For the fifth
consecutive year, fans can vote online on NASCAR.com for the 2012 Most Popular
Driver in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck series. Voting begins Sept.
21 and runs through Friday, Nov. 16, prior to the season finale for both
national series at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
New this year: two fans and their guests will win an all-expense paid trip to
the 2012 Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series Awards
on Nov. 19 at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel by registering for the Most Popular
Driver Vote Sweepstakes after placing their vote on NASCAR.com. The sweepstakes
is open to fans 18 and older in the 48 continental states. Eligible fans may
register once (1) per 24 hours. The sweepstakes entry period ends November 3,
2012 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The Most Popular Driver winners from both series will be
announced at the combined gala event.
Each series has a
dedicated page on NASCAR.com for voting. Fans can go to www.NASCAR.com/nnsmpd
for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and to www.NASCAR.com/ncwtsmpd for the NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series. Fans are encouraged to vote once per day leading up
to the Nov. 16 deadline.
To be eligible to
receive votes, drivers must have selected either the Nationwide Series or
Camping World Truck Series for their 2012 driver championship points.
Additionally, drivers must have attempted at least half of each series’ races
this season.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
NASCAR reinstates Allmendinger
NASCAR has reinstated suspended driver AJ Allmendinger after he successfully completed the Road to Recovery program.
Allmendinger had been suspended by NASCAR on July 24 after failing a drug test. He was subsequently released by Penske Racing.
Allmendinger was temporarily suspended after failing a drug test taken in June in Kentucky. When a backup, Sample B test also failed, he was indefinitely suspended.
Team owner Roger Penske said last weekend in Sonoma, Calif., that he would consider giving Allmendinger another chance. But Joey Logano has signed to drive Penske's No. 22 Dodge in 2013. Sam Hornish Jr. has been in the car in Allmendinger's absence. -- David Scott
Allmendinger had been suspended by NASCAR on July 24 after failing a drug test. He was subsequently released by Penske Racing.
Allmendinger was temporarily suspended after failing a drug test taken in June in Kentucky. When a backup, Sample B test also failed, he was indefinitely suspended.
“I want to thank everyone for their support through this entire process,” said Allmendinger in a statement. “I appreciate that NASCAR created the the Road to Recovery program, and am grateful for the opportunity to return to competition. The Road to Recovery program was really helpful to me in getting my priorities reset away from the race track. And, honestly, that helped find my love of racing again and why I began racing in the first place. I’m looking forward to taking this experience and be better for it moving forward.”
Team owner Roger Penske said last weekend in Sonoma, Calif., that he would consider giving Allmendinger another chance. But Joey Logano has signed to drive Penske's No. 22 Dodge in 2013. Sam Hornish Jr. has been in the car in Allmendinger's absence. -- David Scott
Larry McReynolds dishes on Danica and JR Motorsports
Former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief Larry McReynolds has worked with some of the most successful organizations in NASCAR. Now a TV analyst with Speed, McReynolds offered up his thoughts this week on the recent departure of Tony Eury Jr. and Tony Eury Sr. from JR Motorsports.
While McReynolds agreed a change was needed based on performance, he had some straight-forward comments about that organization's driver lineup, which this season includes Danica Patrick and Cole Whitt.
“I think their current driver lineup is running as well they’re going to run. In the Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick is probably as good as she’s going to be. She’s going to run between ninth and 15th and maybe score a top five on a really good day," McReynolds said. "I don’t care if you put Chad Knaus in as her crew chief. She’s going to run where she is running.
JR Motorsports announced Tuesday that Ryan Pemberton will serve as Patrick's interim crew chief this weekend at Kentucky. A decision past Kentucky hasn't been made.
"As much as I’d love to say she could run fender-to-fender with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Austin Dillon or Elliott Sadler, I don’t think it’s there. Danica is great for our sport and I’m excited about her running fulltime in the Cup Series. But she has run 51 Nationwide Series races, and that’s a lot of races.
"By the same token, Cole Whitt is going to run where he is running. He was thrown into the deep end pretty fast. I think he’s between a sixth and 12th place driver right now. That’s where he ran with the Eurys, and that’s where he’s going to run without them."
McReynolds said Richard Childress Racing's Nationwide program offers up a valid benchmark for comparison.
"JR Motorsports is a Chevrolet team. RCR is a Chevrolet team, and they’re winning races and sitting second and third in the points, so it’s not a Chevrolet problem. JR Motorsports runs Hendrick engines but Turner Motorsports is winning races with Hendrick engines, so it’s not the engines," he said. "So, I think this is why they had to do something to try to make their race cars better.”
