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Edwards Placed On Probation For Three Races
posted by Jay Pennell
Tuesday March 9, 2010
NASCAR President Mike Helton addressed the media Tuesday afternoon following Sunday’s late-race incident between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Well over 100 laps down, Edwards intentionally spun Keselowski through the tri-oval while Keselowski was running sixth. The No. 12 car lifted in the air and slammed the outside wall with the driver’s side window. NASCAR parked Edwards for his actions and ordered him to the NASCAR hauler for further discussion on the matter. Tuesday, Helton explained Edwards would be placed on probation for the next three races and the drivers and their teams would meet with NASCAR about the situation. “Following that incident we asked the driver of the 99 to visit us in the hauler, and we made it very clear to him that these actions were not acceptable and did go beyond what we said back in January about putting the driving back in the hands of the drivers,” Helton said. “We believe the driver of the 99 understands our position at this point.” For NASCAR, the biggest issue emerging from Sunday’s incident was the fact the No. 12 car lifted into the air. “But the bigger topic is the 12 car getting airborne at a mile-and-a-half track which we typically don’t see,” Helton said. “It’s been years since we’ve seen that. So a lot of our effort yesterday, today and until we find resolve to it is figuring out how it happened, why it happened and what we can do to prevent it from happening in the future.”
Keyed Up and Key Motorsports split
posted by Doug Turnbull
Saturday March 6, 2010
If missing the first three races to date was not enough drama for the No. 90 Keyed Up Motorsports Chevy team and Casey Mears, organizational upheaval may tip the scales. A member with the team tells Frontstretch.com that Raymond Key’s Cup operation, originally formed with ties to Curtis Key’s teams in the Nationwide and Truck Series, has become its own entity. As of Monday, the team began a move into Tommy Baldwin Racing’s old shop while planning to continue trying to qualify on Cup races. However, if sponsorship for the team fails to pan out, Keyed-Up may vie for a partial schedule similar to that of the Wood Brothers and only run about 12 races the rest of the year.
Wood Brothers running FR9 for now, Roush says no big problems with new motor
posted by Doug Turnbull
Saturday March 6, 2010
Ford’s new FR9 motor has not made a speedy entrance to the Sprint Cup Series, mainly because the Ford teams need adequate supplies from the engine parts vendors and not because of performance problems, says team owner Jack Roush. Claiming the engine will perform well over the long-term, he still expects the new design to be “the Ford engine of the future” and fully in use by the end of 2010. While his four Ford teams are not running the revamped engine, Roush revealed that the Wood Brothers Ford team will run the FR9 this weekend at Atlanta and in April at Texas. Beyond that, either Roush nor Ford officials have announced a set schedule for full or future implementation of the power plants.
Crawford says truck team is 'close' on sponsorship
posted by Doug Turnbull
Saturday March 6, 2010
While never a standout in the Camping World Truck Series, Rick Crawford has experienced moderate success over his long career in NASCAR’s third-tier. After losing sponsorship at the end of 2009, his Circle Bar Racing team finds itself on the ropes, wondering how many races the future may hold. The veteran Crawford, though, remains optimistic a deal is imminent. “I would say we’re pretty close on signing a sponsor for the 2010 season and 2011 and beyond. [Not starting 2010 with a sponsor] was a matter of losing a sponsor late last year and [the prospective sponsor] getting its marketing efforts done. We’ve got the contracts ready; we’re waiting to get that signed.” Crawford started 2010 with a DNF at Daytona, placing 28th.
Justin Marks Wins The ARCA Race!
posted by Thomas Bowles
Saturday February 27, 2010
Justin Marks won a rain-shortened event at Palm Beach Saturday, collecting his first ever win in the series. Robb Brent, Blake Koch, Tom Hessert III, and Steve Arpin rounds out the top 5. Stay tuned to Frontstretch.com for plenty of post-race coverage on both the website and our Newsletter.
Looking For ARCA Coverage? We Got It!
posted by Thomas Bowles
Saturday February 27, 2010
While the ARCA race at Palm Beach may not be televised … we’ve got you covered. Our own Bryan Davis Keith is at Palm Beach all weekend and will be posting news, commentary, and features from the Florida road course both on the website and in our newsletter. Don’t miss out! And don’t forget, our own Tom Bowles is spending the weekend in Vegas, too … so we’ve got you covered from all angles. Just another reason why we’re the best seat at the track and the best view on the ‘net!
