Stewart-Haas Racing nominated for Sports Team of Year

   The Boston Bruins, Dayton Dragons, Sporting Kansas City, Stewart-Haas Racing and Texas Rangers have been selected as nominees in the Sports Team of the Year category for the 2012 Sports Business Awards, presented by Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily.

   The Sports Business Awards recognize excellence and outstanding achievement in the business of sports for the period from March 1, 2011 through February 29, 2012. Sports teams in the major and minor leagues and U.S. national teams, in leagues whose central offices are located in North America, were eligible.

   Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony that will be held May 23 at the New York Marriott Marquis at Times Square.

   Stewart-Haas Racing captured its first Sprint Cup Series championship in 2011 with team-co-owner and driver Tony Stewart, who won five of the 10 races in the Chase including the season finale at Homestead, Fla.

Travis Pastrana to cut back NASCAR schedule

   While X-Game star Travis Pastrana still hopes to have a fulltime NASCAR career at some point, it looks like his schedule in NASCAR events will get curtailed again this season as he has committed to race the entire schedule of the 2012 Global RallyCross Series.

   Pastrana, who is running the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Bristol, Tenn., on Saturday, spoke about his decision.

   "Unfortunately -- or fortunately -- my background in Rally, the sponsors know that I can do well. I've had a proven record in Rally. We're funding a lot of the NASCAR races through the Global RallyCross and, I tell you what, that's a fun series. It's something that I really enjoy doing," Pastrana said.

   " We had planned on doing more, kind of getting away from everything I was doing in the past, but with this it gives me an opportunity to keep racing, keep you in cars and it really helps with the sponsorship to hopefully continue on and do the best that we can in NASCAR. 

   "Unfortunately, I won't be able to make three of the K&N races and the initial plan was to do the entire K&N championship, so that was very disappointing, but at the same time I think we'll be able to hopefully use those races because they're at the NASCAR tracks.  Hopefully, we'll be able to acquire more sponsorship, more fans and, hopefully, build both programs as much as we can."

 

NASCAR Most Popular Driver voting now underway

   Voting for the 2012 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) NASCAR Most Popular Driver award is now underway. The 10-week playoff format will return, with the top 10, based on votes received, competing for top accolades at season's end.

   Fans can visit www.MostPopularDriver.com and vote once a day for their favorite NASCAR Sprint Cup driver. Voting for the full field of drivers will end on Sept. 8 at 11:59 PM ET. The 10 drivers with the most votes will be announced as finalists, and the vote count will reset to zero.

  
Fans will then have 10 race weeks to cast their votes once a day to determine the 2012 NMPA NASCAR Most Popular Driver from the final field of 10 drivers. Voting will conclude Nov. 18 at 11:59 PM ET. The winner will be announced at the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Luncheon in December.

   Dale Earnhardt Jr. notched his ninth consecutive NMPA NASCAR Most Popular Driver Award last season. Only Earnhardt Jr. and Bill Elliott have won the award nine consecutive times since the award's inception in 1953.

Daytona needs more repave work

   Daytona International Speedway plans to make long-term repairs to the area of Turn 3 where Juan Pablo Montoya struck a jet-dryer during the Daytona 500 and ignited a large fire that delayed the race for more than two hours.

    Lane Construction, which handled Daytona's recent repaving project of the entire track, will remove the affected area of Turn 3 and repave it. The project will be completed in time for the July NASCAR race weekend.

    “Once this work is complete, we expect no further issues related to the jet dryer crash,” said track president Joie Chitwood III.

NASCAR drivers pick their Final Four

   It's March Madness time and even many in NASCAR pay close attention to the four weeks of basketball that culminates with the NCAA Championship.

   Here is a rundown of several NASCAR drivers' Final Four picks. Do they match yours? In my bracket, I have Kentucky, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Missouri.

