Statement from Budweiser on Kevin Harvick's first Sprint Cup championship

  

   Anheuser-Busch statement regarding Kevin Harvick's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship:

   "Budweiser has a rich history in NASCAR and we’re proud to see Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team bring home the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kevin has been an amazing ambassador for Budweiser—both on and off the track—and it’s truly impressive to see what he and the team have accomplished in their first season together."

   -Lucas Herscovici, VP, consumer connections

   Anheuser-Busch

Rodney Childers worried he worked his team so hard they would quit

   As Kevin Harvick crossed the finish line last Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, a Motor Racing Network reporter - like the network normally does after a race - went to speak with the crew chief, Rodney Childers.

   As Childers began to talk about win, he began to break down and was overcome with emotion and couldn't continue. This week, Childers was asked what he was thinking about at the time that got him so emotional, if he didn't mind sharing. 

   Here is Childers' explanation of what was going through his mind when Harvick won last weekend's race:

   "You know, there's thousands of things that run through your mind at that moment, and basically how you got to where you're at, how many people helped you get there, how many people on this race team at Stewart‑Haas and how many people in the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports and how many people in that chassis shop put their heart and soul into this stuff every single day and just work countless hours. The guys on this race team and what we went through at the beginning of the year to get it going, there's not too many people that would have went through that, and I really expected people to work a couple months and realize how bad it was and turn around and walk out the door," Childers said.

   "Really nobody ever gave up, and just thinking about all that and how far we've come and how important of a race it is, and for me personally I've wanted to be part of something like that for a long time. I've wanted to race for a championship, and I've never really had that opportunity. You know, to be able to do that was just something that was exciting to me, and the more I thought about it, the worse I got. 

   "You know, it's emotional for everybody, and it's important to everybody. You know, like Kevin said at lunch today, we were actually talking about this same subject, and he says, you can't blame somebody for caring, and really when you see somebody in that situation, they're in that situation because they really care and they give 100 percent. These guys give up a lot. They're away from their families, away from their kids, and it's hard on everybody.  We're all thankful when something like that goes the right way."

Nielsen issues correction for fall Talladega race TV rating

   A poor TV rating for the Oct. 19 Sprint Cup race at Talladega, Ala., turned a lot of heads this season, particularly since it was a “transfer race” in the new Chase format, where several drivers needed to win in order to advance to the next round of the Chase.

   The original final rating issued by Nielsen Media Research, the leader is measuring what people watch, listen to and buy, was a 2.7, which was 13 percent lower than the previous season’s rating (3.1). 

   Nielsen issued a correction this week, citing a "minor crediting error.". The company notified ESPN and NASCAR this week the rating for the race was actually a 3.0, which was roughly 3 percent down from the previous season. 

   “We’re glad they fixed the mistake,” said NASCAR’s chief communications officer, Brett Jewkes. 

   On Friday, NASCAR Chairman Brian France was asked about the TV ratings for the season and made mention of the Talladega correction. 

   "It will still take a fair amount of time, in my view, to fully have this format (understood), and the important moments like Talladega being an example, although those ratings weren't quite as off as originally reported but almost flat."

Member of Congress demands Kurt Busch be suspended; SHR response

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) has sent a letter to NASCAR president Mike Helton as well as Busch’s Stewart-Haas Racing owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas demanding Kurt Busch be suspended from Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in addition to any future NASCAR events until the matter of domestic abuse charges against him is settled. 

Here is the text of the letter and a response from SHR:



Mike Helton
President, NASCAR
1801 West International Speed Boulevard
Daytona Beach, Florida 32114

Tony Stewart and Gene Haas
Co-owners, Stewart-Haas Racing
6001 Haas Way,
Kannapolis, NC 28081

Dear Mr. Helton, Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Haas:

Each year, domestic violence causes more injuries to women than auto accidents, rapes, and muggings combined. On average, 24 Americans each minute are victims of physical violence by an intimate partner. High-profile news stories have shown that major sports leagues like the National Football League (NFL) have stood by or failed to adequately respond when these violent crimes are committed by their players. Unfortunately, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing’s (NASCAR) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s response to Patricia Driscoll’s allegations of domestic violence against Kurt Busch seem to indicate that NASCAR’s responses to these crimes are also off track.

The charges are horrifying. Court documents allege Mr. Busch verbally and physically abused Ms. Driscoll in his motorhome at Dover International Speedway, smashing her head against a wall three times. Dover police are investigating the incident, and press statements from NASCAR chief communications officer Brett Jewkes indicate NASCAR is also conducting its own investigation.  But despite the severity of the criminal allegations against Mr. Busch, I am disappointed to see that NASCAR and Stewart-Haas Racing have not taken any action.

