Want to drive your car around Talladega Superspeedway?

   Race fans will have the opportunity on Saturday, July 26, to drive their own personal car around the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway during the track's “Fan Track Drive,” a fundraising event for the American Red Cross. 

   The “Fan Track Drive” event will run from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. ET and guests can drive their passenger vehicle two laps around the Talladega Superspeedway for a $50 contribution. Each vehicle will closely follow one of the speedway's emergency services vehicles, which will lead the field at highway speed. 

   Currently, there are no other fan “drive” events planned for the remainder of 2014 at Talladega. 

   In addition to the “drive,” guests can take a high-speed ride around Talladega in one of the speedway’s official pace cars – the Ford Mustang or the Chevrolet Camaro – at a cost of $100. All money for rides will be directly donated to the American Red Cross Talladega-St Clair Chapter. 

Brad Keselowski won the race ... and ended up in the care center

   Brad Keselowski dominated and won Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway but not long into his Victory Lane celebration he was on his way to the infield care center.

   While shaking a champagne bottle in Victory Lane, the bottle broke and Keselowski received a nasty cut on his right hand which required four stitches to close. After a change of driver's suit, Keselowski returned to Victory Lane to complete his media obligations.

   “We were playing around with some champagne bottles and as I told my good friend, ‘We should have stuck with beer.’  We were having too much fun with champagne and one of the bottles broke and I cut my hand open.  It’s no big deal," he said.

   Keselowski was reminded that earlier in the week he spoke about how everything was an adventure with him.

   "Yeah, welcome to the party," he said. "It’s all good. I’m just glad we won. It’s a lot better story when you win and get hurt.”

Brad Keselowski cut his hand on a champagne bottle while celebrating Saturday.
(Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

 

Jeff Gordon: 'We don't need 43 cars out there to put on a great race.'

   Add Jeff Gordon to those who don't see a short field in Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway as a bad sign for NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series.

   “We don’t need 43 cars out there to put on a great race," Gordon said Friday at Kentucky Speedway. "I’m not really that focused on it. There is no doubt that times have changed with how much the cost has gone up. How much we are asking out of our sponsors and some of the crowds have gone down.  

   "We are searching hard to find the income to match what the cost is. That is about the only thing that anybody should make of anything that is going on out there. Whether there are 35 cars or 45 cars to me that doesn’t really make a big difference.”

Two major sponsors re-up with NASCAR teams

   Two major sponsors for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams are extending their sponsorship deals this week.

   On Thursday, Caterpillar Inc. announced it had agreed to a multi-year contract extension with Richard Childress Racing to sponsor its No. 31 Chevrolet team and driver Ryan Newman. The partnership between RCR and Caterpillar began in 2009. Newman took over the driving duties for the team this season.

   "Cat dealers have been building relationships with customers at NASCAR events for more than 20 years.This contract renewal reaffirms our confidence in Richard Childress Racing and their commitment to excellence," said Pablo Koziner, Caterpillar vice president with responsibility for the Americas Distribution Services Division.

   On Saturday, Joe Gibbs Racing is expected to announce a contract extension with Dollar General, which sponsors the No. 20 Toyota team and driver Matt Kenseth. Sources said Dollar General has also agreed to a multi-year extension and will be expanding its sponsorship with the Cup team.

Global Rallycross returns next month to The Dirt Track at Charlotte

Global Rallycross racing - featuring 600-horsepower, all-wheel drive turbocharged compact cars - will return to The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway July 25-26. The series made its debut on the dirt track last season after running on a course on the speedway's infield 1/4-mile oval in 2012.

 "It's awesome to have Global Rallycross back for a third consecutive year," said speedway president Marcus Smith. "These guys put on an unbelievable show and the fans enjoyed every second of it."

Expected to enter the event is defending Charlotte champion and X Games gold medalist, Scott Speed, a former NASCAR and Formula One driver. Also entered is 2014 X Games gold medalist Mitchell DeJong.

Qualifying is Friday, July 25. On-track action begins on Saturday, July 26 at 11 a.m. Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday. The main event on Saturday will be broadcast live on NBC at 2 p.m. ET.

High speeds contribute to Tony Stewart's Indy tire test accident

   Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing, said driver Tony Stewart was running speeds as much as a second faster than norm when he blew a tire during a test earlier this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

   “Like a lot of race tracks we’ve been to this year with this new car package, it appears the race pace can be significantly faster than it’s been in the past,” he said.

   “It appears that increased, sustained speed over that run generated a significant amount of heat, which eventually caused the right-front to go down (on Stewart’s car). Those are the condition we have to consider in making the right decisions for the race.”

   Asked Friday afternoon about the cause of his accident, Stewart said he wasn't sure. "I’ve asked them what the cause of it was, but that’s part of tire testing," he said. "That’s why you go to the test. I’m sure they’ll learn something from it and go on.” 

   Goodyear will continue to talk to the Indianapolis test teams and review the data from the session to come up with its final recommendation in the next week. Goodyear also has tire tests planned at Richmond, Va. (July 8-9) and Homestead, Fla. (Aug. 26).

Helton: Idea limiting Cup drivers in other NASCAR series 'doesn't go very far'

  NASCAR President Mike Helton sat down with "NASCAR Race Hub" co-host Danielle Trotta on Wednesday on Fox Sports 1 for the first of a two-part interview.

   During the interview, Helton was asked about limiting Sprint Cup drivers in NASCAR's other series but his answer didn't seem very encouraging for those who support that idea.

   Q: Is NASCAR considering limiting the number of starts that Cup series drivers can make in the Nationwide or Camping World Truck series? 

   Helton: "It’s a conversation point that doesn’t so far go very far because NASCAR is open-minded. It’s open-field, too. We don’t believe it’s correct to tell someone they cannot compete somewhere.  We have NASCAR drivers who go compete in IndyCar or ARCA or a weekly track or a weekly show or open-wheel racing in different programs, and that’s the culture of NASCAR to be open-minded about who participates. No one is excluded from participating. You can earn your way in. We have, however, changed some of the rules and regulations around in hopes to encourage and get attention to the ones who are competing on a fulltime level in the Nationwide. It happened a couple of years ago. We had the drivers to select what series they would gather points in … We saw some signs of being successful there. We’re just not of the mindset to exclude somebody from participating. We’d rather encourage everyone who wants to participate to participate. So, if we said, ‘You can’t play over here,’ it’s kind of contrary to our culture.’ ”

   Part 2 of the interview will air Thursday at 5 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.