Archive for August, 2010

First off, let me start out by apologizing for not getting this post up sooner. I had my wisdom teeth out yesterday and was not in any shape whatsoever to do anything. So my apologies there. Now for yesterday’s big stories: Marcos Ambrose to the #9: Ambrose heads to Richard Petty Motorsports next year to drive the #9 Stanley Tools Ford. He teams up with AJ Allmendinger in what is reportedly a “multi-year deal”, and Ambrose is reunited with the manufacturer the brought him into NASCAR. Budweiser to Kevin Harvick’s #29: Budweiser has agreed to a three-year deal with Richard [...]

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series may be headed to Canada sometime within the next few years. The Toronto Sun reports that 4-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon is helping with plans to build a 1-mile oval track near Niagra Falls, not far from Toronto. Canadian Motor Speedway, if built, is expected to take the same shape as Auto Club Speedway and Iowa Speedway. Iowa is the only other track built with input from a NASCAR driver; that driver being 1989 Cup champion, Rusty Wallace. Construction is expected to begin on the track in 2011. If everything goes like it did [...]

The boys of NASCAR were in the Motor City this week as they made their second and final trip to Michigan this season. Who was left celebrating and who had their feelings hurt? We’ve got you covered! Hot: Kevin Harvick. Breaking news: Kevin Harvick clinches Chase berth! Alright, so we all saw that coming. But what we might not have seen coming were Harvick’s two messages: The one he sent to the rest of the field, and the one he apparently sent to Denny Hamlin. I still haven’t figured that one out yet. Not: Mark Martin. Martin’s Chase hopes took [...]

Follow along with today’s NASCAR Carfax 400 at Michigan with live timing and scoring, courtesy of the link below from Foxsports.com: http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/cup/raceTrax?gameId=20100815014&state=RACE

How do you know you’re a terrible race car driver? When you get replaced by Tony Raines. That is the fate that has befallen 2010 Rookie of the Year leader, Kevin Conway. Conway, of course, is the only driver competing for ROTY honors this season. His committed sponsor, Extenze, has decided to take a brief hiatus from sponsoring a race car. So Raines will take over the reins of Conway’s #34 car at Michigan and Bristol. The highlight of Conway’s season, besides getting a large paycheck from the “men’s health supplement” company, is his 14th-place effort at Daytona in July. [...]

NASCAR team owner Jack Roush has been released from the hospital. Roush had been at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN while doctors tended to him following his frightening plane crash in Oshkosh , WI back in July. It has not been announced when Roush will return to the race track, but Roush is reportedly doing well and is ready to get back to the race track soon.

Paul Menard has signed a multi-year deal with Richard Childress Racing, beginning with the 2011 season. The Eau Claire, WI driver will pilot a fourth car for RCR beginning next season, and will have sponsorship from Menards, his father’s home improvement company. Menard will team with Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, and Clint Bowyer. He leaves behind Richard Petty Motorsports, a team with which he has one top 5 and two top 10s. AJ Allmendinger is now RPM’s lone driver at the moment. More details on Menard’s deal with RCR will be announced at a later date.

Kasey Kahne’s 2011 plans have been decided. The Enumclaw, Washington driver will be headed to Team Red Bull in 2011. The move will put Kahne in a Red Bull Toyota for one season. Rick Hendrick made the deal with Team Red Bull to put Kahne in competitive equipment for a season before Kahne heads to Hendrick Motorsports in 2012. Kahne’s deal with Red Bull means that Mark Martin will officially stay with Hendrick in the #5 car for the 2011 season. Details of Kahne’s deal are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. The only thing we know for [...]

They say, as a leader, the best way to lead is to lead by example. AJ Allmendinger is ready to lead by example. Almost immediately after signing a contract extension with his current team, Richard Petty Motorsports, last week, Allmendinger told everybody that he is ready to step into that leadership role next season. On Sunday, he went out and proved it. Allmendinger qualified fourth at Watkins Glen, and ran in the top 5 literally all afternoon, en route to a fourth-place finish. It was his first top 5 finish since his third-place effort in the 2009 Daytona 500. Allmendinger [...]

The boys of NASCAR made a few right turns on the way to the track this week and ended up in Watkins Glen. Who conquered the course and who took a hit? We’ve got you covered! Hot: Juan Pablo Montoya. The question of whether or not he can win on an oval still lingers. But Montoya’s first win since 2007 was still an emotional one that has his crew chief feeling a little bit better about himself. Not: Clint Bowyer. Bowyer’s drive-shaft disaster knocked him out of the top 12 in points this week, as he was replaced by Mark Martin. [...]