Your response to these serious allegations has been totally inadequate. Your decision to let Mr. Busch continue to drive is inconsistent with previous disciplinary actions taken for lesser offenses, and it sends a clear signal to drivers that owners do not take these violent actions seriously. As you are aware, this is not the first time that Mr. Busch’s anger management issues have been brought to NASCAR’s attention. He and Mr. Penske agreed to end his relationship with Penske Racing after Mr. Busch profanely yelled at an ESPN reporter in 2011. It’s not even the first time that Mr. Busch has demonstrated problems at Dover: he was suspended after threatening a reporter there in June 2012.

How is it that NASCAR can take actions when a reporter is threatened, and not when a woman is physically assaulted? It seems unconscionable that a threat would be treated more gravely than an assault. It calls into question the enforcement policies exercised by NASCAR and whether your code of conduct has a double standard. You only punish misconduct caught on camera. Unfortunately NASCAR was equally passive when Sprint Cup driver Travis Kvapil was accused of pulling his wife by her hair into a bedroom and striking her head when she tried to pull away. Neither NASCAR nor BK Racing stopped Mr. Kvapil from driving, though they did remove the domestic violence awareness ribbon from his car.

NASCAR and Stewart-Haas Racing should not wait until the investigation is complete to act. I urge you to suspend Mr. Busch from this weekend’s Championship and adopt a policy going forward in all domestic violence cases to suspend drivers until criminal proceedings end or there is a clear lack of evidence. Please also provide my office with an update on your investigation, including information about who is conducting the investigation, and a history of sanctions levied by NASCAR and racing teams for domestic violence incidents brought to your attention over the last five years.

Sincerely,

Jackie Speier
Member of Congress


 

The following is a statement from Stewart-Haas Racing executive vice president Joe Custer regarding Kurt Busch.

“The allegation made against Kurt Busch is one Stewart-Haas Racing and its partners take very seriously. We have spoken to Kurt in depth regarding this matter and he has vehemently denied that it happened and assures us there is no truth to it whatsoever. We are monitoring this situation closely and will let the authorities continue with their thorough investigation. At this point in time we are taking Kurt at his word and his status with the team is unchanged.”

Brian France to Gordon/Keselowski fans: 'That's racing'

   In an interview on Wednesday on SiriusXM Satellite Radio's NASCAR Channel, NASCAR Chairman Brian France was asked what he would say to angry fans who don't like the fact either Jeff Gordon or Brad Keselowski - both of whom had among the most wins this season - didn't advance in the Chase to compete for the championship in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

   Here was France's response:

   "In any format that we could ever devise, even if you had to win to compete for the championship, that's auto racing, that happens. Talk to Rusty Wallace. Talk to Bill Elliott. Talk to all the past competitors in NASCAR who had a stellar season but they weren't the best on any given day. In this format you have to be the best all the way through. There is no format that we're going to devise that weights it so much that if you win so many races you're somehow automatically going to be the champion. You've got to do it all the way through. This is the best balance in auto racing, no question about it."

Richard Childress on Ryan Newman: 'He drove with his heart'

   Ryan Newman is in his first season driving for Richard Childress Racing but he's already made quite an impression on his team owner. Newman gained a position on the final lap of Sunday's race at Phoenix which earned him the fourth and final berth in the Sprint Cup championship race next Sunday at Homestead, Fla. Childress last won a Cup championship in 1994 with the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.

   "It is unbelievable. We are in it for the championship when we go down there," Childress said after the race. "Ryan drove with his heart; that is what he did.That is what it took to get in. 

   "That was the worst set of tires (last set) that we'd had all day long. He ran in the top five, six, seven and eight the whole race. Then that set of tires just knocked us plumb out of it. But he still made it happen."

Phoenix International Raceway addresses power outages during Friday's Truck race

   Phoenix International Raceway issued the following statement early Saturday morning regarding the power outages during Friday night's NASCAR Truck Series race that ultimately forced the race to be halted early:

   "We are extremely disappointed that tonight’s race was delayed and ultimately shortened by failures in the local power grid. We want to thank the devoted race fans who stayed throughout the race, however PIR and NASCAR both agreed that it was in the best interest of the drivers to call an end to the race after the second power outage, as safety of the competitors is paramount. While we appreciate the efforts of APS and its repair crews to restore service as quickly as possible, having to end the race prematurely is not the experience that our fans expect and deserve."

   Pole-winner Erik Jones was declared the winner when the race was halted 24 laps from the finish when the track's lights went out for the second time during the race.