While McReynolds agreed a change was needed based on performance, he had some straight-forward comments about that organization's driver lineup, which this season includes Danica Patrick and Cole Whitt.
“I think their current driver lineup is running as well they’re going to run. In the Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick is probably as good as she’s going to be. She’s going to run between ninth and 15th and maybe score a top five on a really good day," McReynolds said. "I don’t care if you put Chad Knaus in as her crew chief. She’s going to run where she is running.
JR Motorsports announced Tuesday that Ryan Pemberton will serve as Patrick's interim crew chief this weekend at Kentucky. A decision past Kentucky hasn't been made.
"As much as I’d love to say she could run fender-to-fender with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Austin Dillon or Elliott Sadler, I don’t think it’s there. Danica is great for our sport and I’m excited about her running fulltime in the Cup Series. But she has run 51 Nationwide Series races, and that’s a lot of races.
"By the same token, Cole Whitt is going to run where he is running. He was thrown into the deep end pretty fast. I think he’s between a sixth and 12th place driver right now. That’s where he ran with the Eurys, and that’s where he’s going to run without them."
McReynolds said Richard Childress Racing's Nationwide program offers up a valid benchmark for comparison.
"JR Motorsports is a Chevrolet team. RCR is a Chevrolet team, and they’re winning races and sitting second and third in the points, so it’s not a Chevrolet problem. JR Motorsports runs Hendrick engines but Turner Motorsports is winning races with Hendrick engines, so it’s not the engines," he said. "So, I think this is why they had to do something to try to make their race cars better.”
Sunday, September 16, 2012
A sneak peek at the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule
NASCAR hasn't released any of its "official" 2013 schedules yet, but The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com have obtained a copy of the Sprint Cup Series schedule, which is expected to be released to the public this week.
There are no major surprises in the schedule. It remains 36 points-paying races, beginning Feb. 24, 2013 at Daytona and concluding Nov. 17 at Homestead, Fla. The only notable change is a swap of the fall Kansas and Talladega races. The fall Kansas race is now Oct. 6, 2013 and the fall Talladega race is Oct. 20, 2013.
There are no additional night races added to the schedule. The spring Kansas race - on April 21, 2013 - was rumored to change to a night race, but remains on Sunday afternoon.
In addition, there are expected to be 33 Nationwide Series races in 2013 with no new venues added to the schedule.
The 2013 Sprint Cup Series schedule
Feb 24 Daytona
March 3 Phoenix
March 10 Las Vegas
March 17 Bristol
March 24 California
March 31 OFF/Easter
April 7 Martinsville, VA
April 13 Texas
April 21 Kansas
April 27 Richmond
May 5 Talladega
May 11 Darlington
May 18 All-Star race
May 26 Charlotte
June 2 Dover
June 9 Pocono
June 16 Michigan
June 23 Sonoma
June 29 Kentucky
July 6 Daytona
July 14 New Hampshire
July 21 OFF
July 28 Indianapolis
Aug. 4 Pocono
Aug. 11 Watkins Glen
Aug. 18 Michigan
Aug. 24 Bristol
Sept. 1 Atlanta
Sept. 7 Richmond
Sept. 15 Chicagoland
Sept. 22 New Hampshire
Sept. 29 Dover
Oct. 6 Kansas
Oct. 12 Charlotte
Oct. 20 Talladega
Oct. 27 Martinsville, VA
Nov. 3 Texas
Nov. 10 Phoenix
Nov. 17 Homestead
There are no major surprises in the schedule. It remains 36 points-paying races, beginning Feb. 24, 2013 at Daytona and concluding Nov. 17 at Homestead, Fla. The only notable change is a swap of the fall Kansas and Talladega races. The fall Kansas race is now Oct. 6, 2013 and the fall Talladega race is Oct. 20, 2013.
There are no additional night races added to the schedule. The spring Kansas race - on April 21, 2013 - was rumored to change to a night race, but remains on Sunday afternoon.
In addition, there are expected to be 33 Nationwide Series races in 2013 with no new venues added to the schedule.
