Auto Racing

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

No longer is she only the IRL eye-candy that looks better than she races. Danica Patrick won her first IRL race in the rain delayed event at Twin Ring Motegi. She becomes the first female to win in the IndyCar Series, significant indeed. It was her 50th career start in IRL. Patrick was a rookie in 2005.

Patrick took advantage of fuel mileage after Scott Dixon pitted. She passed Helio Castroneves and pulled away to win by over 5.8 seconds.

"It's a long time coming, finally...I was managing to save fuel and keep the speed up and when I saw Helio, I knew he was the one to beat," said the euphoric winner.

Cynics have accused Danica Patrick of being the Anna Kournakova of auto racing. Sure, she has sex appeal, but can she win? Patrick answered those questions in Japan. It is time to take Patrick seriously.

And Helio, you got beat by a girl.

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

Juan Pablo Montoya's bump 'n', no let me rephrase, wreck 'n' run on his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Pruett highlighted the weekend in Mexico City last year. Unfortunately, the Colombian driver decided to relish one of his scarce Sprint Cup off-weekends.

Montoya has every right to savor his time off, but the race in Mexico City is designed to attract more Latino fans. Montoya is the top Latino driver in the world, all apologies to Adrian Fernandez. His apearance in this race would have really verfiied to the NASCAR world that this race was important, and that it has a future. Now there are whispers of scratching this race of the Nationwide Series agenda.

Love him or hate him, Montoya is a dang good driver, and provides plenty of excitement wherever he is on the track. Instead, Kyle Krisiloff is driving the second Chip Ganassi Racing entry.

Also absent from the Mexico City race is hometown favorites Jorge Geoters and Carlos Contreras. Canadian driver Ron Fellows is without a ride as well.

Kyle Busch is contemplating running a full Nationwide Series schedule. That would be bad news for Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards. Bowyer and Edwards are expected to battle amongst themselves for the Nationwide title. If Busch were to run the full sked, it would throw a monkeywrench into the plans of Bowyer and Edwards.

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

Penske hires David Stremme. This could turn out to be a brilliant move for Stremme. He presently drives for Rusty Wallace part-time in the Nationwide Series, and has enjoyed some solid showings. Instead of settling for a third-tier ride, he will test cars for Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, 2004 champion Kurt Busch, and three-time IRL champion Sam Hornish, Jr.

Penske is a premier organization that may have an opening in the near future. Hornish, Jr.'s heart may still be in open-wheel racing, though he has denied that he will compete in the Indianapolis 500. If he returns to IRL, Stremme is the frontrunner for the 77. Newman is a free agent and may be exploring his options. Obviously, teams are going to throw some dollar bills at Newman. If Newman leaves Penske, then Stremme would hit the jackpot with the 12 team. Perhaps Penske is gearing up for a fourth team.

Ken Schrader will drive for Haas CNC at Talladega. Haas CNC Racing continues to serve as a revolving door for journeyman drivers. The team dumped Johnny Sauter after he produced a solid season with a rookie team. In comes Jeremy Mayfield, a proven winner, and after seven races, they show him the door. When is this team going to commit to a driver? Schrader will be the next ex-Haas driver.

Ganassi swaps crew chiefs on the 41 and 42. Ganassi lashed out at his underachieving teams at Texas, therefore, he made some changes. Well, the team he called pathetic, the 40 team driven by Dario Franchitti, was not a part of the reorganization. Montoya has carried the banner for Ganassi, and the 41 team has been decent, but they cannot escape bad luck. Donnie Wingo will now be the crew chief for Reed Sorenson, and Jimmy Elledge for Montoya.

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

After qualifying for the Chase for the Championship in 2004 and 2005, Jeremy Mayfield appeared to have overcome the issues that plagued him while he was driving for Penske Racing. However, a feud with Ray Evernham in 2006, less than six months after he finished ninth in the championship standings, ended his tenure with the Evernham organization.

He moved on to Bill Davis Racing in 2007, but that ride ended in October before he joined Haas CNC Racing. Mayfield could not make the situation work and finds himself searching for another ride.

