IRL - Indy 500 Weekend

I was asked by a couple of people recently if I was going to post anything regarding the Indy 500? Certainly. In a perfect world, I would've posted a lot more throughout the month since so much has been going on @ Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I just haven't had much of a chance until now. Here ya go Mike & Jim!

2-time Indy 500 Helio Castroneves will start from the pole. His 3rd Indy pole and taking the annual pit stop contest. His Penske Racing teammate Ryan Briscoe will start next to him in the middle of the front row. That 1-2 punch gives team owner Roger Penske a good shot at his 15th Indy win. Sam Hornish Jr scored the last Indy 500 win for Penske in '06.

“We’ve got a good chance this year with two cars on the front row,” said Penske. “But, to win here, everything has to work perfectly, everything.”

Penske will have 3 cars in the Indianapolis 500 for the 1st time since '94. Even though Castroneves is back in, Will Power was rewarded with his own ride. He had been subbing for Castroneves until his legal issues were resolved. It was announced on Friday that federal prosecutors dropped the remaining tax evasion conspiracy charge against Castroneves and his sister.

“I feel very lucky,” Castroneves said. “My life is starting all over again. I’m having fun doing what I love doing best, and I’m going to try to win Indy again. It is definitely going to be an interesting race.”

Castroneves might be the favorite to win. It could come down to Penske vs. Ganassi. Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti are the past 2 Indanapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champions.

Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan is another driver to mention. In 7 starts, he has yet to win even though he's led laps in each of his Indy 500 races - a record. He was runner-up in the '04 race - his best Indy 500 finish.

Look for Paul Tracy on Sunday. He'll start from the inside of the 5th row. He leads all active drivers with 31 career wins. “I’m not here just to race and have a good day,” Tracy said. “I want to win.”

We can't forget the confrontation between Tracy and Castroneves after their "controversial" side by side finish under caution in 2002's Indy 500. Tracy insisted he passed Castroneves coming to the checkered flag. It took 6 weeks for race officials to analyze video and announce Castroneves was the legit winner. Whew.



33 cars to start on Sunday. An estimated 250,000 is expected to attend.

There's also a slight chance for thunderstorms in the forecast.

2009 Indianapolis 500 starting line-up, click here.

Just announced! Kid Rock @ M.I.S.

Just announced today (5/22) Detroit’s own Kid Rock will serve as Grand Marshal for the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 14.

In addition to Grand Marshall duties, he'll join driver Robby Gordon in the speedway’s fan hospitality club, Acceleration.

“I’m a huge race fan, so being asked to be Grand Marshal for the Michigan race to help kick off my summer tour with (tour sponsor) Red Stag seemed like a fun way to get the word out,” Kid Rock said.

Tickets, camping and Acceleration passes are on sale now. Sprint Cup Series tickets as low as $40 for the June and August races are on sale now! Make it an affordable weekend of fun with family & friends! Call the MIS Ticket Hotline at 800-354-1010 or visit MISpeedway.com.

Michigan International Speedway — 2009 Schedule

Friday, June 12 ARCA RE/MAX Series Racing for Wildlife 200
Saturday, June 13 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Sunday, June 14 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock 400

Friday, Aug. 14 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Gatorade Pole Day
Saturday, Aug. 15 NASCAR Nationwide Series CARFAX 250
Sunday, Aug. 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

I've actually bumped into Kid Rock numerous times inside the Cup garage at M.I.S. A few years ago when he was with Pam Anderson, he even brought her to the track. I remember she's a Tony Stewart fan. She showed up wearing her #20 gear. I'll have to see if I can dig up some of those pictures.

On Track - Thursday 5/21

Thursday night marked the return of "Flyin' Ryan". Newman won the pole for Sunday night's longest race of them all - Coca-Cola 600 @ Lowe's Motor Speedway.

It's his 1st pole of the season, but it comes less than a week after his "boss" won the All-Star race last Saturday night. Should this surprise anyone? Newman leads all active drivers with 8 poles @ Lowe's Motor Speedway. It's his 44th pole in 272 Sprint Cup Series races.

Jason Smith/Getty Images

Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have yet to win the 600-mile race @ Lowe's. Stewart is currently 2nd in the point standings and Newman is 8th. Points matter this weekend.

Kyle Busch qualified 2nd followed by the Hendrick power of Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson.

