IWANNA's 2010 NASCAR Mid-Season Update

NASCAR AROUNDTHE WORLD

THE REAL COSTOF NASCAR2010 MID-SEASON UPDATE

NASCARNASCAR NASCAR AROUNDTHE WORLDTHE REAL COSTOF NASCAR2010 MID-SEASON UPDATE

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A Publication of IWANNA, USA LLC Copyright IWANNA, USA LLC 2010

BOB LAWRENCEPOWER EQUIPMENT

homes

Swannanoa

FAST & FURIOUSDRIVER FEUDS AND FIGHTS

2010 CUPRACE RECAPS

NASCAR 2010 Mid-Season Update iwanna.com2 ~ IWANNA July 27, 2010

LOGANO VS. HARVICK:ACCUSATIONS FLY

AT POCONO

Dr i v e r ho s t i l i t yspilled over ontothe tracks at theGillette Fusion ProGlide500 at Pocono Raceway onJune 6.

The conflict was between JoeyLogano and Kevin Harvick andtheir respective family members.But thiswasnt the first timeLoganoandHarvickhavent seeneye toeye.At the Nationwide Series race atBristol earlier this season in March,Harvick spun Logano as they werebattling for fifth.

This time, with three laps to go,Harvick and Logano touched goingintoTurn3,which caused Logano tospin.Harvickwentontofinish fourth,

On lap 200, an incident between Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano cre-ated a green-white-checker finish situation and riled tempers afterthe race. Harvick went on to finish fourth, and Loganowound up

13th. (Photo courtesy of NASCARMedia)

Kevin Harvick with wife DeLana (Photo courtesy of ToddWarshaw/Getty Images)

Photo courtesy of ToddWarshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

while Logano wound up 13th.The 20-year-old Joe Gibbs

Racing driver didnt hold backwhen talking about the incident,which cost him a potential top-five finish.

He let me go in the middleof the straightaway and thendecided to dump me in the nextturn, Logano said.

I dont knowwhathisproblemis with me, but its probably nothis fault, Logano continued. Hiswife wears the firesuit in the fam-ily and tells him what to do. Itsprobably not his fault.

(Logano was referring to Har-vicks wife, DeLana, who wears aRichard Childress Racing firesuiton pit road during Cup events.)

Harvick called it a racing inci-dent but indicated that Loganohad it coming.

I got intohim theregoing into[Turn] 3 andhe just raceswithnotgiving people any respect andnot much room, Harvick said.So, we just wound up gettingtogether. Its unfortunate, butthats the way it goes.

Loganos frustrationwaswide-ly known among his crew, hear-ing him say over his radio afterthe race, You better be with mehere. Thats all Ive got to say. Imgoing to [expletive] kill him.

Instead of just walking awayfromthesituation,Loganoparkedhis car next to #29 in pit road andmarched right over to Harvick,giving him a piece of his mind shouting and blaming theRCR driver for wrecking him. Nopunches were thrown, but therewasplentyof anger togoaround.Logano had to be restrained byhis team and pulled away as thecrews began to push and shove.

Harvicks crewmen claimedthat Logano tried to pin themagainst Harvicks car when hepulled up to them on pit road.Harvicks crew chief Gil Martinwas livid, saying that Logano puthis crewmenaroundHarvicks carin danger.

Hegassedhis car upand triedto pin our guys between the car,Martin said.Thats the thing that

got us the most mad...If he wantsto fight and wrestle around withKevin, the gate is right over hereand they can wrestle outsideIdont care how mad he is. I un-derstand the fact hes upset. Butwhen it comes to doing that rightthere, theres no time or placefor it.

Loganos father, Tom, perhapsgot a little too emotional aboutthe whole incident, because hereportedly shoved a televisionreporter during the ruckus. Hehad to meet with NASCAR SprintCup Series Director John Darbyafterwards. Apparently, Tom hadhis annual NASCAR credentialpulled for confronting Greg Biffleafter a Nationwide race last year,howeverhedidnt losehis creden-tial this time.

There has to be a line in thesand as to how far that [par-ents] passion goes, Darby said.Sometimes parents arent reallylicensedorhavepermission togetinvolved in those things.

Darby also reported that Lo-ganos conduct for the way heparkednext toHarvicks car onpitroad wont face any sanctions.

DeLana responded afterwardsthat she was confused as to whyLogano chose todragher into thetense situation.

They were showing replaysway after the race was over, and Ihappened to catch the comment,

DeLana replied. It caught meoff-guard. I was kind of confused.I didnt understand why I gotbrought into a situation that Iwasnt involved in at all. So at firstI wasnt sure how to take it.

But themore I thought aboutit, it was a 20-year-old kid whowas really mad. And you knowwhat? Ive said things when Iwas really mad when I was reallyyoung; heck, I say things nowImnot going to tell youhowold Iam, but its older than 20and Istill say things that are kindof sillysometimes. So I wasnt offendedby it; I was more confused by it.

Its evident DeLana isnt of-fended by the situation, as shehasmade thecommentamarket-ing venture for herself. She metwith some folks and started sell-ing T-shirts on the Kevin HarvickInc. website. The shirts are whitewith pink lettering saying,I wearthe firesuit in this family.

JGR President J.D. Gibbs gavehis opinion on the flare-up andsaid he didnt expect the driversfeud to continue.

Thewhole teamwas frustrat-ed they felt like Kevin backedout [of the gas] and went again,Gibbs said. Wewere running sowellThats part of life. Youvegot to move on. I think theyllbe fine.

NASCAR 2010 Mid-Season Updateiwanna.com IWANNA July 27, 2010 ~ 3


It seems as if team-mates just have arough time getting

along this season.The feud involved two Red

Bull drivers, which comes as adouble whammy for Red BullRacing, as the team has beenpummeledwith anumberof is-sues this season. At the HeluvaGood! 400 at Michigan, justbefore the halfway point, theNo. 83ofCaseyMearsdove intoScott Speed, sending Speedspinning on lap 99 of the 200-lap race.

Speed was fuming over

the incident, calling Mears somenasty names over his radio.

I mean really, were runninglike in the very back of the packand like crap and were going towreck eachother? Really?Speedsaid over his in-car radio.

It looked as if Mears had thelow line, therefore sliding intoSpeed. Mears car acquired somedamage when he made contactwith David Ragan on pit road.Another accident ended the dayfor him about 20 laps before theend of the race, putting him at36th. Speed finished the race at28th. There wasnt a chance fora rendezvous between drivers,because Mears had already leftthe track.

Mears has driven for two dif-ferent teams this year, startingthe seasonwithKeyed-UpMotor-sports, then spending a couple ofweeks as the stand-by driver forDennyHamlin followingHamlinsknee surgery. He was hired byRed Bull last month when BrianVickerswasdiagnosedwithbloodclots (he is expected to returnafter this season.)

In the past, Mears has drivenforChipGanassi Racing,HendrickMotorsports, and Richard Chil-dress Racing.

This isnt the first time RedBull teammates have bumped

SCOTT SPEED VS.CASEY MEARS

heads. Speed and Brian Vick-ers had issues with each otherin a Nationwide Series race atNew Hampshire last year. Butthey were driving for differentteams then.

After Michigans race, it wasvery clear Vickers was upsetabout the mishap, and whenasked for an explanation as towhy it happened, he responded,Ugh, IQ level.

Both of us were struggling,but [Mears] wrecking us like that I mean is ridiculous, Speedsaid. Whenever youre at Hen-drick [Motorsports] and RichardChildress Racing and then youstill dont have a ride and haventdone anything theres no realexcuses after that.

Speed is only in his third yearof stock-car racing. Hes trying toget aCupvictory for the first time,whileMears in the running for hissecond. Lets be frank, Speedscolorful personality can tick somedrivers off.

Unfortunately, Mears, whobegan the season with Key Mo-torsports after being releasedfrom RCR last season, could notbe reached for comment.

Despite the struggles, Speedsaid the start of the season lookedrelativelypromisingwith a top-10

TEAMMATE RIVALRY:

Clockwise: 1. Casey Mears (Photo courtesyof NHMS/Laurie Thiboutot), 2. Casey Mears inthe No. 83 got into Red Bull Racing teammateScott Speed in the No. 82, bringing out thethird caution during the Heluva Good! SourCream Dips 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series raceat Michigan International Speedway (Photocourtesy of Nascar Media), 3. Scott Speed (Photocourtesy of TomWhitmore/Getty Images forNASCAR)

finish at Atlanta and a front rowstart at Phoenix, but the bottomfell out after a 15th-place finishat Talladega.

Since then, Speed has steadilymoved up the ladder wherefinishes are concerned, finish-ing 20th at Pocono, 18th atSonoma, 10th at Dayona, andis now 24th in the Cup Seriespoint standings.

In an effort to solve someperformance problems, Red BullRacing swapped crew chiefsbetween the No. 82 and No. 83before Pocono, which placedRyan Pembertonwith Speed andJimmy Elledge with Mears.

It was good for our team,Speed said. Half the teamswitchedbasically andyou realizewhere theweak links are on eachteam, what everyone likes abouteach team and communicationaswell. Butweonly have twocarshere. We are going up againstguys that have four or five. And itis especially difficult when youreswitching drivers and pluggingpeople in...it makes it hard to getmomentum going.


NASCAR DIVERSITY INTERNSHIPPROGRAM ENTERS 11TH YEAR

Summer interns at Victory Lane Karting. (Photo courtesy of NASCAR Diversity)

Twenty three students from across the United States have been selected toparticipate in the 2010 NASCAR Diversity Internship Program that startedJune 1st and gives minority college students the opportunity to complete10-week, paid summer internships within the NASCAR industry.

Since its inception in 2000,interns have gained experienceworking inmarketing, engineer-ing, public relations, licensing, di-versity, and public affairs. Partici-pation in the program has led tofull-timepositions in the industryfor a number of past interns.

The NASCARDiversity Intern-ship Program has introducedhundreds of students from di-versebackgrounds toprofessionalopportunities in NASCAR, saidMarcus Jadotte, NASCARs manag-ing director of public affairs, whooversees the diversity depart-ment. The program has played animportant role in NASCARs effortsto attract the best and brightest toour industry.

Theprogram features internshipsofferedbyNASCARoffices, sponsors,licensees, teams, tracks, and broad-cast partners. In addition toNASCARand GRAND-AM corporate officesin Daytona Beach, Charlotte, NewYork, and LosAngeles, the followingcompanies areparticipating in2010:Roush Fenway Racing, The SPEEDChannel, The 909 Group, Interna-tional Speedway Corporation (ISC),Daytona International Speedway,Just Marketing International, Cata-lyst Public Relations, and Octagon.

