Interest high in entitlement sponsorship of NASCAR Nationwide Series

   NASCAR is receiving high interest in the entitlement sponsorship of its Nationwide Series including several familiar companies already involved in the sport.

   Nationwide Insurance Co., which is in its sixth season sponsoring NASCAR's No. 2 series, announced in September that next season will be its last in that role. The company is expanding its presence in NASCAR and will sponsor a car in the premier Sprint Cup Series.

   Subway, KFC and Dunkin' Donuts were all companies involved the last time the series sponsorship became open, several sources confirmed to The Observer.

   In addition to companies that previously expressed interest, others involved include existing NASCAR sponsorship "partners;" as well new brands in specific categories that cater to NASCAR's target demographics, such as an auto parts chains, quality service restaurants and technology and innovation companies, sources said.

   "The NASCAR Nationwide Series is one of the smartest and most effective spends in all of sports,” NASCAR chief sales officer's Jim O'Connell, said in a statement provided to The Observer.

   "We expect there to be very strong interest in this entitlement position and are highly confident a great replacement will be found."

   NASCAR officials hope to have an announcement made of the new series sponsor sometime next year.

NASCAR's explanation for not throwing red flag in Saturday's race

   Rather than display the red flag and bring Saturday's Ford 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series season finale to a halt, NASCAR elected to keep the race under caution for 12 laps while it cleaned up a three-car wreck that began on Lap 184 of 200.

   With so few laps left in the race, NASCAR has many times displayed the red flag to preserve as much of the race as possible.

   After Saturday's race, Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition was asked why no red flag was used. Here was his response:

   "It really looked like it was going to be a typical clean-up, a typical wreck. You know, you had two cars that had a lot of damage and both of them dumped quite a bit of oil. There was no need to throw a red. We felt like we could get it in normal lap segment of that. You know, unfortunately there was a lot of oil – it looked like it kept either seeping back up out of the race track or whatever from the car that was on the outside of the wall. And you know, we went one to go a handful of times trying to get back racing as soon as we can, but you know, when you’re in situations like that the most important thing is getting the track race ready. You know, you can look at you can use your hindsight every chance that you want to, but in this particular time we did the best we could to do and it was more important to get the track ready."
 

Yes, Donovan McNabb said Jimmie Johnson is 'absolutely not' an athlete

   The video speaks for itself, but Fox Sports Live guest Donovan McNabb said Friday night that five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was 'absolutely not' an athlete.

   Needless to say the remarks did not go over well among the NASCAR fan base.

   And Saturday morning, Johnson himself weighed in on his Twitter account: "I choose to be respectful. There is way too much venom spewed these days."

Who thinks Jimmie Johnson will reach eight NASCAR championships?

 

   Jimmie Johnson is very close to earning his sixth Sprint Cup Series championship, which he can do in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. 

    That would put him one away from tying the record of seven which is held by Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt.

 

   Some might be surprised who is among the group who thinks Johnson will have no trouble setting the new record in NASCAR - Petty himself.

 

   "They’ve shown (they are capable) in the past," Petty said Friday. "If you look back and look at how long Petty Enterprises lasted and won championships and won races for a lot of years, right now and from the beginning of racing the Hendrick operation is the only one that’s done that good and lasted that long to compete with what they did with Petty Enterprises."

 

NASCAR Hall of Fame selection process, eligibility to change

 

   NASCAR spokesman Brett Jewkes announced during Thursday's press conference with this season's NASCAR championship contenders that there will be "significant changes" made to the NASCAR Hall of Fame selection process and eligibility requirements.

    The changes will be formally announced during Champions Week next month at Las Vegas.

    However, Jewkes did unveil one change on Thursday.

    "As we meet to select the 2015 Hall of Fame class this May, NASCAR will become the first major sport to include a current competitor on the voting panel," he said. "Moving forward, the reigning Sprint Cup Series champion will have a vote for the NASCAR Hall of Fame."

NASCAR rising star Ryan Blaney to return to Trucks in 2014

   NASCAR rising star Ryan Blaney, who won his first Nationwide Series race earlier this season with Penske Racing, will return as a fulltime driver in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2014 with Brad Keselowski Racing.

    BKR made the announcement on Thursday while also noting that sponsor Cooper Standard had signed a contract extension to remain primary sponsor of Blaney's No. 29 Ford.

    Blaney, 19, has won a Truck series race with BKR in each of the last two seasons and won the Nationwide Series race at Kentucky in June.
With one Truck race left this season, he is sixth in the series standings.

    Blaney is the son of NASCAR veteran Dave Blaney.

What did Matt Kenseth's crew chief find inspiring in Sunday's race?

   On Tuesday, Jason Ratliff, crew chief for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Matt Kenseth, was asked about how calm and collected Kenseth appeared to be following what was likely one of his more disappointing days at the race track this season.

   Kenseth finished 23rd at Phoenix and has fallen 28 points behind Jimmie Johnson with just one race remaining. In the hours after the race, Ratliff was able to find something inspiring.

   Let him explain:

    "It was something that after I was away from the racetrack for a few hours thinking about, okay, what could we do better, how can we prevent those types of days from happening, especially in these types of situations where we're battling for championships, the one thing that struck me - after I was away from it for a little bit, that I was most impressed with was exactly what you just mentioned, and that is how Matt is able to keep his composure, and even though I know he's in that car just ready to chew the steering wheel off the thing because I know he's frustrated as the rest of it, he's as competitive as the rest of us, very disappointed, had high expectations going into Phoenix, and we still do going into Homestead," Ratliff said.

   "But he was very rational, even though he's disappointed. He keeps his composure and does a really nice job of putting things into perspective. I think a lot of that, again, is from his experience, but at the same time I think that's Matt's personality. I think he takes things in and thinks through them very well, and in the end he knows that nothing positive is going to come from me getting out of the car and stomping my feet, even though that's really what I want to do. So how do we take this situation, pull something positive from it, learn from it so we can be better in the future?

   "That was something for me as a crew chief, I've worked with a lot of different drivers, and that's something that was very inspiring for me as well as this race team. When you have a driver like that, I mean, that leads by example with that type of composure in the midst of adversity, it just goes a long way, you know."