Nascar Race News!» FanHouse Newswire

AP Source: NASCAR Will Not Suspend Carl Edwards

FanHouse Newswire — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:52:00 +0000

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- NASCAR will not suspend Carl Edwards for intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski's car during last weekend's race at Atlanta, a source told the Associated Press.

There had been a loud cry for NASCAR to punish Edwards for returning to the track Sunday after an earlier wreck with Keselowski and then deliberately causing a crash. The contact sent Keselowski's car flying into the air, and it bounced on its hood off a retaining wall. No one was injured.

A person familiar with NASCAR's discussions said Edwards will not be suspended for his actions.

NASCAR president Mike Helton is to address the Edwards accident later Tuesday. The person familiar with the decision spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Helton will be making the official statement.

Edwards could still be fined or placed on probation, but escaped the more serious penalty, presumably because NASCAR wanted to protect its relaxed "boys, have at it" attitude of allowing drivers to police themselves on the track.

NASCAR announced in January it would loosen its stance on aggressive driving and allow drivers the opportunity to settle scores on their own. The policy wasn't tested until Sunday, the fourth race of the season, when Edwards returned to the track down 153 laps and spent at least one lap intentionally trying to wreck Keselowski.

He succeeded with three laps to go in the race, igniting a frightening crash that he admitted deliberately causing.

Edwards was unrepentant, too, citing past incidents with Keselowski as the root of the retaliation.

Keselowski, meanwhile, called for a harsh penalty.

"It'll be interesting to see how NASCAR reacts to it," he said after the wreck. "They have the ball. If they're going to allow people to intentionally wreck each other at tracks this fast, we will hurt someone either in the cars or the grandstands. It's not cool to intentionally wreck someone at 195 mph."

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Kurt Busch Wins Again at Atlanta After Two Crashes

FanHouse Newswire — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:31:00 +0000

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, NASCAR Crashes

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) -- Kurt Busch survived a couple of restarts and 16 extra laps to win again Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a race marred by accusations of an intentional crash that sent a car hurtling toward the main stands upside down.

Busch won the spring race at the 1.54-mile trioval for the second year in a row, beating Matt Kenseth to the line by nearly half a second. Juan Pablo Montoya was third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Paul Menard.

The race went 341 laps instead of its scheduled 325 because of two big crashes. The first one drew the most attention.

Carl Edwards, running 156 laps behind, clipped Brad Keselowski and caused his car to spin, then lift into the air at around 190 mph. It smashed into the barrier in front of the stands roof-first, then flipped back onto the track right side up. Keselowski was OK, but NASCAR ordered Edwards to park his car and summoned him to its trailer for a tongue-lashing.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins First Pole Position in Almost Two Years

FanHouse Newswire — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:46:00 +0000

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is on the pole for the first time in nearly two years. He's hoping it will lead to Victory Lane.

Earnhardt claimed the pole Friday night for the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a blistering speed of 192.761 mph. It will be the first time Junior has taken green at the head of a Sprint Cup field since the April 2008 race at Texas.

"It's good to be on the pole and I'm real proud of it," Earnhardt said. "Getting a pole anywhere is good for our team. We're so hungry to do well on Sunday."

He's coming off a miserable season in which he failed to win a race, cracked the top 10 only five times, led a mere 146 laps in 36 races and finished 25th in the overall standings -- despite racing for Hendrick Motorsports, the best team in the business.

After a major shake-up within his group, Earnhardt is hoping to be a Chase contender in 2010. He hasn't won a race since June 15, 2008, at Michigan.

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U.S. Grand Prix Team Shuts Down, Reports Say

FanHouse Newswire — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:11:00 +0000

The fledgling United States Formula One team based outside Charlotte, N.C. has closed its doors and furloughed employees, according to reports Tuesday in Autosport and AutoWeek.

Autosport reported that shortly before lunchtime Tuesday, the remaining employees were told they were being put on unpaid leave, but remained technically employed.

Neither publication could confirm the shutdown with team principals Peter Windsor or Ken Anderson. The news comes after weeks of speculation and uncertainty about whether the team would actually come together. On Jan. 25, Windsor announced that Argentine driver José María López would be the team's driver.

