|
|
|
|
Home Page 
Copyright © 2000-2007. All Rights Reserved. Nextel Cup® and NASCAR® are registered trademarks of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. This web site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR®. The official NASCAR® website is "NASCAR® Online" and is located at.. www.NASCAR.com |
Insider Racing News * May 16, 2007
NASCAR Makes Example Of Tony Eury Jr. The No. 8 team was found to have violated Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing), 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules), and 20-3.1.3B (the NASCAR-approved upper and lower rear wing mounting brackets must not be modified to obtain a rear-wing angle of less than zero degrees or more than 16 degrees) of the 2007 NASCAR rule book. Crew chief Tony Eury Jr., has been fined $100,000 and suspended from NASCAR until July 4, 2007 which includes this weekend’s NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge and the next six NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events. He has also been placed on probation until Dec. 31, 2007. Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., has been penalized with the loss of 100 Championship Driver points. Car owner Teresa Earnhardt has been penalized with the loss of 100 Championship Owner points. The violations were found during pre-race inspection on May 12.
Wheeler Picks Johnson To Win All-Star Race "This race is Jimmie Johnson's to lose," Wheeler said in picking the California native to record his second straight All-Star victory. "The Hendrick cars are simply coming off the corner better as they have a tad more torque right now." Known for his promotional flair and Karnac-type ability, Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, has correctly picked the winner of the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge 10 times in the past 18 races. He correctly selected Johnson to win the race in 2003. "Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton will give Jimmie all he wants, and one of them may get him. But right now Jimmie is the man I'm going with," said Wheeler, who made his selection after carefully studying two days of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup testing last week at the 1.5-mile superspeedway. "There were a lot of games being played during the testing sessions, but the only speeds I paid attention to were down the backstretch and Jimmie had them covered. If Johnson can fulfill Wheeler's prediction, he'll join Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon as three-time winners of NASCAR's annual All-Star event. His $1 million first-place prize would also push his career All-Star earnings to nearly $3.4 million in just six races. Wheeler is going with another two-time winner of the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge as his dark horse selection. "This year's All-Star race is like four 20-lap trophy dashes and that's the perfect format for a veteran short-track racer like Mark Martin," Wheeler said. "Plus, he's in a Chevrolet with one of those potent Hendrick engines under the hood. That combination could result in him becoming a three-time winner of this race." Running only a partial schedule in Ginn Racing's No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, Martin has four top-five finishes in eight starts and led the series point standings early in the season. He's been in the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge every year since 1990 and went to victory lane in 1998 and 2005. In an extremely unusual move, Wheeler believes a rookie will win the NEXTEL Open, the 40-lap preliminary race that will send the top two finishers to the All-Star race. "This will surprise a lot of people, but I'm going with Juan Pablo Montoya to win the NEXTEL Open," Wheeler said. "He has been very impressive this year and has adjusted to these stock cars faster than any open-wheel driver except maybe Mario Andretti or A.J. Foyt. "His best finishes have been at Atlanta and Texas where he was able to use the high groove like a veteran, and I think he'll do the same thing here," Wheeler added. Montoya, winner of the 2000 Indianapolis 500 and the 2003 Monaco Grand Prix, is in his first season behind the wheel of the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge and the NEXTEL Open will be his first start at Lowe's Motor Speedway. NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge Week activities start Wednesday with the Pit Crew Challenge presented by Craftsman at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. The finishing order of the Pit Crew Challenge will determine the order in which teams will select their pit stalls for the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge. On-track activities kick off Friday evening with qualifying for the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge and the NEXTEL Open. In addition to qualifying, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will compete in the Quaker Steak & Lube 200 presented by Circle K. "Humpy" Wheeler's Pick the Winner Results Year Selection (Finish) Dark Horse Winner 1989 Rusty Wallace (1) None Rusty Wallace 1990 Dale Earnhardt (1) None Dale Earnhardt 1991 Davey Allison (1) None Davey Allison 1992 Davey Allison (1) Alan Kulwicki Davey Allison 1993 Dale Earnhardt (1) None Dale Earnhardt 1994 Ernie Irvan (15) Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine 1995 Jeff Gordon (1) Dale Earnhardt Jeff Gordon 1996 Rusty Wallace (2) Jeff Gordon Michael Waltrip 1997 Dale Earnhardt (4) Dale Jarrett Jeff Gordon 1998 Rusty Wallace (5) Jeff Gordon Mark Martin 1999 Jeff Gordon (3) Jeremy Mayfield Terry Labonte 2000 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1) Terry Labonte Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2001 Dale Jarrett (2) Steve Park Jeff Gordon 2002 Jeff Gordon (11) Jimmie Johnson Ryan Newman 2003 Jimmie Johnson (1) D. Earnhardt Jr. Jimmie Johnson 2004 Jeff Gordon (6) Jimmie Johnson Matt Kenseth 2005 Jeff Gordon (4) M. Martin/R. Wallace Mark Martin 2006 Carl Edwards (4) Kasey Kahne Jimmie Johnson 2007 Jimmie Johnson Mark Martin