Carter Simo still plans 2010 Cup races
posted by Doug Turnbull
Friday February 19, 2010
One story lost in the shadow of Speedweeks in Daytona was the absence of Carter Simo Racing’s No. 08 car. Much of the team’s equipment was put up for auction Tuesday; however, a source tells Frontstretch.com the operation still plans to field a car in 2010, with a limited schedule of races TBD. CSR may also try and field a car for the Talladega ARCA race in April; until then, most of the team’s employees have been temporarily released and are working for other teams in the sport. In mid-2009, team owner John Carter bought the assets of beleaguered owner/driver Jeremy Mayfield, using the newly purchased equipment and Toyotas to field entries in five races with two-time champion driver Terry Labonte. Equipment issues kept the team from cracking the top 30 in those races. Road course ringer Boris Said also wielded No. 08 Fords last year at both road course races, scoring the team’s season-best finish of 24th at Infineon. Later on that season, Said and longtime partner Mark Simo split, creating the newly-named Carter Simo racing with Labonte behind the wheel. On Tuesday, CSR only placed the equipment purchased from Mayfield on the block, including five Toyotas, a race hauler, and other pit equipment and tools. However, the source says that the team still owns three old Yates chassis and an old Ganassi piece (all of which they converted to Dodges last year) in the shop, with plans on returning to the track midseason pending sponsorship. The move is similar to what happened with Carter Simo last year, in which they took a four-month break between Daytona and Infineon while preparing to race at specific tracks. CSR, which still splits its time between its shops in Charlotte and in Toccoa, Georgia, just has to modify the top of the noses on their cars before returning to the track, due to a minor, lightly-discussed rules change before the season. As for CSR’s 2009 drivers and whether they will return to the team, Boris Said currently is driving the No. 26 for Bill Jenkins’ Latitude 43 Motorsports, and is working on a long-term deal that should remove him as an option. Terry Labonte is also out of the running; he and former owner Bill Stavola formed Stavola Labonte Racing in 2009, but are currently sidelined due to a lack of sponsorship. According to sources, Labonte was offered but initially turned down a return to the No. 08. A John Carter-owned car did participate in the ARCA race at Daytona on February 6th. Former CSR driver James Hylton borrowed a car from Carter, then leased it to driver Jill George for the race. But George infamously crashed the No. 48 roof-first into the wall just 25 laps into the 80-lap Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200, finishing 31st in the 43 car field.
Parrott In As Crew Chief For Kenseth
posted by Jay Pennell
Wednesday February 17, 2010
Less than a week into the 2010 season and Roush Fenway Racing has already made a switch at the crew chief position. News broke on Wednesday that Todd Parrott would take over atop the pit box for the No. 17 team with driver Matt Kenseth, replacing Drew Blickensderfer. The Kenseth-Blickensderfer combination won last year’s Daytona 500 and backed it up by winning the next weekend at the Auto Club Speedway. Despite their strong start out of the box, the No. 17 team failed to live up to expectations in 2009, scoring seven top-5s, 12 top-10s and failing to make, along with missing the Chase. Now after an 8th place finish in Sunday’s Daytona 500, Blickensderfer is headed to the Roush Fenway Racing R&D Department and Parrott is taking over as crew chief.
Danica Out in Daytona
posted by Mike Lovecchio
Saturday February 13, 2010
A lap 79 crash abruptly ended Danica Patrick’s first career NASCAR start Saturday in Daytona. Patrick went a lap down early in the race and later got back on the lead lap on lap 55 via the “Lucky Dog” rule. As she began moving through the field, she was collected in an incident that involved 12 cars. “I’m just going to take away the fact that I know what it’s going to be like out there come next year,” she said. “I felt we would’ve finished strong if we would’ve finished, but as you can see it’s easier said than done.”
