Dale Jarrett, Bruton Smith among NASCAR Hall nominees

   Former Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett and Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith are among the five new nominees for induction to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

   The list of 25 nominees for the Class of 2014 was revealed Wednesday night and includes the 20 nominees not selected for this year’s class. In addition to Jarrett and Smith, the other nominees eligible for the Hall are Maurice Petty, chief engine builder for Petty Enterprises; five-time NASCAR weekly series national champion Larry Phillips; and the 1960 champion of what is now the Sprint Cup Series, Rex White.

   From the group of 25, five inductees will be elected by the NASCAR Hall of Fame voting panel, which includes a nationwide fan vote on NASCAR.com. Voting day for the 2014 class is set for May 22 at the Hall in uptown Charlotte.

   Jarrett, who was born in Conover, N.C., is the son of Hall of Fame member Ned Jarrett and was nominated in his first year of eligibility. Jarrett won the 1999 Winston Cup series championship and is a three-time winner of NASCAR’s biggest race, the Daytona 500. Jarrett, 56, most recently has worked as a TV commentator for race broadcasts with ESPN.

   Smith, born in Oakboro, N.C., first promoted a stock car event at age 18 in Midland. He currently is chairman of SMI, which owns eight race tracks across the country, including Charlotte Motor Speedway. SMI was the first motorsports company traded at the New York Stock Exchange.

   This round of nominees was selected by a 21-member nominating committee consisting of representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and track owners. The committee’s votes were tabulated by accounting firm Ernst & Young.

   The five member Class of 2014 will be selected by a 54-member voting panel, which includes the entire nominating committee, as well as media members, manufacturer representatives, retired competitors (drivers, owners and crew chiefs) and industry leaders. In addition, the fan vote will result in the final ballot.

  

The 25 Nominees

 Red Byron: First champion in what now is Sprint Cup series, in 1949.

Richard Childress: 11-time champion car owner in NASCAR’s three national series.

Jerry Cook: Six-time NASCAR Modified champion.

H. Clay Earles: Founder of Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Tim Flock: Two-time champ in what now is Sprint Cup series.

Ray Fox: Legendary engine builder, owner of cars driven by Buck Baker, Junior Johnson, others.

Anne Bledsoe France: Helped build the sport with husband Bill France Sr.

Rick Hendrick: 13-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series.

Jack Ingram: Two-time Grand National series champ in what now is the Nationwide series, 3-time Late Model Sportsman champ.

Bobby Isaac: 1970 NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion.

Dale Jarrett: 1999 NASCAR premier (now Cup) series champion and three-time Daytona 500 winner.

Fred Lorenzen: 26 wins and winner of the Daytona 500 and World 600.

Raymond Parks: NASCAR’s first champion car owner.

Benny Parsons: 1973 NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion.

Maurice Petty: Chief engine builder for Petty Enterprises.

Larry Phillips: Only five-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion.

Les Richter: Former NASCAR executive; former president of Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway.

Fireball Roberts: 33 wins in what now is Sprint Cup series, including the 1962 Daytona 500.

T. Wayne Robertson: Raised NASCAR popularity as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. senior VP.

Wendell Scott: First African -American NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series race winner.

Ralph Seagraves: Formed Winston-NASCAR partnership as executive with R.J. Reynolds.

O. Bruton Smith: Builder of Charlotte Motor Speedway and architect of Speedway Motorsports Inc.

Curtis Turner: Early personality, called the "Babe Ruth of stock car racing."

Joe Weatherly: Two-time NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion

 

Rex White: 1960 NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion.

 

 

   The following is a statement from Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board O. Bruton Smith regarding Wednesday's announcement that he was one of five newcomers among the 25 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2014:

 

   "It is a great honor to be nominated as a candidate for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Bill France Jr. once asked me to help him build NASCAR and I have literally been building monuments to the sport for my entire lifetime. Millions of people have attended NASCAR events at our speedways over the years and we've tried to be creative and innovative in an effort to help push the sport to a higher level. It's always been a perfect fit for me because I love racing and I love NASCAR fans."

