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Post by Bundy on Sept 16, 2012 1:23:54 GMT 10
Looks likely that RPM will stay FORD. Petty expects to stay with Ford; Ambrose and Almirola to return: Richard Petty is busy lining up his team for 2013 (and, hopefully, beyond), and he is moving in waters that remain choppy and with changeable tides. Discussions about Richard Petty Motorsports' future continue, but the landscape as it currently is painted appears to keep the RPM cars in the Ford camp for the next season, although the King has been talking with more than a few other possible partners. "It looks like there is not going to be a lot of change there for next year, but there's no concrete stuff yet," Petty said Friday at Chicagoland Speedway. "We're figuring on staying in exactly the same place, with the same operation from a manufacturing standpoint. We don't see a change unless somebody else comes up with something." Petty said he expects drivers #9-Marcos Ambrose and #43-Aric Almirola to return but admitted the die is not cast.(SPEED)(9-15-2012) nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup-richard-petty-still-working-on-13-plans-nascar-sprint/Good for the fordies I suppose...that their hero will stay loyal...for the time being  |
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Post by HDT05 on Sept 30, 2012 1:02:13 GMT 10
Smith out of the #78 after Talladega? UPDATES - Confirmed: SPEED's Race Hub reported Wednesday evening that Regan Smith's final race of the season in the Furniture Row Racing #78 would be at Talladega. Kurt Busch is expected to drive the car the remainder of the season.(9-26-2012)
UPDATE: Kurt Busch hopes to get a head start on the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season by jumping in the #78 Furniture Row Chevy early. The next chapter of the Busch saga could begin as early as in two weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Aligning with the team before the end of the season would offer Busch an opportunity to acclimate to the group and its systems for the final six races of the season. "He's going to be out after Talladega," said Phoenix Racing team owner James Finch, for whom Busch currently drives. "We're going to go down there and try to win that race. We were up front for most of the spring race, and Brad (Keselowski) dumped us with three or four to go. We'll be fine at Talladega." So who would fill the Phoenix Racing seat currently occupied by Busch? Since Finch has operated for most of 2012 sans sponsorship, he's looking at candidates "who have the potential" to bring financial support to the team for the final six race and possibly next year. Finch has spoken to representation for AJ Allmendinger, who has been sidelined since July 7, when he was suspended for testing positive for amphetamine the week before at Kentucky Speedway. Regan Smith, who will be displaced in the #78 Chevy by Busch, could be part of an easy swap with the #51 Phoenix team. Finch isn't limited to considering Sprint Cup candidates. He also has been approached by the camps of Nationwide Series drivers James Buescher and Justin Allgaier.(Fox Sports)(9-27-2012)
UPDATE 2: Regan Smith was interviewed on SPEED's Race Hub Thursday night and said he knew about two weeks ago that he would be out of the #78 for 2013, although he did not know what the team's plans were. Since that time he has been talking to several owners, but is just starting to decide what to do next. He said his priority is to be in good equipment next year, either Sprint Cup or Nationwide, and that the Nationwide Series might be a good option for him at this point in his career. There was no discussion of him being out of the car before the end of the season.(9-28-2012)
UPDATE 2: In a move to accelerate Furniture Row Racing's preparations for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Kurt Busch will take over the team's driving duties beginning with the Oct. 13th Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch, who was announced earlier in the week as Furniture Row Racing's new driver for 2013, will replace Regan Smith in the #78 Chevy. Joe Garone, Furniture Row Racing's general manager, stated that Smith's Furniture Row Racing contract, which expires at the end of the season, will be fully honored.(Furniture Row Racing)(9-28-2012)
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Post by HDT05 on Oct 14, 2012 9:01:27 GMT 10
More news: when I heard about Dale Jr being out I was really pissed, but it's courage from Mr. H and Dale.
Earnhardt Jr. will not race at Charlotte or Kansas: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not compete in the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway after being diagnosed with a concussion following the Oct. 7 race at Talladega. Earnhardt, driver of the #88 Chevys for Hendrick Motorsports, was diagnosed Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte. Regan Smith will be the team's substitute driver at Charlotte and Kansas.(Hendrick Motorsports), Earnhardt's streak of consecutive starts in the Cup series will end at 461.(10-11-2012)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. press conference transcript: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. met with media to discuss the fact that he will not be competing at this weekend's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway nor at next week's race at Kansas Speedway after being diagnosed with a concussion following the Oct. 7 race at Talladega Superspeedway. Also included in the discussion: Rick Hendrick, Owner of Hendrick Motorspots, Steve Letarte, Crew Chief, and Dr. Jerry Petty, neurosurgeon. The start of the transcript:
KERRY THARP: Joining us up front we have Steve Letarte, crew chief of the No. 88; Dale Earnhardt, Jr., driver of the No. 88; team owner Rick Hendrick; and Dr. Jerry Petty, neurosurgeon. At this time I'm going to call on Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who has some things he'd like to share with everyone.