Truck Series Race Postponed Until 7:00 PM Saturday
posted by Thomas Bowles
Friday February 12, 2010
It’s official – Friday track activities were washed out by the weather. Not only was Nationwide qualifying pushed back, but the Truck race was postponed, too – they’ll run at 7:00 PM Saturday night. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the latest news ‘n’ notes from the track! |
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Raybestos Rookie Joey Logano FIFTH in NASCAR Banking 500
Monday October 19, 2009
Where the Raybestos Rookie finished at Lowe’s Motor Speedway:
Logano 5th
Speed 28th
Papis 41st
RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUOTES FOR THE NASCAR BANKING 500 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY, OCTOBER 15, 2009
MAX PAPIS, No. 13 GEICO TOYOTA: “I was really excited. I think this is the best that we have run so far. We were competitive. It started to get a little slower and a little slower and it just seized up like a go kart engine. Still a great night for us. We run strong. I think we’re showing that we’re getting there. We’re making great improvement in the GEICO team. I raced, I was with people, they didn’t run me over as usual [smiles] and I was able to compete with people side by side, racing them hard. I feel a big improvement and really excited about our improvement.” DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING? “I came out of Turn 4 and it kind of sounded a little bit funky. I went down the backstretch and that was it.”
JOEY LOGANO IN THE No. 20 THE HOME DEPOT TOYOTA WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN TONIGHT’S RACE AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY.
NOTES:
- Logano scored a fifth-place finish, his second top-five and sixth top-10 finish this season. He took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the second consecutive race and for the 22nd time this season.
- DID YOU KNOW? Logano is just the third Raybestos Rookie to finish in the top-five in the fall race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The others were Ron Bouchard (fifth in 1981) and Jeff Gordon (fifth in 1993).
- Logano is the first Raybestos Rookie to score a top-10 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway since Jamie McMurray placed seventh in 2003.
- Logano scored two top-10 finishes in both races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this season. He placed ninth here in the May 25 Coca-Cola 600.
LOGANO: “This is a really good run, something that we really needed with the Home Depot Toyota. I screwed up in the pits earlier, the first stop of the race I missed my box, and put us in the back and we fought back. I couldn’t catch a break all day. Some guys took two tires and it worked for ‘em and never really did anything to help ourselves and caught every caution at the wrong time it seemed like and gave up a little bit there. But overall it was really fun. Me and Jeff [Gordon] went hard there at the end but that was cool. It was really fun. We needed a good top-five and that was really good.” HOW FUN IS IT TO RACE JEFF GORDON AT THE END OF THE RACE? “That’s really cool. I never really got to run against Jeff that hard at the end of a race like that for position. We were running door to door and he was on my door trying to take the air off and I was down on the bottom trying not to wreck and going as fast as I can trying to pass him. It was fun. I had a blast but came up a little short. I felt like I we had a good car, maybe not good enough to win but I felt like we probably had a car that could have finished in the top-three but it is what it is.” YOU IMPROVED ON WHERE YOU FINISHED HERE BACK IN MAY. “I like this track a lot. I don’t know why, I think the big grip kind of makes me fell like I’m in my Nationwide car so for some reason I’m better like that. We finished ninth here last time and that’s a good pickup. The good part is I felt like we had an even better car and we had a really good car here the first time we were here too.” WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT JEFF GORDON CAME TO CONGRATULATE YOU? “It’s pretty neat. That’s a champion race car driver, one of the best in the business. I wish I’d have got him. I trying everything I had. We were faster than him but I’d get all bound down on the bottom.” HOW MUCH DO YOU LEARN RACING WITH GORDON AND CLINT BOWYER AT THE END OF A RACE? “I’d rather do that than battle for 15th [smiles]. I came in this weekend really wanting a good finish. I felt like it was a place that we could have one and we got it.” IS IT EASIER WHEN YOU ARE RACING NEAR THE FRONT OF THE PACK INSTEAD OF IN THE MIDDLE? “Well I never really got to get up front all day [laughs]. I think fifth is the highest I’ve been since the start of the race. We had a good enough car that we were able to come from the back and that’s a really good thing.” HOW BIG WAS THIS RUN FOR YOU? “Huge. We were running good and it seemed like, yeah we had been in a slump and we haven’t been where we needed to be. Last week we got a 14th or something like that and this week we got a fifth so hopefully we’re going to build on this and go to Martinsville.” HOW PATIENT WERE YOU TONIGHT? “As patient as can be but there at the end it’s all out, everything you’ve got. It was fun racing. You come down to the end and you get double-file restarts, you get a big grip racetrack like this, you’re just hoping that you get in the right line and get behind the right cars to get going.” COMMENT ON YOUR RACE TONIGHT. “Of course I’m happy. I’ll take it. I killed myself in the pits and I missed my box the first stop of the day so really killed my track position, went all the way back to 32nd or 33rd and just battled back all day. I think we deserved to finish in the top-five. That’s where our speeds were all day and it was just a battle to get there. Maybe we had a third-place car but didn’t have any more than that. It was fun. I had fun racing here and I can’t wait to come back here.” COMMENT ON THE DOMINATION BY JIMMIE JOHNSON. “It happens a lot actually [laughs]. It seems like towards the end of the year that’s when they pick it up. For us we’re just trying to get up there and get consistently in the top-10, top-five and then we’ll worry about getting wins. Taking it step by step with the Home Depot Toyota and this is what we really had to do tonight.”