The current intern class began

their NASCAR experience with anorientation session during the NA-SCAR Sprint All-Star Race weekendat Charlotte Motor Speedway inConcord, N.C. The group visitedthe new NASCAR Hall of Fame inCharlotte, NASCAR Research andDevelopment Center in Concord,the Sam Bass NASCAR Art Gallery,Revolution Racing headquarters,and attended the NASCAR SprintPit Crew Challenge presented byCraftsman. In addition, the groupmet with a number of key peoplein the NASCAR industry includingNASCAR Sprint Cup Series crewmembers, drivers, and NASCARexecutives.

Each year, the internships areavailable to college sophomores,juniors, seniors, and graduate stu-dents across the country. To beeligible, students must be in goodstanding with their school andcommunity and have a minimum3.0 grade-point average.

In addition to the internshipprogram, NASCAR awards diversityscholarships in tribute to NASCARlegend Wendell Scott, has an at-trackdiversitymentorshipprogram,and a college tour that visits histori-cally black colleges and universitiesand Hispanic-serving institutions.

by NASCAR MediA


Hamlins pit crew wins sprint cHallenge

The JGRpit crewwon the2010Sprint Pit CrewChallengeonMay 19 at TimeWarner Cable Arena.By winning this year, they proved to everyone that they are a team to bereckoned with. This year, Hamlins team beat Jeff Burtons crew to the finish line by0.442 seconds.

I wanted it so bad for these guys, Denny Hamlin said. I wanted them to enjoytheir success. I always get all the credit whenwewin, and this nightwas about themand it showed how steady and good they are.

Different thanothernormalpit stops, this competitionhadeachcrewstart at fourseparate stations jackman, front-tire carrier and changer, the rear-tire carrier andchanger, and thegasmanand catch-canman.The crewmendid their normal dutiesand then had to run to one end of the arena and together, push their car across thearena floor to the finish line.

On the crew was gas man Scott Wood, catch-can man John Eicher, front-tirechangerMike Hicks, front-tire carrier Brandon Pegram, rear-tire changer Jon Sher-man, rear-tire carrier Heath Cherry, and jackman Nate Bolling.

Because the teams had to push the car across the arena floor, it was best tohave a petite person behind the steering wheel. Thats where Hamlins girlfriendcame into play.

Twoyears ago,Hamlinhadbeencritical of his pit crew, and somechangesweremade the week of the crew challenge in order to step up their game.

Its likea family,rear tire carrierHeathCherry saidof thecrew.Over the last twoyears, weve gotten stronger and stronger, more confident and more consistent.We take a lot of pride in what we do.We have a good group that works well together and is just a team.We keep that consistency. No one is bigger than the other.

In winning the pit crew challenge, Hamlins team got the first choice of pit selection for the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Hamlin and crew chief Mike Ford bothmade thedecision to take the pit closest to the end of pit road for this reason: during the race, drivers are required tomake a pit stop just prior to the final 10-lap segment. The fact that they had firstpickings of crew placement didn't hurt in securing the No. 11's final spot. Although the win went to Kurt Busch, Hamlin came in fourth, a nice top-five finish the whole teamwas proud of.

The No. 11 crew of Denny Hamlin edges the No. 11 crew of Jeff Burton by 0.442 seconds to winthe 2010 NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge presented by Craftsman at Time Warner CableArena. (Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media)

a look at tHe 2010 inductees

Bill France sr.(Sept. 26, 1909 - June 7, 1992)

Inducted by: John Cassidy,long-time friend

Achievements: Helped uniterace promoters, drivers, and me-chanics to formNASCAR, andwaschosen tohead thenewly-formedorganization. Ruled the sport as abenevolent dictator, even to thepoint of banning those who triedto form a drivers union. Built thesports iconic track, Daytona In-ternational Speedway, and addedTalladega Superspeedway a de-cade later.

Did you know? France onceowned Champion Speedway, athird-mile paved oval located onU.S. 301near FayettevilleRegionalAirport.

Bill France Jr.(April 4, 1933 - June 4, 2007)

Inducted by: Rick Hendrick,NASCAR team owner

Achievements: Served as NA-SCAR president from 1972-2000.Led NASCARs transformationfrom a regional sport to nationalstatus, including TV packagesthat saw every top-tier Cup racetelevised live for billions of dollarssplit among NASCAR, tracks, andcompetitors.

Didyouknow?Asayoungster,he sold everything from souvenirprograms to sno-cones to racefans while his father promotedraces. Hes not really a junior, ei-ther. His actual namewasWilliamC. France and his father, WilliamH.G. France.

ricHard pettY(July 2, 1937 - )

Inducted by: Kyle Petty, sonand former Cup racer

Achievements: 200 NASCARCup wins in 1,185 career starts,including seven championships.Final victory (1992Pepsi400) camewith President Ronald Reagan inattendance. Seven victories in theDaytona500.Won10races ina rowin 1967, the same year he went toVictory Lane 27 times in 46 tries.

Did you know? King Richarddrove for Petty Enterprises nearlyall ofhis career (1958-1992).He rantwo seasons for former CaliforniaLt. Gov. Mike Curb (1984-85), andhad twodirt track startsbothofwhich he won in 1970 for DonRobertson.The latterof thosestartswas at Raleigh the last NASCARCup event contested on dirt.

Inductedby:RichardChildress,team owner

Achievements: The only drivertomatchPettys sevenCupchampi-onships (the first forRodOsterlund,the other six for Childress). 76 Cupvictories, three wins in NASCARsAll-Star race, four crowns in theInternational Race of Championseries. Dale Earnhardt Inc. wonsix NASCAR championships in theNationwide and Truck divisions,and scored 24 Cup wins before a2009 merger with Chip GanassiRacing. Those two dozen victoriesincluded theDaytona500 inwhichhe died and the ensuing race atRockingham.

Did you know? Earnhardtscored his first Cup win on April 1,1979, less thanayear afterwinningtwo of three starts in Late Modelcompetition at what is now Fay-etteville Motor Speedway.

dale earnHardt(April 29, 1951 - Feb. 18, 2001)

Junior JoHnson(June 28, 1931 - )

Inducted by: Winston Kelley,executive director, NASCAR Hallof Fame

Achievements: 50 wins as adriver, including the 1960Daytona500. Six championships as teamowner for Cale Yarborough (1976-78) and Darrell Waltrip (1981-82,85). Only Petty Enterprises andHendrick Motorsports have wonmore races than Johnsons 132 asa team owner. Portrayed by JeffBridges in the 1973 bio-pic TheLast American Hero.

Did you know? After beingcaught in1956athis fathersmoon-shine still, Johnson served 11months in a federal prison. Hereceived a pardon in 1986, andnow is part owner of PiedmontDistillers, the only legal distiller inNorth Carolina.

by Thomas PoPe, FayeTTeville observerDale Earnhardt photo taken by official NASCAR photographer Darryl Moran, Wikipedia.com.All other photos courtesy of nascarmedia.com


Twenty one-year oldColeman Pressley isone of the brightest

young stars racing in theSoutheast.

The Asheville, NC native isa third generation driver, whocomes from good stock. Hisgrandfather, Bob Pressley, wasone of the best short track racersin the country during his time,collecting many wins through-out the Southeast and two trackchampionships at Hickory MotorSpeedway in 1972 and 1974.Colemans father, Robert, also

had a solid career with over 200Cup starts, 10 career Nationwidevictories, 2 career CampingWorldTruck victories, and a track cham-pionship at Greenville-PickensSpeedway in 1988.

Coleman has been racing hisCelebritys Hot Dogs late modelstock car for five years. He startedhis late model career runningweekly atHickory andGreenville-Pickens, competingagainst toughcompetition and learning on thetracks his father and grandfatherraced before him. Its not justmy dad and grandpa that racedat those places, says Coleman.

Asheville NAtiveproves tAleNt AtNAtioNwide series

Pressley wins Inaugural Banjo Matthews 150

by Devon HolDer

speeD weekly

People like Dale Earnhardt andMax Prestwood raced at thosetracks. I am a big history buff withNASCAR so it is really cool that Ihavewon theBobby IsaacMemo-rial race atHickorybecauseBobbyis a former Cup champion and alegend in the sport.

One person who has beeninvolved with Colemans careersince the beginning is his father.Its been very difficult in ways,andverypromising inways,statesRobert Pressley as he describeswhat it has been like to watch hisson progress in his racing career.Racing is such a big thing in thePressley family, but we tried topersuade Coleman as a youngchild to go into baseball or some-thing.Wenever pushed racing onhim but racing is all he has evertalked about since he was threeor four years old.

TalkingwithColemanPressley,his love and appreciation of thehistorical aspectof the sport is evi-dent. However, not only does heknow the history of the sport, hecan also drive a racecar. Colemanis currently focusingon capturingthe championship in the UARASeries, where he is involved in atight points battle after 10 of 16events. Coleman has also pickedup one victory this year at DillonMotor Speedway in Dillon, SC.With UARA you get to go to anew racetrack every week, saysColeman. Competition is reallysecond to none in the series aswell. If you canwin in this series ata track you are not familiar with,then I think it is an easier step to

move on to the next level.Speaking of moving up to the

next level, Colemanhasbeenableto run a handful of Nationwideraces this year for R3Motorsportsand JR Motorsports. Coleman iscurrently looking at his optionsin the Nationwide Series to seewhat is available for the remainderof the season on the second tierNASCAR circuit. There may be acouple more stand alone raceswith JR Motorsports, explainsColeman. That is my first option.Hopefully Iwill be able togetbackin the 23 car some, but right nowthe focus is to just keep winningraces in the late model and buildtoward 2011.

Coleman made his Nation-wide Series debut last year atIowa Speedway. He ran his firstNationwide Series race of 2010at Bristol for R3 Motorsports inMarch, and his dad was atopthe spotters stand, coaching hisson around the .533 mile oval.When I saw him go his first lapat Bristol, it was probably a betterday than me winning Daytonaor Darlington, or anything I haveever done, says the proud father.I know that talent wise he haspassedmeandhe is really close tohis grandfather, or maybe betterthan his grandfather.

In addition to being Colemansfather, Robert Pressley is alsothe car owner for Colemans latemodel stock. However, Colemanis quick to point out that his dadserves in amuch greater capacityon race day. Dad is the spotter,crew chief, team manager, and

car owner, so he wears a lot ofhats at the track, says Coleman.More than anything he is acoach. He keeps me groundedand reminds me to take everylap as it comes.