DALE EARNHARDT, JR.: I guess I'll just start out with where this all kind of began. We had a test at Kansas about five weeks ago, and we blew a right front tire going into Turn 1, and I remember everything about that accident and everything after that accident, but I knew that I didn't feel -- you know your body, and you know how your mind works, and I knew something was just not quite right. But I decided to just try to push through and work through it. I'd had concussions before and knew exactly kind of what I was dealing with. I felt pretty good after a week or two and definitely 80, 90 percent by the time the Chase started, and by the time we got to Talladega I felt 100 percent, felt really good. And then the accident at the end of that race, I was hit in the left rear quarter panel, and it was sort of an odd kind of a collision where the car spun around really quick and just sort of disoriented me, and I knew that I had sort of regressed and had a bit of a setback and knew -- again, you know how your body is and you know when something is not quite right, and I knew as soon as it happened that I had reinjured myself, for lack of a better way to describe it. It didn't feel -- it was not even half of the impact that I had at Kansas, but it was enough to cause me some concern.
So I went a couple days wondering how my body would react and sort of waiting for it to process what was happening. About Wednesday I was still having some headaches, just that was really the only symptoms that I was having was the headaches. So I took it upon myself to -- I contacted my sister, and we talked about seeing a neurosurgeon, and we ended up getting steered toward Dr. Petty. Met with him, ran through a couple tests, everything was checking out, and did an MRI, everything looked good there. But I was really honest with him about how I felt and honest with him about the whole process from Kansas all the way on.
He spent the night thinking about what we discussed and everything that we did on Wednesday and couldn't clear me to race this weekend. I trust his opinion. That's why I went to see him. He's been a good friend of mine for a long time and has helped me through a lot of injuries before, so I believe when he tells me I don't need to be in the car and I need to take a couple weeks off that that's what I need to do.
That's pretty much the extent of it. I got a lot of support from my team. I'm excited about their opportunities the next couple weeks with Regan, and just looking forward to getting this cleared up and getting back in the car as soon as I can so I can get back to work with my team and getting back to competing on Sundays.(Team Chevy Transcript), see the Full Transcript on my #88 Team News and Links page.(10-11-2012)
Allmendinger to run the #51 at Charlotte: AJ Allmendinger will drive the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, replacing Regan Smith, who will drive the #88 AMP/National Guard Chevy for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Earnhardt announced today that he will be sidelined for the next two races after suffering a concussion in a final-lap crash at Talladega Superspeedway.
"I hadn't even planned on going to the track this weekend," said Allmendinger today. "I went to the gym this morning, without my phone. When I got back at 9:00, it was blown up with calls and text messages. I got a voice mail from (Phoenix Racing general manager) Steve Barkdoll saying, `Can you get to the track as soon as possible? We kinda need a driver.'" For Allmendinger, Saturday night's race will mark his first Sprint Cup Series start since being suspended by NASCAR on July 7 after failing a random substance abuse test. "This is obviously not the way I wanted this to happen," said Allmendinger. "I don't ever want to see anyone get hurt, much less a guy like Dale who's in the running for the championship. I don't have details on what will happen going forward, I'm just driving to the track to get fitted into a race car. I'm sure it's going to be a little hectic today, trying to get comfortable in the car after not driving anything for so long, but I'm appreciative for the opportunity. I'm happy to have a ride for the weekend, and I'm going to do my best to get a good finish Saturday night for James Finch and Phoenix Racing."(Godfather Motorsports), see image of the smiley face scheme on the #51 Team Scheme page.(10-11-2012)
Jayski.com
