. Gifford has been with the team since its first year and was making his 44th career start.

At what point will Denny Hamlin consider not returning this season?

  NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin talked about his visit with doctors this week and the determination that he continue to sit out races.

    Hamlin was asked, is there a point where he will consider not returning this season and go ahead with surgery on bulging discs that were already bothering him?

    Here was his response:

    "I think if this goes past Darlington then I don't know what the chances of us making the Chase are even if we were to race this weekend, race next weekend or the one after -- I don't know the chances. There's a lot of good teams that you have to beat to guarantee you're going to win the races. Obviously, if it goes past Darlington our chances are crushed even harder. Eventually you have to have a shutdown point of not going out there and racing for nothing at a point," Hamlin said.

    "I think a recovery on the kind of surgery that I would like to have is about a month-and-a-half or so -- I could potentially come back maybe for the tail end of the year. It wouldn't be a season-ending -- I don't think anything would be season-ending I guess you could say.
Eventually you have to know the point at which you're looking at improbabilities of making the Chase and just being smart about it. If everyone keeps getting these penalties, I'm going to be the points leader soon."

Matt Kenseth's reaction to NASCAR penalties: 'Grossly unfair'

   NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Matt Kenseth took questions on Thursday at Richmond International Raceway prior to participating in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown charity race.

   He was asked several questions about the unprecedented penalties NASCAR levied on his No. 20 Toyota team on Wednesday:

   Q: What was your reaction to the penalties NASCAR announced yesterday?  Do you think they were severe?
   Kenseth: "I think the penalties are grossly unfair. I think it's borderline shameful. There's no argument the part was wrong. They weighed it and it was wrong. However, there is an argument that there certainly was no performance advantage. If you can find any unbiased, reputable, knowledgeable engine-builder and if they saw the facts, what all the rods weighed. The average weight of all the rods was well above the minimum -- 2.5 (grams) above the minimum at least. There was one in there that was way heavy. There was no performance advantage, there was no intent, it was a mistake. JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) had no control over it. Certainly to crush Joe Gibbs like that -- to say they can't win an owner's championship with the 20 this year is just, I can't wrap my arms around that, it just blows me away. And the same with Jason Ratcliff (crew chief).  I don't feel bad for myself at all, but for Jason and Joe, I just couldn't feel any worse. There's no more reputable, honest hard-working guys with good reputations more so than those two -- I feel really bad for them."

   Q: What affects you the most about the penalties - losing points or damaging your reputation?
   Kenseth: "It's not really about me at all, honestly. I think that certainly, you know it depends, everybody is going to look at it different. You're going to get people that know absolutely nothing about the whole situation and kind of cheer or whatever - I can take all that fan backlash - it doesn't honestly bother me really in the slightest. I feel bad for Joe (Gibbs, owner) and Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) the most and our partners as well. Even taking away the pole eligibility and all that stuff. Anybody in the garage, and like I said, any knowledgeable, reputable unbiased engine builder -- they know there was no advantage there. There was probably a disadvantage there if nothing else for the stuff being unbalanced. I don't argue, there was a scale and it says it has to weigh 225 grams and if it weighs 224.99, it's illegal. I don't think any of us have any
argument about that. I just think the penalty is way over the top for that. It wasn't anything trying to gain an advantage. It wasn't an advantage and it was a mistake. I think that should have been taken into account."

   Q: How do you overcome the penalties and move forward?
   Kenseth: "Well, I don't think there's any more we can do. I think my team has done an incredible job this year as far as performance. We've ran better than I could have ever dreamed. We don't have all the finishes, but yet we do have two wins. I think it's
business as usual. I think we have to -- probably when I walk out of here in 15 minutes or whatever -- pretty much put it behind us and hope the appeals process works and we get some people in there to look at everything that are reasonable and hopefully get the penalties at least reduced some. I think other than that, we put it behind us. Business as usual. I get to work with Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) this weekend and go out and try to win a pole and try to win the race and just go with that attitude every week and just try to do the things we know how to do and keep trying to grow as a race team, and try to get better."