One formerNationwideSerieschampionwhobelievesColemanwill have an opportunity to racein theNationwide Series is fellowAsheville native, Jack Ingram.Coleman should get a shot atit because he is a pretty gooddriver, says Ingram. Coleman ishumbled andappreciative of theaccolade from one of the sportslegends. I never rememberwatching Jack race, but I knoweverything about him, statesColeman. He and my grandpawere fierce rivals on the track,so for him to say a complimentlike that is pretty cool. When Iwas racing atGreenville-Pickens,Jack would go with me everyweek and give me pointers. Itscool to have someone like thaton your side.

If ColemanPressley continuesto have success as he has had inhis few short years racing a latemodel, there should definitelybe bright things in his future.He and his father want to makesure that the right opportunitycomes along at the right time, sothat he canmake themost of it.Iknow one thing, says Robert ashe sums up his thoughts on hisson.With the right opportunity,this boy can go a long way.


On Sunday, May 16, Jimmie Johnson lost to Kyle Busch in the Cup race atDover International Speedway.As Johnson was leaving the pit stall on Lap 365 of the Autism Speaks 400, he accelerated just alittle too quickly. NASCAR officials clocked Johnson as going 40.091 mph on pit road which just so happens tobe 5.091 mph over the 35 mph limit. Johnson was penalized for speeding, which was just what Busch needed

Johnsons one slip up cost him 1st place

The crew of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet perform a green ag pit stop as their driver Jim-mie Johnson swapped rst place with Kyle Busch throughout Sunday in the Autism Speaks 400.Johnson ended up the lap leader with 225 laps led, but ended up nishing the race in 16th after aspeeding penalty on pit road put him a lap down. (Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media)

in order towin his second race intwo days at Dover.

It was a rare mistake anyonecould have made, but the four-time champion made it. Johnsonhad to serve a pass-through pen-altyasa resultof the speedingandended up having to settle for a16th-place finish as Busch sailed tohis second victory of the season.

It definitely cost us a top-twofinish, said Johnson, who nev-ertheless had a great run all day,leading a total of eight times for arace-high 225 laps. Im frustrated.I think weve got to be a little bitmore aware of our acceleration ofthe car off pit road, and how wecan get busted there. But outsideof that, I cant say we did anythingelse wrong all day.We led a bunchof laps, hadgreat pit stops. Imean,across theboard itwas agreat day.I just hate, that at the end, onesmall mistake knocked us back toa 16th-place finish.

As they drove into the pits,Johnson was in the lead withBuschs No. 18 Toyota trailing theNo. 48 Chevrolet.

The segment I got busted inwas right after our pit box, John-

son said. When I saw the jackdrop for Kyle, I knew I was beat[off pit road] and actually kind ofchecked up. I didnt want to getbusted on the small segment atthe very end. I just kind of let himhave it because I felt like I wasbeat and we needed to be singlefile coming through [Turns] 1 and2 on the apron.

I think Jimmie was just tryingto make up a little bit, Buschscrew chief Dave Rogers added.He saw Kyle had closed to hisback bumper coming to pit road;he knew our pit crew was prettystrong. Im sure hewas just tryingto get all he could get, and justwent a little bit too far.

Evenwithasour finish, Johnsonwasaprettygoodsportabout itall.While answering questions afterthe race, he blamed no one buthimself for the costlymistake.

We had a very good race car...granted,onemistakemakes it looklike itwasabaddayforusbutwehadgreatpit stops, agreat racecar,andgreatcommunicationbetweenChadKnausandI. Itwasagreatdayfor the 48. We just didnt get thefinishwewanted.


2010 MID-SEASON CUP RACE RECAPS:

DavidReutimannheldoffCarl Edwards in agreen-flag runafter the final roundof pit stopsSaturday night and picked up his second career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Reutimann, who is expected to re-sign with MichaelWaltrip Racing, won for the first timesince May 2009, when he went to Victory Lane in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Char-lotte.

Edwards ran second in an encouraging performance for the beleaguered No. 99 RoushFenway Ford team. Jeff Gordon finished third, followed by Clint Bowyer and polesitter Ja-mieMcMurray. Kasey Kahne, Jeff Burton,DennyHamlin, Tony Stewart, and PaulMenardcompleted the top 10 in the 19th series race of the season.

What was an excellent night for Reutimann, Edwards, and Gordon was a disaster for Cupleader Kevin Harvick and four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson.

Harvick fought trouble all race long, at one point bringing his No. 29 Chevrolet to the ga-rage to change the fuel pump and fuel pump cable. He lost 16 laps in the process and finished34th, 16 laps down.

Johnson may have had the fastest car having led the first 92 laps but he hurt hisown cause twice before the race was 150 laps old. On the way to a green-flag stop on Lap 93,Johnsonmissed the entrance to pit road, and lost the lead to McMurray. He spent the next 40laps running down the driver of the No. 1 Chevy.

Less than two laps after a restart on Lap 136, Johnson spun on the backstretch while run-ning in close quarters with the No. 56Toyota ofMartinTruex Jr. It was impossible to tell, evenaftermultiple replays,whetherTruexs carmade slight contactwith Johnsons ChevyorwhetherTruex simply took the air off Johnsons spoiler and caused him to lose control.

Whatever the case, Johnson restarted 24th on Lap 14, andmatters got worse. On Lap 169,Johnson radioed, Right front flat I scrubbed the wall a little bit, and brought his car to pitroad for four new tires. He came out of the pits two laps down and ultimately finished 25th,one lap down.

Sunday, June27atNewHampshireMotor Speedway, JimmieJohnsonplayed second fiddle,as he sometimes does, for most of the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 before putting a paybackbump-and-run on Kurt Busch.

Busch had nudged Johnson aside with seven laps remaining with a bumper-tag finesse.Johnson repaid the favor with just a few laps to go, providing high-end drama to a race thathad only four caution flags.

Tony Stewart slipped past Busch for second place on the last lap. Busch was third. JeffGordonwas fourth and NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kevin Harvick finished fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., JoeyLogano, andA. J.Allmendinger.KyleBusch, oneof the leaders andacontender all day,woundup 11th after colliding with Jeff Burton and spinning during one of the late restarts. Burton,who led 89 laps, was a definite factor before the spin. Kyle Busch led 46 laps.

Polewinner JuanPabloMontoya and fellow front-row starterKaseyKahne led laps beforeproblems sidelined both drivers late in the race. Kahne, who led a race-high 110 laps, lost anengine. Montoya, who led 36 laps, was wrecked by Reed Sorensen.

Debris in Turn 3 brought out the first caution at Lap 35. Kahne beat everyone out of thepits, followed byMark Martin. Montoya quickly advanced from fifth place to second. Kahnepretty much controlled things during this part of the race. Kyle Busch had moved to second,dropping Montoya to third with Burton on his bumper and Gordon running fifth.

Sundays victory was the 52nd of Johnsons career and his fifth of this season.

Jimmie Johnson inherited the lead in theToyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Racewaywhen Marcos Ambrose failed to keep upwith the pace car during the final caution ofthe 110-lap race. Johnson pulled away fromRobby Gordon in the final five laps to winthe first road-course race of his career.

Ambrose had opened a lead of morethan twosecondsover JohnsonwhenBradKeselowski spun and stalled in Turn 7 tobring out the seventh caution on Lap 103.Attempting tosave fuelduring thecautionlaps,Ambrose lostpowerandslowed, andhis No. 47 Toyota failed to refire.

Ambroses engine finally started, butby then, the first six cars in the runningorder had passed him. Consequently,Ambrose restarted seventh with fivelaps left and was able to recover one position before the finish.

Johnsoncrossed the finish line3.105 secondsaheadofGordonandmovedup four spots in thestandings to second, 140points behind leaderKevinHarvick, who ran third. Harvick began theday 22 points ahead of Kyle Busch, 47 ahead ofDennyHamlin, and 118 ahead of Kurt Busch.But all three struggled. Kyle Busch finished 39th, Hamlin 34th, and Kurt Busch 32nd.

PolesitterKasey Kahnewas fourth, and Jeff Gordon fifth, but themajor topic of discussionafter the race was Ambroses slip up.

It was a wild one Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway so wild you had towonder whether there were going to be any cars running at the finish.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings leader Kevin Harvickwon the last race on the trackscurrent pavement after runningup front all night. Hemanaged tododge theon-track fireworksthat littered theCokeZero 400PresentedbyCoca-Cola fromstart to finish, a race that set a newevent record with 18 different leaders and may spark conversation for years.

The stage for a green-white-checkered finish was set with one lap to go when two-timeIndianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr., lost control of his Dodge and clipped Kurt Busch,causing a lot of damage to both cars.

Harvicks teammate, Clint Bowyer, was leading on the restart but got tangled up downthe backstretch and spun out of contention. It was a tough, tough break for Bowyer, who hadappeared to be heading for his first Daytona victory.

Kasey Kahne finished second and Jeff Gordon third behind Harvick.Dale Earnhardt, Jr.,was fourth after running poorly most of the night. Jeff Burton was fifth after being involvedin amulti-car crash that red-flagged the race for 19:34. More than 20 cars were involved in thisaccident, which had debris scattered for more than half-a-mile on the track. In fact, many ofthe frontrunners in the race were eliminated, including Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart,Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Newman, and others.

An earlier accident with less than 60 laps remaining knocked another contender out of therace. Kyle Buschwas leading when he drifted up across the nose of Montoya, turning BuschsToyota into the outside wall and ending his chances.

The fact that Earnhardt finished fourth was testament to the fact that many of the fast carswere damaged in the huge wreck.

Carl Edwards finished sixth, followed by Kurt Busch, whose Dodge looked like a candidatefor the junkyard. Busch was involved in several of the accidents.

Rounding out the top 10 were Reed Sorensen,Mike Bliss, and Scott Speed.

Reutimann Holds Off Edwards ForChicagolandWin

JohnsonVictorious At New Hampshire

Johnson Gets Road Course Gift From Ambrose

HarvickWins DaytonaThrillerJuly 10, 2010

June 27, 2010

June 20, 2010

July 3, 2010

inherited the lead in theRacewayInfineonatToyota/Save Mart 350

failed to keep upwith the pace car during the final caution ofthe 110-lap race. Johnson pulled away from

in the final five laps to win

Ambrose had opened a lead of moreBrad

laps left and was able to recover one position before the finish.

Jimmie Johnson toasts the fans to cel-ebrate his Toyota/Save Mart 350 win atInneon Raceway. Courtesy of NascarMedia.