LOGANO PRESS CONFERENCE
“I think we started, what, 12th and plugged along, got into the top-10 and felt like we had a pretty good car. And then the first pit stop I go right by my pit stall [smiles]. We lost a lot of track position there from back to about 32nd or 33rd. From there you just have to start battling back and didn’t seem like we can catch a break. We tried to go for some pit strategy with two tires and everyone would do it where some guys would do two tires and it would work for ‘em and four tires weren’t making up as much as we wanted to, catching cautions the right way. Felt like I was passing a car or able to pass a couple of cars and the caution would come out at the restart. I felt like things like that weren’t helping our track position all day but to come down at the end of the day and getting a top-five out of it that was huge for the whole Home Depot team. Those guys deserve to get a top-five every week. That’s a big deal for me and for them.” TALK ABOUT THOSE FINAL LAPS AND BATTLING JEFF GORDON. HE WAS SAYING THAT HE REALLY ENJOYED THE RACE AND THAT IT WAS A LOT OF FUN. “I was trying everything I can. Me and Bowyer, we were running him down. I think both of us were faster. I think I was a little bit better t han Bowyer, able to get by Bowyer, and then trying to get to Gordon there. He’s a smart race car driver. He knew where my car was better than his and he made sure he put his car there so I couldn’t get by him. I had to try to work the bottom and it’s just hard to get a run off the bottom. He knows what it takes to keep people behind him and we raced real hard. He got down on my door and I was chasing him on the bottom and trying to do everything I can do to pass him. But I had a blast. We’re racing a world class champion race car driver like that running door to door for a top-five finish or fourth-place it was a bunch of fun. It’s still really cool to me. I’m still a rookie to this whole deal and to be racing Jeff Gordon, I never thought that day would happen.”
Raybestos® brand brake and chassis parts are produced by affiliated companies in Affinia’s Global Brake and Chassis Group, the leading manufacturer of braking systems and chassis parts in the transportation industry. The brake line includes everything from brake drums to rotors, pads, shoes and hydraulic parts, while the chassis line features tie rods, ball points, idler arms and sway bar links. Raybestos brand braking and chassis systems are also the only systems used by NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing in competition. For more information about Raybestos brakes, visit Raybestos.com. For more information on Raybestos Chassis visit RaybestosChassis.com
Affinia Group Inc. is a global leader in the on and off-highway replacement products and service industry. In North America the Affinia family of brands includes WIX® Filters, Raybestos®, AIMCO® and BrakePro® brake products, and McQuay-Norris® and Raybestos™ Chassis parts. South American and European brands include Nakata®, Filtron®, Urba® and Quinton Hazell®. For more information, visit affiniagroup.com.* Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.
THE FREE FRONTSTRETCH PODCAST IS BACK – WITH CAREY AND COFFEY!
LATEST EDITION – FANS SOUNDING OFF ON CARL AND BRAD
Jay Coffey and Matt Carey are back in action for Frontstretch, contributing a second season’s worth of weekly podcasts you can’t find anywhere else. Click here to hear the latest edition from the hosts of the Carey and Coffey show, where they take a look back at the Carl-Brad feud through your comments and Tweets about the incident. It seems like everyone has something to say about it all, so C&C take the best of the best while making their own opinions heard on the wreck that sparked a national furor.
So click on the link, sit back, and relax. Once you’re done, if you like what you hear be sure to visit Careyandcoffey.com to get the latest news and information about their show that’s on-air every Sunday morning both online and with ESPN Radio in Southern CT.
This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Beth Lunkenheimer.
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