NASCAR Daily News Headlines * October 27, 2009

Dale Earnhardt Jr. To Make Country Music Awards Appearance

People.com first reported the Hendrick Motorsports driver will appear at the awards ceremony at the Sommet Center. Earnhardt Jr. is the first athlete to be announced as a presenter.(scenedaily.com)

Tony Eury Sr. Will Be Back Next Year

“I guess I’m going to be,” Eury Sr. said of next season. “I can’t say 100 percent. We really don’t know what all is going on with our program yet. We do know the [No.] 88’s going to run full time. We possibly could have two full-time cars. We could even have a third car run part time.”

Kelly Bires is taking Keselowski’s place and will likely drive the No. 88 with Eury Sr. as crew chief. But Eury Sr. said the team has talked to a lot of drivers about the team’s second car, the No. 5 entry, for next season.

“Some good young guys that people don’t really know about that we’ve talked to,” Eury Sr. said. “They’re going to be as good as [Keselowski]. We’re looking forward to it.”(scenedaily.com)

Dave Rogers Will Take Over No. 18 Team

Rogers is currently in his fourth season as crew chief on the No. 20 NASCAR Nationwide Series entry for JGR. He led the team to JGR's first Nationwide Series Owner's Championship in 2008 amassing nine victories, six poles, 16 top-five finishes and 26 top-10 finishes despite utilizing four different drivers over the course of the season. The team has captured another five wins thus far this season under Rogers' leadership. He first joined JGR in 1998 and spent six seasons from 1999 to 2004 working under Greg Zipadelli with the No. 20 team, including the team's 2002 Championship season.

When the No. 11 car driven by Jason Leffler was introduced in 2005 as JGR's third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, Rogers was tabbed as crew chief. Mike Ford would later step into that role midway through the 2005 season and Rogers moved back into the JGR engineering department. Prior to the 2006 season Rogers would move over to JGR's Nationwide Series program and has since guided the team to 20 victories over the past four seasons.

"We evaluate all of our teams on an ongoing basis and believe this is a change that will make the 18 team stronger as we prepare for next season," said J.D. Gibbs, president of JGR. "We think highly of Steve and the job he has done and we look forward to him remaining a part of the JGR family.

"Dave has proven himself a talented crew chief and we think he will work well with Kyle. We hope that by making the move following this weekend's race at Talladega they can use the final three weeks of this season to begin working on communication and setups for the 2010 season."(joegibbsracing.com)

Steve Addington Best Crew Chief

The No. 18 team had quite a challenge to face, starting from the rear of the field, in 41st position. But patience along with a late race strategy call by Addington allowed Busch to gain precious track position, coming home with an impressive fourth place finish.

Patience was key as Busch man handled a tight racecar and fell a lap down during a long green flag run in the later stages of the race. He battled back to the lead lap and when the caution finally came out on lap 444, and quick pit work by the Addington-led crew gained them valuable track position, restarting 15th on lap 449.

Running in 11th the caution flag flew with just 15 laps remaining. All but those in the top-six came to pit road for service, including the No.18, and Addington called for right-side tires only. Restarting eighth, Busch fought is way up four more positions when the checkered flag flew.

"I'm real proud of Steve's effort," said Busch. "The guys worked really hard and had awesome pit stops all day."

"Steve [Addington] made the right call to take on two tires there at the end," said Jeff Hammond, WYPALL Wipers spokesperson and SPEED/FOX television analyst. "He displayed strong leadership and patience throughout the entire race."

Addington has won the WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief of the Race award twice. Chad Knaus is tied for the lead with four wins with Darian Grubb as the WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief the Race, and is in contention to become the WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief of the Year. Not far behind are Drew Blickensderfer, Steve Letarte and Alan Gustafson, all with three wins.

WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief Results
Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford, made his biggest jump in track position of the day when crew chief Bob Osborne made a call mid-way through the race to stay out on the track during a caution, putting him in the top-10. But bad luck quickly followed on the final lap when the driveshaft gave up, causing them to finish 20th. During a caution on lap 475 and running 10th, Todd Berrier, crew chief for Casey Mears and the No. 07 Jack Daniels team, opted to keep his driver on the track in an effort to protect track position. The move gained him three spots but was unfortunately punted out of position by Mark Martin with less than 10 laps to go, and he finished a disappointing 18th. WYPALL Wipers' support the men behind the machines and you can find out more about Todd and Bob at http://www.wypall.com/Bios.asp.

WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief Team
Osborne, Berrier, and Hammond, along with representatives from the WYPALL Wipers brand, all serve as the panel for the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief Challenge and vote for the weekly crew chief winners. In addition to the $1,000 check, the winning crew chief will receive signage to announce the win on their pit box the following week. The crew chief with the most weekly wins will be honored as the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief of the Year and will be presented a $20,000 check at the season finale in Homestead, Fla.

Each week through Homestead, Hammond will interview the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief of the Race from the prior race during Trackside Live on SPEED every Friday evening.

Former winners of the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief Challenge include Tony Eury, Sr. (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.), Robbie Reiser (Matt Kenseth), Doug Richert (Greg Biffle), Mike Ford (Denny Hamlin) and Chad Knaus (Jimmie Johnson).

Johnson’s Crew Best On Pit Road

“The No. 48 crew did a good job on pit road all day,” said No. 48 pit crew coach Greg Morin. “They stepped up when they needed to and helped keep the Lowe’s Chevy up front. The guys have worked really hard to get to this point and even though we weren’t able to go to Victory Lane, we expanded our points lead and the crew had an important role in that. I’m proud of this team and the effort they continue to put in to reach our goals.”

Johnson’s over-the-wall crew consists of: Mike Lingerfelt (front-tire changer), Art Simmons (front-tire carrier), Jon Lucas (rear-tire changer), Andy Brown (rear-tire carrier), Kenneth Purcell (jackman), Rich Gutierrez (gasman), Mike Knauer (catch can) and Ron Malec (eighth man). The team’s crew chief is Chad Knaus.

Along with the $5,000 prize money for each weekly Tissot win, the crew with the most wins following the 36-race Cup schedule will collect a $100,000 bonus plus Tissot watches for the crew and driver.

Johnson’s crew along with the crews of Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon are in a close competition for the Tissot season title with four races remaining. Biffle’s crew leads with six wins, Gordon’s crew is second with five wins and Johnson’s crew is in third with four wins.

If there’s a tie in the Tissot competition after the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 22), the team which finishes the highest in the Sprint Cup driver point standings will be awarded the Tissot season title.

Tissot has been the official watch and timekeeper of NASCAR since 2006. The company is also the official timekeeper for a number of other sports, including the MotoGP World Championship, the Ice Hockey World Championship and the Cycling World Championship.

BAM Racing Set To Return

In making the announcement, BAM racing owner Beth Ann Morgenthau said: “Our team has gone through an extensive renovation. We are rebuilding from the bones up. By partnering with Warner Music Nashville, their stable of artists and the staggering buying power of the country music fan base, we are looking forward to an extremely successful 2010 both on and off the racetrack.”

“This is a unique opportunity to extend our artists brands to the vibrant NASCAR community, allowing us to tap into the natural synergy that has developed between the racing world and Country music fans,” said John Esposito, President of Warner Music Nashville. ”We’re excited to have this opportunity to link our artists with one of NASCAR’s most professional teams and look forward to exploring innovative ideas to make those synergies work for everyone involved.”

The first BAM promotional event with WMN artists is scheduled to take place on February 6th, 2010 at the Daytona International Speedway.