NASCAR BLOG

After coming off last year where Jamie McMurray won the Sprint Cup Series’ 2009 Amp Energy 500, the 34-year-old driver has moved back to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and is preparing for the 2010 season. The driver of the #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevorolet Impala SS has been quite busy this off season testing race cars, competeing in go-karting, and getting to know his new team mate Juan Pablo Montoya. The two will compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona as part of four man EGR team. McMurray is happy to back with the racing team that he left four years ago for Rousch Fenway Racing. McMurray says its nice to working with people he knows and with race cars that have a high level of craftmanship. With McMurray and Montoya driving in the Sprint Cup Series, 2010 should be a very intersting year for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick has donated two of the planes staffed by two flight crews to non-profit group Missionary Flights International for relief missions to the earthquake ravaged country of Haiti.

The 45-seat planes are used flying drivers and crew members around the country for races during the busy season, but were available during what is traditionally a month break for the pilots and staff. The planes are being used to deliver precious cargo to the thousands of Haitians in need of food, water, and medicine. In addition to dropping off supplies the 10 Hendrick team members that volunteered have been picking up groups of children orphaned by the terrible disaster.

Pilot Dave Dudley told NASCAR.com that his first flight picking up Haitian orphans was the “best flight of his career”. The crew were also able to bring back the corpse of a dead American who perished in earthquake so that the family could have a proper burial back in America. NASCAR teams have raised more than $3 million dollars for the disaster relief which is ongoing in Hati. It has not been determined how long Hendrick Motorsports will continue with the missions to Haiti, but their help has certainly made a impact on many earthquake survivors lives.

Chasing down Marco Andretti during the final yards of the 2006 Indy 500, Hornish swept past the son of racing royalty to win by about a car length, the distinct rumble of the yard of bricks under his wheels at the finish line telling Hornish he’d finally captured the most-coveted title in open-wheel racing. Hornish still has a realistic shot at catching Regan Smith for rookie of the year honors after this win. However, all will not be well even after this fairy tale win because the driver returns to familiar territory for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 in an unfamiliar position - struggling to find the magic that seemed to flow so easily during Hornish’s dominant open-wheel career for team owner Roger Penske. Despite this, Hornish looks forward to the race for which tickets are selling out fast.

Racing Prodigy Joey Logano might be the possible replacement for No. 20 Sprint Cup car’s driver Tony Stewart from the next Sprint Cup Series. The young prodigy who will be competing in his first Nationwide Series in a month at the Gateway International Raceway has no qualms in accepting his desire to be the possible replacement for Tony Stewart next season. The car formally has seen two championship wins with Tony being the Driver. The tickets for this event are up for sale at various locations.

As the Craftsman Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway arrives this Saturday, Kyle Busch will try to become the first driver to win consecutive races in each of NASCAR’s three national series. This is after winning the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Chicagoland Speedway last weekend. He started the season with a second at Daytona, followed by wins in Fontana, Calif., and Atlanta. There will be a lot of hope from him for this event. Fans have already bought ticket for all of Busch’s races.

Kyle Busch raced against all odds to win his third Sprint Cup series victory last Saturday night and said that the newly laid track at Darlington was a tough track to handle. Busch said that he lost count on the number of times he ramped into the side walls of the track and appreciated the efforts of the team for building his car as strong as it was the other night. The hatred that the NASCAR driver Busch had garnered during the last race at Richmond did not deter his determination of wining the Darlington race in spite of the crowd booing him for the entire length of the race.  

Kasey Kahne, Nascar driver, is having a trial in Miami for assaulting a track security worker at Homestead-Miami Speedway last month. Archibald Hutchison, the victim, is 62. He is suing Kahne because of injuries he said he received on Nov. 16, when the young NASCAR driver pushed him at an access gate during the Ford 400 race weekend.
Kahne was charged with battery and released.