For the starting line-up, click here.

Cars were on the track during the afternoon for a 90-minute practice session.

Mark Martin was fastest followed by Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya and Brian Vickers.

Need For Speed Race Preview: Lowe's

400 laps = 600 miles

Strap in this weekend for the longest race of them all - the Coca-Cola 600. Some will jokingly ask can you stay awake? It's been a Memorial Day tradition for 50 years and actually ever since June 19, 1960. The 600-miler that year was pushed back a few weeks due to unfinished construction at the track.

"I think it's more of a mental thing that our minds are programmed for 500 miles," said three time Coca-Cola 600 winner, Jimmie Johnson. "When you hear halfway and you look up at the scoreboard and you realize you've gone 300 and you've got 300 to go, it's kind of a mental thing that you have to focus on."

Just 4 active drivers have multiple 600 wins: Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have 3. Jeff Burton and Kasey Kahne have 2 each. Jimmie Johnson is the only driver to have 3 consecutive 600 mile victories - winning from 2003-2005.

"I do like the 600-mile race from a history standpoint," he said. "And I also like the challenge, to work on the car all night long. Start in the day, go to the night, the longer the race, all the aspects that come with it."

Johnson has racked up 5 wins, 8 top-5 finishes and 12 top-10's to date @ Lowe's with an average finish of 8.9. He's the only driver with an average finish under 10.

Six times has the winner of the All-Star Race gone on to win the 600-mile race the next week @ Lowe's. Jeff Gordon did it in '97; Johnson in '03 and Kasey Kahne was the last driver to accomplish the feat last year.

An even more interesting stat: the Coca-Cola 600 has never gone to a green-white-checkered finish.

TV coverage begins at 5 pm this Sunday night on FOX.

Have a great holiday weekend.

2009 Sprint All-Star - Saturday 5/16

Tony Stewart won the All-Star Race Saturday night under the lights @ Lowes Motor Speedway!

Tony Stewart passed Matt Kenseth through turn 2 on lap 99 of 100 for his 1st All-Star race win and his 1st as an owner/driver.

"There's a lot of races I still haven't won yet. But it's a hard race to win," Stewart said soon after scoring his first win for Stewart-Haas. "There's nobody holds anything back. I mean, you look at the racing out there tonight, and how many times you see Jimmie Johnson spin out? How many times did Jeff Gordon get spun out? Three wide for the lead with less than 10 laps to go. You don't see that very often. You know, this is a special race. You know it's different. You know it's going to be more difficult because of that. And we always, in the past last 10 years here, were always good on long runs and always good late in the race. And this kind of format never fit our package that we had. And tonight it just worked out for us."



No points were on the line - just hard racin' and a cool million dollar pay check! To which Stewart says:

"There's guys on this team that haven't been to Victory Lane before. And that was something I was really looking forward to was getting there and congratulating Gene on his first win and these guys that have been with the organization and haven't been in Victory Lane, to see those guys get their first win and be a part of it with them was what I was really looking for. But they've been an awesome group of guys to work with up to this point. And that's the most gratifying part about it. It's about seeing those guys and seeing them celebrating and smiling in Victory Lane when I got there and seeing how happy they were and the excitement on their faces. There's no check that you can write in any amount that's going to make up for that and could take the place of it."

We knew he was getting close to that first win as an owner-driver. In 11 point races so far this season, Stewart has posted 8 top-10 finishes and has posted 5 top-5 finishes in the past 6 (point) races. His driver, Ryan Newman has finished in the top-10 five times.

Matt Kenseth held on for a runner-up finish. Kurt Busch ran third followed by Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards - rounding out the top 5.

100 laps = 150 miles which were broken down into 4 segments.

1st segment: Jimmie Johnson started from the pole and lead all the laps of the 50-lap first segment. Johnson was the winner of the 1st segment.

2nd segment: Kyle Busch led all 20 laps of the 2nd segment. Busch was the winner of the 2nd segment.

3rd segment: Kyle Busch stayed out on the race track between the 2nd and 3rd segments for track position. Kyle surrendered the lead to Jeff Gordon half way through the 3rd segment. Jeff Gordon led the final 10 laps and won the 3rd segment.