ESPNF1 reported Tuesday that Lopez had quit the F1 team and that his manager was working to get him released from his contract.

The team, founded by journalist and former F1 team manager Windsor and run by Anderson, was funded by YouTube co-founder Chad Harley. It had received permission from the FIA, the worldwide auto racing governing board, to compete in F1 and had set up shop in a former Sprint Cup race shop outside Charlotte.

But the team was unable to get a car on the track, even for testing, and F1 officials had declared the outfit unready for competition last week after an inspection visit.

The shutdown means that the Serbian startup F1 team, Stefan Grand Prix, which has been waiting in the wings for several months, may have a chance of getting a late entry into Grand Prix racing.

Anderson and Hurley had made a desperate last-ditch effort to save the team by formally requesting that the entry be postponed until 2011, AutoWeek reported. The shutdown was likely prompted by a negative response from the FIA to that request, the weekly paper said.

The photograph above shows Windsor (left) and Lopez during the Jan. 25 press conference when Lopez was announced as driver.

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Jimmie Johnson Wins Second Straight Sprint Cup Race

FanHouse Newswire — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:24:00 +0000

Filed under: Jimmie Johnson

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson needed luck to win a week ago in California. In Las Vegas, a city of chance, he didn't need any help at all, winning his second straight race by passing teammate Jeff Gordon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway late in the race.

Gordon dominated Sunday's race by leading 218 of the 267 laps, but he took just two tires on the final pit stop and it cost him the victory.

Johnson took four tires and restarted in fourth, but rocketed to Gordon's bumper as soon as the race resumed. He chased Gordon for 17 laps, finally scooting past him with 17 to go.

Johnson then pulled away for his 49th career victory and fourth at Las Vegas.

Kevin Harvick finished second, while Gordon faded to third.

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Harvick Overcomes Pit Blunders to Win Nationwide Race

FanHouse Newswire — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:30:00 +0000

Filed under: Kevin Harvick, Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Kevin Harvick overcame a pair of horrendous pit stops to win the Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Harvick led 83 of the 200 laps Saturday, but had to rally after his crew cost him several spots on pit road.

"You look like a bunch of idiots on pit road,'' he told his Kevin Harvick Inc. crew after their first slow stop.

Harvick had to methodically work his way back through the field, and found himself trailing leader Denny Hamlin late in the race. Once past Hamlin, Harvick coasted to his second career win at Las Vegas and 35th in the Nationwide Series.

"I get mad, and they know how I am and what I expect of them,'' Harvick said in Victory Lane. "But I learned a long time ago you can only gripe about it for so long, and then you've got to go back and drive the car."

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Kurt Busch Wins Pole for Las Vegas Sprint Cup Race

FanHouse Newswire — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:57:00 +0000

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Kurt Busch broke his brother's track record in taking pole Friday for NASCAR's Shelby American in Las Vegas.

Busch turned a lap of 188.719 mph to claim the top starting spot for Sunday's race. Jeff Gordon was second and Ryan Newman qualified third, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch.

Kyle Busch held the previous track record of 185.995 mph (299.3 kph). In all, 18 drivers bettered that speed.

The Busch brothers are Las Vegas natives who consider this race the most important on the series.

"I'm pretty stoked," Kurt Busch said. "It's something you can't count your chickens before they've hatched, but this would be a special win."

Busch grew emotional in his pole-winners press conference, having to stop to compose himself and wipe away tears when he recognized one of his father's former racing rivals, who was at the track in a media role. quot;I just love Vegas," he said. "It's the people that make it special to me. It's just fun seeing everybody."

Busch, who is winless in nine previous starts at Las Vegas, credited new crew chief Steve Addington for his strong qualifying run. Addington was Kyle Busch's crew chief for Kyle's win here last year. He was fired in October from Joe Gibbs Racing, and Kurt Busch hired him in December for his team.

"Steve Addington definitely has his game on for this place," Kurt Busch said.

Only two drivers failed to make the 43-car field, Terry Cook and Casey Mears, who has missed all three of this season's races.

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Fans Say Fatal NHRA Accident Won’t Keep Them Away

FanHouse Newswire — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:36:00 +0000

CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) -- Race fans who were present when a woman was killed by a tire that flew off a crashing dragster said Monday that they feel safe at the track despite the weekend accident in suburban Phoenix.

