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Insider Racing News * July 27, 2007



Rain Cancels First Brickyard Practice ~ Schedule Altered
Persistent afternoon showers washed out the first day of Allstate 400 at the Brickyard activity July 27 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, forcing IMS and NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series officials to adjust the schedule for Saturday's qualifying day. NEXTEL Cup Series drivers will practice from 8:30-11 a.m. (ET) Saturday, and qualifications for the 14th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will start at 4:05 p.m.

The Gretchen Wilson Miller Lite Rock N Racing concert is tentatively scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. on the Miller Lite Stage in the IMS infield behind the Hall of Fame Museum. Tickets from Friday will be honored on Saturday.

The lack of practice Friday afternoon will leave teams scrambling to find the right qualifying and race setup. Unlike previous years, NASCAR did not conduct an open test at the 2.5-mile IMS oval this year.

"It's the same for everybody, and I think the biggest thing is the way we ran at Chicago, the package is pretty good," 2005 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard winner Tony Stewart said, who won July 15 at Chicagoland. "It's not the same setup, obviously, but the approach is the same, so I feel confident that the shorter amount of practice time that we have, the better opportunity that we have to be of being competitive out of the gate."

Despite the lack of on-track activity, fans were treated to a morning full of Chevy Day at the Brickyard activities, including Chevrolet driver autograph sessions, question-and-answer sessions and a concert by country music artist Tracy Lawrence.

Yates Sells Partnership To Newman/Haas/Lanigan
Robert Yates Racing (RYR) and Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) have entered into a letter of intent for a partnership in NASCAR’s Nextel Cup and Busch Series. The team will be named Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing effective immediately.

“This is a wonderful partnership,” said Robert Yates, founder of Robert Yates Racing. “This gives us a clear vision how to get to the top. It is our goal to continue to build so this team will be better positioned to contend for the championship.”

“I am very proud of our accomplishments in the Champ Car World Series and hope we can have the same success in NASCAR,” added Carl A. Haas, who has been a team owner in NASCAR’s Cup series on two previous occasions. “We have been looking to add other forms of racing to our Champ Car program and when the opportunity came along to work with Robert Yates Racing, a team that shares the same drive for success that we do, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I think that the NASCAR and Champ Car programs can learn something from each other and only enhance the championship level that Robert Yates Racing and Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing have competed at in previous years.”

“We have always been an engineering driven team,” said Paul Newman, a partner in Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. “We think we have something special to add to the benefit of both. This in no way lessens our commitment to open wheel racing -- we want to broaden our horizons.”

“The opportunity of joining Robert and Doug Yates is an opportunity of a lifetime,” added Michael Lanigan, a new partner in Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. “The Yates family has been competing against the best and winning for many years. We look forward to a long and productive association.”

Since Robert Yates Racing was formed in 1988, the now two-car team has posted 57 victories and 48 poles in addition to winning the 1999 NASCAR championship with Dale Jarrett. Current Nextel Cup drivers Ricky Rudd and David Gilliland pilot the No. 88 and No. 38 Ford Fusion’s, respectively. The agreement also includes RYR’s Busch program with Stephen Leicht, driver of the No. 90 Ford Fusion. Drivers such as Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Kenny Irwin, Elliott Sadler and David Gilliland have driven for RYR.

RYR and NHR/NHLR have had close ties with Ford Motor Company for many years. RYR has been powered by Ford all 20 seasons. Of NHR/NHLR’s 101 wins and 103 poles, 55 of each have been earned with Ford power. In addition, four of their seven titles were powered by Ford (1993 – Nigel Mansell; 2004-2006 – Sebastien Bourdais).

“NASCAR Nextel Cup racing is rapidly moving, technology-wise, to engineering areas that Newman/Haas/Lanigan has years of experience with already,” said Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology. “And Robert Yates Racing brings years of engine development and race craft in the sport that is invaluable to this operation. Put that expertise together, along with joint ownership that is clearly committed to winning, and we have a Ford program that will be a contender for years to come."

Busch To Gibbs, Yeley To Yates?
It looks as though wayward Hendrick driver Kyle Busch has found a home with Joe Gibbs Racing sending driver JJ Yeley to the new super team of Robert Yates and Newman-Haas. After taking his organization off the market last month, Robert Yates will announce Friday at Indy that he has either sold half his team to Champ car owners Paul Newman and Carl Haas or has entered into an agreement to share engine technology paving the way for a full partnership in 2008. The new organization will add at least one and most likely two cars to its stable next year.

