Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

[Happy29]

Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

Offseason Moves Paying Dividends

At the end of last season, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano were pointed in the wrong direction. After challenging for the Sprint Cup Series championship one year earlier, Hamlin was a non-factor in 2011, managing just one win and having no impact in the Chase en route to a ninth-place finish in points. Harvick won four times in 2011, but staggered terribly down the stretch to finish third in the final standings behind champion Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. Biffle managed only three Top-5 finishes and missed the Chase en route to 16th in the championship standings. Logano’s 2011 campaign was also an exercise in mediocrity; a 24th-place finish in points highlighted by just four Top-5 and six Top-10 finishes.

At the end of the season, all four drivers signed off on major changes to their respective teams. Hamlin jettisoned crew chief Mike Ford in favor of Darian Grubb, who won the 2011 championship with Stewart before being released at season’s end. Harvick requested his own change at the crew chief position, with Shane Wilson replacing veteran Gil Martin. After a crew chief change at midseason, Biffle’s team underwent major offseason personnel changes, swapping in several members of Roush Fenway Racing’s disbanded No. 6 team. Logano saw veteran pit boss Greg Zipadelli accept the vacant Competition Director’s position at Stewart Haas Racing, with Jason Ratcliff promoted from the Nationwide shop to oversee the No. 20 Sprint Cup Toyota this season.

With just two races in the books, it appears that change may have been good for all four drivers. Hamlin has yet to finish outside the Top-5 this season, with a fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500 and a win Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. That performance has earned Hamlin the top spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.

Harvick finished second at PIR Sunday, after leading the most laps and running low on fuel while challenging for the win in the final laps. A seventh-place showing at Daytona has the Budweiser Chevrolet driver third in points, just eight behind Hamlin. Biffle has posted back-to-back third place finishes in the opening two weeks of the season and is just sixth points behind Hamlin, second in the championship chase. Logano is a solid eighth in points after a ninth at Daytona and a 10th in Phoenix.

Yes, it’s early. No, two races are not an adequate indicator of season-long succcess. But for Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano, the early returns are encouraging.

[Happy29]

Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

Infineon Withdrawing As Sonoma Sponsor

Published reports today say California’s Infineon Raceway will lose its title sponsor before the end of the 2012 season.

Infineon Technologies will not renew its sponsorship of the Sonoma, California, facility when its decade-long contract expires in May. The deal was reportedly worth more than $34 million to the track’s parent company, Speedway Motorsports, Inc., and SMI Vice President for Marketing and Communications John Cardinale told Sports Business Journal that several companies are interested in securing naming rights to the track when Infineon withdraws. "There are three or four companies we're talking to," said Cardinale. "I wouldn't say they're ready to sign, but they're certainly interested. If no replacement sponsor is found, the track will likely revert to its previous name, Sears Point Raceway, which it carried until Infineon’s arrival in June of 2002.

This marks the second time in the last three years that Speedway Motorsports, Inc. has been forced to replace a title sponsor at one of its properties. In late 2009, Lowe's withdrew from its own 10-year naming rights agreement with North Carolina’s Charlotte (formerly Lowes) Motor Speedway.

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Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

NASCAR drivers Regan Smith and Paul Menard, Smith’s wife Megan and a friend escaped injury in a Colorado road accident this morning at approximately 8:45 a.m. Mountain Time. The foursome was on the way to a nearby ski slope when Smith lost control of his Chevrolet Silverado truck after hitting a patch of ice near his home in Evergreen, Colorado, just outside of Denver. The truck slid off the road and crashed into a stand of trees.


Smith and Menard will compete in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Smith in the No. 78 Chevrolet for Furniture Row Racing and Menard in the No. 27 Menard’s Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.

[joshuar9476]

Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

Infineon Withdrawing As Sonoma Sponsor

Published reports today say California’s Infineon Raceway will lose its title sponsor before the end of the 2012 season.

Infineon Technologies will not renew its sponsorship of the Sonoma, California, facility when its decade-long contract expires in May. The deal was reportedly worth more than $34 million to the track’s parent company, Speedway Motorsports, Inc., and SMI Vice President for Marketing and Communications John Cardinale told Sports Business Journal that several companies are interested in securing naming rights to the track when Infineon withdraws. "There are three or four companies we're talking to," said Cardinale. "I wouldn't say they're ready to sign, but they're certainly interested. If no replacement sponsor is found, the track will likely revert to its previous name, Sears Point Raceway, which it carried until Infineon’s arrival in June of 2002.