  

NASCAR pit crew competition put on hold this season

  

 
   The annual NASCAR pit crew competition, which has been a staple of Sprint All-Star weekend activities the past eight years in Charlotte, is going on at least a one-year hiatus due to a lack of sponsorship.

  The event, which included individual and team competition, typically has been held on the Wednesday night prior to the all-star race.

   The winner of the team competition had been awarded the right to pick the first pit stall in the race, which pays $1 million to the winner driver. That selection process will now revert back to its traditional method, which is based on qualifying results.

   “As an industry, we were looking for the most sustainable model for the event,” said NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp.

   With no sponsorship and time running out before the typical date of the event at Time Warner Cable Arena, the decision was made to forgo the event this season.

   NASCAR hopes the event will return as early as the 2014 season, Tharp said.

   Sprint was the most recent sponsor of the competition but elected not to renew this year. Previous sponsors include Motorola and Craftsman.

   The biggest losers in the decision are the teams in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.

   The annual competition remains the single biggest event which shines the spotlight on what many call the “unsung heroes” of race weekends – the pit crews.

   “This is a competition that will be greatly missed by all the crew guys,” said Trent Cherry, pit crew coach for Penske Racing and tire carrier for driver Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford.

 

   "I was fortunate enough to be part of the winning team in 2007 and it was a great experience. The competition that it generates with all the crew guys was something that we all looked forward to."

   T.J. Ford, the jackman for Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 team which won the team competition in 2012, called the decision a “heartbreaker.”

   “We obviously love that competition. It would be a shame for all the competitors, as well as the fans, for this All-Star contest to dissolve,” Ford said. “We have to keep it going.”  

 

 

   Who’s the fastest?

   Team winners of the annual NASCAR pit crew competition since its debut in Charlotte in 2005:

   Year, team, car

 

   2005, Evernham Motorsports, No. 9

   2006. Dale Earnhardt Inc., No. 1

   2007, Penske Racing, No. 12

   2008, Red Bull Racing, No. 83

   2009, Richard Childress Racing, No. 31

   2010, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 11

   2011, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 11

   2012, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 48

 

Carl Edwards heads back to the NASCAR TV booth

  

   From ESPN:

    After a two-race initiation last year, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Carl Edwards will return to the ESPN broadcast booth as an analyst for the next three races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

    Edwards will join lap-by-lap announcer Allen Bestwick and analyst Andy Petree in the booth to call the 300-mile race at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night, April 12, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The race will be the first after a two week break in the schedule for the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

    Edwards also will call races at Richmond International Raceway on Friday night, April 26 (7 p.m. on ESPNEWS) and at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, May 4 (2:30 p.m. on ESPN). In each case, Edwards will compete in the next day’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the same track.

    “I truly appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the ESPN team and their Nationwide Series broadcasts again this season,” said Edwards. “Allen, Andy and the whole ESPN team really helped me get a better feel of what goes on in the booth last season.”

    The Columbia, Mo., native made his debut in the ESPN booth last year, calling Nationwide Series races at Darlington Raceway and Kentucky Speedway. Moving to the booth was a progression in broadcasting for Edwards, who had been doing post-race analysis for ESPN SportsCenter during ESPN’s portion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule the previous two seasons.

Interesting what DIDN'T happen in Sunday's NASCAR race at Martinsville

   A cursory glance of much of what was written leading up to Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville, likely led race fans to expect to see several plots unfold during the race.

   But, here's what DIDN'T happen:
   
   - The 42 other drivers in Sunday's field did not gang up and knock Joey Logano around the track like a pinpall machine to exact revenge for Denny Hamlin's injury of two weeks ago.
  
   - Tony Stewart did not drive out of line on the pace laps and plant Logano in the wall for blocking in the previous race. In fact - gasp - Logano and Stewart passed each other several times in the race without making any contact whatsoever.
  
   - Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer didn't wreck each other every other lap to continue their "feud." In fact - gasp - the two sat together cordially in the media center after the race and discussed Sunday's outcome without the need to call security personnel.