Busch has been without a ride for next year since Dale Earnhardt Junior announced his intention to take over the No. 5 at Hendrick Motorsports not long ago. Hendrick gave Busch his walking papers, much to the delight of many in the organization say insiders and after narrowing down his choices it looks as though he will take over the No. 18 Chevy from Yeley. Gibbs currently fields the teams of Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Yeley.

Yeley, whose contract at Gibbs ends at the conclusion of the 2007 season, has had an uncertain future due to the team’s performance at Gibbs. Yeley won championships in all three of USAC's top divisions in 2003 making him only the second driver, behind Tony Stewart in 1995, to achieve the "Triple Crown" in a single season. He made his Nextel Cup debut with Gibbs in 2004 and is the only driver among the three teams to go winless since then.

While Busch will take over the No. 18, Yeley could be in line to become one of the drivers involved in the expansion at Yates-Newman-Haas. Yeley’s talent and easygoing manner would help ease the pressure of building a new team from the ground up according to some.(cupscene.com)

See The Race On ESPN - On Your Phone
The dramatic racing action that makes up several of the final sagas in the Race to the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup will hit Sprint Power Vision phones as part of NASCAR.COM To Go through a partnership between Sprint Nextel and NASCAR.COM.

Full-race coverage available will include the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 29 (ESPN, 1 p.m.), Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway on August 5 (ESPN, 1 p.m.), the Centurion Boats at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 12 (ESPN, 1 p.m.), the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 19 (ESPN, 1 p.m.), the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 25 (ESPN, 7 p.m.) and the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series 500 at California Speedway on September 2 (ESPN, 7 p.m.).

The same ESPN live television broadcast of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series will now also appear on select Sprint video-capable handsets. Customers will be able to access the live races either through NASCAR.COM To Go via the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Web portal or on Sprint TV.

To visit the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Web portal, customers with Sprint Power Vision phones can text “NASCAR” to 7777 to receive a link to the main page or through the Sprint Home wireless web page (select: Sports, then NASCAR). Standard text messaging and data rates apply. The streaming broadcasts come in addition to the already available NASCAR Busch Series events that are available with the NASCAR.COM To Go broadcasts.

“This part of the season brings with it many dramatic moments as we near the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup,” said Dean Kessel, director of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series marketing for Sprint Nextel. “Fans on the go will have every opportunity to follow the action live on their Sprint Nextel handsets.”

“NASCAR.COM’s partnership with Sprint to offer NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series racing on Sprint Nextel handsets demonstrates our commitment to providing race fans with unparalleled access to the sport they love,” said Lenny Daniels, senior vice president of production and new media, Turner Sports.

The streaming broadcasts are available free of charge to Sprint Vision and Power Vision data subscribers with access to NASCAR.COM TO GO. The NASCAR broadcasts join the NFL Network and select Power View programming as live video offered free of charge to Sprint data-pack subscribers. Sprint also offers more than 20 other live streaming channels through Sprint TV Live for an additional $9.99 per month as well as other streaming video channels through individual subscriptions. For customers that do not have a Vision or Power Vision subscription, casual data charges will apply. For a full listing of devices and Sprint Power Vision services, visit (www.sprint.com).

Ginn Plans To Stay Around
Bobby Ginn says that he plans on sticking around as a minority owner of Dale Earnhardt Inc. and believes the recently announced merger between the two companies was in the best interest for his Ginn Racing team. The golf resort mogul wore a DEI shirt as he spoke Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway just two days after his three-team Nextel Cup operation was folded into DEI's three-team organization with two of Ginn's cars ending up being eliminated.

"I'm not getting out, and I'm still willing to invest more in racing," Ginn said. "I think it's a good business. ... I'm going to be around the track, and I'm going to bug [DEI's] Max [Siegel] and those guys. This does help in the respect that I have a very alive, a very large other business that I love, and that's what I do. It was never intended for me to come down here and run a race shop. To have the ability to be involved in it financially in ownership is a way that I hope they use not only me but my resources to help expand the team."

So did he make money a year after buying MB2 Motorsports and heavily investing into infrastructure?

"I don't know if I am going to turn a profit," Ginn said. "When I went into this, I pretty much decided that what I put into it would break even, and there's benefit for all the other things that I've got for my other businesses being in NASCAR. We were an investor, an owner and a sponsor. I got a lot of experience in the business relationships, and I wouldn't trade what I did for anything."