Johnny Sauter will replace Mayfield at Phoenix.

Unfortunately, Mayfield may have worn out his welcome in the Sprint Cup series. He was highly pursued after he left Penske Racing in 2001, and when his contract expired in 2003, several car owners courted the Kentucky native.

Ever since his feud with Evernham, Mayfield's reputation has suffered, as many blame him for his career downward spiral. However, there are two sides to every story. It seems that Mayfield lost every bit of confidence he had after the fallout with Evernham.

“Jeremy’s proven resume behind the wheel of a Cup car was a real benefit to our team,” Haas General Manager Joe Custer said. “He stepped into the seat and did everything we asked him to and more...Ultimately, we were unable to provide him with the right balance, handling and speed he needed to be successful. We wish Jeremy nothing but the best for his future.”

Unlike the Penske and Evernham fiasco, Mayfield has amicably parted ways with Haas and Bill Davis. Maybe he is not all that bad. It looks like Mayfield will end his career in the Nationwide Series, or Craftsman Truck Series.

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

Add Petty Enterprises to the ever growing list of teams that are searching for long-term sponsors. After nine years, General Mills will leave the Petty Enterprises organization and sponsor a fourth Richard Childress Racing team. Many are speculating that Bobby Labonte will follow his sponsor to RCR.

Labonte has spent the last three seasons with the Petty's driving the famed number 43 Dodge, and has built a strong friendship with that group. However, RCR has deeper pockets and is unarguably the better option. Additionally, Labonte drives for RCR part-time in the Nationwide Series, and has driven for Kevin Harvick in the past. Labonte is close friends with Jeff Burton and Harvick.

While Labonte is considered a loyal person, he is a competitor, and he possess that will to win.

Loyalty and alliances run deep in NASCAR, however, performance is key in this sport, especially this day in age.

The Petty's are currently in the process of lining up a partnership that would increase the cashflow. The company that has been mentioned is the Medallion Financial Group.

Kyle Petty will give up his seat at Texas as Chad McCumbee will step in. The 45 team is outside of the top 35 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup owner's standings, so the youngster must qualify his way in.

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

The Jack Roush versus Toyota feud has turned ugly. They traded barbs a few weeks ago after Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards and his team failed post-race inspection as the lid on the oil reservoir was missing.

Lee White, Toyota Racing Development's General Manager, said, "I guarantee you the cover bolts didn't fall out, because if they fall, the engine leaks and you can't run. If you want something to fall off, you fix it so it can...If you have 21% more downforce, that's like having 50 (extra) horsepower. There's absolutely something going on there where someone knew what they were doing."

Of course, Roush provided us with a discourteous retort to his former employee's comments. He said, "Toyota and Lee White are besieged by the fact that they've wasted a bunch of money for two years, that they haven't gotten the results that they represented to their management."

Well, the battlelines were drawn and the Cat in the Hat has reportedly thrown out some serious accusations in an interview with ESPN The Magazine that would debase Toyota .

“We had a proprietary Roush Fenway part go missing from one of my race teams, and we recovered it from a Toyota team. I’m not going to say which team it is, but we are considering legal action, or getting NASCAR involved," said Roush.

Hopefully, this is false, because anything that can potentially destroy the integrity of the sport is difficult to overcome. And it would give fans another reason to detest Toyota.

It would be the second Toyota debacle...I'm sure everyone remembers the Mikey-gate at Daytona last year.

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

The Goodyear versus Tony Stewart feud is not going away any time soon. Less than a week after Stewart lambasted Goodyear following the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta, the tire company has publicly stated that they have no plans to invite Stewart back to a tire test.

Goodyear representative Greg Stucker comfirmed that it was not because of Stewart's harsh criticism of the tire compound. Stewart participated in a tire test at Las Vegas in December and was supposedly less than thrilled to be involved.