   Brendan Gaughan: Georgetown, Florida State, Michigan State, Duke

   Kurt Busch:  Kentucky, Michigan State, Ohio State, Kansas

   Denny Hamlin: Kentucky, Kentucky, Kentucky, Kentucky (I wonder who he thinks wins)

   Elliott Sadler: North Carolina, Missouri, Floirda State, Kentucky

   Austin Dillon: Kentucky, Florida State, Missouri, North Carolina

   David Ragan: Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina, Syracuse

   David Gilliland: Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio St, Kansas
   Justin Allgaier: Kentucky, Missouri, Syracuse, North Carolina
   Jason Bowles: Kentucky, Murray St., Syracuse, Michigan
   TJ Bell: Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, Ohio St.
   Dakoda Armstrong: Indiana, Michigan St., North Carolina, Ohio State
   Paulie Harraka (and Duke senior): Duke, Duke, Duke and Duke
   Travis Kvapil: W. Kentucky, UNC Asheville, Long Island, and Lamar/Vermont winner (All 16th place seeds)
   Aric Almirola: Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio St., Michigan St.

Q&A with Rick Hendrick

   Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick took several questions following his appearance Tuesday before the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Board. The three-member board upheld all penalties assessed by NASCAR to the No. 48 team following rules violations found in opening day inspection for the Daytona 500.

   Hendrick: I appreciate the process. It was a lot of conversation today, and of course we’re disappointed that the outcome was the way it was. But we’re going to go ahead to the next level and present our case one more time. So I stand firmly behind our guys. But I do applaud NASCAR in giving us a process that we can present our side of things, and then try to come to a conclusion. So for that I’m very appreciative of the system that NASCAR has in place. So we’re just onward and upward. We’ll go to Bristol (Tenn.), and we’ll try to get No. 200, and we’ll deal with this one when the time comes.

   Q: Because of the appeal, will Chad Knaus be in Bristol?
   Hendrick: Chad (Knaus, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet) will be in Bristol.

   Q: When do you expect the next appeal to be heard?
   Hendrick: They’ll just have to tell me when to show up.

   Q: How comfortable do you feel about the appeals process?
   Hendrick: All I can tell you is I believe in my guys, and I believe in the system, but we’ll just have to take it. You know, you won’t know till it’s over, and I know how we feel, and so we’ll just have to go on. I appreciate you letting our guys do their jobs until it’s over.

   Hendrick: I think it’s best that I just wait till we go through the processes. There’s really nothing for me to talk about that you don’t already know, and when we have an opportunity to go through the process, then we can talk about how we disagree.

   Q: Would you like to see the process changed?
   Hendrick: You know, it’s hard to say. I think it’s a good process, and I say these guys are very capable people. I think it’s just hard to have someone to try to digest everything that you have to digest in this situation. But again, from the days I started in this sport, and what you had to deal with to today, NASCAR has made tremendous strides and none of us want to have to go through this. But sometimes you just disagree, and this is one of those cases.

   Q: Do you have a legitimate hope of having it overturned? Why don't you just accept it and move on?
   Hendrick: I don’t accept it. Period.

Does 2005 ruling doom Jimmie Johnson's NASCAR appeal?

   The year was 2005. But the argument made in the NASCAR appeals process is very similar to the one Hendrick Motorsports and Jimmie Johnson plan to make on Tuesday.
  
   Team owner James Finch had argued before the National Stock Car Racing Commission that he could not be penalized for an illegal carburetor used by his team in a Nationwide Series race at Texas because it had passed the NASCAR inspection process several times previously.

   The penalties for the unapproved carburetor were harsh - disqualification of driver Johnny Sauter from the event (no points and money from the event), and a four race suspension and probation for the remainder of the year for the team's crew chief.

   The appeals board, however, would have none of it.

   "The onus is on the entrant to present a car that is legal at ALL times. The onus is not on NASCAR to detect every rules violation at every inspection," the board wrote in its ruling.

   In fact, the argument worked so poorly, the board actually INCREASED the team's penalty - adding a $25,000 fine to Finch in addition to the penalties already handed down. This is one of just two times in NASCAR history the appeals board INCREASED the penalties - which it has the power to do.

   Johnson was docked 25 points, his crew chief and car chief suspended six races and crew chief assessed a $100,000 fine for having altered C posts on their car prior to qualifying for the Daytona 500.

   One of the main arguments being made by Hendrick officials is that the car passed inspection four previous times in the same fashion.

   Will it work?

   Given the history, my guess is not a chance. In fact, the situation may only get worse.