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Post by Bundy on Oct 19, 2012 14:19:01 GMT 10
IndyCar star Will Power keen for NASCAR futureUnited States based Australian Will Power says that he’s keen to try his hand at NASCAR once he has achieved his goal of winning an IndyCar Series title. Power has finished second in each of the last three IndyCar seasons, losing the championship at the final round on each occasion. While the oval tracks have repeatedly proven Power’s downfall, the 31-year-old says that living in the NASCAR hub of Charlotte, North Carolina, has left him eyeing a future in stock car racing. “Obviously it depends on what happens in my career as to what opportunities I’ll have,” he told Speedcafe.com in response to a question about his post-IndyCar plans. “These days I’m living in North Carolina which is the home of NASCAR. I’d definitely like to at some point give that a go, starting out maybe in Late Model cars and just see how I run. “That definitely interests me, but at the moment I’m just focussing on what I’ve got going on here with the IndyCar side of things.” Currently driving for Penske Racing, which fields front-running teams in both IndyCar and NASCAR, Power is potentially well positioned to make a switch to the tin-top class. Power however says that he is yet to even broach the subject with team founder Roger Penske. “I haven’t actually pursued it or anything like that at this point,” he said. “It’s just that it’s obviously really in your face when you live in North Carolina. It’s everywhere. All the teams are there, and obviously my team has got a NASCAR team as well. “They (Penske’s NASCAR team) are actually leading the championship right now (with Brad Keselowski), so it’d be an obvious thing to give a go at some point in the future.” This weekend sees Power racing in Australia for the first time in two years as part of the Armor All Gold Coast 600. Driving alongside Mark Winterbottom in the #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, Power will start the event as one of the favourites to take out the Dan Wheldon Trophy. www.speedcafe.com/2012/10/19/indycar-star-will-power-keen-for-nascar-future/
Be good money wise for his career but he would probably struggle given that he doesn't do all that well on ovals in Indycar
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Post by HDT05 on Oct 19, 2012 22:35:50 GMT 10
Wouldn't do it!
He'd go crap on these 1.5 mile ovals and ovals in general.
Chad Reed still wants to give the NASCAR route a go after seeing Travis Pastrana having a go and after Marcos Ambrose let him loose in his Ford NASCAR.
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Post by Bundy on Oct 25, 2012 19:06:03 GMT 10
This will make you happy HDT - jimmie johnson wants to experience V8s!
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Post by HDT05 on Oct 26, 2012 8:18:46 GMT 10
What! Heck yeah!! He'll kick ass in these cars!
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Post by HDT05 on Oct 29, 2012 11:07:12 GMT 10
JR Motorsports hires Regan Smith for 2013 Nationwide Series: JR Motorsports announced it has reached an agreement with Regan Smith to drive the team's #5 NASCAR Nationwide Series entry full time in 2013. General Manager Kelley Earnhardt Miller said Smith will make his JRM debut this year, as the company will field three teams for the Nov. 17 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Smith will join teammates Cole Whitt and Danica Patrick in the season finale. Smith has not competed in the Nationwide Series since 2007 when he tallied three top-fives, five top-10s, and a pole award at Kentucky Speedway. Smith's #5 Chevy, to date, is the only JRM entry cemented for a full-season slate in 2013. Earnhardt Miller said the goal of the organization is still to run two full-time teams the #5 and #7 with addition to Earnhardt Jr. competing in select Nationwide Series races in the #88 car. "We feel it is important for our sponsors, our fans, and even Dale to keep his Nationwide Series number consistent with his Cup number," Earnhardt Miller said. "His brand is associated with the #88. That's what makes him distinguishable on the race track, so it's only natural that he drives the #88 all the time. To do that, we are making our #5 Chevy our full-time entry. We hope to have Cole in the #7 full time in 2013, and we are working hard on securing sponsorship for that.(JR Motorsports)(10-24-2012)
Good news for Regan Smith!
