Carl Edwards placed on 3-week probation following incident
Gilbert Sam, Jr.
http://www.racewayreport.com
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Carl Edwards placed on 3-week probation following incident: Carl
Edwards has been placed on three weeks' probation by NASCAR for
intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski's car during last weekend's
race at Atlanta. NASCAR president Mike Helton said Tuesday there are
two separate issues: the wreck itself, and the fact that Keselowski's
car went airborne. He says NASCAR is reviewing why the car left the
track, and adds that NASCAR will meet with both drivers and their car
owners to "clean the slate."(AP)
http://www.racewayreport.com/drivers/news/carl_edwards.html
Jeff Gordon feels fans may see more �sparks fly� during Food City 500:
Jeff Gordon thinks Bristol fans may see a bit more on-track action
come race day. �I guess so, if they are hoping for more crashing, then
maybe,� he said. �I mean I think the racing has been spectacular. I
love the fact we are able to get three wide there now. We are
certainly racing side-by-side. �It is just that there is a little bit
more room to race on. You see more side-by-racing, I don�t think that
is a bad thing. But if you want to see sparks fly and this might be
the thing that does that.� (TriCitiesSports.com)
http://www.racewayreport.com/drivers/news/jeff_gordon.html
Montoya not surprised at pay back to Keselowski: Juan Pablo Montoya
said Brad Keselowski should bring extra cars to the track since
several have vowed to pay him back, especially after NASCAR said it
would allow the garage area to police itself. �I said it last year
because he wrecks a lot of people,� Montoya said. �I�m sure a lot of
people wanted to pay him back. Looking at the TV, somebody did.�
(Florida Times-Union)
http://www.racewayreport.com/drivers/news/juan_pablo_montoya.html
$107 million in nongaming economic impact expected for Las Vegas
NASCAR race: The NASCAR cup race on Feb. 28 likely matched or exceeded
the nearly $107 million in nongaming economic impact of last year�s
event, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spokesman Jeremy
Handel said. The convention authority�s initial attendance numbers
from the LVMS are close to 150,000, he added. �As a one-day event,
Sunday�s NASCAR race is up there with New Year�s Eve,� Handel said.
The dollars from NASCAR are not limited to the speedway. Powell said
he wouldn�t be surprised if some 300,000 people came to town for the
NASCAR weekend, and the dirt-track event the Thursday before. (Las
Vegas Business Press)
http://www.racewayreport.com/news/lasvegas.html
Danica Patrick helps NASCAR TV ratings go up 17%: Danica Patrick, who
raced three times on the Nationwide Series, will now compete for four
months on the Indy Racing League circuit. In the three NASCAR
Nationwide Series races Patrick ran averaged a 2.1 TV rating on ESPN2,
which was up 17% over last year�s three races (1.8 rating), with all
of the increase coming because of the Daytona race. Patrick finished
35th, 31st and 36th in her Nationwide races. (Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel)
http://www.racewayreport.com/tv/news.html
Petty, Rutledge takes part in Ricky Carmichael University at Daytona:
NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty has raced stock cars and sports cars at
Daytona International Speedway. On Monday he added motorcycles to that
list after taking lessons from Supercross legend Ricky Carmichael.
Petty, along with his SPEED Channel co-host Rutledge Wood, took part
in the inaugural Ricky Carmichael University where the five-time
Daytona Supercross By Honda champion and his team of experts shared
tips and techniques with Supercross racers of all ages in the one-day
only camp. "There are kids here that are five or six-years-old that
just worship the ground he walks on," Petty said. "He's like Jeff
Gordon, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. all rolled into one when
it comes to motocross. To be able to come and learn from someone like
that is incredible." Petty, who has always enjoyed motorcycles but did
not have any previous Supercross experience, equated participating in
the event to a kid being able to take a lap around Daytona
International Speedway the day after the Daytona 500. Carmichael, who
is retired from Supercross competition and now pursuing a stock car
career with Turner Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series, was impressed with the performance of both Petty and Wood.
