Even though Dale Earnhardt, Jr is encouraged by the progress his No 88 team has made in recent weeks, he says it will be very difficult to leapfrog 7-8 drivers in the race to The Chase.

“Making the Chase [For The Sprint Cup] is a goal, but at the end of the year when you’re done racing at Homestead and you run the last lap and you get out of the car, what kind of feeling do you want to have?” Earnhardt Jr. said Friday at DIS. “The one I want to have is that we’ve fixed it, that we’ve got something we can feel good about and work on and get all our stuff ready for next year and feel like we can go in and get the job done. Right now, that’s not how we feel as a team. Continue reading ‘Earnhardt, Jr says team is improving, but doubtful to make The Chase’

NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway has been cancelled due to rain. The field will be lined-up based on points and that will put Tony Stewart on the pole.

STARTING LINEUP: Continue reading ‘Daytona Sprint Cup qualifying rained out’

Chrysler is working on a deal to pay off some of its debt to Richard Petty Motorsports, co-owner Richard Petty said on Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

Petty said last month that Chrysler’s bankruptcy put cash flow from the manufacturer to the organization on hold. The subsequent layoff of nine RPM employees also was blamed on anticipated cuts from the bankruptcy. Continue reading ‘RPM hopes to get funding from Chrysler’

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined in the infield media center by NASCAR chairman and chief executive officer, Brian France. Brian will start off with a mid-year update and brief discussion on current events and then we’ll turn it over to questions from the media.

BRIAN FRANCE: Thank you, and good afternoon, a couple things. This is always a time of the year that I address my good friends of the media, we get to spend the holidays together, here the 4th of July weekend, so that’s good. And also, a couple things.

One, I’ve been spending more time with you in this particular year with all of the things going on with the manufacturers and that whole issue, and certainly the recent developments with Jeremy Mayfield and the NASCAR substance abuse policy, and I’ll get into that and I’ll take any questions as I always do. Continue reading ‘Daytona press conference with Brian France’

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET IMPALA SS met with media and discussed Jeremy Mayfield, Joey Logano’s win, his season to date, and more.

ARE YOU READY TO RACE AT DAYTONA? “Uh, yeah. I always forget how warm and humid it is until we show up and then its like, ‘oh yeah, July in Daytona’.

I’m looking forward to the race and we’ve been fair here. I take a lot of the responsibility for that and plate racing lately. Some things with this car and things that I was looking to do, it just hasn’t worked out. There was a time in 2006 and in 2005 where we were real good with the old car, but I just haven’t been as competitive as I want to be. Continue reading ‘Daytona Interview: Jimmie Johnson’

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M / Scotch-Brite Ford Fusion, is in ninth place in the standings heading into this weekend’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Biffle won the July race at Daytona in 2003. He met with the media between Thursday’s practice sessions.

GREG BIFFLE — No. 16 3M /Scotch-Brite Ford Fusion

YOU WON HERE IN 2003. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES YOU CAN DO THAT HERE AGAIN? “I think pretty good. I wasn’t very optimistic when we first started that practice. The car was slipping and sliding around. We tried a few different changes and got it driving good at the end of the session. So, pretty happy with the Scotch-Brite Ford Fusion now, and look forward to this other practice and try and get it driving good and dialed in for Saturday night.” Continue reading ‘Daytona Interview: Greg Biffle’

Kasey Kahne says NASCAR has stepped up its drug testing procedure since the suspension of Jeremy Mayfield. Kahne said the tests he took prior to the suspension were “in and out” in five to 10 minutes. He said his most recent test two weeks ago at Infineon Raceway took nearly 40 minutes. “It’s a process now,” Kahne said on Thursday at Daytona.

“Every little step you have to sign your name or initial, work with the person that is taking the sample. To me that’s because of the whole Mayfield incident, to clarify everything and make sure the driver and also the person taking the sample is on the same page.” Continue reading ‘NASCAR ramps up detailed drug testing’

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Jeremy Mayfield’s absence from the track Friday called into question the argument his attorneys used in requesting a preliminary injunction on NASCAR’s drug suspension. Here’s what Poston said: Continue reading ‘NASCAR questions Mayfield’s urgency to get back to track’

NASCAR announced a history-rich list of 25 nominees for the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class. From that list, five inductees will be chosen via a process that includes a nationwide fan vote on NASCAR.COM; the inductees will be announced in October and honored next May at the new Hall of Fame facility in Charlotte, N.C. The nominees, which include many of the sport’s legendary names, were selected by a 21-person nominating committee consisting of representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and track owners from both major facilities and historic short tracks.