“Tony (and other NASCAR drivers) was invited to the Las Vegas tire test in December because he was very vocal about his displeasure with the Las Vegas race track and our tire recommendation previously...He was there, but I would say he probably really wasn’t involved. He wasn’t into it … If he’s not going to be more constructive than he has been recently or was at that test, no, he won’t get another test. We look for people that want to be engaged that provide us with feedback, to be there to do what we need...Tony made it very clear that he would have (rather) been someplace else and he really wasn’t very cooperative as far as giving us feedback," said Stucker Friday morning at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Stewart, who has never been a fan of testing, must provide the tire company his assessment of the tire at these tests. If he wants to call out the tire company, at least try to help the situation when given the opportunity. I really like Stewart, and there is a chance that Stucker is exaggerating. We'll see what Stewart's response it later when he addresses the media, because we all know that he will.

Goodyear is refusing to back down from NASCAR's most vocal driver.

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

Despite the family feud at DEI last season, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Martin Truex Jr have remained buddies. The two video game addicts spent a lot of time together during their time together at DEI. Truex Jr won two championship with Chance 2 Motorsports, the team formerly co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr and Teresa Earnhardt. In 2006, Truex Jr drove a couple of races for JR Motorsports, the team that Earnhardt Jr founded.

It was recently announced that Truex Jr will drive the #5 Chevrolet, now owned by JR Motorsports and supported by Hendrick Motorsports.

Last year, many fans were critical of Teresa Earnhardt as they felt as if she chased Earnhardt Jr away from DEI by refusing to sell him majority ownership. They became incensed when she decided not to allow the #8 to move to Hendrick Motorsports with Earnhardt Jr. But maybe she is not as wicked as everyone seems to think she is. Obviously, Truex Jr had to receive permission from Teresa, who is the boss lady, to drive a race for a rival team.

“We are extremely happy to have Martin in the No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet at Bristol, and we want to thank DEI for allowing him to drive for us,” said Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, Earnhardt Jr's sister and vice president / general manager at JR Motorsports.

Martin Truex Jr will drive the JR Motorsports entry at Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend.

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

After posting a noteworthy 8th place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week, Travis Kvapil has landed a sponsor for the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. Zaxby's Restaurants will sponsor the Yates Racing number 28 Ford this weekend. The Zaxby's headquarters is located in Atlanta, and they are a sponsor on the #09 Roush Fenway Racing truck in the Craftsman Truck Series.

The hood and quarterpanel of the 28 Ford has been empty for the past two weeks as Yates Racing has searched for a primary sponsor. K&N Filters sponsored Kvapil at Daytona, but at California and Las Vegas, the car was plain white.

"I'm really thrilled to have Zaxby's as the sponsor of our #28 Ford Fusion for this weekend at Atlanta," stated Kvapil. "Having the opportunity to drive the Zaxby's Ford, and Atlanta being Zaxby's home base for the company, is a great tie-in. I know that we're going to have a lot of success for them on Sunday. Our Cup team has really been able to show our potential over the past few weeks, and I think that this is a great time for sponsors to jump on board to partner with our Yates Racing teams."

For now, this is a one-race deal, but with the way this team has performed over the last two weeks, the sponsor quest may be over soon.

Posted by Jeremy Dunn

Robby Gordon's future as a NASCAR Sprint Cup owner just received some much-needed help as his 100-point penalty was overturned. He was initially penalized 100 driver and owner points, and his crew chief Frank Kerr was fined $100,000 and suspended for six races.

The penalties involving points were scratched and and the suspension was lifted; however, Kerr's fine was increased to $150,000 and he will remain on probation until December 31.

Gordon was penalized at Daytona as his car wsa found with an unapproved front bumper cover, which ended up being a manufacturer mistake. Gordon will move up from 37th to 21st in both the owner's and driver's championship standings.

Meanwhile, Carl Edwards, who had just won his second race, was penalized 100 driver points, and Jack Roush was penalized 100 owner points after the lid to the oil reservoir was missing in post-race inspection. Additionally, crew chief Bob Osborne was fined $100,000 and will sit out the next six races. Chris Andrews and Robbie Reiser will share the crew chief duties on the 99 car.

Edwards drops for 1st to 7th in the Sprint Cup championship standings.