If you thinkMarkMartinis getting a little old forNASCAR, think again.The 51-year old veteran says

he has no intention of changinghis plans and that hell continuedriving Hendrick MotorsportsNo. 5 car in 2011. In fact, he plansto race a Cup car in 2012 withanother organization.

Martin is in his second full sea-son with Hendrick Motorsports.While at first he was going toscale back to a part-time sched-ule in 2010, Martin signed a deallast September to drive full-timethrough2011,withGoDaddy.comas his sponsor.

Since Hendrick is signing Rich-ard Petty Motorsports KaseyKahne to drive the No.5 car start-ing in 2012,manypeople thoughtMartin might end his full-time

season at the end of this year soKahne could take over the car in2011.

But thats definitely not whatMartin has planned.

These guys wanted me todrive it for 2012, Martin said. Icame here [in 2009] and it wasa little bit of a stretch to do onefull-timeseason.I gave themthree.Its been the gift of my career.One of my biggest concerns hasbeen who was going to be thesuccessorI didnt want to com-mit to [full-time in 2012] now andso Iwanted tomake sureHendrickwas set.And theyare set in suchanincredibly perfect scenario.

Believe it or not, Martin hadplannedon retiring after the 2006season,but returned to race part-time in 2007 and 2008 for GinnRacing andDale Earnhardt Inc.Hereturned to full-time competition

last year with Hendrick. As far as2012 and beyond goes, Martin isrevved about whats in store.

I would appreciate it if noone would write anythingabout me retiring be-cause Im not goingto retire, Martinsaid. Im goingto race in 2012.Dont even talkabout it. I mracing in 2012.There will be anopportunity forme, Im sure, thatwill be excitingand fun and that Icanhelppeople.Threeof thebest yearsofmyca-reer Hendrick Motorsportshas delivered to me and Imdamn grateful for it.

With a total of 40 career Cupvictories in 765 starts, Martin ad-mits theres nothing else in mylife that I can showmypassion forandoccupymy time that I enjoyasmuch and Im any good at.

There is some speculation thatin 2012Martinwill go in thedirec-tion of co-owning his own team.

I have absolutely no idea[about 2012] and I wont be ableto answer that question until latenext year,Martin said.Im goingto do whatever I want to, and Imnot even going to know what Iwant to do for a while and Im notgoing to know the scenarios thatmight be there.

Martins crew chiefAlan Gustafson hascomplete faith thatMartinwill bebackandis looking forward toworking with him foranother full season.

Mark is as competitive asever,Gustafson said.I dont thinkMark Martin gives up anything toanybody. I think its the other wayaround.Most of theguys are chas-ing him as far as driver ability.

Martin is 100percent confidentthat Kahnewill workwellwith theHendrick crew and drivers.

Kasey Kahne is the really rightfit for this organization, Martinsaid. Kasey Kahne was the guy.The timing wasnt exactly right,

MARK MARTINHAS ONE THING TO SAY:HE'S HERE TO STAY

but I wanted to make sure thathe considered it because its theperfect scenario for Kasey Kahneand its the perfect scenario forHendrick Motorsports. Hes in-

credibly talented. Hes incrediblymarketable. His personality willfit. And personalities are veryimportant.

The fact that Kahne is joningthe No. 5 team is a sure sign theyare doing a great job. Plus,Martinstill has some prime chances towin for another year to come.

Gustafson,who has been crewchief of the No.5 team since 2005says, Ive got an opportunity towin a lot of races and potentially

two championships with MarkMartin, Gustafson said. Thatswhat Im focusedondoing.Thatsthe most important thing toworry about doing.

Mywholegoal is togetthe 5 car on top and bethe marquee team in thesport, [to] win races andchampionships. We havea great opportunity withMark and what Mr. Hen-drick has done with Kasey

is just going to solidify the teamand car for the future.

As for Martins future, there isstill somedebate,but it seems asthough he isnt going anywheresoon.

Ive been in this sport longenough to know and have theconfidence that really interestingopportunities come upIll ex-ploredriving andother things aswell. I love this sport.Imgoing tobe in this sport for a long time.

I would appreciate it if no onewould write anything about me retiring

because Im not going to retire.MARK MARTIN


As far aslast year with Hendrick.Martin is2012 and beyond goes,

revved about whats in store.I would appreciate it if no

anythingwritewouldoneabout me retiring be-cause Im not going

Martinretire,to

thatIm sure,me,excitingbewill

IthatandfunandThreepeople.helpcan

of thebest yearsofmyca-MotorsportsHendrickreer

Imandmetodeliveredhasdamn grateful for it.

Cupcareer40oftotalaWithMartin ad-victories in 765 starts,

mits theres nothing else in mylife that I can showmypassion for

asenjoyIthattimemyoccupyandmuch and Im any good at.

There is some speculation thatin 2012Martinwill go in thedirec-tion of co-owning his own team.

ideanoabsolutelyhaveI[about 2012] and I wont be ableto answer that question until late

MARK MARTINHAS ONE THING TO SAY:HE'S HERE TO STAY

Photo courtesy of SamGreenwood/Getty Images for

NASCAR


DennyHamlinwonhis fourthNASCARSprint Cup race of the season Sunday atPocono Raceway.

The 30-year-old driver took the leadfrom three-time Indy Racing Leaguechampion SamHornish, Jr., and a green-white-checker restart set up by a three-lap-to-go crash between Kevin Harvickand Joey Logano to win the Gillette Fu-sion ProGlide 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Harvick and Logano touched goinginto Turn 3, causing Logano to spin. Har-vick went on to finish fourth, and Loganowound up 13th. A multi-car crash on thebackstretch as the field headed for thecheckered flag demolished a number ofcars,manyofwhichhadbeen contenders.IncludedwereKaseyKahne,whoskiddedacross the track in front of a wide-openpack sending debris scattering every-where. Also involved were Greg Biffle,Martin Truex, Jr., Ryan Newman, MarkMartin, Jeff Gordon, Elliott Sadler, andMarcos Ambrose. Logano added a fewfireworks to the post-race environmentwhen he had some heated words withHarvick.

HamlinWinsGreen-White-CheckerFinish at PoconoRaceway

June 6, 2010

Kur t BuschwontheCoca-Cola600 for team own-er Roger Penske,spoiling a dreamday for rival ownerChip Ganassi.

Busch crossedthe finish line .737seconds ahead ofEarnhardt GanassiRacings Jamie Mc-Murray.

The victory wasBuschs secondof theseason and the 22ndofhis career.He is theseventhdriver towinboth Charlotte races

duringMayspeedweeks,and his victory prevent-

edGanassi fromwinning the IndyCar Seriesmost prestigiousrace and NASCARs longest on the same day.

On Lap 167, Jimmie Johnson slid sideways off Turn 4,tapping the outside wall with the right rear of his No. 48.Johnsons spin forcedDenny Hamlin to take evasive action,damaging the front splitter of the No. 11 Toyota as he rolledthrough the infield grass. Under caution for Johnsons spin,KyleBusch, who came to thepitswith the lead, collidedwithBrad Keselowski on pit road, damaging both cars.

Kyle Busch finished third, followed byMarkMartin andDavidReutimann. JeffGordon,ClintBowyer,PaulMenard,polesitterRyanNewman, andMattKenseth completed thetop 10.

Kurt Busch Edges McMurrayFor Coca-Cola 600Victory

May 30, 2010

Denny Hamlinsucked the dramaright out of SundaysHeluva Good! SourCream Dips 400 NA-SCAR Sprint Cup raceat Michigan Interna-tional Speedway because his car was sovastly superior to the42 others in the field.Hamlin was more thangood enough to win fora career-best fifth timethis season and for the13th time in his career.He backed up last weeksvictory at Pocono withhis fifth win in the past10 races.Kasey Kahne was the

runner-up, polesitter KurtBusch ran third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.Jimmie Johnson finished sixth, with Hendrick MotorsportsteammateDaleEarnhardt Jr.behindhim in seventh. Jeff Bur-ton, Greg Biffle, and Joey Logano completed the top 10.

If Hamlin stole the suspense from the race, a debris cau-tion on Lap 182 of 200 threatened to restore it. At that point,Hamlin had a lead of more than nine seconds over Kahne. Thecaution bunched the field for a restart on Lap 187, but afterKahne dogged Hamlin for the next five laps, Hamlin began topull away by more than a tenth of a second per lap. All told,Hamlin led 123 laps. Kurt Busch led 60 laps but showed hisstrength early while Hamlin was moving forward from theseventh starting position.

Hamlin Smokes TheCompetition At Michigan

June 13, 2010

theCoca-Colawon600 for team own-er

dreamaspoilingday for rival ownerChip Ganassi

the finish line .737seconds ahead of

GanassiEarnhardtRacingsMurray

Buschs secondof theseason and the 22ndofhis career.He is theseventhdriver towinboth Charlotte races

duringMayspeedweeks,and his victory prevent-

For Coca-Cola 600Victory

Kurt Busch celebrates a his Coca-Cola 600 victory, making him theseventh driver to sweep bothNASCAR Sprint Cup Series Mayevents at Charlotte Motor Speed-way. Courtesy of Nascar Media.

sucked the dramaright out of SundaysHeluva Good! Sour

NA-400DipsCreamSCAR Sprint Cup race

Interna-MichiganatSpeedwaytional

because his car was sovastly superior to the42 others in the field.Hamlin was more thangood enough to win fora career-best fifth timethis season and for the

career.hisintime13thHe backed up last weeksvictory at Pocono with

pasttheinwinfifthhis10 races.Kasey Kahne

runner-up, polesitter

Crew chief Mike Ford sprayshis driver Denny Hamlin afterwinning the Heluva Good! SourCream Dips 400 Sunday. Courtesyof Nascar Media.


