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Insider Racing News * July 6, 2007
Qualifying Rained Out ~ Faster Cars Go Home
Denny Hamlin starts on the outside pole for the Pepsi 400 with Matt Kenseth rolling off in the third spot. Jimmie Johnson will be fourth on the grid followed by Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr. to round out the top ten. Missing the race are Jeremy Mayfield, rookie A.J. Allmendinger, Larry Foyt, Michael Waltrip, Kevin Lepage, Ward Burton, Boris Said, Mike Wallace, Eric McClure and Kirk Shelmerdine. Both Mayfield and Waltrip had made the race easily on time before the rains came.
You Can Bid On Race Tires Each autographed race-used Goodyear Eagle will come with a certificate of authenticity that includes the driver’s name and car number, the race in which the tire was used, the driver’s finish in that race and the tire’s RFID number. A minimum sale price has been set for each tire depending upon expected interest levels and ranges from $100 to $250; minimum sale prices will be displayed in each individual listing. “Goodyear has been synonymous with NASCAR for more than 50 years and we are proud to help support The NASCAR Foundation by offering fans the opportunity to get a piece of the action,” said Stu Grant, Goodyear’s general manager of global race tires. “NASCAR fans have always been able to experience the technological innovations of Goodyear’s Eagle tires on their personal vehicles, but now we’re offering them the chance to take home an autographed tire that actually carried their favorite driver around the track in the heat of competition.” A display featuring all forty-three (43) autographed race-used tires was unveiled today in the Goodyear Legends of Daytona exhibit at the Daytona International Speedway Fan Zone and will remain in place during the Pepsi 400 Weekend (July 6-7). The display includes six Internet-ready kiosks, enabling fans onsite to bid on the tire of their favorite driver. Fans nationwide will be able to bid anytime for the duration of the auction by visiting (www.goodyeargarage.com). “We are very proud to be working with Goodyear to give fans this unique opportunity to own a piece of NASCAR history,” said NASCAR President Mike Helton. “The winning bidders can feel especially good knowing the proceeds from the auction will go directly to furthering the work of industry foundations.” Goodyear is the “Exclusive Tire Supplier” of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, the NASCAR Busch Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series through 2012. The Company has had an uninterrupted commitment to NASCAR since becoming a race tire supplier in the 1950s. This relationship has become one of the longest-running supply programs in any sport and over those years, Goodyear has worked to bring innovation to its racing products, which, in turn, has helped foster heightened competition on the track. Goodyear also takes innovations and cutting-edge technology from the race track and applies that technology to tires that consumers use on streets and highways.
Alternative Fuel In NASCAR's Future "It was a lot of work," said Richie Gilmore, vice president of competition for Dale Earnhardt Inc. "It was really a complete changeover of the engine. When you change the fuel, you change everything in the engine. We'll use the same parts and pieces, but it will be a different design on how the fuel burns." Gilmore estimated the change this year from leaded to unleaded fuel ran his company roughly $500,000 in research and development. The key, he said, was the year and a half notice teams had to make it happen. Robbie Loomis, the vice president of racing operations for Petty Enterprises, said he thinks that's part of what France is doing by making his thoughts known. "The biggest thing I think Brian was throwing out there was 'Hey, this is something we're looking at,' trying to get in everybody's ear so we can all look far enough ahead at different things and get everybody's input into it," Loomis said. "If you never tell anybody what you're thinking, you don't get input into the direction into what way to go." France said there is no timeline for any change because there are "eight or nine different versions of what alternative fuels mean to people." One possibility is ethanol, which the IndyCar Series switched to this season.(timesdispatch.com)
Suspensions Mean Stay Away Previously, the policy was to simply suspend a NASCAR license, meaning crew chiefs and others under suspension could not enter a track's garage area or pit road. But crew chiefs have been on the grounds of tracks, and recently suspended crew chief Tony Eury Jr. was spotted in a motorhome outside the track. Nextel Cup director John Darby told crew chief Chad Knaus, who was suspended following a violation at Infineon Raceway, not to come to Daytona. NASCAR Chairman Brian France said earlier in the week that the sanctioning body would address the situation. Hunter said NASCAR wasn't too interested in changing its policy, but after hearing complaints from the media, it decided to change. "Since so many people view it as a circumvention of the penalties, and our chairman said we'd address it, we've addressed it," Hunter said. "Hopefully people won't show up when they're suspended."(scenedaily.com)
Petty Will Move Shop "We're definitely making a lot of progress," Loomis said. "We've looked at more land and sites and things. The scope and the size of the project has kind of changed a little bit. We were originally looking for 50-75 acres, and now we're looking for a lot more land than that." Loomis said the team would eventually like to expand to four cars, and there needs to be enough land to add shop space to accommodate the increased number of teams. The two-car team is now housed in a sprawling campus in Randleman, about 90 miles from Charlotte, N.C., the home of most NASCAR teams. "We're still trying to identify exactly where the best place to be for the land for all the employees that we have now and for the ones [who would join later]," Loomis said. That appears to be Salisbury, N.C., about halfway between Randleman and Charlotte. "Our main targeted area has been Salisbury," Loomis said. "We feel that's a good location to grow. But right now, there's a lot of things involved in making that next step and making the commitment to get the land."(scenedaily.com)
Busch Race Postponed
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illnesses through research and treatment |