Diet Mountain Dew cutting back sponsorship of Earnhardt, Jr. UPDATE: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. won't have Diet Mountain Dew as a sponsor for as many races in 2013 as he did in 2012, but he's not worried about Hendrick Motorsports finding sponsors for those races. NASCAR's most popular driver will have sponsorship from the Army National Guard for 20 races next year and Diet Mountain Dew for an unspecified number. Mountain Dew sponsored 16 races this year while another Pepsi product, Amp, sponsored four. The National Guard had 18 races this year. Earnhardt is not worried about having an unsponsored car at Hendrick. The organization has had Hendrickcars.com on Kasey Kahne's car for select races this year when it didn't sell sponsorships. "We have more demand than we have supply pretty much," Earnhardt said. "We've got a majority of the season with the Guard and Diet Mountain Dew is going to back off a little bit and that makes it a bit of a challenge to fill that small of a gap. If it were a bit larger gap, it would be easier to fill."(Sporting News)(9-14-2012)
UPDATE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his Hendrick Motorsports team are losing 15 races of sponsorship next season as PepsiCo plans to cut back its sponsorship, according to the SportsBusiness Journal. PepsiCo committed to sponsoring Earnhardt for 20 races in 2012. PepsiCo is working on a $10 million deal with Hendrick Motorsports that would include five races annually with Earnhardt (Diet Mountain Dew and Amp), two races with Jeff Gordon (Pepsi) and one with Kasey Kahne (brand TBA). The beverage company had sponsored Earnhardt and his #88 team for 20 races and Gordon's #24 team for two in each of the past five years. This season, the 20 Earnhardt races were split between Diet Mountain Dew (16 races) and Amp (four races).(Sporting News)(10-22-2012)
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Martin, Vickers, Waltrip continue to share #55 in 2013: UPDATE: Mark Martin, Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip will continue to share the driving duties in Michael Waltrip Racing's #55 Toyota in 2013. MWR announced Friday that Martin will drive in 24 NASCAR Sprint Cup points races, plus the Budweiser Shootout in Daytona and the All-Star race in Charlotte. Waltrip's three races include the July Daytona race plus both Talladega races. Vickers' nine races include all the Bristol, Martinsville, New Hampshire and road course events, as well as the Kentucky Speedway race. "I love my schedule and I love our lineup," said 40-time winner Martin whose four poles in 2012 equal the most of any driver. "Brian has a tremendous amount of experience and talent for such a young driver and you saw at Talladega that Michael Waltrip is as good as anyone in a restrictor plate race." Martin and Waltrip will continue to drive the Aaron's Dream Machine paint scheme in 2013 while sponsorship for six of Vickers' nine races is available.(MWR)(10-26-2012)
UPDATE: Vickers, in negotiations to drive a full-time Nationwide Series schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing next year, has four top-10s in seven starts. He said there are no guarantees Martin will retire after next season and he'll get the #55 full-time in 2014. "(Am I) in the wings? Yes," he said. "I don't think I could be any closer to the wing. There's no contractual obligation to 2014, but that's my goal and that's their goal." Vickers said he had other opportunities to possibly drive full-time next year, but opted to stay with Michael Waltrip Racing because of the chemistry he has developed with crew chief Rodney Childers and the opportunity to win races. "For me, staying with MWR was a conscious decision to be in the best position to win races," Vickers said.(ESPN)(10-27-2012)
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Post by HDT05 on Nov 11, 2012 0:40:36 GMT 10
Earnhardt Ganassi switching to Hendrick engines:
The "Earnhardt" in Earnhardt-Childress Racing won't use the company's engines beginning in 2013. Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will use motors leased from Hendrick Motorsports starting next season, a team representative told reporters at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday. The move is surprising considering ECR was formed as a joint engine-building effort between Earnhardt Ganassi and Richard Childress Racing. EGR has struggled over the last two seasons with drivers #42-Juan Pablo Montoya and #1-Jamie McMurray, and team owner Chip Ganassi apparently felt a change was necessary in the engine program. RCR team owner Richard Childress said he wasn't surprised by Ganassi's decision to pull out of ECR and said he's been aware of the possibility for quite some time. Childress said his team will have "a couple" new customers next season - though he wouldn't say who - and also has an existing sponsor in Furniture Row Racing. ECR will retain its name because the teams "have a different relationship with the engines," Childress said.(SB Nation)(11-2-2012)
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Post by Raptorman on Nov 29, 2012 20:59:37 GMT 10
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Post by Bundy on Nov 30, 2012 12:07:33 GMT 10
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Post by HDT05 on Nov 30, 2012 21:34:22 GMT 10
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Post by Bundy on Nov 30, 2012 21:37:09 GMT 10
#48 looks good  |
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Post by HDT05 on Nov 30, 2012 21:43:41 GMT 10
#48 looks good I was drooling when I saw that #48! ;D Might be heading over to the 2013 DAYTONA 500 for my first ever cup race! -if all goes to plan of course, stupid injuries...  |
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Post by Bundy on Apr 27, 2014 20:18:37 GMT 10
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Post by crikey on Apr 28, 2014 20:44:53 GMT 10
Really don't see the point in doing that by Ambrose, Nascar really needs to put a stop to that type of **** IMO. I bet Mears will want pay back now, Which Nascar will probably also turn a blind eye to as well. |
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Post by Bundy on Apr 28, 2014 21:24:28 GMT 10
Really don't see the point in doing that by Ambrose, Nascar really needs to put a stop to that type of **** IMO. I bet Mears will want pay back now, Which Nascar will probably also turn a blind eye to as well. It may have been borne out of frustration that his dream of being a big success on the NASCAR stage is turning to dust  |
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