    So, what DID happen?
   
   One of the sport's best drivers, who is a member of one of its best organizations, drove a heck of a race with a fast car to claim a win.

    In other words, racing happened.
   
   After all, that is what this is about.

NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin talks about his day not in the car

 

  Following Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville, sidelined driver Denny Hamlin shared with Bob Dillner on NASCAR Victory Lane the struggles he faced watching substitute driver Mark Martin drive his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the race.

    Following are Hamlin’s comments to Speed TV:

    Q: How tough was it to watch Mark Martin drive your race car?
    Hamlin: “It was tough for me. It was easy for Jimmie (Johnson, winner). I told him he got a layup this time – it ain’t going to be that easy when we come back in the fall. But I’m proud of the effort that Mark Martin did. He is a guy that has been around longer than any driver in our sport but he wants to be treated like a rookie. He wants constant information all the time, and I just tried to do the best I could to give him the information when he needed it. Just proud to get a top 10 with Mark here. I think he did an amazing job and kept us going in the owners’ points like we needed to.”

    Q: What was the most difficult part for you today?
    Hamlin: “The start of the race was nothing like I thought it was. I thought I was over it before I even got to the race track and thought that (I was) emotionally tough enough to get through it, but the start of the race absolutely killed me. That was very, very tough to watch. So I didn’t realize the physical toll that coming out here all three days was going to take on me, so I might back off a little bit in the future … come for one or two days to keep from rusting out. But I just want to get on the race track as soon as I possibly can, and I’m going to do everything I can to do that.”

Could Sunday's NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway be the best ever?

  

   Could Sunday's STP 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway be the best ever?
   Several people think so, in large part because of the fall-off seen on the Goodyear tires used this weekend at the track.

   Matt Crafton, who finished second in Saturday's Truck race, thinks the tires will play a prominent role in the outcome on Sunday.

   "It's going to be one of the best races at Martinsville, without a doubt, that you've seen in a long time here. In my first run, I think I ran a little bit too hard. I was definitely too loose and I should have known better," he said. "The truck went away. I had cords showing on both rear tires after the first run.

   "After that, we got it a lot better. The track doesn't put down any rubber. Usually when you come here, it puts down rubber as the race goes on and (tire wear) doesn't play into it as much. Rubber didn't lay down and it definitely put it back in the driver's hands. You can't abuse the tires."

   Asked if he thought some Cup drivers would be surprised at how the tires perform at the beginning of Sunday's race, Crafton said: "Absolutely."

   Cup driver David Ragan noticed the change and while watching Saturday's race posted the following message to his Twitter account:

   "Cars are fast at @MartinsvilleSwy and tires wearing like crazy. Times seem to really fall off. Should be one for the ages tomorrow."

Joey Logano is not going to change the way he drives

Part of NASCAR driver Joey Logano's question and answer session behind his hauler Friday at Martinsville Speedway:

Q: Do you think you have to change the way you drive? Logano: “No, I’m not going to change the way I drive. I don’t feel like I do anything that’s really disrespectful to other drivers out there. I race really hard. I’m fine with being known as a hard racer. That’s OK with me.”

Q: Denny said you needed more patience. Do you agree? Logano: “Everyone has their opinion. I feel like I have plenty of patience behind the wheel. I feel that I have enough racing experience and enough racing savvy to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.”

Q: Mark Martin said you're not a guy who goes out looking for trouble. How have you dealt with this? Logano: “I don’t look for trouble, but I’m also not here to get walked on either. There’s a fine line of how you’re going to earn that respect. There are certain ways to handle every situation. I’m not a guy that’s going to look for trouble, but I’m also the guy that’s not going to get walked on.”

Q: Do you think you're trying too hard to prove yourself? Logano: "No, I don’t feel like I need to prove myself. I want to go out and win races. If that’s proving yourself, OK then that’s what it is, but I’m out here to win races just like everyone else is and I’m going to race hard to do that.”