Goodyear statement on Kurt Busch tire issue in practice

   Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. issued the following statement regarding an incident in Friday's Sprint Cup Series practice involving Kurt Busch's No. 41 Chevrolet, which had a left-rear tire go down and hit the wall:

   "Late in the Sprint Cup practice the No. 41 car lost a left-rear tire after 19 laps of a run. We eventually got the tire back, and while it was heavily damaged, our initial assessment is air loss due to over-deflection in the sidewall area. We've spoken to the team and got some preliminary information, but we need to talk with them further to get more details to help make a final determination." - Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales

A dozen Sprint Cup teams lose practice time on Friday at Texas

 

 

   A dozen Sprint Cup Series teams have been docked 15 minutes of practice time on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway for being late to the qualifying inspection line last weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

   The teams of Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Landon Cassill, Cole Whitt, Michael Annett, Martin Truex Jr., Reed Sorenson, Clint Bowyer, Parker Kligerman and Kyle Larson are lost 15 minutes in Friday's lone practice session.

   Teams being penalized practice time for being late to inspection is nothing new, however the number of teams being late on the same weekend is unusual.

Three NASCAR Truck teams penalized

   NASCAR Press Release

 

   Daytona Beach, Fla. (April 1, 2014) — Three teams that compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series have been penalized for rules violations discovered during post-race inspection last Sunday (March 30) at Martinsville Speedway.

 

   All three teams – the No. 31, No. 54, and No. 98 – have been assessed a P3 level penalty for violating Section 20B-12.5 (D) (offset front hubs found in post-race inspection) of the 2014 NASCAR rule book.

 

   As a result, each team’s crew chief – Michael Shelton (No. 31); Jerry Baxter (No. 54); and Gene Wachtel (No. 98) – have been fined $10,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31.

 

Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch give their take on pit road incident

During the second caution of Sunday's STP 500, Brad Keselowski got hit on pit road by Kurt Busch in an incident that also included Kasey Kahne. After repairs were made to his car, Keselowski returned to the track and rubbed on Busch's car several times. Both talked after the race about the incident:


BRAD KESELOWSKI

WHAT HAPPENED WITH KURT OUT THERE? “The replay shows it. We jumbled up on pit road and he just drove right through me and ruined our day. We probably had a race-winning car and it doesn’t matter. That’s the way it goes.” 

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HIM WINNING? “That’s just racing. You can’t get caught up in that stuff. It doesn’t make you happy, but it’s just racing.” 

DID YOU TRY TO GO AFTER HIM? “I’m good with that.” 

YOU HAD AN ISSUE AT KENTUCKY WITH HIM WASN’T IT? “Yeah, the same thing. He wrecked me for no reason 15-30 laps in, whatever, early in the race just being overaggressive. Aggressive is good, but lap 50 wrecking somebody, if you’re gonna be aggressive wreck yourself don’t wreck me. I’ll remember that when it’s lap 50 and he needs a break and he’ll find his ass turned around in the wall just like he tore my car up. That stuff will come around. Once or twice when it happens you go, ‘Oh, it happens,’ but when it happens repeatedly then you just realize who the person is that’s at fault and you just have to make sure that you show them you’re not gonna take that, and I’m not gonna take that. I know this 2 team is not gonna take it. We had a race-winning car today, instead we finished thirty-whatever with the whole front end tore off of it. That’s inexcusable and I’m not gonna put up with that.”

YOU HAD A LOT OF RESPECT FOR HIM WHEN YOU WERE TEAMMATES. “I still do. He does awesome things for charity and he’s probably the most talented race car driver, but he’s also one of the dumbest, so put those three together.” 

HE SAID HE WANTED TO REARRANGE YOUR FACE. “Tell him come here. I’m right here. He knows where I’m at. Leave victory lane and we’ll go.”


KURT BUSCH

AS FAR AS WHAT HAPPENED ON PIT ROAD WITH KESELOWSKI, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AND WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT HE WAS UPSET? "Yeah, I can't believe he overreacted and he's as upset as he is. The 5 car was trying to pull into his box, Brad ran into the back of him, I steered right to go around Brad and then he clobbers our left‑side door, and it's like, okay, accidents happen on pit road. It's congested. It's not a place to race, because of all the pit crew guys down there and I didn't think much of it, and then once we were back out running, he targeted us, he was aiming for us. He tried to flatten all four of my tires. That's a no‑fly zone. That's a punk‑ass move and he will get what he gets back when I decide to give it back."

Martinsville NASCAR Truck race postponed until Sunday

 

   Saturday's NASCAR Truck Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway was postponed by persistent rain showers and has been rescheduled for approximately 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday (Fox Sports 1) - to be run immediately after the conclusion of the Sprint Cup Series race.

   Qualifying for the Truck race was also rained out. Darrell Wallace Jr. will start from the pole as he was fastest in practice on Friday.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway seeking to add night racing

 

 

   Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, hinted in on Tweet on Thursday that his track could have a night Sprint Cup Series race in the 2015 season.

   The 1-mile paved oval located in Loudon, N.H., currently hosts races in July and September and both are held on Sunday afternoon.

   The Observer on Friday asked for comment on the potential of night racing at New Hampshire and the following statement was provided attributed to Gappens:

   “Night racing requires an agreement from a number of stakeholders, and if we do it, we want to do it right and with community support. A recent survey shows Loudon residents support lights, and it has been the top request from our fans for years," Gappens said.

 

   “The first step is to get approval from NASCAR and NBC. We started dialogue in September and I am awaiting an answer. We are hopeful, with the collective work of everyone involved, that the future of New Hampshire Motor Speedway will indeed be bright."

 

Former NASCAR driver Shawna Robinson diagnosed with breast cancer

  

 

    Former NASCAR driver Shawna Robinson, the first woman to win a pole in what is now the Nationwide Series, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

   Robinson, who now works in interior design and is creator and owner of Happy Chair which restores old chairs, announced on her Facebook page this week that she would begin five to six months of chemotherapy and then require surgery.

   Here is her entire post:

   "I'm getting ready to start a new journey that was unexpected but I am prepared to take it on as I would any challenge ..with direction and strength. I have breast cancer…when they tell you you have cancer you don't hear the rest you just see talking and you seem to be there but your not hearing the words. But it is real, start Chemo next week for 5-6 months then surgery….there is such progress in cancer treatment..…still scared but prepared for battle. Thankful for the family and friends….I'm blessed to have….ready to go wide open and get this thing!!!"

   Robinson won three races in the now defunct NASCAR Goody's Dash Series and has completed in NASCAR's three national series - Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Trucks. Her best Cup series finish was 24th in the 2002 Daytona 500.