Tony Stewart blames media for myth of so-called boring races

[Gilbert Sam, Jr.]

NASCAR News, Rumors, Notes and Tidbits on Raceway Report
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Monday, November 9, 2009

Report: McMurray to EGR's No. 1: Jamie McMurray, fresh off his first
Sprint Cup Series win in two years, now appears to have a full-time
job for the 2010 season, the Observer and ThatsRacin.com have learned.
McMurray is set to drive Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing's No. 1 Chevrolet
starting next season, reuniting the 33-year-old driver from Joplin,
Mo., with his first team owner in Cup, Chip Ganassi, multiple sources
said Sunday. A formal announcement of McMurray's move to the Earnhardt-
Ganassi team is expected by the Nov. 22 race at Homestead, Fla.,
sources said. (ThatsRacin.com)
http://www.racewayreport.com/drivers/news/jamie_mcmurray.html

Stewart blames media for myth of boring races: Tony Stewart had harsh
words for the media at Texas Motor Speedway, holding them at least
partially responsible for the fan backlash from last weekend's
Talladega race. "The races are exciting. It's like everybody wants the
perfect race every time. You can't do that," Stewart said. "I mean,
the drivers think about how they can be smart all day. "It's a
situation where the race is so long that you can fight your guts out
to try to get to the front in the 100 miles, but what have you
accomplished? "You haven't accomplished anything, absolutely nothing."
Stewart said only the final 10 to 15 laps matter. "The hardest thing
is we got this room in particular that keeps telling people that it's
a boring race," he said. "So we leave, and then we listen to the fans
complain because it's something that they read in the magazine or read
in a paper, you know, that everybody keeps trying to reinforce to them
that it's a boring race."(ThatsRacin.com)
http://www.racewayreport.com/tonystewart

Report: Richard Petty Motorsports to shut down engine shop: What's
left of the original Evernham Motorsports engine shop is expected to
shut down on Monday, according to multiple sources. Richard Petty
Motorsports will retain the necessary personnel to complete the final
two races of the season when engine duties will revert to Roush Yates
engines with the move to Ford. With the merger of RPM and Yates
Racing, the Petty crew chiefs were told that each team would be able
to keep 17 crewmen per team. The overall reduction for the
organization is expected to be 200 of 250 employees once the deal is
complete.(FOXSports.com)
http://www.racewayreport.com/rpm

EGR to stay with Chevrolet: Toyota and Richard Childress, who is part
of the joint venture which currently supplies Chevrolet engines to
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, gave co-team owner Chip Ganassi an ultimatum
for a decision on manufacturers next year. Following several early
morning meetings at Texas Motor Speedway, EGR opted to stay with
Chevrolet. Ganassi spoke with General Motors Racing manager Mark Kent
in a closed-door meeting inside the #1 team's transporter Sunday
morning at Texas Motor Speedway and Alba Colon, GM Racing's Chevrolet
program manager, camped out in front of the hauler for part of the
morning. He also met with Toyota senior manager Andy Graves before
making his decision. When asked for a comment after his meetings,
Ganassi said "It's nobody's business."(FOXSports.com)
http://www.racewayreport.com/egr

Martin Truex's No. 1 fails post-race inspection; deemed to low: The
No. 1 Bass Pro Chevy driven by Martin Truex Jr. failed a post-race
inspection when NASCAR officials found the height of the car was too
low. The violation was discovered because the No. 1 Chevy was the
random car selected for inspection after the Dickies 500 at Texas
Motor Speedway. Truex finished 14th. Any penalties for the team will
be announced on Tuesday, NASCAR officials confirmed. NASCAR also is
taking three cars back to the Research and Development Center in
Concord, N.C. -- the No. 2 Dodge of race winner Kurt Busch, the No. 24
Chevy of Jeff Gordon, who finished 13th, and the No. 5 Chevy of Mark
Martin, who finished fourth. NASCAR also will take three engines to
the R&D Center -- the No. 2 Dodge, the No. 11 Toyota motor of driver
Denny Hamlin, who finished second, and Gordon's. The winning car and
the engines from the top two finishers always are inspected in the R&D
Center.(ESPN.com)
http://www.racewayreport.com/drivers/news/martin_truex_jr.html

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