NASCAR BLOG

AAA’s national motorsports sponsorships will hit the end of the road after the 2008 season. The primary sponsor on Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 6 car and the official auto insurance for International Speedway Corp. tracks, AAA has decided that it will not renew those deals at the end of this season.

Some of NASCAR’s most famous drivers will participate in the Darlington Historic Racing Festival on Aug. 30-31, including David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Buddy Baker, Junior Johnson and others. According to track president Chris Browning, the new festival will bring more than 100 vintage race cars, ranging from the 1950s to the 1970s, to NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway

Now, when we speak of NASCAR, the first car that comes to our mind is Toyota Jarett. But what was the car of the past? Was Toyota associated with racing at that time? I’m afraid, no.
It was white and blue No. 88 Ford Thunderbird with that signature broad, flat nose. Also, Chevy. Both of them were great racing cars of their time, which managed to create excitement and aeropush. Now those cars are being sold to racing schools and ARCA teams.

NASCAR has chosen Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) for a prized two-day Cup test to be held in March 3-4 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to competition and business reasons. The session, open to all teams, is a PIR first. PIR, so convenient for the teams, accumulates a publicity in advance of its April 12 Subway Fresh Fit 500.

When the NASCAR truck race starts in 2009, it will carry a different brand than Craftsman. This name has always been synonymous with the NASCAR race series since its inception more than ten years ago. Sears, Roebuck and Co. that has always been the title sponsor since the racing series started in ‘95, is giving up this role after next year. NASCAR officials have not yet begun looking for a replacement, but they have more than a year to find a new sponsor.

There have been at least two rivalries that existed this past season. Two teammates seem to be the best this year: Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. We haven’t just seen 1 isolated incident between the two this season, but we saw the situation escalating in the Busch Series race at Kansas, continuing at the Martinsville Nextel Cup race, where Carl Edwards confronted Matt Kenseth while he was being interviewed by SPEED.

For the 5th consecutive year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Was named the most popular NASCAR driver. The son of the Dale Earnhardt garnered 1.4-million of the 3.8-million votes that were cast by NASCAR fans online. Dale Earnhardt Jr. joins Bill Elliott and Richard Petty as the only other drivers to have won the award 5 consecutive times. The driver confessed that he was extremely honored to win the award again, as it put him with a very select group of drivers who he had a lot of respect for.

Auto racing is making its annual postseason pit stop in NYC. For the 2007 champion, Jimmie Johnson, it’s more of a homecoming. Jimmy together with his wife, Chandra, have been renting in NYC for 4 years, but on Sunday they are going to move into the home they have purchased in Chelsea. Any kind of sport whose champion can afford prices in NY for an auxiliary residence cannot be doing badly. NASCAR is still claiming to be the younger brother to football, though the sport is having ambiguous TV ratings and declining attendance.

International Speedway is considering adding new tracks in New York and Seattle. It also remains interested in the Denver market, according to NASCAR chairman Brian France. A year ago, ISC abandoned efforts to develop a new track on Staten Island, and did the same in Seattle several months later. It was stated that those projects could take years to complete, as to construct any stadium development, much real estate is needed, it takes 10 or 15 years sometimes to get fully developed.