RK +/- DRIVER PTS BACK STARTS WINS TOP5 TOP10 DNF LAPS LAPS LED EARNINGS1 -- Kevin Harvick 2745 - 19 2 8 13 0 5685 165 $3,954,046

2 -- Jeff Gordon 2642 -103 19 0 10 11 2 5783 772 $3,403,143

3 -- Jimmie Johnson 2557 -188 19 5 8 11 4 5527 782 $4,205,450

4 +1 Denny Hamlin 2542 -203 19 5 7 8 0 5782 562 $3,326,008

5 -1 Kurt Busch 2524 -221 19 2 7 11 0 5775 807 $4,413,201

6 -- Kyle Busch 2488 -257 19 2 5 9 1 5703 695 $3,565,763

7 +1 Jeff Burton 2465 -280 19 0 4 9 0 5791 379 $2,947,844

8 -1 Matt Kenseth 2446 -299 19 0 4 8 0 5794 35 $3,100,093

9 -- Tony Stewart 2389 -356 19 0 4 9 1 5772 117 $2,948,536

10 +2 Carl Edwards 2345 -400 19 0 2 8 2 5611 4 $2,907,945

11 -1 Greg Biffle 2292 -453 19 0 2 10 2 5747 126 $2,758,162

12 +2 Clint Bowyer 2286 -459 19 0 2 10 2 5302 129 $2,522,354

13 -2 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2271 -474 19 0 2 6 0 5775 68 $3,005,053

14 -1 Mark Martin 2249 -496 19 0 5 6 3 5676 47 $2,547,488

15 +2 David Reutimann 2190 -555 19 1 4 4 3 5211 64 $2,989,164

RK +/- DRIVER PTS BACK STARTS WINS TOP5 TOP10 DNF LAPS LAPS LED EARNINGS1 -- Brad Keselowski 3042 - 19 3 14 16 0 3503 765 $647,890

2 -- Carl Edwards 2874 -168 19 2 10 15 0 3458 206 $656,340

3 +1 Justin Allgaier 2545 -497 19 1 5 10 2 3477 131 $583,627

4 -1 Kyle Busch 2486 -556 15 7 11 12 1 2820 1009 $700,610

5 -- Kevin Harvick 2434 -608 16 2 8 14 1 2994 249 $594,155

6 -- Paul Menard 2367 -675 19 0 2 9 2 3451 5 $412,050

7 +1 SteveWallace 2204 -838 19 0 1 8 3 3074 3 $517,792

8 +1 Brendan Gaughan 2127 -915 19 0 3 6 3 3262 8 $536,272

9 -2 Joey Logano 2108 -934 13 1 8 12 0 2477 508 $534,905

10 -- Jason Leffler 2088 -954 19 0 3 6 5 3033 13 $518,182

11 -- Trevor Bayne 2040 -1002 19 0 2 4 4 3195 19 $535,302

12 +1 Brian Scott 1991 -1051 19 0 1 5 2 3310 1 $502,812

RK +/- DRIVER PTS BACK STARTS WINS TOP5 TOP10 DNF LAPS LAPS LED EARNINGS1 -- Todd Bodine 1715 - 11 1 9 9 1 1689 180 $311,770

2 -- Aric Almirola 1614 -101 11 2 3 8 1 1637 41 $234,925

3 +2 Johnny Sauter 1519 -196 11 1 4 5 1 1668 105 $228,530

4 -- Timothy Peters 1510 -205 11 1 3 8 2 1603 61 $222,170

5 +1 Mike Skinner 1456 -259 11 0 1 7 1 1706 39 $144,240

6 -3 Ron Hornaday Jr. 1454 -261 11 0 5 6 1 1565 118 $187,560

7 -- Austin Dillon 1434 -281 11 1 3 6 1 1632 225 $199,320

8 +1 Matt Crafton 1418 -297 11 0 3 6 2 1684 11 $154,270

9 -1 David Starr 1390 -325 11 0 0 5 1 1744 3 $137,365

10 +1 JasonWhite 1369 -346 11 0 1 3 0 1687 13 $144,390

11 -1 Ricky Carmichael 1321 -394 11 0 1 4 3 1578 0 $135,715

12 +1 Mario Gosselin 1197 -518 11 0 0 1 3 1647 1 $124,610

Chase for the Championship

NASCAR SPRINT CUPSERIES STANDINGS

NASCAR NATIONWIDESERIES STANDINGS

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCKSERIES STANDINGS


IS THE CUP SERIES ON THE HORIZON FOR

DANICAPATRICK?

Danica Patrick re-sumed her partt ime NASCARschedule June 26 at NewHampshire Motor Speed-way in the NationwideSeries.

Ticket sales for the racewereup20percent compared to last yearssales. And the likelihood for thisreason? Danica.

Although the race didnt startthe way she wanted a MorganShepherd bump spun her out,putting her behind six laps intothe event Patrick got what shereally needed out of the race. A30th-place finish couldnt over-shadow the 195 laps she put intoher learning curve.

Shedoesnt need anyhelpwiththe publicity part her Daytonadebut in Februarydrew the largestaudience for a Nationwide raceon cable.

Joe Mattes, vice president ofmarketing and licensing at JRMo-torsports, says Patricks per-capitasales at the Las Vegas race in Feb-ruarywereamong the strongestof

any driver that weekend.Danica is a star to say the least,

however some believe she needsluck as she starts her new career:racing stock cars. In December,

she signed a two-yeardeal with Dale Earn-hardt Jr.s JR Motor-sports to drive in theNationwide Serieswhile maintainingher full-timeopen-wheel schedule.

With morethan five sea-sons of IndyCarracing underher belt, Patrickhas seen theupsanddownsof thesport.Shehas onecareer win (Japan,2008), and rankedin the top 10 inpoints within the

last three seasons.Whileshe has struggled a bitthis year, it seems sheisnt shying away fromthe NASCAR challenge.

Stock cars are muchheavier and more burdensomewhen compared to Indy cars.Many drivers have attempted toswitch over to NASCAR only toreturn to IndyCar.The difficulty ofswitching fromone formof racingto another is obvious.

Im just learning as I go, Pat-rick said.I dont think its anythingthat you can just digest and learnbecauseyouwant to inamonthortwo. Its just going to take time.

Danica plans on racing 13events this season.Shegotoff to arough start in her first three races at Daytona, California, and LasVegaswhere amid-race wreckended her day halfway throughthe first race and finished 31stand 36th.She then switched overso she could focus on her Indy-Car season. Beginning with NewHampshire,Patrick will be drivingin one Nationwide race each inJune,July,August,andSeptemberwhile continuing her full-timeIndyCar commitment. But begin-ning in October, shell drive in thefinal six Nationwide races.

In her agreement with JR Mo-torsports, she is planning to race

partial-season schedules thisseason and next. Already manypeople are trying to guesswhatthebuddingdriverwill do come2012s seasonwhether shellgo full-time or not. It wouldbe good timing since theresavailability to leave her IndyCardeal. But in order for her to gofull-time,critics say Patrickmustput in more race time on thetracks.

Many people claim that itsvery difficult even for tal-ented drivers to commit toonly part time in a NASCAR se-ries.The ultimate concern then,is whether Patrick is ready toshake up her career in racing.

Im starting to realize thatthis is really challenging, its re-ally hard and I need not be sohard on myself and I need tojust stay upbeat and take everylap as an improvement fromthe one before and thats it, justkeepmarching forward,Patricksaid in a news conference.

What does she do for thetracks and for the sport? Every-thing, said Trip Wheeler, a mo-torsportsmarketing consultant.Shes a story, shes sexy, shesunique because shes a woman shes everything a sportneeds. Except for the wins.

For now, Jeff Gordon thinksPatrick is on the right track,so tospeak, especially if she is think-ing big picture with NASCAR.

If eventually she wants toget in the Cup Series, shes gotto basically do full time overhere in the Nationwide Series,Gordon said. I think that shesdoing the right thing by run-ning theNationwide Series andgetting laps...whichwill be abighelp to get adapted to the CupSeries because our cars are alot different than what theyreracing out there right now. Idont think she necessarily hasto jumpright into theCupSeriesanytime soon,but Iwould imag-ine that if shes dabbling in theNationwide Series, its becauseshewould ultimately like to getin the Sprint Cup Series.

DANICAPATRICK?

any driver that weekend.Danica is a star to say the least,

however some believe she needsluck as she starts her new career:

In December,racing stock cars.she signed a two-yeardeal with Dale Earn-hardt Jr.s JR Motor-sports to drive in the

SeriesNationwidemaintainingwhile

her full-timeopen-

onehasShesport.career win (Japan,

and ranked2008),in10topthein

thewithinpointsWhileseasons.threelast

bitastruggledhasshesheseemsityear,this

fromawayshyingisntthe NASCAR challenge.

Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media

On June 23, Carl Edwards joined PresidentObamas Council on Fitness, Sports, andNutri-tion.Edwards, along with the other members of the council, was intro-

duced by First Lady Michelle Obama inWashington D.C.Its a group that Im honored to be a part of, Edwards said. I look

forward to working with the Council, the President, and First Lady tohelp kids better understand the importance and the fun of being fitand eating well.

In conjunction with the First Ladys Lets Move! initiative, PresidentObamahas broadened the scopeof theCouncil, formerly knownas thePresidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, to include a focuson healthy eating as well as active lifestyles. On June 21, the Presidentsigned an Executive Order outlining the Councils new emphasis onboth good nutrition and physical fitness.

The Presidents Council on Fitness, Sports, andNutrition is a commit-teeof volunteer citizenswhoadvise thePresident through theSecretaryof Health and Human Services about opportunities to develop acces-sible, affordable, and sustainable physical activity, fitness, sports, andnutritionprograms for all Americans.TheCouncilsmission is to engage,educate, and empower all Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle thatincludes regular physical activity and good nutrition.

The Council will be co-chaired by Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees andthree-time Olympian and former U.S. national womens gymnasticschampion Dominique Dawes, and will be made up of Edwards, DanBarber, Tedy Bruschi, Allyson Felix, Michelle Kwan, Curtis Pride, DonnaRichardson Joyner, Dr. Ian Smith, CornellMcClellan, GrantHill, Billie JeanKing, Chris Paul, and Dr. Stephen McDonough.

This yearwere expanding theworkof thePresidents Council on Fit-ness, Sports, andNutrition to includenot just a focus onactive lifestyles,but on healthy eating, too,Mrs. Obama said. The Council will play animportant role in our effort to help combat childhood obesity in thiscountry and I am grateful to the athletes, chefs, doctors, and nutritionexperts who are volunteering their time on the Council to help makea difference."

This Council, as I said, is made up of everyone chefs, doctors,health experts, personal trainers, Mrs. Obama continued. Weve gotourOlympic goldmedalists.Weve got aNASCARdriver. Weve gotNBAall-stars, tennis legends. Weve got it all because we know in the end,kids listen to these heroes in so many ways.