The 2013 Sprint Cup Series schedule
Feb 24 Daytona
March 3 Phoenix
March 10 Las Vegas
March 17 Bristol
March 24 California
March 31 OFF/Easter
April 7 Martinsville, VA
April 13 Texas
April 21 Kansas
April 27 Richmond
May 5 Talladega
May 11 Darlington
May 18 All-Star race
May 26 Charlotte
June 2 Dover
June 9 Pocono
June 16 Michigan
June 23 Sonoma
June 29 Kentucky
July 6 Daytona
July 14 New Hampshire
July 21 OFF
July 28 Indianapolis
Aug. 4 Pocono
Aug. 11 Watkins Glen
Aug. 18 Michigan
Aug. 24 Bristol
Sept. 1 Atlanta
Sept. 7 Richmond
Sept. 15 Chicagoland
Sept. 22 New Hampshire
Sept. 29 Dover
Oct. 6 Kansas
Oct. 12 Charlotte
Oct. 20 Talladega
Oct. 27 Martinsville, VA
Nov. 3 Texas
Nov. 10 Phoenix
Nov. 17 Homestead
Post-race transcript of Ryan Blaney's first NASCAR win
Media Center interviews following 18-year-old Ryan Blaney's victory Saturday night in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway. Blaney became the series' all-time youngest winner. He also gave Brade Keselowski Racing its first victory.
Ryan Blaney (No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM) Race Winner
YOU ARE THE SEVENTH FIRST TIME WINNER IN THE SERIES THIS YEAR, THE 12TH DIFFERENT WINNER IN 15 RACES. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CAPTURE THIS WIN FOR BRAD KESELOWSKI RACING? “Well it definitely really special. Like you said, getting the first one for Brad Keselowski Racing, that’s great, that I could do it here. This Trucks team really means a lot to him and for me to do that for him really means a lot. We were good all weekend. We were not as good as the 7 truck (Parker Kligerman) leading up into the race. I think we could hang with the 7 truck in the race. He was a little bit better than us on long runs but it seemed like on restarts we were better than him for about five or seven laps and then at the end on restarts it kind of played to our advantage. I knew if we were just side-by-side with some second place guy getting into one, we were probably going to beat ‘em off of two. We were just strong on restarts all night. It was good to have Cooper Standard on board and here in Iowa where half my family is. Overall just a good night to have my family here; it was a good night so hopefully we can have some more.”
Doug Randolph (Crew Chief, No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM)
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU TO BE ABLE TO COME TO IOWA WITH RYAN IN HIS THIRD START AND CAPTURE THE WIN? “Well I mean it’s a great feeling. It was really fun tonight watching Ryan and he made some incredible passes. I really want to thank Brad for giving us all this opportunity. He’s really helped us. We know we’ve been behind with our program and he’s allowed us to continue to improve and make it better. I really enjoy and it’s pretty neat to be here with Ryan and Dave ‘cause my first crew chiefing job was with Dave and you know I felt like there was a lot of nights that we should have been sitting right here and it didn’t quite work out. I felt like a couple of ‘em got away and it’s great to come full circle and make it happen with Ryan.”
Dave Blaney (Ryan Blaney’s Father)
YOU GOT HERE THIS AFTERNOON RIGHT BEFORE THE START OF THE RACE. TALK ABOUT GETTING TO THE TRACK AND BEING HERE WITH RYAN AND A PART OF HIS FIRST WIN. “I was glad I could get over. It sounded like it went really well yesterday and this morning in practice and you know Ryan was fired up. Like Doug said, he did a tremendous job all night in traffic, ran really hard when he needed to and not so much when he didn’t. He just did it all right. You know Doug made a really good call on tires there midway through the race. It ended up being the perfect call and got him in position and brought it home.”
Ryan Blaney: WHY WERE THERE SO MANY CAUTIONS TONIGHT? “You tell me. I couldn’t see ‘em all. All I knew is I’d run a lap, get away about three truck lengths and then a caution would come out. I’m not sure why there were so many at the end and so little there in the middle of the race. Guys just getting antsy I guess.”
YOU LIKED TO RESTART ON THE HIGH SIDE. WAS THAT AN ADVANTAGE? “Well in the K&N car we always start on the high side. You can get over the bump better and you can kind of pinch that guy down in one and just limit his room to get a run off the corner. It’s really just getting over the bump a lot better than the guy so you choose the outside if you’re the leader there.”