This marks the second time in the last three years that Speedway Motorsports, Inc. has been forced to replace a title sponsor at one of its properties. In late 2009, Lowe's withdrew from its own 10-year naming rights agreement with North Carolina’s Charlotte (formerly Lowes) Motor Speedway.

as long as nascar keeps racing their highest division at the track, i don't care if the name it the Big Brown Poop Stain at Infineon Raceway

[Happy29]

Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

as long as nascar keeps racing their highest division at the track, i don't care if the name it the Big Brown Poop Stain at Infineon Raceway

I've always called it Sears Point that's my earliest memory of it even though Infineon come in and took naming rights I still called it Sears Point so nothings changing for me.

[Happy29]

The Chad Knaus 48 team appeal will be held Tuesday.


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[Happy29]

Mark Martin will drive the number 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs racing this Saturday at Las Vegas in the Nationwide race.


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[Happy29]

Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

Yup, it's Sears Point to me..always has been and will continue to be.

Brian Vickers will be racing 6 races in Michael Waltrip's #55 Toyota this year. Both Bristol, both Martinsville, and both New Hampshire races. Personally I think it was a mistake for Chevy to tell Elliot Sadler he couldn't race in those races and should concentrate on his Nationwide duties with RCR. It's just 6 races but it would have been a great opportunity for RCR and Chevy to do a little investigating and see what Toyota has and what things they may be doing differently, compare notes and try and get some kind of an advantage.

Or am I the only one who thinks that twisted and dishonest?

[Happy29]

This is racing...I expect people to do that. I know we did when at the track .

Exactly which is why I can't understand why Chevy won't utilize this opportunity.


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Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

For anyone that will be attending the race weekend at Auto Club Raceway in California coming up on March 23-25 here is the schedule for the hauler parade.


To help get the Auto Club 400 Weekend underway, March 23-25, the spectacle of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hauler Parade will make its way to Auto Club Speedway from Citizens Business Bank Arena (4000 E. Ontario Center Parkway, Ontario) through Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana, beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 22.
Along the parade route, Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet driver Jamie McMurray will make an appearance at the NASCAR Hauler Festival at Bass Pro Shops (7777 Victoria Gardens Lane, Rancho Cucamonga) from 6-7 p.m. Stretching nearly an entire mile from the first hauler to the last, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hauler Parade will make its way to Auto Club Speedway around 7 p.m. The convoy will travel:

From Citizens Business Bank Arena:

n East on Concourse St. to Milliken Ave.

nNorth on Milliken Ave. to Church St.

n East on Church St. to Day Creek Blvd.

n South on Day Creek Blvd. to Victoria Gardens Ln.

n East on Victoria Gardens Ln. to Baseline Rd.

n East on Baseline Rd. to Cherry Ave.

n South on Cherry Ave. to Auto Club Speedway

Fans are expected to greet the haulers along the 11-mile parade route, until the haulers make their final approach to Auto Club Speedway. View the parade route at www.autoclubspeedway.com/HaulerParade

Prime viewing spots along the parade route include:

n Citizens Business Bank Arena, 4000 E. Ontario Center Parkway, Ontario -- Haulers will be staged by 5 p.m. for fans to take photos and to talk with available Hauler Drivers
n Bass Pro Shops,7777 Victoria Gardens Ln, Rancho Cucamonga -- Race fans that sign up or show their Bass Pro Shops Rewards card will receive a complimentary trucker Bass Pro Shops hat.
n Auto Club Speedway,9300 Cherry Ave, Fontana -- Final destination of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hauler Parade.

For more information about the Hauler Parade and to purchase tickets to the Auto Club 400, call 800-944-RACE (7223), or visit www.autoclubspeedway.com.

[Happy29]

Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

Not NASCAR but today was the inaugural ARCA Mobile 200 at my home town track of Mobile International Speedway. The local boy Cale Gale battled Chase Elliot all day but come away with the win in a green white checker finish, to take the ARCA points lead.









We don't have a wall in turns 1&2 down the backstretch or in 3 &4




This is what happens when you wreck in 3&4 at MIS

[Happy29]

Here is Dodge's 2013 Sprint Cup car. I love the Dodge Charger this is a beautiful car.




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Another look

Also there are several teams interested in partnering up with Dodge for 2013 and beyond. Some announcements expected by June. No word on who the teams are that are in talks with Dodge, but don't be surprised if Earnhardt Ganassi Racing ends up in the Dodge camp next year.