Ginn said former drivers Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin are still under contract but free to pursue other opportunities. Marlin had said Tuesday that he needs to get a release from Ginn in order to drive another car without fear of losing out of money owed from his Ginn contract.

"Sterling and Joe are both friends of mine and their families are, and I want to do what's best for them," Ginn said. "We'll honor their contracts through the end of the year and release them at the same time to find another ride if possible. We would work with it on a one-on-one basis. ... This is something that we want the best for the drivers."(scenedaily.com)

TNT's Experiment A Success
Turner Network Television's experimental telecast of the Pepsi 400 without full-screen national commercials was intriguing if not applauded by advertisers and NASCAR following the July 7 race at Daytona International Speedway.

NASCAR had thwarted ESPN's plans to do vertical split-screen coverage of races as it does for the Indy Racing League because it didn't feel that would translate well to stock cars nor be effective for advertisers. But NASCAR Vice President for Broadcasting and New Media Dick Glover liked the TNT format, where about the top two-thirds of the screen displayed live action while the bottom right corner was used for a break-out box with commercials. Other graphics and/or a logo of an advertiser occupied the bottom middle and left portions of the screen throughout the race. Not only did the telecast not have national full-screen commercials, but rarely did graphics overlap the picture.

"We thought it was terrific," Glover said July 16. "The fans got the information, got clever content, got to see the racing. Advertisers got a way to really get their messages through in a breakthrough way."

Glover said it remains to be seen whether such a format would work 36 times a year. He said fan feedback was "outstandingly positive." The biggest impact for the fans was that only three green-flag laps were missed because of regional full-screen commercials.

"I wouldn't focus on just the fact of not having the full-screen commercials," Glover said. "Just the information and everything provided to viewers that the format allowed by having that space on the screen and being able to put up the various statistics and integrating that with the coverage - and the extra coverage itself was clean - that was a terrific format and really incredibly viewer friendly."

Ten companies advertised during the event, including Toyota, which had worked with ESPN in its IRL split-screen telecasts.

"The fans that are watching race broadcasts are obviously very appreciative that what goes on on the race track is uninterrupted," Toyota U.S. Motorsports Manager Les Unger said July 14. "We got a lot of positive comments back three or four years ago when we pioneered this in the IRL broadcasts."

All of the companies except Toyota had TNT help create the commercial for the smaller size of the box. Those commercials were unique to that telecast and were integrated with the broadcast. Glover said that was important and served the sponsors well.

"Obviously you would like [the commercial box] to be bigger, but all things being considered, we were pretty much satisfied," Unger said. "You started with a full screen, then the question is what size will work for everybody's satisfaction? As an advertiser, you would like it to be at least half of the screen, but if it has to be a little smaller than that and all of the other advertisers are going along, then it could make sense. ... I think that it's something that will continue to be fine-tuned."

If TNT went to that format, advertisers would have to decide whether to use the same commercial over and over or try to develop unique content.
...MORE AT...(scenedaily.com)

Newman Surprises Fan
Today, Jimmie Funell of Rapid City, S.D. received the surprise of a lifetime at an Alltel Wireless retail store in Rapid City, S.D., when race car driver Ryan Newman invited him to ‘Go Racing.’ -- As part of the surprise, Alltel Wireless, America's largest network, and Newman provided Funell with an all-expense-paid trip for two to Bristol, Tenn. to attend the race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, August 25-26, 2007. To add to the VIP experience, Funell will have a very personal reason to cheer the No. 12 Alltel team to victory lane, as his name will appear on the Alltel Dodge that weekend.

“Alltel is dedicated to providing our customers with unmatched personalized experiences,” said Frank O’Mara, executive vice president of marketing for Alltel Wireless. “This racing initiative is a great way to thank our customers and reward them for choosing Alltel as their wireless provider. We hope to celebrate with both Ryan and Jimmie in the winner’s circle.”

Newman has made previous unannounced stops at retail stores in Albuquerque, N.M., Augusta, Ga., Kannapolis, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Tampa, Fla., to award customers with trips to ‘Go Racing.’

“It was as much a rush for me as it was for Jimmie when I gave him the good news from Alltel that he was chosen for this opportunity,” said Newman. “Hopefully the addition of his name to the paint scheme will help take the No. 12 Alltel Dodge to Victory Lane.”

Funell, who stopped by the Alltel retail store to see the No. 12 Alltel Dodge show car, was thrilled with the surprise visit by Newman.

