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by Holly Cain

Filed under: NASCAR Rumors, IRL

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Danica Patrick climbed out of her race car Friday afternoon, all smiles about a solid seventh-place qualifying effort for Saturday's IndyCar season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and liking her chances about a career-best ranking (fifth) in the standings.

She joked with reporters about missing her public relations spokeswoman and spoke earnestly of her Andretti Green Racing team's pressing need to find more speed.

Just don't ask her about the big elephant on pit road -- her contract status and whether she plans to give NASCAR a go.

When asked simply if she had hoped to be able to announce something by now, Patrick pointed her finger and said, "Why do you gotta end it like that?'' abruptly turned her back on the group of a half-dozen reporters and stormed away.

The interviews were over. The speculation will continue.

Danica Patrick Refuses to Answer Questions on Future originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:58:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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We’ve still got a ways to go before the Sprint Cup season has ended and we crown our champion, but never fear if you’re looking for a good conclusion to a motorsports season we’ve got three this weekend.

The ARCA Re/Max, IndyCar, and Grand-Am seasons all come to an end this weekend; and all three are locked into tight battles between the top two or three teams. If you’ve been watching any of them this season you know what I’m talking about.

IndyCar Series

Wrapping up at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend, the IndyCar Series has been one to watch this season.

True the battle is between just two teams and three drivers, but it’s still been exciting.

The Target Chip Ganassi teams of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti sit one, two in the points and have been that way for most of the season. In fact the two swapped points every week there for several weeks. They have a combined nine wins this season (Dixon leads with five) and are only five points apart, with Dixon in the lead.

Despite Dixon’s lead Franchitti has the better average finish of 4.9.

The only driver who has been able to keep up with those two is Ryan Briscoe over at TCGR rival Penske Racing. Briscoe has four poles and three wins on the season with an average finish of 5.6. He’s only eight points out of the lead.

Long story short it’s all going to come down to who finishes ahead of who. Considering the dominance of all three of these teams it is sure to be an exciting finish to the season. Check it out Saturday at 4 p.m. on Versus.

Grand-Am

Also closing out their season at Homestead-Miami this weekend is the Grand-Am Series. There’s not much of a points race going on in the Grand Touring Series, but the Daytona Prototype Series is a squeaker.

Reigning champs Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas are just 10 points back from leaders Jon Fogerty and Alex Gurney in third. Eight points back in second are Brian Friselle and Max Angelelli.

The CGR team of Pruett and Rojas has been solid this season leading a total of 406 laps, but they only have two wins to the Gainsco team’s four. The Suntrust Team of Angelelli and Friselle have a similar record to Ganassi and also have two wins.

Given that these three teams finished 1-2-3 in order the last time they raced, and all of these drivers are very competitive with each other, Homestead is sure to thrill. Check it out Saturday at 1 p.m. on Speed.

ARCA

Finally if you’re not into sports car or open wheel racing the ARCA Re/Max Series season also comes to a close this weekend at Rockingham Speedway.

Penske development driver Parker Kligerman and Eddie Sharp Racing’s Justin Lofton have been battling all season for the championship trophy.

Kligerman has eight wins, including a string of four in a row between Michigan and Kentucky earlier this year and last week at Kansas. He has an average finish of 5.2 this season and sits just 15 points behind Lofton.

Lofton has six wins this season, most recently at Salem Speedway. He was looking to make it seven last week, but Kligerman, who was in second snookered him on the restart. He has an average finish of 5.3 and has led an astounding 1,005 laps.

There are no guarantees we’re going to see a repeat of last season (Ricky Stenhouse wrecks, either on purpose or accidentally depending on your view, Scott Speed; Speed then wrecks Stenhouse; Justin Allgaier wins the championship), but this is another one that looks to be a great battle. These are two very talented, intense young drivers and it will be exciting to see what happens. Check this one out (not live) at 10 p.m. Sunday on Speed.

I hope you enjoy your weekend of racing. Oh and don’t forget there’s a Cup and Nationwide race this weekend too.

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I’ve been watching in anticipation the last few days as the showdown between the Formula One Teams Association and the FIA (Max Mosley) played out. Today we learned FIA President Max Mosley would give in to the teams’ demands to not impose the spending cap and he also agreed not to stand for re-election to the FIA. Surprise, surprise.

I got to thinking about what would happen if teams in NASCAR banded to together and attempted to stage a similar coup. The conclusion I came to was that this could not and would not ever happen.

Beyond the cars, the most pivotal part of a race is the race track. In the United States the only tracks really capable of accommodating NASCAR events are owned, for the most part by two companies: Speedway Motorsports Inc. majority owned by and controlled by Bruton Smith and International Speedway Corporation majority owned by and controlled by the France family. The France family of course owns and operates NASCAR.

Should NASCAR teams break away Bruton Smith’s SMI is certainly an option but ISC is not. What this means is the break away series loses the marquee Daytona 500 and only has eight tracks to race at. I doubt the Mattiolis would turn their back on the France family, so Pocono is probably out. There are a few other tracks that could add to the hypothetical break away series, but that is assuming they aren’t already with NASCAR in some capacity.

With F1 this isn’t the case. Because this is not just a regional sport there are tons of tracks that don’t currently host F1 events that would be capable of hosting them.

Another issue with NASCAR is the lack of control wielded by the teams. In F1 the teams are king, especially with the fans. Ferrari fans are Ferrari fans. Renault fans are Renault fans. The driver is often secondary. In NASCAR just the opposite is true. The teams are very much secondary to the personalities. If you want proof of this look to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s departure from DEI.

All it took for Max Mosley to back down was eight teams (mind you eight very large teams) threatening to start a breakaway series.

Another thing working in NASCAR’s favor is their lock on TV contracts. In the United States we only have a handful of networks capable of producing and carrying large sporting events like a race. ESPN/ABC, Speed, Fox and NBC/TNT are all out of the question. Maybe the break away series could go on Versus?

Around the world there are countless companies and stations capable and likely very willing to produce and broadcast F1 races. There are a world of possibilities.

Lastly I don’t see any NASCAR team owners capable of funding another series. Sure they’re all wealthy guys, but none can afford what these F1 owners can. It is widely believed Ferrari spends/has spent in the past upwards of $500 million on their F1 program. That is insane and well more than the entire worth of most of NASCAR’s owners. Obviously large auto manufacturers can afford to fund this sort of thing, but a former Ford engineer, a football coach and a couple of auto dealers likely would have a much harder time. I guess what I’m saying is this sort of thing isn’t worth their time or money and they would have to know that.

In the end the FIA and F1 are just very different from NASCAR. The FIA is a consortium (though F1 is not), NASCAR is a privately owned and held company. The teams are allowed to organize in F1 and in the FIA, and in NASCAR the teams throughout the history of the sport have been strongly encouraged not to organize. Where F1 has a global presence and global opportunity, NASCAR is confined to just the United States and continental North America.

For better or worse NASCAR is the king of American auto racing. This is their game and we’re all just playing it. So don’t expect Roush, Childress, Hendrick and Gibbs to band together and threaten NASCAR anytime soon.