CARL EDWARDS JOINSPRESIDENTS COUNCILON FITNESS, SPORTS,

AND NUTRITION

Photo courtesy of Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

DATE RACE VENUE07/25/10 Brickyard 400 Indianapolis Motor Speedway08/01/10 Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 Pocono Raceway08/08/10 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen Watkins Glen International08/15/10 Carfax 400 Michigan International Speedway08/21/10 Irwin Tools Night Race Bristol Motor Speedway09/09/10 Labor Day Classic 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway09/11/10 One Last Race to Make the Chase Richmond International Raceway09/19/10 Sylvania 300 New Hampshire Motor Speedway09/26/10 AAA 400 Dover International Speedway10/03/10 Price Chopper 400 presented by Kraft Foods Kansas Speedway10/10/10 Pepsi 500 Auto Club Speedway10/16/10 Bank of America 500 Charlotte Motor Speedway10/24/10 TUMS Fast Relief 500 Martinsville Speedway10/31/10 AMP Energy 500 Talladega Superspeedway11/07/10 AAA Texas 500 Texas Motor Speedway11/14/10 Kobalt Tools 500 Phoenix International Raceway11/21/10 Ford 400 Homestead-Miami Speedway

2010

SPRINTCU

PSC

HED

ULE

VENUE TV/STARTIndianapolis Motor Speedway ESPN / 1:00 PMPocono Raceway ESPN / 1:00 PMWatkins Glen International ESPN / 1:00 PMMichigan International Speedway ESPN / 1:00 PMBristol Motor Speedway ABC / 7:30 PMAtlanta Motor Speedway ESPN / 7:30 PMRichmond International Raceway ABC / 7:30 PMNew Hampshire Motor Speedway ESPN / 1:00 PMDover International Speedway ESPN / 1:00 PMKansas Speedway ESPN / 1:00 PMAuto Club Speedway ESPN / 3:00 PMCharlotte Motor Speedway ABC / 7:30 PMMartinsville Speedway ESPN / 1:00 PMTalladega Superspeedway ESPN / 1:00 PMTexas Motor Speedway ESPN / 3:00 PMPhoenix International Raceway ESPN / 3:00 PMHomestead-Miami Speedway ESPN / 1:00 PM

2010Mid-Year Update Schedules

DATE RACE VENUE07/31/10 U.S. Cellular 250 Iowa Speedway08/07/10 Zippo 200 at The Glen Watkins Glen International08/14/10 Carfax 250 Michigan International Speedway08/20/10 Food City 250 Bristol Motor Speedway08/29/10 NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (Montreal)09/04/10 Great Clips 300 Atlanta Motor Speedway09/10/10 Richmond 250 Richmond International Raceway09/25/10 Dover 200 Dover International Speedway10/02/10 Kansas Lottery 300 Kansas Speedway10/09/10 CampingWorld.com 300 Auto Club Speedway10/15/10 Dollar General 300 Charlotte Motor Speedway10/23/10 Gateway 250 Gateway International Raceway11/06/10 O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge Texas Motor Speedway11/13/10 Wypall 200 powered by Kimberly-Clark Professional Phoenix International Raceway11/20/10 Ford 300 Homestead-Miami Speedway2

010NATIONWIDESC

HED

ULE

DATE RACE VENUE07/31/10 Pocono Mountains 125 Pocono Raceway08/07/10 Nashville 200 Nashville Superspeedway08/14/10 Too Tough To Tame 200 Darlington Raceway08/18/10 O'Reilly 200 Bristol Motor Speedway08/27/10 Chicagoland 225 Chicagoland Speedway09/03/10 Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Great Cincinnati Ford Dealers Kentucky Speedway09/18/10 New Hampshire 175 New Hampshire Motor Speedway09/25/10 Las Vegas 350 Las Vegas Motor Speedway10/23/10 Kroger 200 Martinsville Speedway10/30/10 Mountain Dew 250 fueld by Fred's Talladega Superspeedway11/05/10 WinStar World Casino 350K Texas Motor Speedway11/12/10 Lucas Oil 150 Phoenix International Raceway11/19/10 Ford 200 Homestead-Miami Speedway20

10CA

MPIN

GWO

RLDTR

UCKS

CHED

ULE

TV/STARTESPN2 / 7:00 PMESPN / 1:30 PM

Michigan International Speedway ESPN / 1:00 PMESPN / 7:00 PM

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (Montreal) ESPN2 / 2:00 PMESPN2 / 6:30 PMESPN2 / 7:00 PMESPN2 / 3:00 PMESPN2 / 3:00 PMESPN2 / 4:00 PMESPN2 / 7:30 PMESPN2 / 3:00 PMESPN2 / 12:00 PMESPN2 / 4:00 PMESPN2 / 4:00 PM

TV/STARTSPEED / 12:30 PMSPEED / 8:30 PMSPEED / 7:00 PMSPEED / 7:30 PMSPEED / 8:30 PMSPEED / 7:30 PM

New Hampshire Motor Speedway SPEED / 2:30 PMSPEED / 9:00 PMSPEED / 12:30 PMSPEED / 3:30 PMSPEED / 8:30 PMSPEED / 7:30 PMSPEED / 7:30 PM


Kyle Busch is reallygoodatmakingen-emies, and not sogreat at making allies.

Case in point: shortly after hismeltdownwith teammateDennyHamlin at theAll Star Race, Buschpeeved off another driver JeffBurton with only 19 laps re-maining in the Coca-Cola 600 atCharlotte Motor Speedway.

The entire race gave Busch anumber of hurdles to jump over:the crash on pit road, the front-end damage, the two-tire callsand adjustments that helpedBusch make up for lost time. Bythe finish the restart allowedBusch to place in the top three

that surely felt like a victory.I cant saywecouldhaveasked

for a better finish, Busch said onfinishing third.I dont knowwherewe shouldhave finished, probably10thor 12thwaswhatwehad. Butwe made some bold moves onrestarts and got up there, and theguys did an awesome job on pitroadpickingupsomespots formethat got me track position.

However Buschs satisfactionquickly took backseat. As soon asthe raceended, Jeff Burton startedblaming Busch for a move in thefinal laps that cut the tire of hisNo.31 car, leavinghim in 25thplace atthe finish line. Busch had no ideahe had ticked Burton off, that is,until the Richard Childress Racing

driver confronted himon pit road.As Burton pointed the finger andyelled at Busch, crewmen and aNASCAR official had to stand be-tween the two drivers to ward offany physical interaction.

Busch, who was confused yetlivid with how he was greeted byBurton, saidhenever even saw theNo. 12 car. He later placed blameon a congested pit-road.

Iwent down the front straight-away andgotmade three-widebyhis teammate Clint Bowyer, andwas as tight as I could be on the33, trying to hold it low, to holdposition and not hit anybody,Busch explained. Unfortunately, Iguess, I dont know for sure, Imadecontact with his left-rear [tire] orsomething. Im not going to letthat diminish our day here. I didthe best I could.

But the 42-year-old Burtondidnt seemtobelieve the25-year-old Busch.

Whenhegets over-aggressiveand I pay the price, I am not goingto tolerate it,Burton said.Im justnot going to put up with it. I dontmind racingwith himormindhimbeingaggressivebut Imnotgoingto be the victim of it.

Burton never led a lap in therace, but he was eighth on thatrestart and fifth among those thattook tires.

Wewere in the right line towinthe race, Burton said. Everybodyon [fresh] tires was in the outside

line except for whoever was onthe outside pole, and our car wasfast on short runs. Thats what weneeded right there.

Its just disappointing to workthat hard, he continued. [Crewchief ] Todd [Berrier] and every-body just did ahell of a jobmakingthe car better all night. We werefast on short runs and thats [why]we were going to get there. Itwould have been fun to see whatwe could make happen.

Busch repeated the fact that itwas Bowyer who forced it three-wide during the final restart. Hecontinued toheat up the situationby saying that Burton should justtalk with Bowyer.

Its the last restart of the race,its time to go and youve got tomake some bold moves, Buschsaid. It wasnt me that madeit three-wide, it was [Burtons]teammate so why dont you gohave a chat with him? But if I didanything wrong, I would be morethan happy to sit with Jeff Burtonand talk with him about it andhave him point it out on a replaywith me.

I dont know if I touched himor got into him or cut his left-reartire, but after the race he was justreal mad at me, and after the racehe said if I dont showhim respect,hes not going to show me any,Busch said.

DRIVER RIVALRY:BUSCH VS. BURTON

NASCAR has announceddates and sites for its 2010season-ending championshipcelebrations.

Continuing a new traditionstarted last year, the NASCARSprint Cup Series will honorits champion at Wynn LasVegas. This year, the awardsceremony is set for Friday,December 3 and will featurethe top 10 drivers in the finalseries standings. The eventwill culminate NASCAR SprintCup Series Champions Weekin Las Vegas.

In addition, the combinedawards banquet for the NA-SCAR Nationwide Series andthe NASCAR Camping WorldTruck Series will again takeplace in South Florida at theLoewsMiami Beach Hotel. Thedate is November 22, theMon-day following Ford Champion-ship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The NASCAR Sprint CupSeries Awards Ceremony willagain be accompanied by anumber of successful ancil-lary events the fan-friendlyVictory Lap, a procession ofthe top 10 drivers in their racecars, the NASCARNMPAMyersBrothers Awards, the Pit StopTour, and the NASCAR StreetTour to include stock cars andmobilemarketingunits placedthroughout Las Vegas.

In addition, for the second-straight year, a designatednumber of fans will be able toattend the ceremony; detailson thepopular fanelementwillbe announced later this year.

WRITTEN BY NASCAR NEWS

ITS TIMEFOR A

CELEBRATION!

Photo courtesy of NASCARMedia

Photos courtesy of NASCAR Media


Jeff Gordon and Jim-mie Johnson: Hen-drick Motorsportsteammateswhoare amaz-ing drivers and who bothare racing for bigwins andchampionships.

So, the question is, can thesefriends see past their buddingrivalry or will they end up in a full-fledged feud?

The evidence from past racessuggests theyareon the right trackto becoming enemies. Especiallywhen one of them has dominatedthe sport the past four years.

The friendly rivalry betweenJeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnsonhas been simmering for the lastfew years and nearly boiled overtwoweeks in a row at TexasMotorSpeedway and at Talladega.

The two drivers battled it outfor a leading position at Texas,racing each other as if they werebitter rivals.

At one point, Johnson nearlypushed Gordons car down the

straightaway. Gordon, in return,nudged Johnson just enoughto get him loose, which led to aside-by-side battle that resulted incontactwhenJohnsoncamedownon Gordon. The contact dentedJohnsons front fender and nearlycut his tire.

Afterwards Gordon did a littleJohnson-bashing over his teamradio saying, Four-time is a littleupset. He [expects] to be treateddifferent than everybody else.

After the race, bothdriverswereadmittedlydisappointedwithhowthey competed with each other.

