Surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Denny Hamlin’s left knee will not limit the Sprint Cup driver behind the wheel for the next race, according to one of the doctors that will perform the operation on Wednesday. “I anticipate by the time he gets to Phoenix [April 8-10] he’ll have a pretty normal knee for all intents and purposes,” said Dr. Bill Heisel, who will assist Dr. Patrick Connor of OrthoCarolina in Charlotte, N.C. Continue reading ‘Hamlin to have knee surgery Wednesday’

Matt Kenseth went for the win with an aggressive move that included bumping Jeff Gordon with less than two laps remaining in the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 on Monday at Martinsville Speedway.  Gordon’s reaction was simple – if he wasn’t going to win, then Kenseth wasn’t going to win as well.

With Gordon leading and Kenseth third on the green-white-checkered restart, Kenseth got into the left rear bumper of Gordon’s car to move him up the track and nudge ahead for the lead. They then banged doors down the backstretch before Gordon got into Kenseth’s right rear, turning Kenseth into the Turn 4 wall.

Denny Hamlin snuck past both drivers to win the race, leaving Gordon in third and Kenseth in 18th and both veteran drivers angry with each other.

“Jeff is sneaky,” Kenseth said. “He’s good at that stuff. He comes away squeaky-clean all the time. That’s about the third time he took me out of a top-three finish. I’m about tired of that. Continue reading ‘Gordon and Kenseth not happy with each other after Martinsville finish’

Denny Hamlin turned a gutsy late-race pit stop for tires into a gutsy drive from fourth to first in an overtime finish Monday, winning a rain-delayed thriller at Martinsville Speedway.

Hamlin bruised past Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth in the next-to-last lap to win the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 for his second straight victory at NASCAR’s shortest track. The race was delayed one day after steady rain Sunday.

“I can’t believe it,” Hamlin said rallying for his third Martinsville win. “I thought it was the end for us.” Continue reading ‘Hamlin makes pit gamble pay off at Martinsville’

UPDATE:

The Cup race at Martinsville has been postponed due to rain and will be run tomorrow at 12:00PM EDT. Continue reading ‘Rain delay at Martinsville-UPDATE’

Johnny Sauter got in the face of Ron Hornaday after the Truck Series’ Kroger 250, but with two NASCAR officials nearby, it didn’t escalate into anything more Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway.

Sauter was angry because Hornaday had turned him with 27 laps remaining. After the race, Sauter did not return to his pit stall as required, but instead parked his truck right next to Hornaday’s. He then got out, pushed one of his ThorSport Racing crewman out of the way to get to Hornaday. He got in Hornaday’s face and yelled at Hornaday for about one minute. Continue reading ‘Sauter gets in Hornaday’s face after Truck race’

Harvick, who was fastest in both practice sessions and inherited the pole position after a Friday qualifying rainout, made it four wins in the last four Camping World Truck Series races by winning in Martinsville. He led 187 of the 250 laps, including the final 61. Continue reading ‘Harvick wins Truck race in Martinsville’

Casey Mears was selected Saturday to sub for #11-Denny Hamlin while he recovers from ACL surgery. It’s a deal that came together in just a few days, but one Mears knows could relaunch a fledgling Cup career after going 1-for-6 in making races with underfunded Keyed-Up Motorsports…a deal that ended with a DNQ Friday. “It’s just an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” he said. “It’s one of those deals where I could just be sitting on the pit box if Denny feels pretty good, but if he doesn’t it’s just a great opportunity to possibly get in a good car.” Continue reading ‘Casey Mears to sub if Hamlin can’t drive’

The SFI Foundation, which sets safety standards and certifies equipment such as uniforms and helmets, announced Friday that it has terminated contracts with Impact Racing and all of its driver suits, arm restraints, shoes, gloves, socks, underclothing, helmet supports, and driver restraint systems will be decertified effective April 27. Continue reading ‘Bill Simpson’s Impact Racing products losing certification’

NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin will have reconstructive surgery on his left knee Monday, sources close to the driver and Joe Gibbs Racing told ESPN.com.

Hamlin, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in December playing pickup basketball, planned to wait until the end of the 2010 season to repair it.

But growing fear of long term damage forced his hand, sources said. Continue reading ‘Hamlin to have surgery on knee, will have standby driver’

STARTING LINEUP:

POS CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil N/A N/A N/A
2 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Crown Royal N/A N/A N/A
3 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s N/A N/A N/A
4 16 Greg Biffle Ford U.S. Census N/A N/A N/A
5 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Old Spice / Office Depot N/A N/A N/A Continue reading ‘Harvick on pole as Martinsville qualifying is rained out’

Make sure to watch the end of the story about Mark Martin.  Classic!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tb_Su73poQ[/youtube]

A few weeks ago, Robby Gordon was planning on putting another driver in his #7 Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota while he competed in the MonsterJam truck competition. But the truck didn’t get done in time, and so he’s now headed to Martinsville…where he’ll have to qualify on speed after a disappointing start to the season led to him falling out of the top 35 in owner points. “The truck didn’t quite get done,” Gordon said Wednesday following testing at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “It probably won’t be done until after Phoenix [in April]. We’ll miss the monster finals in Vegas this weekend.”

Gordon, whose team has an affiliation with BAM Racing that has brought some sponsorship this year, said at the beginning of the season that he probably wouldn’t run in every race. But now he said it is likely he will compete in every event at least until May. Continue reading ‘Robby Gordon will run in Cup until May’