Dave Blaney: HOW SPECIAL IS IT FOR YOU BECAUSE ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST WINS CAME JUST DOWN THE ROAD HERE? “Well that’s true. My wife is from within an hour of here and her whole family is close and a lot of ‘em were here tonight. That’s a very cool thing. I’m just glad I was here to see it. You know I got to see his first K&N win at Phoenix last fall and this one. He does a really nice job and he’s coming along so quick it’s just cool to be a part of it. You know I can’t thank Brad Keselowski and everybody at Penske enough for having the faith in him to go ahead and run him in all this stuff and look at his future and Brad’s been instrumental in bringing Ryan along and help him get through the learning process here.”
Ryan Blaney: HAVE YOU HEARD FROM BRAD YET? WHAT DID HE HAVE TO SAY IF YOU’VE HEARD FROM HIM? “I haven’t heard from him yet. Haven’t had my phone on me. Probably going to call him here in a little bit.”
WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU’RE GOING TO TELL HIM WHEN YOU TALK TO HIM? “Probably thank you for giving me this opportunity and letting me drive his truck. It’s been great getting in with Penske and getting in with Brad. I’ve learned a whole lot from him in just about a month and a half that I’ve been close to him. I think we just keep building on our relationship making his team better, me getting better and hopefully we’ll have even a lot better runs here, a lot better finishes here.”
YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO RUN BOTH THE TRUCK AND NATIONWIDE RACES AT KENTUCKY. WHAT DOES THIS WIN DO FOR YOUR MOMENTUM HEADING INTO NEXT WEEKEND? “Well every time you win the week before it always boosts your team, boosts your self-confidence going into the next week. It’s really just a bonus and everyone is all fired up from the previous week. And as a driver confidence is a really big thing driving race cars. Your confidence level is just sky high when you win the week before. So I think it’s just always an added bonus being the winners the previous week and everyone always looks out for you.”
Ryan Blaney (No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM) Race Winner
YOU ARE THE SEVENTH FIRST TIME WINNER IN THE SERIES THIS YEAR, THE 12TH DIFFERENT WINNER IN 15 RACES. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CAPTURE THIS WIN FOR BRAD KESELOWSKI RACING? “Well it definitely really special. Like you said, getting the first one for Brad Keselowski Racing, that’s great, that I could do it here. This Trucks team really means a lot to him and for me to do that for him really means a lot. We were good all weekend. We were not as good as the 7 truck (Parker Kligerman) leading up into the race. I think we could hang with the 7 truck in the race. He was a little bit better than us on long runs but it seemed like on restarts we were better than him for about five or seven laps and then at the end on restarts it kind of played to our advantage. I knew if we were just side-by-side with some second place guy getting into one, we were probably going to beat ‘em off of two. We were just strong on restarts all night. It was good to have Cooper Standard on board and here in Iowa where half my family is. Overall just a good night to have my family here; it was a good night so hopefully we can have some more.”
Doug Randolph (Crew Chief, No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM)
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU TO BE ABLE TO COME TO IOWA WITH RYAN IN HIS THIRD START AND CAPTURE THE WIN? “Well I mean it’s a great feeling. It was really fun tonight watching Ryan and he made some incredible passes. I really want to thank Brad for giving us all this opportunity. He’s really helped us. We know we’ve been behind with our program and he’s allowed us to continue to improve and make it better. I really enjoy and it’s pretty neat to be here with Ryan and Dave ‘cause my first crew chiefing job was with Dave and you know I felt like there was a lot of nights that we should have been sitting right here and it didn’t quite work out. I felt like a couple of ‘em got away and it’s great to come full circle and make it happen with Ryan.”
Dave Blaney (Ryan Blaney’s Father)
YOU GOT HERE THIS AFTERNOON RIGHT BEFORE THE START OF THE RACE. TALK ABOUT GETTING TO THE TRACK AND BEING HERE WITH RYAN AND A PART OF HIS FIRST WIN. “I was glad I could get over. It sounded like it went really well yesterday and this morning in practice and you know Ryan was fired up. Like Doug said, he did a tremendous job all night in traffic, ran really hard when he needed to and not so much when he didn’t. He just did it all right. You know Doug made a really good call on tires there midway through the race. It ended up being the perfect call and got him in position and brought it home.”
Ryan Blaney: WHY WERE THERE SO MANY CAUTIONS TONIGHT? “You tell me. I couldn’t see ‘em all. All I knew is I’d run a lap, get away about three truck lengths and then a caution would come out. I’m not sure why there were so many at the end and so little there in the middle of the race. Guys just getting antsy I guess.”
YOU LIKED TO RESTART ON THE HIGH SIDE. WAS THAT AN ADVANTAGE? “Well in the K&N car we always start on the high side. You can get over the bump better and you can kind of pinch that guy down in one and just limit his room to get a run off the corner. It’s really just getting over the bump a lot better than the guy so you choose the outside if you’re the leader there.”