I think we are both prettyfrustratedwith howwehave beenracing each other, Johnson said.There were some things today Iwasnt real pleased with so when

I had a chance to express myself,I kinda did.

I guess he thought I was be-ing too aggressive," Gordon said."I dont know, he just drove intomy door. It ended up costing him.When you have a race car likethat, you dont have teammatesand friends out there and [you]race hard.

Then at Talladega, a week af-ter Gordon and Johnson madecontact on the track atTexas, theywound up tangling again at theSuperspeedway.

Both drivers talked it out be-fore the race and reportedly hadput their problems behind them.However, that lastednomore thana day before things heatedback up again.

It went like this: John-son and the other Hen-drick drivers left Gordonout in thedraft as the fourof themworked their wayto the front near the endof the race. Then, as Gordon wasmaking a late charge, Johnson

moved down the track, forcingGordon onto the apron, ruininghismomentumwhich left Gordonin amulticar crashwith Jeff Burtonand Mike Bliss.

Finishing22nd,Gordonwasnothappyand immediately voicedhisfrustrations.

The 48 [Johnson] is testingmy patience, I can tell you that,Gordon said.It takes a lot tomakememad, and Impissed right now.When a car is going that muchfasterIdont knowwhat it iswithme and him right now

Johnson took the blame forthe accident and was very under-standing as to why Gordon wasso upset.

I misjudged the closing rate,

Johnson stated. We all makemis-takes, I am no different. Certainly,

that was my fault. I made themistake there.

Gordon believed Johnsonwhen he said it was a mis-take, although added, Hesbeen testing my patienceand it s about reached its

boiling point.That boiling point is certainly

understandable.Gordonwasoncethe sports most dominant driver,winning four championships from1995 to 2001. Co-owner of theNo.48 team, Gordon chose Johnsonto drive for him in 2002. Little didhe know that the spotlight wouldalmost immediately switchover tothe newcomer.

Ever since Johnsons success,Gordon has yet to win anotherchampionship,winning fewer andfewer raceswhile Johnsonhaswonfour championships in a row.

Gordonadmits that their friend-ship has since suffered.

Jimmie and I are always goingto be really good friends, but we

GORDON AND JOHNSON:

BEST FRIENDS OR BITTER ENEMIES?

"I dont know, he just drove intomy door. It ended up costing him.When you have a race car like

teammateshavedontyouthat,[you]andthereoutfriendsand

Then at Talladega, a week af-madeJohnsonandGordonter

contact on the track atTexas, theywound up tangling again at the

Both drivers talked it out be-fore the race and reportedly hadput their problems behind them.

thanmorenolastedthatHowever,heatedthingsbeforedaya

The friendly rivalry between Jeff Gordon and JimmieJohnson has been simmering for the last few years

and nearly boiled over two weeks in a row

might be better friends 15 or 20years from now,Gordon says. Itsdefinitely affected our friendship,theres no doubt about it.

ButGordondoesnt seem tobebacking down because of this ri-valryhesdefinitely fast enoughto challenge Johnson forwins and

the championship, and he, likeeveryone else, is clearly tired ofseeing Johnson win.

With their patience tested,we may just see another full-fledged feud unravel before theseasons over.



Ky le Busch andDenny Hamlin:teammates withthe same ultimate objec-tive to win, and to winbig.

In the final stage of the SprintAll-Star Race at Charlotte Motor

Speedwaywithonly a couple lapsleft, a heated misunderstandingbegan when Busch had a run tothe outside of Hamlin enteringTurn 2. But Hamlin, the leader,didnt budge, and the No. 18 carwas pinched against the wall.This wall-to-wall contact causeda rub on a tire which blew laps

later, sending Busch into thewallagain and knocking one of thebest cars out of the $1 million-to-win event.

It surprisedme, and Iwouldnthave expected my teammate torace me that way,Busch said.

Reports said that Busch wasirate, yelling over the radio about

how he wanted to kill his team-mate.Teamowner JoeGibbs triedto negotiate a truce betweendrivers, but ultimately it didntwork. Days passed, andBusch stillfelt his teammate raced him thewrong way.

His perception was, its theAll-Star Race, its every man forhimself, and I wasnt under thatimpression going into the race,Busch stated. Thats why I wassurprised at the fact of what hap-pened... If the roleswere reversed,I dont believe I would have donethe same thing. Thats just me.

At the other end of the argu-ment,Hamlinbelievedhis actionswere completely justified.

Kyle brings this stuff up him-self, and he gets mad at themedia for asking him questionsabout his blow-ups and stuff, buthe does it to himself,Hamlin said.I dont want to be part of it. Anydrama that he wants to create oranything is on him. Anything hesays on the radio is on him. AllIm going to say, and Im goingto be done with it, each year Ithink Kyles going to grow out ofit, and he just doesnt. Until heputs it all together, thats whenhell become a champion. Rightnow he just doesnt have himselfall together.

Everyone knows the All-Star

event is an every man forhimselfkind of race high-strung and fast with a hugepayday to the winner. JeffGordonfreelygavehisopinionon the situation, and said hewould have reacted the sameway Hamlin had.

I think Denny knew hewas coming, andmade his carwide, and Kyle was pushingthe issue a little bit, Gordonremarked. "You cant expectyour teammate just to give youthat spot, that space there. Cer-tainly not in an All-Star event.

Kevin Harvick didnt believeHamlins actions on the trackwere out of line either.

I watched the tape, anddidnt really see anything thathappened wrong on Dennyspart, he said. "It looked like[Busch] really wasnt even upbeside [Hamlin], so its prettytough to lay any blame onthe 11 car for doing anythingwrong. All he was doing wasriding around in his line.

Even theAll-Starwinner, KurtBusch, admitted his brothermade a mistake. Hes beenrunning these All-Star Races,and hes been at 1,000 percentpace every year, the Kurt said.It doesnt take 1,000 percentpace to win it.

Still refusing to apologize,Busch tried to joke about hiscomments he made over theradio about killing Hamlin.With what? My good looks?,he joked. Im over the DennyHamlin issue. Its done, weremoving forward. Weve talkedabout it, and we look forwardto the rest of the year and the600 this weekend.

When asked if he wouldhave done anything differentlyhad the roles been switched,Busch replied, I do whats bestfor Joe Gibbs Racing, he said,and thats to race teammates asteammates should race.

On that, Hamlin replied, Ithink when Tony [Stewart] left,I didnt say that I was going totake over this team or be theleader of this team, he said.But somebodys got to bethe leader, [and] it aint goingto be Kyle.

TEAMMATE RIVALRY:BUSCH VS. HAMLINAT THE ALL STAR RACE



Greg Biffle arrivedat Pocono Race-way on June6 hoping for some realspeed, however he andthe rest of his Ford team-mates were sadly disap-pointed again.

For the second year in a row,Fords performance at the SprintCup ismediocrewhen comparedto other competingmanufactur-ers. Carl Edwards, who hasntwon since he led nine victoriestwo years ago, is growing moreand more frustrated, and itsbeginning to show.

Here is the deal, Edwardssaid. Roush Fenway and theFord race cars are not as fast aswe need to be right now. Ford asa company is doing great. I feelwe can all be proud of Ford asan American company andwhattheyre producing and the jobstheyre providing especiallythe products theyre producing[but] what we need to do is justbe faster.

Ford is still getting used toits new FR9 racing engine, andPocono was proof that masteryof the engine is still a ways off.Only two Fords were on any ofthe practice or qualifying timesheets, and what was more dis-heartening was that there wasvery little consistency in the driv-ers who were four differentdrivers made the top 15s.

We are [slow]were strug-gling a little bit,Greg Biffle said.

We rangood at Charlotte, I think,as a group; so it seems like yousee the light at the endof the tun-nel and somebody just whacksyou with a bat. I thought wedbe better here and I was reallyoptimistic to come here becausewed rungoodhere all the timebut were just not that good here[this weekend] and I just dontknow why. Were in [the hauler]scratching our heads.

It was only a year ago whenFords statistics at Pocono werebetter number-wise and perfor-mance-wise. But that was a yearago. Even though Kenseth, Biffle,and Edwards are in Chase-quali-fied positions, it seems they havetheir work cut out for them.

People ask me all differentways about that, but the pointis we just arent fast enough,Ed-wards said.We all know that andyes, its very important, I believe,for everyone to stay upbeat andkeep working and do the bestyou can. We cant let the frustra-tion snowball and make thingsworse [and] thats probably oneof the toughest thingsasahumanis when things arent going well,to keep your head up and presson. The bottom line is we haveto be faster and being upbeat istheway to go. Keeping your headdown and kicking the gravel isntgoing to do anything.

Biffle seems to beon the samepage as far as frustration goes.

It seems a little frustratingbe-cause we change stuff on the carand it really doesnt react, Bifflesaid. It feels like if youre build-

ford drivershoping for better engine results

ing somethingand the foun-dations out ofsquare nomat te r howhard you tryandhowmanytimes you tearit down andre-do it, it snever goingto be right,and it almostf e e l s l i k ethats whatwere fight-ing a littlebit.

M e a n -while, Roushis determined toget his once-eliteorganization back on track andis confident about the new FR9engine.

The engine is without a flaw itmakesmarginallymore pow-er, it has a very efficient coolingsystem, has a very efficient com-bustion process, [and] it will getmarginally better fuel economy,Roush said. [It] is more tolerantof trash on the grill and is stablein its valve train.

Four of the Ford cars had thenew engine at Pocono and nine

more were added at Michigan.Kasey Kahne had a good run

with the new FR9 at the HeluvaGood! 400 at Michigan Interna-tional Speedway. He had neverdriven with it before, but stillfinished second.

We made a huge gain andwere way better than we havebeen, Kahne said. I thoughtwe had a really good car andreally good effort by our wholeteam.

Greg Biffle said he continuesto see a measurable difference

in the new FR9 engine.We definitely have the pow-

er now,Biffle said.The power isthere, we just need to work andget the car handlingbetter. Ifwedo thatwe should be able to getthings figured out.

All that can be said aboutFords future for the 2010 sea-son is that thenewenginewontsatisfy until it produces results.Winning results.

Carl Edwards talks to Jack Roush. (Photo courtesy of GeoffBurke/Getty Images for NASCAR)


NASCARs first Hallof Fame inductionceremony had allthe glitz of a Hollywoodpremiere, only with a bluecarpet rolled out for thestars trek instead of a redone.