"Kyle is doing fantastic," Carmichael said. "Rutledge is doing
amazing. Racers are racers. When I explained stuff to Kyle, he would
go out and execute it. You could see the light bulb click on, if you
will. It's neat to see at their level, guys who are doing it for the
first time. It's so fun to see the progression." While Carmichael had
fun with Petty and Wood, he also enjoyed working with some of the
future Supercross stars.(DIS)
http://www.racewayreport.com/news/daytona.html
Ryan Newman would like to see drivers fight with fists: Ryan Newman
drove through the melee. He would like to see drivers use their fists,
not their race cars, when they have a problem. �I think it would have
been a whole lot better if they�d go back and got to fight it out a
little bit,� he said. �That would be a lot more interesting than
getting black-flagged. Either way they�ve made their call and it is
what it is.� (Florida Times-Union)
http://www.racewayreport.com/drivers/news/ryan_newman.html
Most brand appearances in Daytona 500 telecast history: The 2010
Daytona 500 will long be remembered for two lengthy pothole repairs,
which extended the live Fox broadcast to seven hours and also enabled
348 sponsoring brands the most ever monitored during a Daytona 500
telecast to obtain valuable television exposure. According to research
conducted by Joyce Julius & Associates, Inc. which has monitored
every NASCAR race telecast since the mid-1980s this year's number of
brands marked a 16% increase in sponsors compared to the 300 appearing
during the 2009 race telecast. The additional broadcast time created
by the two track repair delays was filled by several driver
interviews. These lengthy interview segments saw 175 different brands
appear on the drivers' uniforms, compared to 149 brands in 2009.
Overall, total on-screen time for all sponsors was up 55% compared to
the 2009 broadcast (17:19:40 to 11:12:28), while verbal sponsor
mentions rose a whopping 64% (386 to 236). When comparing the in-
broadcast visual and verbal exposure to the estimated cost of a
national commercial during the Daytona 500 telecast, and then applying
Joyce Julius Recognition Grading which takes into account such factors
as size and placement of the image on screen, as well as brand
"clutter" the sponsors combined for $319 million of Recognition Grade
exposure value. More info and stats at joycejulius.com.(Joyce Julius &
Associates)
http://www.racewayreport.com/tv/news.html
RPM to test car with new spoiler: Tests with the new spoiler on the
Sprint Cup car would seem to be important, but Richard Petty
Motorsports has opted to focus on tests other than the NASCAR test
March 16 at Talladega Superspeedway. Richard Petty Motorsports won't
send three of its teams to the one-day Talladega test, with Paul
Menard going and Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and AJ Allmendinger
staying at home or going to a test somewhere else. It is expected that
some of the other multicar organizations won't have all of its teams
at the test, which NASCAR will use to set the size of the restrictor
plate for the April race weekend at the track. RPM's competition
director Robbie Loomis said that with four or five Fords at the test,
RPM will be able to get all of the info it needs. Instead of going to
Talladega, Kahne will be testing that week at Road Atlanta and the
organization also has a test scheduled for Little Rock at Rockingham.
(SceneDaily)
http://www.racewayreport.com/rpm
Truex's No. 56 crew wins Tissot Pit Road Precision Award: The over-the-
wall crew for Martin Truex Jr. claimed another victory, earning the
Tissot Pit Road Precision Award in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 race at
Atlanta Motor Speedway. The No. 56 crew's performance places the team
in first place in the Tissot standings with back-to-back wins (Las
Vegas, Atlanta) after four races in the 2010 season. Truex's NAPA Auto
Parts Toyota, out of the Michael Waltrip Racing stable, spent the
least amount of time on pit road - 349.623 seconds - during the
overtime race, which was extended from 325 laps to 341. Race winner
Kurt Busch's no. 2 Dodge was second (352.887) and Paul Menard's No. 98
Ford was third (353.488).(Tissot/DMF Communications)
http://www.racewayreport.com/drivers/news/martin_truex_jr.html
Crew members suspended following failed drug test: Matthew
Huffstetler, a crew member for the No. 01 team in the NASCAR Camping
World Truck Series, and William Keith, a crew member for the no. 38
team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, have been indefinitely suspended
from NASCAR for violating the sanctioning body's substance abuse
policy. On March 5, both were found to have violated Sections 12-1
(actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 19 (violation of the
NASCAR substance abuse policy) of the 2010 NASCAR rule book.(NASCAR
PR)
http://www.racewayreport.com/news/drugtesting.html