The HOF’s first inductees will be determined by the Voting Panel, which has 50 members — the entire Nominating Committee, 14 media members, four manufacturer representatives and nine retired competitors (drivers, owners, crew chiefs — three each) and two recognized industry leaders. In addition, the fan vote will result in the Voting Panel’s 51st and final ballot. Following are the 25 individuals who have been nominated: Continue reading ‘Nominees announced for Inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame induction’

Red Bull Racing [#82 & #83] will decide in a month whether to switch from Toyota to General Motors in 2010, sources close to the situation said. There has been speculation for a month that Red Bull would move to Chevys with the chassis and engines supplied by Hendrick Motorsports. HMS owner Rick Hendrick has said he needs to pick up some additional business to make up for the financial support GM cut after it filed for bankruptcy last month.

Red Bull general manager Jay Frye, who has worked with HMS in the past, said Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, that no decision has been made. Richard Petty Motorsports could leave Dodge and fill Red Bull’s vacancy if there is one. Robbie Loomis, the vice president for race operations at RPM, said the organization continues talking to all manufacturers about next season.

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TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BURGER KING IMPALA SS met with media and discussed his role as an owner/driver, the heat and how that affects the race, the people he has chosen to join Stewart-Haas Racing, Danica Patrick, and more.

YOU’VE WON THIS RACE TWICE. WHAT’S YOUR OUTLOOK FOR WINNING IT A THIRD TIME? “I’m excited about it. We had a car at the 500 here that drove really, really well. That’s a bigger factor at this race than it is even in February. So, I’m excited about it. I’ve seen the car at the shop and I know the extra effort the guys in the body shop were able to put into it for this race. We’re going to have different colors this weekend with Burger King being on board and I’m real excited about that. It’s the first of two races that we get to run for them. I’m excited about it. I think we’ve got a good shot at having a very good finish this weekend.” Continue reading ‘Daytona Interview: Tony Stewart’

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET IMPALA SS met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed racing at Daytona, the ‘Chase,’ NASCAR drug testing and other topics.

WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND?: “Survive. I think we have a good race car every week and this restrictor-plate racing is all about surviving. If we can survive this week and bring it home anywhere then I think we will be good. I think if you can get to the end of the race then you are probably going to be in the top-20. If you can get a top-20 at a restrictor-plate racing going into for the ‘Chase’ is not a bad thing. I know we have a fast car and we’ll see what happens. It’s all about points right now.” Continue reading ‘Daytona Interview: Juan Montoya’

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT IMPALA SS met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed NASCAR’s drug testing policy, bump drafting and other topics.

WILL THE PREFERRED LINE FOR RESTARTS AT DAYTONA BE THE INSIDE OR OUTSIDE LINE?: “That’s why I don’t think much about it because you never know until the race gets going. I think it kind of depends on who all is in your line. If you have a strong group of cars that have shown a lot of strength so far in the race then I think that’s the line that I would go with more so than inside or outside. But we’re not really sure how handling is going to be affected; you don’t know what tires you’re going to be on, who is going to be on old tires and who is going to be on new tires. So many different factors that play in and that’s why you can over-think it at this point right now, standing here. Once you get out there and you know what you have to deal with then that to me is the best time to go about the strategy.” Continue reading ‘Daytona Interview: Jeff Gordon’

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG’S IMPALA SS met with media and discussed Jeremy Mayfield and the drug situation, his season to date, and more.

MARK, EVERY DRIVER SO FAR TODAY HAS BEEN ASKED ABOUT JEREMY MAYFIELD AND HIS SITUATION. IT SEEMS AS IF IT’S AN UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTION FOR A DRIVER TO ANSWER. DO YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE? “I’m comfortable with being on the racetrack with Jeremy Mayfield. One-hundred percent.

I feel that NASCAR needs to have the authority to say whether or not that you drive. I don’t know anything about judges. I don’t know anything about laws and I don’t know anything about anything else, but I do believe that NASCAR needs to have the authority to make that call. And they need to be responsible with it and careful with it. I think that somebody is wrong. Either Jeremy or NASCAR is wrong, and I don’t know which one, but whichever one is wrong is really hurting the other. I don’t know. That is about all my thoughts on that matter.” Continue reading ‘Daytona Interview: Mark Martin’

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed the heat in the cars, coming back to Daytona as a 500 winner, his top-five picks for the Hall of Fame and more.

WHAT IS THE OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEK? “We were just talking at the truck. I would just like to redo the (Daytona) 500 weekend and get a re-baseline here at Daytona. We went through so many race cars that it kind of almost doesn’t count so it’s kind of like our first trip to Daytona coming back to just kind of try to redeem ourselves for the cluster that we had going on in February. I look forward to it. I really enjoy the race track. It’s going to be a hot one.” Continue reading ‘Daytona Interview: Ryan Newman’