“This is truly a dream come true. I just went to the store to see the show car and possibly upgrade my phone, so I didn’t expect to receive anything, let alone meet racecar driver Ryan Newman,” said Funell. “I can’t wait for my friends and family to see my name on the No. 12 Alltel Dodge as Ryan races around the track at 120 miles per hour.”

Two Million Votes In Most Popular Contest
More than two million votes have been tallied in the race for the NASCAR NMPA Chex Most Popular Driver Award. Thanks to fans logging in at www.MostPopularDriver.com to support their favorite driver, the goal of topping last year’s total votes is in sight.

The current drivers in the top ten include many repeat visitors, and each has a chance at taking home the coveted prize. Listed in alphabetical order, the top ten list includes Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Dale Jarrett, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, Tony Stewart and Michael Waltrip.

“Fans continue to support the NASCAR NMPA Chex Most Popular Driver Award and that makes all of us on the Chex brand team even more proud to be associated with this award, “said Rohan Thakur, marketing manager for Chex cereals. “This year we have added to our website in hope race fans will continue to come back each and every day to vote -- and maybe learn something new about racing or even win a trip to New York to see the award presentation”

That’s right, every time fans vote, they increase their chances of winning big themselves with the Chex® Vote to Win Sweepstakes. Fans can vote once a day, every day, but after voting the first time at www.MostPopularDriver.com, fans can register for the monthly online newsletter and complete a sweepstakes entry. Every time thereafter that fans visit the site to cast a vote, they will be entered for a chance to win monthly prizes, as well as a Grand Prize trip for two to the NMPA Myer Brothers Award Luncheon and presentation of the NASCAR NMPA Chex® Most Popular Driver Award in New York City. Entries must be received by October 1, 2007. See www.MostPopularDriver.com for official rules.

Votes will continue to be counted every day through the remainder of the season. Fans should vote once a day, every day before Monday, Nov. 19, at 11:59 a.m. CST to advance their favorite driver to the top of the standings.

The award has been given annually since 1956 and the top winner of the competition is Bill Elliott with 16 total wins and “The King” Richard Petty follows in second with nine. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has four consecutive wins in the voting competition, with his most recent win coming in 2006.

Chex® cereals are a fan favorite on and off the race track. For more than 60 years, Chex® cereals have been served on family breakfast tables. In 2001, Chex joined one of the first families of racing, Petty Enterprises, as a sponsor. Chex® is a big supporter of racing and is an associate sponsor of the legendary #43 Dodge driven by Bobby Labonte.

Chex® recognized the passion and loyalty of the motor sports fan and in 2005 began to sponsor the NASCAR NMPA Chex® Most Popular Driver Award. To date, more than 15 million votes have been cast, making it the largest fan-based award in motor sports.






Chevy To Use Impala In Busch Series
Chevrolet will use the Impala brand in the Busch Series next year, Chevy Racing manager Terry Dolan said Thursday. Chevrolet was already going to use Impala in Nextel Cup next season since the car of tomorrow will be used full-time next year. It had been using the Monte Carlo for traditional car events and the Impala for COT events. The manufacturer had been using the Monte Carlo this year for the Busch Series. "At this point in time, I would expect that we would stay in the Impala realm," Dolan said when asked about a car make for the Busch Series. "It is our flagship for Chevrolet. It's worked very well for us on the track."

Josh Wise Makes NASCAR Busch Series Debut
Michael Waltrip Racing development driver Josh Wise will make his NASCAR Busch Series debut driving the No. 22 Family Dollar/Supercuts Dodge for Fitz Motorsports this weekend in the Kroger 200 at the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

“We’re excited to have Josh behind the wheel of our No. 22 Family Dollar/Supercuts Dodge. He comes to us with a long list of championships and accomplishments in his young racing career, so we feel confident he will make a successful NASCAR Busch Series debut with our team. We’ll bring him a fast car and feel certain he can handle the competition side of things with the same success he’s experienced in the past,” said team owner Armando Fitz.

Wise, the 24-year-old California native, began his racing career as a child in Quarter Midgets on his way to numerous victories and championships throughout his young career. In 1998 he was the Micro Midget Champion and by age 11 he won the Light ‘B Quarter Midget National Championship. From there he won the California Monza State Championship. In 1999, Wise debuted in and won the TQ Midget Car Series championship as well as earning the series Rookie-of-the-Year title.

With other titles and victories secured, fast forward to 2005 where Wise claimed the National Midget championship. In 2006 he clinched the USAC National Midget title, the Sprint fast qualifier championship and USAC Super License winner driving for Tony Stewart Racing before signing with Michael Waltrip’s driver development program.



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