‘Scotts appreciates the support of NASCAR fans everywhere, and we have an excellent relationship with Carl Edwards, Jack Roush and the #99 Roush Fenway Racing team. However, like many fans, we were very concerned about the on-track incident that occurred in Atlanta this past weekend. As a result, we have strongly expressed these concerns to both Carl and Jack, and we are confident that they have a clear understanding of the trust we have placed in them as ambassadors of our company, our associates and our brands. In addition, as a sponsor, we want to make sure that drivers, race teams and NASCAR focus on keeping these types of incidents and misjudgments from happening.’

“I feel lucky to be in race cars that are as safe as they are, to be able to be here talking today and to be able to say, ‘Hey, I’ll take the lick’ and I’ll get out of the car and come back the next race weekend and drive just as hard just to prove a point that I wasn’t wrong and I still don’t feel like I’m wrong.”

Brad Keselowski, the victim of Carl Edwards’ wrath at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week, says he doesn’t plan on changing how he races and doesn’t feel that he has been overly aggressive in the majority of the on-track incidents he has been blamed for. Continue reading ‘Keselowski says he will not back down on his driving style’

Seven months of negotiations have put NASCAR and its top teams in position to create the first NASCAR Properties, a trust that will serve as a centralized licensing agency for the sport. The unnamed unit will operate as a one-stop shop for licensees, but a key difference from other previously established league-licensing divisions is that revenue will be distributed to the teams based on sales and not a revenue-share agreement. The licensing body is being called a trust because one body – NASCAR Properties – will hold the rights and grant licenses on behalf of the teams. Continue reading ‘NASCAR, top teams creating new licensing agency to handle merchandise, apparel’

Speedway Motorsports Inc.’s overall revenue declined by 9.9 percent in 2009, including a 13.3 percent drop in ticket revenue, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Continue reading ‘Speedway Motorsports revenues drop nearly 10 percent in 2009′

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hangs out with friends, races go-karts, plays paintball, and talks about life.

Elliott Sadler had no complaints for Goodyear, only for those drivers griping about the manufacturer. When asked what it meant that at least a dozen competitors faced tire trouble at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, Sadler was quick with a response: “Yeah, but there were 37 others that didn’t,” he said Tuesday at Darlington Raceway. Sadler and fellow Sprint Cup racers Marcos Ambrose and Clint Bowyer came to the track “Too Tough To Tame” to shake out the dormant raceway and give Goodyear some insight about what tire to bring to the Southern 500 in May. Continue reading ‘Sadler blames teams for Goodyear tire issues’

From AR1-’This small sampling of “tweets” says a lot about NASCAR. Wrecking someone and putting their life at undue risk, as well as that of innocent spectators, is really punishable by more than simply NASCAR, and its not the first time it has happened.’

Brian Vickers: I bet the 12 will think twice about wrecking anyone again!
Kyle Busch: (retweeting Matt Yocum’s opinion in support of his own) Coulda woulda shoulda…jeeeesh. People want the gloves off, drivers show more personality, and now they complain. Nothing happened. move on.
Michael Waltrip: Good call #nascar. You can’t ask the driver to take their gloves off one week and then tell ‘em to put ‘em back on the next.
Scott Speed: You go #nascar!!! 3 race probation for Edwards! Awesome I love it!!! I bet Keselowski is scared now. Continue reading ‘Carl Edwards deserves a suspension, pure and simple (NASCAR)’

UPDATE:
Statements by Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards:

Brad Keselowski: “I support NASCAR in the decision they communicated today. They are not in an enviable position when it comes to these matters, but they do an outstanding job. The unfortunate part about what happened on Sunday is that it has overshadowed a win by the #2 Miller Lite Dodge and an overall solid performance by Penske Racing at Atlanta.

Carl Edwards: Carl Edwards posted the following message on his Facebook page: “I respect NASCAR’s penalty and look forward to our meeting in Bristol. I’m ready to put this behind us and get on with some good racing.” Continue reading ‘Carl Edwards gets 3 race probation for flipping Brad Keselowski, no suspension-UPDATE’

HERB BRANHAM: Thanks, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the first of today’s two NASCAR Cams. For this first one, we’re joined by NASCAR President Mike Helton. He’s going to open up with a brief announcement before taking some questions from the media. Mike, it’s all yours.

MIKE HELTON: Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. Revisit just a minute on the incident between the 99 and the 12 car. Following that incident we asked the driver of the 99 to visit us in the hauler, and we made it very clear to him that these actions were not acceptable and did go beyond what we said back in January about putting the driving back in the hands of the drivers. We believe the driver of the 99 understands our position at this point.

Also want to say that it’s important for all of us to step back and separate the issue of what happened with the 99 and 12 on the racetrack and the fact that the 12 car went airborne. We’ve not seen a car get airborne much on the mile-and-a-half racetrack, and that’s something that is very important to us and we want to study very closely to figure out things that we can do to help prevent this very quickly in the future.

This is a very important element of all of this that I would ask all of us to be reminded of the fact of the car getting airborne was a very serious issue. And that’s something that we’ll take a look at very quickly and try to figure out how to help prevent that happening in the future. Continue reading ‘Interview with Mike Helton on Edwards, Keselowski accident’

Matthew Huffstetler, a crew member for the #01 team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and William Keith, a crew member for the #38 team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, have been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR for violating the sanctioning body’s substance abuse policy. On March 5, both were found to have violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 19 (violation of the NASCAR substance abuse policy) of the 2010 NASCAR rule book.

[NASCAR]

Carl Edwards turns Brad Keselowski around in the closing laps at Atlanta and Keselowski flips into wall:

Goodyear is facing more questions about the quality of its tires. At least a dozen drivers were affected by tire problems during Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, stirring up complaints that Goodyear supplied a compound that was good for speed but low on durability at the high-banked track. “When they come here and test, you expect them to build a tire that we can abuse and that we can race hard with,” said Jeff Gordon, one of those affected. “That obviously wasn’t the case. There is a good chance we were too aggressive, but until we go back and analyze everything it’s hard to say.” Continue reading ‘Goodyear on hot seat again over tire issues’