Eury Jr. To Leave DEI After Talladega
Tony Eury Jr. will leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick Motorsports earlier than expected, team officials confirmed on Thursday. Eury, who has been Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car or crew chief for all but one season since the two broke into the Nextel Cup Series in 2000, will step down after the Oct. 7 race at Talladega Superspeedway. He will be allowed to take four members of Earnhardt's No. 8 team with him under a deal made by DEI when it agreed to free him contractually to join Earnhardt at HMS in 2008.

DEI vice president John Story said he met with Eury's crew this week and only one person has mentioned leaving thus far. Eury and Earnhardt could work together for HMS as early as the Car of Tomorrow test at Atlanta Motor Speedway following the Oct. 28 race in Georgia. Tony Gibson, who replaced Eury during Eury's six-race suspension earlier this year, will complete the season with NASCAR's most popular driver. (espn.go.com)

Scott Speed To Run Talladega ARCA Race
Team Red Bull and Eddie Sharp Racing are pleased to announce today that former Formula One Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed will drive the No. 21 Red Bull Toyota in the ARCA RE/MAX Series at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 5, 2007. This will mark Speed's debut in stock car racing.

“I come from a completely different world of racing, so there's no doubt it’s going to be a challenge learning how these cars handle, but I’m ready to get out there and see what I've got!” said Speed.

Speed’s connection with Red Bull dates back to 2002, when he won the Red Bull Driver Search, a program aimed at putting an American talent into Formula One. With Red Bull backing, Speed raced his way through the European ranks and into a full-time seat in 2006 at Red Bull Racing’s sister team, Scuderia Toro Rosso. After parting ways during the 2007 season, Speed turned his attention to landing a Red Bull-backed drive in the States.

In an effort to hone and adapt Speed's skills from F1 to stock car racing, Red Bull tapped what is arguably the best ARCA team in the field, Eddie Sharp Racing. Speed’s inaugural stock car race will have him paired with a well-established ARCA team with high-caliber equipment and the personnel to support his climb through the stock car ranks. With Red Bull backing and the strong team support of Eddie Sharp Racing, Speed will have the best of both worlds.

Dover Goodyear Tire Notes
This is the second straight NASCAR race weekend at Dover to which Goodyear has brought this specific combination of left- and right-side tires -- this is one of the more popular tire combinations in Goodyear's 2007 tire lineup, having been run by Nextel Cup and Busch Series teams at Dover, California and Michigan already this season -- Busch teams have also run this tire set-up at Kentucky in 2007 -- in addition, this left-side code (D-4078) has been run by these teams with a different right-side code at both Texas and Chicagoland this season -- unlike on other NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Dover -- air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.

Hendrick Lawsuit Settled
Tracy Lathram, whose husband Scott Lathram died in the Hendrick Motorsports plane crash in October 2004 near Martinsville, Va., has settled her lawsuit against Hendrick Motorsports and the government. All sides had agreed to a settlement in June, and it was approved Tuesday in U.S. District Court in North Carolina.

The confidential agreement ends all of Lathram's claims against both Hendrick and the air-traffic controllers. It doesn't end Hendrick's request that the government be held at least partially responsible and contribute to any judgments, according to court documents.

Lathram, whose husband was a pilot for Tony Stewart and a passenger on the plane, will share the confidential settlement with her three children, all of whom are 16 or older.

She is the second of the three widows who have filed suit to settle with Hendrick. Linda Turner (widow of Hendrick general manager Jeff Turner) still has a claim against the government. Dianne Dorton (widow of Hendrick engine builder Randy Dorton) still has claims against Hendrick and the government.(scenedaily.com)

National Stock Car Racing Commission Denies Yates Appeal
On September 18, 2007, the National Stock Car Racing Commission heard and considered the appeal of Robert Yates Racing. The appeal concerned three penalties issued by NASCAR following post-race inspection on August 4, 2007 for the NASCAR Busch Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

The infractions concerned Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR Rule Book “Actions detrimental to stock car racing”; Section 12-4-Q “Any determination by NASCAR Officials that the car, car parts, components, and/or equipment used in the Event do not conform to NASCAR rules”; Section 20A-12.3C (3): Divider pistons in both front shock absorbers were not installed to the manufacturer’s specifications”, and Section 12A-12.3l: “Oil volume did not meet the minimum one (1) inch specification”.

The penalties assessed were:

Loss of 25 NASCAR Busch Series Championship Car Owner Points for car owner Robert Yates.

Loss of 25 NASCAR Busch Series Championship Driver Points for driver Stephen Leicht.

$10,000.00 fine for crew chief Charles Barraclough.

In deciding the Appeal, the Commission considered several factors: