The cast of characters in Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 20 Toyota is such a successful game of musical chairs that even Dale Earnhardt Jr. got confused.

Tony Stewart took the No. 20 Camry to Victory Lane to open the Nationwide Series season at Daytona International Speedway in February. The car, sans Stewart, returned to there in Friday night's Winn-Dixie 250 with Denny Hamlin behind the wheel.

Hamlin held off teammate Kyle Busch, Earnhardt and Clint Bowyer in a green-white-checkered finish -- the seventh of the season in the series -- to win his second Nationwide race in the No. 20 car and his third of the season overall. In his final appearance this season in the car, which has won nine races with four different drivers, Hamlin notched the eighth Nationwide victory of his career. (7/4/08) ... NASCAR.com

Brian France likes the racing; You agree?

NASCAR Chairman Brian France says he thinks the racing is good and getting better as teams adjust to the new, that the series is looking to adjust its drug testing policy and that franchising, in the long run, doesn't help the series. France spoke to the media Friday at Daytona. Here's some of what he said:

"We started out right here in Daytona in February with a pretty dramatic Daytona 500 for sure. It got us off with a lot of momentum. We carried that momentum and have had various things go well and some things that we obviously we would always like to improve on. Some of the high points, of course, being the new car and getting it online at all the different facilities and tracks that we race on. I know that there has been a lot of debate we should do this or we should do that to make the car more raceable and various drivers have voiced their concerns over the many weeks and events. (7/5/08)
... HamptonRoads.com

Rolex Sports Car Series may roll under NASCAR banner

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR is in discussions to roll the Grand American Road Racing Association’s Rolex Sports Car Series under the NASCAR banner, NASCAR Vice Chairman Jim France confirmed Thursday.

“I think it could be an opportunity for both the Grand-Am Sports Car Rolex Series and also for NASCAR to get a bigger road-racing presence,” France said at Daytona International Speedway. “Nothing has been finalized. It’s just at this point in the talking stages.”

NASCAR already owns the trademark of the Grand American Road Racing Association, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and France was one of the founders of the sports-car series. (7/5/08) ... SceneDaily.com

JTG Racing mulling 2009 Cup team with Ambrose

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – JTG Racing owner Tad Geschickter said Friday he hopes to move Marcos Ambrose to the Sprint Cup Series next season, in addition to having Nationwide and truck series teams in 2009.

The Australian Ambrose, in his second season in NASCAR’s No. 2 series, made his Cup debut at Infineon Raceway last month for Wood Brothers Racing. Ambrose is slated to drive four Cup races later this year under the JTG banner. (7/5/08) ... SceneDaily.com

Said appreciates the bright days, moments at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For Boris Said, the difference a year made was leaving Daytona International Speedway on Friday night on Cloud Nine versus under a thunderstruck rain cloud.

Not surprisingly, with his No. 60 Ford in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400, Said's comments were way softer than they were a year ago -- or even as recently as Speedweeks 2008 -- when a strong run in his Daytona 500 qualifying race left Said short of getting into the season opener. (7/5/08) ... NASCAR.com

Castroneves to NASCAR? No .. will resign with Penske in IndyCar

Team Penske IndyCar Series driver Helio Castroneves has extended his contract and will remain in the series. Castroneves and Team Penske president Tim Cindric confirmed that the world's most famous dancing driver will continue in the team's No. 3 car for years to come.

The contract was not signed as of Friday afternoon at Watkins Glen International, site of this weekend's race, but both sides said they reached an agreement. The driver described it as a "multiyear" deal. Castroneves joined the team in 2000 in CART and has won 19 races in all, including two Indianapolis 500s as part of his 12 Indy Racing League wins. (7/5/08) ... AutoWeek.com

DEI swept the front row in qualifying for Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 and ended up with three drivers in the top eight positions.

Paul Menard won the pole when he covered the 2 1/2-mile superspeedway with a fast lap of 185.916 mph, just ahead of teammate Mark Martin. Rookie Regan Smith was eighth.

DEI's other driver, Martin Truex Jr., was well back in 35th. He was driving a backup car after his primary car failed inspection Thursday and was seized by NASCAR. (7/4/08) ... NASCAR.com

Martin inks 2 year deal for Hendrick's #5

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 4, 2008) – Mark Martin, a 35-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner and the all-time leader in NASCAR Nationwide Series victories, has signed a two-year agreement to drive for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2009.

Martin will race the full 2009 Sprint Cup schedule in the No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolets, becoming teammates with Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. It will mark his first full season of Cup competition since 2006, when he finished ninth in points. A Batesville, Ark., native, Martin also is slated to run a partial Sprint Cup schedule for Hendrick Motorsports in 2010, sharing the No. 5 Chevys with a to-be-determined second driver. Martin will enter 26 events, including the non-points Budweiser Shootout and NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

“Mark is an incredible racer and one of the classiest guys around,” said Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick, whose organization will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2009. “He is a driver who makes everyone around him better, and our entire company is going to benefit from his presence.” (7/4/08) ... MarkMartin.com

Chevrolet won't renew track sponsorships with NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - In perhaps an early sign of manufacturer belt-tightening in stock car racing, Chevrolet will begin cutting back on its 12 track sponsorships in NASCAR, The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com have learned.

The manufacturer isn't planning to renew any track sponsorship that expire at the end of this season or going forward, multiple sources confirmed on Thursday. Such deals include sponsorship of race events, pace car deals and signage at tracks.

The move comes as General Motors stock hit a 54-year low this week, falling under $10 per share. No race teams are expected to be affected by Chevrolet’s decision. (7/4/08) ... ThatsRacin.com

CUP: Truex Unhappy With Team

Martin Truex Jr. was furious with his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team Thursday after was car was seized by NASCAR officials because it failed to fit the critical roof templates, which are keys to the aerodynamic performance of the car.

The immediate effects were obvious enough: Truex was forced to go to a backup after his primary car was taken prior to Thursday’s opening round of practice for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. His DEI team could not get the car ready in time to make the first of only two rounds of practice, which put Truex far behind the other drivers. In fact, of the 45 cars entered in Saturday’s race, Truex’s No. 1 DEI Chevrolet was the only one that failed to make a single lap in the first (and only) practice session.

And that had the Mayetta, N.J., native irked. (7/4/08) ... Speedtv.com

Earnhardt Jr: Martin would be 'asset' to Hendrick Motorsports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As speculation grows that Mark Martin will join Hendrick Motorsports for the 2009 Sprint Cup season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. says Martin’s willingness to help those around him would make him an asset to any team.

The organization, which fields Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Chevrolet as part of its four-car stable, is expected to name Martin the driver of its No. 5 car for next season at a news conference scheduled for Friday at Daytona International Speedway, site of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400.

“He’s very gracious, and he wants to help. He wants to be an asset,” Earnhardt Jr. said on Thursday at Daytona. “Whatever he’s got within arm’s reach, he wants to have a positive effect on it if it’s a driver, a team, a crew, a crewman. (7/4/08) ... SceneDaily.com

More trouble brewing at DEI?

John Menard, the wealthy businessman (Menards, the privately owned home improvements company), may be losing interest in NASCAR racing after so many years, according to sources. Menard, whose son Paul is driving for DEI, is reportedly in negotiations with Ford’s Jack Roush, perhaps to help fellow owner Doug Yates keep afloat in this sport, which would involve a move from Chevrolet to Ford. “I don’t have any idea what might be going on there,” DEI’s Story said. “We just met with John, and everything is good.” (7/4/08) ... Winston-Salem Journal

Ganassi: Shutting No. 40 team down was about economics, not Franchitti

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Chip Ganassi says the shutting down of the No. 40 team was not about driver Dario Franchitti but it was about being unable to find a sponsor.

He shut down the team Tuesday, parking Franchitti’s initial Sprint Cup season, because “to fund these cars out of your pocket I don’t think makes sense.”

“You get to a point where you say, ‘Wait a minute, the bleeding has to stop here,’” Ganassi said Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. “You run the risk of pulling down two well-funded other cars and I don’t want to do that. That’s not fair to the sponsors that are on the other cars. … Unfortunately we had to lay off a lot of good employees. (7/4/08) ... SceneDaily.com

Moss Forms Truck Team

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Randy Moss has made many trips to the end zone, but now he wants to attempt to make a trip to victory lane.

The NFL All Pro wide receiver with the New England Patriots, announced today that he has purchased a 50-percent stake in the Morgan-Dollar Motorsports NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team.

The team will debut in the Built Ford 225 Kentucky Speedway Speedway July 19 under a new name - Randy Moss Motorsports. The truck will also switch numbers from No. 46 to the No. 81, which is the number Moss wears in the NFL. (7/4/08) ... RacingOne.com

The Cup teams had one practice session Friday and will not take any more practice laps at the track. That's bad news for Penske Racing's Kurt Busch, who went to a backup car following a crash, and Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s Martin Truex Jr., who had his car impounded for a violation and has not taken any laps in his backup car.

Qualifying for the Coke Zero 400 is scheduled for Friday at 4:10 p.m. EDT. The race is slated for 8 p.m. Saturday. (7/3/08) ... SceneDaily.com

Final Nationwide Series practice canceled because of rain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR officials have canceled the second Nationwide Series practice at Daytona International Speedway because of rain at the track Thursday.

The teams did practice once during the day in preparation for Friday's Winn-Dixie 250. Qualifying for the race is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Friday with the race scheduled for 8 p.m. (7/3/08) ... SceneDaily.com

NASCAR officials confiscate Truex's car

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR officials confiscated the No. 1 Chevrolet fielded by Dale Earnhardt Inc. and driven by Martin Truex Jr. when the Sprint Cup Series entry failed to pass inspection Thursday.

“It has something to do with the roofline, the width of the car,” John Story, vice president of motorsports for DEI, said Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.

“Certainly it was nothing intentional. It fit our templates at the shop; it just didn’t fit NASCAR’s templates here, apparently.” (7/3/08) ... SceneDaily.com

The No. 88 Chevrolet goes camouflage this weekend



When the National Guard decided to run a camouflage car this year, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. wanted the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet painted. He asked Donnie Floyd, the head of graphics, if it would be possible.

"He likes paint," Floyd said. "Paint looks better and it honors our commitment to DuPont, our sponsor. Also, we just thought it would be neat, something cool to do to honor our troops. We put a lot of time and effort into it." (7/3/08) ... Hendrick Motorsports

Facts & Figures: Daytona

A look at some NASCAR Sprint Cup facts and figures at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) as the series gets ready to run Saturday's Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola.

0 - Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, and Clint Bowyer have each had zero DNF's at Daytona, the only drivers currently in the top 12 to do so. (7/3/08) ... RacingOne.com

Hendrick press conference set for Friday at Daytona

Hendrick Motorsports will hold a news conference at the press conference room in the Daytona International Speedway infield media center in Daytona Beach, FL on Friday, July 4 at 12:30pm/et to announce future plans for its #5 Chevrolet team. Owner Rick Hendrick will be in attendance. (8/3/08) ... Hendrick Motorsports PR

BAM Racing Could Return At Indy

While all the buzz this week has been about one team shutting down, another is doing everything it can to get back to the track.

And BAM Racing is targeting July 27’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard as a possible return date.

“Beth Ann [Morgenthau, the team’s owner] loves Indianapolis, and if we can make that race, we’re definitely going to try to do that,” said BAM Racing spokesperson Rhett Vandiver. (7/3/08) ... Long Island Press

Richard Petty to be honored at Dover

Dover International Speedway's 40th anniversary celebration will include a tribute to the first driver to win a race at the Monster Mile, Richard Petty.

He took the first checkered flag on the high-banked racetrack on July 6, 1969, driving Petty Enterprises' No. 43 Ford. He led 150 of 300 laps in the inaugural race, then called the Mason-Dixon 300. (7/3/08) ... ThatsRacin.com

Franchitti says he wants to stay in stock cars, will meet with Ganassi

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Dario Franchitti isn't sure what his future holds, but the former open-wheel star said Wednesday he'd like to remain in NASCAR.

Franchitti, the 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion, lost his full-time ride Tuesday when team owner Chip Ganassi closed down the unsponsored No. 40 Dodge 17 races into Franchitti's first season. The move also resulted in 71 layoffs.