Petty Enterprises announced the plans to celebrate “The King” Richard Petty’s 50th anniversary in NASCAR. The plan includes Petty getting back into a racecar and turning laps at Chicagoland Speedway. On July 12, 1958, Petty made his first NASCAR start in the old Convertible Division at Columbia Speedway in Cayce, South Carolina. On July 12, 2008, Petty Enterprises and the entire NASCAR community will celebrate the anniversary of that race at the Chicagoland Speedway, where the Sprint Cup Series is competing in the Life Lock 400. Continue reading ‘A Golden Anniversary fit for “The King”’

It was a matchup NASCAR could only dream of: Melanie Troxel and Ashley Force going head-to-head in the first all-female Funny Car elimination round.

Troxel won the round, made it to the finals and ultimately claimed the title Sunday at Thunder Valley Nationals — making her the first woman in NHRA history to win in both its nitro classes. Troxel downplayed the significance of her matchup with Force, trying hard to remove gender from the historic moment.

“Everybody wants to make a big story about Ashley and I running against each other,’’ she said. “For me, it’s not about the other female out here. I think it’s pretty sad if we have to just compare ourselves against each other.’’

She’s right, of course. Female competitors are no longer a sideshow in most forms of racing, and Troxel’s championship proved women are succeeding at a consistent pace.

Except in NASCAR, that is. Continue reading ‘NASCAR still looking for its Danica Patrick, Ashley Force’

NASCAR officials won’t alter the minimum age limit for drivers in the Cup series for next season.

Series officials talked before the season about possibly raising the minimum age limit from 18 to 21 but decided against it.

Emotions flowed around the #44 UPS Racing Team during the Sprint All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway as Dale Jarrett embarked in the final race of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. Jarrett finished the night with a 21st-place finish but more importantly finished his career among friends, family and fans at the track he considers “home.” Continue reading ‘Jarrett calls it a career in All Star Race at Lowe’s’

ESPN is reporting that two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart, who is exploring options outside of Joe Gibbs Racing, reportedly could be a partner with JR Motorsports. Continue reading ‘Stewart could partner with JR Motorsports?’

Aflac insurance has emerged as the frontrunner in the race to be the primary sponsor of Carl Edwards’ Roush Fenway Racing Ford beginning next year, according to sources. Continue reading ‘Aflac to become primary sponsor for Edwards No 99 in 2009?’

Joe Gibbs Racing used its own engines in the all-star race as opposed to the engines it receives from Toyota Racing Development. The team plans to go back to TRD motors for the Coca-Cola 600. Continue reading ‘Gibbs used its own engines in All Star race, not Toyota’s’

NASCAR drivers work under extreme conditions – making split-second decisions while traveling at speeds nearing 200 mph and precariously looking to move ahead when the next car is mere feet away. The safety, integrity and performance of the car are crucial to the driver and his team. These factors were also front and center with NASCAR when in January 2006 it announced the launch of a universal car design tagged the ‘‘Car of Tomorrow’‘ (COT) for its Sprint Cup Series. Continue reading ‘Dodge uses robotics to weld COT chassis for Cup competition’

Expect NASCAR to tell Sprint Cup teams that they’ve gone far enough - and in some cases, too far - with making crooked cars. Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said Saturday that teams will get a memo, likely this week, telling them to “clean up” the way they’re turning their wheels to help the cars handle better. Continue reading ‘NASCAR to teams: ‘Straighten out your cars’’

WHAT KIND OF A CHALLENGE WOULD IT BE FOR KYLE BUSH TO TEST IN AN F1 CAR?

Montoya: “I think the first problem he’s going to have, whether they’re going to try and give him a test to try the car or a test for real? It’s like what we did for Jeff (Gordon). We took the real car and the real deal – actually when Jeff was there, the car had no rpms. I told them, ‘You can’t do that.’ So when Jeff drove the car, I actually convinced them to put in all the rpms like we normally would when we race it. And he did pretty good. Jeff did really good actually. We were very impressed with Jeff. Continue reading ‘Montoya talks about Busch testing an F1 car’

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU WON THE ALL-STAR RACE?

“I wouldn’t have believed it until about lap 60 or so. At that point, our car was getting better and better. We were making the right adjustments. In the final 50 to 75 laps we were pretty loose. We made one small adjustment with the track bar, and left the tires on it. I knew we were quick the longer the runs went. I thought if we could get by some cars, the car was good enough to win.” Continue reading ‘All Star winner interview: Kasey Kahne’

SAM HORNISH JR. (Driver, No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) 7th

YOU SCRAPED THE WALL EARLY IN THE ALL-STAR RACE. “Oh yeah, we scraped it pretty good, too. We had a really good car. I thought we had a car that was capable of running in the top-10 here. Once we got out there running I think we had one that was capable of winning. I went down into that turn and I was right behind the 42 car. He’d been running the bottom and he moved up and it was either me go up in the marbles and try to keep from crashing or run over him. I did what I thought was the right thing to do and I had to move up a little bit and I got in the marbles and got the back end which drug the front. Then we get the flat tire and go two laps down and it was a struggle the whole day but we had a really good car. Continue reading ‘All-Star Dodge teams race quotes’

Chip Ganassi didn’t enter his #40 Dodge in the All-Star race activities because driver Dario Franchitti is still nursing a broken left foot. The car will be back for next week’s Coca-Cola 600 here at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, but Ganassi believes Sterling Marlin will be behind the wheel instead of Franchitti. Continue reading ‘Marlin expected to run the No 40 car in the Coca Cola 600′

GREG BIFFLE — No. 16 Dish Network Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd)

“I tell you what, we were just a mediocre car. I was running third, fourth right there and I was just way too tight, way, way too tight. I think we finished in the first segment second, I think, and then we fell back a couple more spots. We got the big break and we took a look at what Matt was doing and Carl and made some adjustments to our car — pretty aggressive. We wouldn’t have done something like that in a normal race and loosened it up a bunch. When the green flag dropped, I mean, man alive, I could not believe how fast my car was. It was unbelievable. I could just drive it anywhere — on the mat — drive it in the corner and just hold it to the floor. Continue reading ‘All Star post-race interview with Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth’