NASCAR Daily News Headlines * November 25, 2009

Chad Knaus Commits To Johnson

Final Homestead Ratings Down

Wingo Hired As Crew Chief For Ragan

"It's an honor to have the opportunity to work with David Ragan next season as well as our sponsor UPS,” said Wingo. “UPS has been a great sponsor in NASCAR for years and I'm truly looking forward to the chance to get the No. 6 Ford the finishes it deserves. I'm glad to remain with Roush Fenway Racing because I believe in the success we'll be able to achieve in 2010."

“Roush Fenway is looking to build the strongest possible teams and sometimes we do that by restructuring personnel,” said owner Jack Roush. “Jimmy Fennig’s experience and judgement are impeccable so we made the decision to re-assign him to head up our testing operations to try and make that department stronger. The requirement for us to reduce from five to four Sprint Cup teams allowed us to move Donnie Wingo to the No. 6 to fill that void. I think Donnie brings a wealth of experience to our organization having won races for multiple teams including our organization and we are anxious to see if he can challenge David Ragan and help him to realize the potential he showed in 2008. I think these moves will help our organization overall and we’re hopeful that David and Donnie will together take UPS and the No. 6 Ford to victory lane in 2010.”

Ragan enters his fourth Sprint Cup season in 2010 looking to improve on this season and better his 2008 performance which included six top-five and 14 top-10 finishes and a 13th-place finish in points, barely missing the “Chase”. Next year will mark the first time the duo of Wingo and Ragan have worked together.

“I’m proud of my time with Jimmy (Fennig), he’s taught me a lot over the years, but now I’m looking forward to next year and working with Donnie Wingo and his engineer Derek (Stamets),” said Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford. “Those two are a great combination and it will be fun to work with someone new with fresh ideas. I’m excited to test a few times this off season and get things moving forward for next season. We’ll be ready for Daytona with a fast UPS Ford.”

Jimmy Fennig will continue at Roush Fenway Racing by overseeing the team’s R&D testing efforts.

NASCAR Seeks To Hide Information

NASCAR filed motions Monday in U.S. District Court asking that Megan France be prohibited from producing documents from Brian France’s lawsuit against her.

Brian and Megan France were separated in fall 2007 and divorced in Florida on April 29, 2008, according to NASCAR’s brief filed Tuesday. Brian France later sued Megan in North Carolina Superior Court in September 2008, and those pleadings were sealed in December 2008. The Charlotte Observer has recently asked the court to open those documents.

Mayfield’s attorneys issued a subpoena to Megan France last Friday requesting those documents as well as any joint tax returns for 2007 and 2008 and any mail addressed to Brian France in North Carolina. The reason stated for the request has to do with whether the federal court has jurisdiction or whether it should return the case to state court, according to NASCAR’s motion.(scenedaily.com)