It was a day to honor five menfor their accomplishments andcontributions to NASCAR: thesanctioning bodys first CEO, BillFrance Sr., and his son/successor,Bill Jr.; seven-time champion DaleEarnhardt; Junior Johnson, a greatdriverandevenbetter teamowner;and The King, Richard Petty.

Three of them were inductedposthumously, with only Pettyand Johnson still here to accept

their personalized, 14-karat whitegold rings.Truth is,while nice, theywere trinkets in the big scheme ofthings. On Sunday, it was truly thethought that was worth more.

Experience humblingWithonlyacoupleofexceptions,

everyone who stepped up on theCrown Ballroom stage was usedto being in the spotlight. Theyreaccustomed to public speaking,being in front of big crowds, andhaving microphones and TV cam-eras shoved in their faces.

So itwas refreshing to see them,usually so accustomed to the bigstage, abit out their comfort zonesfor a change. It was an afternoonwhen even Richard Petty heof seven titles, 200 wins, and astack of records that his featheredcowboy hat couldnt cover gotchills. And thats exactly how be-

HUGE DAY FOR NASCARWITH HALL OF FAME OPENING

ing part of the inaugural class oftheNASCARHall of Fame shouldhave felt.

Its kindof heavy today,Pettyconfessed. Its a really, really bigdeal thatNASCARs got their ownHall of Fame. I think nowwere asbig a league as anybody.

DarrellWaltrip,who introducedJohnson to the crowd, is normallysmooth as silk at these sorts ofaffairs. It was obvious he sensedthe magnitude of the moment,as he breezed through his timeonstage.

Abit later, though, as he joinedcontemporary team owners RickHendrick and Richard Childressfor a briefing with reporters, he

admitted he was a little over-whelmed by stock-car racingsred-letter day.Remember, this is a guywho

not so long ago took cockinessto newheights; CaleYarborough

didnt dub himJawsfor nothing.ButWaltrip, a shoo-in for a spot inthe hall in the coming years, alsobacked up his big mouth with 84wins, aswell asdelivering Johnsonhis fourth, fifth, and sixth crownsas a team owner.

I think today was a humblingexperience, saidWaltrip.

Its about all of us, he contin-ued. Its not about one of us. Itsthat all of us havehelpedNASCARbuild somethingasbig as this isand this is big.

Carolina prideIn a different way, this day was

also an historic one for North andSouth Carolina. With Hendrick,oneof thenationsmost successfulcar dealers, leading the campaign,Charlottebeatout fourother citiesfour years ago tobecome thehallshome. It shouldnt haveevenbeena contest.

NASCAR wasnt founded here,but the first race in whats knowntoday as the Sprint CupSerieswasheld on a half-mile dirt track a fewmiles south of the city in 1949.The vastmajority of the teams areheadquartered within an hoursdrive of the halls site in uptownCharlotte, andmost of the driverscall the Metrolina region home.

But theres also this: three ath-letic iconsPetty, Earnhardt, andMichael Jordanwere born andraised in this state. Springfield,MA already had dibs on the Bas-ketball Hall of Fame, so Jordan is

NASCAR Vice Chairman Jim France gives the acceptance speechfor his father Bill France Sr.s induction into the inaugural class ofthe NASCAR Hall of Fame. (Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media)

enshrined there. Now, the Caroli-nas have a place to forever honortheir sons and daughters whohelped launch and nurture stockcar racing.

Petty has called the RandolphCounty community of Level Crosshis home his entire life. Earnhardtnever strayed more than a fewmiles from his mill-town upbring-ings in Kannapolis. Johnson, whowon 50 Cup races in a part-timecareer and six championshipswithWaltrip andCaleYarborough,is Wilkes County through andthrough.

Cathedral to speedAll three are in numerous other

racing halls of fame, but thosenow seem diminished next to thelatest andgreatest. In comparison,Johnson even called one of theothers a closet.

Hewasnt beingasderogatoryas much as he was telling thetruth. This is a 150,000 square-foot cathedral to speed, and itsours.

For decades to come, thesame ceremonywill be repeatedhere.Therell beAllisons, Jarretts,Bakers, andothers added, a Pear-son, aYarborough. Each of thosepeople will be as overcome bythe day as Petty, Johnson, andthe others were Sunday.

But you never get a secondchance to make a first impres-sion. In the case of the NASCARHall of Fame, that wont be nec-essary. It got done right the firsttime.

After storming fromfifth place to the leadwhen teammatesDennyHamlin and Kyle Buschtangled on Lap 93 of100, Kurt Busch sur-vived two late cautionsand held off MartinTruex Jr. to win theSprint All-Star Race forthe first time. JoeyLogano ran third,followed by Hamlinand Tony Stewart.KevinHarvick,BradKeselowski, MattKenseth, Greg Bif-fle, and Bobby La-bonte completedthe top 10 in thenon-points NA-SCAR Sprint Cuprace that paid $1,028,309 to thewinner.

Kurt Busch was well on his wayto victory after completing Lap 98of 100, but Kyle Busch bounced offthe wall at the end of the tri-ovaland clipped Kasey Kahnes Ford tocause the fifth caution of the night.On the restart with two laps to go,Kurt Busch picked the outside laneand took the green flag with Jimmie

Kurt Busch Surges ToAll-Star RaceWin

May 22, 2010

fromstormingAfterleadthetoplacefifth

DennyKyle Busch

of93Lapontangledsur-

vived two late cautionsMartin

thewintoSprint All-Star Race for

Joeythird,ran

Hamlinbyfollowed.

theto$1,028,309paidthatrace

Kurt Busch celebrates winning hisrst NASCAR Sprint All Star Race.Courtesy of Nascar Media

Johnson beside him, followedby Logano and Hamlin. Buschpulled away again, but before thecars got back to the finish line,Johnson spun across the infieldgrass to put the race under yellowfor the sixth time. Busch then putthe race away in the final two-lapdash.Minutes later, he savored thewin in victory lane.

BY THOMAS POPE

FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER


Photo courtesy of Sam Greenwood/GettyImages for NASCAR

It seems as thoughAric Almirolahas found his comfort zoneand its with Billy BallewMo-torsports in theTruck Series. Sincejoining the teammidway throughthe 2009 season, hes posted 18top-10 finishes, including awin atDover onMay 14th.

As he strives to find a perma-nent place in the series, Almirolaunderstands that consistency iskey. It seems to be helping, sincebefore placing 12th atTexas he hada six-race streak of top-10 finishes.

I think it helps a lot, just know-ing youve got the same groupof guys toworkwith every singleweekend,Almirola said.Im driv-ing the same trucks.We have afew trucks in the rotation and Ivedriven all of them.We continueto build a notebook together.Youhear a lot of people talk about thatstuff, but its really important.

Almirola praises crew chiefRichieWauters formaking this con-nection happen.

Me and Richie have beenwork-

ing together just under a year,and its finally gotten towhere its[comfortable] everyweekend. Sowere learning the things I like andwere incorporating those into thesetups beforewe even leave theshop now. In the beginning of theyear, wewere showing up at thetrack and tweaking on things.

All their work togethermeansthey nowhave a larger databaseonwhich tomake setup decisions.

We have a lot better baselineto go off whenwe showup atthe race track,Almirola said.Andit shows. Our practices run a lotsmoother, and a lot of times, wehave really good trucks.

After finishingwell in 2009,Almirola experienced another con-fidence boosterBBMwantedAlmirola back on board for 2010.The onlymissing linkwas the rightsponsor for the team. And thatswhere Graceway Pharmaceuticalsstepped up.

That kicked us off, right in theright gear, right from the get-go,

over thewinter, rather thanworry-ing all winter, arewe going to raceorwe not going to race?Almi-rola said.That was a big boost ofconfidence, going right into theseason, knowingwe had a spon-sor that supports us and believesin our race team.Thatwas a bigkey for us.

In his short career racing trucks,Almirola has learned that it if yousee an opportunity, you grab at it.

You have to be aggressive, ab-solutely,Almirola said.The trucksare a lot of fun to drive, on restarts,especially. It makes for excitingrestarts becausewe start two-wide, and by the time you get toTurn 1, its three-wide, and by thetime you get to the backstretch,its four-wide. Thats really whereyou can try andmake upmost ofyour positions, because for themost part, we get aero-tight justlike everybody else. Once you getstrung out, itmakes it hard to pass,even if you have a better truck.

The race at Iowa allowed theseriesschedule to settle into a

pattern, which benefits the teamas awhole.

We have to get in thatrhythm, becausewehavent really gottenthere,Almirola said.Weve been racing aweek here, a weekthere and thenwe get timeoff. I thinka lot of thatgoes back tothe prepara-tion at theshop.The guyswork really hardand our stuff is alwaysahead of schedule.

Almirola adds that the secretsin the shopgiving credit to theguyswhomaintain and build thetrucks.

Its been said for a long time,in racing, the race is won at theshop,Almirola said.Our guys paya lot of attention to detail. Theydo all the little things right. Andif you do all the little things right,

changes to nationwide series car are here

ThenewNationwidecar ismaking itsway into the2010 season,withdriversbothworriedandexcitedabout the unexpected outcome of racing the updated vehicles.During the practice session on June 30 before the big Daytona weekend, Braun Racings ReedSorenson led the sessionwith a lap of 188.111mph in the draft. Hewas followedby Roush Fenways BrianIckler, Brauns Jason Leffler, Joe Gibbs Racings Joey Logano, and Phoenix Racings Ryan Newman. RoushFenways Ricky Stenhouse Jr. posted the best average speed over 10 consecutive laps with a speed of184.964mph.

While theNationwideCar is similar lookingtotheCupcar, therearesomemajordifferences. Its frontandrear bodywork has changed and the teams do not use bump stops in the shocks. The front splitter is alsoslightly different as its amolded piece into the car instead of being held to the front fender using braces.

We all anticipate a different feel from this new carwe just dont knowwhat thats going to feel like,said Penske Racings Brad Keselowski.

In light of all thesemodifications, teams have had to scramble in order to build the new cars in time forthe race.One reason the stakes arehigher is that theNationwidechassismustbecertifiedbyNASCAR, andthe cars will be held tomuch stricter rules when being inspected.

Teams were a bit hesitant to build cars until they were absolutely certain what the new rules packagewould end up being because there is always the possibility of changes after test runs. Many of the lower-budgeted teams had to partner up with other organizations to get cars ready. Their other option was totake just one car with them toDaytona.

Im not worried about it, Im concerned, said Jay Robinson Racing driver KennyWallace, whose teamhad only one car for him.

Wallace said while it is exciting to be part of something new, it takes about $75,00

IWANNA's 2010 NASCAR Mid-Season Update

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