is NASCAR News with a Virginia twist
Racing News & Commentary from Bill McDonald, of Inside Motorsports ... |
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What's happening this week around the world of NASCAR racing...
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IM Race Reports:
Nextel Cup -
Next Event: Ford 400 - Homestead Speedway ( 1.5 mile)
TV: November 21st - 1:00 PM - NBC
2003 Winner: Bobby Labonte
Top Ten Ford 400:
- 1.Greg Biffle - Ford
- 2.Jimmie Johnson - Chevrolet
- 3.Jeff Gordon - Chevrolet
- 4.Tony Stewart - Chevrolet
- 5.Kurt Busch - Ford
- 6.Brendan Gaughan - Dodge
- 7.Jamie McMurray - Dodge
- 8.Rusty Wallace - Dodge
- 9.Ricky Rudd - Ford
- 10.Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet
more Winston Cup news below...
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More Virginia Teams Winston Cup News...
BUSCH GN Series -
Next Event: Ford 300 - Homestead Speedway ( 1.5 mile)
TV: November 20th - 1:00 PM - NBC
2003 Winner: Kasey Kahne
Busch Series Top Ten Season Points:
- 1. Martin Truex, Jr. - Chevrolet (Champion)
- 2. Kyle Busch - Chevrolet
- 3. Greg Biffle - Ford
- 4. Ron Hornaday - Chevrolet
- 5. Mike Bliss - Chevrolet
- 6. Jason Keller - Ford
- 7. David Green - Pontiac
- 8. Ashton Lewis - Chevrolet
- 9. Kenny Wallace - Chevrolet
- 10.David Stremme - Chevrolet
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Craftsman Truck Series -
Next Event: Ford 200 - Homestead Speedway ( 1.5 mile)
TV: November 19th - 3:30 PM - SPEED Channel
2003 Winner: Bobby Hamilton
Truck Series Top Ten Season Points:
- 1. Bobby Hamilton - Dodge (Champion)
- 2. Dennis Setzer - Dodge
- 3. Ted Musgrave - Dodge
- 4. Carl Edwards - Ford
- 5. Matt Crafton - Chevrolet
- 6. David Starr - Chevrolet
- 7. Jack Sprague - Chevrolet
- 8. Travis Kvapil - Toyota
- 9. Steve Park - Chevrolet
- 10.Chad Chaffin - Dodge
Virginia Drivers & Teams Truck Series News
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News, Notes & Rumors:
Biffle, Busch are winners at Homestead
Kurt Busch overcame a series of misfortunes Sunday to pull off a fifth-place finish in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and win his first Nextel Cup Series championship. It is the second consecutive title for team owner Jack Roush. The margin of victory over second-place Jimmie Johnson is eight points, the smallest in NASCAR history.
Busch wrapped up his first career title Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway the same way he raced for all 10 of the playoff races: He stayed calm at every obstacle, including a freak mishap when his wheel broke and his tire sailed off the car midway through the Ford 400.
NASCAR president Brian France wanted to create a battle that would come down to the final lap of the final race to decide his sport's championship.
He got his wish.
Busch, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson jockeyed for position for every one of the 271 laps. Every spot was critical, every point being furiously calculated by their car owners and crew chiefs. To top it off, a late caution sent it to the newly adopted Green-White-Checkers overtime finish. On the start, Greg Biffle raced past both Johnson and Gordon and steadily pulled away for the win. Tony Stewart finished right behind those two, with Busch taking the 5th spot and his first Cup Championship.
Among Virginia drivers and teams, Ricky Rudd finished 9th, but most of the drivers with state ties suffered bad days. Elliott Sadler came in 34th, Jeff Burton, of South Boston, was 36th, and Hermie Sadler came in 43rd.
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CUP
Last time out:
Jimmie Johnson got help from Jeff Gordon, who slipped in the pits late in the Southern 500, to help give Johnson his fourth win in the last five races. Kurt Busch finished sixth and retained the points lead.
After Gordon's unusually long pit stop, Johnson took advantage of the opportunity to win the final Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and move within easy reach of Nextel Cup points leader Busch with one race remaining. Johnson, who beat Mark Martin to the finish line by 0.959-seconds, about 6 car-lengths, is 18 points out of first.
Gordon finished third, Jamie McMurray finished fourth, followed by Kasey Kahne, Busch and rookie Carl Edwards.
Among Virginia drivers and teams, Jeff Burton finished 13th, Ricky Rudd was 16th, Elliott Sadler came in 23rd, Mike Wallace, in the Morgan McClure Chevy, was 38th and Hermie Sadler came in 40th.
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Inside Motorsports sends along its heartfelt condolences to the Hendrick family and team.
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Last time out:
Kevin Harvick closed out a disappointing season in the Busch Series by winning the final event of the year Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Harvick, the 2001 Busch Series champion, moved to the front of the Ford 300 and had to hold off Jamie McMurray on several late restarts to lock up his second victory of the year.
