NASCAR BLOG

Both fans and NASCAR racers will be glad to know that Lowe’s Motor Speedway will soon feature a reliable SAFER barrier lining the inside wall of its backstretch. The proper installation process is expected to be completed right before the track opens its doors to crowds coming for the NASCAR race come May 2008. SAFER, an acronym for Steel and Foam Energy Reduction barriers is a great form of safety and protection for racers. For this matter, Lowe will soon boast an extra 340 feet of SAFER barriers. Humpy Wheeler, responsible track president for Lowe, said that even though this entire project will cost them a whopping $110,000, the wellbeing of NASCAR racers are still number one priority.

The move came about after Jeff Gordon suffered from a terrible crash at Las Vegas last March. He criticized Bruton Smith, owner of both Las Vegas and Lowe’s Motor Speedway on live television for failing to install adequate SAFER barriers.

Chip Ganassi, the Sprint Cup owner is unhappy with the performance of the crew of the No. 41 team of the Reed Sorenson. So, he interchanged the crew chiefs of Sorenson and Montoya.  Now Montoya will be supported by Chief Jimmy Elledge and Sorenson will get the help of Donnie Wingo in this week’s race at the Super Speedway of Talladega. Chip Ganassi believes that this shuffle will be advantageous to the organization and he expressed his faith in the abilities of both Jimmy and Donnie.

He added that his championship organization which takes part in major races like NASCAR. He wants to improve the performance of his cars and this change is a big step in achieving that goal. Montoya is at present at the 17^th position and Sorenson is in 31^st position. Sorenson had finished in worse position in the last five matches and his best finishing was the fifth position at the Daytona in the opening of the season.

It is doubtless that NASCAR is greatly loved by the Mexicans but in order for it to gain full recognition and support in Mexico, NASCAR will need to quickly seek and train a full time stock racer. This tip was conveyed by Adrian Fernandez, a participant at the upcoming Corona Mexico 200. He also added that there are a handful of good drivers with admirable expertise but they lack expertise as they have not had the chance to prove their mettle. Being Mexican, he also reveals that Mexicans care a lot about their sports stars and if there is a full time Mexican driver within NASCAR, it will surely boost their ratings among the Mexican residents.

Robbie Weiss, MD of NASCAR International, agrees with this statement and he adds that they are working doubly hard to implement this goal via the Corona races. He also hopes that the three new race tracks built in Mexico will boost NASCAR’s popularity in the region.

NASCAR officials have revealed that they are going for an added test session for all the Sprint Cup racing teams during the 5^th and 6^th May at the Lowe Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Vice President for competition Robin Pemberton said that the new test session has been added keeping in mind the interests of several racing teams and with the intention of bringing in more interest among the spectators and fans. The extra test session will help the teams to know more about the new cars and their performances.

The Sprint Cup teams are slated to race twice at the Lowe Motor Speedway circuit, the All Star Sprint Race on May 17 and Coco-Cola 600 race that is slated for May 25. Many of the drivers believe that an additional test session is always important as it will help them when they race their new cars at these intermediate tracks.

Jimmie Johnson acquired his first NASCAR race of the season when he opted not to make a pit stop to fuel his car prior to the closing laps at the Phoenix International Raceway recently.

Johnson managed to gain pole positions three races so far into the current season but has not been able to grasp the champion’s cup until last Saturday. He finally crossed the finishing line in first place after over taking Clint Bowyer who also made the gamble and skipped the fuel.

Johnson’s exact words after clinching the title were “I just tried to be smart with the fuel”. He added that he was lucky the car finally ran out of fuel on the back stretch minutes after the race ended. Crew Chief Chad Knaus was also quick to add that they enjoyed good mileage the entire race making the win possible.

After Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin came in third place followed by Carl Edwards and Mark Martin.

NASCAR drivers Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick said that NASCAR needs to reinforce random drug tests on its legion of drivers. This call came after a suspended driver in the third-tier Craftsman Truck Series allegedly claimed that he participated in the race shortly after using heroin.

Stewart and Harvick, NASCAR veterans who have been in the top Sprint Cup Series for over five years revealed that there has never been any random drug tests for the entire period that they were involved in NASCAR sports.

Truck Series driver Aaron Fike was arrested in Ohio recently in the year 2007 after being found guilty for possessing heroin and drug paraphernalia in an Ohio amusement car park. He was suspended by NASCAR after pleading guilty to misdemeanour charges late 2007.

NASCAR however, was quick to rise to their own defense saying that they have zero-tolerance policies towards drugs usage among their drivers. They added that they will only test certain suspects and reiterates that once tested positive, they will implement strict suspension rules.

Kyle Busch has finally got the victory that he has been aiming at. He had finished second to Tony Stewart in the first couple of races in the season and then there were a few mishaps that prevented Kyle from getting a victory. At Texas however things changed and he posted the first nationwide victory of the season. He had to restart when he was in lap 194; he covered up for it in the last seven laps and emerged victorious. He was ahead of Jeff Burton, the runner up by 1.041 seconds.

 Clint Bowyer finished third and he was followed by Bobby Labonte and Jamie McMurray. They were followed by Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Jason Leffler and Tony Stewart respectively. Busch had finished second in 2004 as well as in 2007 at Texas. His NASCAR winning average stood at 151.707 mph which shadowed the 145.710 mph that was scored in 2006 by Kevin Harvick.

The Richard Childress Racing will be unveiling a NO.33 Hamburger/ Cheerios Helper Chevrolet for the 2009 Sprint Cup season and the driver for the car will be announced later. This new venture has the backing of General Mills and the new racer will join the likes of Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton. Richard Childress has said that expansion is very vital in order to sustain in this modern NASCAR world and will have to have good cars to compete with rivals such as Roush and Hendrick.

Childress said that his team has shortlisted about four to five drivers to race in the next season and did not give a clue on who will be racing for his team. The RCR has about 10 months to prepare for the big race next season and Childress is of the opinion that the ample time in his stride will help his team come up with a really competitive race car.