Dave Blaney: HOW SPECIAL IS IT FOR YOU BECAUSE ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST WINS CAME JUST DOWN THE ROAD HERE? “Well that’s true. My wife is from within an hour of here and her whole family is close and a lot of ‘em were here tonight. That’s a very cool thing. I’m just glad I was here to see it. You know I got to see his first K&N win at Phoenix last fall and this one. He does a really nice job and he’s coming along so quick it’s just cool to be a part of it. You know I can’t thank Brad Keselowski and everybody at Penske enough for having the faith in him to go ahead and run him in all this stuff and look at his future and Brad’s been instrumental in bringing Ryan along and help him get through the learning process here.”
Ryan Blaney: HAVE YOU HEARD FROM BRAD YET? WHAT DID HE HAVE TO SAY IF YOU’VE HEARD FROM HIM? “I haven’t heard from him yet. Haven’t had my phone on me. Probably going to call him here in a little bit.”
WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU’RE GOING TO TELL HIM WHEN YOU TALK TO HIM? “Probably thank you for giving me this opportunity and letting me drive his truck. It’s been great getting in with Penske and getting in with Brad. I’ve learned a whole lot from him in just about a month and a half that I’ve been close to him. I think we just keep building on our relationship making his team better, me getting better and hopefully we’ll have even a lot better runs here, a lot better finishes here.”
YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO RUN BOTH THE TRUCK AND NATIONWIDE RACES AT KENTUCKY. WHAT DOES THIS WIN DO FOR YOUR MOMENTUM HEADING INTO NEXT WEEKEND? “Well every time you win the week before it always boosts your team, boosts your self-confidence going into the next week. It’s really just a bonus and everyone is all fired up from the previous week. And as a driver confidence is a really big thing driving race cars. Your confidence level is just sky high when you win the week before. So I think it’s just always an added bonus being the winners the previous week and everyone always looks out for you.”
Saturday, September 15, 2012
NASCAR mandates safety changes
Earlier
this week, NASCAR issued technical bulletins in both the Cup and
Nationwide series that address a safety enhancement to the driver’s
roll cage and will take effect beginning in January 2013.
The
cars in both series will feature an additional forward roof bar and a
center roof support bar that will intersect near the front center of
the roll cage. This addition comes following extensive testing at the
NASCAR research and development center in Concord.
NASCAR
spokesman Kerry Tharp said the intent was to strengthen the top front
area of the roll cage in the event of a car rolling over. The change
can be made to cars this year but is not mandatory until 2013.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Look out for the NASCAR traffic jam
The garage area every weekend at NASCAR races is probably the busiest area of the track, particularly when practice sessions are underway and cars are running laps, returning to the garage for adjustments, then heading back out to the track to test them.
Friday afternoon, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. were involved in a NASCAR version of the fender-bender.
As Keselowski was leaving the garage area to head to the track a NASCAR official waved at him. Keselowski thought it was a signal to stop, so he did. However, Truex was directly behind him and ran into the rear of Keselowski's No. 2 Dodge.
Both cars suffered cosmetic damage and neither team had to move to a backup car.
"My bad, totally my fault," said Truex, who like Keselowski, is among the 12 drivers competing in this season's Chase for the Sprint Cup. "I looked up and Keselowski just slammed the brakes on and I just hit him.
"You get in a hurry getting out of the garage and it was just hard to see what the (official) was doing."
Keselowski's crew chief, Paul Wolfe, said it wasn't a big issue. "It didn't affect us other than losing a few minutes of practice," he said.
Friday afternoon, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. were involved in a NASCAR version of the fender-bender.
As Keselowski was leaving the garage area to head to the track a NASCAR official waved at him. Keselowski thought it was a signal to stop, so he did. However, Truex was directly behind him and ran into the rear of Keselowski's No. 2 Dodge.
Both cars suffered cosmetic damage and neither team had to move to a backup car.
"My bad, totally my fault," said Truex, who like Keselowski, is among the 12 drivers competing in this season's Chase for the Sprint Cup. "I looked up and Keselowski just slammed the brakes on and I just hit him.
"You get in a hurry getting out of the garage and it was just hard to see what the (official) was doing."
Keselowski's crew chief, Paul Wolfe, said it wasn't a big issue. "It didn't affect us other than losing a few minutes of practice," he said.
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