NASCAR News March 12th

NASCAR team reports as the Sprint Cup Series takes a weekend off before heading to two straight short tracks, at Bristol and Martinsville

Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: Harvick heads into the first off weekend of the 2010 season with a 26-point lead over Matt Kenseth. Harvick has maintained the points lead for three weeks, a first in his Cup career, which began in 2001. He has two top-five and four top-10 finishes in the season’s first four races. He plans to take it easy this weekend. “I don’t think that Bristol is a big deal and we have a lot of testing coming up at Talladega and we have two test days at Charlotte, so they will be getting prepared for those days,” he said. “I think the spoiler is the first thing on everybody’s mind and to get prepared for that, and the aero guys and the engineers are working as hard as they can to understand what exactly the spoiler is going to change as far as that goes. So there is a lot going on and not time for a week off, and you just have to keep working ahead. Obviously, you get the weekend off, so that will be a good thing and for me I will just stay at home and relax and go from there.”

Last week: Harvick finished ninth at Atlanta and was unable to get to the front of the field to lead a lap.

Etc.: Harvick believes that RCR is a blue-collar race team compared to the more corporate Hendrick Motorsports. “Chevrolet works in a pretty unique way,” Harvick said. “There is a lot of information that goes in between the teams and wind-tunnel time. You want to win for yourself, but it is a lot easier to race against a small group of guys than it is to race against the whole field. But, obviously, you want to be the best and you strive to be the best and you do everything you can to beat everybody on the race track no matter what brand it is. We don’t feed off of things like that. We feed off of the things that we do. It is not about how good they have been or what they have done because they’ve done a really good job over a long time. It has not just been the last few years; it has been 20 some years that they have been really good in this sport. Obviously, it sets that bar at what you want to be, but I don’t think that is motivating force behind what we are doing at RCR.”

Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing

This week: The 2003 Cup champion appears to be meshing well with interim crew chief Todd Parrott, who took over for Drew Blickensderfer after the season-opening Daytona 500. Kenseth has two top-five and four top-10 finishes in four starts. “Honestly, the season couldn’t have started any better for us,” Kenseth said. “I said that last week, too. It sounds silly since we won the first couple of races last year, but it’s been really good. The last three weeks have been a lot of fun. We’ve been learning a lot. Our cars have been faster. We’ve been able to make some adjustments. The pit crew has been on the money. It’s been fun, so it’s been really cool to get off to this good of a start and be as competitive as we were last week. This is as competitive as we’ve been at Atlanta in quite a while, probably since they went to this car. We haven’t run particularly well with it here, so this is by far the best we’ve run. I know we got up there and finished second, but we still had a good top-five car all day.”

Last week: Kenseth is coming off a second-place finish at Atlanta. “That is the best finish we have had here ever, so I am really proud of my team,” Kenseth said. “They did a great job today. We qualified really well (14th) and it translated to the race today. It was easy to spin the tires today, but there were some guys up there with two and you knew they were going to have a much rougher time on four, so it was interesting. You watch everyone lay back behind you and you know that it is going to be three of four wide when you got to turn one. I tried not to lay back too much. I just got it rolling real good and got it through the gears a little better than Paul (Menard).”

Etc.: Kenseth has some strong views on the three attempts at a green-white-checkered finish at Atlanta. “It’s definitely crazy at the end and every track is a little different,” Kenseth said after the race. “Here, with the big discrepancy on tires — even two tires — the car is a lot different than it is on four tires. It’s really slick and I would have bet just about anything that we were going to have a wreck on the first green-white-checkered, but I was just hoping that we weren’t going to be in it and, sure enough, there was. When you get cars that have been leading all day like Kurt (Busch) and guys that have been running in the top four or five all day, and they’re going to restart 10th with five guys in front of them you know are disadvantaged on tires by a second, and you’ve got a really wide race track with a lot of grooves, and they’re giving you two laps to go get your spot back. I raced 498 miles all day as hard as I could race to get up to third, and then I’m restarting 10th. What do you think is going to happen? Everybody is going to just go crazy and try to get their spot, so you could kind of see it coming.”

Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing Read the story »

India takes next step toward hosting Formula One in 2011

SAKHIR, Bahrain  — India is set to host a Formula One race starting in 2011.
The decision, subject to calendar approval, was announced by governing body FIA on Thursday after a World Motor Sports Council meeting in Bahrain. A race track is currently being built on the outskirts of New Delhi.