Many of the fans who returned to Chandler's Firebird International Raceway Monday for the postponed finals of the NHRA Arizona Nationals said it was a freak accident that won't stop them from attending.

They also said they hope NHRA officials won't add netting or otherwise restrict how they watch races. Some fans choose to stand about 50 feet from the action, separated from the track by a chest-high wall. The AP photograph on the FanHouse Motorsports front page shows drag racing fan Ross Myers of Phoenix standing at the base of the grandstands, about 25 feet from the track, with the chest-high retaining wall in the background.

"I just hope that nobody decides they want to change the sport because something horrible happened. It's bound to happen in any sport," said Sheila Cahill of Prescott, Ariz. "You've got Motocross, you've got the Olympics, you've got off-road racing. Even hockey pucks fly over the glass. It's all risky."

The victim was attending a first-round Top Fuel run Sunday when Antron Brown's Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster went out of control just after coming off the start line. Its left rear wheel sheared off and rocketed down the track while Brown's dragster veered left and crashed into the retaining wall. Witnesses said the wheel bounced a couple of times and soared over the grandstands-missing the bulk of the spectators-before it hit the woman, who was said to have later died at a hospital. Early reports indicated she was killed instantly. Her identity had not been released as of Monday.

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Jimmie Johnson Holds Off Kevin Harvick for California Victory

FanHouse Newswire — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:21:00 +0000

Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Sprint Cup

FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson knows he got lucky. So do the Richard Childress Racing drivers who went from leading to chasing him the final laps.

The fortunate break for Johnson in his victory at California came because he was already in the pits when a late caution flag came out Sunday. The No. 48 Hendrick team completed the stop and Johnson passed the scoring line at the end of pit road before Childress' Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick were able to cross the start-finish line.

That split-second kept Johnson on the lead lap, and allowed him to regain the lead when everybody else - including Burton and Harvick, who were 1-2 when Brad Keselowski spun in Turn 4 - pitted under yellow. Johnson stayed in front the final 20 laps after the restart.

"There's no way of getting around how lucky they are,'' Harvick said.

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Woman Killed by Flying Tire at Phoenix NHRA Drag Race

FanHouse Newswire — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:39:00 +0000

Filed under: Other Racing Series

A female spectator was struck and killed by a tire that flew off Antron Brown's top fuel dragster when he crashed at the NHRA Arizona Nationals Sunday at Firebird International Raceway in suburban Phoenix.

The woman was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital Sunday evening, the NHRA reported. Earlier reports indicated the woman had been killed instantly. In any event, the sanctioning body did not make the death announcement until hours after the incident occurred.

Brown was not injured in the fiery crash of his dragster.

"The entire NHRA community is deeply saddened by today's incident and sends its thoughts and prayers to the woman's family and friends," the association said in an e-mailed statement.

The victim was not immediately identified, but USA Today reported that she was associated with a Nostalgia Funny Car team at the event.

After the woman was airlifted from the track and a rain delay ended, the event resumed. But deteriorating weather conditions and approaching darkness prompted NHRA to postpone the finals of the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes to Monday at 10 a.m. MT (Noon ET).

Doug Kalitta will face Cory McClenathan in the Top Fuel final, while John Force will face Jack Beckman in the Funny Car final. Late Sunday, in an unusual move, NHRA officials announced that the Pro Stock class, which was only able to complete one round Sunday, will resume its quarterfinal eliminations for the Arizona Nationals in two weeks during the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. The Top Fuel and Funny Car finals will go on as planned for Monday at PIR.

The accident occurred during the first round of the event. Brown had qualified fourth in his Matco Tools dragster. He reportedly crashed just after leaving the start line after losing a cylinder and then losing the left rear tire. The tire rocketed down the track and apparently bounced into an area that included spectators.

The first report with details appeared at www.vintagefuel.com, which said Nostalgia Motorsports' Jim Broome reported from the track that the tire flew into the crowd and struck a female spectator just below the grandstands who was pushing another woman in a wheelchair. The report said the tire then flew into the pits and slammed into a team hauler, caving in a door and breaking out a window.

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