Martin Truex Jr. clinched the Busch Series title last week at Darlington Raceway, but didn't get to enjoy the official championship ceremony until after he finished ninth at Homestead.
Rookie Kyle Busch was third, ending his season tied with Greg Biffle for the series record of five wins in a season. Reed Sorenson, an 18-year-old who will run the full Busch schedule next season, was fourth, with Todd Bodine fifth.
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Last time out:
It was a big day for Dodge at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with Bobby Hamilton wrapping up the NASCAR truck series championship Friday and Kasey Kahne driving to his second straight victory. Kahne, the top rookie in the Nextel Cup series, became the first driver to win his first two starts in the truck series, adding this victory in a Jim Smith-owned Ram to the one last Saturday at Darlington.
Bobby Hamilton wound up 16th and won the title by 46 points over Dennis Setzer, who finished 10th. Ted Musgrave, who followed Kahne across the line, finished third in the standings, 70 points behind.
Jon Wood, of Stuart, finished 36th.
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Jason Leffler to Drive Gibbs 3rd Car
Joe Gibbs Racing officially announced that Jason Leffler will drive the #11 Fed Ex car in the Nextel Cup Series for the 2005 season. That will bring to three the number of cars competing for Gibbs Racing in NASCAR's elite division.
Leffler will be a teammate to Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart in 2005. Dave Rogers, an engineer for Stewart's team, will be the crew chief.
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Labonte to Cut Back on RacesVeteran Terry Labonte announced that he will compete in only 10 races in the 2005 and 2006 season and then hang up his helmet. The two time Cup champion will drive the #44 Chevrolet for Hendrick Racing, with Kyle Busch taking over in the #5 Kellogg's Chevrolet. Busch will run for Rookie of the Year.
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Rusty Sets Date for Final Pit Stop
Rusty Wallace officially said 2005 would be his last year driving the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in the Nextel Cup Series.
Wallace's swan song season will carry the theme of "Rusty's Last Call" and will feature a yearlong celebration of the champion driver's career. Wallace said the exact dynamics of his farewell tour were not all in place but, while many events would be held in conjunction with racing weekends, many more would not.
Wallace has won 55 races and the 1989 Series Championship.
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Other Silly Season News
John Andretti will drive a full Nextel Cup schedule for ppc Racing, which won the 2000 Busch Series championship. The team will use Roush-Yates engines in the #14 Ford.***
Burton Accepts RCR Ride
For over a year, the rumors have swirled around Virginia natives Jeff and Ward Burton. Both had been rumored to be leaving their teams for other possible venues. Both had been rumored as possibilities for the #30 AOL team of Richard Childress racing. Now the rumor is fact.
Jeff Burton moved from Jack Roush's No. 99 Ford to RCR's No. 30 Chevrolet and has signed a three-year contract to drive for Childress.
"Jeff brings a great deal of experience and knowledge to the America Online team and all of RCR," Richard Childress, president and CEO of Richard Childress Racing, said.
Ward Burton's future continues to be up in the air, with a possible change from the Net Zero team still a possibility.
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Rudd, McSwain Reunite
Ricky Rudd and Mike McSwain are a couple again. After an 18-month separation, Rudd and McSwain are officially back together as driver and crew chief, this time at Woods Bros. Racing. With former Crew Chief Ben Leslie's move to Ford field manager, replacing Robin Pemberton who accepted a position with NASCAR, it opens the door for Rudd and McSwain to pick up where they left off after the end of the 2002 season at Robert Yates Racing. "Fatback" and Rudd won three races in three years together at RYR.
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Rear Spoilers Reduced in 2005
NASCAR will reduce the rear spoilers in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series by an inch at all non-restrictor plate tracks in the 2005 season. NASCAR, which decreased the spoilers by three-quarters of an inch entering this season, is requiring spoilers in 2005 to be 4½ inches in height. The reduction in the spoiler height is hoped to further reduce aero-push while enhancing the competitive aspect in terms of racing and passing ability. It is a continuation of a multi-year plan that began in 2002 to return more drive-ability to the cars through their aerodynamics, engines and tires.
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New Gear Rule in Effect
In an effort to contain team costs and further enhance competition, NASCAR also implemented a gear rule for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the 2005 season.
The new rule for NASCAR's three national series will restrict teams to NASCAR-determined gear ratios at each event that will limit the maximum RPMs that all engines will be able to produce in competition. The move is hoped to reduce team costs associated with engine research and development to gain additional RPM. It also is expected to enhance the competitive balance with all makes in each series.
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Second Date to Texas and Other Changes
The 2005 Nextel Cup schedule shows many changes, some involved with settling the Ferko lawsuit against IMC.