Suzy Kolber Joins ESPN's NASCAR Countdown Program “Many NASCAR drivers pull double duty with two races on the same weekend, and Suzy is going to be doing that with NASCAR and Monday Night Football,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, studio and remote production. “Brent’s big-event presence combined with Suzy’s reporting and anchoring expertise will set the stage for NASCAR’s exciting stretch run.” In 2006, Kolber became the first female recipient of the Maxwell Club’s Sports Broadcaster of the Year award and in 2004 was named to Sports Business Daily’s 10 favorite sports TV personalities of the past 10 years. “NASCAR has always interested me,” said Kolber. “Not only for the cars and speed, but for the accessibility, and how fans can get into it. I’m going to be surrounded by experts, and my job is to be the curious one, ask questions and let the experts share their knowledge with the viewers. The most important thing to me in covering any sport is respecting the sport and the athletes.” Kolber joined ESPN’s MNF team during its inaugural year in 2006 after five seasons on ESPN’s Sunday Night Football. She worked the ABC Sports broadcast of Super Bowl XL in 2006 in Detroit and contributed to the network’s pre-game show. Kolber regularly hosts ESPN’s year-round NFL Live news and information show, and she has played a major role in ESPN’s comprehensive coverage of the annual NFL Draft. For the 1999 through 2003 NFL seasons, Kolber was the host of NFL Match-Up. During the NFL off-season, she serves as an anchor on SportsCenter and as an on-site host for ESPN’s tennis coverage at the French Open and Wimbledon. She previously hosted the X Games and Winter X Games and has covered Triple Crown horse racing events for ESPN studio programs.
John Andretti To Try Indy 500 Andretti is looking to make his eighth career start in the Indianapolis 500, a track where he finished fifth in 1991 – his best career effort at the Speedway. Since he left Indy-car racing in 1994, John has made 10 starts in the Brickyard 400, with a best result of seventh in 1998. His addition to the field will make three entrants from the Andretti family, joining series-regular Marco Andretti and John’s cousin Michael Andretti, who has returned for another run at the ‘500’ after finishing third last season. In 1994, John Andretti was the first driver to attempt and complete the “double”, competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the same day. When he qualifies this weekend, it will tie Roberto Moreno for third-longest hiatus between Indianapolis 500 starts. Only Roland Free and Cy Marshall (both 17 years between starts) have experienced longer layoffs between Indy 500 starts. Panther’s No. 33 entry will feature the color scheme of Camping World, which is a familiar site on the NASCAR circuit, where the company – and associate partner RVs.com - will sponsor over 60 events in 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series, with drivers like Andretti, Dave Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Cale Gale, Kevin Harvick and Ron Hornaday. Camping World is also a sponsor of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team will compete in the 91st Running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 27th, a race that will be broadcast live in HD on ABC, starting at noon (EST). Additional coverage will be provided by the IMS Radio Network and XM Satellite Radio channels 144 and 145.
Kenny Wallace Will Spot For Nephew In order to accelerate the learning process, officials of RWI Racing announced today that former Busch Series winner and popular television analyst Kenny Wallace, will serve as the team’s chief spotter and driver coach to his nephew Steve Wallace, for the remaining 2007 Busch Series events that serve as companion races to the NEXTEL Cup Series. The elder Wallace drives the No. 78 Furniture Row machine in the NEXTEL Cup Series and also hosts a popular pre-race cable television program broadcast from those events. In his ten full seasons in the NASCAR Busch Series, Kenny Wallace set the bar for consistency. He finished nine of those ten seasons ranked among the top-ten in the Busch Series points standings and never finished worse than 11th. It is this remarkable consistency that he hopes to add to his teenage nephew’s already-potent arsenal. Noted Kenny, “Steve is incredibly fast; there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to be one of the best out there. We’re a lot alike and we really get along. I totally think that having another racer on the radio with Steve is going to help him a ton and I’m excited about the chance to help him earn his first Busch Series win.”
The younger Wallace was equally excited about the opportunity to work with his uncle, stating, “My uncle Kenny and I like to have fun together, but we’re both really serious about racing. He has gotten the job done for a long time in the Busch Series and knows better than almost anyone what it takes to get good finishes in these races. I’m really excited about having him on the radio with me for the rest of the year and can’t wait to see how we do together.”
Davis Won't Appeal Penalty  Discuss this and other racing matters in the Prodigys@Speed ForumYou can contact us at.. Insider Racing News
illnesses through research and treatment |