FIA also said a new selection process would be used to determine a “potential 13th entry and reserve entry” next year following USF1’s last-minute withdrawal from this year’s championship.

FIA said it will take “appropriate action” against the American team.

Indian driver Karun Chandhok joined new F1 team Hispania Racing last week, while Force India is moving into its third season in the sport.

The 2010 season begins Sunday with the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Team Foyt Ready for Izod Indy Car 2010

As you read this, I am on my way to Brazil for our Izod IndyCar Series opener. I’m anxious to get the season started. We have Vitor Meira back in the No. 14 ABC Supply Indy car after he spent most of 2009 recovering from his bad accident at Indianapolis where he broke his back. He is fully recovered and did well when we tested at Barber Motorsports Park two weeks ago.

For the first time in the history of the IRL, we are opening the racing season outside of the United States. Vitor is excited to be racing in his home country, and he assures me I will have a good time. In fact he is personally picking me up at the airport when I arrive there.

We have a lot of things to look forward to this season and I believe it will be our best season of the decade. Our team has put in a lot of hours getting the ABC Supply cars ready. They spent the winter overhauling all of the equipment, rebuilding or replacing parts. They’re fitting together the brand new car I bought over the winter but that won’t appear until Indy. I always like to take a new car to Indy. It’s our biggest race of the year and I always want to approach it by giving it our best shot.

Which brings me to the new engineer we hired this year, Jeff Britton, who brings a lot of experience to our team. Jeff worked with Vitor in 2005 when he finished second at Indy so Jeff and Vitor know how to communicate with each other already. That makes a big difference in the chemistry of the team. With our first test I could see that we went faster with every outing so that is a good sign of things to come. Read the story »

Tony Kannan and others ready for 2010 Izod Indy Car Season

It’s hard to believe the 2010 Izod IndyCar Series season is upon us, but it is. The start of any season is exciting, of course, with everything being fresh and new. Everyone is on the same level; everyone has a shot at the championship. Everyone is upbeat and ready to go.

But, this year is a whole different thing when it comes to excitement for me. We are opening up in my home country of Brazil. And, let me tell you, my friends, the pressure that goes along with the excitement this year is hard to imagine or describe.

Racing in Brazil is huge. As a country, we have turned out so many amazing race car drivers and have enjoyed so much success. It is not a sport that is taken lightly. To get to this level is something that a lot of drivers in Brazil only dream of and never get the chance to experience. I am so fortunate to have achieved this level of my profession and to be able to make a career for myself, racing in the United States. It was my goal and my dream, and I never take it for granted for one second because I know how many people I grew up with in Brazil that would give anything to be where I am. Read the story »

NASCAR News March 11th

Team owner Roush satisfied with NASCAR action on Edwards

Jack Roush

 
CHARLOTTE — Team owner Jack Roush said Wednesday he’s satisfied with the penalty NASCAR levied against driver Carl Edwards for his intentional accident with Brad Keselowski.

Edwards was in an early accident with Keselowski in Sunday’s race at Atlanta, and later returned to the track and deliberately wrecked Keselowski. The contact sent Keselowki’s car airborne, and NASCAR parked Edwards for the remainder of the race.

On Tuesday, he was placed on probation for three races.

“We are satisfied that NASCAR fairly considered all the circumstances in its decision to discipline Carl,” said Roush. Read the story »

Graham Rahal to drive two IndyCar races for Sarah Fisher

Sara Fisher

By Nate Ryan, USA TODAY

Sarah Fisher is stepping out of her car in a move that could benefit her team as well as the IndyCar Series.
Sarah Fisher Racing will field Graham Rahal in Fisher’s Dallara-Honda in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla., (March 28) and the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama (at Barber Motorsports Park on April 11). Rahal, whose only IndyCar win came at St. Pete in 2008, will miss this weekend’s season opener in Brazil because the rising star was left rideless by departing sponsors — which new Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard said wasn’t good for the sport.

Fisher said she convinced sponsor Dollar General to buy into replacing her with Rahal, son of the 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner, because he matches her all-American reputation.

“It was the only reason we were able to do it,” Fisher told USA TODAY in a phone interview Wednesday. Read the story »