The big change involve Texas Motor Speedway getting a second Nextel Cup Series date in 2005.
The second date, which will be in early November during the 10-race "Chase for the Championship," is the key piece of an agreement that keeps the Cup schedule at 36 races and involves four other facilities: Phoenix International Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and North Carolina Speedway.
Other changes for 2005:
Darlington will lose one of its two dates and will hold its lone race, the Southern 500, the night before Mother's Day, traditionally an open weekend for the Cup Series.
- Rockingham will be taken off the schedule completely.
- Phoenix will also have two Cup dates -- in February (North Carolina's race) and November (Darlington's second date).
- Atlanta, a sister track of TMS in Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports empire, will keep its
- two dates, but the spring race will be pushed later into March in an attempt to ease weather
- concerns.
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Other Top Stories:
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Wallace Runs Restrictor Free at Talladega
Rusty Wallace gave a new meaning to the term "high speed communication" on Wednesday afternoon when he piloted his Miller Lite Dodge at speeds up to 228 mph at Talladega Superspeedway.
Rusty Wallace "We hit 228 (mph) at the end of the straightaway and averaged 221 (mph) for that overall lap segment," an excited Wallace said late Wednesday as he prepared to head back home to North Carolina. "It was a helluva deal that I certainly will remember for the rest of my life. We'd all been wondering what it would feel like to run at Talladega again without the (restrictor-) plates and now I know. I'll bet we could be running speeds up to 235 (mph) without the plates if we spent time doing some tweaking.
"But I'll tell you this -- there's no way we could be out there racing at those speeds," Wallace offered. "It was neat to be out there running that fast by myself, but it would be insane to think we could have a pack of cars out there doing that."
Wallace's one lap timed speed (216.309) far exceeded the official track qualifying record of 212.809 mph (44.998 seconds), set by Bill Elliott on April 30, 1987.
Wallace's high-speed opportunity came at the request of NASCAR officials on behalf of series sponsor Nextel and Racing Radios, the Hampton, Ga.,-based company that serves as the "Official 2-Way Radio provider" for all three of the major NASCAR racing series.
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ESPN to Air TRAC Races
The new TRAC racing league got a big boost to its credibility, when it was announced that ESPN will be the television outlet for the league. Team Racing Auto Circuit (TRAC), a subsidiary of Team Sports Entertainment, will consist of six four-car racing teams located in major American cities with motorsports venues in the area.
All 24 cars will run in each race, but a team, not an individual, will be determined the winner. Races will be Saturday afternoons and nights, with one or two Sundays under consideration and are expected to fit into a two-hour broadcast window. The league will run 13 races from May-August 2004.
Each race will be televised by either ESPN or ESPN2 as per the long-term deal announced last summer. The contract has a series of options that could extend it to 11 years.
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Testing News
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RIR, Martinsville Track News
Richmond International Raceway announced today that race fans attending the upcoming Chevy Rock & Roll 400 weekend September 9-11 will be treated to two free concerts surrounding the NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races. Fans who hold race tickets for the Emerson Radio 250 NASCAR Busch Series race on Friday, September 10 will be able to see rising country music artist Big & Rich, while Collective Soul-holder of eight number one rock hits- will perform a track side show prior to the sold out Chevy Rock & Roll 400 on Saturday, September 11.
The up-coming quadruple header weekend at Richmond International Raceway will include the Crown Royal IROC and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 200 doubleheader on Thursday, September 9, the Emerson Radio 250 NASCAR Busch Series race on Friday, September 10 and the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race on Saturday, September 11. Friday's action will also include Fas Mart Pole Qualifying for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400.
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Virginia Driver & Team News:
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Richmond International Raceway is finishing another round of expansion and upgrades. More than 1,400 seats have been added for the 2004 season, bringing the track's capacity to 107,097.
The project includes new seats in the Veranda Grandstand in turn one, development of 55 new acres of parking on the north side of the track's property and the addition of a second spectator care center outside of turn two next to the amphitheater. The amphitheater, which is used for Speed Channel and QVC shows on race weekends as well as concerts and special events on non-race weekends, has been remodeled. Gravel roads are also being added to several parking lots which will help with traffic ingress and egress, especially during inclement weather.
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More Winston Cup News and Feature Stories:
Virginia Drivers & Teams Winston Cup News Briefs
Multi Purpose Tracks + Concrete = Disaster
more Busch Series news
more Craftsman Truck Series News
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Final comment: John Andretti earned $102,000 for a last place (43rd) finish in last year's Brickyard 400. That is more than what the driver collected for finishing 10th in 27 other NASCAR Nextel Cup events last season. Any questions as to why this race is so special to teams?
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More Inside Motorsports Racing Information
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Multi-Purpose Tracks + Concrete = Disaster
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That's it for now...check back regularly for news and opinion. Nuff said!
Bill McDonald
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