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Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

Earnhardt Jr Not Happy With Mark Martin After Kobalt Tools 400 In Las Vegas

EARNHARDT JR. ON INCIDENT WITH MARTIN

“Personally, yeah, I don't have a problem with Mark and have so much respect for him. But to me, personally, there is an unwritten etiquette that when the guy is running the top even if you are clearing him or passing him, if you barely clear him off the corner. I'm coming ten miles an hour faster off the top of the race track, you stay low. Don't knock a half second off my lap time being a jerk about it. Stay low. You are going to get it in the next corner and the position is going to be yours. Don't pull up in front of somebody when they are going to come off the corner ten miles an hour faster.

“I didn't really mean to put him in the wall but from the cosmetic standpoint it didn't look like it hurt his car. Probably looked like it knocked some of the right front suspension off of it, and I am sorry about that. But, you know I felt like I was pretty frustrated at the moment before that happened, and that just kind of really sent me over the edge there. We just want to win really bad and felt like we should have finished better than we did today and I was just frustrated at that point and that is just not the way that I understand it to be done and I am sure he feels a different way about it but I think we definitely disagreed right there at that moment.”

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Re: The official 2012 NASCAR Thread

NASCAR's Brooks To Step Down

NASCAR announced today that Senior Vice President of NASCAR and President of NASCAR Media Group Paul Brooks will leave the company on May 4, to focus on a variety of personal and outside business interests. Brooks has been with NASCAR for 19 years and will continue as a senior advisor to the company in key areas including broadcasting, media strategy and innovation.

Paul’s accomplishments at NASCAR are beyond measure and have contributed significantly to the success of our entire industry over the last two decades and prepared us in many areas for future growth,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. “We are grateful for his years of dedicated service, support his decision to pursue other interests and wish the very best to Paul and his family. He will be greatly missed.”
“I have big ideas and interests that I’ve always wanted to explore and my decision to make this transition now has been well planned,” said Brooks. “It has been a true blessing to learn and grow my career working so closely with one of the most successful families in American business and professional sports. I have a deep respect for NASCAR, the France family and NASCAR President Mike Helton, and I believe the industry is positioned for future growth.”

Among his most important contributions at NASCAR, Brooks was on the initial team that developed NASCAR’s long-term consolidated television and new media agreements with FOX, FX, NBC, Turner and SPEED, and later, agreements with ABC/ESPN. Brooks also is credited with leading NASCAR’s effort to become the first professional sports league to launch a 24-hour satellite radio channel with NASCAR Radio on XM Satellite and later, Sirius and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. In one of the largest sponsor partnerships in sports, Brooks was a key member of the negotiating team that brought Sprint-Nextel into the sport as title sponsor to what was then the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
As Sr. VP for NASCAR and President of NASCAR Media Group, Brooks assumed day-to-day responsibilities for NASCAR’s Charlotte, N.C., offices in Sept. 2007, with all broadcasting, new media, licensing and consumer products, publishing, automotive aftermarket, and international business departments reporting to him. Since that time, NASCAR Plaza, NASCAR Media Group, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the NASCAR Teams Licensing Trust all were developed and launched.

As VP of broadcasting for NASCAR and VP of NASCAR Digital Entertainment, Brooks established NASCAR’s Los Angeles office in 2000, while overseeing all broadcasting, entertainment and new media ventures. He served as executive producer of NASCAR: Drivers 360 on FX and executive producer for the Emmy Award-winning NASCAR IN CAR on iN DEMAND, television’s first enhanced multi-channel digital sports package. Under his management, the Los Angeles office quickly became a focal point for NASCAR’s marketing, licensing, sales and communications functions on the West Coast. One of his first projects in Los Angeles was to create “NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience” that debuted in March 2004 and became one of the most successful film documentaries in IMAX history.
After joining NASCAR in 1993, Brooks held several key positions with the sanctioning body including VP, Office of the President, reporting directly to Bill France, Jr., then chairman and CEO of NASCAR. In this capacity, Brooks was responsible for leading long-term and operational planning for NASCAR, directing special projects and publishing, developing and launching NASCAR Online, and leading international business initiatives, including NASCAR exhibition events in Japan. Prior to joining NASCAR, his experience in the sport began in 1989 and included key positions with NASCAR drivers, teams and media outlets.

Brooks was a three-time honoree in the Sports Business Journal “Forty Under 40” and entered the Sports Business Journal “Forty Under 40 Hall of Fame” in 2005.
“Paul’s influence on NASCAR has been tremendous and will be felt for years to come,” said NASCAR President Mike Helton. “He led some of the company’s most important initiatives that have driven growth and prepared us to better serve the fans and the industry. Along the way, he earned respect and confidence throughout NASCAR and, in particular, from Bill France, Jr. and Brian France in their capacity as CEOs of the company. I have great respect for Paul and look forward to continuing our professional relationship, but more importantly, our friendship.”