4th segment: While Jeff Gordon was leading, Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch went 3-wide for the lead which didn't work out so well and sent Gordon spinning in the grass and contact with the wall. Jimmie Johnson took a spin during the final segment which dropped him back to a 13th place finish. Kenseth took the lead from Kyle for 4 laps before Stewart took over to win.

For All-Star race results, click here.

There were 7 cautions for 3 laps and 7 lead changes among 5 drivers:

J. Johnson 1-50; Kyle Busch 51-80; J. Gordon 81-90; Kyle Busch 91; J. Gordon 92; Kyle Busch 93-94; M. Kenseth 95-98; T. Stewart 99-100.

Sam Hornish Jr won the Sprint Showdown. Jamie McMurray finished 2nd. Both advanced into the All-Star race.

For Sprint Showdown results, click here.

Hornish Jr would go on to finish the All-Star race - 16th. McMurray posted an 9th place finish.

Joey Logano won the Sprint Fan vote. He finished the All-Star - 8th.

NASCAR Day

Today, May 15th is the 6th Annual NASCAR Day.








Proceeds raised will go to the NASCAR Foundation. Since 2004, NASCAR Day has united more than 400,000 fans and raised 6.5 million dollars for various charity organizations to help thousands of children lead better lives.

If you'd like to participate, call (877)515-GIVE or online at: NASCAR.COM/NASCARDAY

You can also stop by a participating APlus at Sunoco locations to pick up a 2009 collectible NASCAR Day label pin with a $5 donation.

Need For Speed Race Preview: All Star Race

Saturday night, it'll be a quick dash for cash with no points on the line - just bragging rights and a very cool $1,022,975 paycheck!

21 drivers will set the field for Saturday night's 100 lap race.

Who's in?

All Sprint Cup Series Drivers who have won a race within the past year (last season and so far this season); past All-Star race winners; active Sprint Cup Series champions from the past 10 years; the top-2 drivers of the Sprint Showdown and the driver who wins the Sprint Fan Vote.

The drivers are:

Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart and the 3 drivers that will be determined Saturday night.

There's 8 past All-Star race winners so far in the line-up: Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman.

The Race Rules?

100 laps = 150 miles with 4 segments: 50 laps, 20 laps, 20 laps and the final 10-lap shootout for the win!

Segment 1 - 50 laps with a mandatory green-flag pit stop on Lap 25 at which time teams will be required to change all 4 tires.
Segment 2 - 20 laps with the caution flag displayed at the end of the segment for an optional pit stop where teams will be allowed to fuel, change tires and make normal chassis adjustments.
Segment 3 - 20 laps with a 10-minute break at the end of the segment. Teams will be allowed to make the same adjustments.
Segment 4 - 10 laps with only green-flag laps counting.

One practice session will be held on Friday from 1:30-2:50 with Qualifying at 6:05. TV coverage begins Saturday night at 7 on SPEED.

The Sprint Showdown features the drivers who haven't already qualified yet for the All-Star. It's a 20 lap feature with the top-2 finishers winning their way into the show. The Sprint Showdown opens the All-Star event.

Have you placed your Sprint Fan vote yet? Voting will continue until Saturday night up until race time. If you haven't placed a vote and would like to, click here and go to the Sprint Fan Vote banner on the right hand side of the page. I also posted a link for you on the left hand side of this blog spot.

Jeff Burton's #31 crew won the pit crew challenge in record time Thursday night in Charlotte. They defeated the #43 team of Richard Petty Motorsports driver Reed Sorenson. Btw, Sorenson's crew clocked in at 23.839



It took them all of 22.115 seconds which set an event record! Let me take a second to type out their names as they're only too used to being referred to as "Burton's pit crew":

Curt Bowman (gas man)
Andrew Childers (catch-can man)
Daniel Blizzard (front-tire changer)
Jon Wallace (front-tire carrier)
Terry Spalding (rear-tire changer)
Chris Martin (rear-tire carrier)
Adam North (jackman)

“I’m real proud of them,” Burton said of his crew. “They take it very seriously. They truly are athletes. … These guys work so hard. Ninety-nine percent of the people in this country could not do the fitness program that they do. They put a lot of effort into it, a lot of heart into it. It isn’t just a bunch of mechanics who one day decided to pick up a wrench or a jack. They undergo NFL-caliber training.”

The winning crew receives a $70,000 cash prize and they'll also be the first to make their pit selection for the All-Star race.